kept me from the paths of the destroyer:”_ as if he had said, Would you
know how it comes to pass that I escape those ungodly works and
practices which men ordinarily take liberty to do? I must ascribe it to
the good word of God; it is this I consult with, and by it I am kept
from those foul ways whereinto others, that make no use of the word for
their defence, are carried by Satan the destroyer. Can we go against sin
and Satan with a better weapon than Christ used to vanquish the tempter
with? And, certainly, Christ did it to set us an example how we should
come armed into the field against them; for Christ could with one beam
shot from his Deity (if he had pleased to exert it), have as easily laid
the bold fiend at his foot, as afterward he did them that came to attack
him; but he chose rather to conceal the majesty of his Divinity, and let
Satan come up closer to him, that so he might confound him with the
word, and thereby give him a proof of that sword of his saints, which he
was to leave them for their defence against the same enemy. The devil is
set out by the leviathan (Isaiah xxvii. 1), him God threatens to punish
with his strong sword; alluding to that great fish, the whale, which
fears no fish like the sword-fish, by whom this great devourer of all
other fish is so often killed; for, receiving one prick from his sword,
he hasteneth to the shore, and beats himself against it till he dies.
Thus the devil, the great devourer of souls, who sports himself in the
sea of this world, as the leviathan in the waters, and swallows the
greatest part of mankind without any power to make resistance against
him, is himself vanquished by the word. When he has to do with a saint
armed with this sword, and instructed how to use this weapon, he then,
and not till then, meets his match.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 4.—“By the word of thy lips,”_ etc. It is a great relief against
temptations to have the word ready. The word is called, “The sword of
the Spirit,” Eph. vi. 17. In spiritual conflicts there is none like to
that. Those that ride abroad in time of danger, will not be without a
sword. We are in danger, and had need handle the sword of the Spirit.
The more ready the Scripture is with us, the greater advantage in our
conflicts and temptations. When the devil came to assault Christ, he had
Scripture ready for him, whereby he overcame the tempter. The door is
barred upon Satan, and he cannot find such easy entrance when the word
is hid in our hearts, and made use of pertinently. “I write unto you,
young men, because ye are strong.” Where lies their strength? “And the
word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” 1 John
ii. 14. Oh, it is a great advantage when we have the word not only by
us, but in us, engrafted in the heart; when it is present with us, we
are more able to resist the assaults of Satan. Either a man forgets the
word, or hath lost his affection to it, before he can be drawn to
sin.—_Thomas Manton._
_Verse 5.—“Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.”_
Lord, whatsoever the wrath of Saul be against me, yet let neither that,
nor any other thing put me out of thy way, but keep my heart close unto
thee, and keep my paths in thy way; let not my footsteps so much as
slide from thee, for, Lord, they watch for my halting; if they can find
but the least slip from me, they take advantage of it to the utmost; and
I am a poor and a weak creature, therefore Lord help me, that my
footsteps may not slide.—_Jeremiah Burroughs._
_Verse 5.—“Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.”_
As a stone cast up into the air cannot go any higher, neither yet there
abide when the power of the hurler ceaseth to drive it; even so, seeing
our corrupt nature can go downward only, and the devil, the world, and
the flesh, driveth to the same way; how can we proceed further in
virtue, or stand therein, when we are tempted, if our merciful and good
God do not by his Holy Spirit, from time to time, guide and govern
us?—_Robert Cawdray._
_Verse 5.—“Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.”_
Lord, hold me up, that I may hold out. Thou hast set the crown at the
end of the race; let me run the race, that I may wear the crown. It was
Beza’s prayer, and let it be ours, “Lord, perfect what thou hast begun
in me, that I may not suffer shipwreck when I am almost at the
haven.”—_Thomas Watson._
_Verse 5._—In fierce assaults and strong temptations, when Satan layeth
siege to the soul, shooting his fiery darts, and using stratagems of
policy, joining his endeavours with our corruptions, as wind with tide,
then we have cause to pray as David, “_Hold up my goings in thy paths,
that my footsteps slip not._” The apostle also found he had need of help
from heaven when he was assaulted, and therefore he prayed “_thrice_,”
that the thing that he feared might depart from him. 2 Cor. xii. Christ
hath taught us to pray daily, “Lead us not into temptation,” for it is
dangerous; and then temptations are most dangerous, when, 1. _Most
suitable_—when Satan joins with our disposition or constitution; 2.
_Continual_; 3. When _opportunity_ and power is greatest.—_Joseph
Symonds._
_Verse 6.—“I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me.”_ I have
cried, says the Psalmist, because thou hast heard me. One would think he
should have said contrariwise: thou hast heard me because I have cried;
yet, he says, I have cried because thou hast heard me; to show that
crying doth not always go before hearing with God, as it doth with us;
but that God will not only hear our cry, but also hear us before we cry,
and will help us.—_T. Playfere._
_Verse 6.—“I have called upon thee,”_ etc. Prayer is the best remedy in
a calamity. This is indeed a true _catholicon_, a general remedy for
every malady. Not like the empiric’s _catholicon_, which sometimes may
work, but for the most part fails, but that which upon assured evidence
and constant experience hath its _probatum est_; being that which the
most wise, learned, honest, and skilful Physician that ever was, or can
be, hath prescribed, even he that teacheth us how to bear what is to be
borne, or how to heal and help what hath been borne.—_William Gouge,
1575-1653._
_Verse 6._—I have called upon thee formerly, therefore, Lord, hear me
now. It will be a great comfort to us if trouble, when it comes, finds
the wheels of prayer a-going, for then may we come with the more
boldness to the throne of grace. Tradesmen are willing to oblige those
that have been long their customers.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 8.—“Keep me as the apple of the eye.”_ He prays for deliverance
(verse 7), “_Show thy marvellous lovingkindness_” to me; Lord, my
straits they are marvellous, I know not what to do, whither to turn me,
but my eyes are towards thee; as straits are marvellous, so let the
lovingkindness of God be marvellous towards me, and “_Keep me as the
apple of thy eye._” O Lord unto them I am but a dog, a vile creature in
the eyes of Saul and those about him: but blessed be thy name, I can
look up to thee, and know that I am dear unto thee _as the apple of thy
eye_. All the saints of God are dear to God at all times, but the
persecuted saints, they are the apple of God’s eye; if at any time they
are dear to God, then especially when they are most persecuted; now they
are _the apple of his eye_, and _the apple of an eye_ is weak, and
little able to resist any hurt, but so much the more is the man tender
of the apple of his eye. The saints are weak and shiftless for
themselves, but the Lord is so much the more tender over them.—_Jeremiah
Burroughs._
_Verse 8._—Does it not appear to thee to be a work of providence, that
considering the weakness of the eye, he has protected it with eyelids,
as with doors, which whenever there is occasion to use it are opened,
and are again closed in sleep? And that it may not receive injury from
the winds, he has planted on it eyelashes like a strainer; and over the
eyes has disposed the eyebrows like a penthouse, so that the sweat from
the head may do no mischief.—_Socrates, in Xenophon._
_Verse 9.—“From the wicked:”_ as though he had said, They are equally
enemies to thee and me; not more opposite to me by their cruelty, than
by their wickedness they are to thee. Vindicate then, at once, thyself,
and deliver me.—_John Howe._
_Verse 10.—“They are inclosed in their own fat,”_ or _their fat has
inclosed them_; either their eyes, that they can hardly see out of them,
or their hearts, so that they are stupid and senseless, and devoid of
the fear of God; the phrase is expressive of the multitude of their
wealth, and increase of power, by which they were swelled with pride and
vanity, and neither feared God nor regarded man; so the Targum
paraphrases it, “their riches are multiplied, their fat covers
them.”—_John Gill._
_Verse 10.—“They are inclosed in their own fat.”_ Their worldly
prosperity puffeth them up, and makes them insensible and obdurate
against all reason and just fear; and the Scripture doth use this term
of a fattened heart in this sense, because that the fat of man hath no
feeling in it, and those that are very fat are less subject to the
passion of fear.—_John Diodati._
_Verse 10.—“They are inclosed in their own fat.”_ To say a man is fat,
often means he is very proud. Of one who speaks pompously it is said,
“What can we do? _tassi kullap ināl_,” that is, “from the fat of his
flesh he declares himself.” “Oh, the fat of his mouth! how largely he
talks!” “Take care, fellow! or I will restrain the fat of thy
mouth.”—_J. Roberts, in “Oriental Illustrations:” 1844._
_Verse 11.—“They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their
eyes bowing down to the earth.”_ A man who has people watching him to
find out a cause for accusation against him to the king, or to great
men, says, Yes, they are around my legs and my feet; their eyes are
always open; they are ever watching my “_suvadu_,” “steps;” that is,
they are looking for the impress or footsteps in the earth. For this
purpose the eyes of the enemies of David were “_bowing down to the
earth._”—_Joseph Roberts._
_Verse 11.—“They have now compassed us in our steps.”_ Like those who
destroy game by battue, and so make a ring around their prey from which
their victims cannot escape.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 11.—“They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth.”_ The
allusion probably is to the huntsman tracing the footmarks of the animal
he pursues.—_Religious Tract Society’s Commentary._
_Verse 11.—“They have set their eyes bowing to the earth.”_ It is an
allusion, as I conceive, to hunters, who go poring upon the ground to
prick the hare, or to find the print of the hare’s claw, when the hounds
are at a loss, and can make nothing of it by the scent.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 12.—“Like a lion,”_ etc. In “_Paradise Lost_,” we have a fine
poetical conception of the arch enemy prowling around our first parents
when he first beheld their happiness, and resolved to ruin them.
—— About them round
A lion now, he stalks with fiery glare;
Then, as a tiger, who by chance hath spied
In some purlieu, two gentle fawns at play,
Straight crouches close, then rising, changes oft
His couchant watch, as one who chose his ground,
Whence rushing he might surest seize them both,
Grip’d in each paw.
_John Milton._
_Verse 12._—We were consulting as to the best means of getting at a
rhinoceros cow which we saw standing at some distance under a tree, when
a troop of impalas came charging down, with a fine old lioness after
them. We went and saw her lying down, but so flat to the ground, head
and all, that no man could shoot with any certainty; and she never for a
moment took her eyes from us. When we got up to her, she was lying down
flat as a plate to the ground; but her head might have been on a pivot,
as her watchful eye glared on us all round, without appearing to move
her body, as we decreased the circle, in the hopes she would stand up
and give us a fair chance of a shot behind the shoulder.... I looked for
a tree to climb up, near enough to make tolerably sure of my shot, and
was just getting up one, when the lioness made off.—_William Charles
Baldwin, F.R.G.S., in “African Hunting,” 1863._
_Verse 13.—“The wicked, which is thy sword.”_—The devil and his
instruments both are God’s instruments, therefore “_the wicked_” are
called his “_sword_,” his “axe” (Psalm xvii. 13; Isaiah x. 15); now let
God alone to wield the one, and handle the other. He is but a bungler
that hurts and hackles his own legs with his own axe; which God should
do if his children should be the worse for Satan’s temptations. Let the
devil choose his way, God is a match for him at every weapon. If he will
try it by force of arms, and assaults the saints by persecution, as the
“Lord of hosts” he will oppose him. If by policy and subtlety, he is
ready there also. The devil and his whole council are but fools to God;
nay, their wisdom foolishness.—_William Gurnall._
_Verses 13, 14.—“Thy sword ... thy hand.”_ Thou canst as easily command
and manage them, as a man may wield his sword, or move his hand. Wilt
thou suffer thine own sword, thine own hand, to destroy thine own
servant?—_J. Howe._
_Verse 14 (first clause)._—How wonderful are the dispensations of the
providence of God, who can use even the wicked to promote the present
happiness and the final salvation of his saints!—_J. Edwards, M.A.,
1856._
_Verse 14.—“Men of the world, which have their portion in this life.”_
Time and this lower world, bound all their hopes and fears. They have no
serious believing apprehensions of anything beyond this present life;
therefore, have nothing to withhold them from the most injurious
violence, if thou withhold them not; men that believe not another world,
are the ready actors of any imaginable mischiefs and tragedies in
this.—_John Howe._
_Verse 14.—“Men which are thy hand,”_ etc. What shall we say then?
Because God maketh use of thy sins, art thou excused? Is not thine evil
evil, because he picketh good out of it? Deceive not thyself therein.
When thou hast done such service to thy Master and Maker, though seven
and seven years, as Jacob did service to Laban, thou shalt lose thy
wages and thy thanks too. Oh, well were thou if thou didst but lose, for
thou shalt also gain a sorrowful advantage. It is unprofitable, nay,
miserable service which thou hast thus bestowed. Babylon shall be the
hammer of the Lord a long time to bruise the nations, himself afterwards
bruised; Asshur his rod to scourge his people, but Asshur shall be more
scourged. These hammers, rods, axes, saws, other instruments, when they
have done their offices, which they never meant, shall be thrown
themselves into the fire, and burnt to ashes. Satan did service to God,
it cannot be denied, in the afflicting of Job, winnowing of Peter,
buffeting of Paul, executing of Judas, and God did a work in all these,
either to prove patience, or to confirm faith, or to try strength, or to
commend justice; yet is Satan “reserved in chains, under darkness, to
the retribution of the great day.” Judas did service to God, in getting
honour to his blessed name for the redemption of mankind, whilst the
world endureth, yet was his wages an alder-tree to hang himself upon,
and which is worse, he hangeth in hell for eternal generations. He had
his wages, and lost his wages. That which the priest gave him, he lost,
and lost his apostleship, but gained the recompense of everlasting
unhappiness, and lies in the lowest lake, for the worm and death to gnaw
upon without ceasing.—_John King._
_Verse 14.—“Thy hand.”_ The hand of God, his correcting or cherishing
hand, sometimes is an immediate, and sometimes a mediate hand. Sometimes
it is immediate, when God by himself doth chasten, or punish, or
afflict, when no second cause doth appear or intervene. So it may seem
Satan means, when he saith (Job i. 11), “_Put forth thy hand_,” that is,
do it thine own self, let no other have the handling of Job but thyself.
God doth send such immediate afflictions; a man is afflicted in his
body, in his estate, and many other ways, and he cannot find anything in
the creature whence it should come; it is an immediate stroke of God, he
cannot see how, or which way, or at what door this evil came in upon
him; therefore it is called a creating of evil. Isaiah xlv. 7. “I make
peace, and create evil.” Now creation is out of nothing, there is
nothing out of which it is wrought. So many times God bringeth evil upon
a people or person when there is no appearance of second causes, no
matter out of which it is made, but it comes as a creature, formed by
the only hand of God. Sometimes likewise it is called God’s hand, when
it is the hand of a creature; it is God’s hand in a creature’s hand;
God’s hand when it is the hand of wicked men, God’s hand when it is
Satan’s hand. So that place is translated (Psalm xvii. 13, 14),
“_Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: from men which
are thy hand_:” so that “_thy hand_” may be understood of an instrument;
Satan himself is God’s hand to punish in that sense, as wicked men here
are said to be God’s hand: “_from men which are thy hand_,” though there
be other readings of that place; some read it, _deliver me from men by
thy hand_; and others, _deliver me from men of thy hand_; but our
translation may very well carry the sense of the original in it, “_from
men which are thy hand_;” as Nebuchadrezzar, that wicked king, is called
_God’s servant_ (Jer. xliii. 10), “I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar
my servant:” God speaks of him as his servant, or as his _hand_ in the
thing.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 14.—“Men of the world, which have their portion in this life.”_
The large portion of the wicked in the things of this world, may tell
the righteous of how little value this is, in the account of God; in
that these things are often given to his enemies plentifully, when
denied in such a measure to his children. Now this cannot be because he
loves or favours his enemies most; but because these lower things, given
them in what degree soever, are so mean in his account, as that his
chosen may learn by his distribution of them, to regard them as he does;
namely, as no part of their felicity, but as common favours to all his
creatures, good or bad, enemies or friends.—_Daniel Wilcox._
_Verse 14.—“Men which have their portion in this life.”_ God gives
wicked men a portion here to show unto them what little good there is in
all these things, and to show the world what little good there is in all
the things that are here below in the world. Certainly if they were much
good they should never have them: it is an argument there is no great
excellency in the strength of body, for an ox hath it more than you; an
argument there is no great excellency in agility of body, for a dog hath
it more than you; an argument no great excellency in gay clothes, for a
peacock hath them more than you; an argument there is not any great
excellency in gold and silver, for the Indians that know not God have
them more than you; and if these things had any great worth in them,
certainly God would never give them to wicked men—a certain argument. As
it is an argument there is no great evil in affliction in this world,
because that the saints are so much afflicted; so no great argument
there is any great good in this world, for the wicked they enjoy so much
of it. Luther hath such an expression as this in his comment upon
Genesis, saith he, “The Turkish empire, as great as it is, is but a
crumb, that the Master of the family, that God, casts to dogs:” the
whole Turkish empire, such an esteem had Luther of it; and indeed it is
no more. All the things of the world, God in giving of them to Turks and
wicked ones, his enemies, shows there is not much excellency and good in
them: God therefore will cast them promiscuously up and down in the
world, because he looks upon them as worthless things; God doth not so
much regard whether men be prepared to give him the glory of them, yea
or no, they shall have them; however he is content to venture them.
Indeed, when God comes unto his choice mercies in Christ, there he looks
to have glory from them, and he doth never give them to any, but first
he prepares them, that they may give him the glory of those mercies. But
it is otherwise with others; as, suppose you see a man gathering of
crabs, although swine be under the tree, he cares not much to drive them
away; they are but crabs, let them have them; but if he were gathering
any choice and precious fruit, if any swine should come under, he drives
them away. As for outward things, crabs, the Lord suffers the swine of
the world to come grunting and take them up; but when he comes to his
choice mercies in his Christ, there he makes a distinction. Oh, this is
precious fruit! A blacksmith that is working upon iron, though a great
many cinders and little bits of iron fly up and down, he regards them
not; but a goldsmith that is working upon gold, he preserves every rag,
and every dust of gold; and a lapidary that is working upon precious
stones, every little bit he will be sure to preserve; a carpenter that
is only hewing of timber, he regards it not much if chips fly up and
down; but it is not so with a lapidary. So these outward things are but
as the chips and cinders, and such kind of things as those are, and
therefore God ever gives a portion to wicked men out of them.—_Jeremiah
Burroughs._
_Verse 14.—“Men which have their portion in this life._” I have read of
Gregory, that being advanced to preferment, professed that there was no
Scripture that went so to his heart, that struck such a trembling into
his spirit, that daunted him so much, as this Scripture did:—“Here you
have your reward, son; in your lifetime you have had your pleasure.” Oh,
this was a dreadful Scripture that sounded in his ears continually, as
Hierom speaks of that Scripture, “Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment:”
night and day he thought that Scripture sounded in his ears; so
Gregory:—“Here you have your reward; in this life you have had your
pleasure.” This was the Scripture that night and day sounded in his
ears. O that it might please God to assist so far, to speak out of this
Scripture to you, that I might make this Scripture ring in your ears
even when you lie upon your beds, after the sermon is done; that yet you
may think this Scripture rings in your ears: “_Men of this world, who
have their portion in this life._”—_Jeremiah Burroughs._
_Verse 14.—“Which have their portion in this life.”_ The earth and the
commodities thereof God distributeth without respect of persons, even to
them that are his children by creation only, and not by adoption. But
yet there is a difference between the prosperity of the one and the
other; for the one is but with anxiety of heart (even in laughter their
heart is heavy); the others’ is with cheerfulness and joy in the Spirit;
the one’s is a pledge of the greater preferment in the world to come,
the others’ is their _whole_ portion, and as if God should say, “Let
them take _that_ and look for no more.” The one’s is with the blessing
of the people, who wish they had more; the others’ with their curse and
hatred, who are grieved that they have so much.—_Miles Smith._
_Verse 14.—“Their portion in this life.”_ The good man’s _best_, and the
bad man’s worst, lie in _shall be’s_ (Isaiah iii. 10, 11), in reversion.
Here Dives had nothing but his “good things,” but hereafter he had no
good thing. Here Lazarus had his “evil things,” but afterwards no evil
thing. The good man when he dies, takes his leave of, and departs from,
all evil; and the evil man when he dies, takes his leave of, and departs
from, all his goods, which was all the good he had. “Now he is
comforted, but thou art tormented.” Luke xvi. 25. Oh! ’tis a sad thing
to have one’s _portion of good_ only in this life.—_Ralph Venning’s
“Helps to Piety,” 1620-1673._
_Verse 14.—“This life.”_ There is yet another thing to be seen far more
monstrous in this creature; that whereas he is endued with reason and
counsel, and knoweth that this life is like unto a shadow, to a dream,
to a tale that is told, to a watch in the night, to smoke, to chaff
which the wind scattereth, to a water-bubble, and such-like fading
things; and that life to come shall never have end; he yet nevertheless
setteth his whole mind most carefully upon this present life, which is
to-day, and to-morrow is not; but of the life which is everlasting he
doth not so much as think. If this be not a monster, I know not what may
be called monstrous.—_Thomas Tymme._