but the hiding of our Father’s face, which cuts us to the quick. When
trial and desertion come together, we are in as perilous a plight as
Paul, when his ship fell into a place where two seas met (Acts xxvii.
41). It is but little wonder if we are like the vessel which ran
aground, and the fore-part stuck fast, and remained unmovable, while the
hinder part was broken by the violence of the waves. When our sun is
eclipsed, it is dark indeed. If we need an answer to the question, “Why
hidest thou thyself?” it is to be found in the fact that there is a
“needs-be,” not only for trial, but for heaviness of heart under trial
(1 Pet. i. 6); but how could this be the case, if the Lord should shine
upon us while he is afflicting us? Should the parent comfort his child
while he is correcting him, where would be the use of the chastening? A
smiling face and a rod are not fit companions. God bares the back that
the blow may be felt; for it is only _felt_ affliction which can become
_blest_ affliction. If we are carried in the arms of God over every
stream, where would be the trial, and where the experience, which
trouble is meant to teach us?
2 The wicked in _his_ pride doth persecute the poor: let them be
taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the
covetous, _whom_ the LORD abhorreth.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek
_after God_: God _is_ not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; thy judgments _are_ far above out of
his sight: _as for_ all his enemies, he puffeth at them.
6 He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for _I shall_
never _be_ in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his
tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret
places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against
the poor.
9 He lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait
to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draweth him into
his net.
10 He croucheth, _and_ humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by
his strong ones.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his
face; he will never see _it_.
2. The second verse contains the formal indictment against the wicked:
“_The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor._” The accusation
divides itself into two distinct charges,—pride and tyranny; the one the
root and cause of the other. The second sentence is the humble petition
of the oppressed: “_Let them be taken in the devices that they have
imagined._” The prayer is reasonable, just, and natural. Even our
enemies themselves being judges, it is but right that men should be done
by as they wished to do to others. We only weigh you in your own scales,
and measure your corn with your own bushel. Terrible shall be the day, O
persecuting Babylon! when thou shalt be made to drink of the winecup
which thou thyself hast filled to the brim with the blood of saints.
There are none who will dispute the justice of God, when he shall hang
every Haman on his own gallows, and cast all the enemies of his Daniels
into their own den of lions.
3. The indictment being read, and the petition presented, the evidence
is now heard upon the first count. The evidence is very full and
conclusive upon the matter of _pride_, and no jury could hesitate to
give a verdict against the prisoner at the bar. Let us, however, hear
the witnesses one by one. The first testifies that he is a boaster.
“_For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire._” He is a very silly
boaster, for he glories in a mere desire: a very brazen-faced boaster,
for that desire is villainy; and a most abandoned sinner, to boast of
that which is his shame. Bragging sinners are the worst and most
contemptible of men, especially when their filthy desires,—too filthy to
be carried into act—become the theme of their boastings. When Mr.
Hate-Good and Mr. Heady are joined in partnership, they drive a brisk
trade in the devil’s wares. This one proof is enough to condemn the
prisoner at the bar. Take him away, jailor! But stay, another witness
desires to be sworn and heard. This time, the impudence of the proud
rebel is even more apparent; for he “_blesseth the covetous, whom the
Lord abhorreth_.” This is insolence, which is pride unmasked. He is
haughty enough to differ from the Judge of all the earth, and bless the
men whom God hath cursed. So did the sinful generation in the days of
Malachi, who called the proud happy, and set up those that worked
wickedness (Mal. iii. 15). These base pretenders would dispute with
their Maker; they would—
“Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,
Rejudge his justice, be the god of God.”
How often have we heard the wicked man speaking in terms of honour of
the covetous, the grinder of the poor, and the sharp dealer! Our old
proverb hath it—
“I wot well how the world wags;
He is most loved that hath most bags.”
Pride meets covetousness, and compliments it as wise, thrifty, and
prudent. We say it with sorrow, there are many professors of religion
who esteem a rich man, and flatter him, even though they know that he
has fattened himself upon the flesh and blood of the poor. The only
sinners who are received as respectable are covetous men. If a man is a
fornicator, or a drunkard, we put him out of the church; but who ever
read of church discipline against that idolatrous wretch,—the covetous
man? Let us tremble, lest we be found to be partakers of this atrocious
sin of pride, “blessing the covetous, whom Jehovah abhorreth.”
4. The proud boastings and lewd blessing of the wicked have been
received in evidence against him, and now his own face confirms the
accusation, and his empty closet cries aloud against him. “_The wicked,
through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God._” Proud
hearts breed proud looks and stiff knees. It is an admirable arrangement
that the heart is often written on the countenance, just as the motion
of the wheels of a clock find their record on its face. A brazen face
and a broken heart never go together. We are not quite sure that the
Athenians were wise when they ordained that men should be tried in the
dark lest their countenances should weigh with the judges; for there is
much more to be learned from the motions of the muscles of the face than
from the words of the lips. Honesty shines in the face, but villainy
peeps out at the eyes.
See the effect of pride; it kept the man from seeking God. It is hard to
pray with a stiff neck and an unbending knee. “_God is not in all his
thoughts_:” he thought much, but he had no thoughts for God. Amid heaps
of chaff there was not a grain of wheat. The only place where God is not
is in the thoughts of the wicked. This is a damning accusation; for
where the God of heaven is not, the Lord of hell is reigning and raging;
and if God be not in our thoughts, our thoughts will bring us to
perdition.
5. “_His ways are always grievous._” To himself they are hard. Men go a
rough road when they go to hell. God has hedged-up the way of sin: O
what folly to leap these hedges and fall among the thorns! To others,
also, his ways cause much sorrow and vexation; but what cares he? He
sits like the idol god upon his monstrous car, utterly regardless of the
crowds who are crushed as he rolls along. “_Thy judgments are far above
out of his sight_:” he looks high, but not high enough. As God is
forgotten, so are his judgments. He is not able to comprehend the things
of God; a swine may sooner look through a telescope at the stars than
this man study the Word of God to understand the righteousness of the
Lord. “_As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them._” He defies and
domineers; and when men resist his injurious behaviour, he sneers at
them, and threatens to annihilate them with a puff. In most languages
there is a word of contempt borrowed from the action of puffing with the
lips, and in English we should express the idea by saying, “He cries
‘Pooh! Pooh!’ at his enemies.” Ah! there is one enemy who will not thus
be puffed at. Death will puff at the candle of his life and blow it out,
and the wicked boaster will find it grim work to brag in the tomb.
6. The testimony of the sixth verse concludes the evidence against the
prisoner upon the first charge of pride, and certainly it is conclusive
in the highest degree. The present witness has been prying into the
secret chambers of the heart, and has come to tell us what he has heard.
“_He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be
in adversity._” O impertinence run to seed! The man thinks himself
immutable, and omnipotent too, for _he_, _he_ is never to be in
adversity. He counts himself a privileged man. He sits alone, and shall
see no sorrow. His nest is in the stars, and he dreams not of a hand
that shall pluck him thence. But let us remember that this man’s house
is built upon the sand, upon a foundation no more substantial than the
rolling waves of the sea. He that is too secure is never safe. Boastings
are not buttresses, and self-confidence is a sorry bulwark. This is the
ruin of fools, that when they succeed they become too big, and swell
with self-conceit, as if their summer would last for ever, and their
flowers bloom on eternally. Be humble, O man! for thou art mortal, and
thy lot is mutable.
The second crime is now to be proved. The fact that the man is proud and
arrogant may go a long way to prove that he is vindictive and cruel.
Haman’s pride was the father of a cruel design to murder all the Jews.
Nebuchadnezzar builds an idol; in pride he commands all men to bow
before it; and then cruelty stands ready to heat the furnace seven times
hotter for those who will not yield to his imperious will. Every proud
thought is twin brother to a cruel thought. He who exalts himself will
despise others, and one step further will make him a tyrant.
7. Let us now hear the witnesses in court. Let the wretch speak for
himself, for out of his own mouth he will be condemned. “_His mouth is
full of cursing and deceit and fraud._” There is not only a little evil
there, but his mouth is full of it. A three-headed serpent hath stowed
away its coils and venom within the den of his black mouth. There is
_cursing_ which he spits against both God and men, _deceit_ with which
he entraps the unwary, and _fraud_ by which, even in his common
dealings, he robs his neighbours. Beware of such a man: have no sort of
dealing with him: none but the silliest of geese would go to the fox’s
sermon, and none but the most foolish will put themselves into the
society of knaves. But we must proceed. Let us look under this man’s
tongue as well as in his mouth; “_under his tongue is mischief and
vanity_.” Deep in his throat are the unborn words which shall come forth
as mischief and iniquity.
8. Despite the bragging of this base wretch, it seems that he is as
cowardly as he is cruel. “_He sitteth in the lurking places of the
villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are
privily set against the poor._” He acts the part of the highwayman, who
springs upon the unsuspecting traveller in some desolate part of the
road. There are always bad men lying in wait for the saints. This is a
land of robbers and thieves; let us travel well armed, for every bush
conceals an enemy. Everywhere there are traps laid for us, and foes
thirsting for our blood. There are enemies at our table as well as
across the sea. We are never safe, save when the Lord is with us.
9. The picture becomes blacker, for here is the cunning of the lion, and
of the huntsman, as well as the stealthiness of the robber. Surely there
are some men who come up to the very letter of this description. With
watching, perversion, slander, whispering, and false swearing, they ruin
the character of the righteous, and murder the innocent; or, with legal
quibbles, mortgages, bonds, writs, and the like, they catch the poor,
and draw them into a net. Chrysostom was peculiarly severe upon this
last phase of cruelty, but assuredly not more so than was richly
merited. Take care, brethren, for there are other traps besides these.
Hungry lions are crouching in every den, and fowlers spread their nets
in every field.
Quarles well pictures our danger in those memorable lines,—
“The close pursuers’ busy hands do plant
Snares in thy substance; snares attend thy want;
Snares in thy credit; snares in thy disgrace;
Snares in thy high estate; snares in thy base;
Snares tuck thy bed; and snares surround thy board;
Snares watch thy thoughts; and snares attack thy word;
Snares in thy quiet; snares in thy commotion;
Snares in thy diet; snares in thy devotion;
Snares lurk in thy resolves; snares in thy doubt;
Snares lie within thy heart, and snares without;
Snares are above thy head, and snares beneath;
Snares in thy sickness; snares are in thy death.”
O Lord! keep thy servants, and defend us from all our enemies!
10. “_He croucheth and humbleth himself, that the poor may fall by his
strong ones._” Seeming humility is often armour-bearer to malice. The
lion crouches that he may leap with the greater force, and bring down
his strong limbs upon his prey. When a wolf was old and had tasted human
blood, the old Saxon cried, “Ware, wolf!” and we may cry, “Ware, fox!”
They who crouch to our feet are longing to make us fall. Be very careful
of fawners; for friendship and flattery are deadly enemies.
11. As upon the former count, so upon this one; a witness in
forthcoming, who has been listening at the keyhole of the heart. Speak
up, friend, and let us hear your story. “_He hath said in his heart, God
hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it._” This cruel
man comforts himself with the idea that God is blind, or, at least,
forgetful: a fond and foolish fancy, indeed. Men doubt Omniscience when
they persecute the saints. If we had a sense of God’s presence with us,
it would be impossible for us to ill-treat his children. In fact, there
can scarcely be a greater preservation from sin than the constant
thought of “thou, God, seest me.”
Thus has the trial proceeded. The case has been fully stated; and now it
is but little wonder that the oppressed petitioner lifts up the cry for
judgment, which we find in the following verse:—
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up thine hand; forget not the humble.
With what bold language will faith address its God! and yet what
unbelief is mingled with our strongest confidence. Fearlessly the Lord
is stirred up to arise and lift up his hand, yet timidly is he begged
not to forget the humble; as if Jehovah could ever be forgetful of his
saints. This verse is the incessant cry of the Church, and she will
never refrain therefrom until her Lord shall come in his glory to avenge
her of all her adversaries.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart,
Thou wilt not require _it_.
14 Thou hast seen _it_; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to
requite _it_ with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee;
thou art the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil _man_: seek out his
wickedness _till_ thou find none.
In these verses the description of the wicked is condensed, and the evil
of his character traced to its source, viz., atheistical ideas with
regard to the government of the world. We may at once perceive that this
is intended to be another urgent plea with the Lord to show his power,
and reveal his justice. When the wicked call God’s righteousness in
question, we may well beg him to teach them terrible things in
righteousness. In verse 13, the hope of the infidel and his heart-wishes
are laid bare. He despises the Lord, because he will not believe that
sin will meet with punishment: “_he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt
not require it_.” If there were no hell for other men, there ought to be
one for those who question the justice of it. This vile suggestion
receives its answer in verse 14. “_Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest
mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand._” God is all-eye to
see, and all-hand to punish his enemies. From Divine oversight there is
no hiding, and from Divine justice there is no fleeing. Wanton mischief
shall meet with woeful misery, and those who harbour spite shall inherit
sorrow. Verily there is a God which judgeth in the earth. Nor is this
the only instance of the presence of God in the world; for while he
chastises the oppressor, he befriends the oppressed. “_The poor
committeth himself unto thee._” They give themselves up entirely into
the Lord’s hands. Resigning their judgment to his enlightenment, and
their wills to his supremacy, they rest assured that he will order all
things for the best. Nor does he deceive their hope. He preserves them
in times of need, and causes them to rejoice in his goodness. “_Thou art
the helper of the fatherless._” God is the parent of all orphans. When
the earthly father sleeps beneath the sod, a heavenly Father smiles from
above. By some means or other, orphan children are fed, and well they
may when they have such a Father.
15. In this verse we hear again the burden of the Psalmist’s prayer:
“_Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man._” Let the sinner
lose his power to sin; stop the tyrant, arrest the oppressor, weaken the
loins of the mighty, and dash in pieces the terrible. They deny thy
justice: let them feel it to the full. Indeed, they shall feel it; for
God shall hunt the sinner for ever: so long as there is a grain of sin
in him it shall be sought out and punished. It is not a little worthy of
note, that very few great persecutors have ever died in their beds: the
curse has manifestly pursued them, and their fearful sufferings have
made them own _that_ divine justice at which they could at one time
launch defiance. God permits tyrants to arise as thorn-hedges to protect
his church from the intrusion of hypocrites, and that he may teach his
backsliding children by them, as Gideon did the men of Succoth with the
briers of the wilderness; but he soon cuts up these Herods, like the
thorns, and casts them into the fire. Thales, the Milesian, one of the
wise men of Greece, being asked what he thought to be the greatest
rarity in the world, replied, “To see a tyrant live to be an old man.”
See how the Lord breaks, not only the arm, but the neck of proud
oppressors! To the men who had neither justice nor mercy for the saints,
there shall be rendered justice to the full, but not a grain of mercy.
16 The LORD _is_ King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished
out of his land.
17 LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare
their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the
earth may no more oppress.
The Psalm ends with a song of thanksgiving to the great and everlasting
King, because he has granted the desire of his humble and oppressed
people, has defended the fatherless, and punished the heathen who
trampled upon his poor and afflicted children. Let us learn that we are
sure to speed well, if we carry our complaint to the King of kings.
Rights will be vindicated, and wrongs redressed, at his throne. His
government neglects not the interests of the needy, nor does it tolerate
oppression in the mighty. Great God, we leave ourselves in thine hand;
to thee we commit thy church afresh. Arise, O God, and let the man of
the earth—the creature of a day—be broken before the majesty of thy
power. Come, Lord Jesus, and glorify thy people. Amen and Amen.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Whole Psalm._—There is not, in my judgment, a Psalm which describes the
mind, the manners, the works, the words, the feelings, and the fate of
the ungodly with so much propriety, fulness, and light, as this Psalm.
So that, if in any respect there has not been enough said heretofore, or
if there shall be anything wanting in the Psalms that shall follow, we
may here find a perfect image and representation of iniquity. This
Psalm, therefore, is a type, form, and description of that man, who,
though he may be in the sight of himself and of men more excellent than
Peter himself, is detestable in the eyes of God; and this it was that
moved Augustine, and those who followed him, to understand the Psalm of
ANTICHRIST. But as the Psalm is without a title, let us embrace the most
general and common understanding of it (as I said), and let us look at
the picture of ungodliness which it sets before us. Not that we would
deny the propriety of the acceptation in which others receive it, nay,
we will, in our general acceptation of the Psalm, include also its
reference to ANTICHRIST. And, indeed, it will not be at all absurd if we
join this Psalm with the preceding, in its order thus. That David, in
the preceding spoke of the ungodly converted, and prayed for those who
were to be converted. But that here he is speaking of the ungodly that
are still left so, and in power prevailing over the weak ALMUTH,
concerning whom he has no hope, or is in a great uncertainty of mind,
whether they ever will be converted or not.—_Martin Luther._
_Verse 1.—“Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?”_ The answer to
this is not far to seek, for if the Lord did not hide himself it would
not be a time of trouble at all. As well ask why the sun does not shine
at night, when for certain there could be no night if he did. It is
essential to our thorough chastisement that the Father should withdraw
his smile: there is a needs be not only for manifold temptations, but
that we be in heaviness through them. The design of the rod is only
answered by making us smart. If there be no pain, there will be no
profit. If there be no hiding of God, there will be no bitterness, and
consequently no purging efficacy in his chastisements.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 1 (last clause)._—“_Times of trouble_” should be times of
confidence; fixedness of heart on God would prevent fears of heart.
Psalm cxii. 7. “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is
fixed.” How? “Trusting in the Lord. His heart is established, he shall
not be afraid.” Otherwise without it we shall be as light as a
weather-cock, moved with every blast of evil tidings, our hopes will
swim or sink according to the news we hear. Providence would seem to
sleep unless faith and prayer awaken it. The disciples had but little
faith in their Master’s account, yet that little faith awakened him in a
storm, and he relieved them. Unbelief doth only discourage God from
showing his power in taking our parts.—_Stephen Charnock._
_Verse 2.—“The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor._” THE
OPPRESSOR’S PLEA. I seek but what is my own by law; it was his own free
act and deed—the execution lies for goods and body; and goods or body I
will have, or else my money. What if his beggarly children pine, or his
proud wife perish? they perish at their own charge, not mine; and what
is that to me? I must be paid, or he lie by it until I have my utmost
farthing, or his bones. The law is just and good; and, being ruled by
that, how can my fair proceedings be unjust? What is thirty in the
hundred to a man of trade? Are we born to thrum caps or pick straws? and
sell our livelihood for a few tears, and a whining face? I thank God
they move me not so much as a howling dog at midnight. I’ll give no day
if heaven itself would be security. I must have present money, or his
bones.... Fifteen shillings in the pound composition! I’ll hang first.
Come, tell me not of a good conscience: a good conscience is no parcel
of my trade; it hath made more bankrupts than all the loose wives in the
universal city. My conscience is no fool: it tells me my own is my own,
and that a well crammed bag is no deceitful friend, but will stick close
to me when all my friends forsake me. If to gain a good estate out of
nothing, and to regain a desperate debt which is as good as nothing, be
the fruits and sign of a bad conscience, God help the good. Come, tell
me not of griping and oppression. The world is hard, and he that hopes
to thrive must gripe as hard. What I give I give, and what I lend I
lend. If the way to heaven be to turn beggar upon earth, let them take
it that like it. I know not what you call oppression, the law is my
direction; but of the two, it is more profitable to oppress than to be
oppressed. If debtors would be honest and discharge, our hands were
bound; but when their failing offends my bags, they touch the apple of
my eye, and I must right them.—_Francis Quarles._
_Verse 2._—That famous persecutor, Domitian, like others of the Roman
emperors, assumed divine honours, and heated the furnace seven times
hotter against Christians because they refused to worship his image. In
like manner, when the popes of Rome became decorated with the
blasphemous titles of _Masters of the World_, and _Universal Fathers_,
they let loose their blood-hounds upon the faithful. Pride is the egg of
persecution.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 2._—“_Pride_,” is a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts
of men, that if we were to strip ourselves of all faults one by one, we
should undoubtedly find it the very last and hardest to put
off.—_Richard Hooker, 1554-1600._