to the shipwrecked man, an anchor to them that are sinking in the waves,
a staff to the limbs that totter, a mine of jewels to the poor, a healer
of diseases, and a guardian of health. Prayer at once secures the
continuance of our blessings, and dissipates the clouds of our
calamities. O blessed prayer! thou art the unwearied conqueror of human
woes, the firm foundation of human happiness, the source of
ever-enduring joy, the mother of philosophy. The man who can pray truly,
though languishing in extremest indigence, is richer than all beside,
whilst the wretch who never bowed the knee, though proudly sitting as
monarch of all nations, is of all men most destitute.—_Chrysostom._
_Verse 14.—“That I may show forth all thy praise,”_ etc. To show forth
_all_ God’s praise is to enter largely into the work. An occasional
“_God, I thank thee_,” is no fit return for a perpetual stream of rich
benefits.—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 15.—“The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made,”_ etc.
Whilst they are digging pits for others, there is a pit a-digging and a
grave a-making for themselves. They have a measure to make up, and a
treasure to fill, which at length will be broken open, which, methinks,
should take off them which are set upon mischief from pleasing
themselves in their plots. Alas! they are but plotting their own ruin,
and building a Babel which will fall upon their own heads. If there were
any commendation in plotting, then that great plotter of plotters, that
great engineer, Satan, would go beyond us all and take all the credit
from us. But let us not envy Satan and his in their glory. They had need
of something to comfort them. Let them please themselves with their
trade. The day is coming wherein the daughter of Sion shall laugh them
to scorn. There will be a time wherein it shall be said, “Arise, Sion,
and thresh.” Micah iv. 13. And usually the delivery of God’s children is
joined with the destruction of his enemies; Saul’s death, and David’s
deliverance; the Israelites’ deliverance, and the Egyptians’ drowning.
The church and her opposites are like the scales of a balance; when one
goes up, the other goes down.—_Richard Sibbs._
_Verses 15-17._ It will much increase the torment of the damned, in that
their torments will be as large and strong as their understandings and
affections, which will cause those violent passions to be still working.
Were their loss never so great, and their sense of it never so
passionate, yet if they could but lose the use of their memory, those
passions would die, and that loss being forgotten, would little trouble
them. But as they cannot lay by their life and being, though then they
would account annihilation of singular mercy, so neither can they lay
aside any part of their being. Understanding, conscience, affections,
memory, must all live to torment them, which should have helped to their
happiness. And as by these they should have fed upon the love of God,
and drawn forth perpetually the joys of his presence, so by these must
they now feed upon the wrath of God, and draw forth continually the
dolours of his absence. Therefore, never think, that when I say the
hardness of their hearts, and their blindness, dulness, and
forgetfulness shall be removed, that therefore they are more holy and
happy than before: no, but morally more vile, and hereby far more
miserable. Oh, how many times did God by his messengers here call upon
them, “Sinners, consider whither you are going. Do but make a stand
awhile, and think where your way will end, what is the offered glory
that you so carelessly reject: will not this be bitterness in the end?”
And yet these men would never be brought to consider. But in the latter
days, saith the Lord, they shall perfectly consider it, when they are
_ensnared in the work of their own hands_, when God hath arrested them,
and judgment is passed upon them, and vengeance is poured out upon them
to the full, then they cannot choose but consider it, whether they will
or no. Now they have no leisure to consider, nor any room in their
memories for the things of another life. Ah! but then they shall have
leisure enough, they shall be where they shall have nothing else to do
but consider it: their memories shall have no other employment to hinder
them; it shall even be engraven upon the tables of their hearts. God
would have the doctrine of their eternal state to have been written on
the posts of their doors, on their houses, on their hands, and on their
hearts: he would have had them mind it and mention it, as they rise and
lie down, and as they walk abroad, that so it might have gone well with
them at their latter end. And seeing they rejected this counsel of the
Lord, therefore shall it be written always before them in the place of
their thraldom, that which way soever they look they may still behold
it.—_Richard Baxter._
_Verse 16.—“The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth.”_ Now
if the Lord be known by the judgment which he executeth; then, the
judgment which he executeth must be known; it must be an open judgment;
and such are very many of the judgments of God, they are acted as upon a
stage. And I may give you an account in three particulars why the Lord
will sometimes do justice in the place of beholders, or in the open
sight of others. First, that there may be witnesses enough of what he
doth, and so a record of it be kept, at least in the minds and memories
of faithful men for the generations to come. Secondly, the Lord doth it
not only that he may have witnesses of his justice, but also that his
justice and the proceedings of it, may have effect and a fruit upon
those who did not feel it, nor fall under it. This was the reason why
the Lord threatened to punish Jerusalem in the sight of the nations.
Ezek. v. 6, 7, 8, 14, 15.... God would execute judgment in Jerusalem, a
city placed in the midst of the nations that as the nations had taken
notice of the extraordinary favours, benefits, deliverances, and
salvations which God wrought for Jerusalem, so they might also take
notice of his judgments and sore displeasure against them. Jerusalem was
not seated in some nook, corner, or by-place of the world, but in the
midst of the nations, that both the goodness and severity of God towards
them might be conspicuous.... God lets some sinners suffer, or punisheth
them openly, both because he would have all others take notice that he
dislikes what they have done, as also because he would not have others
do the like, lest they be made like them, both in the matter and manner
of their sufferings. ’Tis a favour as well as our duty, to be taught by
other men’s harms, and to be instructed by their strokes to prevent our
own.... Thirdly, God strikes some wicked men in open view, or in the
place of beholders for the comfort of his own people, and for their
encouragement. Psalm lviii. 10, 11. “The righteous shall rejoice when he
seeth the vengeance;” not that he shall be glad of the vengeance, purely
as it is a hurt or a suffering to the creature; but the righteous shall
be glad when he seeth the vengeance of God as it is a fulfilling of the
threatening of God against the sin of man, and an evidence of his own
holiness.... It is said (Exod. xiv. 30, 31), that God having overwhelmed
the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon
the sea shore: God did not suffer the carcases of the Egyptians to sink
to the bottom of the sea, but caused them to lie upon the shore, that
the Israelites might see them; and when Israel saw that dreadful stroke
of the Lord upon the Egyptians, it is said, “The people feared the Lord,
and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.” Thus they were confirmed
in their faith by God’s open judgments upon the Egyptians. They were
smitten in the place of beholders, or in the open sight of
others.—_Condensed from Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 16.—“The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth;”_
when he lays his hand upon sinners, saints tremble, consider his power,
majesty, greatness, the nature of his judgments, and so judge
themselves, and remove out of the way whatever may provoke.... As fire
begets a splendour round about where it is, so do the judgments of God
set out to the world his glory, justice, holiness.—_William Greenhill._
_Verse 16.—“Snared in the work of his own hands.”_ The wages that sin
bargains with the sinner are life, pleasure and profit; but the wages it
pays him with are death, torment, and destruction. He that would
understand the falsehood and deceit of sin, must compare its promises
and its payments together.—_Robert South, D.D., 1633-1716._
_Verse 16._—“_Higgaion, Selah_,” that is, as Ainsworth renders it,
“Meditation, Selah:” showing this ought to be seriously considered of.
The word “_Higgaion_” is again had (Psalm xcii. 3); being mentioned
among other musical instruments, whereby we may gather it to be one of
them; for there is psaltery, nable, higgaion, and harp.—_John Mayer._
_Verse 16.—“The wicked is snared in the works of his own hands.”_ Not
only do we read it in the word of God, but all history, all experience,
records the same righteous justice of God, in snaring the wicked in the
work of their own hands. Perhaps the most striking instance on record,
next to Haman on his own gallows, is one connected with the horrors of
the French Revolution, in which we are told that, “within nine months of
the death of the queen Marie Antoinette by the guillotine, every one
implicated in her untimely end, her accusers, the judges, the jury, the
prosecutors, the witnesses, all, every one at least whose fate is known,
perished by the same instrument as their innocent victim.” “In the net
which they had laid for her was their own foot taken—into the pit which
they digged for her did they themselves fall.”—_Barton Bouchier, 1855._
_Verse 17._—The ungodly at death must undergo God’s fury and
indignation. “_The wicked shall be turned into hell._” I have read of a
loadstone in Ethiopia which hath two corners, with one it draws the iron
to it, with the other it puts the iron from it; so God hath two hands,
of mercy and justice; with the one he will draw the godly to heaven,
with the other he will thrust the sinner to hell; and oh, how dreadful
is that place! It is called a fiery lake (Rev. xx. 15); a lake, to
denote the plenty of torments in hell; a fiery lake to show the
fierceness of them: fire is the most torturing element. Strabo in his
geography mentions a lake in Galilee of such a pestiferous nature that
it scaldeth off the skin of whatsoever is cast into it; but, alas! that
lake is cool compared with this fiery lake into which the damned are
thrown. To demonstrate this fire terrible, there are two most pernicious
qualities in it. 1. It is sulphureous, it is mixed with brimstone (Rev.
xxi. 8), which is unsavoury and suffocating. 2. It is inextinguishable;
though the wicked shall be choked in the flames, yet not consumed (Rev.
xx. 10); “And the devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,
where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day
and night for ever and ever.” Behold the deplorable condition of all
ungodly ones in the other world, they shall have a life that always
dies, and a death that always lives: may not this affright men out of
their sins, and make them become godly? unless they are resolved to try
how hot the hell-fire is.—_Thomas Watson._
_Verse 17.—“The wicked shall be turned into hell,”_ etc. By “_the
wicked_” man we must understand unregenerate persons, whoever they are
that are in a state of unregeneracy.... That person is here spoken of us
a “_wicked_” man that “_forgets God_,” who does not think of him
frequently, and with affection, with fear and delight, and those
affections that are suitable to serious thoughts of God.... To forget
God and to be a wicked person is all one. And these two things will
abundantly evince the truth of this assertion: namely, that this
forgetfulness of God excludes the prime and main essentials of religion,
and also includes in it the highest and most heinous pieces of
wickedness, and therefore must needs denominate the subject, a wicked
person.... Forgetfulness of God excludes the principal and essential
parts of religion. It implies that a man doth neither esteem nor value
the all-sufficiency and holiness of God, as his happiness and portion,
as his strength and support; nor doth he fear him, nor live in
subjection to his laws and commands, as his rule; nor doth he aim at the
glory of God as his end: therefore every one who thus forgets God must
certainly be a wicked person.... To exclude God out of our thoughts and
not to let him have a place there, not to mind, nor think upon God, is
the greatest wickedness of the thoughts that can be. And, therefore,
though you cannot say of such a one, he will be drunk, or he will swear,
cozen, or oppress; yet if you can say he will forget God, or that he
lives all his days never minding nor thinking upon God, you say enough
to speak him under wrath, and to turn him into hell without
remedy.—_John Howe, 1630-1705._
_Verse 17.—“The wicked shall be turned into hell.”_ לִשְׁאוֹלָה,
_Lisholah—headlong into hell, down into hell._ The original is very
emphatic.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 17._—All wickedness came originally with the wicked one from
hell; thither it will be again remitted, and they who hold on its side
must accompany it on its return to that place of torment, there to be
shut up for ever. The true state both of “nations,” and the individuals
of which they are composed, is to be estimated from one single
circumstance; namely, whether in their doings they remember, or “forget
God.” Remembrance of him is the well-spring of virtue; forgetfulness of
him, the fountain of vice.—_George Horne, D.D._
_Verse 17._—
_Hell_, their fit habitation, fraught with fire
Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain.
_John Milton, 1608-1674._
_Verse 17._—
Will without power, the element of hell,
Abortive all its acts returning still
Upon itself;... Oh, anguish terrible!
Meet guerdon of self-love, its proper ill!
Malice would scowl upon the foe he fears;
And he with lip of scorn would seek to kill;
But neither sees the other, neither hears—
For darkness each in his own dungeon bars,
Lust pines for dearth, and grief drinks its own tears—
Each in its solitude apart. Hate wars
Against himself, and feeds upon his chain,
Whose iron penetrates the soul it scars,
A dreadful solitude each mind insane,
Each its own place, its prison all alone,
And finds no sympathy to soften pain.
_J. A. Heraud._
_Verse 18.—“For the needy shall not alway be forgotten,”_ etc. This is a
sweet promise for a thousand occasions, and when pleaded before the
throne in his name who comprehends in himself every promise, and is
indeed himself the great promise of the Bible, it would be found like
all others, yea and amen.—_Robert Hawker, D.D., 1820._
_Verse 18.—“The expectation of the poor shall not perish.”_ A heathen
could say, when a bird, scared by a hawk, flew into his bosom, I will
not betray thee unto thy enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto
me. How much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy, when it takes
sanctuary in his name, saying, Lord I am haunted with such a temptation,
dogged with such a lust; either thou must pardon it, or I am damned;
mortify it, or I shall be a slave to it; take me into the bosom of thy
love for Christ’s sake; castle me in the arms of thy everlasting
strength; it is in thy power to save me from, or give me up into the
hands of my enemy; I have no confidence in myself or any other: into thy
hands I commit my cause myself, and rely on thee. This dependence of a
soul undoubtedly will awaken the almighty power of God for such a one’s
defence. He hath sworn the greatest oath that can come out of his
blessed lips, even by himself, that such as thus fly for refuge to hope
in him, shall have strong consolation. Heb. vi. 17. This indeed may give
the saint the greater boldness of faith to expect kind entertainment
when he repairs to God for refuge, because he cannot come before he is
looked for; God having set up his name and promises as a strong tower,
both calls his people into these chambers and expects they should betake
themselves thither.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 18._—As sometimes God is said to hear us in not hearing us, so we
may say he should sometimes deny us if he did not delay us. It is (saith
Chrysostom) like money, which lying long in the bank, comes home at last
with a duck in its mouth, with use upon use; when money is out a great
time, it makes a great return: we can stay thus upon men, and cannot we,
shall not we, stay upon the Lord, and for the Lord, for a large return.
God causeth us by delay to make the more prayers; and the more we pray,
the longer we stay, the more comfort we shall have, and the more sure we
are that we shall have it in the latter end. Distinguish between denying
and delaying.... In God _our Father_ are all dimensions of love, and
that in an infinite degree; infinitely infinite: what if he defer us? so
do we our children, albeit we mean no other but to give them their own
asking, yet we love to see them wait, that so they may have from us the
best things when they are at the best, in the best time, and in the best
manner: if a mother should forget her only boy, yet God hath an infinite
memory, he nor can, nor will forget; the expectation of the _waiter_
shall not fail _for ever_, that is, _never_.—_Richard Capel._
_Verse 19.—“Arise, O Lord,”_ etc. What does this mean? Are we to
consider the Psalmist as praying for the destruction of his enemies, as
pronouncing a malediction, a curse upon them? No; these are not the
words of one who is wishing that mischief may happen to his enemies;
they are the words of a prophet, of one who is foretelling, in Scripture
language, the evil that must befall them on account of their
sins.—_Augustine._
_Verse 20.—“Put them in fear, O Lord,”_ etc. We should otherwise think
ourselves gods. We are so inclined to sin that we need strong
restraints, and so swelled with a natural pride against God, that we
need thorns in the flesh to let out the corrupt matter. The constant
hanging the rod over us makes us lick the dust, and acknowledge
ourselves to be altogether at the Lord’s mercy. Though God hath pardoned
us, he will make us wear the halter about our necks to humble
us.—_Stephen Charnock._
_Verse 20.—“That the nations may know themselves to be but men.”_ The
original word is אֱנוֹשׁ, _enosh_; and therefore it is a prayer that
they may know themselves to be but miserable, frail, and dying men. The
word is in the singular number, but it is used collectively.—_John
Calvin._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1._—I. The only object of our praise—“thee, O Lord.” II. The
abundant themes of praise—“all thy marvellous works.” III. The proper
nature of praise—“with my whole heart.”—_B. Davies._
_Verse 1.—“I will show forth.”_ Endless employment and enjoyment.
_Verse 1.—“Thy marvellous works.”_ Creation, Providence, Redemption, are
all marvellous, as exhibiting the attributes of God in such a degree as
to excite the wonder of all God’s universe. A very suggestive topic.
_Verse 2._—Sacred song: its connection with holy gladness.
The duty, excellence, and grounds of holy cheerfulness.
_Verse 4._—(1) The rights of the righteous are sure to be assailed, (2)
but equally sure to be defended.
_Verse 6._—I. The great enemy. II. The destructions he has caused. III.
The means of his overthrow. IV. The rest which shall ensue.
_Verse 7 (first clause)._—The eternity of God—the comfort of saints, the
terror of sinners.
_Verse 8._—The justice of God’s moral government, especially in relation
to the last great day.
_Verse 9._—Needy people, needy times, all-sufficient provision.
_Verse 10._—I. All-important knowledge—“know thy name.” II. Blessed
result—“will put their trust in thee.” III. Sufficient reason—“for thou,
Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”—_T. W. Medhurst._
Knowledge, Faith, Experience, the connection of the three.
_Verse 10._—The names of God inspire trust. JEHOVAH _Jireh_, _Tsidkenu_,
_Rophi_, _Shammah_, _Shalom_, _Nissi_, ELOHIM, SHADDAI, ADONAI, etc.
_Verse 11._—I. Zion, what is it? II. Her glorious inhabitant, what doth
he? III. The twofold occupation of her sons—“sing praises,” “declare
among the people his doings.” IV. Arguments from the first part of the
subject to encourage us in the double duty.
_Verse 12._—I. God on awful business. II. Remembers his people; to
spare, honour, bless, and avenge them. III. Fulfils their cries, in
their own salvation, and overthrow of enemies. A consolatory sermon for
times of war or pestilence.
_Verse 13.—“Have mercy upon me, O Lord.”_ The publican’s prayer
expounded, commended, presented, and fulfilled.
_Verse 13.—“Thou liftest me up from the gates of death.”_ Deep
distresses. Great deliverances. Glorious exaltations.
_Verse 14.—“I will rejoice in thy salvation.”_ Especially because it is
_thine_, O God, and therefore honours thee. In its freeness, fulness,
suitability, certainty, everlastingness. Who can rejoice in this?
Reasons why they should always do so.
_Verse 15.—Lex talionis._ Memorable instances.
_Verse 16._—Awful knowledge; a tremendous alternative as compared with
verse 10.
_Verse 17._—A warning to forgetters of God.
_Verse 18._—Delays in deliverance. I. Unbelief’s estimate of
them—“forgotten,” “perish.” II. God’s promise—“not always.” III. Faith’s
duty—wait.
_Verse 19.—“Let not man prevail.”_ A powerful plea. Cases when employed
in Scripture. The reason of its power. Times for its use.
_Verse 20._—A needful lesson, and how it is taught.
PSALM X.
_Since this Psalm has no title of its own, it is supposed by some to be
a fragment of Psalm_ ix. _We prefer, however, since it is complete in
itself, to consider it as a separate composition. We have had instances
already of Psalms which seem meant to form a pair_ (_Ps._ i. _and_ ii.,
_Ps._ iii. _and_ iv.), _and this, with the ninth, is another specimen of
the double Psalm._
_The prevailing theme seems to be the oppression and persecution of the
wicked; we will, therefore, for our own guidance, entitle it_, THE CRY
OF THE OPPRESSED.
DIVISION.—_The first verse, in an exclamation of surprise, explains the
intent of the Psalm, viz., to invoke the interposition of God for the
deliverance of his poor and persecuted people. From verse 2 to 11, the
character of the oppressor is described in powerful language. In verse
12, the cry of the first verse bursts forth again, but with a clearer
utterance. In the next place (verses 13-15), God’s eye is clearly beheld
as regarding all the cruel deeds of the wicked; and as a consequence of
divine omniscience the ultimate judgment of the oppressed is joyously
anticipated (verses 16-18). To the Church of God during times of
persecution, and to individual saints who are smarting under the hand of
the proud sinner, this Psalm furnishes suitable language both for prayer
and praise._
EXPOSITION.
Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? _why_ hidest thou _thyself_ in
times of trouble?
To the tearful eye of the sufferer the Lord seemed to _stand_ still, as
if he calmly looked on, and did not sympathize with his afflicted one.
Nay, more, the Lord appeared to be _afar off_, no longer “a very present
help in trouble,” but an inaccessible mountain, into which no man would
be able to climb. The presence of God is the joy of his people, but any
suspicion of his absence is distracting beyond measure. Let us, then,
ever remember that the Lord is nigh us. The refiner is never far from
the mouth of the furnace when his gold is in the fire, and the Son of
God is always walking in the midst of the flames when his holy children
are cast into them. Yet he that knows the frailty of man will little
wonder that when we are sharply exercised, we find it hard to bear the
apparent neglect of the Lord when he forbears to work our deliverance.