the godly so well as we should do; but all is well if we would love them
better, and do like ourselves the less because we do love them no more,
and that this is common or usual with me, then I am right: so that we
are to love the godly first because God commands it, because they are
good; and in these cases our faith doth work by our love to good men.
Next, when I am at the worst, like a sick sheep, I care not for the
company of other sheep, but do mope in a corner by myself; but yet I do
not delight in the society of goats or dogs, it proves that I have some
good blood left in me; it is because for the present I take little or no
delight in myself or in my God, that I delight no better in the godly:
yet as I love myself for all that, so I may be said to love them for all
this. Man indeed is a sociable creature, a company-keeper by nature when
he is himself; and if we do not associate ourselves with the ungodly,
though for the present, and care not much to show ourselves amongst the
godly, the matter is not much, it is a sin of infirmity, not a fruit of
iniquity. The disciples went from Christ, but they turned not to the
other side as Judas did, who did forsake his Master and joined himself
to his Master’s enemies, but they got together. Some say Demas did
repent (which I think to be the truth), and then he did “embrace this
present world,” but for the present fit: put case he did forsake Paul;
so did better men than he. Indeed as long as a man hath his delights
about him, he will embrace the delights of this present world, or the
delights which belong to the world to come; join with Paul, or cleave to
the world. In this temptation our stay is, first, that we care not for
the company of goats; next, that as we should, so we would, and desire
that we may take delight in the company of sheep, to count them the only
_excellent_ men in the world, _in whom is all our delight_. The
conclusion is, that to love the saints as saints, is a sound proof of
faith; the reason is, for that we cannot master our affections by love,
but first we must master our understandings by faith.—_Richard Capel,
1586-1656._
_Verse 4.—“Drink offerings of blood.”_ The Gentiles used to offer, and
sometimes to drink part of the blood of their sacrifices, whether of
beasts or of men, as either of them were sacrificed.—_Matthew Poole._
_Verse 4.—“Drink offerings of blood.”_ It is uncertain whether this
expression is to be understood literally to be blood, which the heathen
actually mixed in their libations when they bound themselves to the
commission of some dreadful deed, or whether their libations are
figuratively called offerings of blood to denote the horror with which
the writer regarded them.—_George R. Noyes, in loc, 1846._
_Verse 4 (last clause)._—A sin rolled under the tongue becomes
soft and supple, and the throat is so short and slippery a
passage, that insensibly it may slide down from the mouth into the
stomach; and contemplative wantonness quickly turns into practical
uncleanness.—_Thomas Fuller._
_Verse 5.—“The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance.”_ If the Lord be
thy portion, then thou mayst conclude omnipotency is my portion,
immensity, all-sufficiency, etc. Say not, If so, then I should be
omnipotent, etc. There is a vast difference betwixt identity and
interest, betwixt conveying of a title and transmutation of nature. A
friend gives thee an invaluable treasure, and all the securities of it
that thou canst desire; wilt thou deny it is thine because thou art not
changed into its nature? The attributes are thine, as thy inheritance,
as thy lands are thine; not because thou art changed into their nature,
but because the title is conveyed to thee, it is given thee, and
improved for thy benefit. If another manage it, who can do it with
greater advantage to thee than thou to thyself, it is no infringement of
thy title.... The Lord is our _portion_, and this is incomparably more
than if we had heaven and earth; for all the earth is but as a point
compared with the vastness of the heavens, and the heavens themselves
are but a point compared with God. What a large possession have we then!
There is no confiscation of it, no banishment from it. Our portion fills
heaven and earth, and is infinitely above heaven and below earth, and
beyond both. Poor men boast and pride themselves of a kingdom, but we
have more than all the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof.
Christ has given us more than the devil could offer him.—_David
Clarkson._
_Verse 5._—“_Portion of mine inheritance and of my cup_,” may contain an
allusion to the daily supply of food, and also to the inheritance of
Levi. Deut. xviii. 1, 2.—_“Critical and Explanatory Pocket Bible.” By A.
R. Fausset and B. M. Smith, 1867._
_Verses 5, 6.—“The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance: the lines
are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.”_
“Blessed are the people that are in such a case; yea, blessed are the
people whose God is the Lord.” No greater mercy can be bestowed upon any
people, family, or person, than this, for God to dwell among them. If we
value this mercy according to the excellency and worth of that which is
bestowed, it is the greatest; if we value it according to the good will
of him that gives it, it will appear likewise to be the greatest favour.
The greatness of the good will of God in giving himself to be our
acquaintance, is evident in the nature of the gift. A man may give his
estate to them to whom his love is not very large, but he never gives
himself but upon strong affection. God gives abundantly to all the works
of his hands; he causeth the sun to shine upon the evil and upon the
good, and the rain to descend upon the just and the unjust; but it
cannot be conceived that he should give himself to be a portion, a
friend, father, husband, but in abundance of love. Whosoever therefore
shall refuse acquaintance with God, slighteth the greatest favour that
ever God did bestow upon man. Now, consider what a high charge this is;
to abuse such a kindness from God is an act of the greatest vileness.
David was never so provoked as when the king of Ammon abused his
kindness, in his ambassadors, after his father’s death. And God is
highly provoked when his greatest mercies, bestowed in the greatest
love, are rejected and cast away. What could God give more and better
than himself?... Ask David what he thinks of God; he was well acquainted
with him, he dwelt in his house, and by his good will would never be out
of his more immediate presence and company: enquire, I pray, what he
found amiss in him. That you may know his mind the better, he hath left
it upon record in more than one or two places, what a friend he hath had
of God. “_The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a
goodly heritage._” Why, what is that you boast of so much, O David? Have
not others had kingdoms as well as you? No, that’s not the thing; a
crown is one of the least jewels in my cabinet: “_The Lord is the
portion of mine inheritance and of my cup._”—_James Janeway._
_Verses 5, 6._—Take notice not only of the mercies of God, but of God in
the mercies. Mercies are never so savoury as when they savour of a
Saviour.—_Ralph Venning, 1620-1673._
_Verse 6.—“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have
a goodly heritage.”_ Bitter herbs will go down very well, when a man has
such delicious “meats which the world knows not of.” The sense of our
Father’s love is like honey at the end of every rod; it turns stones
into bread, and water into wine, and the valley of trouble into a door
of hope; it makes the biggest evils seem as if they were none, or better
than none; for it makes our deserts like the garden of the Lord, and
when we are upon the cross for Christ, as if we were in paradise with
Christ. Who would quit his duty for the sake of suffering, that hath
such relief under it? Who would not rather walk in truth, when he hath
such a cordial to support him, than by the conduct of fleshly wisdom, to
take any indirect or irregular method for his own deliverance?—_Timothy
Cruso._
_Verse 6.—“The lines.”_ Probably alluding to the division of the land by
lot, and the measuring of it off by ropes and lines. David believed in
an overruling destiny which fixed the bounds of his abode, and his
possessions; he did more, he was satisfied with all the appointment of
the predestinating God.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 7.—“I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel.”_ The Holy
Ghost is a spirit of counsel, powerfully instructing and convincingly
teaching how to act and walk, for he directs us to set right steps, and
to walk with a right foot, and thereby prevents us of many a sin, by
seasonable instruction set on upon our hearts with a strong hand; as
Isaiah viii. 11. For, as the same prophet says (Isaiah xi. 2), he is the
spirit of counsel and of might. Of counsel to direct; of might, to
strengthen the inner man. Such he was to Christ the Head, of whom it is
there spoken. For instance, in that agony (on the determination of which
our salvation depended), and conflict in the garden, when he prayed,
“Let this cup pass,” it was this good Spirit that counselled him to die;
and he blesseth God for it. “I bless the Lord that hath given me
counsel.” It was that counsel that in that case caused his heart to say,
“Not my will, but thine.”—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verse 7.—“My reins.”_ Common experience shows that the workings of the
mind, particularly the passions of joy, grief, and fear, have a very
remarkable effect on the reins or kidneys, and from their retired
situation in the body, and their being hid in fat, they are often used
in Scripture to denote the most secret working of the soul and
affections.—_John Parkhurst._
_Verse 7.—“My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.”_ This shows
that God, who, he says, was always present to him, had given him some
admonition in his dreams, or at least his waking thoughts by night, from
whence he gathered a certain assurance of his recovery; possibly he
might be directed to some remedy. Antonine thanks the gods for directing
him in his sleep to remedies.—_Z. Mudge, in loc, 1744._
_Verse 7.—“My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.”_ We have a
saying among ourselves that “the pillow is the best counsellor;” and
there is much truth in the saying, especially if we have first committed
ourselves in prayer to God, and taken a prayerful spirit with us to our
bed. In the quiet of its silent hours, undisturbed by the passions, and
unharassed by the conflicts of the world, we can commune with our own
heart, and be instructed and guarded as to our future course even “_in
the night season_.” David especially seems to have made these seasons
sources of great profit as well as delight. Sometimes he loved to
meditate upon God as he lay upon his bed; and it was no doubt as he
meditated on the Lord’s goodness and on the way by which he had led him,
that he was, as it were, constrained, even at midnight, to arise and
pray. While, therefore, we acknowledge the pillow to be a good
counsellor, let us with David here acknowledge also that it is the Lord
who gives the counsel, and sends the instruction in the night
season.—_Barton Bouchier._
_Verse 8.—“I have set the Lord always before me.”_ David did not by fits
and starts set the Lord before him; but he “_always_” set the Lord
before him in his course; he had his eye upon the Lord, and so much the
Hebrew word imports: I have equally set the Lord before me; that is the
force of the original word, that is, I have set the Lord before me, at
one time as well as another, without any irregular affections or
passions, etc. In every place, in every condition, in every company, in
every employment, and in every enjoyment, I have set the Lord equally
before me; and this raised him, and this will raise any Christian, by
degrees, to a very great height of holiness.—_Thomas Brooks._
_Verse 8.—“I have set the Lord always before me.”_ Hebrew, I have
_equally set_, or proposed. The apostle translateth it, “I foresaw the
Lord always before my face.” Acts ii. 25. I set the eye of my faith full
upon him, and suffer it not to take to other things; I look him in the
face, _oculo irretorto_, as the eagle looketh upon the sun; and _oculo
adamantino_, with an eye of adamant, which turns only to one point: so
here _I have equally set the Lord before me_, without irregular
affections and passions. And this was one of those lessons that his
_reins had taught_ him, that the Holy Spirit had dictated unto
him.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 8.—“I have set the Lord_ ALWAYS _before me.”_ Like as the gnomon
doth ever behold the north star, whether it be closed and shut up in a
coffer of gold, silver, or wood, never losing its nature; so a faithful
Christian man, whether he abound in wealth or be pinched with poverty,
whether he be of high or low degree in this world, ought continually to
have his faith and hope surely built and grounded upon Christ, and to
have his heart and mind fast fixed and settled in him, and to follow him
through thick and thin, through fire and water, through wars and peace,
through hunger and cold, through friends and foes, through a thousand
perils and dangers, through the surges and waves of envy, malice,
hatred, evil speeches, railing sentences, contempt of the world, flesh,
and devil, and even in death itself, be it never so bitter, cruel, and
tyrannical, yet never to lose sight and view of Christ, never to give
over faith, hope, and trust in him.—_Robert Cawdray._
_Verse 8.—“I have set the Lord always before me.”_ By often thinking of
God, the heart will be enticed into desires after him. Isaiah xxvi. 8.
“The desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee;”
and see what follows, verse 9: “With my soul have I desired thee in the
night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.” Love sets
the soul on musing, and from musing to praying. Meditation is prayer in
bullion, prayer in the ore—soon melted and run into holy desires. The
laden cloud soon drops into rain; the piece charged soon goes off when
fire is put to it. A meditating soul is in _proxima potentia_ to
prayer.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 8._—“_I have set the Lord always before me_,” etc. He that by
faith eyes God continually as his protector in trouble “_shall not be
moved_” with any evil that he suffers, and he that eyes God by faith as
his pattern in holiness, shall not be moved from doing that which is
good. This thought—_the Lord is at our right hand_—keeps us from turning
either to the right hand or to the left. It is said of Enoch, that “he
walked with God” (Genesis v. 22), and though the history of his life be
very short, yet ’tis said of him a second time (verse 24), that “he
walked with God.” He walked so much with God that he walked as God: he
did not “_walk_” (which kind of walking the apostle reproves, 1 Cor.
iii. 3), “_as men_.” He walked so little like the world that his stay
was little in the world. “He was not,” saith the text, “for God took
him.” He took him from the world to himself, or, as the author to the
Hebrews reports it, “he was translated that he should not see death, for
he had this testimony, that he pleased God.”—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 8._—“_Because he is at my right hand_,” etc. Of ourselves we
stand not at any time, by his power we may overcome at all times. And
when we are sorest assaulted he is ever ready _at our right hand_ to
support and stay us that we shall not fall. He hath well begun, and
shall happily go forward in his work, who hath in truth begun. For true
grace well planted in the heart, how weak, soever, shall hold out for
ever. All total decays come from this—that the heart was never truly
mollified, nor grace deeply and kindly rooted therein.—_John Ball._
_Verse 8._—“_He is at my right hand._” This phrase of speech is borrowed
from those who, when they take upon them the patronage, defence, or
tuition of any, will set them on their right hand, as in place of most
safeguard. Experience confirmeth this in children, who in any imminent
danger shroud and shelter themselves under their father’s arms or hands,
as under a sufficient buckler. Such was the estate of the man of God, as
here appeareth, who was hemmed and edged in with the power of God, both
against present evils, and dangers to come.—_Richard Greenham._
_Verse 8._—Even as a column or pillar is sometimes on thy right hand,
and sometimes on thy left hand, because thou dost change thy standing,
sitting, or walking, for it is unmovable and keepeth one place; so God
is sometimes favourable and bountiful unto thee, and sometimes seemeth
to be wroth and angry with thee, because thou dost fall from virtue to
vice, from obedience and humility to pride and presumption; for in the
Lord there is no change, no, not so much as any shadow of change. He is
immutable, always one and everlasting. If thou wilt bend thyself to
obedience, and to a virtuous and godly life, thou shalt ever have him a
strong rock, whereupon thou mayst boldly build a castle and tower of
defence. He will be unto thee a mighty pillar, bearing up heaven and
earth, whereto thou mayst lean and not be deceived, wherein thou mayst
trust and not be disappointed. He will ever be at thy right hand, that
thou shalt not fall. He will take thy part, and will mightily defend
thee against all enemies of thy body and of thy soul; but if thou wilt
shake hands with virtue, and bid it adieu, and farewell, and, forsaking
the ways of God, wilt live as thou list, and follow thy own corruption,
and make no conscience of aught thou doest, defiling and blemishing
thyself with all manner of sin and iniquity, then be sure the Lord will
appear unto thee in his fury and indignation. From his justice and
judgments none shall ever be able to deliver thee.—_Robert Cawdray._
_Verse 9.—“My heart is glad.”_ Men may for a time be hearers of the
gospel, men may for order’s sake pray, sing, receive the sacraments; but
if it be without joy, will not that hypocrisy in time break out? Will
they not begin to be weary? Nay will they not be as ready to hear any
other doctrine? Good things cannot long find entertainment in our
corruptions, unless the Holy Ghost hath changed us from our old delights
to conceive pleasure in these things.—_Richard Greenham._
_Verse 9.—“My heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth.”_ His inward joy
was not able to contain itself. We testify our pleasure on lower
occasions, even at the gratification of our senses; when our ear is
filled with harmonious melody, when our eye is fixed upon admirable and
beauteous objects, when our smell is recreated with agreeable odours,
and our taste also by the delicacy and rareness of provisions; and much
more will our soul show its delight, when its faculties, that are of a
more exquisite constitution, meet with things that are in all respects
agreeable and pleasant to them; and in God they meet with all those:
with his light our understanding is refreshed, and so is our will with
his goodness and his love.—_Timothy Rogers._
_Verse 9.—“Therefore my heart is glad.”_ etc. That is, I am all over in
very good plight, as well as heart can wish, or require; I do
over-abound exceedingly with joy; “God forgive me mine unthankfulness
and unworthiness of so great glory” (as that martyr said): “In all the
days of my life I was never so merry as now I am in this dark dungeon,”
etc. Wicked men rejoice in appearance, and not in heart (2 Cor. v. 12);
their joy is but skin deep, their mirth frothy and flashy, such as
wetteth the mouth, but warmeth not the heart. But David is _totus totus,
quantus quantus exultabundus_; his _heart_, _glory_, _flesh_,
(answerable, as some think to that of the apostle, 1 Thess. v. 23;
_spirit, soul, and body_) were all overjoyed.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 9.—“My flesh shall rest in hope.”_ If a Jew pawned his
bed-clothes, God provided mercifully that it should be restored before
night: “For,” saith he, “that is his covering: wherein shall he sleep?”
Exodus xxii. 27. Truly, hope is the saint’s covering, wherein he wraps
himself, when he lays his body down to sleep in the grave: “_My flesh_,”
saith David, “_shall rest in hope._” O Christian, bestir thyself to
redeem thy hope before this sun of thy temporal life goes down upon
thee, or else thou art sure to lie down in sorrow. A sad going to the
bed of the grave he hath who hath no hope of a resurrection to
life.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 9.—“My flesh shall rest in hope.”_ That hope which is grounded on
the word, gives rest to the soul; ’tis an anchor to keep it steady. Heb.
vi. 13. Which shows the unmovableness of that which our anchor is
fastened to. The promise sustains our faith, and our faith is that which
supports us. He that hopes in the Word as David did (Psalm cxix. 81),
lays a mighty stress upon it; as Samson did when he leaned upon the
pillars of the house, so as to pull it down upon the Philistines. A
believer throws the whole weight of all his affairs and concernments,
temporal, spiritual, and eternal, upon the promises of God, like a man
resolved to stand or fall with them. He ventures himself, and all that
belongs to him, entirely upon this bottom, which is in effect to say, if
they will not bear me up, I am content to sink; I know that there shall
be a performance of those things which have been told me from the Lord,
and therefore I will incessantly look for it.—_Timothy Cruso._
_Verse 10.—“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,”_ etc. The title of
this golden text may be—_The embalming of the dead saints_: the force
whereof is to free the souls from dereliction in the state of death, and
to secure the bodies of God’s saints from corruption in the grave. It is
the art which I desire to learn, and at this time, teach upon this sad
occasion,[5] even the preparing of this confection against our
burials.—_George Hughes, 1642._
_Verse 10._—Many of the elder Reformers held that our Lord in soul
actually descended into hell, according to some of them to suffer there
as our surety, and according to others to make a public triumph over
death and hell. This idea was almost universally, and, as we believe,
most properly repudiated by the Puritans. To prove this fact, it may be
well to quote from Corbet’s witty itinerary of,
“Foure clerkes of Oxford, doctors two, and two
That would be docters.”
e laments the secularisation of church appurtenances at Banbury, by the
Puritans whom he describes as,
——“They which tell
That Christ hath nere descended into hell.
But to the grave.”
_C. H. S. The quotation is from Richard Corbet’s Poems, 1632._
_Verse 10.—“My soul in hell.”_ Christ in soul descended into hell, when
as our surety he submitted himself to bear those hellish sorrows (or
equivalent to them), which we were bound by our sins to suffer for ever.
His descension is his projection of himself into the sea of God’s wrath
conceived for our sins, and his ingression into most unspeakable straits
and torments in his soul, which we should else have suffered for ever in
hell. This way of Christ’s descending into hell is expressly uttered in
the person of David, as the type of Christ. Psalm lxxxvi. 13; cxvi. 3;
lxix. 1-3. Thus the prophet Isaiah saith, “His soul was made an
offering.” Isaiah liii. 10. And this I take it David means, when he said
of Christ, “_Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell._” Psalm xvi.; Acts ii.
And thus Christ descended into hell when he was alive, not when he was
dead. Thus his soul was in hell when in the garden he did sweat blood,
and on the cross when he cried so lamentably, “My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?” Matt. xxvi. 38.—_Nicholas Byfield’s “Exposition of
the Creed,” 1676._
_Verse 10.—“In hell.”_ _Sheol_ here, as _hades_ in the New Testament,
signifies the state of the dead, the separate state of souls after
death, the invisible world of souls, where Christ’s soul was, though it
did not remain there, but on the third day returned to its body again.
It seems best of all to interpret this word of the grave as it is
rendered; Gen. xlii. 38; Isaiah xxxviii. 18.—_John Gill._