_David praiseth God, and exhorteth others thereto by his
experience.—They are blessed that trust in God.—He exhorteth to the
fear of God.—The privileges of the righteous._
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who
drove him away, and he departed.
I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise _shall_ continually
_be_ in my mouth.
My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear
_thereof_, and be glad.
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my
fears.
They looked unto him, and were lightened; and their faces were not
ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard _him_, and saved him out of
all his troubles.
The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and
delivereth them.
O taste and see that the LORD _is_ good: blessed _is_ the man _that_
trusteth in him.
O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for _there is_ no want to them that
fear him.
The young lions do lack and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD
shall not want any good _thing_.
Come, ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the
LORD.
What man _is he that_ desireth life, _and_ loveth _many_ days, that he
may see good?
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
Depart from evil, and do good, seek peace, and pursue it.
The eyes of the LORD _are_ upon the righteous, and his ears _are open_
unto their cry.
The face of the LORD _is_ against them that do evil, to cut off the
remembrance of them from the earth.
_The righteous_ cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of
all their troubles.
The LORD _is_ nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit.
Many _are_ the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth
him out of them all.
He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked; and they that hate the righteous shall be
desolate.
The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants; and none of them that
trust in him shall be desolate.
This Psalm is a remarkable thanksgiving, and is nearly of the same
import with the preceding, as the title of the Psalm, and the sixth
verse show: for David here sets forth himself as an example and proof
before all the godly, to show, that God always hears the prayers and
supplications of the godly, and them that believe, and does not
despise the sighings of the afflicted.
David here, after a majestic opening of the Psalm, promises that he
will set forth the sum of all godliness. “What man is he (saith the
Psalmist) that desireth life, and loveth many days. Keep thy tongue
from evil, &c.” Here, he requires before all things, the fear of the
Lord, and the worship of the First Commandment: that, cleaving closely
to the word, we might avoid hypocrisy and lying doctrines, and that we
might truly trust in God, endure his will, and not rebel or murmur
against him. And then, that we should live in peace with our
neighbour, not rendering evil for evil, but blessing even our
adversaries and our enemies, and, as much as in us lies, living in
peace with all men, whether they be good or evil.
For thus does the counsel of God stand, which cannot be changed or
altered,—that the saints should live in affliction in this life.
Wherefore, if thou wilt be a godly man, if thou wilt cleave unto God,
prepare thy soul (as David here saith) to temptations, to the cross,
and to afflictions: for thus it is immutably decreed of God, (as he
says again afterwards) “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.”
And again, this firm and eternal counsel of God stands also immutably
fixed,—that it is God’s will to deliver the saints from all these
evils, and so wholly and faithfully so, that not even the least bone
of them shall perish: nay, in the resurrection, and in glorification,
every bone shall return to the body with greater perfection than ever;
as Christ says in his Gospel, “Even the very hairs of your head are
all numbered.”
What then is this light and momentary tribulation, in comparison with
that eternal weight of glory, which shall be revealed in us? For
although the bones and members of the saints are, above all others,
cruelly scattered and broken, burnt in the fire, and left to rot in
graves; yet, even though they be thus sown in ignominy, they shall be
raised in glory: they shall be quickened again with all their limbs
and bodies; and all their bones shall be restored; and the just shall
shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. For that maddened
and insatiable fury of the devil, shall not be able to mangle the
bones of the saints, or so to extinguish the church as that it shall
be annihilated altogether. The death, and the cruel bruising of the
bones of the saints, shall be temporary only: but their glorification
in God, shall be for ever and ever.
And observe, how remarkably this Psalm speaks of the resurrection, and
also concerning angels. For this is the first Psalm which we have yet
treated on, that speaks of angels. This Psalm shows that they are
ministers and helpers to the saints, being sent forth to minister unto
them who shall be heirs of salvation. David shows that they are not
only present with us, but that they most diligently and unceasingly
watch over us, and stand up for our defence; that they encamp round
about us, and fight for us perpetually, as if in open battle, that
they may defend us against the horrible violence, and infinite snares
of Satan and his members. All which things are the greatest
consolation to the godly, and them that believe.
This is all confirmed by the example of the prophet Elisha, 2 Kings
vi. 16. when he said concerning the ministration of angels, “Fear not,
for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them.” The
prophet makes an allusion here, after the manner of the prophets, who
drew all their matter from Moses, as it were from a fountain. Moses
says of Jacob, Gen. xxxii. when he feared the cruelty and rage of his
brother Esau, “And the angels of God met him. And when Jacob saw them,
he said, this is God’s host.” So it is said, that angels came to
Elisha, and encamped round about him; as we have it in the present
Psalm.