not easily kept alight when many envious mouths are puffing at it. In
evil times prayer is peculiarly needful, and wise men resort to it at
once. Plato said to one of his disciples, “When men speak ill of thee,
live so that no one will believe them;” good enough advice, but he did
not tell us how to carry it out. We have a precept here incorporated in
an example; if we would be preserved, we must cry to the Preserver, and
enlist divine support upon our side. “_Hold up my goings_”—as a careful
driver holds up his horse when going down hill. We have all sorts of
paces, both fast and slow, and the road is never long of one sort, but
with God to hold up our goings, nothing in the pace or in the road can
cast down. He who has been down once and cut his knees sadly, even to
the bone, had need redouble his zeal when using this prayer; and all of
us, since we are so weak on our legs through Adam’s fall, had need use
it every hour of the day. If a perfect father fell, how shall an
imperfect son dare to boast? “_In thy paths._” Forsaking Satan’s paths,
he prayed to be upheld in God’s paths. We cannot keep _from_ evil
without keeping _to_ good. If the bushel be not full of wheat, it may
soon be once more full of chaff. In all the appointed ordinances and
duties of our most holy faith, may the Lord enable us to run through his
upholding grace! “_That my footsteps slip not._” What! slip in God’s
ways? Yes, the road is good, but our feet are evil, and therefore slip,
even on the King’s highway. Who wonders if carnal men slide and fall in
ways of their own choosing, which, like the vale of Siddim, are full of
deadly slime-pits? One may trip over an ordinance as well as over a
temptation. Jesus Christ himself is a stumbling-block to some, and the
doctrines of grace have been the occasion of offence to many. Grace
alone can hold up our goings in the paths of truth.
6. “_I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God._” Thou hast
always heard me, O my Lord, and therefore I have the utmost confidence
in again approaching thine altar. Experience is a blessed teacher. He
who has tried the faithfulness of God in hours of need, has great
boldness in laying his case before the throne. The well of Bethlehem,
from which we drew such cooling draughts in years gone by, our souls
long for still; nor will we leave it for the broken cisterns of earth.
“_Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech._” Stoop out of heaven
and put thine ear to my mouth; give me thine ear all to myself, as men
do when they lean over to catch every word from their friend. The
Psalmist here comes back to his first prayer, and thus sets us an
example of pressing our suit again and again, until we have a full
assurance that we have succeeded.
7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy
right hand them which put their trust _in thee_ from those that rise
up _against them_.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy
wings.
9 From the wicked that oppress me, _from_ my deadly enemies, _who_
compass me about.
10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak
proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes
bowing down to the earth;
12 Like as a lion _that_ is greedy of his prey, and as it were a
young lion lurking in secret places.
7. “_Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness._” Marvellous in its antiquity,
its distinguishing character, its faithfulness, its immutability, and
above all, marvellous in the wonders which it works. That marvellous
grace which has redeemed us with the precious blood of God’s only
begotten, is here invoked to come to the rescue. That grace is sometimes
hidden; the text says, “Shew it.” Present enjoyments of divine love are
matchless cordials to support fainting hearts. Believer, what a prayer
is this! Consider it well. O Lord, shew thy marvellous lovingkindness;
shew it to my intellect, and remove my ignorance; shew it to my heart,
and revive my gratitude; shew it to my faith, and renew my confidence;
shew it to my experience, and deliver me from all my fears. The original
word here used is the same which in Psalm iv. 3 is rendered _set apart_,
and it has the force of, Distinguish thy mercies, set them out, and set
apart the choicest to be bestowed upon me in this hour of my severest
affliction. “_O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their
trust in thee from those that rise up against them._” The title here
given to our gracious God is eminently consolatory. He is the God of
salvation; it is his present and perpetual habit to save believers; he
puts forth his best and most glorious strength, using his right hand of
wisdom and might, to save all those, of whatsoever rank or class, who
trust themselves with him. Happy faith thus to secure the omnipotent
protection of heaven! Blessed God, to be thus gracious to unworthy
mortals, when they have but grace to rely upon thee! The right hand of
God is interposed between the saints and all harm; God is never at a
loss for means; his own bare hand is enough. He works without tools as
well as with them.
8. “_Keep me as the apple of the eye._” No part of the body more
precious, more tender, and more carefully guarded than the eye; and of
the eye, no portion more peculiarly to be protected than the central
apple, the pupil, or, as the Hebrew calls it, “the daughter of the eye.”
The all-wise Creator has placed the eye in a well-protected position; it
stands surrounded by projecting bones like Jerusalem encircled by
mountains. Moreover, its great Author has surrounded it with many tunics
of inward covering, besides the hedge of the eyebrows, the curtain of
the eyelids, and the fence of the eyelashes; and, in addition to this,
he has given to every man so high a value for his eyes, and so quick an
apprehension of danger, that no member of the body is more faithfully
cared for than the organ of sight. Thus, Lord, keep thou me, for I trust
I am one with Jesus, and so a member of his mystical body. “_Hide me
under the shadow of thy wings._” Even as the parent bird completely
shields her brood from evil, and meanwhile cherishes them with the
warmth of her own heart, by covering them with her wings, so do thou
with me, most condescending God, for I am thine offspring, and thou hast
a parent’s love in perfection. This last clause is in the Hebrew in the
future tense, as if to show that what the writer had asked for but a
moment before he was now sure would be granted to him. Confident
expectation should keep pace with earnest supplication.
9. “_From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who
compass me about._” The foes from whom David sought to be rescued were
_wicked_ men. It is hopeful for us when our enemies are God’s enemies.
They were _deadly enemies_, whom nothing but his death would satisfy.
The foes of a believer’s soul are mortal foes most emphatically, for
they who war against our faith aim at the very life of our life. Deadly
sins are deadly enemies, and what sin is there which hath not death in
its bowels? These foes _oppressed_ David, they laid his spirit waste, as
invading armies ravage a country, or as wild beasts desolate a land. He
likens himself to a besieged city, and complains that his foes _compass
him about_. It may well quicken our business upward, when all around us,
every road, is blockaded by deadly foes. This is our daily position, for
all around us dangers and sins are lurking. O God, do thou protect us
from them all.
10. “_They are inclosed in their own fat._” Luxury and gluttony beget
vainglorious fatness of heart, which shuts up its gates against all
compassionate emotions and reasonable judgments. The old proverb says
that full bellies make empty skulls, and it is yet more true that they
frequently make empty hearts. The rankest weeds grow out of the fattest
soil. Riches and self-indulgence are the fuel upon which some sins feed
their flames. Pride and fulness of bread were Sodom’s twin sins. (Ezek.
xvi. 49.) Fed hawks forget their masters; and the moon at its fullest is
furthest from the sun. Eglon was a notable instance that a well-fed
corporation is no security to life, when a sharp message comes from God,
addressed to the inward vitals of the body. “_With their mouth they
speak proudly._” He who adores himself will have no heart to adore the
Lord. Full of selfish pleasure within his heart, the wicked man fills
his mouth with boastful and arrogant expressions. Prosperity and vanity
often lodge together. Woe to the fed ox when it bellows at its owner,
the poleaxe is not far off.
11. “_They have now compassed us in our steps._” The fury of the ungodly
is aimed not at one believer alone, but at all the band; they have
compassed us. All the race of the Jews were but a morsel for Haman’s
hungry revenge, and all because of one Mordecai. The prince of darkness
hates all the saints for their Master’s sake. The Lord Jesus is one of
the us, and herein is our hope. He is the Breaker, and will clear a way
for us through the hosts which environ us. The hatred of the powers of
evil is continuous and energetic, for they watch every _step_, hoping
that the time may come when they shall catch us by surprise. If our
spiritual adversaries thus compass every step, how anxiously should we
guard all our movements, lest by any means we should be betrayed into
evil! “_They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth._” Trapp
wittily explains this metaphor by an allusion to a bull when about to
run at his victim; he lowers his head, looks downward, and then
concentrates all his force in the dash which he makes. It most probably
denotes the malicious jealousy with which the enemy watches the steps of
the righteous; as if they studied the ground on which they trod, and
searched after some wrong footmark to accuse them for the past, or some
stumbling-stone to cast in their future path to trip them in days to
come.
12. Lions are not more greedy, nor their ways more cunning than are
Satan and his helpers when engaged against the children of God. The
blood of souls the adversary thirsts after, and all his strength and
craft are exercised to the utmost to satisfy his detestable appetite. We
are weak and foolish like sheep; but we have a shepherd wise and strong,
who knows the old lion’s wiles, and is more than a match for his force;
therefore will we not fear, but rest in safety in the fold. Let us
beware, however, of our lurking foe; and in those parts of the road
where we feel most secure, let us look about us lest, peradventure, our
foe should leap upon us.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul
from the wicked, _which is_ thy sword:
14 From men _which are_ thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world,
_which have_ their portion in _this_ life, and whose belly thou
fillest with thy hid _treasure_: they are full of children, and
leave the rest of their _substance_ to their babes.
13. “_Arise, O Lord._” The more furious the attack, the more fervent the
Psalmist’s prayer. His eye rests singly upon the Almighty, and he feels
that God has but to rise from the seat of his patience and the work will
be performed at once. Let the lion spring upon us, if Jehovah steps
between we need no better defence. When God meets our foe face to face
in battle, the conflict will soon be over. “_Disappoint him._” Be
beforehand with him, outwit and outrun him. Appoint it otherwise than he
has appointed, and so disappoint him. “_Cast him down._” Prostrate him.
Make him sink upon his knees. Make him bow as the conquered bows before
the conqueror. What a glorious sight will it be to behold Satan
prostrate beneath the foot of our glorious Lord! Haste, glorious day!
“_Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword._” He recognizes
the most profane and oppressive as being under the providential rule of
the King of kings, and used as a sword in the divine hand. What can a
sword do unless it be wielded by a hand? No more could the wicked annoy
us, unless the Lord permitted them so to do. Most translators are,
however, agreed that this is not the correct reading, but that it should
be as Calvin puts it, “Deliver my soul from the ungodly man by thy
sword.” Thus David contrasts the sword of the Lord with human aids and
reliefs, and rests assured that he is safe enough under the patronage of
heaven.
14. Almost every word of this verse has furnished matter for discussion
to scholars, for it is very obscure. We will, therefore, rest content
with the common version, rather than distract the reader with divers
translations. “_From men which are thy hand._” Having styled the ungodly
a sword in his Father’s hand, he now likens them to that hand itself, to
set forth his conviction that God could as easily remove their violence
as a man moves his own hand. He will never slay his child with his own
hand. “_From men of the world_,” mere earthworms; not men of the world
to come, but mere dwellers in this narrow sphere of mortality; having no
hopes or wishes beyond the ground on which they tread. “_Which have
their portion in this life._” Like the prodigal, they have their
portion, and are not content to wait their Father’s time. Like Passion
in the “Pilgrim’s Progress,” they have their best things first, and
revel during their little hour. Luther was always afraid lest he should
have his portion here, and therefore frequently gave away sums of money
which had been presented to him. We cannot have earth and heaven too for
our choice and portion; wise men choose that which will last the
longest. “_Whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure._” Their
sensual appetite gets the gain which it craved for. God gives to these
swine the husks which they hunger for. A generous man does not deny dogs
their bones; and our generous God gives even his enemies enough to fill
them, if they were not so unreasonable as never to be content. Gold and
silver which are locked up in the dark treasuries of the earth are given
to the wicked liberally, and they therefore roll in all manner of carnal
delights. Every dog has his day, and they have theirs, and a bright
summer’s day it seems; but ah! how soon it ends in night! “_They are
full of children._” This was their fondest hope, that a race from their
loins would prolong their names far down the page of history, and God
has granted them this also; so that they have all that heart can wish.
What enviable creatures they seem, but it is only seeming! “_They are
full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their
babes._” They were fat housekeepers, and yet leave no lean wills. Living
and dying they lacked for nothing but grace, and alas! that lack spoils
everything. They had a fair portion within the little circle of time,
but eternity entered not into their calculations. They were penny wise,
but pound foolish; they remembered the present, and forgot the future;
they fought for the shell, and lost the kernel. How fine a description
have we here of many a successful merchant, or popular statesman; and it
is, at first sight, very showy and tempting, but in contrast with the
glories of the world to come, what are these paltry molehill joys. Self,
self, self, all these joys begin and end in basest selfishness; but oh,
our God, how rich are those who begin and end in thee! From all the
contamination and injury which association with worldly men is sure to
bring us, deliver thou us, O God!
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be
satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
15. “_As for me._” “I neither envy nor covet these men’s happiness, but
partly have and partly hope for a far better.” To behold God’s face and
to be changed by that vision into his image, so as to partake in his
righteousness, this is my noble ambition; and in the prospect of this I
cheerfully waive all my present enjoyments. My satisfaction is to come;
I do not look for it as yet. I shall sleep awhile, but I shall wake at
the sound of the trumpet; wake to everlasting joy, because I arise in
thy likeness, O my God and King! Glimpses of glory good men have here
below to stay their sacred hunger, but the full feast awaits them in the
upper skies. Compared with this deep, ineffable, eternal fulness of
delight, the joys of the worldling are as a glowworm to the sun, or the
drop of a bucket to the ocean.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Title.—“A prayer of David.”_ Since many of the Psalms consist of
_prayers_, the question may be asked why such an inscription more
especially belongs to this. But though the others contain divers prayers
mixed with other matters, this is a supplication through its whole
course.—_The Venerable Bede, 672-735._
_Verse 1.—“Hear ... attend ... give ear.”_ This petition repeated
thrice, indicates a great power of feeling and many tears; because the
craft of the ungodly, in truth, grieves and afflicts the spiritual man
more than their power and violence, for we can get a knowledge of open
force and violence, and, when we see the danger, can in some way guard
against it.—_Martin Luther._
_Verse 1.—“That goeth not out of feigned lips.”_—There are such things
as “_feigned lips_;” a contradiction between the heart and the tongue, a
clamour in the voice and scoffing in the soul, a crying to God, “Thou
art my father, the guide of my youth;” and yet speaking and doing evil
to the utmost of our power (Jer. iii. 4, 5), as if God could be imposed
upon by fawning pretences, and, like old Isaac, take Jacob for Esau, and
be cozened by the smell of his garments; as if he could not discern the
negro heart under an angel’s garb.... This is an unworthy conceit of
God, to fancy that we can satisfy for inward sins, and avert approaching
judgments by external offerings, by a loud voice, with a false heart, as
if God (like children), would be pleased with the glittering of an empty
shell, or the rattling of stones, the chinking of money, a mere voice,
and crying without inward frames and intentions of service.—_Stephen
Charnock._
_Verse 1.—“Not out of feigned lips.”_ It is observable, that the eagle
soareth on high, little intending to fly to heaven, but to gain her
prey; and so it is that many do carry a great deal of seeming devotion
in lifting up their eyes towards heaven; but they do it only to
accomplish with more ease, safety, and applause their wicked and
damnable designs here on earth; such as without are Catos, within Neros;
hear them, no man better; search and try them, no man worse; they have
Jacob’s voice, but Esau’s hands; they profess like saints, but practise
little Satans; they have their long prayers, but short prayings; they
are like apothecaries’ gallipots—having without the title of some
excellent preservative, but within they are full of deadly poison;
counterfeit holiness is their cloak for all manner of villanies, and the
midwife to bring forth all their devilish designs.—_Peter Bales, in
Spencer’s “Things New and Old.”_
_Verse 1.—“Not out of feigned lips.”_ Not only a righteous cause, but a
righteous prayer are urged as motives why God should hear. Calvin
remarks on the importance of joining prayer to the testimony of a good
conscience, lest we defraud God of his honour by not committing all
judgment to him.—_J. J. Stewart Perowne._
_Verse 1._—Though thy prayers be never so well framed in regard of
words, and reverently performed as to thy external gestures; yet all is
nothing, _if thy heart be not in the duty_. For prayer is not a work of
the head, or hand, or eyes only, but chiefly a work of the heart, and
therefore called in Scripture, the “pouring out of the soul” (1 Sam. i.
15); and the “pouring out of the heart.” Psalm lxii. 8. And, indeed, the
very soul of prayer lieth in the pouring out of the soul before the
Lord. Whensoever, therefore, thou drawest near unto God in prayer, let
it be with thine heart and soul, otherwise thou canst have no assurance
of audience, and acceptance; for as Cyprian speaketh, _Quomodo te audiri
a Deo postulas_, etc. How canst thou expect the Lord should hear thee,
when thou hearest not thyself? or that he should regard thy prayers,
when thou regardest not what thou prayest? Certainly that prayer
reacheth not the heart of God, which reacheth not our own.—_Thomas
Gouge, 1605-1681._
_Verse 2._—David appeals unto God to judge the righteousness of his
heart towards Saul—“_Let my sentence come forth from thy presence._”
From Saul and his courtiers there comes a hard sentence; they call me
traitor, they call me rebel; but, Lord, leave me not unto their
sentence, “_Let my sentence come from thy presence_;” that I know will
be another sentence than what cometh from them, for thou hast proved me,
and tried me, and findest nothing in me.—_Jeremiah Burroughs._
_Verse 3.—“Thou hast proved mine heart:”_—
What! take it at adventure, and not try
What metal it is made of? No, not I.
Should I now lightly let it pass,
Take sullen lead for silver, sounding brass,
Instead of solid gold, alas!
What would become of it in the great day
Of making jewels, ’twould be cast away.
The heart thou giv’st me must be such a one,
As is the same throughout. I will have none
But that which will abide the fire.
Tis not a glitt’ring outside I desire,
Whose seeming shows do soon expire:
But real worth within, which neither dross,
Nor base alloys, make subject unto loss.
If, in the composition of thine heart,
A stubborn, steely wilfulness have part,
That will not bow and bend to me,
Save only in a mere formality
Of tinsel-trimm’d hypocrisy,
I care not for it, though it show as fair
As the first blush of the sun-gilded air.
The heart that in my furnace will not melt,
When it the glowing heat thereof hath felt,
Turn liquid, and dissolve in tears
Of true repentance for its faults, that hears
My threat’ning voice, and never fears,
Is not an heart worth having. If it be
An heart of stone, ’tis not an heart for me.
The heart, that, cast into my furnace, spits
And sparkles in my face, falls into fits
Of discontented grudging, whines
When it is broken of its will, repines
At the least suffering, declines
My fatherly correction, is an heart
On which I care not to bestow mine art.
The heart that vapours out itself in smoke,
And with these cloudy shadows thinks to cloke
Its empty nakedness, how much
Soever thou esteemest, it is such
As never will endure my touch.
I’ll bring it to my furnace, and there see
What it will prove, what it is like to be.
If it be gold, it will be sure
The hottest fire that can be to endure.
And I shall draw it out more pure.
Affliction may refine, but cannot waste
That heart wherein my love is fixed fast.
_Francis Quarles._
_Verse 3.—“Thou hast visited me in the night,”_ etc. In the night the
soul is free from business with the world, and therefore freest for
business with God; and then did God prove and visit David, that is,
examine and sift him, by calling to his mind all his ways and works in
former passages; and the issue of this trial was _he found nothing_; not
that his soul was empty of good things, or that there was nothing evil
in him; but God, upon examination, found nothing of that evil in him
which some men suspected him of; namely, either any ill will or evil
design against Saul, in reference to whom he called his cause a
righteous cause, or “_the right_” (verse 1); “Hear the right, O
Lord.”—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 3 (third clause, New Translation).—“Thou hast smelted me, and
found in me no dross.”_ A metaphor taken from the smelting of metals to
purify them from extraneous matter.—_Geddes._
_Verse 3.—“Proved ... visited in the night ... tried.”_ Tribulation,
whereby, when examined, I was found righteous, is called not only night,
in that it is wont to disturb with fear, but fire in that it actually
burns.—_Augustine._
_Verse 3.—“I am purposed that my mouth shall not
transgress.”_—Wherefore, if thou be upon a mountain, look not backward
again unto Sodom as Lot’s wife did; if thou be within the ark, fly not
out again into the world as Noah’s crow did; if thou be well washed,
return not again to the mire as the hog doth; if thou be clean, run not
again to thy filth, as the dog doth; if thou be going towards the land
of Canaan, think not on the flesh-pots of Egypt; if thou be marching
against the host of Midian, drink not of the waters of Harod; if thou be
upon the housetop, come not down; if thou have set thy hand to the
plough, look not behind thee; remember not those vices which are behind
thee.—_Thomas Playfere._
_Verses 3, 4, 5._—Where there is true grace, there is hatred of all sin,
for hatred is πρὸς τὸ γένος. Can a man be resolved to commit what he
hates? No, for his inward aversion would secure him more against it than
all outward obstacles. As this inward purpose of a good man is against
all sin, so more particularly against that which doth so easily beset
him. David seems in several places to be naturally inclined to lying,
but he takes up a particular resolution against it: (verse 3), “_I am
purposed that my mouth shall not transgress_;” זַמֹּתִי—I have contrived
to waylay and intercept the sin of lying when it hath an occasion to
approach me. A good man hath not only purposes, but he endeavours to
fasten and strengthen those purposes by prayer; so David (verse 5),
“_Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not._” He
strengthens himself by stirring up a liveliness in duty, and by avoiding
occasions of sin; (verse 4), “_I have kept me from the paths of the
destroyer_;” whereas, a wicked man neither steps out of the way of
temptation, nor steps up to God for strength against it.—_Stephen
Charnock._