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Psalm One
Hundred Forty-six
Psalm 146
Chapter Contents
Why we should not trust in men. (1-4) Why we should trust
in God. (5-10)
Commentary on Psalm 146:1-4
(Read Psalm 146:1-4)
If it is our delight to praise the Lord while we live, we
shall certainly praise him to all eternity. With this glorious prospect before
us, how low do worldly pursuits seem! There is a Son of man in whom there is
help, even him who is also the Son of God, who will not fail those that trust
in him. But all other sons of men are like the man from whom they sprung, who,
being in honour, did not abide. God has given the earth to the children of men,
but there is great striving about it. Yet, after a while, no part of the earth
will be their own, except that in which their dead bodies are laid. And when
man returns to his earth, in that very day all his plans and designs vanish and
are gone: what then comes of expectations from him?
Commentary on Psalm 146:5-10
(Read Psalm 146:5-10)
The psalmist encourages us to put confidence in God. We
must hope in the providence of God for all we need as to this life, and in the
grace of God for that which is to come. The God of heaven became a man that he
might become our salvation. Though he died on the cross for our sins, and was
laid in the grave, yet his thoughts of love to us did not perish; he rose again
to fulfil them. When on earth, his miracles were examples of what he is still
doing every day. He grants deliverance to captives bound in the chains of sin
and Satan. He opens the eyes of the understanding. He feeds with the bread of
life those who hunger for salvation; and he is the constant Friend of the poor
in spirit, the helpless: with him poor sinners, that are as fatherless, find
mercy; and his kingdom shall continue for ever. Then let sinners flee to him,
and believers rejoice in him. And as the Lord shall reign for ever, let us stir
up each other to praise his holy name.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 146
Verse 4
[4] His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in
that very day his thoughts perish.
That day — As soon as ever he is dead.
Thoughts — All his designs and endeavours either for himself or
for others.
Verse 6
[6] Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that
therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
For ever — Both because he liveth for ever to fulfil his
promises, and because he is eternally faithful.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
DIVISION. We are now
among the Hallelujahs. The rest of our journey lies through the Delectable
Mountains. All is praise to the close of the book. The key is high pitched: the
music is upon the high sounding cymbals. O for a heart full of joyful
gratitude, that we may run, and leap, and glorify God, even as these Psalms do.
Alexander
thinks that this song may be regarded as composed of two equal parts; in the
first we see the happiness of those who trust in God, and not in man (Ps
146:1-5), while the second gives the reason drawn from the Divine perfections
(Ps 146:5-10). This might suffice for our purpose; but as there is really no
break at all, we will keep it entire. It is "one pearl", a sacred
censer of holy incense, pouring forth one sweet perfume.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Praise ye the LORD, or, Hallelujah. It is saddening to
remember how this majestic word has been trailed in the mire of late. Its
irreverent use is an aggravated instance of taking the name of Jehovah our God
in vain. Let us hope that it has been done in ignorance by the ruder sort; but
great responsibility lies with leaders who countenance and even copy this
blasphemy. With holy awe let us pronounce the word HALLELUJAH, and by it summon
ourselves and all others to adore the God of the whole earth. Men need to be
called to praise; it is important that they should praise; and there are many
reasons why they should do it at once. Let all who hear the word Hallelujah
unite immediately in holy praise. Praise the LORD, O my soul. He would practise
what he had preached. He would be the leader of the choir which he had
summoned. It is a poor business if we solely exhort others, and do not stir up
our own soul. It is an evil thing to say, "Praise ye", and never to
add, "Praise, O my soul." When we praise God let us arouse our
innermost self, our central life: we have but one soul, and if it be saved from
eternal wrath, it is bound to praise its Saviour. Come heart, mind, thought!
Come my whole being, my soul, my all, be all on flame with joyful adoration!
Up, my brethren! Lift up the song! "Praise ye the Lord." But what am
I at? How dare I call upon others, and be negligent myself? If ever man was
under bonds to bless the Lord I am that man, wherefore let me put my soul into
the centre of the choir, and then let my better nature excite my whole manhood
to the utmost height of loving praise. "O for a well tuned harp!"
Nay, rather, O for a sanctified heart. Then if my voice should be of the poorer
sort, and somewhat lacking in melody, yet my soul without my voice shall
accomplish my resolve to magnify the Lord.
Verse
2. While I live will I praise the LORD. I shall not live here
for ever. This mortal life will find a finis in death; but while it lasts I
will laud the Lord my God. I cannot tell how long or short my life may be; but
every hour of it shall be given to the praises of my God. While I live I'll
love; and while I breathe I'll bless. It is but for a while, and I will not
while that time away in idleness, but consecrate it to that same service which
shall occupy eternity. As our life is the gift of God's mercy, it should be
used for his glory. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
When I am no longer in being on earth, I hope to have a higher being in heaven,
and there I will not only praise, but sing praises. Here I have to sigh
and praise, but there I shall only sing and praise. This "while I have any
being" will be a great while, but the whole of it shall be filled up with
adoration; for the glorious Jehovah is my God, my own God by covenant, and by
blood relationship in Christ Jesus. I have no being apart from my God,
therefore, I will not attempt to enjoy my being otherwise than by singing to
his honour. Twice the Psalmist says "I will"; here first thoughts and
second thoughts are alike good. We cannot be too firm in the holy resolve to
praise God, for it is the chief end of our living and being that we should
glorify God and enjoy him for ever.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes. If David be the author this
warning comes from a prince. In any case it comes from the Spirit of the living
God. Men are always far too apt to depend upon the great ones of earth, and
forget the Great One above; and this habit is the fruitful source of
disappointment. Princes are only men, and men with greater needs than others;
why, then, should we look to them for aid? They are in greater danger, are
burdened with greater cares, and are more likely to be misled than other men;
therefore, it is folly to select them for our confidence. Probably no order of
men have been so false to their promises and treaties as men of royal blood. So
live as to deserve their trust, but do not burden them with your trust.
Nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. Though you should select one
son of man out of the many, and should imagine that he differs from the rest
and may be safely depended on, you will be mistaken. There is none to be
trusted, no, not one. Adam fell; therefore lean not on his sons. Man is a
helpless creature without God; therefore, look not for help in that direction.
All men are like the few men who are made into princes, they are more in
appearance than in reality, more in promising than in performing, more apt to
help themselves than to help others. How many have turned away heartsick from
men on whom they once relied! Never was this the case with a believer in the
Lord. He is a very present help in time of trouble. In man there is no help in
times of mental depression, in the day of sore bereavement, in the night of
conviction of sin, or in the hour of death. What a horror when most in need of
help to read those black words, NO HELP!
Verse
4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth. His
breath goes from his body, and his body goes to the grave. His spirit goes one
way, and his body another. High as he stood, the want of a little air brings
him down to the ground, and lays him under it. Man who comes from the earth
returns to the earth: it is the mother and sister of his body, and he must
needs lie among Ins kindred as soon as the spirit which was his life has made
its exit. There is a spirit in man, and when that goes the man goes. The spirit
returns to God who gave it, and the flesh to the dust out of which it was
fashioned. This is a poor creature to trust in: a dying creature, a corrupting
creature. Those hopes will surely fall to the ground which are built upon men
who so soon lie under ground. In that very day his thoughts perish. Whatever he
may have proposed to do, the proposal ends in smoke. He cannot think, and what
he had thought of cannot effect itself, and therefore it dies. Now that he is
gone, men are ready enough to let his thoughts go with him into oblivion;
another thinker comes, and turns the thoughts of his predecessor to ridicule.
It is a pitiful thing to be waiting upon princes or upon any other men, in the
hope that they will think of us. In an hour they are gone, and where are their
schemes for our promotion? A day has ended their thoughts by ending them;
and our trusts have perished, for their thoughts have perished. Men's
ambitions, expectations, declarations, and boastings all vanish into thin air
when the breath of life vanishes from their bodies. This is the narrow estate
of man: his breath, his earth, and his thoughts; and this is his threefold
climax therein,—his breath goeth forth, to his earth he returns, and his
thoughts perish. Is this a being to be relied upon? Vanity of vanities, all is
vanity. To trust it would be a still greater vanity.
Verse
5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help.
Heaped up is his happiness. He has happiness indeed: the true and the real
delight is with him. The God of Jacob is the God of the covenant, the God of
wrestling prayer, the God of the tried believer; he is the only living and true
God. The God of Jacob is Jehovah, who appeared unto Moses, and led the tribes
of Jacob out of Egypt, and through the wilderness. Those are happy who trust
him, for they shall never be ashamed or confounded. The Lord never dies,
neither do his thoughts perish: his purpose of mercy, like himself, endures
throughout all generations. Hallelujah! Whose hope is in the LORD his God. He
is happy in help for the present and in hope for the future, who has placed all
his confidence in Jehovah, who is his God by a covenant of salt. Happy is he
when others are despairing! Happiest shall he be in that very hour when others
are discovering the depths of agony. We have here a statement which we have
personally tried and proved: resting in the Lord, we know a happiness which is
beyond description, beyond comparison, beyond conception. O how blessed a thing
it is to know that God is our present help, and our eternal hope. Full
assurance is more than heaven in the bud, the flower has begun to open. We
would not exchange with Caesar; his sceptre is a bauble, but our bliss is true
treasure. In each of the two titles here given, namely, "the God of
Jacob", and "Jehovah his God", there is a peculiar sweetness.
Either one of them has a fountain of joy in it; but the first will not cheer us
without the second. Unless Jehovah be his God no man can find confidence in the
fact that he was Jacob's God. But when by faith we know the Lord to be ours,
then we are "rich to all the intents of bliss."
Verse
6. Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein
is. Wisely may we trust our Creator: justly may we expect to be happy in so
doing. He who made heaven can make a heaven for us, and make us fit for heaven.
He who made the earth can preserve us while we are on earth, and help us to
make good use of it while we sojourn upon it. He who made the sea and all its
mysteries can steer us across the pathless deeps of a troubled life, and make
it a way for his redeemed to pass over. This God who still makes the world by
keeping it in existence is assuredly able to keep us to his eternal kingdom and
glory. The making of the worlds is the standing proof of the power and wisdom
of that great God in whom we trust. It is our joy that he not only made heaven,
but the sea; not only things which are bright and blessed, but things which are
deep and dark. Concerning all our circumstances, we may say the Lord is there.
In storms and hurricanes the Lord reigneth as truly as in that great calm which
rules the firmament above. Which keepeth truth for ever. This is a second and
most forcible justification of our trust: the Lord will never permit his
promise to fail. He is true to his own nature, true to the relationships which
he has assumed, true to his covenant, true to his Word, true to his Son. He
keeps true, and is the keeper of all that is true. Immutable fidelity is the
character of Jehovah's procedure. None can charge him with falsehood or
vacillation.
Verse
7. Which executeth judgment for the oppressed. He is a swift
and impartial administrator of justice. Our King surpasses all earthly princes
because he pays no deference to rank or wealth, and is never the respecter of
persons. He is the friend of the down trodden, the avenger of the persecuted,
the champion of the helpless. Safely may we trust our cause with such a Judge
if it be a just one: happy are we to be under such a Ruler. Are we "evil
entreated"? Are our rights denied us? Are we slandered? Let this console
us, that he who occupies the throne will not only think upon our case, but
bestir himself to execute judgment on our behalf. Which giveth food to the
hungry. Glorious King art thou; O Jehovah! Thou dost not only mete out justice
but thou dost dispense bounty! All food comes from God; but when we are reduced
to hunger, and providence supplies our necessity, we are peculiarly struck with
the fact. Let every hungry man lay hold on this statement, and plead it before
the mercy seat, whether he suffer bodily hunger, or heart hunger. See how our
God finds his special clients among the lowest of mankind: the oppressed and
the starving find help in the God of Jacob. The LORD looseth the prisoners.
Thus he completes the triple blessing: justice, bread, and liberty. Jehovah
loves not to see men pining in dungeons, or fretting in fetters: he brought up
Joseph from the round house, and Israel from the house of bondage. Jesus is the
Emancipator, spiritually, providentially, and nationally. Thy chains, O Africa!
were broken by his hand. As faith in Jehovah shall become common among men
freedom will advance in every form, especially will mental, moral, and
spiritual bonds be loosed, and the slaves of error, sin, and death shall be set
free. Well might the Psalmist praise Jehovah, who is so kind to men in bonds!
Well may the loosened ones be loudest in the song!
Verse
8. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind. Jesus did this
very frequently, and hereby proved himself to be Jehovah. He who made the eye
can open it, and when he does so it is to his glory. How often is the mental
eye closed in moral night! And who can remove this dreary effect of the fall
but the Almighty God This miracle of grace he has performed in myriads of
cases, and it is in each case a theme for loftiest praise. The Lord raiseth
them that are bowed down. This also Jesus did literally, thus doing the work
peculiar to God. Jehovah consoles the bereaved, cheers the defeated, solaces
the despondent, comforts the despairing. Let those who are bowed to the ground
appeal to him, and he will speedily upraise them. The LORD loveth the
righteous. He gives to them the love of complacency, communion, and reward. Bad
kings affect the licentious, but Jehovah makes the upright to be his favoured
ones. This is greatly to his glory. Let those who enjoy the inestimable
privilege of his love magnify his name with enthusiastic delight. Loved ones,
you must never be absent from the choir! You must never pause from his praise
whose infinite love has made you what you are.
Verse
9. The Lord preserveth the strangers. Many monarchs hunted
aliens down, or transported them from place to place, or left them as outlaws
unworthy of the rights of man; but Jehovah made special laws for their shelter
within his domain. In this country the stranger was, a little while ago, looked
upon as a vagabond,—a kind of wild beast to be avoided if not to be assaulted;
and even to this day there are prejudices against foreigners which are contrary
to our holy religion. Our God and King is never strange to any of his creatures,
and if any are left in a solitary and forlorn condition he has a special eye to
their preservation. He relieveth the fatherless and widow. These excite his
compassion, and he shows it in a practical way by upraising them from their
forlorn condition. The Mosaic law made provision for these destitute persons.
When the secondary fatherhood is gone the child falls back upon the primary
fatherhood of the Creator; when the husband of earth is removed the godly widow
casts herself upon the care of her Maker. But the way of the wicked he turneth
upside down. He fills it with crooked places; he reverses it, sets it down, or
upsets it. That which the man aimed at he misses, and he secures that for
himself which he would gladly have avoided. The wicked man's way is in itself a
turning of things upside down morally, and the Lord makes it so to him
providentially: everything goes wrong with him who goes wrong.
Verse
10. The LORD shall reign for ever. Jehovah is King, and his
kingdom can never come to an end. Neither does he die, nor abdicate, nor lose
his crown by force. Glory be to his name, his throne is never in jeopardy. As
the Lord ever liveth, so he ever reigneth. Even thy God, O Zion, unto all
generations. Zion's God, the God of his worshipping people, is he who in every
age shall reign. There will always be a Zion; Zion will always have Jehovah for
her King; for her he will always prove himself to be reigning in great power.
What should we do in the presence of so great a King, but enter into his courts
with praise, and pay to him our joyful homage? Praise ye the LORD. Again they
said Hallelujah. Again the sweet perfume arose from the golden vials full of
sweet odours. Are we not prepared for an outburst of holy song? Do not we also
say—Hallelujah? Here endeth this happy Psalm. Here endeth not the praise
of the Lord, which shall ascend for ever and ever. Amen.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Psalms
146:1 to 148:14. At the dedication of the second Temple, in the beginning of the
seventh year of Darius, Ps 146:1-10 Ps 147:1-20 and Ps 148:1-14, seem to have
been sung; for in the Septuagint Version they are styled the Psalms of Haggai
and Zechariah, as if they had been composed by them for this occasion. This, no
doubt, was from some ancient tradition; but in the original Hebrew these Psalms
have no such title prefixed to them, neither have they any other to contradict
it.—Humphrey Prideaux.
Psalms
146:1 to 150:6. We do not know who put together these different sacred
compositions, or whether they were arranged on any particular principle. This,
however, is obvious,—that the last series, those that close the whole, are full
of praise. Though we meet frequently with grief and shame and tears in the
former part, a great deal that presses upon the spirit, and in the centre a
great many references to the various vicissitudes and fortunes through which
the church or the individual has passed,—yet, as we get towards the end, and as
the book closes, it is Hallelujah—praise. As the ancient church ceases
to speak to us, as she lays down her lyre, and ceases to touch it, the last
tones are tones of heaven; as if the warfare were done, the conflict
accomplished, and she were anticipating either the revelations which are to
make her glorious here, the "new thing" which God is about to
"create" when he places her under another dispensation, or as you and
I (I trust) shall do when we come to die, anticipating the praise and
occupation of that eternity and rest for which we hope in the bosom of God.—Thomas
Binney, 1798-1874.
Whole
Psalm. This Psalm gives in brief the Gospel of Confidence. It inculcates
the elements of Faith, Hope, and Thanksgiving.—Martin Geier.
Verse
1. Praise ye the LORD. The word here used is Alleluia,
and this is very proper to be constantly used by us who are dependent
creatures, and under such great obligations to the Father of mercies. We have
often heard of prayer doing great wonders; but instances also are not wanting
of praise being accompanied with signal events. The ancient Britons, in the
year 420, obtained a victory over the army of the Picts and Saxons, near Mold,
in Flintshire. The Britons, unarmed, having Germanicus and Lupus at their head,
when the Picts and Saxons came to the attack, the two commanders, Gideon like
ordered their little army to shout Alleluia three times over, at the
sound of which the enemy, being suddenly struck with terror, ran away in the
greatest confusion, and left the Britons masters of the field. A stone monument
to perpetuate the remembrance of this Alleluia victory, I believe, remains to
this day, in a field near Mold.—Charles Buck, 1771-1815.
Verse
1. Praise the LORD, O My soul. The Psalmist calls upon the
noblest element of his being to exercise its noblest function.—Hermann
Venema.
Verse
2. While I live will I praise the LORD. Mr. John Janeway on
his deathbed cried out thus,—"Come, help me with praises, yet all is too
little. Come, help me, all ye mighty and glorious angels, who are so well
skilled in the heavenly work of praise! Praise him, all ye creatures upon earth;
let every thing that hath being help me to praise God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Praise is now my work, and I shall be engaged in this sweet work
now and for ever. Bring the Bible; turn to David's Psalms, and let us sing a
Psalm of praise. Come, let us lift up our voices in the praises of the Most
High. I will sing with you as long as my breath doth last, and when I have
none, I shall do it better."
Verse
2. While live will I praise the LORD. George Carpenter, the
Bavarian martyr, being desired by some godly brethren, that when he was burning
in the fire he would give them same sign of his constancy, answered, "Let
this be a sure sign unto you of my faith and perseverance in the truth, that so
long as I am able to hold open my mouth, or to whisper, I will never cease to
praise God, and to profess his truth"; the which also he did, saith mine
author; and so did many other martyrs besides.—John Trapp.
Verse
2. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. He
had consecrated his entire earthly existence to the exercise of praise. And not
only so, but he adds, I will sing praises unto my God while I have any
being. In which expression we may fairly conclude that the Psalmist
stretches his thoughts beyond the limits of time, and contemplates that scene
of eternal praise which shall succeed the less perfect songs of the church
below.—John Morison.
Verse
2. Unto my God. Then praise is most pleasant, when in
praising God we have an eye to him as ours, whom we have an interest in, and
stand in relation to.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
2. While I have any being. Praise God for deliverances
constantly. Some will be thankful while the memory of a deliverance is fresh,
and then leave off. The Carthaginians used, at first, to send the tenth of
their yearly revenue to Hercules; and then by degrees they grew weary, and left
off sending; but we must be constant in our eucharistic sacrifice, or thank
offering. The motion of our praise must be like the motion of our pulse, which
beats as long as life lasts.—Thomas Watson.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes, etc. Through some kind of
weakness, the soul of man, whensoever it is in tribulation here, despairs of
God, and chooseth to rely on man. Let it be said to one when set in some
affliction, "There is a great man by whom thou mayest be set free";
he smiles, he rejoiceth, he is lifted up. But if it is said to him, "God
frees you", he is chilled, so to speak, by despair. The aid of a mortal is
promised, and thou rejoicest; the aid of the Immortal is promised, and art thou
sad? It is promised thee that thou shalt be freed by one who needeth to be
freed with thee, and you exult as at some great aid: thou art promised that
great Liberator, who needeth none to free him, and you despair, as though it
were but a fable. Woe to such thoughts: they wander far; truly there is sad and
great death in them.—Augustine.
Verse
3. Put your trust in princes. The word rendered
"princes" signifieth liberal, bountiful ones, eurgetai, so princes
would be accounted; but there's no trusting to them without God, or against
him.—John Trapp.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes. King Charles had given the
Earl of Strafford a solemn pledge, on the word of a king, that he should not
suffer in "life, honour, or fortune", yet with singular baseness and
ingratitude, as well as short sighted policy, gave his assent to the bill of
attainder. On learning that this had been done, Strafford, laying his hand on
his heart, and raising his eyes to heaven, uttered the memorable words,
"Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sons of men, for in them there
is no salvation."—James Taylor, in the "Imperial Dictionary of
Universal Biography", 1868.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes. Shakespeare puts this
sentiment into Wolsey's mouth:
"O
how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favour!
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,
More pangs and fears than wars and women have:
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again."
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes, etc. True, may some say, it
were a folly to trust in weak princes, to trust in them for help who have no
power to help; but we will apply to mighty princes; we hope there is help in
them. No; those words, "in whom there is no help", are not a
distinction of weak princes, from strong, but a conclusion that there is no
help in the strongest. That's strange. What? No help in strong princes! If he
had said, no help in mean men, carnal reason would have consented; but when he
saith, "Trust not in princes, nor in any son of man", one or
other, who can believe this? Yet this is divine truth; we may write insufficiency,
insufficiency, and a third time, insufficiency, upon them all; the
close of this verse may be their motto, There is no help, in them.—Joseph
Caryl.
Verse
3. Princes. Earthly princes offer baubles to allure the soul
from the pursuit of an eternal prize. Princes themselves have pronounced their
principality to be their own greatest peril. Pope Pius the Fifth said,
"When I was a monk I had hope of my salvation; when I became Cardinal I
began to fear; when I was made Pope I all but despaired of eternity."—Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
3. Nor in the son of man. All sons of man are like the man
they are sprung of, who, being in honour, did not abide.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
3. For one man to put confidence in another, is as if one beggar
should ask an alms of another, or one cripple should carry another, or the
blind lead the blind.—Anthony Farindon.
Verses
3-4. You see the first and the last, highest and lowest, of all the
sons of Adam, they may be made honourable princes, but they are born
sinful, the sons of men; born weak, there is no help in them;
born mortal, their breath departeth; born corruptible, they return to
their earth; and lastly, the mortality and corruption is not only in their
flesh, but in some part or remnant of their spirits, for their thoughts
perish. The prophet (if you mark it) climbeth up by degrees to the
disabling of the best men amongst us, and in them of all the rest. For if
princes deserve not confidence, the argument must needs hold by comparison,
much less do meaner men deserve it. The order of the words is so set that the
members following are evermore either the reason or some confirmation to that
which went before. "Trust not in princes." Why? Because they
are "the sons of men." Why not in "the sons of
men"? Because there is no help in them. Why is there no help in
them? Because when "their breath goeth forth, they turn again to their
earth." What if their flesh be corrupted? Nay, "their
thoughts" also "come to nothing."
For,
first, this first order and rank which the prophet hath here placed, the
princes and gods of the earth, are by birth men;
secondly,
weak men, and such in whom no help is;
thirdly,
not only weak, but dying, their breath goeth out;
fourthly,
not only dying, but subject to dissolution, they turn to the earth;
fifthly,
if their bodies only were dissolved, and their intentions and actions might
stand, there were less cause to distrust them; but their thoughts are as
transitory as their bodies.—John King (1559?-1621), in a Funeral
Sermon.
Verses
3-4. The Psalmist inscribes an antithesis. Princes, though masters of
armies, possessors of riches, loaded with honours, revelling in pleasures, are
at the mercy of a ruthless Black Prince. Death is tyrant over prince and
peasant alike. The very pleasures which are envied are often ministers of death
to voluptuous princes.—Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
4. He returneth to his earth. The earth—the dust—is "his."
1.
It is "his" as that from which he was made: he turns back to
what he was, Ge 3:19. "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return."
2.
The earth—the dust—the grave is "his", and it is his home—the
place where he will abide.
3.
It is "his" as it is the only property which he has in
reversion. All that a man—a prince, a nobleman, a monarch, a millionaire—will
soon have will be his grave, his few feet of earth. That will be his by
light of possession, by the fact that for the time being he will occupy it, and
not another man! But that, too, may soon become another man's grave, so that
even there he is a tenant only for a time; he has no permanent possession even
of a grave.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
4. His breath goeth forth. There is the death's head, the
mortality of man indeed, that a breath is as much as his being is worth. Our
soul, that spiraculum vitarum (breath of lives), the Lord inspired it,
not into Adam's eye, or ear, or mouth, but into his nostrils, which may show to
man his imbecility, cujus anima in naribus, whose soul is in his
nostrils, and depends upon a breath, as it were; for the very soul must away if
but breath expires; soul and breath go forth together. Now hear this, all ye
people, ponder it high and low; your castle is built upon the very air, the
subsistence is in your nostrils, in a breath that is gone in the twinkling of
an eye. Wherefore David maketh a question, saying, "Lord, what is
man?" He answereth himself also: "Man is a vanishing shadow" (Ps
144:3-4), a shadow of smoke, or the dream of a shadow rather, as the poet
speaketh. Blessed therefore are the poor in spirit; this advantage have all
afflicted ones, that they have checks enough to call them home, and make them
see they be but men. The curtain of honour, profit, or pleasure, hard it is and
rare to draw aside when it is spread over us: "man in honour understandeth
not" (Ps 49:20). To great ones therefore be it spoken; the Psalm intends
it of very princes: "His breath goeth forth." See we now the
continuity, exit, "it goeth" as if it were now presently in
its passage: showing this, that Homo vivens continue moritur, that life
is a continued death; our candle lightens, consumes, and dies: as in the
passing of an hourglass, every minute some sand faileth, and the glass once
turned, no creature can intreat the sands to stay, but they continue to fall
till all are gone: so is our life, it shortens and dies every minute, and we
cannot beg a minute of time back, and that which we call death is but the
termination, or consummation of it.—Thomas Williamson; in a Sermon,
entitled, "A Comfortable Meditation of Humane Frailtie and Divine
Mercie", 1630.
Verse
4. The primary idea of breath and the secondary one of spirit
run into each other in the usage of the Hebrew word xwr, so that either may be
expressed in the translation without entirely excluding the other.—Joseph
Addison Alexander.
Verse
4. His breath (or spirit) goeth forth. Now I come to
the liberty of the spirit, that it recedes inviolate; 1. In Act; "it goeth":
2. In Essence; "it goeth forth."
1.
Our spirit is free in the act; it is not snatched, as it were; "it
goeth." A soul in life sealed to eternity by the first fruits of the
Spirit hath its good issue, its free passing, its hopes even in death; for let
this breath fade, fidelis Deus, God who cannot lie, will stand nigh us
in that exigency, and begin to help where man leaveth. The Holy Spirit, whose
name is the Comforter, will not omit and leave off his own act or office in the
great needs of death. Hence good Hilarion, having served the Lord Christ
seventy years, checks his soul that it was so loath at the last to go forth,
saying, Egredere, O anima mea, egredere, "Go forth, my soul, go
forth." Devout Simeon sues for a manumission: "Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word." The spirit goeth
forth; it passes freely; because it taketh up or embraces the cross of Christ,
as he commandeth us to do. But is the act at our will and liberty? Not simply.
We may not projicere animam, thrust or cast forth our breath or spirit; spiritus
exit, it goeth forth. Strive, we must, to cast the world out of us; we may
not cast ourselves out of the world. Saint Paul dares not dissolve himself,
though he could wish to be dissolved: God must part that which he joins; God
giveth, and God taketh away; and if God say, as he doth to Lazarus, Exi
foras, Come forth; with faithful Stephen we must resign our spirit and all
into his hands. When God biddeth us yoke, he is the wisest man that yieldeth
his neck most willingly. When our great Captain recalls us, we must take the
retreat in good part. But it is heathenish to force out the soul; for when the
misdeeming flesh, amidst our disasters, will not listen with patience for God's
call, but rather shake off the thought of divine providence quite, then are we
ready to curse God and die, and that is probably to leap e fumo in flammam,
out of the sin of self murder into hell. No, but God will have our spirits to
pass forth upon good terms. Spiritus exit, "the spirit goeth
forth."
2.
Secondly, the spirit goeth free or inviolate in essence; death is not
the end, but the outgoing of the soul, a transmigration or journey from one
place to another. "It goeth forth"; so the character of our
weakness we see in the issue; it is an argument of our eternity; for man indeed
is perishing, but so is not his spirit. The phoenix goes forth or out of his
ashes, "the spirit returneth to God who gave it" (Ec 12:7); that is,
it abides still; and as in the body it pleased God to inclose the soul for a
season, so it may as well exist elsewhere without it, if God will; for it hath
no rise at all from the clay, yea, it bears in it immortality, an image of that
breast whence it is breathed. The separate and very abstract acts of the spirit,
even while it is in the body, the wondrous visions of the Lord to his prophets,
usually when their bodies were bound up in sleep; Saint Paul's rapture when he
knew not whether he was in the body or out of it; the admirable inventions and
arts of men, manifest the soul's self consisting. Not Socrates, and Cato, and
the civilised heathen only, but the very savages believe this, and so entertain
death, ut exitum, non ut exitium, as a dissolution, not as a
destruction: spiritus exit, "his spirit goeth forth."—Thomas
Williamson.
Verse
4. His breath goeth forth, etc. The Hebrew gives the idea not
that the spirit, but the mortal part of man will return to the dust.
"His soul (fem. xwr) goeth forth", i.e., returneth to
God; "returneth he (masc. bv) to his earth." As in Ec 12:7: "He"
is the mortal man of clay, but "his breath" (soul) is
the real immortal man.—Simon de Muis.
Verse
4. He returneth to his earth. Returning, in its proper
notion, is a going back to that place from whence we came, so that in this clause
here is a threefold truth, implied, expressed, inferred.
1.
That which is implied in this phrase of returning is, that man in
respect of his body came from the earth; and as it is here implied, so it is
expressed concerning the first man by Moses (Ge 2:7). "The Lord God formed
man" (that is, the body of man) "of the dust"; or
according to the Hebrew "dust of the ground"; and by St. Paul (1Co
15:47), where he saith, "The first man is of the earth, earthy." True
it is, we are formed in our mother's womb; but yet inasmuch as we all came from
the first man, we are truly said to come from the earth; only with this
difference, that he immediately, we mediately are framed out of the earth. This
truth was engraven in full characters upon the name of the first man, who is
called Adam, from a word that signifieth red earth, and that very
word is here used, perhaps to mind us of that earth whereof man was first made;
yea, according to the usual etymology, the name homo, which in the Latin
is a common name to both sexes, is derived ab humo, from the ground.
For this reason it is that the earth is called by the poet magna parens,
the great parent of all mankind, and in the answer of the Oracle, our
mother; and in this respect we are said by Eliphaz "to dwell in houses
of clay, whose foundation is in the dust", Job 4:19.
2.
That which is expressed is, that man (when he dieth) returneth to the
earth, pantez luomenoi koniz esmen saith the poet, "We are all dust when
dissolved." As the white snow when melted is black water; so flesh and
blood when bereaved of the soul become dust and ashes: in which respect St.
Paul giveth this epithet of "vile" to our bodies. Php 3:21. Indeed,
man's original being from the earth, he had a natural propensity to earth;
according to the maxim, Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum,
"Everything hath an aptitude of returning to the principle whence it
cometh"; but yet had he not turned away from God he had never
actually returned thither. It is sin which hath brought upon man a necessity
of dying, and that dying brings a necessity of returning to the earth: in which
respect it is observable, that the threat, "thou shalt die the death"
(Ge 2:17), which was denounced against man before his fall, being afterwards
renewed (Ge 3:19), is explained (as to temporal death) by these words, "to
dust thou shalt return"; so that now the motion of the little world man is
like that of the great, Circulare ab eodem puncto ad idem, from the same
to the same; and that as in his soul from God to God, so in his body
from the earth to the earth. The rivers come from the sea, and they return
thither. The sun ariseth out of the east, and thither it returneth. Man is
formed of the earth, and into earth he is again transformed: with which agreeth
that of the poet Lucretius: Cedit item retro de terra quod fuit ante.
3.
That which is inferred in the emphatic pronoun "his",
which is annexed to the noun "earth", is that the earth to
which man returneth is his; this being that which ariseth out of both
the former conclusions; since it is therefore his earth because he
cometh from and returneth to it. Earth is man's Genesis and Analysis, his
composition and resolution, his Alpha and Omega, his first and last; Ortus
pulvis, finis cinis; earth is his both originally and finally. So that our
bodies can challenge no alliance with, or property in anything so much as
earth. For if we call those things ours which had only an external
relation to us, as our friends, our horses, our goods, our lands; much more may
we call that our earth whereof we are made and into which we shall
moulder; no wonder it is here said to be "his"; so elsewhere
he is said to be earth, as being called by that name.—Nathanael
Hardy, in a Funeral Sermon entitled, "Man's Last Journey to his Long
Home," 1659.
Verse
4. In that very day his thoughts perish. The thoughts which
the Psalmist here, no doubt, especially intends are those purposes which
are in the minds of great men of doing good to those who are under, and depend
upon them. The Hebrew word here used is derived from a verb that signifieth to
be bright: cogitationes serenae, those candid, serene, benign, benevolent
thoughts which they have of advancing their allies, friends and followers.
These thoughts are said to "perish" in "that day"
wherein they are conceived; so Tremellius glosses. In which sense the
instability of great men's favour is asserted, whose smiles are quickly changed
into frowns, love into hatred, and so in a moment their mind being changed,
their well wishing thoughts vanish. But more rationally, "their thoughts
perish in that day" wherein their persons die, because there is no
opportunity of putting their purposes into execution. They perish like the
child which comes to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth; or
like the fruit which is plucked off before it be ripe. Whilst they live we may
be deceived in our expectations by the alteration of their minds; but, however,
their condition is mortal, and when that great change by death comes, their
designs (how well so ever meant) must want success. From hence it followeth,
which is by some looked upon as a part of the meaning of the words, that the thoughts
or hopes of them who trust in them perish. It is a true apothegm, Major
pars hominum expectundo moritur; the greatest part of men perish by
expectation. And good reason, inasmuch as their expectation, being misplaced,
perisheth. How strongly this argument serveth to press the Psalmist's caution
against confidence in man, though never so great, is obvious. It is true, princes
and nobles being invested with honour, wealth and authority, have power in
their hands, and perhaps they may have thoughts in their hearts to do thee
good; but, alas, how uncertain is the execution of those intentions, and
therefore how foolish is it to depend upon them. "Trust in the Lord
Jehovah" (saith the prophet), "for with him is everlasting
strength." Aye, and with him is unchangeable goodness. It is safe building
upon the rock, trusting upon God, whose thoughts of mercy are (like himself)
from everlasting to everlasting; but nothing is more foolish than to build on
the sand, trust to men, whose persons, together with their thoughts, perish in
a moment. Therefore let our resolution be that of David: "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.—Nathanael Hardy.
Verse
4. In that very day his thoughts perish. At death a man sees
all those thoughts which were not spent upon God to be fruitless. All worldly,
vain thoughts, in the day of death perish and come to nothing. What good will
the whole globe of the world do at such a time? Those who have revelled out
their thoughts in impertinences will but be the more disquieted; it will cut
them to the heart to think how they have spun a fool's thread. A Scythian
captain having, for a draught of water, yielded up a city, cried out:
"What have I lost? What have I betrayed?" So will it be with that man
when he comes to die, who hath spent all his meditations upon the world; he
will say, What have I lost? What have I betrayed? I have lost heaven, I have
betrayed my soul. Should not the consideration of this fix our minds upon the
thoughts of God and glory? All other meditations are fruitless; like a piece of
ground which hath much cost laid out upon it, but it yields no crop.—Thomas
Watson.
Verse
4. I would have you take this passage and illustrate it as applying
to purposes, projects, and intentions. That, I think now, is precisely the idea
intended to be conveyed. "In that very day his thoughts perish";
his purposes, his projects—what he intended to do. These cherished thoughts are
gone. My dear brethren, there is something here for us. You find many beautiful
passages and instances in Scripture in which this idea is embodied and
realised, sometimes with great beauty and poetic effect, in relation to the
enemies of the church. "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I
will divide the spoil, my hand shall destroy them; thou didst blow with thy
wind, the sea covered them, they sank as lead in the mighty waters." In
that very day their thoughts perished "Have they not sped? have they not
divided the prey? to every man a damsel or two? to Sisera a prey of divers
colours of needlework? So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord." The
sacred poet does not even suggest that they had perished; but feeling that it
was a fact, only lifts up her heart to God. "So let all thine enemies
perish, O Lord." And so you will find in many parts of Scripture beautiful
ideas like this concerning the purposes and intentions that were in men's
hearts utterly "perishing" by God's just laying his hand upon
them—the purposes that were in their hearts against the church.—Thomas
Binney.
Verse
4. In that very day his thoughts perish. In the case of the
rich fool (Lu 12:16,20) his "thoughts" of building larger barns, and
of many years of ease and prosperity,—all his selfish and worldly
schemes,—"perished" in that self same night.—John W. Haley, in
"An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible," 1875.
Verse
4. His thoughts perish. The science, the philosophy, the
statesmanship of one age is exploded in the next. The men who are the masters
of the world's intellect today are discrowned tomorrow. In this age of restless
and rapid change they may survive their own thoughts; their thoughts do not
survive them.—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
4. His thoughts perish. As the purposes of all about worldly
things perish in the approaches of death, so do the purposes of some about
spiritual and heavenly things. How many have had purposes to repent, to amend
their lives and turn to God, which have been prevented and totally broken off
by the extremity of pain and sickness, but chiefly by the stroke of death when
they have (as they thought) "been about to repent", and (as we say)
"turn over a new leaf" in their lives; they have been turned into the
grave by death, and into hell by the just wrath of God.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
4. His thoughts. Rather, "his false deceitful
show"; literally, "his glitterings."—Samuel Horsley,
1733-1806.
Verse
4. To trust man is to lean not on a pillar but on a little heap of
dust. The proudest element in man is his thought. In the thoughts of his heart
he is lifted up if nowhere else; but, behold, even his proudest thoughts, says
the Psalmist, will be degraded and perish in that dust to which he will return.
Poor, perishing pride! Who should trust it?—Johannes Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
5. Happy is he. This is the last of the twenty-five places
(or twenty-six, if Ps 128:2 be included) in which the word ashre, with
which the psalter begins, is found.—Speaker's Commentary.
Verse
5. Alas, how often do we trust when we should be afraid, and become
afraid when we should trust!—Lange's Commentary.
Verse
5. The God of Jacob. A famous and significant description of
God; and that, First, in respect of his nature, or the verity and
reality of his being and excellence. He is styled here by way of elegancy or
emphasis, "The God of Jacob", saith Mollerus, to discern and
distinguish the true God of Israel from all Heathenish deities, and to explode
all fictitious gods and all worships thereof. As the true God is the God of
Jacob, so the God of Jacob is the true God. He is God alone, and there is no
other besides him...Secondly. This title or appellation serves also to describe
him in his special relation to his people. We find him called by our
Psalmist, "The mighty God of Jacob": Ps 132:5. He is indeed the God
of the whole earth, but in a peculiar manner "the God of Israel":
Mt 15:31 ...It is observable in Scripture that he styles not himself so
frequently, in his revelations of himself to them, "the God of heaven and
earth" (though that also is a title full of encouragement), but "the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"; as if he had borne such choice
goodwill, and had such a peculiar care for these three men, as to overlook all
the world besides them. So near and intimate relation have God's people to him,
that their interests are mutually involved, and twisted in a reciprocal and covenant
bond. They are his, he is their portion; their Beloved is theirs and they are
his: they are called by his name, the saints are styled his "holy
ones", and the Church is termed expressly "Christ." Yea, he
condescends to be called by their name; he assumes the name of Jacob, Ps
24:6: "This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O
Jacob:"—From "The Saints' Ebenezer", by F.E., 1667.
Verse
5. The God of Jacob. This verse aptly warrants us to apply to
all believers all the illustrations of help and hope furnished by
Jacob in his exile when none but God could help him.—Simon de Muis.
Verses
5-6. The God of Jacob...which wade heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that therein is. It is a characteristic of these Psalms, to proclaim to
all nations which worshipped idols, that "the God of Jacob",
"the God of Zion", is the Creator and Governor of all things; and to
make an appeal to all nations to turn to him. All these Psalms have a
missionary character and an evangelical function. We may compare
here the apostolic prayer at Jerusalem, after the descent of the Holy Ghost at
Pentecost: "They lifted up their voices to God with one accord, and said,
Lord, thou art God, that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in
them is" (where the words are the same as in the Septuagint in this
place): "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said. Why do the
heathen rage?" Ac 4:24-25 The office of these Psalms is to declare to the
universe, that Jehovah, and he alone, is Elohim; and to invite all to
worship him as such, by their oft repeated Hallelujah.—Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse
6. Which keepeth truth for ever. Stored in his inexhaustible
treasury as the most costly jewel ever there. And that because the truth
which he so keeps, and which is the sustaining power which preserves the fabric
of creation, is the Eternal Word, his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.—Dionysius
the Carthusian, and Ayguan, in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
6. Which keepeth truth for ever. God does indeed keep the
truth from age to age—how else would the Book of God have lived?—John
Lorinus.
Verses
6-9. The LORD, is an Almighty God, as the Creator of the
universe; next, he is a faithful God "who keepeth truth
forever"; further, he is a righteous God (Ps 146:7) a bountiful
God (ib.) a gracious God (Ps 146:7-9).—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
7. Giveth food to the hungry. We learn from this that he is
not always so indulgent to his own as to load them with abundance, but
occasionally withdraws his blessing, that he may succour them when reduced to
hunger. Had the Psalmist said that God fed his people with abundance and
pampered them, would not any of those under want, or in famine have immediately
desponded? The goodness of God is therefore properly extended farther to the
feeding of the hungry.—John Calvin.
Verse
7. Giveth food to the hungry. Now, that Jesus was that Lord
of whom the Psalmist in this place, and in Ps 145:16, speaketh, was fully
testified by the miracles which he wrought, in feeding many thousands with some
few loaves and two small fishes, and in filling so many baskets with the
fragments or relics of that small provision wherewith he bad filled thousands.
From these miracles, the people which had seen him do them and tasted of his
bounty, did rightly infer that he was the prophet which was to come into the
world, as you may read, Joh 6:14; and being supposed to be the prophet, they
consequently presumed that he was likewise to be the King of Israel; and out of
this concert or presumption they would have enforced him to be their king, Joh
6:15.—Thomas Jackson, 1579-1640.
Verse
7. The Lord looseth the prisoners. As in that place of Isa
61:1 the phrase of "opening the prison to them that are bound", is by
the learned thought to be a prophetic elegance, to signify the cure of those
that are deaf and dumb, whose souls consequently were shut up from being able
to express themselves, as language enables others to do; so here also it may be
used poetically, and then it will be directly parallel to that part of Christ's
answer, "the deaf hear" (Mt 11:5). At the curing of such, Christ's
form of speech was, Ephphatha, "be opened", as to the door of a
prison, when those which were under restraint therein were to be let loose out
of it, their fetters being shaken off from them. But then, 'tis further
manifest, that those that were under any sore disease or lameness, etc., are
said to be "bound by Satan" (Lu 13:16), and be "loosed" by
Christ, when they were cured by him. So saith Christ (Lu 13:12), "Woman, thou
art loosed from thine infirmity: and immediately she was made straight."
Her being "made straight" was her being loosed out of her restraint,
or bonds, or prison. And in this latitude of the poetic or prophetic
expression, the Lord's loosing the prisoners here will comprehend the
walking of the lame, the lepers being cleansed, the hearing of the deaf, yea,
and the raising up of the dead; for those of all others are fastest bound, and
so when they were raised, the style is as proper as to Lazarus in respect of
the graveclothes, "loose them, and let him go."—Henry Hammond.
Verses
7-8. It ought not to pass without remark that the name Jehovah is
repeated here five times in five lines, to intimate that it is an almighty
power, that of Jehovah, that is engaged and exerted for the relief of the
oppressed; and that it is as much to the glory of God to succour them that are
in misery, as it is to ride on the heavens by his name JAH, Ps 68:4.—Matthew
Henry.
Verse
8. Openeth the eyes of the blind. Literally, "openeth
the blind"—i.e., maketh them to see. The expression may be used
figuratively, as a remedy applied either to physical helplessness, as De 28:29
Isa 59:9-10 Job 12:25 or to spiritual want of discernment, as Isa 29:18,
42:7,18, 43:8. Here the context favours the former.—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
8. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind. The Hebrew does
not mention the eyes of the blind. Hilary renders it sapientificat.
The Arabic version follows the same. Jehovah by his wisdom illumines dark
minds. It is mental blindness which is the common affliction of
men.—John Lorinus.
Verse
8. The blind. The large number of blind persons to be seen
feeling their way along the streets in Cairo and Alexandria has been noticed by
Volney. "Walking in the streets of Cairo", he says, "out of a hundred
persons whom I met, there were often twenty blind, eighteen one eyed, and
twenty others with eyes red, purulent, or spotted. Almost every one wears
bandages, indicating that they either have or are recovering from
ophthalmia." Ophthalmia is, in fact, one of the scourges of Egypt, as all
physicians know. Its prevalence must be attributed in a great degree to the
sand which the wind blows into the eyes; but one can understand how in Oriental
countries in general the excessive heat of the sun must make blindness much
commoner than it is with us. It is not therefore surprising to any one who
knows the East to find the blind so often mentioned in the gospel history, and
to meet in Scripture with so many allusions to this infirmity. Of the twelve
maledictions of the Levites there is one against him "who maketh the blind
to go out of the way": De 27:18. "The spirit of God hath anointed
me", said Jesus, quoting from Isaiah, "to preach the gospel to the
poor, and recovery of sight to the blind": Lu 4:19. "The Lord",
says David, "setteth at liberty them that are bound; the Lord giveth sight
to the blind."—Felix Bovet (1824—), in "Egypt, Palestine,
and Phoenicia," 1882.
Verse
9. The LORD preserveth the strangers. God has peculiar love
for wanderers and pilgrims (De 10:18), and Jacob was a stranger in a strange
land when God showed himself to be the God of Jacob as his elect servant.—Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
9. The Lord preserveth the strangers. They who do not belong
to Babylon, nor to this world, but the true pilgrims in a strange land.—Robert
Bellarmine.
Verse
9. He relieveth the fatherless and the widow. The olive tree
is not to be twice shaken, the vineyard is not to be twice gathered, nor are
the sheaves of corn left in the fields to be gleaned; all that belongs to the
poor, to the widow and the orphan. It was allowable to pluck with the hand the
ears of corn while passing through a neighbour's field (De 23:25), though a
sickle might not be used. The law cares most anxiously for widows and orphans,
for "God is a father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows" (Ps
68:5). A widow's raiment might not be taken in pledge, and both widows and
orphans were to be invited to their feasts. An institution specially designed
for the protection and relief of the poor was the second tithe, the so called
poor's tithe. The first tithe belonged to the Levites. What remained over was
again tithed, and the produce of this second tithe, devoted in the first two
years to a feast in the sanctuary at the offering of firstfruits, was devoted
in the third year to a feast in the dwelling house, to which the Levites and
the strangers, the widows and the orphans, were invited (De 14:28-29 De
26:12-13).—G. Uhlhorn, in "Christian Charity in the Ancient
Church," 1883.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. He overturns
their plans, defeats their schemes; makes their purposes accomplish what they
did not intend they should accomplish: The Hebrew word here means to bend, to
curve, to make crooked, to distort; then, to overturn, to turn upside down. The
same word is applied to the conduct of the wicked, in Ps 119:78: "They
dealt perversely with me." The idea here is that the path is not a
straight path; that God makes it a crooked way; that they are diverted from their
design; that through them he accomplishes purposes which they did not intend;
that he prevents their accomplishing their own designs; and that he will make
their plans subservient to a higher and better purpose than their own. This is
the eleventh reason why those who put their trust in God are happy. It is that
God is worthy of confidence and love, because he has all the plans of wicked
men entirely under his control.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. As the
potter's clay, when the potter hath spent some time and pains in tempering and
forming it upon the wheel, and now the vessel is even almost brought to its
shape, a man that stands by may, with the least push, put it clean out of
shape, and mar all on a sudden that he hath been so long a making: so is it
that all the plots and contrivances of wicked men, all their turning of things
upside down shall be but as the potter's clay; for when they think they have
brought all to maturity, ripeness, and perfection, when they look upon their
business as good as done, all on a sudden all their labour is lost; for God,
who stands by all the while and looks on, will, with one small touch, with the
least breath of his wrath, blast and break all in pieces.—Edlin, 1656.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. All the ten
clauses preceding lift up the poor saint step by step, higher and higher. At
one word suddenly, like Satan falling as lightning from heaven, the wicked are
shown dashed down the whole way from the summit of pride to the depths of
hell.—Johannes Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. A striking
illustration of the folly of counting God out of one's plans for life is given
in the course of William M. Tweed, whose death is recently announced. Here was
a man who sought wealth and power, and who for a time seemed successful in
their pursuit. Apparently he did not propose to obey God or to live for a life
to come. What he wanted was worldly prosperity. He thought he had it. He went to
Congress. He gathered his millions. He controlled the material interests of the
metropolis of his country. He openly defied public sentiment and courts of
justice in the prosecution of his plans. He was a brilliant and therefore a
dangerous example of successful villainy. But the promise of prosperity for the
life which now is, is only to the godly. As William M. Tweed lay dying in a
prison house in the city he once ruled, his confession of bitter disappointment
was, "My life has been a failure in everything. There is nothing I am
proud of." If any young man wants to come to an end like this, the way to
it is simple and plain. "The great God that formed all things both
rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors." "The way of the
wicked he turneth upside down."—American Sunday School Times,
1878.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1.
1.
An exhortation: it is addressed to ourselves: "Praise ye the Lord."
2. An example: the Psalmist cries to himself, "Praise the Lord."
3. An echo: "Praise the Lord, O my soul." Let us say this to our own
souls.
Verse
1. Whom should I praise? And why? And when? And how?
Verse
1. Public worship.
1.
Should be with a sense of fellowship: "Praise ye": pleasures
of communion in praise.
2.
Should never lose its individuality: "O my soul." God is only praised
by individual hearts. Temptations to wandering in public services.
3.
Should be full of Jehovah's felt presence: each and all should worship him
alone.—W.B.H.
Verse
2. Work for here and hereafter.
1.
"While I live"; or a period of uncertainty and mystery.
2.
"I will praise the Lord"; or a service definite, determined, due, and
delightful. Certainty amid uncertainty.
3.
"While I have any being"; or an enthusiastic pre-engagement of
eternity.—W.B.H.
Verse
3.
1.
It dishonours God.
2. It degrades you.
3. It disappoints in every case.
Verse
4. Decease, Decay, Defeat.
Verse
4. (second clause). The failure of man's projects, the
disappearance of his philosophies, the disproving of his boastings.
Verse
5. The secret of true happiness.
1. What
it is not. The man here mentioned has his work and warfare, for he needs
help; and he has not all he desires, for he is a man of hope.
2. What
it is. It lies in the hath, the help, and the hope,
and these are all in God.
Verses
6-7. The God of our hope is,
1.
Creator.
2. Truth keeper.
3. Vindicator.
4. Provider.
5. Deliverer.
Verse
7. (last clause).—See "Spurgeon's Sermons", No.
484: "The Lord—the Liberator."
Verse
7. The People's Rights.
1.
Three rights of humanity. Justice, Bread, Freedom.
2.
God's interventions in their behalf. Revolutions, Reforms, Regenerations.
Christ's war with Satan.
3.
The magnificent supply of the three blessings in Christ's kingdom.
4.
The men who are fashioned and trained under this regime.—W.B.H.
Verse
8. (first clause). Spiritual blindness, its curse, cause, and
cure.
Verse
8. (second clause). Who are the people? Who raises them? How
he does it. And what then?
Verse
8. (third clause). God's love to the righteous.
1.
He made them righteous.
2. They are like him.
3. They love him.
4. Their purposes are one with his own.
Verse
9. Observe the provision made in the Jewish law for the stranger.
The way in which strangers were received by God. The truth that his chosen are
strangers in the world. His design to gather in strangers in the latter days.
Verse
9. (centre clause). The claims of orphans and widows upon the
people of God.
Verse
9. (last clause). Illustrated by Joseph's brethren, Haman,
and others.
Verse
10.
1.
A cause for praise—"The Lord shall reign for ever."
2. A centre of praise: "O Zion."
3. A cycle of praise: "all generations."
4. A call to praise; "Praise ye the Lord."
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》