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Psalm Eighty-six
Psalm 86
Chapter Contents
The psalmist pleads his earnestness, and the mercy of
God, as reasons why his prayer should be heard. (1-7) He renews his requests
for help and comfort. (8-17)
Commentary on Psalm 86:1-7
(Read Psalm 86:1-7)
Our poverty and wretchedness, when felt, powerfully plead
in our behalf at the throne of grace. The best self-preservation is to commit
ourselves to God's keeping. I am one whom thou favourest, hast set apart for
thyself, and made partaker of sanctifying grace. It is a great encouragement to
prayer, to feel that we have received the converting grace of God, have learned
to trust in him, and to be his servants. We may expect comfort from God, when
we keep up our communion with God. God's goodness appears in two things, in
giving and forgiving. Whatever others do, let us call upon God, and commit our
case to him; we shall not seek in vain.
Commentary on Psalm 86:8-17
(Read Psalm 86:8-17)
Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love.
Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous
to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more
desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein,
than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before
them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God,
will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants
of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In
considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose
sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we
through his poverty might be rich.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 86
Verse 2
[2] Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy
servant that trusteth in thee.
Holy — Sincerely devoted to thy service.
Verse 11
[11] Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth:
unite my heart to fear thy name.
Truth — In the way of thy precepts, which are true and right
in all things.
My heart — Knit my whole heart to thyself.
Verse 13
[13] For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast
delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
Hell — From extreme dangers and miseries.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
TITLE. A Prayer of
David. We have here one of the five psalms entitled Tephillahs or
prayers. This psalm consists of praise as well as prayer, but it is in all
parts so directly addressed to God that it is most fitly called "a
prayer." A prayer is none the less but all the more a prayer because veins
of praise run through it. This psalm would seem to have been specially known as
David's prayer; even as the ninetieth is "the prayer of Moses." David
composed it, and no doubt often expressed himself in similar language; both the
matter and the wording are suitable to his varied circumstances and expressive
of the different characteristics of his mind. In many respects it resembles Ps
17:1-15, which bears the same title, but in other aspects it is very different;
the prayers of a good man have a family likeness, but they vary as much as they
agree. We may learn from the present psalm that the great saints of old were
accustomed to pray very much in the same fashion as we do; believers in all
ages are of one genus. The name of God occurs very frequently in this psalm,
sometimes it is Jehovah, but more commomly Adonai, which it is believed by many
learned scholars was written by the Jewish transcribers instead of the sublimer
title, because their superstitious dread led them to do so: we, labouring under
no such tormenting fear, rejoice in Jehovah, our God. It is singular that those
who were so afraid of their God, that they dared not write his name, had yet so
little godly fear, that they dared to alter his word.
DIVISION. The psalm is
irregular in its construction but may be divided into three portions, each
ending with a note of gratitude or of confidence: we shall therefore read from
Ps 86:1-7, and then, (after another pause at the end of Ps 86:13), we will
continue to the end.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me. In condescension to
my littleness, and in pity to my weakness, "bow down thine ear, O
Lord." When our prayers are lowly by reason of our humility, or feeble by
reason of our sickness, or without wing by reason of our despondency, the Lord
will bow down to them, the infinitely exalted Jehovah will have respect unto
them. Faith, when she has the loftiest name of God on her tongue, and calls him
Jehovah, yet dares to ask from him the most tender and condescending acts of
love. Great as he is he loves his children to be bold with him. For I am poor
and needy—doubly a son of poverty, because, first, poor and without supply for
my needs, and next needy, and so full of wants, though unable to supply them.
Our distress is a forcible reason for our being heard by the Lord God,
merciful, and gracious, for misery is ever the master argument with mercy. Such
reasoning as this would never be adopted by a proud man, and when we hear it
repeated in the public congregation by those great ones of the earth who count
the peasantry to be little better than the earth they tread upon, it sounds
like a mockery of the Most High. Of all despicable sinners those are the worst
who use the language of spiritual poverty while they think themselves to be
rich and increased in goods.
Verse
2. Preserve my soul. Let my life be safe from my enemies, and
my spiritual nature be secure from their temptations. He feels himself unsafe
except he be covered by the divine protection. For I am holy. I am set apart
for holy uses, therefore do not let thine enemies commit a sacrilege by
injuring or defiling me: I am clear of the crimes laid to my charge, and in
that sense innocent; therefore, I beseech thee, do not allow me to suffer from
unjust charges: and I am inoffensive, meek, and gentle towards others,
therefore deal mercifully with me as I have dealt with my fellow men. Any of
these renderings may explain the text, perhaps all together will expound it
best. It is not self righteous in good men to plead their innocence as a reason
for escaping from the results of sins wrongfully ascribed to them; penitents do
not bedaub themselves with mire for the love of it, or make themselves out to
be worse than they are out of compliment to heaven. No, the humblest saint is
not a fool, and he is as well aware of the matters wherein he is clear as of
those wherein he must cry "peccavi." To plead guilty to
offences we have never committed is as great a lie as the denial of our real
faults. O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Lest any man
should suppose that David trusted in his own holiness he immediately declared
his trust in the Lord, and begged to be saved as one who was not holy in the
sense of being perfect, but was even yet in need of the very clements of
salvation. How sweet is that title, "my God", when joined to the
other, "thy servant"; and how sweet is the hope that on this ground
we shall be saved; seeing that our God is not like the Amalekitish master who
left his poor sick servant to perish. Note how David's poor I am (or
rather the I repeated without the am) appeals to the great I
AM with that sacred boldness engendered by the necessity which breaks
through stone walls, aided by the faith which removes mountains.
Verse
3. Be merciful unto me, O Lord. The best of men need mercy,
and appeal to mercy, yea to nothing else but mercy; they need it for
themselves, and crave it eagerly of their God as a personal requisite. For I
cry unto thee daily. Is there not a promise that importunity shall prevail? May
we not, then, plead our importunity as an argument with God? He who prays every
day, and all the day, for so the word may mean, may rest assured that the Lord
will hear him in the day of his need. If we cried sometimes to man, or other
false confidences, we might expect to be referred to them in the hour of our
calamity, but if in all former times we have looked to the Lord alone, we may
be sure that he will not desert us now. See how David pleaded, first that he
was poor and needy, next that he was the Lord's set apart one, then that he was
God's servant and had learned to trust in the Lord, and lastly that he had been
taught to pray daily; surely these are such holy pleadings as any tried
believer may employ when wrestling with a prayer hearing God, and with such
weapons the most trembling suppliant may hope to win the day.
Verse
4. Rejoice the soul of thy servant. Make my heart glad, O my
Maker, for I count it my honour to call myself again and again thy servant, and
I reckon thy favour to be all the wages I could desire. I look for all my
happiness in thee only, and therefore unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
As the heliotrope looks to the sun for its smile, so turn I my heart to thee.
Thou art as the brazen serpent to my sick nature, and I lift up my soul's eye
to thee that I may live. I know that the nearer I am to thee the greater is my
joy, therefore be pleased to draw me nearer while I am labouring to draw near.
It is not easy to lift a soul at all; it needs a strong shoulder at the wheel
when a heart sticks in the miry clay of despondency: it is less easy to lift a
soul up to the Lord, for the height is great as well as the weight oppressive;
but the Lord will take the will for the deed, and come in with a hand of
almighty grace to raise his poor servant out of the earth and up to heaven.
Verse
5. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive. Good at
giving and forgiving; supplying us with his good, and removing our
evil. Here was the great reason why the Psalmist looked to the Lord alone for
his joy, because every joy creating attribute is to be found in perfection in
Jehovah alone. Some men who would be considered good are so self exultingly
indignant at the injuries done them by others, that they cannot forgive; but we
may rest assured that the better a being is, the more willing he is to forgive,
and the best and highest of all is ever ready to blot out the transgressions of
his creatures. And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. God
does not dispense his mercy from a slender store which perchance may be so
impoverished as to give out altogether, but out of a cornucopiae he pours forth
the infinite riches of his mercy: his goodness flows forth in abounding streams
towards those who pray and in adoring worship make mention of his name. David
seems to have stood in the cleft of the rock with Moses, and to have heard the
name of the Lord proclaimed even as the great lawgiver did, for in two places
in this psalm he almost quotes verbatim the passage in Ex 34:6—"The
Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and
truth."
Verse
6. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer. Even the glory which his
spirit had beheld did not withdraw him from his prayer, but rather urged him to
be more fervent in it; hence he implores the Lord to hear his requests. Attend
to the voice of my supplications. Here are repetitions, but not vain
repetitions. When a child cries it repeats the same note, but it is equally in
earnest every time, and so was it with the suppliant here. Note the expression,
"the voice of my supplications", as if they were not all voice but
were partly made up of inarticulate noise, yet amid much that was superfluous
there really was a distinct voice, an inner meaning, a living sense which was
the heart's intention. This he would have the Lord sift out from the chaff, and
hear amid the mingled din. May our prayers never be voiceless; may the soul's
intent always give them a live core of meaning.
Verse
7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt
answer me. A pious resolve backed by a judicious reason. It is useless to
cry to those who cannot or will not hear; once convince men that prayer has no
effect upon God, and they will have no more of it. In these busy days and
especially in troublous times, men cannot afford to waste time in entreaties
which must be unavailing. Our experience confirms us in the belief that Jehovah
the living God really does aid those who call upon him, and therefore we pray
and mean to pray, not because we are so fascinated by prayer that for its own
sake we would continue in it if it proved to be mere folly and superstition, as
vain philosophers assert; but because we really, indeed, and of a truth, find
it to be a practical and effectual means of obtaining help from God in the hour
of need. There can be no reason for praying if there be no expectation of the
Lord's answering. Who would make a conscience of pleading with the winds, or
find a solace in supplicating the waves? The mercy seat is a mockery if there
be no hearing nor answering. David, as the following verses show, believed the
Lord to be a living and potent God, and indeed to be "God alone", and
it was on that account that he resolved in every hour of trouble to call upon
him.
Verse
8. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. There
are gods by delegated office, such as kings and magistrates, but they are as
nothing in the presence of Jehovah; there are also gods by the nomination of
superstition, but these are vanity itself, and cannot be compared with the
living and true God. Even if the heathen idols were gods, none of them in power
or even in character, could be likened unto the self existent, all creating God
of Israel. If every imaginary deity could start into actual existence, and
become really divine, yet would we choose Jehovah to be our God, and reject all
others. Neither are there any works like unto thy works. What have the false
gods ever made or unmade? What miracles have they wrought? When did they divide
a sea, or march through a wilderness scattering bread from the skies? O
Jehovah, in thy person and in thy works, thou art as far above all gods as the
heavens are above the nethermost abyss.
Verse
9. All nations whom thou hast made, and these include all
mankind, since they all come of the first Adam—thy creature, and their lives
are all distinct creations of thine omnipotence. All these shall come
with penitent hearts, in thine own way, to thine own self, and worship
before thee, O Lord. Because thou art thus above all gods, the people who
have been so long deceived shall at last discover thy greatness, and shall
render thee the worship which is thy due: thou hast created them all, and unto
thee shall they all yield homage. This was David's reason for resorting to the
Lord in trouble, for he felt that one day all men would acknowledge the Lord to
be the only God. It makes us content to be in the minority today, when we are
sure that the majority will be with us tomorrow, ay, and that the truth will
one day be carried unanimously and heartily. David was not a believer in the
theory that the world will grow worse and worse, and that the dispensation will
wind up with general darkness, and idolatry. Earth's sun is to go down amid
tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do
we expect, but we look for day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn
righteousness, shall trust in the Saviour, shall worship thee alone, O God, and
shall glorify thy name. The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of
the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be unscriptural the
better for the cause of God. It neither consorts with prophecy, honours God,
nor inspires the church with ardour. Far hence be it driven.
Verse
10. For thou art great. He had before said, "thou art
good"; it is a grand thing when greatness and goodness are united; it is
only in the Divine Being that either of them exists absolutely, and
essentially. Happy is it for us that they both exist in the Lord to an equal
degree. To be great and not good might lead to tyranny in the King, and for him
to be good and not great might involve countless calamities upon his subjects
from foreign foes, so that either alternative would be terrible; let the two be
blended, and we have a monarch in whom the nation may rest and rejoice. And
doest wondrous things. Being good, he is said to be ready to forgive: being
great, he works wonders: we may blend the two, for there is no wonder so
wonderful as the pardon of our transgressions. All that God does or makes has
wonder in it; he breathes, and the wind is mystery; he speaks, and the thunder
astounds us; even the commonest daisy is a marvel, and a pebble enshrines
wisdom. Only to fools is anything which God has made uninteresting: the world
is a world of wonders. Note that the verb doest is in the present, the
Lord is doing wondrous things, they are transpiring before our eyes. Where are
they? Look upon the bursting buds of spring or the maturing fruits of autumn,
gaze on the sky or skim the sea, mark the results of providence and the
victories of grace, everywhere at all times the great Thaumaturge
stretches forth his rod of power.
Thou
art God alone. Alone wast thou God before thy creatures were; alone in godhead
still art thou now that thou hast given life to throngs of beings; alone for
ever shalt thou be, for none can ever rival thee. True religion makes no
compromises, it does not admit Baal or Dagon to be a god; it is exclusive and
monopolizing, claiming for Jehovah nothing less than all. The vaunted
liberality of certain professors of modern thought is not to be cultivated by
believers in the truth. "Philosophic breadth" aims at building a Pantheon,
and piles a Pandemonium; it is not for us to be helpers in such an evil work.
Benevolently intolerant, we would, for the good of mankind, as well as for the
glory of God, undeceive mankind as to the value of their compromises,—they are
mere treason to truth. Our God is not to be worshipped as one among many good
and true beings, but as God alone; and his gospel is not to be preached as one
of several saving systems, but as the one sole way of salvation. Lies can face
each other beneath one common dome; but in the temple of truth the worship is
one and indivisible.
Verse
11. Teach me thy way, O LORD. Instruct me thus at all times,
let me live in thy school; but teach me now especially since I am in trouble
and perplexity. Be pleased to shew me the way which thy wisdom and mercy have
prepared for my escape; behold I lay aside all wilfulness, and only desire to
be informed as to thy holy and gracious mind. Not my way give me, but thy
way teach me, I would follow thee and not be wilful. I will walk in thy truth.
When taught I will practise what I know, truth shall not be a mere doctrine or
sentiment to me, but a matter of daily life. The true servant of God regulates
his walk by his master's will, and hence he never walks deceitfully, for God's
way is ever truth. Providence has a way for us, and it is our wisdom to keep in
it. We must not be as the bullock which needs to be driven and urged forward
because it likes not the road, but be as men who voluntarily go where their
trusted friend and helper appoints their path. Unite my heart to fear thy name.
Having taught me one way, give me one heart to walk therein, for too often I
feel a heart and a heart, two natures contending, two principles struggling for
sovereignty. Our minds are apt to be divided between a variety of objects, like
trickling streamlets which waste their force in a hundred runnels; our great
desire should be to have all our life floods poured into one channel and to
have that channel directed towards the Lord alone. A man of divided heart is
weak, the man of one object is the man. God who created the bands of our
nature can draw them together, tighten, strengthen, and fasten them, and so
braced and inwardly knit by his uniting grace, we shall be powerful for good,
but not otherwise. To fear God is both the beginning, the growth, and the
maturity of wisdom, therefore should we be undividedly given up to it, heart,
and soul.
Verse
12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. When
my heart is one, I will give thee all of it. Praise should never be rendered
with less than all our heart, and soul, and strength, or it will be both unreal
and unacceptable. This is the second time in the psalm that David calls the
Lord "my God", the first time he was in an agony of prayer (Ps 86:2),
and now he is in an ecstacy of praise. If anything can make a man pray and
praise, it is the knowledge into that the Lord is his God. And I will glorify
thy name for evermore, eternity gratitude will prolong its praise. God has
never done blessing us, let us never have done blessing him. As he ever gives
us grace, let us ever render to him the glory of it.
Verse
13. For great is thy mercy toward me. Personal experience is
ever the master singer. Whatever thou art to others, to me thy mercy is most
notable. The psalmist claims to sing among the loudest, because his debt to
divine mercy is among the greatest. And thou hast delivered my soul from the
lowest hell. From the direst death and the deepest dishonour David had been
kept by God, for his enemies would have done more than send him to hell had
they been able. His sense of sin also made him feel as if the most overwhelming
destruction would have been his portion had not grace prevented, therefore does
he speak of deliverance from the nethermost abode of lost spirits. There are
some alive now who can use this language unfeignedly, and he who pens these
lines most humbly confesses that he is one. Left to myself to indulge my
passions, to rush onward with my natural vehemence, and defy the Lord with
recklessness of levity, what a candidate for the lowest abyss should I have
made myself by this time. For me, there was but one alternative, great mercy,
or the lowest hell. With my whole heart do I sing, "Great is thy mercy
towards me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." The
psalmist here again touches a bold and joyful note, but soon he exchanges it
for the mournful string.
Verse
14. O God, the proud are risen against me. They could not let
God's poor servant alone, his walk with God was as smoke to their eyes, and
therefore they determined to destroy him. None hate good men so fiercely as do
the high minded and domineering. And the assemblies of violent men have sought
after my soul. Unitedly oppressors sought the good man's life; they hunted in packs,
with keen scent, and eager foot. In persecuting times many a saint has used
these words in reference to Papal bishops and inquisitors. And have not set
thee before them. They would not have molested the servant if they had cared
one whit for the master. Those who fear not God are not afraid to commit
violent and cruel acts. An atheist is a misanthrope. Irreligion is akin to
inhumanity.
Verse
15. But thou, O Lord. What a contrast! We get away from the
hectorings and blusterings of proud but puny men to the glory and goodness of
the Lord. We turn from the boisterous foam of chafing waves to the sea of glass
mingled with fire, calm and serene. "Art a God full of compassion, and
gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth." A truly
glorious doxology, in which there is not one redundant word. As we have before
observed, it is mainly transcribed from Ex 34:6. Here is compassion for the
weak and sorrowing, grace for the undeserving, longsuffering for the provoking,
mercy for the guilty, and truth for the tried. God's love assumes many forms,
and is lovely in them all. Into whatsoever state we may be cast, there is a
peculiar hue in the light of love which will harmonize with our condition; love
is one and yet sevenfold, its white ray contains the chromatic scale. Are we
sorrowful? We find the Lord full of compassion. Are we contending with
temptation? His grace comes to our aid. Do we err? He is patient with us. Have
we sinned? He is plenteous in mercy. Are we resting on his promise? He will fulfil
it with abundant truth.
Verse
16. O turn unto me. As though the face of God had been before
averted in anger, the suppliant pleads for a return of conscious favour. One
turn of God's face will turn all our darkness into day. And have mercy upon me,
that is all he asks, for he is lowly in heart; that is all he wants, for mercy
answereth all a sinner's needs. Give thy strength unto thy servant. Gird me
with it that I may serve thee, guard me with it that I may not be overcome.
When the Lord gives us his own strength we are sufficient for all emergencies,
and have no cause to fear any adversaries. And save the son of thine handmaid.
He meant that he was a home born servant of God. As the sons of slaves were
their master's property by their birth, so he gloried in being the son of a
woman who herself belonged to the Lord. What others might think a degrading
illustration he uses with delight, to show how intensely he loved the Lord's
service; and also as a reason why the Lord should interpose to rescue him, seeing
that he was no newly purchased servant, but had been in the house from his very
birth.
Verse
17. Shew to me a token for good. Let me be assured of thy
mercy by being delivered out of trouble.
That
they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed.
"Some token of thy favour show,
Some sign which all my foes may see;
And filled with blank confusion know,
My comfort and my help in thee."
What
bodes good to me shall make them quail and blush. Disappointed and defeated,
the foes of the good man would feel ashamed of what they had designed.
"Because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me." God doth
nothing by halves, those whom he helps he also consoles, and so makes them not
merely safe but joyful. This makes the foes of the righteous exceedingly displeased,
but it brings to the Lord double honour. Lord, deal thou thus with us evermore,
so will we glorify thee, world without end. Amen.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE.—The prophet
David has penned two psalms, which he has eminently appropriated to himself as
his own: the one is styled David's prayer, though many other psalms are
prayers—it is Ps 86:1-17; the other David's praise, Ps 145:1-21. The
first his tephilla, the latter his tehilla; in each of these he
makes a solemn rehearsal of the very words of Moses, in Ex 34:6-7. In Ps
86:1-17 he brings them in as they were a support unto his faith in his
distresses from sins and miseries, to which use he puts them, Ps 86:3-4 6-7.
And again, Ps 86:16-17, he makes a plea of these words by way of prayer. In Ps
145:1-21, he brings them in as they are an elogium or celebration of the
glorious nature and excellencies of God, to excite the sons of men to love and
praise him.—Thomas Goodwin.
Title.—This Psalm was
published under the title of A Prayer of David; not as if David sung all
his prayers, but into some of his songs he inserted prayers; for a psalm will
admit the expression of any pious and devout affections. But it is observable
how very plain the language of this psalm is, and how little there is in it of
poetical flights or figures, in comparison with some other psalms; for the
flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer.—Matthew Henry.
Title.—There was
much, very much, of God's peculiar character, his glorious name, brought to
view in the close of the last Psalm. This may account for its being followed by
another, A Prayer of David, almost equally full of the character of
Jehovah. The key note of this Psalm is Jehovah's name.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Whole
Psalm. Christ prays throughout the whole of this Psalm. All the words
are spoken exclusively by Christ, who is both God and man.—Psalt.
Cassiodori, 1491.
Whole
Psalm. In this Psalm Christ the Son of God and Son of Man, one God with
the Father, one man with men, to whom we pray as God, prays in the form of a
servant. For he prays for us, and he prays in us, and he is prayed to by us. He
prays for us as our Priest. He prays in us as our Head. He is prayed to by us
as our God.—Psalt. Pet. Lombard. 1474.
Verse
1. Bow down thine ear, O Lord. As the careful physician doth
to his feeble patient: so Basil glosseth here.—John Trapp.
Verses
1-4. Poor, holy, trusteth, I cry. The petitioner
is first described as poor, then holy, next trusting,
after that crying, finally, lifted up to God. And each epithet
has its fitting verb; bow down to the poor, preserve the holy, save
the trusting, be merciful to him who cries, rejoice the lifted
up. It is the whole gamut of love from the Incarnation to the Ascension; it
tells us that Christ's humiliation will be our glory and joy.—Neale and
Littledale's Commentary.
Verse
2. Holy. The word has been variously translated:—Godly, De
Muis, Ainsworth and others; charitable, or beneficent, Piscator; merciful
or tenderhearted, Mariana; diligently or earnestly compassionate,
Vatablus; meek, Calvin; a beloved one, Version of American Bible
Union; one whom thou lovest, Perowne; a devoted or dedicated
man, —Weiss.
Verse
2. For I am Holy. Some have objected to David's pleading his
own good character; but if he did not go beyond the truth, and the occasion
called for it, there was nothing wrong in his so doing. Job, David, Peter, John
and Paul all did it, Job 27:5 Ps 116:16 Joh 21:15-17 Re 1:10 1Co 9:1. Nor is it
presumptuous to ask God to show mercy to us for we show it to others; or to
forgive us for we forgive others, Mt 5:7 6:14-15.—William S. Plumer.
Verse
2. I am holy...thy servant which trusteth in thee. They that
are holy, yet must not trust in themselves, or in their own righteousness, but
only in God and his grace.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
2. Save thy servant that trusteth in thee. When God saves his
servant, he saves what belongs to himself; and, when he saves him that trusts
in him, he shows himself to be just and faithful, in carrying out what he
promised.—Bellarmine.
Verses
2-5. The aspirations after holiness which are found in this Psalm,
coupled with its earnest invocation of mercy from the God with whom there is
forgiveness, render it peculiarly applicable to those whose daily access is to
a throne of needed grace. Christians know that while their standing is
the blameless perfection of the Lord their righteouness, they are in many
things offenders still. Nor do we ever fully prove the preciousness of Jesus as
our portion, except we are drawn to him by that Spirit which reveals to us a
nakedness and poverty within ourselves, which his blessed fulness can alone
redress. There is a consciousness of personal sanctification through faith (Ps
86:2) associated with an acutely sensitive perception of intrinsic worthlessness,
such as only finds relief in the remembrance of unaltered grace (Ps 86:5),
which, to the exercised spirit of one really growing in the knowledge of God,
will address itself with an especial acceptance.—Arthur Pridham.
Verse
3. Be merciful unto me. Lest any should by the former words,
("I am holy", )suspect him to be a merit monger, he beggeth
mercy with instancy and constancy of request.—John Trapp.
Verse
3. I cry unto thee daily. A great difference between saints
and sinners in prayer is that sinners who pray at all, pray only when they are
in trouble, whereas saints cry daily unto God. Compare Job 27:10.—William
S. Plumer.
Verse
4. Rejoice the soul of thy servant, etc. As I have not found
rest in anything created, I have raised up my soul on the wings of thought and
desire to thee my Creator. Love bears one's soul up; and it has been truly
said, that the soul is more where it loves, than where it actually is. Thought
and desire are the wings of love; for he that loves is borne on to, and abides
in, what he loves, by thinking constantly on, and longing for, the object of
his love. Whoever truly, and from his heart, loves God, by thinking on him and
longing for him lifts up his soul to God; while, on the contrary, whoever loves
the earth, by thinking on and coveting the things of the earth, lets his soul
down to its level.—Bellarmine.
Verse
4. Unto thee, Lord, do I lift my soul. If thou hadst corn in
thy rooms below, thou wouldest take it up higher, lest it should grow rotten.
Wouldest thou remove thy corn, and dost thou suffer thy heart to rot on the
earth? Thou wouldest take thy corn up higher: lift up thy heart to heaven. And
how can I, dost thou say? What ropes are needed? What machines? What ladders?
Thy affections are the steps; thy will the way. By loving thou mountest, by
neglect thou descendest. Standing on the earth thou art in heaven, if thou
lovest God. For the heart is not so raised as the body is raised: the body to
be lifted up changes its place: the heart to be lifted up changes its will.—Augstine.
Verse
4. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift my soul, intimates that he
had brought himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice, even as the heave
offering in the tabernacle—to show that it belonged to God and to his
altar, and, that man had no part in it—was lifted up by the hands of the
priests.—Benjamin Weiss.
Verse
4. —I lift up my soul. It denotes the devotion, fervency,
heartiness, and sincerity of his prayer; the doing of it with a true heart, the
lifting up of the heart with the hands unto God, La 3:41; or by way of offering
unto the Lord, not the body only, but the soul or heart also; or as a
deposition committed into is hands.—John Gill.
Verse
4. Lord. Here, and in all the verses in this psalm where ynda
Adonai, occurs, many MSS read hwhy, Yehovah. The Jews, out of
reverence to the incommunicable name Jehovah pronounce ynda where hwhy is in
the text. It is, therefore, not improbable that hwhy is in the true reading in
all these places.—Note to Calvin in loc.
Verse
5. For thou, Lord, art good, and whither should beggars go
but to the door of the good house keeper?—Matthew Henry.
Verse
5. Ready to forgive. The mercy of God is a ready mercy, and
his pardons are ready for his people; his pardons and mercies are not to seek,
he hath them at hand, he is good and ready to forgive. Whereas most men,
though they will forgive, yet they are not ready to forgive, they are
hardly brought to it, though they do it at last. But God is "ready to
forgive"; he hath, as it were, pardons ready drawn (as a man who would
be ready to do a business, he will have such writings as concern the passing of
it ready); there is nothing to do but to put in the date and the name; yea
indeed, the date and the name are put in from all eternity. Thus the Scripture
speaks to show how forward God is to do good; he needs not set his heart to it;
his heart is ever in the exactest fitness.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
5. Plenteous in mercy. It is a thing marvellously
satisfactory and pleasing to the heart of a man to be still taking from a great
heap; and upon this ground are those proverbial sayings, There is no fishing
like to a fishing in the sea; no service like the service of a king: because in
one there is the greatest plenty and abundance of that kind of pleasure that
fishers look after; and for them that serve, and must live by their service,
there is none like that of princes, because they have abundance of reward and
opportunity whereby to recompense the services of those that do wait and attend
upon them. . . . And upon the same ground is it that the Scriptures, in several
places, do not only assert and testify that God is merciful and gracious, but
abundant in mercy and full of grace; and not simply that there is redemption in
him, but plenteousness of redemption: Ps 103:8 130:7 Isa 55:7; "Let
the wicked forsake his way", etc.; "Let him return unto the Lord and
he will have mercy; and unto our God, for lie will abundantly pardon." The
commodity which we stand in need of is mercy and the pardon of our sins, in
case we have been unholy and ungodly creatures; this commodity is abundantly in
God. There it is treasured up as waters are in the store house of the sea;
there is no end of the treasures of his grace, mercy, pardon, and compassion.
There is no man, being in want, but had ten times rather go to a rich man's
door to be relieved, than to the door of a poor man, if he knoweth the rich man
to be as liberal and bountifully disposed as the poor man can be.—John
Goodwin.
Verse
6. Supplications ytwnwxt, deprecations. The Psalmist forms a
peculiar Hebrew word, feminine plural, not found elsewhere, to convey more
impressively the idea of suppliant weakness.—A.R. Fausset.
Verses
8-10.—There are two kinds of doubt which are wont in the hour of
temptation to assail the soul: the doubt as to God's willingness, and
the doubt as to God's power to succour. The first of these the Psalmist
has already put from him; he now shows that he has overcome the second. God is
able as well as willing to help, and every being on the face of the earth who
receives help, receives it from the hand of Him who is the only God, and who
shall one day be recognized (so speaks the strong prophetic hope within him, Ps
86:9) as the only God.—J.J.S. Perowne.
Verses
9-10. All nations shall worship before thee, because as King of
Nations, thou art great, thy sovereignty absolute and incontestable, thy
Majesty terrible and unsupportable, thy power universal and irresistible, thy
riches vast and inexhaustible, thy dominion boundless and unquestionable; and
for the proof of this, thou doest wondrous things, which all nations
admire, and from whence they might easily infer that thou art God alone;
not only none like thee, but none beside thee.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
11. Teach me thy way: I will walk in thy truth: unite my
heart. Here is the "Via, Veritas, Vita" of the Gospel (Joh 14:6).
"Via tua, Veritas tua, Vita tua, Christus." Christ is our Way, Truth,
and Life, because he is Man united to God, and is one substance with the
Father.—Christopher Wordsworth.
Verse
11. Teach me. There is no point on which the world is more
dark than that of its own ignorance—we might truly say, "it is ignorant of
its ignorance"—it knows enough when it learns by rote a few first
principles of religion; it comforts itself that it is not atheistical because it
believes that there is a God; but as to knowing his ways, laws, mind, or any
such things, with them it has nothing at all to do. The people of the world do
not care for enlightenment; they feel no pressing need for it; in all
probability they have an instinctive feeling that if enlightened they would
know a little more than they wish to know, that their newly acquired knowledge
would interfere with their old habits and ways, and this is one reason why all
spiritual teaching which goes beneath the surface is distasteful to the
majority of men. They cannot bear to be brought into contact with God, in
anything but a general way; the particulars of his character may not agree over
well with the particulars of their lives! It is the fashion in the present day to
talk of man's enlightenment, and to represent human nature as upheaving under
its load, as straining towards a knowledge of truth; such is not in reality the
case, and whenever there is an effort in the mind untaught of the Spirit, it is
directed towards God as the great moral and not as the great spiritual
Being. A man untaught of the Holy Ghost may long to know a moral, he can
never desire to know a spiritual Being.—John Hyatt, 1767-1826.
Verse
11. Teach. The common version of the verb here is too vague,
as it fails to bring out the peculiar suitableness of the term to express the
kind of teaching here specifically meant. The original meaning of the Hebrew
word is to point out or mark the way.—J.A. Alexander.
Verse
11. I will walk in thy truth. Conform to Scripture. Let us
lead Scripture lives. Oh that the Bible might be seen to be printed in our
lives! Do what the Word commands. Obedience is an excellent way of commenting
upon the Bible. Let the Word be the sun dial by which you set your life. What are
we the better for having the Scriptures, if we do not direct all our speeches
and actions according to it? What is a carpenter better for his rule about him,
if he sticks it at his back, and never makes use of it for measuring and
squaring? So, what are we the better for the rule of the Word, if we do not
make use of it, and regulate our lives by it?—Thomas Watson.
Verse
11. I will walk in thy truth. Walking, in the Scripture, takes
in the whole of our conversation or conduct: and to walk in anything, intends
a fulness of it. For a man to walk in pride, is something more than to
be proud: it says, that pride is his way, his element; that he is wholly under
the influence of it.—William Jay.
Verse
11. Unite my heart to fear thy name. The end which he
desired to secure was that he might truly fear God, or properly reverence and
honour him; the means which he saw to be necessary for this was that his
"heart" might be "united" in this one great
object; that is, that his heart might be single in its views and purposes; that
there might be no distracting purposes; that one great aim might be always
before him. The word rendered unite—dxy, yahhad—occurs as
a verb only in three places. In Ge 49:6 it is rendered united:
"Unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united." In Isa
14:20 it is translated joined: "Thou shalt not be joined
unto them." The adverb—dxy ya-hhad—occurs often, and is
rendered together, Ge 13:6 22:6,8,19 36:7; et soepe. The idea is
that of union, or conjunction; of being together; of constituting one; and this
is accomplished in the heart when there is one great ruling object before the
mind which nothing is allowed to interfere with. It may be added, that there is
no more appropriate prayer which a man can offer than that his heart may have such
unity of purpose, and that nothing may be allowed to interfere with that one
supreme purpose.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
11. Unite my heart, etc. Sincerity drives but one design, and
that is to please and enjoy God; and what can more establish and fix the soul
in the hour of temptation than this? The reason why the hypocrite is unstable
in all his ways, is given us by the apostle: he is "a double minded
man", a man of two souls in one body; as a profane wretch once boasted,
that he had one soul for God, and another for anything. But all the designs of
a gracious heart are united in one; and so the entire stream of his affections
runs strong. It is base by ends and self interests, that, like a great many
ditches cut out of the bank of a river, draw away the stream out of its proper
channel, and make its waters fail. But if the heart be united for God, then we
may say of such a Christian, as was said of a young Roman, "What he does
is done with all his might." A man of only one design, puts out all his
strength to carry it; nothing can stand before him. Sincerity brings a man's
will into subjection to the will of God; and this being done, the greatest
danger and difficulty is over with such a man. This is that holy oil which
makes the wheels of the soul run nimbly, even in the difficult paths of
obedienee.—John Flavel.
Verse
11. Unite my heart.
Give
me thine heart but as I gave it thee:
Or give it me at least as I
Have given mine
To purchase thine.
I
halved it not when I did die;
But gave myself wholly to set thee free.
The heart I gave thee was a living heart;
And when thy heart by sin was slain,
I laid down mine
To ransom thine,
That
thy dead heart might live again,
And live entirely perfect, not in part.
But whilst thine heart's divided, it is dead;
Dead unto me, unless it liveTo me alone,
It is all one
To keep all, and a part to give:
For what's a body worth without an head!
Yet,
this is worse, that what thou keepest from me
Thou dost bestow upon my foes
And those not mine
Alone, but thine;
The proper causes of thy woes,
From whom I gave my life to set thee free.
Have
I betrothed thee to myself, and shall
The devil, and the world, intrude
Upon my right,
Eeen in my sight?
Think
not thou canst me so delude:
I will have none, unless I may have all.
I made it all, I gave it all to thee,
I gave all that I had for it:
If I must lose,
I would rather choose
Mine interest in all to quit:
Or keep it whole, or give it whole to me.
—Francis Quarles, in "The School of the Heart."
Verse
11. Unite my heart to fear thy name.
In
knotts, to be loosed never,
Knitt my heart to thee forever,
That I to thy name may beare
Fearful love and loving feare.
—Francis Davison.
Verse
12. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I
will glorify thy name. We glorify God by praising him. Doxology, or praise,
is a God exalting work. Ps 50:23. "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth
me." The Hebrew word, Bara, to create, and Barak, to praise,
are little different, because the end of creation is to praise God. Though
nothing can add to God's essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of
others. When we praise God, we spread his fame and renown, we display the
trophies of his excellency. In this manner the angels glorify him; they are the
choristers of heaven, and do trumpet forth his praise. Praising God is one of
the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise
we act like angels. Believers are called "temples of God", 1Co 3:16.
When our tongues praise, then the organs of God's spiritual temple are
sounding. How sad it is that God hath no more glory from us in this way! Many
are full of murmuring and discontent, but seldom bring glory to God, by giving
him the praise due to his name. We read of the saints having harps in their
hands, the emblems of praise. Many have tears in their eyes and complaints in
their mouths, but few have harps in their hands, blessing and glorifying God.
Let us honour God this way. Praise is the quit rent we pay to God: while God
renews our lease, we must renew our rent.—Thomas Watson.
Verse
12. I will praise thee, O Lord, & c. Such a soul as David
was is enlarged to talk high of God: I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with
all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore. Alas! poor
creature, how canst thou proclaim him "for evermore"? A soul
fired with desire to praise God, burns after both more perfect things and more
lasting than it is able to perform. "To will is present with it",
etc. See but the reachings and longings of such a soul, how it swells in
desires to glorify God!—Thomas Goodwin.
Verse
12. With all my heart. When my heart is united
to fear thy name, then shall I praise thee with my whole heart.—Adam Clarke.
Verse
13. Hell is put metaphorically for great and extreme dangers,
or miseries which seem irrecoverable and remediless; these are figuratively
called hell, because hell, properly taken, is a place from whence there
is no recovery. There's no release from the chains of darkness: all changes are
on earth; heaven and hell know none. When David praises the Lord for
delivering his soul from the lowest hell, he meaneth an estate on earth of
the lowest and deepest danger imaginable: mercy helped him at the worst. To be
as low as hell, is to be at the lowest.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
13. The lowest hell. According to Jewish traditions, there are
seven different regions, in the abode of departed souls.—Daniel Creswell.
Verse
13. Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. Someone
having a troublesome cause was to be sent to prison: another comes and defends
him; what does he say when he thanks him? Thou hast delivered my soul out of
prison. A debtor was to be tortured: his debt is paid; he is said to be
delivered from being tortured. They were not in all these evils; but because
they were in such due course towards them, that unless aid had been brought,
they would have been in them, they rightly say that they are delivered from
thence, whither they were not suffered by their deliverers to be taken.—Augustine.
Verses
13, 16. There is no stronger argument of God's infallible readiness to
grant our requests, than the experience of his former concessions. So David
reasons, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out
of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine",
1Sa 17:37. This is the argument a priori, the voice of a strong faith,
that persuades the conscience God will be gracious to him, because he hath been
gracious. The prophet thus often comforted his soul: "Thou hast enlarged
me when I was in distress"; therefore, "have mercy upon me, and hear
my prayer", Ps 4:1. So, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest
hell; therefore, O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me. Let the
justiciaries deduce arguments from their own present merits, my soul from God's
former mercies. Thou, O Lord, madest me good, restoredst me when I was evil;
therefore have mercy upon me, miserable sinner, and give me thy salvation. Thus
Paul grounded his assurance: because the Lord had stood with him, and delivered
him out of the lion's mouth; therefore the Lord shall deliver me still, from
every evil work, and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom. 2Ti 4:17-18.—Thomas
Adams.
Verse
15. Thou, O Lord, Adonai, art a God; El, the strong God, full
of compassion; the same words as Moses useth. Instead of Jehovah, Adonai
is used, "O Lord"; but then El, strong God, is the same word.
The meaning is, let all the strength and power thou the strong God hast in thee
be for my advantage. Now, is it not a bold request to say, Lord, wilt thou give
me all thy strength to help me? A very bold request indeed; but his mercy moves
him to grant it. Thus then petition him: Thou art a God merciful and gracious,
give thy strength to me! Thou, O God, givest all thy attributes up to thy
children, to serve their advantage, as well as to serve thy own glory; give me
thy strength!—Thomas Goodwin.
Verse
15. Full of compassion. The original word Rachum is
very emphatical; it signifies such tenderness as parents have toward their
children when their bowels yearn within them.—"Critical and Practical
Exposition of the Pentateuch." 1748.
Verse
16. Save the son of thine handmaid. Deliver me, who am as
completely thy property, as the offspring of a female slave born in her
master's house, and which belongs of right to him. Ge 14:14 Jer 2:14.—William
Keatinge Clay.
Verse
17. Shew me a token for good. These words do not, as some
think, necessarily imply David's asking for some specific or miraculous token;
he regards deliverance itself as a token. We ask whether it be not true, that
in the same measnre as we recognise the mysteriously governing influence of God
in every day events, we regard those things as signs and miracles, which to
others appear common place?—Augustus F. Tholuck.
Verse
17. Perhaps, the token for good means that spiritual joy which
he asked for in the beginning of the Psalm, when he said, "Rejoice the
soul of thy servant" for such joy to a holy soul in tribulation is the
clearest sign of the grace of God, and on the sight of it all manner of
persecutors are confounded; and then the meaning would be, "shew me a
token for good"; give me the grace of that spiritual joy that will
appear exteriorily in my countenance, "that they which hate me may
see" such calmness and tranquillity of soul, "and be
confounded"; for thou, O Lord, hast helped me in the struggle,
consoled me in my sorrow, and hast already converted my sadness into interior
joy and gladness.—Robert Bellarmine.
Verse
17. Shew me a token for good, may be rendered "make me a
sign for good." Weiss paraphrases it, "make of me such a sign or
monument of good that all my enemies may be arrested by it, and be daunted at
injuring a man so assisted by the Lord."
Verse
17. Hast holpen me, in struggle; and comforted me, in
sorrow.—Augustine.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1.
1.
A singular request—that the Lord should bow his ear.
2.
A singular plea—"I am poor and needy."
3.
The singular grace of God will answer the request, because singular grace has
made the petitioner feel his need.
Verse
2.
1.
The blessing sought is present, spiritual, complete and final preservation.
2.
Our reasons for expecting it are—
(a)
Our belonging to God—"I am holy."
(b) God's belonging to us—"my God."
(c) Our faith, which has the promise.
(d) Our fruits, which prove our faith—"thy servant"
Verse
3.—Importunity.
1.
When she pleads—"daily."
2. How she pleads—"I cry."
3. To whom she pleads—"unto thee."
4. For what she pleads—"be merciful."
Verse
3.—I will cry daily for pardoning, sanctifying, assisting,
preserving, providing and guiding mercy.—William Jay.
Verse
4.
1.
The believer's joy is from God—"Rejoice", & c.
2. The believer's joy is in God—"unto thee", & c.—G.R.
Verse
4.
1.
The great lift.
2. The heavy weight—"my soul".
3. The weak worker—"I lift".
4. The great height—"unto thee".
5. The appointed machinery—means of grace; and,
6. The expected aid—"Rejoice", etc.
Verse
5.—Encouraging thoughts of God.
1.
He has goodness in his essence.
2. He has forgiveness in readiness.
3. He has mercy in action, flowing forth from him plenteously.
4. His very discrimination is gracious—"all them that call upon him."
Verse
6. The praying man desires above all things an answer. Objections to
such an expectation. Grounds for continuing to expect, and duties incumbent
upon those who realise such expectations.
Verse
6. The voice of supplication. It is the voice of weakness, of
penitence, of faith, of hope, of the new nature, of knowledge, & c.
Verse
7.
1.
Help needed.
2. Help sought.
3. Help found.—G.R.
Verse
7.
1.
A time to be expected—"day of my trouble."
2. A resolve to be practised—"I will call upon thee."
3. A result to be experienced—"thou wilt answer me."
Verse
7.—Prayer is the design of trouble, the evidence that it is
sanctified, its solace, and the medium of deliverance from it.—William Jay.
Verse
8.
1.
God is one; the only God: characters of false gods inferior far.
2.
His works are unique. Nature, providence, grace, all peculiar in many respects.
A good theme for a thoughtful preacher.
Verse
9. The certain conversion of the world as opposed to modern
theories.
Verse
10.
1.
God is "great", therefore great things may be expected of him.
2.
He is unsearchable, therefore "wondrous things" may be
expected of him.
3.
He is irresistible, therefore impossibihties to others may be expected of him: "Thou
art God alone".—G.R.
Verse
11. In the disposition of mind which is expressed in these words, the
believer stands opposed to four descriptions of character.
1.
The ignorant and thoughtless sinner, who neither regards his way nor his end.
2.
The Antinomian, who is zealous for doctrines, and averse from the practice of
religion.
3.
The Pharisee, who disregards religious sentiment, and makes practice all in
all.
4.
The hypocrite, who appears to be divided between religion and the world.—John
Hyatt, 1811.
Verse
11. The Christian as a scholar, a man of action, and a man of
devotion.
Verse
11. Holiness taught, truth practised, God adored; and thus the life
perfected.
Verse
11. (middle clause). We should walk in the belief of the
truth, its practice, enjoyment, and profession.—William Jay.
Verse
11. (third clause). The necessity, benefit, and reasonableness
of whole heartedhess in religion.
Verse
12.—The art of praising God by heart.
Verse
13.
1.
Where I might have been—"the lowest hell."
2. What thou hast done for me—"hast delivered."
3. What thou art doing—"great is thy mercy."
Verse
13. (first clause).—God's mercy great in election,
redemption, calling, pardon, upholding, etc. It is so, at this very moment, in
supplying my needs, preserving from danger, consoling in sorrow, etc. Great is
thy mercy towards me—so great a sinner, with such needs, so provoking,
so full of doubts, etc.
Verses
13-15. The three verses describe salvation, consequent persecution, and
all sufficient consolation.
Verse
15. The shades of the light of love. Compassion upon suffering, grace
towards unworthiness, long suffering to provocation, mercy towards sin, truth
towards the promise.
Verse
16.
1.
My pedigree—"son of thine handmaid."
2. My occupation—"thy servant."
3. My character—needing "mercy."
4. My request "turn unto me."
Verse
16. In what respects a servant of God may be girt with divine power.
Verse
17. What inward feelings and outward providences are "tokens
for good."
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》