especially when such instruction tends to the salvation of the soul. “Be
wise _now, therefore_;” delay no longer, but let good reason weigh with
you. Your warfare cannot succeed, therefore desist and yield cheerfully
to him who will make you bow if you refuse his yoke. O how wise, how
infinitely wise is obedience to Jesus, and how dreadful is the folly of
those who continue to be his enemies! “_Serve the Lord with fear_;” let
reverence and humility be mingled with your service. He is a great God,
and ye are but puny creatures; bend ye, therefore, in lowly worship, and
let a filial fear mingle with all your obedience to the great Father of
the Ages. “_Rejoice with trembling._”—There must ever be a holy fear
mixed with the Christian’s joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a
sweet smell, and we must see to it that we burn no other upon the altar.
Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear, would be
presumption. Mark the solemn argument for reconciliation and obedience.
It is an awful thing to _perish_ in the midst of sin, in the very _way_
of rebellion; and yet how easily could _his wrath_ destroy us suddenly.
It needs not that his anger should be heated seven times hotter; let the
fuel kindle _but a little_, and we are consumed. O sinner! Take heed of
the terrors of the Lord; for “our God is a consuming fire.” Note the
benediction with which the Psalm closes:—“_Blessed are all they that put
their trust in him._” Have we a share in this blessedness? Do we trust
in _him_? Our faith may be slender as a spider’s thread; but if it be
real, we are in our measure blessed. The more we trust, the more fully
shall we know this blessedness. We may therefore close the Psalm with
the prayer of the apostles:—“Lord, increase our faith.”
The first Psalm was a contrast between the righteous man and the sinner;
the second Psalm is a contrast between the tumultuous disobedience of
the ungodly world and the sure exaltation of the righteous Son of God.
In the first Psalm, we saw the wicked driven away like chaff; in the
second Psalm, we see them broken in pieces like a potter’s vessel. In
the first Psalm, we beheld the righteous like a tree planted by the
rivers of water; and here, we contemplate Christ, the Covenant Head of
the righteous, made better than a tree planted by the rivers of water,
for _he_ is made king of all the islands, and all the heathen bow before
him and kiss the dust; while he himself gives a blessing to all those
who put their trust in him. The two Psalms are worthy of the very
deepest attention; they are, in fact, the preface in the entire Book of
Psalms, and were by some of the ancients, joined into one. They are,
however, two Psalms; for Paul speaks of this as the second Psalm. (Acts
xiii. 33.) The first shows us the character and lot of the righteous;
and the next teaches us that the Psalms are Messianic, and speak of
Christ the Messiah—the Prince who shall reign from the river even unto
the ends of the earth. That they have both a far-reaching prophetic
outlook we are well assured, but we do not feel competent to open up
that matter, and must leave it to abler hands.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Verse 1._—“_Why do nations make a noise_,” tumultuate or rage? The
Hebrew verb is not expressive of an internal feeling, but of the outward
agitation which denotes it. There may be an allusion to the rolling and
roaring of the sea, often used as an emblem of popular commotion, both
in the Scriptures and the classics. The past tense of this verb (_why
have they raged?_) refers to the commotion as already begun, while the
future in the next clause expresses its continuance.—_J. A. Alexander,
D.D., 1850._
_Verse 1.—“Rage.”_ The word with which Paul renders this in the Greek
denotes rage, pride, and restiveness, as of horses that neigh, and rush
into the battle. Ἐφρύαξαν, from Φρυάσσω, to snort or neigh, properly
applied to a high-mettled horse. See Acts iv. 25.
_Verse 1.—“A vain thing.”_ A medal was struck by Diocletian, which still
remains bearing the inscription, “The name of Christians being
extinguished.” And in Spain, two monumental pillars were raised, on
which were written:—I. “Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Cæsares
Augusti, for having extended the Roman Empire in the east and the west,
and for having extinguished the name of Christians, who brought the
Republic to ruin.” II. “Diocletian Jovian Maximian Herculeus Cæsares
Augusti, for having adopted Galerius in the east, for having everywhere
abolished the superstition of Christ, for having extended the worship of
the gods.” As a modern writer has elegantly observed: “We have here a
monument raised by Paganism, over the grave of its vanquished foe. But
in this, ‘the people imagined a vain thing;’ so far from being deceased,
Christianity was on the eve of its final and permanent triumph, and the
stone guarded a sepulchre empty as the urn which Electra washed with her
tears. Neither in Spain, nor elsewhere, can be pointed out the burial
place of Christianity; it is not, for the living have no tomb.”
_Verses 1-4._—Herod, the fox, plotted against Christ, to hinder the
course of his ministry and mediatorship, but he could not perform his
enterprise; ’tis so all along, therefore it is said, “_Why do the
heathen imagine a vain thing?_” A vain thing, because a thing
successless, their hands could not perform it. It was vain, not only
because there was no true ground of reason why they should imagine or do
such a thing, but vain also because they laboured in vain, they could
not do it, and therefore it follows, “_He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision._” The Lord see what
fools they are, and men (yea, themselves) shall see it. The prophet
gives us an elegant description to this purpose. Isaiah lix. 5, 6.
“_They weave the spider’s web.... Their webs shall not become garments,
neither shall they cover themselves with their works._” As if he had
said, they have been devising and setting things in a goodly frame to
catch flies; they have been spinning a fine thread out of their brains,
as the spider doth out of her bowels; such is their web, but when they
have their web they cannot cut it out, or make it up into a garment.
They shall go naked and cold, notwithstanding all their spinning and
weaving, all their plotting and devising. The next broom that comes will
sweep away all their webs and the spiders too, except they creep apace.
God loves and delights to cross worldly proverbs and worldly
craft.—_Joseph Caryl, 1647._
_Verse 2._—The _many_ had done their part, and now the _mighty_ show
themselves.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 2.—“They banded themselves against the Lord, and against his
Anointed.”_ But why did they band themselves against the Lord, or
against his Anointed? What was their desire of him? To have his goods?
No, he had none for himself; but they were richer than he. To have his
liberty? Nay, that would not suffice them, for they had bound him
before. To bring the people into dislike of him? Nay, that would not
serve them, for they had done so already, until even his disciples were
fled from him. What would they have then? his blood? Yea, “they took
counsel,” saith Matthew, “to put him to death.” They had the devil’s
mind, which is not satisfied but with death. And how do they contrive
it? He saith, “they took counsel about it.”—_Henry Smith, 1578._
_Verse 2.—“Against Jehovah and against his Anointed.”_ What an honour it
was to David to be thus publicly associated with Jehovah! And, because
he was HIS anointed, to be an object of hatred and scorn to the ungodly
world! If this very circumstance fearfully augmented the guilt, and
sealed the doom of these infatuated heathen, surely it was that which
above everything else would preserve the mind of David calm and serene,
yea, peaceful and joyful notwithstanding the proud and boastful
vauntiness of his enemies.... When writing this Psalm David was like a
man in a storm, who hears only the roaring of the tempest, or sees
nothing but the raging billows threatening destruction on every side of
him. And yet his faith enabled him to say, “_The people imagine a vain
thing._” They cannot succeed. They cannot defeat the counsels of heaven.
They cannot injure the Lord’s Anointed.—_David Pitcairn, 1851._
_Verse 3._—Resolved they were to run riot as lawless, and aweless, and
therefore they slander the sweet laws of Christ’s kingdom as bonds and
thick cords, which are signs of slavery. Jer. xxvii. 2, 6, 7. But what
saith our Saviour? “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” It is no
more burden to a regenerate man than wings to a bird. The law of Christ
is no more as bands and cords, but as girdles and garters which gird up
his loins and expedite his course.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 4.—“He that sitteth in the heavens.”_ Hereby it is clearly
intimated, (1) that the Lord is far above all their malice and power,
(2) that he seeth all their plots, looking down on all; (3) that he is
of omnipotent power, and so can do with his enemies as he lists. “Our
God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he pleased.” Psalm cxv.
3.—_Arthur Jackson, 1643._
_Verse 4.—“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh,”_ etc. Sinners’
follies are the just sport of God’s infinite wisdom and power; and those
attempts of the kingdom of Satan, which in our eyes are formidable, in
his are despicable.—_Mathew Henry._
_Verse 4.—“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.”_ They scoff at
us, God laughs at them. Laugh? This seems a hard word at the first view:
are the injuries of his saints, the cruelties of their enemies, the
derision, the persecution of all that are round about us, no more but
matter of laughter? Severe Cato thought that laughter did not become the
gravity of Roman consuls; that it is a diminution of states, as another
told princes; and is it attributed to the Majesty of heaven? According
to our capacities, the prophet describes God, as ourselves would be in a
merry disposition, deriding vain attempts. He laughs, but it is in
scorn; he scorns, but it is with vengeance. Pharaoh imagined that by
drowning the Israelite males, he had found a way to root their name from
the earth; but when at the same time, his own daughter, in his own
court, gave princely education to Moses, their deliverer, did not God
laugh?
Short is the joy of the wicked. Is Dagon put up to his place again?
God’s smile shall take off his head and his hands, and leave him neither
wit to guide nor power to subsist.... We may not judge of God’s works
until the fifth act: the case, deplorable and desperate in outward
appearance, may with one smile from heaven find a blessed issue. He
permitted his temple to be sacked and rifled, the holy vessels to be
profaned and caroused in; but did not God’s smile make Belshazzar to
tremble at the handwriting on the wall? Oh, what are his frowns, if his
smiles be so terrible!—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 4._—The expression, “_He that sitteth in the heavens_,” at once
fixes our thoughts on a being infinitely exalted above man, who is of
the earth, earthly. And when it is said, “HE shall _laugh_,” this word
is designed to convey to our minds the idea, that the greatest
confederacies amongst kings and peoples, and their most extensive and
vigorous preparations, to defeat HIS purposes or to injure HIS servants,
are in HIS sight altogether insignificant and worthless. HE looks upon
their poor and puny efforts, not only without uneasiness or fear, but HE
laughs at their folly; HE treats their impotency with derision. He knows
how HE can crush them like a moth when HE pleases, or consume them in a
moment with the breath of HIS mouth. How profitable it is for us to be
reminded of truths such as these! Ah! it is indeed “_a vain thing_” for
the potsherds of the earth to strive with the glorious Majesty of
Heaven.—_David Pitcairn._
_Verse 4.—“The Lord,”_ in Hebrew, Adonai, mystically signifieth my
stays, or my sustainers—my pillars. Our English word “Lord” hath much
the same force, being contracted of the old Saxon word “Llaford,” or
“Hlafford,” which cometh from “Laef,” to sustain, refresh,
cherish.—_Henry Ainsworth._
_Verse 4.—“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh at them: the Lord
shall have them in derision.”_ This tautology or repetition of the same
thing, which is frequent in the Scriptures, is a sign of the thing being
established: according to the authority of the patriarch Joseph (Gen.
xli. 32), where, having interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh he said, “And
for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the
thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” And
therefore, here also, “_shall laugh at them_,” and “_shall have them in
derision_,” is a repetition to show that there is not a doubt to be
entertained that all these things will most surely come to pass. And the
gracious Spirit does all this for our comfort and consolation, that we
may not faint under temptation, but lift up our heads with the most
certain hope; because “he that shall come will come, and will not
tarry.” Hebrews x. 37.—_Martin Luther._
_Verse 5.—“Vex them;”_ either by horror of conscience, or corporal
plagues; one way or the other he will have his pennyworths of them, as
he always has had of the persecutors of his people.—_John Trapp._
_Verses 5, 9._—It is easy for God to destroy his foes.... Behold
Pharaoh, his wise men, his hosts, and his horses plouting and plunging,
and sinking like lead in the Red sea. Here is the end of one of the
greatest plots ever formed against God’s chosen. Of thirty Roman
emperors, governors of provinces, and others high in office, who
distinguished themselves by their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the
early Christians, one became speedily deranged after some atrocious
cruelty, one was slain by his own son, one became blind, the eyes of one
started out of his head, one was drowned, one was strangled, one died in
a miserable captivity, one fell dead in a manner that will not bear
recital, one died of so loathsome a disease that several of his
physicians were put to death because they could not abide the stench
that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third attempted it, but
had to call for help to finish the work, five were assassinated by their
own people or servants, five others died the most miserable and
excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold complication of
diseases, and eight were killed in battle, or after being taken
prisoners. Among these was Julian the apostate. In the days of his
prosperity he is said to have pointed his dagger to heaven defying the
Son of God, whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was
wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up
his clotted blood, and threw it into the air, exclaiming, “Thou hast
conquered, O thou Galilean.” Voltaire has told us of the agonies of
Charles IX. of France, which drove the blood through the pores of the
skin of that miserable monarch, after his cruelties and treachery to the
Huguenots.—_William S. Plummer, D.D., LL.D., 1867._
_Verse 6.—“Yet have I set my King.”_ Notice—1. The royal office and
character of our glorious Redeemer: he is a King, “This name he hath on
his vesture and on his thigh.” Rev. xix. 16. 2. The authority by which
he reigns; he is “_my King_,” says God the Father, and I have set him up
from everlasting: “The Father judgeth no man; but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son.” The world disowns his authority, but I own it; I
have set him, I have “given him to be head over all things to the
church.” 3. His particular kingdom over which he rules; it is over “_my
holy hill of Zion_”—an eminent type of the gospel church. The temple was
built upon Mount Zion and therefore called a _holy hill_. Christ’s
throne is in his church, it is his head-quarters, and the place of his
peculiar residence. Notice the firmness of the divine purpose with
respect unto this matter. “_Yet have I set_” him “_King_;” _i.e._,
whatever be the plots of hell and earth to the contrary, he reigns by
his Father’s ordination.—_Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680._
_Verse 6.—“Yet have I set my_ KING,” etc.—Jesus Christ is a threefold
King. _First_, his enemies’ King; _secondly_, his saints’ King;
_thirdly_, his Father’s King.
_First._ Christ is his enemies’ King, that is, he is King over his
enemies. Christ is a King above all kings. What are all the mighty men,
the great, the honourable men of the earth to Jesus Christ? They are but
like a little bubble in the water; for if all the nations, in comparison
to God, be but as the drop of the bucket, or the dust of the balance, as
the prophet speaks in Isaiah xl. 15, how little then must be the kings
of the earth! Nay, beloved, Christ Jesus is not only higher than kings,
but he is higher than the angels; yea, he is the head of angels; and,
therefore, all the angels in heaven are commanded to worship him. Col.
ii. 12 Heb. i. 6.... He is King over all kingdoms, over all nations,
over all governments, over all powers, over all people Dan. vii. 14....
The very heathen are given to Christ, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for his possession. Psalm ii. 8.
_Secondly._ Jesus Christ is his saints’ King. He is King of the bad, and
of the good; but as for the wicked, he rules over them by his power and
might; but the saints, he rules in them by his Spirit and graces. Oh!
this is Christ’s spiritual kingdom, and here he rules in the hearts of
his people, here he rules over their consciences, over their wills, over
their affections, over their judgments and understandings, and nobody
hath anything to do here but Christ. Christ is not only the King of
nations, but the King of saints; the one he rules over, the other he
rules in.
_Thirdly._ Jesus Christ is his Father’s King too, and so his Father
calls him: “_I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion._” Well may he
be our King, when he is God’s King. But you may say, how is Christ the
Father’s King? Because he rules for his Father. There is a twofold
kingdom of God committed to Jesus Christ; _first_, a spiritual kingdom,
by which he rules in the hearts of his people, and so is King of saints;
and, _secondly_, a providential kingdom, by which he rules the affairs
of this world, and so he is King of nations.—_Condensed from William
Dyer’s Christ’s Famous Titles, 1665._
_Verse 6.—“Zion.”_ The name “Zion” signifies a “distant view”
(_speculam._) And the church is called “a distant view” (_specula_), not
only because it views God and heavenly things by faith (that is, afar
off), being wise unto the things that are above, not unto those that are
on the earth: but also, because there are within her true viewers, or
seers, and watchmen in the spirit, whose office it is to take charge of
the people under them, and to watch against the snares of enemies and
sins; and such are called in the Greek bishops (ἐπίσκοποι), that is,
spyers or seers; and you may for the same reason give them, from the
Hebrew, the appellation of Zionians of Zioners.—_Martin Luther._
_Verse 7._—The dispute concerning the eternal filiation of our Lord
betrays more of presumptuous curiosity than of reverent faith. It is an
attempt to explain where it is far better to adore. We could give rival
expositions of this verse, but we forbear. The controversy is one of the
most unprofitable which ever engaged the pens of theologians.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 8.—“Ask of me.”_ The priesthood doth not appear to be settled
upon Christ by any other expression than this, “Ask of me.” The Psalm
speaks of his investiture in his kingly office; the apostle refers this
to his priesthood, his commission, for both took date at the same time;
both bestowed, both confirmed by the same authority. The office of
asking is grounded upon the same authority as the honour of king. Ruling
belonged to his royal office, asking to his priestly. After his
resurrection, the Father gives him a power and command of
asking.—_Stephen Charnock._
_Verse 8._—As the limner looks on the person whose picture he would
take, and draws his lines to answer him with the nearest similitude that
he can, so God looks on Christ as the archetype to which he will conform
the saint, in suffering, in grace, in glory; yet so that Christ hath the
pre-eminence in all. Every saint must suffer, because Christ suffered:
Christ must not have a delicate body under a crucified head; yet never
any suffered, or could, what he endured. Christ is holy, and therefore
so shall every saint be, but in an inferior degree; an image cut in clay
cannot be so exact as that engraved on gold. Now, our conformity to
Christ appears, that as the promises made to him were performed upon his
prayers to his Father, his promises made to his saints are given to them
in the same way of prayer: “_Ask of me_,” saith God to his Son, “_and I
shall give thee._” And the apostle tells us, “Ye have not, because ye
ask not.” God hath promised support to Christ in all his conflicts.
Isaiah xlii. 1. “Behold my servant, whom I uphold;” yet he prayed “with
strong cries and tears,” when his feet stood within the shadow of death.
A seed is promised to him, and victory over his enemies, yet for both
these he prays. Christ towards us acts as a king, but towards his Father
as a priest. All he speaks to God is by prayer and intercession. So the
saints, the promise makes them kings over their lusts, conquerors over
their enemies; but it makes them priests towards God, by prayer humbly
to sue out those great things given in the promise.—_William Gurnall,
1617-1679._
_Verse 8._—It will be observed in our Bible that two words of verse
eight are in italics, intimating that they are not translations of the
Hebrew, but additions made for the purpose of elucidating the meaning.
Now if the “_thee_” and the “_for_” are left out, the verse will read
thus, “Ask of me, and I shall give the heathen, thine inheritance, and
thy possession, the uttermost parts of the earth.” And this reading is
decidedly preferable to the other. It implies that by some previous
arrangement on the part of God, he had already assigned an inheritance
of the heathen, and the possession of the earth, to the person of whom
he says, “Thou art my Son.” And when God says, “I will give,” etc., he
reveals to his Anointed, not so much in what the inheritance consisted,
and what was the extent of possession destined for him, as the promise
of his readiness to bestow it. The heathen were already “the
inheritance,” and the ends of the earth “the possession,” which God had
_purposed_ to give to his Anointed. Now he says to him, “Ask of me,” and
he _promises_ to fulfil his purpose. This is the idea involved in the
words of the text, and the importance of it will become more apparent,
when we consider its application to the _spiritual_ David, to the true
Son of God, “whom he hath appointed the heir of all things.”