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Psalm One
Hundred Sixteen
Psalm 116
Chapter Contents
The psalmist declares his love to the Lord. (1-9) His
desire to be thankful. (10-19)
Commentary on Psalm 116:1-9
(Read Psalm 116:1-9)
We have many reasons for loving the Lord, but are most
affected by his loving-kindness when relieved out of deep distress. When a poor
sinner is awakened to a sense of his state, and fears that he must soon sink
under the just wrath of God, then he finds trouble and sorrow. But let all such
call upon the Lord to deliver their souls, and they will find him gracious and
true to his promise. Neither ignorance nor guilt will hinder their salvation,
when they put their trust in the Lord. Let us all speak of God as we have found
him; and have we ever found him otherwise than just and good? It is of his
mercies that we are not consumed. Let those who labour and are heavy laden come
to him, that they may find rest to their souls; and if at all drawn from their
rest, let them haste to return, remembering how bountifully the Lord has dealt
with them. We should deem ourselves bound to walk as in his presence. It is a
great mercy to be kept from being swallowed up with over-much sorrow. It is a
great mercy for God to hold us by the right hand, so that we are not overcome
and overthrown by a temptation. But when we enter the heavenly rest,
deliverance from sin and sorrow will be complete; we shall behold the glory of
the Lord, and walk in his presence with delight we cannot now conceive.
Commentary on Psalm 116:10-19
(Read Psalm 116:10-19)
When troubled, we do best to hold our peace, for we are
apt to speak unadvisedly. Yet there may be true faith where there are workings
of unbelief; but then faith will prevail; and being humbled for our distrust of
God's word, we shall experience his faithfulness to it. What can the pardoned
sinner, or what can those who have been delivered from trouble or distress,
render to the Lord for his benefits? We cannot in any way profit him. Our best
is unworthy of his acceptance; yet we ought to devote ourselves and all we have
to his service. I will take the cup of salvation; I will offer the
drink-offerings appointed by the law, in token of thankfulness to God, and
rejoice in God's goodness to me. I will receive the cup of affliction; that
cup, that bitter cup, which is sanctified to the saints, so that to them it is
a cup of salvation; it is a means of spiritual health. The cup of consolation;
I will receive the benefits God bestows upon me, as from his hand, and taste
his love in them, as the portion not only of mine inheritance in the other
world, but of my cup in this. Let others serve what masters they will, truly I
am thy servant. Two ways men came to be servants. By birth. Lord, I was born in
thy house; I am the son of thine handmaid, and therefore thine. It is a great
mercy to be children of godly parents. By redemption. Lord, thou hast loosed my
bonds, thou hast discharged me from them, therefore I am thy servant. The bonds
thou hast loosed shall tie me faster unto thee. Doing good is sacrifice, with
which God is well pleased; and this must accompany giving thanks to his name.
Why should we offer that to the Lord which cost us nothing? The psalmist will
pay his vows now; he will not delay the payment: publicly, not to make a boast,
but to show he is not ashamed of God's service, and to invite others to join
him. Such are true saints of God, in whose lives and deaths he will be
glorified.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 116
Verse 3
[3] The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell
gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
The sorrows — Dangerous and deadly calamities.
Pains — Such agonies and horrors, as dying persons use to
feel.
Verse 7
[7] Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt
bountifully with thee.
Rest — Unto a chearful confidence in God.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
SUBJECT. This is a
continuation of the Paschal Hallel, and therefore must in some measure be
interpreted in connection with the coming out of Egypt. It has all the
appearance of being a personal song in which the believing soul, reminded by
the Passover of its own bondage and deliverance, speaks thereof with gratitude,
and praises the Lord accordingly. We can conceive the Israelite with a staff in
his hand singing, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, "as he remembered
the going back of the house of Jacob to the land of their fathers; and then
drinking the cup at the feast using the words of Ps 116:13, "I will take
the cup of salvation." The pious man evidently remembers both his own
deliverance and that of his people as he sings in the language of Ps 116:16,
"Thou hast loosed my bonds"; but he rises into sympathy with his nation
as he thinks of the courts of the Lord's house and of the glorious city, and
pledges himself to sing "in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem." Personal
love fostered by a personal experience of redemption is the theme of this
Psalm, and in it we see the redeemed answered when they pray, preserved in time
of trouble, resting in their God, walking at large, sensible of their
obligations, conscious that they are not their own but bought with a price, and
joining with all the ransomed company to sing hallelujahs unto God.
Since
our divine Master sang this hymn, we can hardly err in seeing here words to
which he could set his seal,—words in a measure descriptive of his own
experience; but upon this we will not enlarge, as in the notes we have
indicated how the Psalm has been understood by those who love to find their
Lord in every line.
DIVISION. David Dickson
has a somewhat singular division of this Psalm, which strikes us as being
exceedingly suggestive. He says, "This Psalm is a threefold engagement of
the Psalmist unto thanksgiving unto God, for his mercy unto him, and in
particular for some notable delivery of him from death, both bodily and
spiritual. The first engagement is, that he shall out of love have recourse
unto God by prayer, Ps 116:1-2; the reasons and motives whereof are set down,
because of his former deliverances, Ps 116:3-8, the second engagement is to a
holy conversation, Ps 116:9, and the motives and reasons are given in Ps
116:10-13; the third engagement is to continual praise and service, and
specially to pay those vows before the church, which he had made in days of
sorrow, the reasons whereof are given in Ps 116:14-19."
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. I love the LORD. A blessed declaration: every believer
ought to be able to declare without the slightest hesitation, "I love the
Lord." It was required under the law, but was never produced in the heart
of man except by the grace of God, and upon gospel principles. It is a great
thing to say "I love the Lord"; for the sweetest of all graces and
the surest of all evidences of salvation is love. It is great goodness on the
part of God that he condescends to be loved by such poor creatures as we are,
and it is a sure proof that he has been at work in our heart when we can say,
"Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." Because he
hath heard my voice and my supplications. The Psalmist not only knows that he
loves God, but he knows why he does so. When love can justify itself with a
reason, it is deep, strong, and abiding. They say that love is blind; but when
we love God our affection has its eyes open and can sustain itself with the
most rigid logic. We have reason, superabundant reason, for loving the Lord;
and so because in this case principle and passion, reason and emotion go
together, they make up an admirable state of mind. David's reason for his love
was the love of God in hearing his prayers. The Psalmist had used his "voice"
in prayer, and the habit of doing so is exceedingly helpful to devotion. If we
can pray aloud without being overheard it is well to do so. Sometimes, however,
when the Psalmist had lifted up his voice, his utterance had been so broken and
painful that he scarcely dared to call it prayer; words failed him, he could
only produce a groaning sound, but the Lord heard his moaning voice. At other
times his prayers were more regular and better formed: these he calls "supplications."
David had praised as best he could, and when one form of devotion failed him he
tried another. He had gone to the Lord again and again, hence he uses the
plural and says "my supplications, "but as often as he had gone, so
often had he been welcome. Jehovah had heard, that is to say, accepted, and
answered both his broken cries and his more composed and orderly supplications;
hence he loved God with all his heart. Answered prayers are silken bonds which
bind our hearts to God. When a man's prayers are answered, love is the natural
result. According to Alexander, both verbs may be translated in the present,
and the text may run thus, "I love because Jehovah hears my voice, my
supplications." This also is true in the case of every pleading believer.
Continual love flows out of daily answers to prayer.
Verse
2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me:—bowing down from
his grandeur to attend to my prayer; the figure seems to be that of a tender
physician or loving friend leaning over a sick man whose voice is faint and
scarcely audible, so as to catch every accent and whisper. When our prayer is
very feeble, so that we ourselves can scarcely hear it, and question whether we
do pray or not, yet God bows a listening ear, and regards our supplications.
Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live, or "in my days."
Throughout all the days of my life I will address my prayer to God alone, and
to him I will unceasingly pray. It is always wise to go where we are welcome
and are well treated. The word "call" may imply praise as well as
prayer: calling upon the name of the Lord is an expressive name for adoration
of all kinds. When prayer is heard in our feebleness, and answered in the
strength and greatness of God, we are strengthened in the habit of prayer, and
confirmed in the resolve to make ceaseless intercession. We should not thank a
beggar who informed us that because we had granted his request he would never
cease to beg of us, and yet doubtless it is acceptable to God that his
petitioners should form the resolution to continue in prayer: this shows the
greatness of his goodness, and the abundance of his patience. In all days let
us pray and praise the Ancient of days. He promises that as our days our
strength shall be; let us resolve that as our days our devotion shall be.
Verse
3. The Psalmist now goes on to describe his condition at the time
when he prayed unto God. The sorrows of death compassed me. As hunters
surround a stag with dogs and men, so that no way of escape is left, so was
David enclosed in a ring of deadly griefs. The bands of sorrow, weakness, and
terror with which death is accustomed to bind men ere he drags them away to
their long captivity were all around him. Nor were these things around him in a
distant circle, they had come close home, for he adds, and the pains of hell
gat hold upon me. Horrors such as those which torment the lost seized me,
grasped me, found me out, searched me through and through, and held me a
prisoner. He means by the pains of hell those pangs which belong to death,
those terrors which are connected with the grave; these were so closely upon
him that they fixed their teeth in him as hounds seize their prey. I found
trouble and sorrow—trouble was around me, and sorrow within me. His griefs were
double, and as he searched into them they increased. A man rejoices when he
finds a hid treasure; but what must be the anguish of a man who finds, where he
least expected it, a vein of trouble and sorrow? The Psalmist was sought for by
trouble and it found him out, and when he himself became a seeker he found no
relief, but double distress.
Verse
4. Then I called upon the name of the LORD. Prayer is never
out of season, he prayed then, when things were at their worst. When the
good man could not run to God, he called to him. In his extremity his
faith came to the front: it was useless to call on man, and it may have seemed
almost as useless to appeal to the Lord; but yet he did with his whole soul
invoke all the attributes which make up the sacred name of Jehovah, and thus he
proved the truth of his confidence. We can some of us remember certain very
special times of trial of which we can now say, "then called I upon
the name of the Lord." The Psalmist appealed to the Lord's mercy, truth,
power, and faithfulness, and this was his prayer,—O Lord, I beseech thee,
deliver my soul. This form of petition is short, comprehensive, to the point,
humble, and earnest. It were well if all our prayers were moulded upon this
model; perhaps they would be if we were in similar circumstances to those of
the Psalmist, for real trouble produces real prayer. Here we have no
multiplicity of words, and no fine arrangement of sentences; everything is
simple and natural; there is not a redundant syllable, and yet there is not one
lacking.
Verse
5. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous. In hearing prayer the
grace and righteousness of Jehovah are both conspicuous. It is a great favour
to hear a sinner's prayer, and yet since the Lord has promised to do so, he is
not unrighteous to forget his promise and disregard the cries of his people.
The combination of grace and righteousness in the dealings of God with his
servants can only be explained by remembering the atoning sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ. At the cross we see how gracious is the Lord and righteous. Yea,
our God is merciful, or compassionate, tender, pitiful, full of mercy. We who
have accepted him as ours have no doubt as to his mercy, for he would never
have been our God if he had not been merciful. See how the attribute of
righteousness seems to stand between two guards of love:—gracious, righteous,
merciful. The sword of justice is scabarded in a jewelled sheath of grace.
Verse
6. The LORD preserveth the simple. Those who have a great
deal of wit may take care of themselves. Those who have no worldly craft and
subtlety and guile, but simply trust in God, and do the right, may depend upon
it that God's care shall be over them. The worldly wise with all their prudence
shall be taken in their own craftiness, but those who walk in their integrity
with single minded truthfulness before God shall be protected against the wiles
of their enemies, and enabled to outlive their foes. Though the saints are like
sheep in the midst of wolves, and comparatively defenceless, yet there are more
sheep in the world than wolves, and it is highly probable that the sheep will
feed in safety when not a single wolf is left upon the face of the earth: even
so the meek shall inherit the earth when the wicked shall be no more. I was
brought low, and he helped me,—simple though I was, the Lord did not pass me
by. Though reduced in circumstances, slandered in character, depressed in
spirit, and sick in body, the Lord helped me. There are many ways in which the
child of God may be brought low, but the help of God is as various as the need
of his people: he supplies our necessities when impoverished, restores our
character when maligned, raises up friends for us when deserted, comforts us when
desponding, and heals our diseases when we are sick. There are thousands in the
church of God at this time who can each one of them say for himself, "I
was brought low, and he helped me." Whenever this can be said it
should be said to the praise of the glory of his grace, and for the comforting
of others who may pass through the like ordeal. Note how David after stating
the general doctrine that the Lord preserveth the simple, proves and
illustrates it from his own personal experience. The habit of taking home a
general truth and testing the power of it in our own case is an exceedingly
blessed one; it is the way in which the testimony of Christ is confirmed in us,
and so we become witnesses unto the Lord our God.
Verse
7. Return, unto thy rest, O my soul. He calls the rest still
his own, and feels full liberty to return to it. What a mercy it is that even
if our soul has left its rest for a while we can tell it—"it is thy rest
still." The Psalmist had evidently been somewhat disturbed in mind, his
troubles had ruffled his spirit but now with a sense of answered prayer upon
him he quiets his soul. He had rested before, for he knew the blessed repose of
faith, and therefore he returns to the God who had been the refuge of his soul
in former days. Even as a bird flies to its nest, so does his soul fly to his
God. Whenever a child of God even for a moment loses his peace of mind, he
should be concerned to find it again, not by seeking it in the world or in his
own experience, but in the Lord alone. When the believer prays, and the Lord
inclines his ear, the road to the old rest is before him, let him not be slow
to follow it. For the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee. Thou hast served a
good God, and built upon a sure foundation; go not about to find any other
rest, but come back to him who in former days hath condescended to enrich thee
by his love. What a text is this! and what an exposition of it is furnished by
the biography of every believing man and woman! The Lord hath dealt bountifully
with us, for he hath given us his Son, and in him he hath given us all things:
he hath sent us his Spirit, and by him he conveys to us all spiritual
blessings. God dealeth with us like a God; he lays his fulness open to us, and
of that fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. We have sat at no
niggard's table, we have been clothed by no penurious hand, we have been
equipped by no grudging provider; let us come back to him who has treated us
with such exceeding kindness. More arguments follow.
Verse
8. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from
tears, and my feet from falling. The triune God has given us a trinity of
deliverances: our life has been spared from the grave, our heart has been
uplifted from its griefs, and our course in life has been preserved from
dishonour. We ought not to be satisfied unless we are conscious of all three of
these deliverance. If our soul has been saved from death, why do we weep? What
cause for sorrow remains? Whence those tears? And if our tears have been wiped
away, can we endure to fall again into sin? Let us not rest unless with steady
feet we pursue the path of the upright, escaping every snare and shunning every
stumblingblock. Salvation, joy, and holiness must go together, and they are all
provided for us in the covenant of grace. Death is vanquished, tears are dried,
and fears are banished when the Lord is near. Thus has the Psalmist explained
the reasons of his resolution to call upon God as long as he lived, and none
can question but that he had come to a most justifiable resolve. When from so
great a depth he had been uplifted by so special an interposition of God, he
was undoubtedly bound to be for ever the hearty worshipper of Jehovah, to whom
he owed so much. Do we not all feel the force of the reasoning, and will we not
carry out the conclusion? May God the Holy Spirit help us so to pray without
ceasing and in everything to give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning us.
Verse
9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
This is the Psalmist's second resolution, to live as in the sight of God in the
midst of the sons of men. By a man's walk is understood his way of life: some
men live only as in the sight of their fellow men, having regard to human
judgment and opinion; but the truly gracious man considers the presence of God,
and acts under the influence of his all observing eye. "Thou God seest
me" is a far better influence than "My master sees me." The life
of faith, hope, holy fear, and true holiness is produced by a sense of living
and walking before the Lord, and he who has been favoured with divine
deliverances in answer to prayer finds his own experience the best reason for a
holy life, and the best assistance to his endeavours. We know that God in a
special manner is nigh unto his people: what manner of persons ought we to be
in all holy conversation and godliness?
Verse
10. I believed, therefore have I spoken. I could not have
spoken thus if it had not been for my faith: I should never have spoken unto
God in prayer, nor have been able now to speak to my fellow men in testimony if
it had not been that faith kept me alive, and brought me a deliverance, whereof
I have good reason to boast. Concerning the things of God no man should speak
unless he believes; the speech of the waverer is mischievous, but the tongue of
the believer is profitable; the most powerful speech which has ever been
uttered by the lip of man has emanated from a heart fully persuaded of the
truth of God. Not only the Psalmist, but such men as Luther, and Calvin, and
other great witnesses for the faith could each one most heartily say, "I
believed, therefore have I spoken." I was greatly afflicted. There was no
mistake about that; the affliction was as bitter and as terrible as it well
could be, and since I have been delivered from it, I am sure that the
deliverance is no fanatical delusion, but a self evident fact; therefore am I
the more resolved to speak to the honour of God. Though greatly afflicted, the
Psalmist had not ceased to believe: his faith was tried but not destroyed.
Verse
11. I said in my haste, All men are liars. In a modified sense
the expression will bear justification, even though hastily uttered, for all
men will prove to be liars if we unduly trust in them; some from want of truthfulness,
and others from want of power. But from the expression, "I said in my
haste, "it is clear that the Psalmist did not justify his own language,
but considered it as the ebullition of a hasty temper. In the sense in which he
spoke his language was unjustifiable. He had no right to distrust all men, for
many of them are honest, truthful, and conscientious; there are faithful
friends and loyal adherents yet alive; and if sometimes they disappoint us, we
ought not to call them liars for failing when the failure arises entirely from
want of power, and not from lack of will. Under great affliction our temptation
will be to form hasty judgments of our fellow men, and knowing this to be the
case we ought carefully to watch our spirit, and to keep the door of our lips.
The Psalmist had believed, and therefore he spoke; he had doubted, and
therefore he spoke in haste. He believed, and therefore he rightly prayed to
God; he disbelieved, and therefore he wrongfully accused mankind. Speaking is
as ill in some cases as it is good in others. Speaking in haste is generally
followed by bitter repentance. It is much better to be quiet when our spirit is
disturbed and hasty, for it is so much easier to say than to unsay; we may
repent of our words, but we cannot so recall them as to undo the mischief they
have done. If even David had to eat his own words, when he spoke in a hurry,
none of us can trust our tongue without a bridle.
Verse
12. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward
me? He wisely leaves off fretting about man's falsehood and his own ill
humour, and directs himself to his God. It is of little use to be harping on
the string of man's imperfection and deceitfulness; it is infinitely better to
praise the perfection and faithfulness of God. The question of the verse is a
very proper one: the Lord has rendered so much mercy to us that we ought to
look about us, and look within us, and see what can be done by us to manifest
our gratitude. We ought not only to do what is plainly before us, but also with
holy ingenuity to search out various ways by which we may render fresh praises
unto our God. His benefits are so many that we cannot number them, and our ways
of acknowledging his bestowments ought to be varied and numerous in proportion.
Each person should have his own peculiar mode of expressing gratitude. The Lord
sends each one a special benefit, let each one enquire, "What shall I
render? What form of service would be most becoming in me?"
Verse
13. I will take the cup of salvation. "I will take"
is a strange answer to the question, "What shall I render?" and yet
it is the wisest reply that could possibly be given.
"The
best return for one like me,
So wretched and so poor,
Is from his gifts to draw a plea
And ask him still for more."
To
take the cup of salvation was in itself an act of worship, and it was
accompanied with other forms of adoration, hence the Psalmist says, and call
upon the name of the LORD. He means that he will utter blessings and
thanksgivings and prayers, and then drink of the cup which the Lord had filled
with his saving grace. What a cup this is! Upon the table of infinite love
stands the cup full of blessing; it is ours by faith to take it in our hand,
make it our own, and partake of it, and then with joyful hearts to laud and
magnify the gracious One who has filled it for our sakes that we may drink and
be refreshed. We can do this figuratively at the sacramental table, we can do
it spiritually every time we grasp the golden chalice of the covenant,
realizing the fulness of blessing which it contains, and by faith receiving its
divine contents into our inmost soul. Beloved reader, let us pause here and
take a long and deep draught from the cup which Jesus filled, and then with
devout hearts let us worship God.
Verse
14. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all
his people. The Psalmist has already stated his third resolution, to devote
himself to the worship of God evermore, and here he commences the performance
of that resolve. The vows which he had made in anguish, he now determines to
fulfil: "I will pay my vows unto the Lord." He does so at once, "now,
"and that publicly, "in the presence of all his people."
Good resolutions cannot be carried out too speedily; vows become debts, and
debts should be paid. It is well to have witnesses to the payment of just
debts, and we need not be ashamed to have witnesses to the fulfilling of holy
vows, for this will show that we are not ashamed of our Lord, and it may be a
great benefit to those who look on and hear us publicly sounding forth the
praises of our prayer hearing God. How can those do this who have never with
their mouth confessed their Saviour? O secret disciples, what say you to this
verse! Be encouraged to come into the light and own your Redeemer. If, indeed,
you have been saved, come forward and declare it in his own appointed way.
Verse
15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints,
and therefore he did not suffer the Psalmist to die, but delivered his soul
from death. This seems to indicate that the song was meant to remind Jewish
families of the mercies received by any one of the household, supposing him to
have been sore sick and to have been restored to health, for the Lord values
the lives of his saints, and often spares them where others perish. They shall
not die prematurely; they shall be immortal till their work is done; and when
their time shall come to die, then their deaths shall be precious. The Lord
watches over their dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts,
and receives their souls. Those who are redeemed with precious blood are so
dear to God that even their deaths are precious to him. The deathbeds of saints
are very precious to the church, she often learns much from them; they are very
precious to all believers, who delight to treasure up the last words of the
departed; but they are most of all precious to the Lord Jehovah himself, who
views the triumphant deaths of his gracious ones with sacred delight. If we
have walked before him in the land of the living, we need not fear to die
before him when the hour of our departure is at hand.
Verse
16. The man of God in paying his vows rededicates himself unto God;
the offering which he brings is himself, as he cries, O LORD, truly I am thy
servant, rightfully, really, heartily, constantly, I own that I am thine,
for thou hast delivered and redeemed me. I am thy servant, and the son of thine
handmaid, a servant born in thy house, born of a servant and so born a servant,
and therefore doubly thine. My mother was thine handmaid, and I, her son,
confess that I am altogether thine by claims arising out of my birth. O that
children of godly parents would thus judge; but, alas, there are many who are
the sons of the Lord's handmaids, but they are not themselves his servants.
They give sad proof that grace does not run in the blood. David's mother was
evidently a gracious woman, and he is glad to remember that fact, and to see in
it a fresh obligation to devote himself to God. Thou hast loosed my bonds,
freedom from bondage binds me to thy service. He who is loosed from the bonds
of sin, death, and hell should rejoice to wear the easy yoke of the great
Deliverer. Note how the sweet singer delights to dwell upon his belonging to
the Lord; it is evidently his glory, a thing of which he is proud, a matter
which causes him intense satisfaction. Verily, it ought to create rapture in
our souls if we are able to call Jesus Master, and are acknowledged by him as
his servants.
Verse
17. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Being
thy servant, I am bound to sacrifice to thee, and having received spiritual
blessings at thy hands I will not bring bullock or goat, but I will bring that
which is more suitable, namely, the thanksgiving of my heart. My inmost soul
shall adore thee in gratitude. And will call upon the name of the Lord, that is
to say, I will bow before thee reverently, lift up my heart in love to thee,
think upon thy character, and adore thee as thou dost reveal thyself. He is
fond of this occupation, and several times in this Psalm declares that "he
will call upon the name of the Lord, "while at the same time he rejoices
that he had done so many a time before. Good feelings and actions bear
repeating: the more of hearty callings upon God the better.
Verse
18. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all
his people. He repeats the declaration. A good thing is worth saying twice.
He thus stirs himself up to greater heartiness, earnestness, and diligence in
keeping his vow,—really paying it at the very moment that he is declaring his
resolution to do so. The mercy came in secret, but the praise is rendered in
public; the company was, however, select; he did not cast his pearls before
swine, but delivered his testimony before those who could understand and
appreciate it.
Verse
19. In the courts of the LORD'S house: in the proper place,
where God had ordained that he should be worshipped. See how he is stirred up
at the remembrance of the house of the Lord, and must needs speak of the holy
city with a note of joyful exclamation—In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. The
very thought of the beloved Zion touched his heart, and he writes as if he were
actually addressing Jerusalem, whose name was dear to him. There would he pay
his vows, in the abode of fellowship, in the very heart of Judea, in the place
to which the tribes went up, the tribes of the Lord. There is nothing like
witnessing for Jesus, where the report thereof will be carried into a thousand
homes. God's praise is not to be confined to a closet, nor his name to be
whispered in holes and corners, as if we were afraid that men should hear us;
but in the thick of the throng, and in the very centre of assemblies, we should
lift up heart and voice unto the Lord, and invite others to join with us in
adoring him, saying, Praise ye the LORD, or Hallelujah. This was a very fit
conclusion of a song to be sung when all the people were gathered together at
Jerusalem to keep the feast. God's Spirit moved the writers of these Psalms to
give them a fitness and suitability which was more evident in their own day
than now; but enough is perceptible to convince us that every line and word had
a peculiar adaptation to the occasions for which the sacred sonnets were
composed. When we worship the Lord we ought with great care to select the words
of prayer and praise, and not to trust to the opening of a hymn book, or to the
unconsidered extemporizing of the moment. Let all things be done decently and
in order, and let all things begin and end with Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. A Psalm of Thanksgiving in the Person of Christ. He is imagined
by the prophet to have passed through the sorrows and afflictions of life. The
atonement is passed. He has risen from the dead. He is on the right hand of the
Majesty on High; and he proclaims to the whole world the mercies he experienced
from God in the day of his incarnation, and the glories which he has received
in the kingdom of his Heavenly Father. Yet, although the Psalm possesses this
power, and, by its own internal evidence, proves the soundness of the
interpretation, it is yet highly mystic in its mode of disclosure, and requires
careful meditation in bringing out its real results. Its language, too, is not
so exclusively appropriate to the Messiah, that it shall not be repeated and
applied by the believer to his own trials in the world; so that while there is
much that finds a ready parallel in the exaltation of Christ in heaven, there
is much that would seem to be restrained to his condition upon earth. It
therefore depends much on the mind of the individual, whether he will
receive it in the higher sense of the Redeemer's glory; or restrict it solely
to a thanksgiving for blessings amidst those sufferings in life to which all
men have been subject in the same manner, though not to the same extent as
Jesus. The most perfect and the most profitable reading would combine the two,
taking Christ as the exemplar of God's mercies towards ourselves.
1.
(Ps 116:1) Enthroned in eternity, and triumphant over sin and death—I—Christ—am
well pleased that my Heavenly Father listened to the anxious prayers that I
made to him in the day of my sorrows; when I had neither strength in my own
mind, nor assistance from men; therefore "through my days"—through
the endless ages of my eternal existence—will I call upon him in my gratitude,
and praise him with my whole heart.
2.
(Ps 116:3) In the troublous times of my incarnation I was encircled with
snares, and urged onwards towards my death. The priest and ruler; the Pharisee
and the scribe; the rich and the poor, clamoured fiercely for my destruction.
The whole nation conspired against me. "The bands of the grave"
laid hold of me, and I was hurried to the cross.
3.
(Ps 116:4) Then, truly did Christ find heaviness and affliction.
"His soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." He prayed
anxiously to his Heavenly Father, that "the cup might pass from him."
The fate of the whole world was in the balance; and he supplicated with agony,
that his soul might be delivered.
4.
(Ps 116:5) The abrupt breaking off in this verse from the direct narrative of
his own sorrows is wonderfully grand and beautiful. Nor less so, is the
expression "our God" as applied by Christ to his own disciples
and believers. "I called, "he states, "on the name of
the LORD." But he does not yet state the answer. He leaves that to be
inferred from the assurance that God is ever gracious to the faithful;
yea, "our God"—the protector of the Christian church, as well
as of myself—"our God is merciful."
5.
(Ps 116:6) Instantly, however, he resumes. Mark the energy of the language,
"I was afflicted; and he delivered me." And how delivered? The soul
of Christ hast returned freely to its tranquillity; for though the body and the
frame perished on the tree, yet the soul burst through the bands of death.
Again in the full stature of a perfect man Christ rose resplendent in glory to
the mansions of eternity. The tears ceased: the sorrows were hushed; and
henceforward, through the boundless day of immortality, doth lie "walk
before Jehovah, in the land of the living." This last is one of
those expressions in the Psalm which might, without reflection, seem adapted to
the rescued believer's state on earth, rather than Christ's in heaven. But
applying the language of earthly things to heavenly—which is usual, even in the
most mystic writings of Scripture—nothing can be finer than the appellation of "the
land of the living, "when assigned to the future residence of the
soul. It is the noblest application of the metaphor, and is singularly
appropriate to those eternal mansions where death and sorrow are alike unknown.
6.
(Ps 116:10) This stanza will bear an emendation.
I
felt confidence, although I said,
"I am sore afflicted."
I said in my sudden terror,—
"All mankind are false." French.
It
alludes to the eve of his crucifixion, when worn down with long watchfulness
and fasting, his spirit almost fainted in the agony of Gethsemane. Still,
oppressed and stricken as he was in soul, he yet trusted in Jehovah, for he
felt assured that he would not forsake him. But, sustained by God, he was
deserted by men, the disciples with whom he had lived; the multitudes whom he
had taught; the afflicted whom he had healed, "all forsook him and
fled." Not one—not even the "disciple whom he loved"—remained;
and in the anguish of that desertion he could not refrain from the bitter
thought, that all mankind were alike false and treacherous.
7.
(Ps 116:12) But that dread hour has passed. He has risen from the dead; and
stands girt with truth and holiness and glory. What then is his earliest
thought? Hear it, O man, and blush for thine oft ingratitude! I will lift up "the
cup of deliverance"—the drink offering made to God with sacrifice
after any signal mercies received—and bless the Lord who has been thus gracious
to me. In the sight of the whole world will I pay my past vows unto Jehovah,
and bring nations from every portion of the earth, reconciled and holy through
the blood of my atonement. The language in these verses, as in the concluding
part of the Psalm, is wholly drawn from earthly objects and modes of religious
service, well recognized by the Jews. It is in these things that the spiritual
sense is required to be separated from the external emblem. For instance, the
sacramental cup was without a doubt drawn and instituted from the cup used in
commemoration of deliverances by the Jews. It is used figuratively by Christ in
heaven; but the reflective mind can scarcely fail to see the beauty of
imagining it in his hand in thankfulness for his triumph, because
"he has burst his bonds in sunder": the bonds which held him fast in
death, and confined him to the tomb: the assertion that "precious in the
sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints" specially includes the
sacrifice of Christ within its more general allusion to the blood shed, in such
abundance, by prophets and martyrs to the truth. In the same manner the worship
of Jehovah in the courts of his temple at Jerusalem is used in figure for the
open promulgation of Christianity to the whole world. The temple services were
the most solemn and most public which were offered by the Jews; and when Christ
is said to "offer his sacrifices of thanksgiving" to God in the
sight of all his people, the figure is easily separated from the grosser
element; and the conversion of all people intimated under the form of
Christ seen by all. William Hill Tucker.
Verse
1. I love. The expression of the prophet's affection is in
this short abrupt phrase, "I love, "which is but one word in
the original, and expressed as a full and entire sentence in itself, thus—I
love because the Lord hath heard, etc. Most translators so turn it, as if,
by a trajection, or passing of a word from one sentence to another, this title
Lord were to be joined with the first clause, thus—(hwhy emvy yk ytbha), "I
love the LORD, because he hath heard, "etc. I deny not but that thus
the sense is made somewhat the more perspicuous, and the words run the more
roundly; yet are they not altogether so emphatic. For when a man's heart is
inflamed, and his soul lavished with a deep apprehension of some great and
extraordinary favour, his affection will cause interruption in the expression
thereof, and make stops in his speech; and therefore this concise and abrupt clause,
"I love, "declareth a more entire and ardent affection than a
more full and round phrase would do. Great is the force of true love, so that
it cannot be sufficiently expressed. William Gouge, 1575-1653.
Verse
1. I love the LORD. Oh that there were such hearts in us that
we could every one say, as David, with David's spirit, upon his evidence, "I
love the LORD"; that were more worth than all these, viz.; First, to
know all secrets. Secondly, to prophesy. Thirdly, to move mountains, etc., 1Co
13:1-2, etc. "I love the LORD"; it is more than I know the
Lord; for even castaways are enlightened, (Heb 6:4); more than I fear the Lord,
for devils fear him unto trembling (Jas 2:19); more than I pray to God (Isa
1:15). What should I say? More than all services, than all virtues separate
from charity: truly say the schools, charity is the form of all virtues,
because it forms them all to acceptability, for nothing is accepted but what
issues from charity, or, in other words, from the love of God. William
Slater, 1638.
Verse
1. I love the LORD, because, etc. How vain and foolish is the
talk, "To love God for his benefits towards us is mercenary, and cannot be
pure love!" Whether pure or impure, there is no other love that can flow
from the heart of the creature to its Creator. "We love him, "said
the holiest of Christ's disciples, "because he first loved us; "and
the increase of our love and filial obedience is in proportion to the increased
sense we have of our obligation to him. We love him for the benefits bestowed
on us.—Love begets love. Adam Clarke.
Verse
1. He hath heard my voice. But is this such a benefit to us,
that God hears us? Is his hearing our voice such an argument of his love? Alas!
he may hear us, and we be never the better: he may hear our voice, and yet his
love to us may be but little, for who will not give a man the hearing, though
he love him not at all? With men perhaps it may be so, but not with God; for
his hearing is not only voluntary, but reserved; non omnibus dormit:his
ears are not open to every one's cry; indeed, to hear us, is in God so great a
favour, that he may well be counted his favourite whom he vouchsafes to hear:
and the rather, for that his hearing is always operative, and with a purpose of
helping; so that if he hear my voice, I may be sure he means to grant my
supplication; or rather perhaps in David's manner of expressing, and in God's
manner of proceeding, to hear my voice is no less in effect than to grant my
supplication. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
1. Hath heard. By hearing prayer God giveth evidence of the
notice which he taketh of our estates, of the respect he beareth to our
persons, of the pity he hath of our miseries, of his purpose to supply our
wants, and of his mind to do us good according to our needs. William Gouge.
Verses
1-2. The first emvy is more of an aorist. The Lord hears always; and
then, making a distinction ygwa hjh. He has done it hitherto: adqa Therefore
will I call upon Him as long as I live, cleaving to Him in love and faith! It
should be noticed, in addition, that adq here is not simply the prayer for
help, but includes also the praising and thanksgiving, according to the twofold
signification of hwhy Mvk arq, in Ps 116:4,13,17; therefore, Jarchi very
excellently says: In the time of my distress I will call upon Him, and in
the time of my deliverance l will praise Him. Rudolph Stier.
Verses
1-2. I love. Therefore will I call upon him. It is love that
doth open our mouths, that we may praise God with joyful lips: "I will
love the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplications"; and
then, Ps 116:2, "I will call upon him as long as I live." The proper
intent of mercies is to draw us to God. When the heart is full of a sense of
the goodness of the Lord, the tongue cannot hold its peace. Self love may lead
us to prayers, but love to God excites us to praises: therefore to seek and not
to praise, is to be lovers of ourselves rather than of God. Thomas Manton.
Verses
1, 12. I love. What shall I render? Love and thankfulness are
like the symbolical qualities of the elements, easily resolved into each other.
David begins with, "I love the Lord, because he hath heard my
voice"; and to enkindle this grace into a greater flame, he records
the mercies of God in some following verses; which done, then he is in the
right mood for praise; and cries, "What shall I render unto the Loud
for all his benefits?" The spouse, when thoroughly awake, pondering
with herself what a friend had been at her door, and how his sweet company was
lost through her unkindness, shakes off her sloth, riseth, and away she goes
after him; now, when by running after her beloved, she hath put her soul into a
heat of love, she breaks out in praising him from top to toe. So 5:10. That is
the acceptable praising which comes from a warm heart; and the saint must use
some holy exercise to stir up his habit of love, which like natural heat in the
body, is preserved and increased by motion. William Gumall.
Verse
2. He hath inclined his ear unto me. How great a blessing is
the inclining of the Divine ear, may be judged from the conduct of great men,
who do not admit a wretched petitioner to audience; but, if they do anything,
receive the main part of the complaint through the officer appointed for such
matters, or through a servant. But God himself hears immediately, and inclines
his ear, hearing readily, graciously, constantly, etc. Who would not pray? Wolfgang
Musculus.
Verse
2. And now because he hath inclined his ear unto me, I will
therefore call upon him as long as I live: that if it be expected I should call
upon any other, it must be when I am dead; for as long as I live, I have vowed
to call upon God. But will this be well done? May I not, in so doing, do more
than I shall have thanks for? Is this the requital that God shall have for his
kindness in hearing me, that now he shall have a customer of me, and never be
quiet because of my continual running to him, and calling upon him? Doth God
get anything by my calling upon him, that I should make it a vow, as though in
calling upon him I did him a pleasure? O my soul, I would that God might indeed
have a customer of me in praying; although I confess I should not be so bold to
call upon him so continually, if his own commanding me did not make it a duty;
for hath not God bid me call upon him when I am in trouble? and is there any
time that I am not in trouble, as long as I live in this vale of misery? and
then can there be any time as long as I live, that I must not call upon him?
For shall God bid me, and shall I not do it? Shall God incline his car, and
stand listening to hear, and shall I hold my peace that he may have nothing to
hear? Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
2. Therefore will I call upon him. If the hypocrite speed in
prayer, and get what he asks, then also he throws up prayer, and will ask no
more. If from a sick bed he be raised to health, he leaves prayer behind him,
as it were, sick abed; he grows weak in calling upon God, when at his call God
hath given him strength. And thus it is in other instances. When he hath got
what he hath a mind to in prayer, he hath no more mind to pray. Whereas a godly
man prays after he hath sped, as he did before, and though he fall not into
those troubles again, and so is not occasioned to urge those petitions again
which he did in trouble, yet he cannot live without prayer, because he cannot
live out of communion with God. The creature is as the white of an egg,
tasteless to him, unless he enjoy God. David saith, "I love the LORD,
because he hath heard my voice and my supplications"; that is, because
he hath granted me that which I supplicated to him for. But did this grant of
what he had asked take him off from asking more? The next words show us what
his resolution was upon that grant. "Because he hath inclined his ear
unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live";as if he
had said, I will never give over praying, forasmuch as I have been heard in
prayer. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
2. As long as I live.—Not on some few days, but every day of
my life; for to pray on certain days, and not on all, is the mark of one who
loathes and not of one who loves. Ambrose.
Verse
3. Here begins the exemplification of God's kindness to his servant;
the first branch whereof is a description of the danger wherein he was and out
of which he was delivered. Now, to magnify the kindness of God the more in
delivering him out of the same, he setteth it out with much variety of words
and phrases.
The
first word ylbx, "sorrows, "is diversely translated. Some
expound it snares, some cords, some sorrows. The reason of this difference is
because the word itself is metaphorical. It is taken from cruel creditors, who
will be sure to tie their debtors fast, as with cords, so that they shall not
easily get loose and free again. The pledge which the debtor leaveth with his
creditor as a pawn, hath this name in Hebrew; so also a cord wherewith things
are fast tied; and the mast of a ship fast fixed, and tied on every side with
cords; and bands or troops of men combined together; and the pain of a woman in
travail, which is very great; and destruction with pain and anguish. Thus we
see that such a word is used here as setteth out a most lamentable and
inextricable case.
The
next word, "of death" twm, sheweth that his case was deadly;
death was before his eyes; death was as it were threatened. He is said to be "compassed"
herewith in two respects: (1) To show that these sorrows were not far off, but
even upon him, as waters that compass a man when he is in the midst of them, or
as enemies that begird a place. (2) To show that they were not few, but many
sorrows, as bees that swarm together.
The
word translated "pains, "yrum, in the original is put for
sacks fast bound together, and flint stones, and fierce enemies, and hard
straits; so that this word also aggravates his misery.
The
word translated "hell, "lwav, is usually taken in the Old
Testament for the grave; it is derived from lav, a verb that signifieth to
crave, because the grave is ever craving, and never satisfied.
The
word translated "gat hold on me, "ygwaum, and "I
found, "auma, are both the same verb; they differ only in
circumstances of tense, number, and person. The former sheweth that these
miseries found him, and as a serjeant they seized on him; he did not seek them,
he would wittingly and willingly have escaped them, if he could. The latter
sheweth that indeed he found them; he felt the tartness and bitterness, the
smart and pain of them.
The
word translated trouble, hru of dwu, hath a near affinity with the
former word translated pain, dum of dwu, and is used to set out as great misery
as that; and yet further to aggravate the same, another word is added thereto, "sorrow."
The
last word, "sorrow, "Nwgy of hgy, imports such a kind of
calamity as maketh them that lie under it much to grieve, and also moveth
others that behold it much to pity them. It is often used in the Lamentations
of Jeremiah. Either of these two last words, trouble and sorrow, do declare a
very perplexed and distressed estate; what then both of them joined together?
For the Holy Ghost doth not multiply words in vain. William Gouge.
Verse
3. Gat hold upon me. The original word is, found me, as we
put in the margin. They found him, as an officer or serjeant finds a person
that he is sent to arrest; who no sooner finds him, but he takes hold of him,
or takes him into custody. When warrants are sent out to take a man who keeps
out of the way, the return is, Non est inventus, the man is not found,
he cannot be met with, or taken hold of. David's pains quickly found him, and
having found him they gat hold of him. Such finding is so certainly and
suddenly followed With taking hold, and holding what is taken, that one word in
the Hebrew serves to express both acts. When God sends out troubles and
afflictions as officers to attack any man, they will find him, and finding him,
they will take hold of him. The days of affliction will take hold; there's no
striving, no struggling with them, no getting out of their hands. These divine
pursuivants will neither be persuaded nor bribed to let you go, till God speak
the word, till God say, Deliver him, release him. I found trouble and
sorrow. I found trouble which I looked not for. I was not searching after
sorrow, but I found it. There's an elegancy in the original. The Hebrew is, "The
pains of hell found me." They found me, I did not find them; but no
sooner had the pains of hell found me, than I found trouble and sorrow, enough,
and soon enough. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
3. See how the saints instead of lessening the dangers and
tribulations, with which they are exercised by God, magnify them in figurative
phraseology; neither do they conceal their distress of soul, but clearly and
willingly set it forth. Far otherwise are the minds of those who regard their
own glory and not the glory of God. The saints, that they may make more
illustrious the glory of the help of God, declare things concerning themselves
which make but little for their own glory. Wolfgang Musculus.
Verses
3-7. Those usually have most of heaven upon earth, that formerly have
met with most of hell upon earth. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the
pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow: (as Jonas
crying in the belly of hell). But look upon him within two or three verses
after, and you may see him in an ecstasy, as if he were in heaven; Ps 116:7: Return
unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Matthew Lawrence.
Verse
4. The name of the LORD. God's name, as it is set out in the
word, is both a glorious name, full of majesty; and also a gracious name, full
of mercy. His majesty worketh fear and reverence, his mercy faith and
confidence. By these graces man's heart is kept within such a compass, that he
will neither presume above that which is meet, nor despond more than there is
cause. But where God's name is not rightly known, it cannot be avoided but that
they who come before him must needs rush upon the rock of presumption, or sink
into the gulf of desperation. Necessary, therefore, it is that God be known of
them that pray to him, that in truth they may say, "We have called upon
the name of the LORD." Be persuaded hereby so to offer up your
spiritual sacrifice of supplication to God, that he may have respect to your
persons and prayers, as he had respect to Abel and his offering. Learn to know
the name of God, as in his word it is made known; and then, especially when you
draw near to him, meditate on his name. Assuredly God will take good notice of
them that take due notice of him, and will open his ears to them by name who
rightly call upon his name. William Gouge.
Verse
4. O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. A short prayer
for so great a suit, and yet as short as it was, it prevailed. If we wondered
before at the power of God, we may wonder now at the power of prayer, that can
prevail with God, for obtaining of that which in nature is impossible, and to
reason is incredible. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
4. We learn here that there is nothing better and more effectual in
distressing agonies than assiduous prayer—Then called I upon the name of the
LORD; but in such prayers the first care ought to be for the salvation of
the soul—I beseech thee, deliver my soul; for, this being done, God also
either removes or mitigates the bodily disease. Solomon Gesner.
Verse
5. Gracious is the Lord, etc. He is gracious in hearing,
he is "righteous" in judging, he is "merciful"
in pardoning, and how, then, can I doubt of his will to help me? He is
righteous to reward according to deserts; he is gracious to reward above
deserts; yea, he is merciful to reward without deserts; and how, then, can I
doubt of his will to help me? He is gracious, and this shows his bounty; he is
righteous, and this shows his justice; yea, he is merciful, and this shows his
love; and how, then, can I doubt of his will to help me? If he were not gracious
I could not hope he would hear me; if he were not righteous, I could not depend
upon his promise; if he were not merciful, I could not expect his pardon; but
now that he is gracious and righteous and merciful too, how can I doubt of his
will to help me? Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
5. The first attribute, "gracious, "(Nwgx) hath
especial respect to that goodness which is in God himself. The root (Ngx)
whence it cometh signifieth to do a thing gratis, freely, of one's own mind and
goodwill. This is that word which is used to set out the free grace and mere
goodwill of God, thus (Nxa ddva ta ytgxw) "I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, "Ex 33:19. There is also an adverb (Mgh) derived thence,
which signifieth gratis, freely, as where Laban thus speaketh to Jacob,
"Shouldest thou serve me for nought?" Thus is the word opposed to
merit. And hereby the prophet acknowledged that the deliverance which God gave
was for the Lord's own sake, upon no desert of him that was delivered.
The
second attribute, "righteous" or just, (qydu), hath particular
relation to the promise of God. God's righteousness largely taken is the
integrity or equity of all his counsels, words, and actions... Particularly is
God's righteousness manifested in giving reward and taking vengeance. Thus it
is said to be "a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to
them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest, "2Th 1:6-7... But
the occasion of mentioning God's righteousness here in this place being to show
the ground of his calling on God, and of God's delivering him, it must needs
have respect to God's word and promise, and to God's truth in performing what
he hath promised. William Gouge.
Verse
5. The Lord; our God. The first title, "Lord,
"sets out the excellency of God. Fit mention is here made thereof, to
shew the blessed concurrence of greatness and goodness in God. Though he be
Jehovah the Lord, yet is he gracious, and righteous, and merciful. The second
title, "our God, "manifests a peculiar relation betwixt him and
the faithful that believe in him, and depend on him, as this prophet did. And
to them in an especial manner the Lord is gracious, which moved him thus to
change the person; for where he had said in the third person "the Lord is
gracious, "here, in the first person, he says, "our God, "yet
so that he appropriates not this privilege to himself, but acknowledgeth it to
be common to all of like character by using the plural number, "our."
William Gouge.
Verse
5. The "Berlenburger Bibelwerk" says, "The righteousness
is very significantly placed between the grace and the mercy: for it is still
necessary, that the evil should be mortified and driven out. Grace lays, as it
were, the foundation for salvation, and mercy perfects the work; but not till
righteousness has finished its intermediary work." Rudolph Stier.
Verse
5. Our God is merciful. Mercy is God's darling attribute; and
by his infinite wisdom he has enabled mercy to triumph over justice without in
any degree violating his honour or his truth. The character of merciful is that
by which our God seems to delight in being known. When he proclaimed himself
amid terrific grandeur to the children of Israel, it was as "the Lord, the
Lord God merciful and gracious, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin."
And such was the impression of this his character on the mind of Jonah that he
says to him, "I knew that thou wert a merciful God." These, however,
are not mere assertions—claims made to the character by God on the one hand,
and extorted without evidence from man on the other; for in whatever way we
look upon God, and examine into his conduct towards his creatures, we perceive
it to bear the impression of mercy. Nor can we more exalt the Lord our God than
by speaking of his mercy and confiding in it; for our "Lord's delight is
in them that fear him, and put their trust in his mercy." John Gwyther,
1833.
Verse
6. The Lord preserveth the simple. God taketh most care of
them that, being otherwise least cared for, wholly depend on him. These are in
a good sense simple ones; simple in the world's account, and simple in their
own eyes. Such as he that said, "I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of
men, and despised of the people." Ps 22:6. And again, "I am poor and
needy, yet the Lord thinketh on me." Ps 40:17. These are those poor ones
of a contrite spirit on whom the Lord looketh. Isa 66:2. Of such fatherless is
God a father; and of such widows a judge. Read Ps 68:5, and Ps 146:7-9. Yea,
read observantly the histories of the Gospel, and well weigh who they were to whom
Christ in the days of his flesh afforded succour, and you shall find them to be
such simple ones as are here intended. By such objects the free grace and
merciful mind of the Lord is best manifested. Their case being most miserable,
in reference to human helps, the greater doth God's mercy appear to be; and
since there is nothing in them to procure favour or succour from God, for in
their own and others' eyes they are nothing, what God doth for them evidently
appeareth to be freely done. Behold here how of all others they who seem to
have least cause to trust on God have most cause to trust on him. Simple
persons, silly wretches, despicable fools in the world's account, who have not
subtle brains, or crafty wits to search after indirect means, have, notwithstanding,
enough to support them, in the grand fact that they are such as the Lord
preserveth. Now, who knoweth not that "It is better to trust in the Lord,
than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put
confidence in princes"? Ps 118:8-9. William Gouge.
Verse
6. The Lord preserveth the simple. How delightful it is to be
able to reflect on the character of God as preserving the soul. The word
properly signifies to defend us at any season of danger. The Hebrew word which
is translated "simple, "signifies one who has no control over
himself, one that cannot resist the power and influence of those around, and
one, therefore, subject to the greatest peril from which he has naturally no
deliverance. "The Lord preserveth": his eye is upon them, his hand is
over them, and they cannot fall. The word "simple" signifies
likewise those that are ignorant of their condition, and not watching over
their foes. Delightful thought, that though we may be thus ignorant, yet we are
blessed with the means of escape! We may be simple to the last extent, and our
simplicity may be such as to involve our mind in the greatest doubt: the Lord
preserveth us, and let us rest in him. It is delightful to reflect, that it is
the simple in whom the Lord delights, whom he loves to bless. We are sometimes
especially in the condition in which we may be inclined to make the inquiry,
how we may be saved. We suppose there are many truths to be apprehended, many
principles to be realized before we can be saved. No; "the Lord preserveth
the simple." We may be able to reconcile scarcely any of the doctrines of
Christianity with each other; we may find ourselves in the greatest perplexity
when we examine the evidences on which they rest; we may be exposed to great
difficulty when we seek to apply them to practical usefulness; but still we may
adopt the language before us: The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought
low, and he helped me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. R. S. M'All, 1834.
Verse
6. The LORD preserveth the simple. The term simple
equals the "simplicity" of the New Testament, namely, that pure mind
towards God, which, without looking out for help from any other quarter, and
free from ali dissimulation, expects salvation from him alone. Augustus F.
Tholuck.
Verse
6. The simple. They are such as honestly keep the plain way
of God's commandments, without those slights, or creeks of carnal policy, for
which men are m the world esteemed wise; see Ge 25:27, where Jacob is called a
plain man. Simple or foolish he calls them, because they are generally so
esteemed amongst the wise of the world; not that they are so silly as they are
esteemed; for if the Lord can judge of wisdom or folly, the only fool is the
Atheist and profane person (Ps 14:1); the only wise man in the world is the
plain, downright Christian (De 4:6), who keeps himself precisely in all states
to that plain, honest course the Lord hath prescribed him. To such simple ones,
God's fools, who in their misery and affliction keep them only to the means of
deliverance and comfort which the Lord hath prescribed them, belongs this
blessing of preservation from mischief, or destruction: so Solomon (Pr 16:17),
"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil." "He that
keepeth his way preserveth his soul"; see also Pr 19:16,23; for
exemplification see in Asa, 2Ch 14:9-12 16:7-9, read the excellent speech of
Hanani the seer. William Slater, 1638.
Verse
6. I was brought low. By affliction and trial. The Hebrew
literally means to hang down, to be pendulous, to swing, to wave—as a bucket in
a well, or as the slender branches of the palm, the willow, etc. Then it means
to be slack, feeble, weak, as in sickness, etc. It probably refers to the
prostration of strength by disease. And he helped me. He gave me
strength; he restored me. Albert Barnes.
Verse
6. I was brought low, and he helped me. The word translated "brought
low, "ygtld a tld, properly signifieth to be drawn dry. The metaphor
is taken from ponds, or brooks, or rivers that are clean exhausted and dried up,
where water utterly faileth. Thus doth Isaiah use this word, "The brooks
shall be emptied and dried up, " Isa 19:6, yray wkrhw wlld. Being applied
to man, it setteth out such an one as is spent, utterly wasted, for, as we use
to speak, clean gone, who hath no ability to help himself, no means of help, no
hope of help from others. The other word whereby the succour which God afforded
is expressed, and translated "helped" eyvwhy ab evy,
signifies such help as frees out of danger. It is usually translated "to
save." William Gouge.
Verse
6. I was brought low, and he helped me. Then is the time of
help, when men are brought low: and therefore God who does all things in due
time when I was brought low, then helped me. Wherefore, O my soul, let it never
trouble thee how low soever thou be brought, for when thy state is at the
lowest, then is God's assistance at the nearest. We may truly say, God's ways
are not as the ways of the world; for in the world when a man is once brought
low, he is commonly trampled upon, and nothing is heard then but, "down
with him, down to the ground": but with God it is otherwise; for his
delight is to raise up them that fall, and when they are brought low, then to
help them. Hence it is no such hard case for a man to be brought low, may I not
rather say his case is happy? For is it not better to be brought low, and have
God to help him, than to be set aloft and left to help himself? At least, O my
body, this may be a comfort to thee: for thou art sure to be brought low, as
low as the grave, which is low indeed; yet there thou mayest rest in hope; for
even there the Lord will not fail to help thee. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
6. He helped me. Helped me both to bear the worst and to hope
the best; helped me to pray, else desire had failed helped me to wait, else
faith had failed. Matthew Henry.
Verse
7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. The Psalmist had been at
a great deal of unrest, and much off the hooks, as we say; now, having
prayed (for prayer hath vim pacativam, a pacifying property), he calls
his soul to rest; and rocks it asleep in a spiritual security. Oh, learn this
holy art; acquaint thyself with God, acquiesce in him, and be at peace; so
shall good be done unto thee. Job 22:21. Sis Sabbathum Christi. Luther. John
Trapp.
Verse
7. Gracious souls rest in God; they and none else. Whatever others
may speak of a rest in God, only holy souls know what it means. Return unto
thy rest, O my soul, to thy rest in calm and cheerful submission to God's
will, delight in his service, satisfaction in his presence, and joy in
communion begun with him here below, which is to be perfected above in its full
fruition. Holy souls rest in God, and in his will; in his will of precept as
their sovereign Lord, whose commands concerning all things are right, and in
the keeping of which there is great reward; in his will of providence as their
absolute owner, and who does all things well; in himself as their God, their
portion, and their chief good, in whom they shall have all that they can need,
or are capable of enjoying to complete their blessedness for ever. Daniel
Wilcox.
Verse
7. Return unto thy rest. Return to that rest which Christ
gives to the weary and heavy laden, Mt 11:28. Return to thy Noah, his name
signifies rest, as the dove when she found no rest returned to the ark. I know
no word more proper to close our eyes with at night when we go to sleep, nor to
close them with at death, that long sleep, than this, "Return unto thy
rest, O my soul." Matthew Henry.
Verse
7. Return unto thy rest. Consider the variety of aspects of
that rest which a good man seeks, and the ground upon which he will endeavour
to realize it. It consists in,
1.
Rest from the perplexities of ignorance, and the wanderings of error.
2.
Rest from the vain efforts of self righteousness, and the disquietude of a
proud and legal spirit.
3.
Rest from the alarms of conscience, and the apprehensions of punishment
hereafter.
4.
Rest from the fruitless struggles of our degenerate nature, and unaided
conflicts with indwelling sin.
5. Rest
from the fear of temporal suffering and solicitude arising from the prospect of
danger and trial.
6.
Rest from the distraction of uncertainty and indecision of mind, and from the
fluctuations of undetermined choice. R. S. M'All.
Verse
7. Return, ykwv. This is the very word which the angel used
to Hagar when she fled from her mistress, "Return, "Ge 16:9. As Hagar
through her mistress' rough dealing with her fled from her; so the soul of this
prophet by reason of affliction fell from its former quiet confidence in God.
As the angel therefore biddeth Hagar "return to her mistress, "so the
understanding of this prophet biddeth his soul return to its rest. William
Gouge.
Verse
7. Rest. The word "rest" is put in the
plural, as indicating complete and entire rest, at all times, and under all
circumstances. A. Edersheim.
Verses
7-8. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. He hath dealt
indeed most bountifully with thee, for where thou didst make suit but for one
thing, he hath granted thee three. Thou didst ask but to have my soul
delivered, and he hath delivered mine eyes and my feet besides; and with a
deliverance in each of them the greatest that could be: for what greater
deliverance to my soul than to be delivered from death? What greater deliverance
to my eyes than to be delivered from tears? What to my feet than to be
delivered from falling? That if now, O my soul, thou return not to thy rest,
thou wilt show thyself to be most insatiable; seeing thou hast not only more
than thou didst ask, but as much indeed as was possible to be asked. But can my
soul die? and if not, what bounty is it to deliver my soul from that to which
it is not subject? The soul indeed, though immortal, hath yet her ways of
dying. It is one kind of death to the soul to be parted from the body, but the
truest kind is to be parted from God; and from both these kinds of death he
hath delivered my soul. From the first, by delivering me from a dangerous
sickness that threatened a dissolution of my soul and body; from the other, by
delivering me from the guilt of sin, which threatened a separation from the
favour of God; and are not these bounties so great as to give my soul just
cause of returning to her rest? Sir Richard Baker.
Verses
7, 9. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. . . . I will walk. How
can these two stand together? Motus et quies private opponuntur, saith
the philosopher, motion and rest are opposite; now walking is a motion,
as being an act of the locomotive faculty. How then could David return to
his rest and yet walk? You must know that walking and rest
here mentioned, being of a divine nature, do not oppose each other; spiritual
rest maketh no man idle, and therefore it is no enemy to walking; spiritual
walking maketh no man weary, and therefore it is no enemy to rest.
Indeed, they are so far from being opposite that they are subservient to each
other, and it is hard to say whether that rest be the cause of
this walking, or this walking a cause of that rest.
Indeed, both are true, since he that rests in God cannot but walk
before him, and by walking before, we come to rest in God.
Returning to rest is an act of confidence, since there is no rest to
be had but in God, nor in God but by believing affiance in, and reliance on
him. Walking before God is an act of obedience;when we disobey we
wander and go astray, only by obedience we walk. Now these two are so far from
being enemies, that they are companions and ever go together; confidence being
a means to quicken obedience, and obedience to strengthen confidence. Nathaniel
Hardy.
Verse
8. Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears,
and my feet from falling. Lo, here a deliverance, not from one, but many
dangers, to wit, "death, ""tears, ""falling."
Single deliverances are as threads; but when multiplied, they become as a cord
twisted of many threads, more potent to draw us to God. Any one mercy is as a
link, but many favours are as a chain consisting of several links, to bind us
the closer to our duty; vis unita fortior. Frequent droppings of the
rain cannot but make an impression even on the stone, and renewed mercies may
well prevail with the stony heart. Parisiensis relates a story of a man whom
(notwithstanding his notorious and vicious courses) God was pleased to
accumulate favours upon, so that at last he cried out, "Vicisti,
benignissime Deus, indefatigabili sua bonitate, Most gracious God, thy
unwearied goodness hath overcome my obstinate wickedness"; and from that
time devoted himself to God's service. No wonder, then, if David upon
deliverance from such numerous and grievous afflictions, maketh this his
resolve, to "walk before the Lord in the land of the living."
Nathanael Hardy
Verse
8. As an humble and sensible soul will pack up many troubles in one,
so a thankful soul will divide one mercy into sundry particular branches, as
here the Psalmist distinguishes, the delivery of his soul from death, of his
eyes from tears, and of his feet from falling. David Dickson.
Verse
8. Some distinguish the three particulars thus: He hath delivered
my soul from death, by giving me a good conscience; mine eyes from
tears, by giving a quiet conscience; my feet from falling, by giving
an enlightened and assured conscience. William Gouge.
Verse
8. My feet from falling. Whether means he, into penal misery
and mischief, or into sin? There is a lapsus moralis, as 1Co 10:12. Err
I? or would David here be understood of sinning? So Ps 73:2: "My feet were
almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped." And if I be not deceived,
the text leans to that meaning, rising still from the less to the greater.
First. It is more bounty to be kept from grief than from death, for there is a
greater enlargement from misery. It is not more bounty to be kept from the
sense of affliction than to be kept from death, which is the greatest of temporal
evils; but it is more bounty in a gracious eye to be kept from sin than from
death. Secondly. How his eyes from tears? If not kept from sin? That had
surely cost him many a tear, as Peter (Mt 26:75). But understand it de lapsu
morali, so the gradation still riseth to enlarge God's bounty: yea, which I
count the greatest blessing, in these afflictions he kept me steady in my
course of piety, and suffered not afflictions to sway my heart from him. Still,
in a gracious eye, the benefit seems greater to be delivered from sinning than
from the greatest outward affliction. This is the reason Paul (Ro 8:37)
triumphs over all afflictions. 2Co 11:22-33 and 2Co 12:1-10. He counts them his
glory, his crown; but speaking of the prevailing of corruption in particular,
he bemoans himself as the most miserable man alive. Ro 7:24. William Slater.
Verse
9. I will walk, etc. It is a holy resolution which this verse
records. The previous verse had mentioned among the mercies vouchsafed,
"Thou hast delivered my feet from falling"; and the first use of the
restored limb is, I will walk before the LORD. It reminds me of the
crippled beggar at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, to whom Peter had said,
"In the name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk"; and "immediately
his ankle bones received strength, and he leaping up stood and walked, and
entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising
God." It is a very sure mark of a grateful heart to employ the gift to the
praise of the giver, in such a manner as he would most wish it to be employed. Barton
Bouchier.
Verse
9. When you, my soul, return to this rest, thou shalt walk in order
that thou mayest have some exercise in thy rest, that thy resting may not make
thee restive. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. For
now that my feet are delivered from falling, how can I better employ them than
in walking? Were they delivered from falling that they should stand still and
be idle? No, my soul, but to encourage me to walk: and where is so good walking
as in the land of the living Alas! what walking is it in the winter, when all
things are dead, when the very grass lies buried under ground, and scarce
anything that has life in it is to be seen? But then is the pleasant walking,
when nature spreads her green carpet to walk upon, and then it is the land of
the living, when the trees shew they live, by bringing forth, if not fruits, at
least leaves; when the valleys shew they live, by bringing forth sweet flowers
to delight the smell, at least fresh grass to please the eyes. But is this the
walking in the land of the living that David means? O my soul, to walk in the
land of the living is to walk in the paths of righteousness: for there is no
such death to the soul as sin, no such cause of tears to the eyes as guiltiness
of conscience, no such falling of the feet as to fall from God: and therefore,
to say the truth, the soul can never return to its rest if we walk not within
in the paths of righteousness; and we cannot well say whether this rest be a
cause of the walk, or the walking be a cause of the resting: but this we may
say, they are certainly companions the one to the other, which is in effect but
this—that justification can never be without sanctification. Peace of
conscience, and godliness of life, can never be one without the other. Or is it
perhaps that David means that land of the living where Enoch and Elias are
living, with the living God? But if he mean so, how can he speak so
confidently, and say, "I will walk in the land of the living"?
as though he could come to walk there by his own strength, or at his own
pleasure? He therefore gives his reason: "I believed, and therefore I
spake, "for the voice of faith is strong, and speaks with confidence;
and because in faith he believes that he should come to walk in the land of the
living, therefore with confidence lie speaks it, I will walk in the land of
the living. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
9. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living, i.e.,
I shall pass the whole of my life under his fatherly care and protection. The
prophet has regard to the custom of men, and chiefly of parents: for those who
ardently love their children have them always in their thoughts and carry them
there, never ceasing from care and anxiety about them, but being always
attentive to their safety. Omnis enim in natis chari stat cura parentis.
Children are, therefore, said to walk before and in the sight of their parents,
because they have them as constant guardians of their health and safety. Thus
also the godly in this life walk before God, that is to say, are defended by
his care and protection. Mollerus.
Verse
9. I will walk before the LORD. According to a different
reading of the first word, "I shall, "and, "I will,
"the clause puts on several senses; if read "I shall walk,
"they are words of confident expectation;if "I will,
"they are words of obedient resolution. According to the
former, the Psalmist promises somewhat to himself from God; according to the
latter, he promises somewhat of himself to God. Both these constructions are
probable and profitable. "Before God"; that is, in his
service; or, "before God, "that is, under his care. Let us
consider both senses.
1. I
shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living; that is, by
continuing in this world, I shall have opportunity of doing God service. It was
not because those holy men had less assurance of God's love than we, but
because they had greater affections to God's service than we, that this life
was so amiable in their eyes. To this purpose the reasonings of David and
Hezekiah concerning death and the grave are very observable. "Shall the
dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth"? so David, Ps 30:9.
"The grave cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee"; so
Hezekiah, Isa 38:18. They saw death would render them useless for God's honour,
and therefore they prayed for life. It lets us see why a religious man may
desire life, that he may walk before the LORD, and minister to him in
the place wherein he hath set him. Indeed, that joy, hope, and desire of life
which is founded upon this consideration is not only lawful, but commendable;
and truly herein is a vast difference between the wicked and the godly. To walk
in the land of the living is the wicked man's desire, yea, were it possible he
would walk here for ever; but for what end? only to enjoy his lusts, have his
fill of pleasure, and increase his wealth: whereas the godly man's aim in
desiring to live is that he may "walk before God, "advance his
glory, and perform his service. Upon this account it is that one hath fitly
taken notice how David doth not say, I shall now satiate myself with delights
in my royal city, but, I shall walk before the LORD in the land of the
living.
2.
And most suitably to this interpretation, this "before the LORD, "means
under the Lord's careful eye. The words according to the Hebrew may be
read, before the face of the LORD, by which is meant his presence, and
that not general, before which all men walk, but special, before which only
good men walk. Indeed, in this sense God's face is as much as his
favour; and as to be cast out of his sight is to be under his anger, so to walk
before his face is to be in favour with him: so that the meaning is, as the
Psalmist had said, I shall live securely and safely in this world under the
careful protection of the Almighty; and this is the confidence which he here
seemeth to utter with so much joy, that God's gracious providence should watch
over him the remainder of his days. Nathanael Hardy, in a Sermon entitled "Thankfulness
in Grain," 1654.
Verse
9. In the land of the living. These words admit of a
threefold interpretation, being understood by some, especially for the land of
Judea. By others, erroneously for the Jerusalem which is above. By the most,
and most probably, for this habitable earth, the present world.
1.
That exposition which Cajetan, Lorinus, with others, give of the words, would
not be rejected, who conceive that by the land of the living David here
meaneth Judea, in which, or rather over which being constituted king, he
resolves to walk before God, and do him service. This is not improbably that "land
of the living" in which the Psalmist when an exile "believed to
see the goodness of the Lord"; this is certainly that "land of the
living" wherein God promises to "set his glory"; nor was this
title without just reason appropriated to that country. (a) Partly,
because it was a "land" which afforded the most plentiful
supports and comforts of natural life, in regard of the wholesomeness of the
climate, the goodness of the soil, the overflowing of milk and honey, with
other conveniences both for food and delight. (b) Chiefly, because it
was the "land" in which the living God was worshipped, and
where he vouchsafed to place his name; whereas the other parts of the world
worshipped lifeless things, of which the Psalmist saith, "They have
mouths, and speak not; eyes, and see not; ears, and hear not."
2. The
land of the living is construed by the ancients to be that heavenly
country, the place of the blessed. Indeed, this appellation does most fitly
agree with heaven: this world is desertum mortuorum, a desert of dead,
at least, dying men; that only is regio virorum, a region of living
saints. "He who is our life" is in heaven, yea, "our life is hid
with him in God, "and therefore we cannot be said to live till we come
thither. In this sense no doubt that devout bishop and martyr, Babilas, used
the words, who being condemned by Numerianus, the emperor, to an unjust death,
a little before his execution repeated this and the two preceding verses, with
a loud voice. Nor is it unfit for any dying saint to comfort himself with the
like application of these words, and say in a confident hope of that blessed
sight, I shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
3.
But doubtless the literal and proper meaning of these words is of David's
abode in the world;during which time, wheresoever he should be, he would "walk
before God"; for that seems to be the emphasis of the plural number,
lands, according to the original. The world consists of many countries, several
lands, and it is possible for men either by force, or unwillingly, to remove
from one country to another: but a good man when he changeth his country, yet
altereth not his religion, yea, wherever he is he resolves to serve his God. Nathaniel
Hardy.
Verse
9. Land of the living. How unmeet, how shameful, how odious a
thing is it that dead men should be here on the face of the earth, which is "the
land of the living." That there are such is too true. "She that
liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth, "1Ti 5:6; Sardis had a name
that she lived, but was dead, Re 3:1; "The dead bury their dead, "Mt
8:22; all natural men are "dead in sins, " Eph 2:1 2Co 5:14. William
Gouge.
Verses
9, 12, etc. The Hebrew word that is rendered walk, signifies a
continued action, or the reiteration of an action. David resolves that he will
not only take a turn or two with God, or walk a pretty way with God, as Orpah
did with Ruth, and then take his leave of God, as Orpah did of her mother, Ru
1:10-15; but he resolves, whatever comes on it, that he will walk constantly,
resolutely, and perpetually before God; or before the face of the Lord. Now,
walking before the face of the Lord doth imply a very exact, circumspect,
accurate, and precise walking before God; and indeed, no other walking is
either suitable or pleasing to the eye of God. But is this all that he will do
upon the receipt of such signal mercies? Oh no! for he resolves to take the cup
of salvation, and to call upon the name of the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice
of thanksgiving, Ps 116:13, 17. But is this all that he will do? Oh, no! for he
resolves that he will presently pay his vows unto the Lord in the presence of
all his people, Ps 116:14, 18. But is this all that he will do? Oh, no! for he
resolves that he will love the Lord better than ever and more than ever, Ps
116:1-2. He loved God before with a real love, but having now received such
rare mercies from God, he is resolved to love God with a more raised love, and
with a more inflamed love, and with a more active and stirring love, and with a
more growing and increasing love than ever. Thomas Brooks.
Verse
10. I believed, therefore have I spoken. It is not sufficient
to believe, unless you also openly confess before unbelievers, tyrants, and all
others. Next to believing follows confession; and therefore, those who do not
make a confession ought to fear; as, on the contrary, those should hope who
speak out what they have believed. Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
10. I believed, therefore have I spoken. That is to say, I
firmly believe what I say, therefore I make no scruple of saying it. This
should be connected with the preceding verse, and the full stop should be
placed at "spoken." Samuel Horsley.
Verse
10. I believed, etc. Some translate the words thus: "I
believed when I said, I am greatly afflicted: I believed when I said in my
haste, all men are liars"; q.d., Though I have had my offs
and my ons, though I have passed through several frames of heart and
tempers of soul in my trials, yet I believed still, I never let go my hold, my
grip of God, in my perturbation. John Trapp.
Verse
10. The heart and tongue should go together. The tongue should always
be the heart's interpreter, and the heart should always be the tongue's
suggester; what is spoken with the tongue should be first stamped upon the
heart and wrought off from it. Thus it should be in all our communications and
exhortations, especially when we speak or exhort about the things of God, and
dispense the mysteries of heaven. David spake froth his heart when he spake
from his faith. I believed, therefore have I spoken. Believing is an act
of the heart, "with the heart man believeth"; so that to say, "I
believed, therefore have I spoken, "is as if he had said, I would
never have spoken these things, if my heart had not been clear and upright in
them. The apostle takes up that very protestation from David (2Co 4:13):
"According as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we
also believe, and therefore speak"; that is, we move others to believe
nothing but what we believe, and are fully assured of ourselves. Joseph
Caryl.
Verse
10. I was greatly afflicted. After that our minstrel hath made
mention of faith and of speaking the word of God, whereby are to be understood
all good works that proceed and come forth out of faith, he now singeth of the
cross, and sheweth that he was very sore troubled, grievously threatened,
uncharitably blasphemed, evil reported, maliciously persecuted, cruelly
troubled, and made to suffer all kinds of torments for uttering and declaring
the word of God. "I believed, "saith he, "therefore
have I spoken; but I was very sore troubled." Christ's word and the
cross are companions inseparable. As the shadow followeth the body, so doth the
cross follow the word of Christ: and as fire and heat cannot be separated, so
cannot the gospel of Christ and the cross be plucked asunder. Thomas Becon
(1511-1567 or 1570).
Verses
10-11. The meaning seems to be this—I spake as I have declared (Ps
116:4) because I trusted in God. I was greatly afflicted, I was in extreme
distress, I was in great astonishment and trembling (as the word rendered "haste"
signifies trembling as well as haste, as it is rendered in De 20:3;)and in
these circumstances I did not trust in man; I said, "all men are
liars"—i.e., not fit to be trusted in; those that will fail and
deceive the hopes of those who trust in them, agreeable to Ps 62:8-9. Jonathan
Edwards.
Verse
11. I said in my haste, All men are liars, Rather, in an
ecstasy of despair, I said, the whole race of man is a delusion. Samuel
Horsley.
Verse
11. All men are liars. That is to say, every man who speaks in
the ordinary manner of men concerning happiness, and sets great value on the
frail and perishable things of this world, is a liar; for true and solid
happiness is not to be found in the country of the living. This explanation
solves the sophism proposed by St. Basil. If every man be a liar, then David
was a liar; therefore he lies when he says, every man is a liar—thus contradicting
himself, and destroying his own position. This is answered easily; for when
David spoke he did so not as man, but from an Inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Robert
Bellantoine.
Verse
11. All men are liars. Juvenal said, "Dare to do
something worthy of transportation and imprisonment, if you mean to be of
consequence. Honesty is praised, but starves." A pamphlet was published
some time ago with the title, "Whom shall we hang?" A very
appropriate one might now be written with a slight change in the title—"Whom
shall we trust?" From "A New Dictionary of Quotations, "1872.
Verses
11-15. It seems that to give the lie was not so heinous an offence in
David's time as it is in these days; for else how durst he have spoken such
words, That all men are liars, which is no less than to give the lie to
the whole world? and yet no man, I think, will challenge him for saying so; no
more than challenge St. John for saying that all men are sinners, and indeed
how should any man avoid being a liar, seeing the very being of man is itself a
lie? not only is it a vanity, and put in the balance less than vanity; but a
very lie, promising great matters, and able to do just nothing, as Christ
saith, "without me ye can do nothing": and so Christ seems to come in,
to be David's second, and to make his word good, that all men are liars.
And now let the world do its worst, and take the lie how it will, for David
having Christ on his side, will always be able to make his part good against
all the world, for Christ hath overcome the world.
But
though all men may be said to be liars, yet not all men in all things; for then
David himself should be a liar in this: but all men perhaps in something or
other, at some time or other, in some kind or other. Absolute truth is not
found in any man, but in that man only who was not man only; for if he had been
but so, it had not perhaps been found in him neither, seeing absolute truth and
deity are as relatives, never found to be asunder.
But
in what thing is it that all men should be liars? Indeed, in this for one; to
think that God regards not, and loves not them whom he suffers to be afflicted;
for we may rather think he loves them most whom he suffers to be most
afflicted; and we may truly say he would never have suffered his servant Job to
be afflicted so exceeding cruelly, if he had not loved him exceeding tenderly;
for there is nothing lost by suffering afflictions. No, my soul, they do but
serve to make up the greater weight of glory, when it shall be revealed.
But
let God's afflictions be what they can be, yet I will always acknowledge they
can never be in any degree so great as his benefits: and oh, that I could
think of something that I might render to him for all his benefits:for
shall I receive such great, such infinite benefits from him, and shall I render
nothing to him by way of gratefulness? But, alas, what have I to render? All my
rendering to him will be but taking more from him: for all I can do is but to take
the cup of salvation, and call upon his name, and what rendering is there
in this taking? If I could take the cup of tribulation, and drink it off for
his sake, this might be a rendering of some value; but this, God knows, is no
work for me to do. It was his work, who said, "Can ye drink of the cup, of
which I shall drink?" Indeed, he drank of the cup of tribulation, to the
end that we might take the cup of salvation; but then in taking it we must call
upon his name; upon his name and upon no other; for else we shall make it a cup
of condemnation, seeing there is no name under heaven, in which we may be
saved, but only the name of Jesus.
Yet
it may be some rendering to the Lord if I pay my vows, and do, as it were, my
penance openly; I will therefore pay my vows to the Lord, in the presence of
all his people. But might he not pay his vows as well in his closet,
between God and himself, as to do it publicly? No, my soul, it serves not his
turn, but he must pay them in the presence of all his people; yet not to the
end he should be applauded for a just payer; for though he pay them, yet he can
never pay them to the full; but to the end, that men seeing his good works, may
glorify God by his example. And the rather perhaps, for that David was a king,
and the king's example prevails much with the people, to make them pay their
vows to God: but most of all, that by this means David's piety may not be
barren, but may make a breed of piety in the people also: which may be one
mystical reason why it was counted a curse in Israel to be barren; for he that
pays not his vows to God in the presence of his people may well be said to be
barren in Israel, seeing he begets no children to God by his example. And
perhaps, also, the vows which David means here were the doing of some mean
things, unfit in show for the dignity of a king; as when it was thought a base
thing in him to dance before the ark; he then vowed he would be baser yet: and
in this case, to pay his vows before the people becomes a matter of necessity:
for as there is no honour to a man whilst he is by himself alone, so there is
no shame to a man but before the people: and therefore to shew that he is not
ashamed to do any thing how mean soever, so it may tend to the glorifying of
God; "he will pay his vows in the presence of all his people."
And he will do it though it cost him his life, for if he die for it he knows
that Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. But
that which is precious is commonly desired: and doth God then desire the death
of his saints? He desires, no doubt, that death of his saints which is to die
to sin: but for any other death of his saints, it is therefore said to be
precious in his sight, because he lays it up with the greater carefulness. And
for this it is there are such several mansions in God's house, that to them
whose death is precious in his sight he may assign the most glorious mansions.
This indeed is the reward of martyrdom, and the encouragement of martyrs,
though their sufferings be most insufferable, their troubles most intolerable;
yet this makes amends for all; that "Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints." For if it be so great a happiness to be
acceptable in his sight, how great a happiness must it be to be precious in his
sight? When God, at the creation looked upon all his works, it is said he saw
them to be all exceeding good: but it is not said that any of them were
precious in his sight. How then comes death to be precious in his sight, that
was none of his works, but is a destroyer of his works? Is it possible that a
thing which destroys his creatures should have a title of more value in his
sight, than his creatures themselves? O, my soul, this is one of the miracles
of his saints, and perhaps one of those which Christ meant, when he said to his
apostles, that greater miracles than he did they should do themselves: for what
greater miracle than this, that death, which of itself is a thing most vile in
the sight of God, yet once embraced by his saints, as it were by their touch
only, becomes precious in his sight? To alter a thing from being vile to be
precious, is it not a greater miracle than to turn water into wine? Indeed so
it is; death doth not damnify his saints, but his saints do dignify death.
Death takes nothing away from his saints' happiness, but his saints add lustre
to death's vileness. It is happy for death that ever it met with any of God's
saints; for there was no way for it else in the world, to be ever had in any
account: but why say I, in the world? For it is of no account in the world for
all this: it is but only in the sight of God; but indeed this only is all in
all; for to be precious in God's sight is more to be prized than the world
itself. For when the world shall pass away, and all the glory of it be laid in
the dust; then shall trophies be erected for the death of his saints: and when
all monuments of the world shall be utterly defaced, and all records quite
rased out; yet the death of his saints shall stand registered still, in fair
red letters in the calendar of heaven. If there be glory laid up for them that
die in the Lord; much more shall they be glorified that die for the Lord.
I
have wondered oftentimes, why God will suffer his saints to die; I mean not the
death natural, for I know statutum est omnibus semel mori;but the death
that is by violence, and with torture: for who could endure to see them he
loves so cruelly handled? But now I see the reason of it; for, Precious in
the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. And what marvel then if
he suffer his saints to die; when by dying they are wrought, and made fit
jewels to be set in his cabinet; for as God has a bottle which he fills up with
the tears of his saints, so I may say he hath a cabinet which he decks up with
the deaths of his saints: and, O my soul, if thou couldest but comprehend what
a glory it is to serve for a jewel in the decking up of God's cabinet, thou
wouldest never wonder why he suffers his saints to be put to death, though with
never so great torments, for it is but the same which Saint Paul saith:
"The afflictions of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory
that shall be revealed." Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
12. What shall I render unto the LORD? Rendering to the true
God, in a true and right manner, is the sum of true religion. This notion is
consonant to the scriptures: thus: "Render unto God the things that are
God's." Mt 22:21. As true loyalty is a giving to Caesar the things that
are Caesar's, so true piety is the giving to God the things that are God's. And
so, in that parable of the vineyard let out to husbandmen, all we owe to God is
expressed by the rendering the fruit of the vineyard;Mt 21:41.
Particular acts of religion are so expressed in the Scriptures, Ps 56:12; Ho
14:2 2Ch 34:31. Let this, then, be the import of David's xwhyl kyva xm, "What
shall I render unto the LORD?" "In what things, and by what
means, shall I promote religion in the exercise thereof? How shall I show
myself duly religious towards him who hath been constantly and abundantly
munificent in his benefits towards me?" Henry Hurst.
Verse
12. All his benefits toward me. What reward shall we give unto
the Lord, for all the benefits he hath bestowed? From the cheerless gloom of
nonexistence he waked us into being; he ennobled us with understanding; he
taught us arts to promote the means of life; he commanded the prolific earth to
yield its nurture; he bade the animals to own us as their lords. For us the
rains descend; for us the sun sheddeth abroad its creative beams; the mountains
rise, the valleys bloom, affording us grateful habitation and a sheltering
retreat. For us the rivers flow; for us the fountains murmur; the sea opens its
bosom to admit our commerce; the earth exhausts its stores; each new object
presents a new enjoyment; all nature pouring her treasures at our feet, through
the bounteous grace of him who wills that all be ours. Basil, 326-379.
Verse
12. All his benefits. As partial obedience is not good, so
partial thanks is worthless: not that any saint is able to keep all the
commands, or reckon up all the mercies of God, much less return particular
acknowledgment for every single mercy; but as he "hath respect unto all
the commandments" (Ps 119:6), so he desires to value highly every mercy,
and to his utmost power give God the praise of all. An honest soul would not
conceal any debt he owes to God, but calls upon itself to give an account for
all his benefits. The skipping over one note in a lesson may spoil the grace of
the music; unthankfulness for one mercy disparages our thanks for the rest. William
Gurnall.
Verse
13. I will take the cup of salvation.—It may probably allude
to the libation offering, Nu 28:7; for the three last verses seem to intimate
that the Psalmist was now at the temple, offering the meat offering, drink
offering, and sacrifices to the Lord. "Cup" is often used by
the Hebrews to denote plenty or abundance. So, "the cup of trembling,
"an abundance of misery; "the cup of salvation, "an
abundance of happiness. Adam Clarke.
Verse
13. Cup of salvation. In holy Scripture there is mention made
of drink offerings, Ge 25:14 Le 23:13 Nu 15:5; which were a certain quantity of
wine that used to be poured out before the Lord; as the very notation of the
word imports, coming from a root dmg, effudit, that signifieth to pour
out. As the meat offerings, so the drink offerings, were brought to the Lord in
way of gratulation and thanksgiving. Some therefore in allusion hereunto so
expound the text, as a promise and vow of the Psalmist, to testify his public
gratitude by such an external and solemn rite as in the law was prescribed. This
he terms a cup, because that drink offering was contained in a cup and
poured out thereof; and he adds this epithet, "salvation, "because
that rite was an acknowledgment of salvation, preservation and deliverance from
the Lord. After their solemn gratulatory sacrifices they were wont to have a
feast. When David had brought the ark of God into the tabernacle, they offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings, which being finished, "he dealt to
every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a
good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine." 1Ch 16:8. Hereby is implied
that he made so beautiful a feast, as he had to give thereof to all the people
there assembled. In this feast the master thereof was wont to take a great cup,
and in lifting it up to declare the occasion of that feast, and then in
testimony of thankfulness to drink thereof to the guests, that they in order
might pledge him. This was called a cup of salvation, or deliverance, because
they acknowledged by the use thereof that God had saved and delivered them.
Almost in a like sense the apostle styles the sacramental cup, the cup of
blessing. Here the prophet useth the plural number, thus, "cup of salvations,
"whereby, after the Hebrew elegancy, he meaneth many deliverances, one
after another; or some great and extraordinary deliverance which was instead of
many, or which comprised many under it. The word translated take (ava a
avg) properly signifieth to lift up, and in that respect may the more fitly be
applied to the aforementioned taking of the festival cup and lifting it up
before the guests. Most of our later expositors of this Psalm apply this
phrase, "I will take the cup of salvation, "to the forenamed
gratulatory drink offering, or to the taking and lifting up of the cup of
blessing in the feast, after the solemn sacrifice. Both of these import one and
the same thing, which is, that saints of old were wont to testify their
gratefulness for great deliverances with some outward solemn rite. William
Gouge.
Verse
13. Cup of salvation. Yeshuoth:Ps 18:50 28:8 53:6. The cup of
salvation, symbolized by the eucharistic cup of the Passover Supper.—Zion that
had drunk of the "cup of trembling" (Isa 51:17, 22) might now rise
and drink of the cup of salvation. To the church these words have had a yet
deeper significance added to them by Mt 26:27. Jesus, on that Passover night,
drank of the bitter wine of God's wrath, that he might refill the cup with joy
and health for his people. William Kay.
Verses
13-14, 17-19. A fit mode of expressing our thanks to God is by solemn acts of
worship, secret, social, and public. "The closet will be the first place
where the heart will delight in pouring forth its lively joys; thence the
feeling will extend to the family altar: and thence again it will proceed to
the sanctuary of the Most High." (J. Morison). To every man God has
sent a large supply of benefits, and nothing but perverseness can deny to him
the praise of our lips. William, S. Plumer.
Verse
14. A man that would have his credit as to the truth of his word kept
up, would choose those to be witnesses of his performing who were witnesses of
his promising. I think David took this heed in his rendering and paying his
vows: "I will do it, "saith he, "now in the presence
of all his people." The people were witnesses to his straits, prayers,
and vows; and he will honour religion by performing in their sight what he
sealed, signed, and delivered as his vow to the Lord. Seek not more witnesses
than providence makes conscious of thy vows, lest this be interpreted
ostentation and vain self glorying: take so many, lest the good example be
lost, or thou suspected of falsifying thy vow. Briefly and plainly: Didst thou
on a sick bed make thy vow before thy family, and before the neighbourhood? Be
careful to perform it before them; let them see thou art what thou vowedst to
be. This care in thy vow will be a means to make it most to the advantage of
religion, whilst all that heard or knew thy vow bear thee testimony that thou
art thankful, and thus thou givest others occasion to glorify thy Father who is
in heaven. Henry Hurst (1690) in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
14. I will pay my vows, etc. Foxe, in his Acts and Monuments,
relates the following concerning the martyr, John Philpot:—"He went with
the sheriffs to the place of execution; and when he was entering into
Smithfield the way was foul, and two officers took him up to bear him to the
stake. Then he said merrily, What, will ye make me a pope? I am content to go
to my journey's end on foot. But first coming into Smithfield, he kneeled down
there, saying these words, I will pay my vows in thee, O Smithfield."
Verse
15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
It is of value or importance in such respects as the following:—(1) As it is
the removal of another of the redeemed to glory—the addition of one more to the
happy hosts above; (2) as it is a new triumph of the work of
redemption,—allowing the power and the value of that work; (3) as it often
furnishes a more direct proof of the reality of religion than any abstract
argument could do. How much has the cause of religion been promoted by the
patient deaths of Ignatius, Polycarp, and Latimer, and Ridley, and Huss, and
Jerome of Prague, and the hosts of martyrs! What does not the world owe, and
the cause of religion owe, to such scenes as occurred on the deathbeds of
Baxter, and Thomas Scott, and Halyburton, and Payson! What an argument for the
truth of religion,—what an illustration of its sustaining power,—what a source
of comfort to those who are about to die,—to reflect that religion does not
leave the believer when he most needs its support and consolation; that it can
sustain us in the severest trial of our condition here; that it can illuminate
what seems to us of all places most dark, cheerless, dismal,
repulsive—"the valley of the shadow of death." Albert Barnes.
Verse
15. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
The death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight. First, because he
"seeth not as man seeth." He judgeth not according to the
appearance; he sees all things as they really are, not partially: he traces the
duration of his people, not upon the map of time, but upon the infinite scale
of eternity; he weighs their happiness, not in the little balance of earthly
enjoyment, but in the even and equipoised balance of the sanctuary. In the next
place, I think the death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight, because
they are taken from the evil to come;they are delivered from the burden
of the flesh; ransomed by the blood of the Redeemer, they are his purchased
possession, and now he receives them to himself. Sin and sorrow for ever cease;
there is no more death, the death of Christ is their redemption; by death he
overcame him that had the power of death; therefore, they in him are enabled to
say, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
Again, the death of the saints is precious in the Lord's sight, for in it he
often sees the very finest evidences of the work of his own Spirit upon the
soul;he sees faith in opposition to sense, leaning upon the promises of
God. Reposing upon him who is mighty to save, he sees hope even against hope,
anchoring the soul secure and steadfast on him who is passed within the veil;
he sees patience acquiescing in a Father's will—humility bending beneath his
sovereign hand—love issuing from a grateful heart. Again, the death of the
saints is precious in the Lord's sight, as it draws out the tenderness of
surviving Christian friends, and is abundant in the thanksgivings of many
an anxious heart; it elicits the sympathies of Christian charity, and realises
that communion of saints, of which the Apostle speaks, when he says, "if
one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; if one rejoice they all
joy."... The death of saints is precious, because the sympathy of prayer
is poured forth from many a kindly Christian heart... Nor is this all—the death
of saints is precious, for that is their day of seeing Jesus face to face.
Patrick Pounden's Sermon in "The Irish Pulpit," 1831.
Verse
15. Precious. Their death is precious (jakar); the word
of the text is, in pretio fuit, magni estimatum est. See how the word is
translated in other texts.
1.
Honourable, Isa 43:4 (jakarta); "thou was precious in my sight,
thou hast been honourable."
2.
Much set by, 1Sa 18:80: "His name was much set by."
3.
Dear, Jer 31:20. An filius (jakkir) pretiosus mihi Ephraim:"Is
Ephraim my dear son?"
4.
Splendid, clear, or glorious, Job 31:10. Si vidi lunam (jaker) pretiosam et
abeuntem: "the moon walking in brightness."
Put
all these expressions together, and then we have the strength of David's word, "The
death of the saints is precious"; that is, (1) honourable; (2) much
set by; (3) dear; (4) splendid and glorious in the sight of the Lord. Samuel
Totshell, in "The House of Mourning, "1660.
Verse
15. Precious. It is proper to advert, in the first place, to
the apparent primary import of the phrase, namely, Almighty God watches
over, and sets a high value upon the holy and useful lives of his people,
and will not lightly allow these lives to be abbreviated or destroyed. In the
second place, the words lead us to advert to the control which he exercises
over the circumstances of their death. These are under his special
arrangement. They are too important in his estimation to be left to accident.
In fact, chance has no existence. In the intervention of second causes, he
takes care always to overrule and control them for good. Let the weakest
believer among you be quite sure, be "confident of this very thing,
"that he will never suffer your great enemy to take advantage of anything
in the manner of your death, to do you spiritual harm. No, on the contrary, he
takes all its circumstances under his immediate and especial disposal. This
sentiment will admit, perhaps, of a third illustration; when the saints are
dying, the Lord looks upon them, and is merciful unto them. Who can say how
often he answers prayer, even in the cases of dying believers? Never does he
fail to support, even where he does not see good to spare. By the whispers of
his love, by the witness of his Spirit, by the assurance of his presence, by
the preparatory revelation of heavenly glory, he strengthens his afflicted
ones, he makes all their bed in their sickness. Ah! and when, perhaps, they
scarcely possess a bed to languish upon, when poverty or other calamitous
circumstances leave them, in the sorrow of sickness, no place of repose but the
bare ground for their restless bodies, and his bosom for their spirits, do they
ever find God fail them? No; many a holy man has slept the sleep of death with
the missionary Martyr, in a strange and inhospitable land, or with the
missionary Smith, upon the floor of a dungeon, and yet
"Jesus
has made their dying bed
As soft as downy pillows are."
When
no other eye saw, when no other heart felt, for these two never to be forgotten
martyrs, murdered men of God, and apostles of Jesus, then were they precious in
God's sight, and he was present with them. And so it is with all his saints,
who are faithful unto death. Fourthly, we are warranted by the text and the
tenor of Scripture, in affirming that the Lord attaches great importance to
the deathbed itself. This is in his estimate—whatever it may be in ours—too
precious, too important, to be overlooked; and hence it is often with emphasis,
though always with a practical bearing, recorded in Scripture. It is possible,
certainly, to make too much of it, by substituting, as a criterion of
character, that which may be professed under the excitement of dying
sufferings, for the testimony of a uniform, conspicuous career of holy living.
But it is equally indefensible, and even ungrateful to God, to make too little
of it, to make too little account of a good end, when connected with a good beginning
and with a patient continuance in well doing.
"The
chamber where the good man meets his fate
Is privileged beyond the common walk of virtuous life."
Its
transactions are sometimes as fraught with permanent utility as with present
good. The close of a Christian's career on earth, his defiance, in the strength
of his Saviour, of his direst enemy, the good confession which he acknowledges
when he is enabled to witness before those around his dying bed, all these are
precious and important in the sight of the Lord, and ought to be so in our
view, and redound, not only to his own advantage, but to the benefit of
survivors, "to the praise of the glory of his grace." W. M.
Bunting, in a Sermon at the City Road Chapel, 1836.
Verse
15. Why need they beforehand be afraid of death, who have the Lord to
take such care about it as he doth? We may safely, without presuming, we ought
securely without wavering, to rest upon this, that our blood being precious in
God's eyes, either it shall not be split, or it is seasonable, and shall be
profitable to us to have it split. On this ground "the righteous are bold
as a lion, "Pr 28:1. "Neither do they fear what man can do unto
them." Heb 13:6. Martyrs were, without question, well instructed herein,
and much supported hereby. When fear of death hindereth from any duty, or
draweth to any evil, then call to mind this saying, "Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of his favourites." For who would not
valiantly, without fainting, take such a death as is precious in God's sight? William
Gouge.
Verse
15. His saints imports appropriation. Elsewhere Jehovah
asserts, "All souls are mine." But he has an especial property in—and
therefore claim upon—all saints. It is he that made them such. Separate from
God there could be no sanctity. And as his right, his original right, in all
men, is connected with the facts of their having been created and endowed by
his hand, and thence subjected to his moral government, so, and much more, do
all holy beings, all holy men, who owe to his grace their very existence as
such, who must cease to be saints, if they could cease to be his saints, whom
he has created anew in Christ Jesus by the communication of his own love, his
own purity, his own nature, whom he continually upholds in this exalted state,
so, and much more, do such persons belong to God. They are "his
saints, "through him and in him, saints of his making, and modelling, and
establishing, and therefore his exclusively. Let this reference to the
mighty working of God by his Spirit in you, your connection, your spiritual
connection, with him, and your experience of his saving power,—let this
reference convert the mystery into the mercy of sanctification in
your hearts.
"His
saints" denotes, in the second place, devotedness. They are saints
not only through him, but to him; holy unto the Lord, sanctified
or set apart to his service, self surrendered to the adorable Redeemer.
"His
saints" may import resemblance—close resemblance. Such characters
are emphatically God like, holy and pure; children of their Father which
is in heaven; certifying to all around their filial relationship to him, by
their manifest participation of his nature, by their reflection of his image
and likeness.
"His
saints" suggests associations of endearment, of complacency.
"The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in all them that hope in
his mercy"; "a people near unto him"; "the Lord's portion
is his people"; and "Happy is that people that is in such a case,
yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord." Condensed from a
Scranton by W. M. Bunting, 1836.
Verse
15. Saints. The persons among whom implicitly he reckons
himself, styled saints, are in the original set out by a word (Mydymx)
that imports an especial respect of God towards them. The root whence that word
issueth signifieth mercy (dmx consecravit, benefecit). Whereupon
the Hebrews have given such a name to a stork, which kind among fowls is the
most merciful; and that not only the old to their young ones, as most are, but
also the young ones to the old, which they use to feed and carry when through
age they are not able to help themselves. This title is attributed to men in a
double respect;
1.
Passively, in regard of God's mind and affection to them;
2.
Actively, in regard of their mind and affection to others. God's merciful
kindness is great towards them; and their mercy and kindness are great towards
their brethren. They are, therefore, by a kind of excellency and property
styled "men of mercy." Isa 57:1. In regard of this double acceptation
of the word, some translate it, "merciful, tender, or courteous," Ps
18:25. Others with a paraphrase with many words, because they have not one fit
word to express the full sense, thus, "Those whom God followeth with
bounty, or to whom God extendeth his bounty." This latter I take to be the
most proper to this place; for the word being passively taken for such as are
made partakers of God's kindness, it sheweth the reason of that high account
wherein God hath them, even his own grace and favour. We have a word in English
that in this passive signification fitly answereth the Hebrew, which is this,
favourite. William Gouge.
Verse
15. Death now, as he hath done also to mine, has paid full
many a visit to your house; and in very deed, he has made fell havoc among our
comforts. We shall yet be avenged on this enemy—this King of Terrors. I cannot
help at times clenching my fist in his face, and roaring out in my agony and
anguish, "Thou shalt be swallowed up in victory!" There is even, too,
in the meantime, this consolation; "O Death, where is thy sting?"
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death for his saints,
"in the first place; in the second place, and resting on the propitiatory
death, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints." The Holy Ghost, Ps 116:15, states the first; our translators,
honest men, have very fairly and truly inferred the second. We are obliged to
them. The death of your lovely child, loveliest in the beauties of holiness,
with all that was most afflictive and full of sore trial in it, is
nevertheless, among the things in your little family, which are right precious
in the sight of the Lord; and this in it, is that which pleases you most;
precious, because of the infinite, the abiding, and the unchanging worth of the
death of God's own holy child Jesus. The calm so wonderful, the consolation so
felt, yea, the joy in tribulation so great, have set before your eves a new
testimony, heart touching indeed, that, after eighteen hundred years have
passed, "the death of his saints" is still precious as ever in
the sight of the Lord. Take your book of life, sprinkled with the blood of the
covenant, and in your family record, put the death of Rosanna down among the
precious things in your sight also—I should rather have said likewise. Present
my kindest regards to Miss S—Tell her to wipe that tear away—Rosanna needs it
not. I hope they are all well at L—, and that your young men take the way of
the Lord in good part. My dear Brother, "Go thy way, thy child liveth, "is
still as fresh as ever it was, from the lips of Him that liveth for ever and
ever, and rings with a loftier and sweeter sound, even than when it was first
heard in the ears and heart of the parent who had brought and laid his sick and
dying at the feet of Him who hath the keys of hell and of death. John
Jameson, in "Letters; True Fame," etc., 1838.
Verse
16. O Lord, truly I am thy servant. Thou hast made me free,
and I am impatient to be bound again. Thou hast broken the bonds of sin; now,
Lord, bind me with the cords of love. Thou hast delivered me from the tyranny
of Satan, make me as one of thy hired servants. I owe my liberty, my life, and
all that I have, or hope, to thy generous rescue: and now, O my gracious, my
Divine Friend and Redeemer, I lay myself and my all at thy feet. Samuel
Lavington, 1728-1807.
Verse
16. I am thy servant. The saints have ever had a holy pride in
being God's servants; there cannot be a greater honour than to serve such a
Master as commands heaven, earth, and hell. Do not think thou dost honour God
in serving him; but this is how God honours thee, in vouchsafing then to be his
servant. David could not study to give himself a greater style than—"O
Lord, or, truly I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid, "and
this he spake, not in the phrase of a human compliment, but in the humble
confession of a believer. Yea, so doth the apostle commend this excellency,
that he sets the title of servant before that of an apostle; first servant,
then apostle. Great was his office in being an apostle, greater his blessing in
being a servant of Jesus Christ; the one is an outward calling, the other an
inward grace. There was an apostle condemned, never any servant of God. Thomas
Adams.
Verse
16. I am thy servant. This expression of the king of Israel
implies
1. A
humble sense of his distance from God and his dependence upon him. This is
the first view which a penitent hath of himself when he returns to God. It is
the first view which a good man hath of himself in his approaches to, or
communion with God. And, indeed, it is what ought to be inseparable from the
exercise of every other pious affection. To have, as it were, high and
honourable thoughts of the majesty and greatness of the living God, and a deep
and awful impression of the immediate and continual presence of the heart
searching God, this naturally produces the greatest self abasement, and the
most unfeigned subjection of spirit before our Maker. It leads to a confession
of him as Lord over all, and having the most absolute right, not only to the
obedience, but to the disposal of all his creatures. I cannot help thinking
this is conveyed to us in the language of the Psalmist, when he says, O
LORD, truly I am thy servant. He was a prince among his subjects, and had
many other honourable distinctions, both natural and acquired, among men; but
he was sensible of his being a servant and subject of the King of kings; and
the force of his expression, "Truly, I am thy servant, " not
only signifies the certainty of the thing, but how deeply and strongly he felt
a conviction of its truth.
2.
This declaration of the Psalmist implies a confession of his being bound by
particular covenant and consent unto God, and a repetition of the same by a
new adherence. This, as it was certainly true with regard to him, having often
dedicated himself to God, so I take it to be confirmed by the reiteration of
the expression here, O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant.
As if he had said, "O Lord, it is undeniable; it is impossible to recede
from it. I am thine by many ties. I am by nature thy subject and thy creature;
and I have many times confessed thy right and promised my own duty." I
need not mention to you, either the example in the Psalmist's writings, or the
occasions in his history, on which he solemnly surrendered himself to God. It
is sufficient to say, that it was very proper that he should frequently call
this to mind, and confess it before God, for though it could not make his
Creator's right any stronger, it would certainly make the guilt of his own
violation of it so much the greater.
3.
This declaration of the Psalmist is an expression of his peculiar and
special relation to God. I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid.
There is another passage of his writings where the same expression occurs: Ps
86:16. "O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy
servant, and save the son of thine handmaid." There is some variation
among interpreters in the way of illustrating this phrase. Some take it for a
figurative way of affirming, that he was bound in the strongest manner to God,
as those children who were born of a maidservant, and born in his own house,
were in the most absolute manner their master's property. Others take it to
signify his being not only brought up in the visible church of God, but in a
pious family, and educated in his fear; and others would have it to signify
still more especially that the Psalmist's mother was an eminently pious woman.
And indeed I do not think that was a circumstance, if true, either unworthy of
him to remember, or of the Spirit of God to put upon record. John
Witherspoon, 1722-1797.
Verse
16. O Lord, I am thy servant, by a double right; (and, oh,
that I could do thee double service;)as thou art the Lord of my life, and I am
the son of thy handmaid: not of Hagar, but of Sarah; not of the bondwoman, but
of the free; and therefore I serve thee not in fear, but in love; or therefore
in fear, because in love: and then is service best done when it is done in
love. In love indeed I am bound to serve thee, for, Thou hast loosed my
bonds; the bonds of death which compassed me about, by delivering me from a
dangerous sickness, and restoring me to health: or in a higher kind; thou hast
loosed my bonds by freeing me from being a captive to be a servant; and which
is more, from being a servant to be a son: and more than this, from being a son
of thy handmaid, to be a son of thyself. Sir Richard Baker.
Verse
16. Bless God for the privilege of being the children of godly
parents. Better be the child of a godly than of a wealthy parent. I hope none
of you are of so vile a spirit as to condemn your parents because of their
piety. Certainly it is a great privilege when you can go to God, and plead your
Father's covenant: LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the
son of thy handmaid. So did Solomon, 1Ki 8:25-26, "Lord, make good thy
word to thy servant David, my father." That you are not born of infidels,
nor of papists, nor of upholders of superstition and formality, but in a
strict, serious, godly family, it is a great advantage that you have. It is
better to be the sons of faithful ministers than of nobles. Thomas Manton,
in, a Sermon preached before the Sons of the Clergy.
Verse
16. Thou hast loosed my bonds. Mercies are given to encourage us
in God's service, and should be remembered to that end. Rain descends upon the
earth, not that it might be more barren, but more fertile. We are but stewards;
the mercies we enjoy are not our own, but to be improved for our Master's
service. Great mercies should engage to great obedience. God begins the
Decalogue with a memorial of his mercy in bringing the Israelites out of
Egypt,—"I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of
Egypt." How affectionately doth the Psalmist own his relation to God as
his servant, when he considers how God had loosed his bonds: O LORD, truly I
am thy servant; thou hast loosed my bonds! the remembrance of thy mercy
shall make me know no relation but that of a servant to thee. When we remember
what wages we have from God, we must withal remember that we owe more service,
and more liveliness in service, to him. Duty is but the ingenuous consequent of
mercy. It is irrational to encourage ourselves in our way to hell by a
remembrance of heaven, to foster a liberty in sin by a consideration of God's
bounty. When we remember that all we have or are is the gift of God's
liberality, we should think ourselves obliged to honour him with all that we
have, for he is to have honour from all his gifts. It is a sign we aimed at
God's glory in begging mercy, when we also aim at God's glory in enjoying it.
It is a sign that love breathed the remembrance of mercy into our hearts, when
at the same time it breathes a resolution into us to improve it. It is not our
tongues, but our lives must praise him. Mercies are not given to one member,
but to the whole man. Stephen Charnock.
Verse
17. The sacrifice of thanksgiving.
"When
all the heart is pure, each warm desire
Sublimed by holy love's ethereal fire.
On winged words our breathing thoughts may rise,
And soar to heaven, a grateful sacrifice." James Scott.
Verse
18. Vows. Are well composed vows such promoters of religion?
and are they to be made so warily? and do they bind so strictly? Then be sure
to wait until God give you just and fit seasons for vowing. Be not over hasty
to vow: it is an inconsiderate and foolish haste of Christians to make more
occasions of vowing than God doth make for them. Make your vows, and spare not,
so often as God bids you; but do not do it oftener. You would wonder I should
dissuade you from vowing often, when you have such constant mercies; and wonder
well you might, if God did expect your extraordinary bond and security for
every ordinary mercy: but he requires it not; he is content with ordinary security
of gratitude for ordinary mercies; when he calls for extraordinary security and
acknowledgment, by giving extraordinary mercies, then give it and do it. Henry
Hurst.
Verse
18. Now. God gave an order that no part of the thank offering
should be kept till the third day, to teach us to present our praises when
benefits are newly received, which else would soon wax stale and putrefy as
fish doth. "I will pay my vows now, "saith David. Samuel
Clarke (1599-1682) in "A Mirror or Looking glass, both for Saints and
Sinners."
Verse
18. In the presence of all his people. For good example's
sake. This also was prince like, Eze 46:10. The king's seat in the sanctuary
was open, that all might see him there, 2Ki 11:14, and 2Ki 23:3. John Trapp.
Verse
18. In the presence of all his people. Be bold, be bold, ye
servants of the Lord, in sounding forth the praises of your God. Go into
presses of people; and in the midst of them praise the Lord. Wicked men are
over bold in pouring forth their blasphemies to the dishonour of God; they care
not who hear them. They stick not to do it in the midst of cities. Shall they
be more audacious to dishonour God, than ye zealous to honour him? Assuredly
Christ will shew himself as forward to confess you, as you are, or can be to
confess him. Mt 10:32. This holy boldness is the ready way to glory. William
Gouge.
Verse
19 (second clause). He does not simply say in the midst of
Jerusalem: but, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem? He speaks to the city
as one who loved it and delighted in it. We see here, how the saints were
affected towards the city in which was the house of God. Thus we should be
moved in spirit towards that church in which God dwells, the temple he
inhabits, which is built up, not of stones, but of the souls of the faithful. Wolfgang
Musculus.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verses
1-2.
1.
Present—"I love."
2. Past—"He hath."
3. Future—"I will."
Verses
1-2. Personal experience in reference to prayer.
1.
We have prayed, often, constantly, in different ways, etc.
2. We have been heard. A grateful retrospect of usual answers and of special
answers.
3. Love to God has thus been promoted.
4. Our sense of the value of prayer has become so intense that we cannot cease
praying.
Verses
1, 2, 9. If you cast your eyes on the first verse of the Psalm, you find a
profession of love—I love the Lord; if on the second, a promise
of prayer—I will call on the Lord; if on the ninth, a resolve of
walking—I will walk before the LORD. There are three things should
be the object of a saint's care, the devotion of the soul, profession of the
mouth, and conversation of the life: that is the sweetest melody in God's ears,
when not only the voice sings, but the heartstrings keep tune, and the hand
keepeth time. Nathanael Hardy.
Verse
2. "He hath, "and therefore "I will." Grace
moving to action.
Verses
2, 4, 13, 17. Calling upon God mentioned four times very suggestively—I will do
it (Ps 116:2), I have tried it (Ps 116:4), I will do it when I take (Ps
116:13), and when I offer (Ps 116:17).
Verses
2, 9, 13-14, 17. The "I wills" of the Psalm. I will call (Ps 116:2), I
will walk (Ps 116:9), I will take (Ps 116:13), I will pay (Ps 116:14), I will
offer (Ps 116:17).
Verses
3-4, 8. See Spurgeon's Sermon, "To Souls in Agony, "
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No 1216.
Verses
3-5. The story of a tried soul.
1.
Where I was. Ps 116:3.
2. What I did. Ps 116:4.
3. What I learned. Ps 116:5.
Verses
3-6.
1.
The occasion. (a) Bodily affliction. (b) Terrors of conscience. (c)
Sorrow of heart. (d) Self accusation: "I found, "etc.
2.
The petition. (a) Direct: "I called, "etc. (b) Immediate:
"then, "when the trouble came; prayer was the first remedy sought,
not the last, as with many. (c) Brief—limited to the due thing needed:
"deliver my soul." (d) Importunate: "O Lord, I beseech
thee."
3.
The restoration. (a) Implied: "gracious, "etc., Ps 116:5. (b)
Expressed, Ps 116:6, generally: "The Lord preserveth, "etc.;
particularly; "I was brought low, " etc.: helped me to pray, helped
me out of trouble in answer to prayer, and helped me to praise him for the
mercy, the faithfulness, the grace, shown in my deliverance. God is glorified
through the afflictions of his people: the submissive are preserved in them,
and the lowly are exalted by them. G. R.
Verse
5.
1.
Eternal grace, or the purpose of love.
2. Infinite justice, or the difficulty of holiness.
3. Boundless mercy, or the outcome of atonement.
Verse
6.
1.
A singular class—"simple."
2. A singular fact—"the Lord preserveth the simple."
3. A singular proof of the fact—"I was, "etc.
Verse
7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. Rest in God may be said
to belong to the people of God on a fourfold account.
1.
By designation. The rest which the people of God have in him is the result of
his own purpose and design, taken up from his mere good pleasure and love.
2.
By purchase. The rest which they wanted as creatures they had forfeited
as sinners. This, therefore, Christ laid down his life to procure.
3.
By promise. This is God's kind engagement. He has said, "My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest, "Ex 33:14.
4.
By their own choice gracious souls have a rest in God. D. Wilcox.
Verse
7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. When, or upon what
occasion a child of God should use the Psalmist's language.
1.
After converse with the world in the business of his calling every day.
2. When going to the sanctuary on the Lord's day.
3. In and under any trouble he may meet with.
4. When departing from this world at death. D. Wilcox.
Verse
7.
1.
The rest of the soul: "My rest, "this is in God. (a) The soul was
created to find its rest in God. (b) On that account it cannot find rest
elsewhere.
2.
Its departure from that rest. This is implied in the word "Return."
3.
Its return. (a) By repentance. (b) By faith, in the way provided for its
return. (c) By prayer.
4.
Its encouragement to return. (a) Not in itself, but in God. (b) Not in the
justice, but in the goodness of God: "for the Lord, "etc. "The
goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." G.R.
Verse
8. The trinity of experimental godliness.
1.
It is a unity—"Thou hast delivered"; all the mercies come from one
source.
2.
It is a trinity of deliverance, of soul, eyes, feet; from
punishment, sorrow, and sinning; to life, joy, and stability.
3.
It is a trinity in unity: all this was done for me and in me—"my soul,
mine eyes, my feet."
Verse
9. The effect of deliverance upon ourselves: "I will walk,
" etc.
1.
Walk by faith in him.
2. Walk in love with him.
3. Walk by obedience to him. G. R.
Verses
10-11.
1.
The rule: "I believed, "etc. In general the Psalmist spoke what he
had well considered and tested by his own experience, as when he said, "I
was brought low and he helped me." "The Lord hath dealt bountifully
with me."
2.
The exception; "I was greatly afflicted, I said, "etc. (a) He spoke
wrongfully: he said "All men are liars, " which had some truth in it,
but was not the whole truth. (b) Hastily: "I said in my haste,
"without due reflection. (c) Angrily, under the influence of affliction,
probably from the unfaithfulness of others. Nature acts before grace—the one by
instinct, the other from consideration. G. R.
Verse
11. A hasty speech.
1.
There was much truth in it.
2.
It erred on the right side, for it showed faith in God rather than in the
creature.
3.
It did err in being too sweeping, too severe, too suspicious.
4.
It was soon cured. The remedy for all such hasty speeches is—Get to work in the
spirit of Ps 116:12.
Verse
12. Overwhelming obligations.
1.
A sum in arithmetic—"all his benefits."
2. A calculation of indebtedness—"What shall I render?"
3. A problem for personal solution—"What shall I?" See
Spurgeon's Sermon, No. 910.
Verses
12, 14. Whether well composed religious vows do not exceedingly promote
religion. Sermon by Henry Hurst, A.M., in "The Morning Exercises."
Verse
13. Sermon on the Lord's supper. We take the cup of the Lord
1.
In memory of him who is our salvation.
2. In token of our trust in him.
3. In evidence of our obedience to him.
4. In type of communion with him.
5. In hope of drinking it new with him ere long.
Verse
13. The various cups mentioned in Scripture would make an interesting
subject.
Verse
14. Vow. Or the excellence of time present.
Verse
15.
1. The
declaration. Not the death of the wicked, nor even the death of the righteous
is in itself precious; but, (a) Because their persons are precious to him. (b)
Because their experience in death is precious to him. (c) Because of their
conformity in death to their Covenant Head; and (d) Because it puts an end to
their sorrows, and translates them to their rest.
2. Its
manifestation. (a) In preserving them from death. (b) In supporting them in
death. (c) In giving them victory over death. (d) In glorifying them after
death.
Verse
15. See Spurgeon's Sermons "Precious Deaths, "No. 1036.
Verse
16. Holy Service.
1.
Emphatically avowed.
2. Honestly rendered—"truly."
3. Logically defended—"son of thine handmaid."
4. Consistent with conscious liberty.
Verse
17. This is due to our God, good for ourselves, and encouraging to
others.
Verse
17. The sacrifice of thanksgiving.
1.
How it may be rendered. In secret love, in conversation, in sacred song, in
public testimony, in special gifts and works.
2.
Why we should render it. For answered prayers (Ps 116:1-2), memorable
deliverances (Ps 116:3), choice preservation (Ps 116:6); remarkable restoration
(Ps 116:7-8), and for the fact of our being his servants (Ps 116:16).
3.
When should we render it. Now, while the mercy is on the memory, and as
often as fresh mercies come to us.
Verse
18.
1.
How vows may be paid in public. By going to public worship as the first thing
we do when health is restored. By uniting heartily in the song. By coming to
the communion. By special thank offering. By using fit opportunities for open
testimony to the Lord's goodness.
2.
The special difficulty in the matter. To pay them to the Lord, and not
in ostentation or as an empty form.
3.
The peculiar usefulness of the public act. It interests others, touches their
hearts, reproves, encourages, etc.
Verse
19. The Christian at home.
1.
In God's house.
2. Among the saints.
3. At his favourite work, "Praise."
WORKS UPON THE
HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH PSALM
David's
Harpe full of most delectable harmony newly stringed and set in tune by Thomas
Becon. This is an exposition of Ps 116:10-19, or Psalm 115 according to the
Latin Version. It was originally published in 12mo, in 1542, and reprinted in "The
Early Works of Thomas Becon. S. T. P. Chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer,
Prebendary of Canterbury, &c., "by "The Parker Society."
1843.
AN
EXPOSITION upon some select Psalms of David, containing great store
of most excellent and comfortable doctrine, and instruction for all those, that
(under the burden of sin) thirst for comfort in Christ Jesus. Written by that
faithful servant of God, M. ROBERT ROLLOK, sometime Pastor in the Church of
Edinburgh: And translated out of Latin into English, by C. L. CHARLES LUMISDEN
Minister of the Gospel of Christ at Dudingstoun. 12mo. EDINBURGH. 1600.
Contains an Exposition of this Psalm.
The
Saints' Sacrifice: or, A Commentary on Psalm 116. Which is a gratulatory
Psalm, for Deliverance from Deadly Distress. By William Gouge, D.D. London.
1631. Reprinted, with S. Smith, on. Psalm 1, and T. Pierson, on Psalms 27, 84,
87, in Nichol's Series of Commentaries. 1868.
Sermons
Experimental: on Psalms 116 and 117. VERY USEFUL for A Wounded
Spirit. By William Slater, D.D., sometimes Rector of Linsham, and Vicar of
Pitminster, in SOMMERSETSHIRE. Published by his Son WILLIAM SLATER, Mr. of
Arts... London: 1638 4to.
Meditations
and Disquisitions upon Seven Consolatory Psalms of David: namely, The
23. The 27, The 30, The 34, The 84, The 103, The 116.—By Sir Richard Baker,
Knight. London. 1640. 4to.
Divine
Drops Distilled from the Fountain of Holy Scriptures: Delivered in several
Exercises before Sermons, upon Twenty-three Texts of Scripture. By that worthy
Gospel Preacher Gualter Cradock, Late Preacher at All Hallows Great in London.
1650. In this old quarto there is an Exposition of Psalm 116; but it is almost
wholly political, and worthless for our purpose; we mention it only as a
caution, and to prevent disappointment.
In
"The Golden Diary of Heart Converse with Jesus in the Book of Psalms. —By the Rev.
Dr. EDERSHEIM, Torquay, 1873, "there is a brief exposition of Ps 116:1-12.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》