_The prophet praiseth God.—He promiseth to judge uprightly.—He
rebuketh the proud by consideration of God’s providence.—He praiseth
God, and promiseth to execute justice._
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, a Psalm _or_ Song of Asaph.
Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, _unto thee_ do we give thanks;
for _that_ thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the
pillars of it. Selah.
I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not
up the horn:
Lift not up your horn on high: speak _not with_ a stiff neck.
For promotion _cometh_ neither from the east, nor from the west, nor
from the south.
But God _is_ the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
For in the hand of the LORD _there is_ a cup, and the wine is red: it
is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs
thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring _them_ out, _and_
drink _them_.
But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; _but_ the horns of
the righteous shall be exalted.
This is a Psalm of consolation against all turbulent and hardened
hypocrites, who boast of their church and their name, and despise
alike all threatenings, and all exhortations; ever speaking like those
arrogant hypocrites in Psalm xii: “Who shall teach us?” “Who is Lord
over us?” As if they should say, the power is ours, and the authority
is ours, and he that does not listen to, and obey us, let him be
accursed.
In like manner also now, our bishops are secure; and, from the
‘Council of Worms’ to this day, are deaf to all entreaties, and
insensible to all tears. And equally deaf also are most kings and
princes and fanatical spirits; who are so confident in themselves and
in their own imaginations, that they seem to think that God himself
could not overthrow them or cast them down.
This Psalm admonishes us, the people of God, to know and acknowledge,
that there is a God who will surely judge all iniquity, if we do but
wait his time. For he is the Lord who maketh the mountains to tremble,
and who appeared on Mount Sinai with such terrible majesty. He,
according to the word of his First Commandment, visits the wicked in
his own appointed time, and yet preserves the pillars of the earth;
that is, the godly and the righteous; who bear up and sustain this
world upon their shoulders as it were: in the same way as the Apostle
Paul calls the church the “pillar and ground of the truth.” Thus, God
preserved the righteous and innocent Lot when he overthrew Sodom: and
thus he preserved also the believing Jews and the Apostles when he
destroyed Jerusalem, and overthrew the whole nation and kingdom: for
he knows, when he destroys any nation, how to preserve his own.