_The prophet, calling for justice, complaineth of tyranny and
impiety.—He teacheth God’s providence.—He sheweth the blessedness of
affliction.—God is the defender of the afflicted._
O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance
belongeth, shew thyself.
Lift up thyself, thou Judge of the earth: render a reward to the
proud.
LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
_How long_ shall they utter _and_ speak hard things? _and_ all the
workers of iniquity boast themselves?
They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, and afflict thine heritage:
They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob
regard _it_.
Understand, ye brutish among the people; and, _ye_ fools, when will ye
be wise?
He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye,
shall he not see?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth
man knowledge, _shall not he know?_
The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they _are_ vanity.
Blessed _is_ the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him
out of thy law;
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the
pit be digged for the wicked.
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his
inheritance:
But judgment shall return unto righteousness; and all the upright in
heart shall follow it.
Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? _or_ who will stand up
for me against the workers of iniquity?
Unless the LORD _had been_ my help, my soul had almost dwelt in
silence.
When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my
soul.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth
mischief by a law?
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and
condemn the innocent blood.
But the LORD is my defence; and my God _is_ the rock of my refuge.
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them
off in their own wickedness; _yea_, the LORD our God shall cut them
off.
This is a general but a most fervent prayer, filled with the feelings
of an afflicted and sorrowful heart, grieving that the blood of the
Abels should be shed and drank up, with such iniquity and cruelty, by
Cainish hypocrites.
The Psalmist complains, (as I consider it,) not of hostile nations,
but of those domestic hypocrites and enemies, who will have it to
appear that they, yea, that they alone, are the people of God; that
is, the Psalmist complains of the wicked kings, and princes, and
priests, and prophets, among the people of Israel. It is to these the
Psalmist turns, in this apostrophe, “Understand, ye brutish among the
people; and, ye fools, when will ye be wise?” He calls these
characters “fools;” that is, ignorant and impious despisers of God;
because they taught and ruled the people without knowledge, and
wickedly.
In a word, the Psalmist here directs his word against all who
persecuted the true prophets, and their disciples and followers, and
slew them with Cainish hatred, and nevertheless boasted all the while
in God, and the name of God; who (they said) had given them power, and
made, and defended, and protected them, as magistrates and priests;
but who did not regard heretics, who seditiously resisted _them_ that
were the princes and magistrates of the people of God. And many such
things they continued to say.
Now, against all such the prophet burns with zeal; and (with a certain
zealous mimicry, as it were,) imitates their own words and
expressions; saying, (that is, meaning that they say,) “The Lord shall
not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” And it is thus
that the papists say, in their security, ‘Do you think God regards
these heretics! No! he regards us: he has respect unto us, the
catholic church, whom we certainly represent in the world.’ Against
such as these, the prophet burns with the rage of zeal; and against
such he prays, and begs of God, that there may be enough to stand
forward for the truth.
But, in the 16th verse, the Psalmist, on the other hand, strikes at
the perfidious deceitfulness of the world: “Who (saith he) is on my
side? Who will rise up for me against the evil doers?” As if he had
said, ‘I know the world careth nothing about this: the blood of God’s
Abels is shed, and no one regardeth it. But (continues the holy
Psalmist) this is my sure and eternal consolation, that the cause
which I love and espouse is the right cause; nay, the cause of God,
and not my cause: and I know in whom I have believed.’ I am assured,
saith the Psalmist, (verse 20,) that the “seat of the scornful,” and
the “counsel of the ungodly,” cleave not, and belong not, unto thee:
that is, I am sure that thou, O God, approvest not any impious or
blasphemous doctrine. I am sure that thou requirest and demandest the
blood, (and every drop of that blood,) and the tears, of the Abels, at
the hands of their persecutors; and that thou wilt keep, and fulfil,
and glorify thy word, even in the midst of the death of thy saints;
and that thou wilt revenge all blasphemy and wickedness against thee
and them.