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Psalm One
Hundred and Seven
Psalm 107
Chapter Contents
God's providential care of the children of men in
distresses, in banishment, and dispersion. (1-9) In captivity. (10-16) In
sickness. (17-22) Danger at sea.(23-32) God's hand is to be seen by his own
people. (33-43)
Commentary on Psalm 107:1-9
(Read Psalm 107:1-9)
In these verses there is reference to the deliverance
from Egypt, and perhaps that from Babylon: but the circumstances of travellers
in those countries are also noted. It is scarcely possible to conceive the
horrors suffered by the hapless traveller, when crossing the trackless sands,
exposed to the burning rays of the sum. The words describe their case whom the
Lord has redeemed from the bondage of Satan; who pass through the world as a
dangerous and dreary wilderness, often ready to faint through troubles, fears,
and temptations. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, after God,
and communion with him, shall be filled with the goodness of his house, both in
grace and glory.
Commentary on Psalm 107:10-16
(Read Psalm 107:10-16)
This description of prisoners and captives intimates that
they are desolate and sorrowful. In the eastern prisons the captives were and
are treated with much severity. Afflicting providences must be improved as
humbling providences; and we lose the benefit, if our hearts are unhumbled and
unbroken under them. This is a shadow of the sinner's deliverance from a far
worse confinement. The awakened sinner discovers his guilt and misery. Having
struggled in vain for deliverance, he finds there is no help for him but in the
mercy and grace of God. His sin is forgiven by a merciful God, and his pardon
is accompanied by deliverance from the power of sin and Satan, and by the
sanctifying and comforting influences of God the Holy Spirit.
Commentary on Psalm 107:17-22
(Read Psalm 107:17-22)
If we knew no sin, we should know no sickness. Sinners
are fools. They hurt their bodily health by intemperance, and endanger their
lives by indulging their appetites. This their way is their folly. The weakness
of the body is the effect of sickness. It is by the power and mercy of God that
we are recovered from sickness, and it is our duty to be thankful. All Christ's
miraculous cures were emblems of his healing diseases of the soul. It is also
to be applied to the spiritual cures which the Spirit of grace works. He sends
his word, and heals souls; convinces, converts them, makes them holy, and all
by the word. Even in common cases of recovery from sickness, God in his
providence speaks, and it is done; by his word and Spirit the soul is restored
to health and holiness.
Commentary on Psalm 107:23-32
(Read Psalm 107:23-32)
Let those who go to sea, consider and adore the Lord.
Mariners have their business upon the tempestuous ocean, and there witness
deliverances of which others cannot form an idea. How seasonable it is at such
a time to pray! This may remind us of the terrors and distress of conscience
many experience, and of those deep scenes of trouble which many pass through,
in their Christian course. Yet, in answer to their cries, the Lord turns their
storm into a calm, and causes their trials to end in gladness.
Commentary on Psalm 107:33-43
(Read Psalm 107:33-43)
What surprising changes are often made in the affairs of
men! Let the present desolate state of Judea, and of other countries, explain
this. If we look abroad in the world, we see many greatly increase, whose
beginning was small. We see many who have thus suddenly risen, as suddenly
brought to nothing. Worldly wealth is uncertain; often those who are filled
with it, ere they are aware, lose it again. God has many ways of making men
poor. The righteous shall rejoice. It shall fully convince all those who deny
the Divine Providence. When sinners see how justly God takes away the gifts
they have abused, they will not have a word to say. It is of great use to us to
be fully assured of God's goodness, and duly affected with it. It is our wisdom
to mind our duty, and to refer our comfort to him. A truly wise person will
treasure in his heart this delightful psalm. From it, he will fully understand
the weakness and wretchedness of man, and the power and loving-kindness of God,
not for our merit, but for his mercy's sake.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 107
Verse 3
[3] And
gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the
north, and from the south.
Gathered —
Into their own land.
Verse 4
[4] They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to
dwell in.
No city — Or
rather, no town inhabited, where they might refresh themselves.
Verse 6
[6] Then
they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their
distresses.
The Lord —
Heb. Unto Jehovah, to the true God. For the Heathens had, many of them, some knowledge
of the true God.
Verse 7
[7] And
he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
Forth —
Out of the wilderness.
Verse 10
[10] Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in
affliction and iron;
Darkness — In
dark prisons or dungeons.
Verse 12
[12]
Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there
was none to help.
Heart —
The pride and obstinacy of their hearts.
Fell —
They fell into hopeless miseries.
Verse 17
[17] Fools
because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Afflicted —
With sickness.
Verse 20
[20] He
sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Word —
His command, or blessing.
Verse 32
[32] Let
them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the
assembly of the elders.
Exalt him — In
public assemblies, and before all persons, as they have opportunity.
Elders —
The magistrates or rulers; let them not be ashamed nor afraid to speak of God's
wonderful works, before the greatest of men.
Verse 33
[33] He
turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
Rivers —
Those grounds which are well watered, and therefore fruitful. And so the
water-springs, here, and the standing water, verse 35 are taken.
Into —
Into a dry ground, which is like a parched and barren wilderness.
Verse 34
[34] A
fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.
For — He
doth not inflict these judgments without cause, but for the punishment of sin
in some, and the prevention of it in others.
Verse 35
[35] He
turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
Water —
Into a well-watered and fruitful land.
Verse 36
[36] And
there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for
habitation;
Hungry —
Poor people who could not provide for themselves.
Verse 39
[39]
Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and
sorrow.
They —
These men, who when they are exalted by God, grow insolent and secure.
Low — By
God's just judgment.
Verse 40
[40] He
poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness,
where there is no way.
Contempt —
Renders them despicable.
Wander —
Banishes them from their own courts and kingdoms, and forces them to flee into
desolate wildernesses for shelter.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
SUBJECT. This is a
choice song for the redeemed of the Lord (Ps 107:2). Although it celebrates
providential deliverances, and therefore may be sung by any man whose life has
been preserved in time of danger; yet under cover of this, it mainly magnifies
the Lord for spiritual blessings, of which temporal favours are but types arid
shadows. The theme is thanksgiving, and the motives for it. The construction of
the psalm is highly poetical, and merely as a composition it would be hard to
find its compeer among human productions. The bards of the Bible hold no second
place among the sons of song.
DIVISION. The psalmist
commences by dedicating his poem to the redeemed who have been gathered from
captivity, Ps 107:1-3; he then likens their history to that of travellers lost
in the desert, Ps 107:4-9; to that of prisoners in iron bondage, Ps 107:10-16;
to that of sick men, Ps 107:17-22; and to that of mariners tossed with tempest,
Ps 107:23-32. In the closing verses the judgment of God on the rebellious, and
the mercies of God to his own afflicted people are made the burden of the song,
Ps 107:33-42; and then the psalm closes with a sort of summing up, in Ps
107:43, which declares that those who study the works and ways of the Lord
shall be sure to see and praise his goodness.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. It is all we
can give him, and the least we can give; therefore let us diligently render to
him our thanksgiving. The psalmist is in earnest in the exhortation, hence the
use of the interjection "O", to intensity his words: let us be at all
times thoroughly fervent in the praises of the Lord, both with our lips and
with our lives, by thanksgiving and thanks living. JEHOVAH, for that is the
name here used, is not to be worshipped with groans and cries, but with thanks,
for he is good; and these thanks should be heartily rendered, for his is no
common goodness: he is good by nature, and essence, and proven to be good in
all the acts of his eternity. Compared with him there is none good, no, not
one: but he is essentially, perpetually, superlatively, infinitely good. We are
the perpetual partakers of his goodness, and therefore ought above all his
creatures to magnify his name. Our praise should be increased by the fact that
the divine goodness is not a transient thing, but in the attribute of mercy
abides for ever the same, for his mercy endureth for ever. The word endureth
has been properly supplied by the translators, but yet it somewhat restricts
the sense, which will be better seen if we read it, "for his mercy
forever." That mercy had no beginning, and shall never know an end.
Our sin required that goodness should display itself to us in the form of
mercy, and it has done so, and will do so evermore; let us not be slack in
praising the goodness which thus adapts itself to our fallen nature.
Verse
2. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so. Whatever others may
think or say, the redeemed have overwhelming reasons for declaring the goodness
of the Lord. Theirs is a peculiar redemption, and for it they ought to render
peculiar praise. The Redeemer is so glorious, the ransom price so immense, and
the redemption so complete, that they are under sevenfold obligations to give
thanks unto the Lord, and to exhort others to do so. Let them not only feel so
but say so; let them both sing and bid their fellows sing. Whom he hath redeemed
from the hand of the enemy. Snatched by superior power away from fierce
oppressions, they are bound above all men to adore the Lord, their Liberator.
Theirs is a divine redemption, "he hath redeemed" them, and no one
else has done it. His own unaided arm has wrought out their deliverance. Should
not emancipated slaves be grateful to the hand which set them free? What
gratitude can suffice for a deliverance from the power of sin, death, and hell?
In heaven itself there is no sweeter hymn than that whose burden is, "Thou
hast redeemed us unto God by thy blood."
Verse
3. And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from
the west, from the north, and from the south. Gathering follows upon
redeeming. The captives of old were restored to their own land from every
quarter of the earth, and even from beyond the sea; for the word translated south
is really the sea. No matter what divides, the Lord will gather his own
into one body, and first on earth by "one Lord, one faith, and one
baptism", and then in heaven by one common bliss they shall be known to be
the one people of the One God. What a glorious Shepherd must, he be who thus
collects the blood bought flock from the remotest regions, guides them through
countless perils, and at last makes them to lie down in the green pastures of
Paradise. Some have wandered one way and some another they have all left
Immanuel's land and strayed as far as they could, and great are the grace and
power by which they are all collected into one flock by the Lord Jesus. With
one heart and voice let the redeemed praise the Lord who gathers them into one.
Verse
4. They wandered in the wilderness. They wandered, for
the track was lost, no vestige of a road remained; worse still, they wandered in
a wilderness, where all around was burning sand. They were lost in the
worst possible place, even as the sinner is who is lost in sin; they wandered
up and down in vain searches and researches as a sinner does when he is
awakened and sees his lost estate; but it ended in nothing, for they still
continued in the wilderness, though they had hoped to escape from it. In a
solitary way. No dwelling of man was near, and no other company of travellers
passed within hail. Solitude is a great intensifier of misery. The loneliness
of a desert has a most depressing influence upon the man who is lost in the
boundless waste. The traveller's way in the wilderness is a waste way,
and when he leaves even that poor, barren trail, to get utterly beyond the path
of man, he is in a wretched plight indeed. A soul without sympathy is on the
borders of hell: a solitary way is the way of despair. They found no city to
dwell in. How could they? There was none. Israel in the wilderness abode under
canvas, and enjoyed none of the comforts of settled life; wanderers in the
Sahara find no town or village. Men when under distress of soul find nothing to
rest upon, no comfort and no peace; their efforts after salvation are many,
weary, and disappointing, and the dread solitude of their hearts fills them
with dire distress.
Verse
5. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. The
spirits sink when the bodily frame becomes exhausted by long privations. Who
can keep his courage up when he is ready to fall to the ground at every step
through utter exhaustion? The supply of food is all eaten, the water is spent
in the bottles, and there are neither fields nor streams in the desert, the
heart therefore sinks in dire despair. Such is the condition of an awakened
conscience before it knows the Lord Jesus; it is full of unsatisfied cravings,
painful needs, and heavy fears. It is utterly spent and without strength, and
there is nothing in the whole creation which can minister to its refreshment.
Verse
6. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble. Not till
they were in extremities did they pray, but the mercy is that they prayed then,
and prayed in the right manner, with a cry, and to the right person,
even to the Lord. Nothing else remained for them to do; they could not
help themselves, or find help in others, and therefore they cried to God.
Supplications which are forced out of us by stern necessity are none the less
acceptable with God; but, indeed, they have all the more prevalence, since they
are evidently sincere, and make a powerful appeal to the divine pity. Some men
will never pray till they are half starved, and for their best interests it is
far better for them to be empty and faint than to be full and stouthearted. If
hunger brings us to our knees it is more useful to us than feasting; if thirst
drives us to the fountain it is better than the deepest draughts of worldly
joys; and if fainting leads to crying it is better than the strength of the
mighty, And he delivered them out of their distresses. Deliverance follows
prayer most surely. The cry must have been very feeble, for they were faint,
and their faith was as weak as their cry; but yet they were heard, and heard at
once. A little delay would have been their death: but there was none, for the
Lord was ready to save them. The Lord delights to come in when no one else can
be of the slightest avail. The case was hopeless till Jehovah interposed, and
then all was changed immediately; the people were shut up, straitened, and
almost pressed to death, but enlargement came to them at once when they began
to remember their God, and look to him in prayer. Those deserve to die of
hunger who will not so much as ask for bread, and he who being lost in a desert
will not beg the aid of a guide cannot be pitied even if he perish in the wilds
and feed the vultures with his flesh.
Verse
7. And he led them forth by the right way. There are many
wrong ways, but only one right one, and into this none can lead us but God
himself. When the Lord is leader the way is sure to be right; we never need
question that. Forth from the pathless mazes of the desert he conducted the
lost ones; he found the way, made the way, and enabled them to walk along it,
faint and hungry as they were. That they might go to a city of habitation. The
end was worthy of the way: he did not lead them from one desert to another, but
he gave the wanderers an abode, the weary ones a place of rest. They
found no city to dwell in, but he found one readily enough. What we
can do and what God can do are two very different things. What a
difference it made to them to leave their solitude for a city, their trackless
path for well frequented streets, and their faintness of heart for the
refreshment of a home! Far greater are the changes which divine love works in
the condition of sinners when God answers their prayers and brings them to
Jesus. Shall not the Lord be magnified for such special mercies? Can we who
have enjoyed them sit down in ungrateful silence?
Verse
8. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness. Men
are not mentioned here in the original, but the word is fitly supplied by the
translators; the psalmist would have all things in existence magnify Jehovah's
name. Surely men will do this without being exhorted to it when the
deliverance is fresh in their memories. They must be horrible ingrates who will
not honour such a deliverer for so happy a rescue from the most cruel death. It
is well that the redeemed should be stirred up to bless the Lord again and
again, for preserved life deserves life long thankfulness. Even those who have
not encountered the like peril, and obtained the like deliverance, should bless
the Lord in sympathy with their fellows, sharing their joy. And for his
wonderful works to the children of men. These favours are bestowed upon our
race, upon children of the family to which we belong, and therefore we ought to
join in the praise. The children of men are so insignificant, so feeble, and so
undeserving, that it is a great wonder that the Lord should do anything for
them; but he is not content with doing little works, he puts forth his wisdom,
power, and love to perform marvels on the behalf of those who seek him. In the
life of each one of the redeemed there is a world of wonders, and therefore
from each there should resound a world of praises. As to the marvels of grace
which the Lord has wrought for his church as a whole there is no estimating
them, they are as high above our thoughts as the heavens are high above the
earth. When shall the day dawn when the favoured race of man shall be as
devoted to the praise of God as they are distinguished by the favour of God?
Verse
9. For he satisfieth the longing soul. This is the summary of
the lost traveller's experience. He who in a natural sense has been rescued
from perishing in a howling wilderness ought to bless the Lord who brings hint
again to eat bread among men. The spiritual sense is, however, the more rich in
instruction. The Lord sets us longing and then completely satisfies us. That
longing leads us into solitude, separation, thirst, faintness and self despair,
and all these conduct us to prayer, faith, divine guidance, satisfying of the
soul's thirst, and rest: the good hand of the Lord is to be seen in the whole
process and in the divine result. And filleth the hungry soul with goodness. As
for thirst he gives satisfaction, so for hunger he supplies filling. In both
cases the need is more than met, there is an abundance in the supply which is
well worthy of notice: the Lord does nothing in a niggardly fashion; satisfying
and filling are his peculiar modes of treating his guests; none who come under
the Lord's providing ever complain of short commons. Nor does he fill the
hungry with common fare, but with goodness itself. It is not so much
good, as the essence of goodness which he bestows on needy suppliants. Shall
man be thus royally supplied and return no praise for the largeness of love? It
must not be so. We will even now give thanks with all the redeemed church, and
pray for the time when the whole earth shall be filled with his glory.
Verse
10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. The
cell is dark of itself, and the fear of execution casts a still denser gloom
over the prison. Such is the cruelty of man to man that tens of thousands have
been made to linger in places only fit to be tombs; unhealthy, suffocating,
filthy sepulchres, where they have sickened and died of broken hearts.
Meanwhile the dread of sudden death has been the most hideous part of the
punishment; the prisoners have felt as if the chill shade of death himself
froze them to the very marrow. The state of a soul under conviction of sin is
forcibly symbolized by such a condition; persons in that state cannot see the
promises which would yield them comfort, they sit still in the inactivity of
despair, they fear the approach of judgment, and are thereby as much distressed
as if they were at death's door. Being bound in affliction and iron. Many
prisoners have been thus doubly fettered in heart and hand; or the text may
mean that affliction becomes as an iron band to them, or that the iron chains
caused them great affliction. None know these things but those who have felt
them; we should prize our liberty more if we knew by actual experience what
manacles and fetters mean. In a spiritual sense affliction frequently attends
conviction of sin, and then the double grief causes a double bondage. In such
cases the iron enters into the soul, the poor captives cannot stir because of
their bonds, cannot rise to hope because of their grief, and have no power
because of their despair. Misery is the companion of all those who are shut up
and cannot come forth. O ye who are made free by Christ Jesus, remember those
who are in bonds.
Verse
11. Because they rebelled against the words of God. This was
the general cause of bondage among the ancient people of God, they were given
over to their adversaries because they were not loyal to the Lord. God's words
are not to be trifled with, and those who venture on such rebellion will bring
themselves into bondage. And contemned the counsel of the Most High. They
thought that they knew better than the Judge of all the earth, and therefore
they left his ways and walked in their own. When men do not follow the divine
counsel they give the most practical proof of their contempt for it. Those who
will not be bound by God's law will, ere long, be bound by the fetters of
judgment. There is too much contemning of the divine counsel, even among
Christians, and hence so few of them know the liberty wherewith Christ makes us
free.
Verse
12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labour. In
eastern prisons men are frequently made to labour like beasts of the field. As
they have no liberty, so they have no rest. This soon subdues the stoutest
heart, and makes the proud boaster sing another tune. Trouble and hard toil are
enough to tame a lion. God has methods of abating the loftiness of rebellious
looks; the cell and the mill make even giants tremble. They fell down, and
there was none to help. Stumbling on in the dark beneath their weary task, they
at last fell prone upon the ground, but no one came to pity them or to lift
them up. Their fall might be fatal for aught that any man cared about them;
their misery was unseen, or, if observed, no one could interfere between them
and their tyrant masters. In such a wretched plight the rebellious Israelite
became more lowly in mind, and thought more tenderly of his God and of his
offences against him. When a soul finds all its efforts at self salvation prove
abortive, and feels that it is now utterly without strength, then the Lord is
at work hiding pride from man and preparing the afflicted one to receive his
mercy. The spiritual case which is here figuratively described is desperate,
and therefore affords the finer field for the divine interposition; some of us
remember well how brightly mercy shone in our prison, and what music the
fetters made when they fell off from our hands. Nothing but the Lord's love
could have delivered us; without it we must have utterly perished.
Verse
13. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. Not a
prayer till then. While there was any to help below they would not look above.
No cries till their hearts were brought down and their hopes were all dead—then
they cried, but not before. So many a man offers what he calls prayer when he
is in good case and thinks well of himself, but in very deed the only real cry
to God is that which is forced out of him by a sense of utter helplessness and
misery. We pray best when we are fallen on our faces in painful helplessness.
And he saved them out of their distresses. Speedily and willingly he sent
relief. They were long before they cried, but he was not long before he saved.
They had applied everywhere else before they came to him, but when they did
address themselves to him, they were welcome at once. He who saved men in the
open wilderness can also save in the close prison: bolts and bars cannot shut
him out, nor long shut in his redeemed ones.
Verse
14. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death.
The Lord in providence fetches out prisoners from their cells and bids them
breathe the sweet fresh air again, and then he takes off their fetters, and
gives liberty to their aching limbs. So also he frees men from care and
trouble, and especially from the misery and slavery of sin. This he does with
his own hand, for in the experience of all the saints it is certified that
there is no jail delivery unless by the Judge himself. And brake their bands in
sunder. Set them free by force, so liberating them that they could not be
chained again, for he had broken the manacles to pieces. The Lord's
deliverances are of the most complete and triumphant kind, he neither leaves
the soul in darkness nor in bonds, nor does he permit the powers of evil again
to enthral the liberated captive. What he does is done for ever. Glory be to
his name.
Verse
15. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for
his wonderful works to the children of men. The sight of such goodness
makes a right minded man long to see the Lord duly honoured for his amazing
mercy. When dungeon doors fly open, and chains are snapped, who can refuse to
adore the glorious goodness of the Lord? It makes the heart sick to think of
such gracious mercies remaining unsung: we cannot but plead with men to
remember their obligations and extol the Lord their God.
Verse
16. For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of
Zion in sunder. This verse belongs to that which precedes it, and Sums up
the mercy experienced by captives. The Lord breaks the strongest gates and bars
when the time comes to set free his prisoners: and spiritually the Lord Jesus
has broken the most powerful of spiritual bonds and made us free indeed. Brass
and iron are as tow before the flame of Jesus' love. The gates of hell shall
not prevail against us, neither shall the bars of the grave detain us. Those of
us who have experienced his redeeming power must and will praise the Lord for
the wonders of his grace displayed on our behalf.
Verse
17. Fools because of their transgression, and because of their
iniquities, are afflicted. Many sicknesses are the direct result of foolish
acts. Thoughtless and lustful men by drunkenness, gluttony, and the indulgence
of their passions fill their bodies with diseases of the worst kind. Sin is at
the bottom of all sorrow, but some sorrows are the immediate results of
wickedness: men by a course of transgression afflict themselves and are fools
for their pains. Worse still, even when they are in affliction they are fools
still; and if they were brayed in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet would
not their folly depart from them. From one transgression they go on to many
iniquities, and while under the rod they add sin to sin. Alas, even the Lord's
own people sometimes play the fool in this sad manner.
Verse
18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. Appetite departs
from men when they are sick: the best of food is nauseous to them, their
stomach turns against it. And they draw near unto the gates of death. From want
of food, and from the destructive power of their malady, they slide gradually
down till they lie at the door of the grave; neither does the skill of the
physician suffice to stay their downward progress. As they cannot eat there is
no support given to the system, and as the disease rages their little strength
is spent in pain and misery. Thus it is with souls afflicted with a sense of
sin, they cannot find comfort in the choicest promises, but turn away with
loathing even from the gospel, so that they gradually decay into the grave of
despair. The mercy is that though near the gates of death they are not yet
inside the sepulchre.
Verse
19. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble. They join
the praying legion at last. Saul also is among the prophets. The fool lays
aside his motley in prospect of the shroud, and betakes himself to his knees.
What a cure for the soul sickness of body is often made to be by the Lord's
grace! And he saveth them out of their distresses. Prayer is as effectual on a
sick bed as in the wilderness or in prison; it may be tried in all places and
circumstances with certain result. We may pray about our bodily pains and
weaknesses, and we may look for answers too. When we have no appetite for meat
we may have an appetite for prayer. He who cannot feed on the word of God may
yet turn to God himself and find mercy.
Verse
20. He sent his word and healed them. Man is not healed by
medicine alone, but by the word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God is man
restored from going down to the grave. A word will do it, a word has done it
thousands of times. And delivered them from their destructions. They escape
though dangers had surrounded them, dangers many and deadly. The word of the
Lord has a great delivering power; he has but to speak and the armies of death
flee in an instant. Sin sick souls should remember the power of the Word,
and be much in hearing it and meditating upon it. Spiritually considered, these
verses describe a sin sick soul: foolish but yet aroused to a sense of guilt,
it refuses comfort from any and every quarter, and a lethargy of despair utterly
paralyses it. To its own apprehension nothing remains but utter destruction in
many forms: the gates of death stand open before it, and it is, in its own
apprehension, hurried in that direction. Then is the soul driven to cry in the
bitterness of its grief unto the Lord, and Christ, the eternal Word, comes with
healing power in the direst extremity, saving to the uttermost.
Verse
21. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for
his wonderful works to the children of men. It is marvellous that men can
be restored from sickness and yet refuse to bless the Lord. It would seem
impossible that they should forget such great mercy, for we should expect to
see both themselves and the friends to whom they are restored uniting in a
lifelong act of thanksgiving. Yet when ten are healed it is seldom that more
than one returns to give glory to God. Alas, where are the nine? When a
spiritual cure is wrought by the great Physician, praise is one of the surest
signs of renewed health. A mind rescued from the disease of sin and the weary
pains of conviction, must and will adore Jehovah Rophi, the healing God: yet it
were well if there were a thousand times as much even of this.
Verse
22. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving. In
such a case let there be gifts and oblations as well as words. Let the good
Physician have his fee of gratitude. Let life become a sacrifice to him who has
prolonged it, let the deed of self denying gratitude be repeated again and
again: there must be many cheerful sacrifices to celebrate the marvellous boon.
And declare his works with rejoicing. Such things are worth telling, for the
personal declaration honours God, relieves ourselves, comforts others, and puts
all men in possession of facts concerning the divine goodness which they will
not be able to ignore.
Verse
23. They that go down to the sea in ships. Navigation was so
little practised among the Israelites that mariners were invested with a high
mystery, and their craft was looked upon as one of singular daring degree of
and peril. Tales of the sea thrilled all hearts with awe, and he who had been
to Ophir or to Tarshish and had returned alive was looked upon as a man of
renown, an ancient mariner to be listened to with reverent attention. Voyages
were looked on as descending to an abyss, "going down to the sea in
ships"; whereas now our bolder and more accustomed sailors talk of the
"high seas." That do business in great waters. If they had not had
business to do, they would never have ventured on the ocean, for we never read
in the Scriptures of any man taking his pleasure on the sea: so averse was the
Israelitish mind to seafaring, that we do not hear of even Solomon himself
keeping a pleasure boat. The Mediterranean was "the great sea" to
David and his countrymen, and they viewed those who had business upon it with
no small degree of admiration.
Verse
24. These see the works of the LORD. Beyond the dwellers on
the land they see the Lord's greatest works, or at least such as stayers at
home judge to be so when they hear the report thereof. Instead of the ocean
proving to be a watery wilderness, it is full of God's creatures, and if we
were to attempt to escape from his presence by flying to the uttermost parts of
it, we should only rush into Jehovah's arms, and find ourselves in the very
centre of his workshop. And his wonders in the deep. They see wonders in it and
on it. It is in itself a wonder and it swarms with wonders. Seamen, because
they have fewer objects around them, are more observant of those they have than
landsmen are, and hence they are said to see the wonders in the deep. At
the same time, the ocean really does contain many of the more striking of God's
creatures, and it is the scene of many of the more tremendous of the physical
phenomena by which the power and more majesty of the Lord are revealed among
men. The chief wonders alluded to by the Psalmist are a sudden storm and the
calm which follows it. All believers have not the same deep experience; but for
wise ends, that they may do business for him, the Lord sends some of his saints
to the sea of soul trouble, and there they see, as others do not, the wonders
of divine grace. Sailing over the deeps of inward depravity, the waste waters
of poverty, the billows of persecution, and the rough waves of temptation, they
need God above all others, and they find him.
Verse
25. For he commandeth: his word is enough for anything, he has
but to will it and the tempest rages. And raiseth the stormy wiled. It seemed
to he asleep before, but it knows its Master's bidding, and is up at once in
all its fury. Which lifteth up the waves thereof. The glassy surface of the sea
is broken, and myriads of white heads appear and rage and toss themselves to
and fro as the wind blows upon them. Whereas they were lying down in quiet
before, the waves rise in their might and leap towards the sky as soon as the
howling of the wind awakens them. Thus it needs but a word from God and the
soul is in troubled waters, tossed to and fro with a thousand afflictions.
Doubts, fears, terrors, anxieties lift their heads like so many angry waves,
when once the Lord allows the storm winds to beat upon us.
Verse
26. They mount up to the heaven. Borne aloft on the crest of
the wave, the sailors and their vessels appear to climb the skies, but it is
only for a moment, for very soon in the trough of the sea they go down again to
the depths. As if their vessel were but a sea bird, the mariners are tossed
"up and down, up and down, from the base of the wave to the billow's
crown." Their soul is melted because of trouble. Weary, wet, dispirited,
hopeless of escape, their heart is turned to water, and they seem to have no
manhood left. Those who have been on the spiritual deep in one of the great
storms which occasionally agitate the soul know what this verse means. In these
spiritual cyclones presumption alternates with despair, indifference with
agony! No heart is left for anything, courage is gone, hope is almost dead.
Such an experience is as real as the tossing of a literal tempest and far more
painful. Some of us have weathered many such an internal hurricane, and have
indeed seen the Lord's wondrous works.
Verse
27. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. The
violent motion of the vessel prevents their keeping their legs, and their fears
drive them out of all power to use their brains, and therefore they look like
intoxicated men. And are at their wit's end. What more can they do? They have
used every expedient known to navigation, but the ship is so strained and
beaten about that they know not how to keep her afloat. Here too the spiritual
mariner's log agrees with that of the sailor on the sea. We have staggered
frightfully! We could stand to nothing and hold by nothing. We knew not what to
do, and could have done nothing if we had known it. We were as men distracted,
and felt as if destruction itself would be better than our horrible state of
suspense. As for wit and wisdom, they were clean washed out of us, we felt
ourselves to be at a nonplus altogether.
Verse
28. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble. Though at
their wit's end, they had wit enough to pray; their heart was melted, and it
ran out in cries for help. This was well and ended well, for it is written, And
he brought them out of their distresses. Prayer is good in a storm. We may pray
staggering and reeling, and pray when we are at our wit's end. God will hear us
amid the thunder and answer us out of the storm. He brought their distresses
upon the mariners, and therefore they did well to turn to him for the removal
of them; nor did they look in vain.
Verse
29. He maketh the storm a calm. He reveals his power in the
sudden and marvellous transformations which occur at his bidding. He commanded
the storm and now he ordains a calm: God is in all natural phenomena, and we do
well to recognise his working. So that the waves thereof are still. They bow in
silence at his feet. Where huge billows leaped aloft there is scarce a ripple
to be seen. When God makes peace it is peace indeed, the peace of God which
passeth all understanding. He can in an instant change the condition of a man's
mind, so that it shall seem an absolute miracle to him that he has passed so
suddenly from hurricane to calm. O that the Lord would thus work in the reader,
should his heart be storm beaten with outward troubles or inward fears. Lord,
say the word and peace will come at once.
Verse
30. Then are they glad because they be quiet. No one can
appreciate this verse unless he has been in a storm at sea. No music can be
sweeter than the rattling of the chain as the shipmen let down the anchor; and
no place seems more desirable than the little cove, or the wide bay, in which
the ship rests in peace. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. The
rougher the voyage the more the mariners long for port, and heaven becomes more
and more "a desired haven", as our trials multiply. By storms and by
favourable breezes, though tempest and fair weather, the great Pilot and Ruler
of the sea brings mariners to port, and his people to heaven. HE must have the
glory of the successful voyage of time, and when we are moored in the river of
life above we shall take care that his praises are not forgotten. We should
long ago have been wrecked if it had not been for his preserving hand, and our
only hope of outliving the storms of the future is based upon his wisdom,
faithfulness and power. Our heavenly haven shall ring with shouts of grateful
joy when once we reach its blessed shore.
Verse
31. Oh that men would praise the Loud for his goodness, and for
his wonderful works to the children of men! Let the sea sound forth
Jehovah's praises because of his delivering grace. As the sailor touches the
shore let him lift the solemn hymn to heaven, and let others who see him
rescued from the jaws of death unite in his thanksgiving.
Verse
32. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people.
Thanks for such mercies should be given in public in the place where men
congregate for worship. And praise him in the assembly of the elders. The
praise should be presented with great solemnity in the presence of men of
years, experience, and influence. High and weighty service should be rendered
for great and distinguished favours, and therefore let the sacrifice be
presented with due decorum and with grave seriousness. Often when men hear of a
narrow escape from shipwreck they pass over the matter with a careless remark
about good luck, but it should never be thus jested with. When a heart has been
in great spiritual storms and has at last found peace, there will follow as a duty
and a privilege the acknowledgment of the Lord's mercy before his people, and
it is well that this should be done in the presence of those who hold office in
the church, and who from their riper years are better able to appreciate the
testimony.
Verse
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into
dry ground. When the Lord deals with rebellious men he can soon deprive
them of those blessings of which they feel most assured: their rivers and
perennial springs they look upon as certain never to be taken from them, but
the Lord at a word can deprive them even of these. In hot climates after long
droughts streams of water utterly fail, and even springs cease to flow, and
this also has happened in other parts of the world when great convulsions of
the earth's surface have occurred. In providence this physical catastrophe
finds its counterpart when business ceases to yield profit and sources of
wealth are made to fail; as also when health and strength are taken away, when
friendly aids are withdrawn, and comfortable associations are broken up. So,
too, in soul matters, the most prosperous ministries may become dry, the most
delightful meditations cease to benefit us, and the most fruitful religious
exercises grow void of the refreshment of grace which they formerly yielded.
Since
"It
is God who lifts our comforts high,
Or sinks them in the grave",
it
behooves us to walk before him with reverential gratitude, and so to live that
it may not become imperative upon him to afflict us.
Verse
34. A fruitful land into barrenness. This has been done in
many instances, and notably in the case of the psalmist's own country, which
was once the glory of all lands and is now almost a desert. For the wickedness
of them that dwell therein. Sin is at the bottom of sorrow. It first made the
ground sterile in father Adam's day, and it continues to have a blighting
effect upon all that it touches. If we have not the salt of holiness we shall
soon receive the salt of barrenness, for the text in the Hebrew is—"a fruitful
land into saltness." If we will not yield the Lord a harvest of obedience
he may forbid the soil to yield us a harvest of bread, and what then? If we
turn good into evil can we wonder if the Lord pays us in kind, and returns our
baseness into our own bosoms? Many a barren church owes its present sad estate
to its inconsistent behaviour, and many a barren Christian has come into this
mournful condition by a careless, unsanctified walk before the Lord. Let not
saints who are now useful run the risk of enduring the loss of their mercies,
but let them be watchful that all things may go well with them.
Verse
35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water. With
another turn of his hand he more than restores that which in judgment he took
away. He does his work of mercy on a royal scale, for a deep lake is seen where
before there was only a sandy waste. It is not by natural laws, working by some
innate force, that this wonder is wrought, but by himself—HE TURNETH. And dry
ground into watersprings. Continuance, abundance, and perpetual freshness are
all implied in watersprings, and these are created where all was dry. This
wonder of mercy is the precise reversal of the deed of judgment, and wrought by
the selfsame hand. Even thus in the church, and in each individual saint, the
mercy of the Lord soon works wonderful changes where restoring and renewing
grace begin their benign work. O that we might see this verse fulfilled in all
around us, and within our own hearts: then would these words serve us for an exclamation
of grateful astonishment, and a song of well deserved praise.
Verse
36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, where none could
dwell before. They will appreciate the change and prize his grace; as the
barrenness of the land caused their hunger so will its fertility banish it for
ever, and they will settle down a happy and thankful people to bless God for
every handful of corn which the land yields to them. None are so ready to
return a revenue of praise to God for great mercies as those who have known the
lack of them. Hungry souls make sweet music when the Lord fills them with his
gracious gifts. Are we hungry? Or are we satisfied with the husks of this poor,
swinish world? That they may prepare a city for habitation. When the earth is
watered and men cultivate it, cities spring up and teem with inhabitants; when
grace abounds where sin formerly reigned, hearts find peace and dwell in God's
love as in a strong city. The church is built up where once all was a waste
when the Lord causes the broad rivers and streams of gospel grace to flow
forth.
Verse
37. And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield
fruits of increase. Men work when God works. His blessing encourages the
sower, cheers the planter, and rewards the labourer. Not only necessaries but
luxuries are enjoyed, wine as well as corn, when the heavens are caused to
yield the needed rain to fill the watercourses. Divine visitations bring great
spiritual riches, foster varied works of faith and labours of love, and cause
every good fruit to abound to our comfort and to God's praise. When God sends
the blessing it does not supersede, but encourages and develops human exertion.
Paul plants, Apollos waters, and God gives the increase.
Verse
38. He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly;
and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. God's blessing is everything.
It not only makes men happy, but it makes men themselves, by causing men to be
multiplied upon the earth. When the Lord made the first pair he blessed them
and said "be fruitful and multiply", and here he restores the
primeval blessing. Observe that beasts as well as men fare well when God
favours his people: they share with men in the goodness or severity of divine
providence. Plagues and pests are warded off from the flock and the herd when
the Lord means well towards a people; but when chastisement is intended, the
flocks and herds rot from off the face of the earth. O that nations in the day
of their prosperity would but own the gracious hand of God, for it is to his
blessing that they owe their all.
Verse
39. Again they are minished and brought low through oppression,
affliction, and sorrow. As they change in character, so do their
circumstances alter. Under the old dispensation, this was very clearly to be observed;
Israel's ups and downs were the direct consequences of her sins and repentance.
Trials are of various kinds; here we have three words for affliction, and there
are numbers more: God has many rods and we have many smarts; and all because we
have many sins. Nations and churches soon diminish in number when they are
diminished in grace. If we are low in love to God, it is small wonder that he
brings us low in other respects. God can reverse the order of our prosperity,
and give us a diminuendo where we had a crescendo; therefore let
us walk before him with great tenderness of spirit, conscious of our dependence
upon his smile.
Verses
40-41. In these two verses we see how the Lord at will turns the wheel
of providence. Paying no respect to man's imaginary grandeur, he puts princes
down and makes them wander in banishment as they had made their captives wander
when they drove them from land to land: at the same time, having ever a tender
regard for the poor and needy, the Lord delivers the distressed and sets them
in a position of comfort and happiness. This is to be seen upon the roll of
history again and again, and in spiritual experience we remark its counterpart:
the self sufficient are made to despise themselves and search in vain for help
in the wilderness of their nature, while poor convicted souls are added to the
Lord's family and dwell in safety as the sheep of his fold.
Verse
42. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice. Divine providence
causes joy to God's true people; they see the hand of the Lord in all things,
and delight to study the ways of his justice and of his grace. And all iniquity
shall stop her mouth. What can she say? God's providence is often so conclusive
in its arguments of fact, that there is no replying or questioning. It is not
long that the impudence of ungodliness can be quiet, but when God's judgments
are abroad it is driven to hold its tongue.
Verse
43. Those who notice providence shall never be long without a
providence notice. It is wise to observe what the Lord doth, for he is
wonderful in counsel; has given us eyes to see with, and it is foolish to close
them when there is most to observe; but we must observe wisely, otherwise we
may soon confuse ourselves and others with hasty reflections upon the dealings
of the Lord. In a thousand ways the lovingkindness of the Lord is shown, and if
we will prudently watch, we shall come to a better understanding of it. To
understand the delightful attribute of lovingkindness is an attainment as
pleasant it is profitable: those who are proficient scholars in this art will
be among sweetest singers to the glory of Jehovah.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. Dr. Lowth, in his 20th prelection, remarks of this psalm:—No
doubt the composition of this psalm is admirable throughout; and the
descriptive part of it adds at least its share of beauty to the whole; but what
is but most to be admired is its conciseness, and withal the
expressiveness of the diction, which strikes the imagination with inimitable
elegance. The weary and bewildered traveller, the miserable captive
in the hideous dungeon, the sick dying man, the seaman foundering in a
storm, are described in so affecting manner, that they far exceed anything of
the kind, though never so laboured. I may add that had such an Idyle appeared
in Theocritus or Virgil or had it been found as a scene in any of the Greek
tragedians, even in Aeschylus himself, it would probably have been produced as
their master piece.—Adam Clarke.
Whole
Psalm. I do not believe that the special care of God over his own people
is here rather indirectly than directly touched upon, and that
therefore this Psalm is composed to illustrate the general care of God:
1.
Because the subjects of the various deliverances are called the redeemed of
Jehovah, Ps 107:2, which is the customary title of the people of God.
2.
Because among the instances given, there are those which are peculiar to the
people of God, as in Ps 107:3 the return of the dispersed out of every part of
the globe, a singular blessing, promised in the prophecies to the people of
God, see Ps 106:47.
3.
The sick of Ps 106:17 are those who are spiritually sick even unto death, as is
clear from the fact of their being healed by the word of God; which is
not in the order of common providence. The imprisoned of Ps 107:2 are
those who on account of the worship of God fall into the power of their
enemies, you cannot well apply to any other than the people of God. If you
understand the wicked, for others among the heathen cannot be said to be
thrust into prison on account of the violation of the laws, then the liberation
belongs not to them.
4. Calling
upon God, especially upon Jehovah, under name He was known only to his
people, you cannot apply unless in a diluted and partial sense to those who are
afflicted in the general cause of providence.
5.
He commands those who are delivered to celebrate the divine goodness in the
congregation of the people and the assembly of the elders, Ps 107:32, which
is the mark of the true Church and her usual description.
6.
Lastly, instances of general providences are not wont to come under the name of
dox, grace, by which these deliverances are described, not do they
require such great and such careful attention in their consideration, as here
the sacred poet enjoins upon the pious and the wise: such things are easily
observed, and are of every day occurrence.—Venema.
Whole
Psalm. The psalm divides itself into five parts; the four first, as it
should seem, describing four divisions of the returning Israelites, and recounting
the particular accidents that had befallen each party on their journey, and the
particular mercies for which they ought to be thankful. The fifth part
describes what befalls the collected nations, or a part of them, when they
arrive at the land which was the object of their journey—I think the first
restoration or colonization before the general gathering. Whether the four
divisions of travellers are supposed to come exactly from the four distinct
quarters of the earth, perhaps is not quite certain. The first divisions are
plainly described (Ps 107:4-5), as coming across the desert, and meeting with
all the disasters usual on that route.—John Fry.
Whole
Psalm. Without insisting on an exclusive application of this psalm to
Israel, there may be traced, I think, not indistinctly, the leading incidents
of the nation's changeful experience in the descriptive language of the
narrative part. In Ps 107:4-7 the story of the wilderness is briefly told, to
the praise of the glory of his grace who satisfieth the longing soul and
filleth the hungry soul with goodness. The strong discipline of national
affliction which visited the rebellious house, until the turning again of their
captivity, when the appointed term of Babylonish exile was accomplished,
appears to form the historical groundwork of Ps 107:10-16; but in its prophetic
intention this passage would demand a far wider interpretation. The
resuscitation of Israel, both spiritually and politically, would alone
adequately fulfil these words. The sufferings of the "foolish nation"
when, filled with Jehovah's indignation they find a snare in that which should
have fed them, and pine beneath the pressure of a more grievous famine than
that of bread, until, in answer to their cry of sorrow, the word of saving health
is sent them from above, seem to be indicated in the next division (Ps
107:17-20). The language of Ps 107:22 is in agreement with this. They who had
daily gone about to establish their own righteousness are called on now to
offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and to declare his works with singing.
Besides the obvious force and beauty of the following verses (Ps 107:23-30) in
their simple meaning and their general application, we have, I believe, a
figure of Jacob's restless trouble when, like a vexed and frightened mariner,
he wandered up and down the wide sea of nations without ease, a friendless
pilgrim of the Lord's displeasure, until the long desired rest was gained at
last, under the faithful guidance of him who seeks his people in the dark and cloudy
day. Accordingly we find in the hortatory reminder of praise which follows (Ps
107:32), a mention of the gathered people and their elders, who are now called
on to celebrate, in the quiet resting places of Immanuel's land, his faithful
goodness and his might, who had turned their long endured tempest of affliction
to the calm sunshine of perpetual peace.—Arthur Pridham, in "Notes
and Reflections on the Psalms", 1869.
Verse
1. O give thanks unto the LORD. Unto no duty are we more dull
and untoward, than to the praise of God, and thanksgiving unto him; neither is
there any duty whereunto there is more need that we should be stirred up, as
this earnest exhortation doth import.—David Dickson.
Verse
1. For he is good, etc. The first words of the psalm are abundant
in thought concerning Jehovah. "For he is good." Is not this
the Old Testament version of "God is love"? 1Jo 4:8. And then, For
his mercy endureth for ever. Is not this the gushing stream from the
fountain of Love?—the never failing stream, on whose banks the redeemed of
the Lord walk, those whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy
Hengstenberg, "hand of trouble", ru. Nor is the rich significance of
these clauses diminished by our knowing that they were, from time to time, the
burden of the altar song. When the ark came to its resting place (1Ch
16:34), they sang to the Lord—"For he is good: for his mercy endureth
for ever!" In Solomon's temple, the singers and players on instruments
were making the resplendent walls of the newly risen temple resound with these
very words, when the glory descended (2Ch 5:13); and these were the words that
burst from the lips of the awe struck and delighted worshippers, who saw the
fire descend on the altar (2Ch 7:3). And in Ezra's days (Ezr 3:11), again, as soon
as the altar rose, they sang to the Lord—"Because he is good; for his
mercy endureth for ever." Our God is known to be "Love", by
the side of the atoning sacrifice. Jeremiah (Jer 33:11) too, shows how restored
Israel shall exult in this name.—Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse
1. His mercy endureth for ever. St. Paul assures us, that the
covenant of grace, which is the fountain of all mercy, was made before the
foundation of the world, and this he repeats in several of his epistles. The
Psalmist teaches the same doctrine, and frequently calls upon us to thank God,
because his mercy is for ever and ever—because his mercy is everlasting—and in
the text, because "his mercy endureth for ever; "the word "endureth"
is inserted by the translators, for there is no verb in the original neither in
strictness of speech could there be any; because there was no time when this mercy
was not exercised, neither will there be any time when the exercise of it will
fail. It was begun before all worlds, when the covenant of grace was made, and
it will continue to the ages of eternity, after this world is destroyed. So
that mercy was, and is, and will be, "for ever", and sinful
miserable man may always find relief in this eternal mercy, whenever the sense
of his misery disposes him to seek for it. And does not this motive loudly call
upon us to "give thanks"? Because there is mercy with
God—mercy to pity the miserable—and even to relieve them—although they do not
deserve it: for mercy is all free grace and unmerited love. Oh! How adorable,
then, and gracious is this attribute! How sweet is it and full of consolation
to the guilty.—William Romaine (1714-1795), in "A Practical
Comment on the Hundred and Seventh Psalm."
Verse
2. Redeemed. Moses has given us in the law a clear and full
idea of what we are to understand by the word gal, here rendered "redeemed."
If any person was either sold for a slave or carried away for a captive, then
his kinsman, who was nearest to him in blood, had the right and equity of
redemption. But no other person was suffered to redeem. And such a kinsman was
called "the redeemer", when he paid down the price for which his
relation was sold to be a slave, or paid the ransom for which he was led
captive. And there is another remarkable instance in the law, wherein it was
provided, that in any case any person was found murdered, then the nearest to
him in blood was to prosecute the murderer, and to bring him to justice, and
this nearest relation thus avenging the murder is called by the same name, a redeemer.
And how beautifully is the office of our great Redeemer represented under these
three instances; he was to us such a Redeemer in spirituals, as these were in
temrporals: for sin had brought all mankind into slavery and captivity, and had
murdered us ...This most high God, who was also man, united in one Christ, came
into the world to redeem us, and the same person being both God and man, must
merit for us as God in what he did for us as man. Accordingly, by the merits of
his obedience and sufferings, he paid the price our redemption, and we were no
longer the servants of sin; and by his most precious blood shed upon the cross,
by his death and resurrection, he overcame both death, and him who had the
power of death, and by delivering us in this manner from slavery and captivity,
he fulfilled the third part of the Redeemer's office: for Satan was the
murderer from the beginning, who had given both body and soul a mortal wound of
sin, which was certain death and eternal misery, and the Redeemer came to
avenge the murder. He took our cause in hand, as being our nearest kinsman, and
it cost him his own life to avenge ours.—William Romaine.
Verse
2. From the hand of the enemy. From all their sins which war
against their souls; from Satan their implacable adversary, who is stronger
than they; from the law, which threatens and curses them with damnation and
death; from death itself, the last enemy, and indeed from the hand of all their
enemies, be they who they may.—John Gill.
Verse
3. And gathered. If anything can inspire us with gratitude,
this motive should prevail, because we cannot but feel the force of it, as it
reminds us of that misery from which we in particular were redeemed. The
Gentiles had wandered from God, and were so lost and bewildered in the mazes of
error and superstition, that nothing but the almighty love of our Lord Jesus
could have gathered them together into one church.—William Romaine.
Verse
3. Gathered them. The Syriac gives as the title of this
psalm: God collects the Jews out of captivity, and brings them back out of
Babylon the only begotten Son of God also, Jesus Christ, collects the nations
from the four corners of the world, by calling upon man to be baptized.—E.W.
Hengstenberg.
Verse
3. From the west. The mention of the west leads the psalmist's
thoughts to Egypt; and the remembrance of the bondage and labours of the
ancestors of the Israelites in Egypt, coupled with the description in a
previous psalm (Ps 105:17) of the imprisonment of Joseph.—Joseph Francis
Thrupp.
Verse
4. They wandered, etc. In these words it is not easy to
ascertain the persons immediately intended. But this is a circumstance not to
be lamented. It is even an advantage; it constrains us to a more spiritual and
evangelical interpretation of the subject. And thus the whole representation is
fully and easily embodied. For the people of God are "redeemed"—redeemed
from the curse of the law, the powers of darkness, and the bondage of
corruption. They are "gathered"—gathered by his grace out of
all the diversities of the human race; "out of all nations and kindreds
and peoples and tongues." Whatever this world is to others, they find it
to be "a wilderness"; when they are often tried, but their trials
urge them to prayer, and prayer brings them relief. And being divinely conducted,
they at length reach their destination: and this is the conclusion of the
whole, and it applies to each of them: And he led them forth by the right
way, that they might go to a city of habitation.—William Jay.
Verse
4. Wandered. Their passage through the wilderness was not a
journeying, such as when men pass on in a road to some inhabited place; but a
wandering up and down away from all path and road, and so in an endless maze of
desolation.—Henry Hammond.
Verse
4. Wandered in the wilderness, etc. He has lost his way.
When he was in the world, he had no difficulties; the path was so broad that he
could not mistake it. But when the work of divine grace begins in a sinner's
heart, he loses his way. He cannot find his way into the world; God has driven
him out of it, as he drove Lot out of Sodom. He cannot find his way to heaven;
because he at present lacks those clear testimonies, those bright
manifestations whereby alone he can see his path. This is his experience then,
that he has lost his way; having turned his back upon the world; and yet unable
to realise those enjoyments in his soul that would make heaven his home. He has
so lost his way, that whether he turns to the right hand or the left, he has no
plain land marks to show him the path in which his soul longs to go. We need
not stray from the text to find where the wanderer is. "They wandered in
the wilderness." The wilderness is a type and figure of what this life
is to the Lord's people. There is nothing that grows in it fit for their food
or nourishment. In it the fiery flying serpents—sin and Satan—are perpetually
biting and stinging them: and there is nothing in it that can give them any
sweet and solid rest. The barren sands of carnality below, and the burning sun
of temptation above, alike deny them food and shelter. But there is a word
added which throws a further light upon the character of the wilderness.
"They wandered in the wilderness, in a solitary way; "a way not
tracked; a path in which each has to walk alone; a road where no company cheers
him, and without landmarks to direct his course. This is a mark peculiar to the
child of God—that the path by which he travels is, in his own feelings, a
solitary way. This much increases his exercises, that they appear peculiar
to himself. His perplexities are such as he cannot believe any living soul is
exercised with; the fiery darts which are cast into his mind by the Wicked One
are such as he thinks no child of God has ever experienced; the darkness of his
soul, the unbelief and infidelity of his heart, and the workings of his
powerful corruptions, are such as he supposes none ever knew but himself. It is
this walking "in a solitary way", that makes the path of trial
and temptation so painful to God's family.—J.C. Philpot (1802-1869), in
a Sermon entitled "The Houseless Wanderer."
Verse
4. In a solitary way.—The greater part of the desert being
totally destitute of water is seldom visited by any human being; unless where
the trading caravans trace out their toilsome and dangerous route across it. In
some parts of this extensive waste the ground is covered with low, stunted
shrubs, which serve as landmarks for the caravans, and furnish the camels with
a scanty forage. In other parts, the disconsolate wanderer, wherever he turns,
sees nothing around him but a vast interminable expanse of sand and sky; a
gloomy and barren void, where the eye finds no particular object to rest upon,
and the mind is filled with painful apprehensions of perishing with thirst.
Surrounded by this dreary solitude, the traveller sees the dead bodies of
birds, that the violence of the wind has brought from happier regions; and, as
he ruminates on the fearful length of his remaining passage, listens with
horror to the driving blast, the only sound that interrupts the awful repose of
the desert. ("Proceedings of the African Association.")—Mungo
Park, 1771-1806
Verse
4. In a solitary way. See the reason why people in trouble
love solitariness. They are full of sorrow; and sorrow, if it have taken deep
root, is naturally reserved, and flies all conversation. Grief is a thing that
is very silent and private. Those people that are very talkative and clamorous
in their sorrows, are never very sorrowful. Some are apt to wonder why
melancholy people delight to be so much alone, and I will tell you the
reason of it.
1.
Because the disordered humours of their bodies alter their temper, their
humours, and their inclinations, that they are no more the same that they
used to be; their very distemper is averse to what is joyous and diverting;
and they that wonder at them, may as wisely wonder why they will be diseased,
which they would not be, if they knew how to help it; but the disease of
melancholy is so obstinate, and so unknown to all but those who have it, that
nothing but the power of God can totally overthrow it, and I know no other cure
for it.
2. Another
reason why they choose to be alone, is, because people do not generally
mind what they say, nor believe them, but deride them, which they do not use so
cruelly to do with those that are in other distempers; and no man is to be
blamed for avoiding society, when it does not afford the common credit to his
words, that is due to the rest of men. But,
3.
Another, and the principal reason why people in trouble and sadness choose to
be alone, is, because they generally apprehend themselves singled out to be
the marks of God's peculiar displeasure, and they are often by their sharp
afflictions a terror to themselves, and a wonder to others. It even breaks
their hearts to see how low they are fallen, how oppressed, that were once as
easy, as pleasant, as full of hope as others are, Job 6:21; "Ye see my
casting down, and are afraid." Ps 71:7; "I am as a wonder unto
many." And it is usually unpleasant to others to be with them. Ps 88:18;
"Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into
darkness." And though it was not so with the friends of Job; to see a man
whom they had once known happy, to be so miserable, one whom they had seen so
very prosperous, to be so very poor, in such sorry, forlorn circumstances, did
greatly affect them; he, poor man, was changed, they knew him not, Job 2:12-13:
"And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they
lifted up their voice and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled
dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground
seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that
his grief was very great." As the prophet represents one under spiritual
and great afflictions, that "he sitteth alone, and keepeth silence",
La 3:28.—Timothy Rogers (1660-1729) in "Trouble of Mind, and the
Disease of Melancholy."
Verse
4. They found no city to dwell in; nor even to call at or
lodge in, for miles together; which is the case of travellers in some parts,
particularly in the desert of Arabia. Spiritual travellers find no settlement,
rest, peace, joy, and comfort, but in Christ; nor any indeed in this world, and
the things of it; here they have no continuing city, Heb 13:14.—John Gill.
Verse
5. Their soul fainted in them. The word here used, pje, ataph,
means properly to cover, to clothe, as with a garment, Ps 73:6; or a field with
grain, Ps 65:13; then, to hide oneself, Job 23:9; then to cover with darkness,
Ps 77:3 and the title of Ps 102:1-28 thus it denotes the state of mind when
darkness seems to be in the way—a way of calamity, trouble, sorrow; of
weakness, faintness, feebleness. Here it would seem from the connexion to refer
to the exhaustion produced by the want of food and drink.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
6. Then they cried, etc. In these words we find three things
remarkable; first, the condition of God's church and people, trouble and
distress: Secondly, the practice and the exercise of God's people in this
state: "Then they cried unto the Lord": Thirdly, their
success, and the good issue of this practice: "And he delivered
them", etc.—Peter Smith, in a Sermon preached before the House of
Commons, 1644.
Verse
6. Then they cried. The root qeu has here a peculiar force:
it denotes a cry of that kind into which any one, when shaken with a violent
tempest of emotion, in the extremity of his grief and anxiety, breaks with a crash
and with complaining, as the heavens send forth thunder and lightning.
The original idea of the word being a crash, it indicates such
complaints and cries as they send forth, who are oppressed by others, or are
held fast in straits, in imploring public protection and help. See De 22:24 1Ki
20:39 Isa 19:20.—Venema.
Verse
6. In their trouble. observe the words, "Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble." Not before, nor after,
but in it. When they were in the midst of it; when trouble was wrapped
round their head, as the weeds were wrapped round the head of Jonah; when they
were surrounded by it, and could see no way out of it; when, like a person in a
mist, they saw no way of escape before or behind; when nothing but a dark cloud
of trouble surrounded their souls, and they did not know that ever that cloud
would be dispersed;—then it was that they cried.—J.C. Philpot.
Verse
6. "Trouble." "Distresses." The condition
of the Church, or its most usual lot, is to be under sorrows and afflictions. I
say, most usual: "For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be
always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have
made", Isa 57:16. But as we say of the several callings and trades of
life, this man professes such a calling, and that man another; and as the poet
said of Hermogenes, Though he hold his peace (peradventure being asleep) yet
he's a good singer, and a musician by profession: so say I of the people of
God, their trade of life is suffering: and as Julian told the Christians, when
they complained of his cruelty, It is your profession to endure tribulation.—Peter
Smith.
Verse
7. He led them forth. Forth out of the world—forth out of a
profession—forth out of a name to live—forth out of every thing hateful in his
holy and pure eyes.—J.C. Philpot.
Verse
7. And he led them forth by the right way, etc. Alexander
translates this verse—"And he led them in a straight course, to go to a
city of habitation"; and adds, "No exact version can preserve or
imitate the paronomasia arising from the etymological affinity of the first
verb and noun, analogous to that between the English walk and to
walk, though the Hebrew forms are only similar and not identical. The idea
of physical rectitude or straightness necessarily suggests that of moral
rectitude or honesty, commonly denoted by the Hebrew word."
Verse
7. A city of habitation. Not a city of inspection!
Many—(Eternal God, will it be any of this company?)—will look in; and
"there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, when they shall
see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God, and they themselves shut
out." Not a city of visitation. Christians shall not only enter,
but abide. They shall go no more out—it is "a city of habitation."
This conveys the idea of repose. The Christian is now a traveller; then
he will be a resident: he is now on the road; he will then be at home:
"there remaineth a rest for the people of God." It reminds us
of a social state. It is not a solitary condition; we shall partake of
it with an innumerable company of angels, with all the saved from among men,
with patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, our kindred in Christ.
"These are fellow citizens of the saints, and of the household of
God." It suggests magnificence. It is not a village, or a town, but
a city of habitation. A city is the highest representation of civil
community. There have been famous cities; but what are they all to this!—William
Jay.
Verse
8. He does wonders for the children of men; and therefore,
men should praise the Lord. And he is the more to be praised because
these wonders, twalpn, niphlaoth, miracles of mercy and grace, are done
for the undeserving. There are done Mda ynbl, libney Adam, for
the children of Adam, the corrupt descendants of a rebel father.—Adam
Clarke.
Verse
8. Oh that men would praise the LORD, etc. Hebrew, That they
would confess it to the Lord, both in secret, and in society. This is all the
rent that God requireth; he is content that we have the comfort of his
blessings, so he may have the honour of them. This was all the fee Christ
looked for for his cures: go and tell what God hath done for thee. Words seem
to be a poor and slight recompense; but Christ, saith Nazienzen, called himself
the Word.—John Trapp.
Verse
8. To the children of men! We must acknowledge God's goodness
to the children of men, as well as to the children of God; to others as well as
to ourselves.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
9. For he satisfieth the longing soul. This is the reason
which the psalmist gives for the duty of thankfulness which he
prescribes. "The longing soul", hqqs vpn, nephesh shokekah,
the soul that pushes forward in eager desire after salvation.—Adam
Clarke.
Verse
10. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being
bound in affliction and iron. Every son of Adam in his natural state before
he is redeemed is in "darkness" and "the shadow of
death", and is fast "bound" with the chains of sin
and misery, and there is no help for him upon earth—the Almighty God and
Saviour alone is able to deliver him.—William Romaine.
Verse
11. Because they rebelled against the words of God. There is
in the Hebrew a play upon similar sounds—Himru Imree. God's words
are those spoken in the Law and by the prophets. And contemned the
counsel of the Most High—another play upon like sounds in the Hebrew—Hatzath
Naatzu.—A.R. Fausset.
Verse
12. He brought down their heart. O believer, God may see you
have many and strong lusts to be subdued, and that you need many and sore
afflictions to bring them down. Your pride and obstinacy of heart may be
strong, your distempers deeply rooted, and therefore the physic must be
proportioned to them.—John Willison.
Verse
12. He brought down their heart with labour. Those towering
passions by which they vainly vaunted themselves above the law and the worship
of God, he weakened and curbed, so that they began to submit themselves to God.
The root enk taken from the Arabic, describes a process of weakening by compressing
the wings or shrinking the fingers, and is properly applied to birds,
which when their wings are compressed are obliged to fall to the ground, or to
men, who by the shrivelling up of their fingers lose the power of working;
whence it is transferred to oppressions or depressions of any
kind.—Venema.
Verse
12. They fell down, and there was none to help. Affliction is
then come to the height and its complete measure, when the sinner is made sensible
of his own weakness, and doth see there is no help for him, save in God alone.—David
Dickson.
Verse
12. They fell down. They threw themselves prostrate at his
feet for mercy; their heart and strength failed them, as the word signifies,
and is used in Ps 31:10; terrified with a sense of divine wrath, they could not
stand before the Lord, nor brave it out against him. And there was none to
help. They could not help themselves, nor was there any creature that
could. There is salvation in no other than in Christ; when he saw there was
none to help him in that work, his own arm brought salvation to him; and when
sinners see there is help in no other, they apply to him.—John Gill.
Verse
17. Fools. There is nothing more foolish than an act of
wickedness; there is no wisdom equal to that of obeying God.—Albert Barnes.
Verses
17-20. Fools because of their transgression, and because of their
iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat (they
are so sick that they can relish, take down nothing,)and they draw near unto
the gates of death, they are almost in, they were on the brink of hell;
what course must be used for their cure? Truly this, He sent his word, and
healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. No herb in the
garden of the whole world can do these distressed creatures the least good.
Friends may speak, and ministers may speak, yea, angels may speak, and all in
vain; the wounds are incurable for all their words; but if God please to speak,
the dying soul revives. This word is the only balm that can cure the wounded
conscience: he sendeth his word and healeth them. Conscience is God's
prisoner, he claps it in hold, he layeth it in fetters, that the iron enters
the very soul; this he doth by his word, and truly he only who shuts up can let
out; all the world cannot open the iron gate, knock off the shackles, and set
the poor prisoner at liberty, till God speak the word.—George Swinnock,
1627-1673.
Verse
17., etc. A Rescue from Death, with a Return of Praise.—R. Sibbes'
Works, Vol. 51; Nichol's edition.
Verses
17-21.
1.
The distress of the sick.
2. Their cure by the Great Physician.
3. Their grateful behaviour to him.
—W. Romaine.
Verses
17-22. A Visit to Christ's Hospital.
1.
The names and characters of the patients—"fools"; all sinners are
fools.
2.
The cause of their pains and afflictions—"because of their
transgressions", etc.
3.
The progress of the disease—"their soul abhorreth all manner of
meat"; and, "they draw near onto the gates of death."
4.
The interposition of the physician—"then they cry", etc.,
Verses
19-20.
(a)
Note, when the physician comes in—when "they cry," etc.
(b)
The kind of prayer—a cry.
(c)
What the physician did—"saved," "healed,"
"delivered."
(d)
How this was effected—"He sent his word," etc.
5.
The consequent conduct of those who were healed; they praised God for his
goodness. They added sacrifice to this praise, Ps 107:22. In addition to
sacrifice the healed ones began to offer songs—"sacrifice of
thanksgiving." They added a declaration of joy—"Let them declare his
works with rejoicing."
Verse
18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. Nor is it without
emphasis that it is not the sick man who is said to spurn food, but his soul
...The Hebrew word vpn which properly means a breath, hence a panting appetite,
is applied to a very vehement appetite for food. When, therefore, the soul
is said to abhor food, it is equivalent to saying for the vehement
appetite for food abhors food: that is, in the place of an appetite for
food, they are oppressed with a loathing; when they ought to be moved with a
sharp desire of food, that their exhausted powers might be refreshed, appetite
itself becomes a loathing of food, which is a most vivid description of
the utmost loathing, and utter prostration of all desire.—Venema.
Verse
18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. The best of
creature comforts are but vain comforts. What can dainty meat do a man good,
when he is sick and ready to die? Then gold and silver, lands and houses, which
are the dainty meat of a covetous man, are loathsome to him. When a man is sick
to death, his very riches are sapless and tasteless to him; wife and children,
friends and acquaintance, can yield but little comfort in that dark hour, yea,
they often prove miserable comforters: when we have most need of comfort, these
things administer least or no comfort at all to us. Is it not our wisdom, then,
to get a stock of such comforts, as will hold and abide fresh with us, when all
worldly comforts either leave us, or become tasteless to us? Is it not good to
get a store of that food, which how sick soever we are, our stomachs will never
loathe? yea, the sicker we are, our stomachs will the more like, hunger after,
and feed the more heartily upon. The flesh of Christ is meat indeed (Joh
6:55). Feed upon him by faith, in health and sickness, ye will never loathe
him. His flesh is the true meat of desires, such meat as will fill and fatten
us, but never cloy us. A hungry craving appetite after Christ, and sweet
satisfaction in him, are inseparable, and still the stronger is our appetite,
the greater is our satisfaction. And (which is yet a greater happiness) our
souls will have the strongest appetite, the most sharp set stomach after
Christ, when, through bodily sickness, our stomachs cannot take down, but
loathe the very scent and sight of the most pleasant perishing meat, and
delicious earthly dainties. Look, that ye provide somewhat to eat, that will go
down upon a sick bed; your sick bed meat is Christ; all other dainty food may be
an abhorring to you.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. The case is then
growing desperate, and there seems to be no hope left, when it comes to the
last stage here described, viz., to loathe and "abhor all manner
of meat." The stomach turns at the sight of it, and the man has this
loathing and abhorrence of "all manner of meat." What he most
loved, and had the best appetite for, is now become so very offensive, that at
the smell of it he grows sick and faints away. Nature cannot support itself
long under this disorder. If this loss of appetite, and loathing even the smell
of the most simple food continue, it must wear the patient out. Indeed, it is
not always a mortal distemper; there may be an entire loathing of food, and even
fainting away at the smell of it, and the patient may sometimes recover; but in
the present case the distemper had continued so long, and was grown so
inveterate that there were no hopes, for they draw nigh, the Psalmist
says, to the gates of death. Those gates of brass and bars of iron with
which death locks up his prisoners in the grave; and you may judge how great
must be the strength of these gates and bars, since only one person was ever
able to break through them, and if he had not been more than man, he could
never have broken these gates of brass, nor cut these bars of iron in sunder.—William
Romaine.
Verse
18. They draw near unto the gates of death. Death is a great
commander, a great tyrant, and hath gates to sit in, as judges and magistrates
used to `sit in the gates.' There are three things implied in this phrase.
1.
First, "They draw near unto the gates of death", that is, they
were "near to death"; as he that draws near the gates of a
city is near the city, because the gates enter into the city.
2.
Secondly, gates are applied to death for authority. They were almost in
death's jurisdiction. Death is a great tyrant. He rules over all the men in the
world, over kings and potentates, and over mean men; and the greatest men fear
death most. He is "the king of fears", as Job calls him, Job 18:14;
aye, and the fear of kings ...Therefore it is called "the gate of
death." It rules and overrules all mankind. Therefore it is said "to
reign", Ro 5:21. Death and sin came in together. Sin was the gate that let
in death, and ever since death reigned, and will, till Christ perfectly triumph
over it, who is the King of that lord and commander, and hath "the key of
hell and death", Re 1:18. To wicked men, I say, he is a tyrant, and hath a
gate; and when they go through the "gate of death", they go to
a worse, to a lower place, to hell. It is the trap door to hell.
3.
Thirdly. By the "gate of death", is meant not only the
authority, but the power of death; as in the gospel, "The gates of
hell shall not prevail against it", Mt 16:18; that is, the power and
strength of hell. So here it implies the strength of death, which is very
great, for it subdues all. It is the executioner of God's justice.—Richard
Sibbes.
Verse
18. The sin sick soul without appetite for invitations,
encouragements, or promises, however presented. Milk too simple, strong meat
too heavy, wine too heating, manna too light, etc.
Verse
18.—Teacheth us, that even appetite to our meat is a good gift of the
Lord; also that when men are in greatest extremity, then is God most commonly
nigh unto them.—T. Wilcocks.
Verse
20. When George Wishart arrived at Dundee, where the plague was
raging (1545), he caused intimation to be made that he would preach; and for
that purpose chose his station upon the head of the East gate, the infected
persons standing without, and those that were whole within. His text was Ps
107:20, He sent his word and healed them, etc., wherein he treated of
the profit and comfort of God's word, the punishment that comes by contempt of
it, the readiness of God's mercy to such as truly turn to him, and the
happiness of those whom God takes from this misery, etc. By which sermon he so
raised up the hearts of those that heard him, that they regarded not death, but
judged them more happy that should then depart, rather than such as should
remain behind, considering that they knew not whether they should have such a
comforter with them.—Samuel Clarke (1599-1682), in "A General
Martyrologie."
Verse
20. He sent his word. The same expression occurs in Ps
147:15,18; compare Isa 55:11. We detect in such passages the first glimmering
of St. John's doctrine of the agency of the personal Word. The Word by which
the heavens were made, Ps 33:6, is seen to be not merely the expression of
God's will, but his messenger mediating between himself and his creatures. It
is interesting to compare with this the language of Elihu in the parallel
passage of Job 33:23, where what is here ascribed to the agency of the Word is
ascribed to that of the "mediating angel, or messenger."—J.J.
Stewart Perowne.
Verse
20. His word who healed them was his essential Word,
even the second person in the Godhead, our Lord Jesus Christ, the word who was
made flesh and dwelt among us: of this divine Word it was foretold in the Old
Testament, that he should arise with the glory of the morning sun, bringing
healing in his wings for all our maladies; and accordingly the New Testament
relates, that Jesus went about all Galilee, preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing ALL manner of sickness, and ALL manner of disease among
the people. He healed the bodily disease miraculously, to prove that he was the
Almighty Physician of the soul. And it is remarkable that he never rejected any
person who applied to him for an outward cure, to demonstrate to us, that he
would never cast out any person who should apply to him for a spiritual cure.—William
Romaine.
Verse
20. And delivered them from their destructions. From their
pits: or, From their sepulchres. That is, from the deaths to which they were
near. Others render, From their nets or snares, Others, their destructions,
the diseases in which they were miserable prisoners.—Franciscus Vatablus.
Verse
20. And delivered them from their destructions. From the
destruction of the body, of the beauty and strength of it by diseases;
restoring to health is a redeeming of the life from destruction; from the
grave, the pit of corruption and destruction, so called because in it bodies
corrupt, putrefy, and are destroyed by worms; and such who are savingly
convinced of sin, and blessed with pardoning grace and mercy, are delivered
from the everlasting destruction of body and soul in hell.—John Gill.
Verse
22. And let them sacrifice. For their healing they
should bring a sacrifice; and they should offer the life of the
innocent animal unto God, as he has offered their lives; and let them
thus confess that God has spared them when they deserved to die;
and let them declare also "his works with rejoicing"; for who
will not rejoice when he is delivered from death?—Adam Clarke.
As
a specimen of medieval spiritualizing we give the following from the Hermit of
Hampole:
Verse
23. They that go down to the sea in ships, etc. They that
(are true prelates and preachers,)go down from the sublimity of
contemplation, to the sea, that is, suiting themselves to the lowly,
that they also may be saved, in ships, that is, in the faith, hope and charity
of the church, without which they would be drowned in the waters of pleasure, that
do business, that is, continue preaching, in great waters, that is,
among many people in order that they may become fishers of men.—Richardus
Hampolitanus.
Verse
23-27.
While
thus our keels still onward boldly strayed—
Now tossed by tempest, now by calms delayed;
To tell the terrors of the deep untried,
What toils we suffered, and what storms defied;
What rattling deluges the black clouds poured,
What dreary weeks of solid darkness lowered;
What mountain surges mountain surges lashed,
What sudden hurricanes the canvas dashed;
What bursting lightnings, with incessant flare,
Kindled in one wide flame the burning air;
What roaring thunders bellowed over our head,
And seemed to shake the reeling ocean's bed:
To tell each horror in the deep revealed,
Would ask an iron throat with tenfold vigour steeled.
Those dreadful wonders of the deep I saw,
Which fill the sailor's breast with sacred awe;
And what the sages, of their learning vain,
Esteem the phantoms of a dreamful brain.
—Luiz de Camoens (1524-1579), in "the Lusiad."
Verse
23-31. No language can be more sublime than the description of a storm
at sea in this Psalm. It is the very soul of poetry. The utmost simplicity of
diction is employed to convey the grandest thoughts. The picture is not
crowded; none but the most striking circumstances are selected; and everything
is natural, simple, and beyond measure interesting. The whole is an august
representation of the Providence of God, ruling in what appears the most
ungovernable province of nature. It is God who raises the storm; it is God who stilleth
it. The wise men of this world may look no farther than the physical laws by
which God acts; but the Holy Spirit, by the Psalmist, views the awful conflict
of the elements as the work of God.—Alexander Carson.
Verse
23-32. This last picture springs naturally from the mention in Ps 107:3
of the sea; and here the psalmist may have directed his imagination to the
usual tempestuousness of the season at which the psalm was sung.—Joseph
Francis Thrupp.
Verse
24. These see the works of the LORD. There are sinners who,
like Jonah, fleeing from the face of God, go down to the sea, to the cares and
pleasures of the world, away from the solid land of humility, quiet, and grace.
They occupy themselves in many waters, in needless toils and excessive
pleasures, and yet even there God does not leave them, but causes them to see
his works and wonders even in the deep of their sins, by giving them timely and
sufficient warnings, and alarming them with fear of the abyss.—Le Blanc, in
Neale and Littledale.
Verse
25-31.
Think,
O my soul, devoutly think,
How, with affrighted eyes
Thou saw'st the wide extended deep
In all its horrors rise!
Confusion
dwelt in every face,
And fear in every heart;
When waves on waves, and gulfs on gulfs,
Overcame the pilot's art.
Yet
then from all my griefs, O Lord,
Thy mercy set me free,
Whilst in the confidence of prayer
My soul took hold on thee.
For
though in dreadful whirls we hung
High on the broken wave,
I knew thou wert not slow to hear,
Nor impotent to save.
The
storm was laid, the winds retired,
Obedient to thy will;
The sea that roared at thy command,
At thy command was still.
In
midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I will adore,
And praise thee for thy mercies past;
And humbly hope for more.
My
life, if thou preservest my life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, if death must be my doom,
Shall join my soul to thee.
—Joseph Addison.
Verse
26. They mount up to the heaven. There be three heavens. 1. Coelum
aerium. 2. Coelum astriferum. 3. Coelum beatorum. It is not the
latter now they go to in storms, but the two former.—Daniel Pell, in "An
Improvement of the Sea", 1659.
Verse
26. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths.
To
larboard all their oars and canvas bend;
We on a ridge of waters to the sky
Are lifted, down to Erebus again
Sink with the falling wave; thrice howled the rocks
Within their stony caverns, thrice we saw
The splashed up foam upon the lights of heaven.
—Virgil.
Verse
28. They cry unto the LORD. His attributes are much honoured
in calling upon him, especially in times of danger and distresses.
1.
When you call upon God at sea, you honour his sovereignty. God says to
these proud waves, "So far and no farther!" So, "the storm and
hail", they fulfil his will, and when he pleases he commands a calm.
2.
Prayer in time of danger honours God's wisdom, when we see no way open
for mercies and deliverance to come in at, then to look up to him, believing,
"He knows how to deliver out of temptation." O how much of the wisdom
of God appears in preservation in time of danger! and is it not a good token of
mercy coming in when persons pray, though all visible ways are blocked up? This
honours God's wisdom, which we acknowledge is never at a loss as to ways
of bringing in mercy and deliverance.
3.
The faithfulness of God is much honoured in times of danger, when he is
called upon. The faithfulness of a friend doth most appear in a strait: now if
you can rely upon his promise, God's faithfulness is the best line men sinking
at sea can lay hold on. So I might add, calling upon God honours all his other
attributes.—John Ryther (1632-1681) in "A Plat for Mariners; or,
The Seaman's Preacher," 1675.
Verse
28. Then they cry. Tempestuous storms and deadly dangers have
brought those upon their knees, that would never had bent in a calm: "Then
they cry." If any one would know at what time the sailors take up the
duty of prayer, let me say it is when death stares them in the face. If ever
you see the heavens veiled in sable blackness, the clouds flying, and the winds
roaring under them; you may conclude that some of them (though God knows but
few) are at prayer, yea, hard at it with their God. But never believe it that
there is any prayer amongst them when the skies are calm, the winds down, and
the seas smooth. David tells you not of their praying in good and comfortable
weather, but that it is in time of storms, for I believe that neither he nor I
ever saw many of them on that strain. . . . God hears oftener from an afflicted
people, than he either does or can from a people that are at ease, quiet, and
out of danger. Then they cry. The prodigal son was very high, and
resolved never to return till brought low by pinching and nipping afflictions,
then his father had some tidings of him. Hagar was proud in Abraham's house,
but humbled in the wilderness. Jonah was asleep in the ship, but awake and at
prayer in the whale's belly, Jon 2:1. Manasses lived in Jerusalem like a
libertine, but when bound in chains at Babel, his heart was turned to the Lord,
2Ch 33:11-12. Corporal diseases forced many under the gospel to come to Christ,
whereas others that enjoyed bodily health would not acknowledge him. One would
think that the Lord would abhor to hear those prayers that are made only out of
the fear of danger, and not out of the love, reality, and sincerity of the
heart. If there had not been so many miseries of blindness, lameness, palsies,
fevers, etc., in the days of Christ, there would not have been that flocking
after him.—Daniel Pell.
Verse
28. Then they cry unto the LORD. "Then", if ever:
hence that speech of one, Qui nescit orare, discat navigare, He that
cannot pray, let him go to sea, and there he will learn.—John Trapp.
Verse
28. Then they cry, etc. Gods of the sea and skies (for what
resource have I but prayer?) abstain from rending asunder the joints of our
shattered bark.—Ovid.
Verse
29. He maketh the storm a calm, etc. The image is this.
Mankind before they are redeemed are like a ship in a stormy sea, agitated with
passions, tossed up and down with cares, and so blown about with various
temptations, that they are never at rest. This is their calmest state in the
smiling day of smooth prosperity: but afflictions will come, the afflictions of
sin and Satan, and the world will raise a violent storm, which all the wit and
strength of man cannot escape. He will soon be swallowed up of the devouring
waves: unless that same God who created the sea speak to it, "Peace, be
still." We are all in the same situation the apostles were, when they were
alone in the evening in the midst of the sea, and the wind and the waves were
contrary; against which they toiled rowing in vain, until Christ came to them
walking upon the sea, and commanded the winds to cease and the waves to be
still. Upon which there was a great calm; for they knew his voice, who had
spoken them into being, and they obeyed. His word is almighty to compose and
still the raging war of the most furious elements. And he is as almighty in the
spiritual world, as he is in the natural. Into whatever soul he enters, he
commands all the jarring passions to be still, and there is indeed a blessed
calm. O may the Almighty Saviour speak thus unto you all, that you may sail on
a smooth unruffled sea, until you arrive safe at the desired haven of eternal
rest!—William Romaine.
Verse
29. If the sailor can do nothing so wise and oftentimes indeed can do
nothing else than trust in the Lord, so is it with us in the storms of life.
Like the mariner, we must use lawful means for our protection; but what are
means without the divine blessing?—William S. Plumer.
Verse
30. Desired haven. At such a time as this sweet April morning,
indeed, a breakwater like this (of Portland) may seem of little value, when the
waves of the ocean only just suffice to break its face into gems of changing
brilliance, and to make whispering music; while vessels of all sizes, like
those whose clustering masts we see yonder under the promontory, ride with
perfect security in the open road. But in the fierce gales of November or
March, when the shrieking blasts drive furiously up the Channel, and the huge
mountain billows, green and white, open threatening graves on every side, how
welcome would be a safe harbour, easy of access, and placed at a part of the
coast which else would be unsheltered for many leagues on either side! Blessed
be God for the gift of his beloved Son, the only Harbour of Refuge for poor
tempest tossed sinners! We may think lightly of it now, but in the coming day
of gloom and wrath, when "the rain descends, and the floods come, and the
winds blow", they only will escape who are sheltered there!—Philip
Henry Gosse, in "The Aquarium," 1856.
Verse
31. Oh. This verse seems to include the ardent earnestness of
the psalmist's spirit, that seamen would be much in thankfulness, and much and
frequent in praising of the Lord their deliverer out of all their distresses. "Oh",
seems he to say, that I could put men upon this duty, it would be more
comfortable to me, seems the psalmist to say, to find such a principle in the
hearts of those that are employed in the great waters, than any one thing in
the world again whatsoever. "Oh" is but a little word
consisting of two letters, but no word that ever man utters with his tongue
comes with that force and affection from the heart as this doth. "Oh"
is a word of the highest expression, a word when a man can say no more. This
interjection oftentimes starts out of the heart upon a sudden from some
unexpected conception, or admiration, or other.—Daniel Pell.
Verse
33. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, etc. God is the
father of the rain. If he withholds that refreshment for a long time, all
nature droops, and every green thing dies. The imagery is drawn from Palestine
where there were but two annual rainy seasons, and if either of them was long
deferred, the effect was frightful. The channels of considerable rivers were
dried up.—William S. Plumer.
Verse
33. Rivers...Watersprings. A church enriched with the graces
of heaven is compared by the prophets to a well watered garden (Isa 63:11 Jer
31:12), to the paradise of God, watered with its four fruitful rivers: for as
everything useful and ornamental in the vegetable world is raised up by water,
so is everything in the spiritual world raised up by the Holy Spirit.—William
Romaine.
Verse
34. A fruitful land into barrenness. Hereof Judaea is at this
day a notable instance (besides many parts of Asia, and Africa, once very
fruitful, now, since they became Mahometan, dry and desert). Judaea, saith one,
hath now only some few parcels of rich ground found in it; that men may guess
the goodness of the cloth by the fineness of the shreds.—John Trapp.
Verse
34. For the wickedness of them that dwell therein. When I meet
with a querulous husbandman, he tells me of a churlish soil, of a wet seed
time, of a green winter, of an unkindly spring, of a lukewarm summer, of a
blustering autumn; but I tell him of a displeased God, who will be sure to
contrive and fetch all seasons and elements, to his own most wise drifts and
purposes.—Joseph Hall.
Verse
34. For the wickedness. God locks up the clouds, because we
have shut up our mouths. The earth is grown hard as iron to us, because we have
hardened our hearts against our miserable neighbours. The cries of the poor for
bread are loud, because our cries against sin have been so low. Sicknesses run
apace from house to house, and sweep away the poor unprepared inhabitants,
because we sweep not out the sin that breeds them.—Richard Baxter,
1615-1691.
Verse
35. Dry ground into watersprings. If God afflict, his justice
findeth the cause of it in man; but if he do good to any man, it is of his own
good pleasure, without any cause in man: therefore no reason is given here of
this change, as was of the former, but simply, "He turneth dry ground
into watersprings."—David Dickson.
Verse
40. He poureth contempt upon princes. Mighty potentates, who
have been the terror and dread of the whole world, when once denuded of their
dignity and power, have become the sport even of their own dependants.—John
Calvin.
Verse
40. Princes. Persons of high rank are the most exempt, in
ordinary times, from destitution and want, and misery must reach a great height
when it invades them. No part of the world probably has witnessed so many and
great reverses of this kind as the regions and countries of the East.—William
Walford.
Verse
41. He setteth the poor on high from affliction. How high?
Above the reach of the curse, which shall never touch him; above the power of
Satan, which shall never ruin him; above the reigning influence of sin, which
"shall not have dominion over him"; above the possibility of being
banished from his presence, for "Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an
everlasting salvation." This is the way God sets his people on high,
instructing them in the mysteries of his word, and giving them to partake the
joys that are contained therein.—Joseph Irons, 1786-1852.
Verse
42. The righteous shall see it. The word here rendered
"righteous" is not what the Scripture commonly uses to signify
righteous or justified persons; but it is another word, and conveys another
idea. It signifies to direct, to set right; and the "righteous" here
mentioned are they, who are directed in the right way, and walk, as Enoch did,
with God in his way, and not in the way of the world. And these "shall
see" the goodness and mercy of God's dealings with the fallen race of man.
They shall have eyes to see the ways of his providence. The same grace which
set them right, will manifest to them the reasonableness of the plan of
redemption. They shall see and admire, and be thankful for the wonders of his
redeeming love, which are recorded in this divine hymn.—William Romaine.
Verse
42. "All iniquity shall stop her mouth."
"Iniquity" is here personified, and denotes the iniquitous;
but the abstract is more poetical, "Stop her mouth." Tongue
tied, literally, moistly shut; which, perhaps, might be not improperly
vernaculized.—Alexander Geddes.
Verse
43. Whoso is wise, etc. Or as it may be read interrogatively, "Who
is wise?" as in Jer 9:12 Ho 14:9; that is, spiritually wise, wise unto
salvation; who is made to know wisdom in the hidden part; for not such as
possessed of natural wisdom, or worldly wise men, much less who are wise to do
evil, are here meant. "And will observe these things"; the
remarkable appearances of divine Providence to persons in distress; the various
changes and vicissitudes in the world; the several afflictions of God's people,
and their deliverances out of them; the wonderful works of God in nature,
providence, and grace; these will be observed, taken notice of, laid up in the
mind, and kept by such who are truly wise, who know how to make a right use and
proper improvement of them. Even they shall understand the lovingkindness of
the LORD; every one of the wise men; they will perceive the kindness of God
unto men, in the several dispensations of his providence towards them, and his
special love and kindness towards his own people, even in all their afflictions
they will perceive this to be at the bottom of every mercy and blessing; they
will understand more of the nature and excellency of it, and know more of the
love of God and Christ, which passeth knowledge. Or, the kindnesses of the
Lord shall be understood; that is, by wise men; so R. Moses in Aben Ezra
renders the words.—John Gill.
Verse
43. Will observe these things, etc. Will carefully note and
remark what is here said of the fall and recovery of mankind, of our state by
nature and by grace. True wisdom consists in observing these two things, what
we are in ourselves, and what we are in Christ; in a deep sense of our misery
by sin, stirring us up to seek our remedy in the Redeemer. This is wisdom. And
whosoever is thus wise unto salvation shall understand the lovingkindness of
the Lord; shall be able to apply what he understands of it to his own private
use and benefit. The verb in the original rendered "shall
understand", is in the conjugation called Hithpael, which signifies to
act upon itself. Whosoever observes those things properly finds his own
interest in them. He makes the understanding of them useful to himself. He does
not study them as a science or theory, but as interesting points in which he is
nearly concerned, and which he therefore tries to bring home for his own
private advantage. When he hears of the mercies of the Lord Jesus recorded in
this psalm he desires to partake of them. When he hears of the great
deliverances vouchsafed to sinful ruined man, he studies to have his own share
in them. What is said of these persons who wandered out of the way in the
wilderness, and fell into the bondage of sin, and were afflicted with its
diseases, and troubled like a stormy sea, with its continual tempests; all this
he knows was his own case, and therefore what follows of their flourishing
state after Christ delivered them may be his also if he cry unto the Lord, as
they did, for help. And he never ceases praying and seeking, until the blessed
Jesus brings him to the haven of the church, where he would be. And if he find
the church diminished and brought low, he is not discouraged; but relies on the
promises of his God, who will set him on high out of the reach of public
calamity, when he comes to destroy an infidel church. He observes what is said
on this psalm concerning those things; and he knows it to be true, by his own
experience. And therefore the lovingkindness of the Lord here recorded is to
him a subject of exceeding great joy, because he has tasted of it. Whoso is
wise will bring his knowledge of this psalm home to his own heart, and he shall
understand the lovingkindness of the Lord, he shall be able to apply what he
understands to his own benefit, and shall therefore be continually praising the
Lord for his goodness, and declaring the wonders which he hath done for the
salvation of men.—William Romaine.
Verse
43. Observe these things. "To observe, signifieth not
only with our eyes to behold it; but so to stir up our minds to the
consideration of a thing, that one may grow the better by it", saith a
grave author. Now in this notion of it, how few are they that observe "these
things"? . . . If you would by observing the providence of God
understand his loving kindness, and gain a spiritual wisdom, let your eye
affect your heart. Mollerus telleth us, such an observation is here
intended unde ad pietatem exuscitemur, ut inde meliores evadamus,
"as will quicken us to piety, and help to make us better." There are
many careless observers of providence, who indeed see events rather than
providence; they see much that comes to pass in the world, but consider nothing
of God in them...They do by the book of providence, as Augustine complained of
himself, that in his unregenerate state he did by the book of Scripture; he
rather brought to it discutiendi acumen, than discendi pietatem.
So men bring to the great works of God rather an acute eye and wit to find out
the immediate causes, and reasons natural and political, than a trembling,
humble heart, that they might learn by them more to acknowledge, love,
fear, adore, and revere the great and mighty God whose works these are. Let
not yours be such an observation; but let your eye, beholding God in his
providential dispensations, affect your hearts with that adoration and
veneration, that love and fear of the great and mighty God, which such works of
God do call to you for.—John Collinges (1623-1690), in "Several
Discourses concerning the actual Providence of God."
Verse
43. Observe these things. These mighty doings of our Saviour
and our God in delivering his feeble creatures from the trackless wilderness of
error,—from the noisome chain of carnal lust,—from the deadly sickness of a
corrupt nature,—and from the wild tempest of earthly passion, deserve the
thoughtful joy of all who would be faithful servants of their Lord. The mouth
of unbelief and the excuses of iniquity are stopped by the sight of the marvels
of that mercy which endureth for ever. "The accuser of the brethren"
is silenced and cast down. The truly wise will ponder these things, for in the
knowledge of them is true wisdom; and so pondering, there shall open before
them, ever plainer, fuller, clearer, brighter, the revelation of that mighty
love of their eternal Father which surpasses all understanding, and is more
vast than all thought.—"Plain Commentary."
Verse
43. How great a volume might be wrote, de observandis
Providentiae, concerning the observable things of Divine Providence. I have
seen a picture (one of those you call kitchen pieces) concerning which it hath
been proposed to me, that for so many hours I should view it as curiously as I
could; yet the proposer would for any wager undertake to show me something in
it which I did not observe. Truly Providence is such a thing, I can never look
upon it, I can never take the motions of it into my thoughts, but some new
observation tenders itself into my thoughts, I must turn my eyes from this
wonderful work, for I see they will not be satisfied with seeing, my mind will
never be filled with observation.—John Collinges.
Verse
43. When we speak of the love and favour of God to his people, we are
prone to understand by it nothing but pleasing providence, grateful to our
senses: now the lovingkindness of God is not only seen in pleasing
dispensations, but in adverse providence also: "Whom he loveth he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every child whom he receiveth": "all things
are yours", saith the apostle. This knowledge must be gained by observation.—John
Collinges.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Whole
Psalm. This psalm is like the Interpreter's house in Bunyan's
"Pilgrim's Progress." Pilgrim is told that he will there see
excellent and profitable things. The same promise is given in the introduction
to this psalm, where we have,
1.
The source of these excellent things—the goodness and all enduring mercy of
God; mercy not exhausted by the unworthiness of its objects.
2.
Their acknowledgment, "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Men will
not own it, but the redeemed of the Lord will. It is the experience of such
that is pictorially represented in this psalm. Let every one speak of God as he
finds. Is he good when he takes away as well as when he gives "The
redeemed of the Lord will say so." Is he merciful when he frowns as well
as when he smiles? "The redeemed of the Lord say so." Does he make
all things work together for good to them that love him? "Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so."
3.
Their end. Praise and thanksgiving: "Oh give", etc.
(a)
For general mercies;
(b) For redemption;
(c) For spacial deliverances.—G.R.
Verses
1-2. The duty of praise is universal, the real presentation of it
remains with the redeemed. Particular redemption should lead to specific
praise, special testimony to truth and special faith in God: "Let the
redeemed of the Lord say so."
Verse
3. The ingathering of the chosen.
1.
All wandered.
2.
Their ways different.
3.
All observed of the Lord.
4.
All brought to Jesus as to one centre. Note ways, and times of gathering.
Verse
4. Wandering Jews. Illustrate the roaming of a mind in search of
truth, peace, love, purity, etc.
Verse
4. The words contain a brief history of man's fall and misery and of
his restoration by Jesus Christ; which are described under these particulars.
1.
The lost state of men by nature.
2.
They are brought to a right sense of it, and cry to the Lord Jesus for
deliverance.
3.
He hears them and delivers them out of all their distresses.
4.
The tribute of thanks due to him for this great deliverance.
—W.
Romaine.
Verse
5. Spiritual hunger the cause of faintness. Necessity of feeding the
soul.
Verse
7. Divine grace stimulating our exertions. "He led them forth
...that they might go."
Verse
8. He who has enjoyed God's help should mark,
1.
In what distress he has been;
2. How he has called to God;
3. How God has helped him;
4. What thanks he has returned; and,
5. What thanks he is yet bound to render.
—Lange's Commentary.
Verse
9. A great general fact. The condition, the benefactor, the blessing
"goodness", the result—"satisfieth." Then the further
result of praise as seen in Ps 107:8.
Verses
12-13.
1.
The convicted soul's abject condition—humbled, exhausted, prostrate, deserted.
2.
His speedy deliverance. Cried, cried while in trouble, unto the Lord, he saved,
out of their distresses.
Verse
13. Man's work and God's work. They cried and He saved.
Verse
14. God gives light, life, liberty.
Verse
20. Recovery from sickness must be ascribed to the Lord, and
gratitude should flow forth because of it. But the text describes spiritual and
mental sickness. Notice,
1.
The Patient in his extremity.
(a)
He is a fool: by nature inclined to evil.
(b)
He has played the fool (see Ps 107:17), "transgression",
"iniquities."
(c)
He now has lost all appetite and is past all cure.
(d)
He is at death's door.
(e)
But he has begun to pray.
2.
The Cure in its simplicity.
(a)
Christ the Word is the essential cure. He heals the guilt, habit, depression,
and evil results of sin. For every form of malady Christ has healing; hence
preachers should preach him much, and all meditate much upon him.
(b)
The word in the Book is the instrumental cure: its teachings, doctrines,
precepts, promises, encouragements, invitations, examples.
(c)
The word of the Lord by the Holy Spirit is the applying cure. He leads us to
believe. He is to be sought by the sick soul. He is to be relied upon by those
who would bring others to the Great Physician.
Verse
26. The ups and downs of a convicted sinner's experience.
Verse
27. The awakened sinner staggered and nonplussed.
Verses
33-34. The scene which here opens with a landscape of beauty and
fertility is suddenly changed into a dry and barren wilderness. The rivers are
dried up, the springs cease to flow among the hills, and the verdant fields are
scorched and bare. The reason assigned for this is "the wickedness of them
that dwell therein." This picture needs no interpretation to the people of
God. It is precisely what happens within them when they have fallen into sin.—G.R.
Verse
34. The curse, cause, and cure of barrenness in a church.
Verse
35. Hope for decayed churches lies in God; he can work a marvellous
change, he does do it—"turneth": he will do it when the cause of barrenness
is removed by repentance.
Verses
35-38. Here the scene again changes. The springs again gush forth, calm
lakes again repose in the midst of foliage and flowers, the hills are clothed
with luxuriant vines, and the fields are covered with corn; plenty abounds both
in town and country, and men and cattle increase. This picture, too, has its
counterpart in experimental godliness. "Instead of the thorn shall come
up", etc., "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for
them", etc. The one scene precedes prayer, the other follows it. A
desolate wilderness before, the garden of Eden behind.—G.R.
Verses
39-41. The scene again is reversed. There is a change again from freedom
to oppression; from plenty to want; from honour to contempt. Then a revival
again as suddenly appears. The poor and afflicted are lifted up, and the
bereaved have "families like a flock." Such are the changeful scenes
through which the people of God are led; and such the experience by which they
are made meet for the pure, perfect, and perpetual joys of heaven.—G.R.
Verses
42-43. Such surprising turns are of use,
1.
For the solacing of saints; they observe these dispensations with pleasure:
"The righteous shall see it, and rejoice", in the glorifying of God's
attributes, and the manifestation of his dominion over the children of men.
2.
For the silencing of sinners: "all iniquity shall stop her mouth"; i.e.
it shall be a full conviction of the folly of those that deny the divine
presence.
3.
For the satisfying of all concerning the divine goodness: "Whoso is wise,
and will observe these things"—these various dispensations of divine
providence, "even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the
Lord."—M. Henry.
Verse
43. The best observation and the noblest understanding.
WORKS
UPON THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM
Pe
lagov. Nec inter vivos, nec inter mortuos, Neither amongst the Living,
nor amongst the Dead. Or, an IMPROVEMENT of the SEA. Upon
The
Nine Nautical Verses in the 107th Psalme...By DANIEL PELL, Preacher of the Word.
London...1659 (8vo.).
A
Special Treatise of God's Providence, and of Comforts against all kinds of
crosses and calamities to be fetched from the same. With an exposition of the
107th Psalme. By P. Baro. Englished by I.L. (John Ludham) B.L. (London 1588,
8vo. Black Letter.)
A
Practical Comment on the Hundred and Seventh Psalm. Preached at the Thursday's
Lecture, at St. Dunstan's Church in the West, London. By William Romaine,
Lecturer of the said Church. London, 1767. (8vo.)
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》