describe in a becoming manner the marvels of his deliverances. He means
to say that they were as manifest as the signs of heaven and earth, as
sudden and powerful as the phenomena in the kingdom of nature surprise
terrified mortals. _Deliverance_ being his theme, he might have taken
the figure from the _peaceable_ phenomena of the heavens. But since man
heeds heaven more in _anger_ than in _blessing_, and regards God more
when he descends on earth in the _storm_ than in the _rainbow_, David
describes the blessed condescension of God by the figure of a tempest.
In order to thoroughly appreciate the beauty and truthfulness of this
figure, we should endeavour to realise the full power of an Oriental
storm, as it is described in Psalm xxix. Solitary lightning precedes the
discharge—this is meant by the _coals_ in verse 8: the clouds approach
the mountain summits—_the heavens bow_, as verse 9 has it; the storm
shakes its pinions; enwrapped in thick clouds as in a tent, God descends
to the earth; hail (not unfrequently attending Eastern storms) and
lightning issue from the black clouds, through the dissolving layers of
which is seen the fiery splendour which hides the Lord of nature. He
speaks, and thunder is his voice; he shoots, and flashes of lightning
are his arrows. At his rebuke, and at the blast of his breath the earth
recedes—the sea foams up, and its beds are seen—the land bursts, and the
foundations of the world are discovered. And lo! an arm of deliverance
issues forth from the black clouds, and the destructive fire grasps the
wretched one who had cried out from the depths, pulls him forth, and
delivers him from all his enemies! Yes, the hand of the Lord has done
marvellous things in the life of David. But the _eye of faith_ alone
could perceive in them all the hand of God. Thousands whose experiences
of the delivering hand of God are not less signal than those of David,
stop short at the powers of nature, and instead of bending the knee
before the All-merciful God, content themselves to express with cold
hearts their admiration of the changes of the destiny of man.—_Augustus
F. Tholuck, D.D., Ph.D. 1856._
_Verse 9.—“He bowed the heavens also, and came down.”_ As in a tempest
the clouds come nearer to the earth, and from the mountains to the
valleys, so the Psalmist adopts this figure peculiar to such occasions
as described God’s near approach to judgment (Psalm cxliv. 5, etc.; Heb.
iii. 6); “_and darkness was under his feet._” We have here the increase
of the horrors of the tempest, and its still nearer approach, but God is
not yet revealed, it is darkness under his feet. Thick darkness was the
accompaniment of God’s descent on Mount Sinai (Exod. xx. 21; Deut. iv.
11): and it invests his throne, to veil from us the overwhelming majesty
of deity. Psalm xcvii. 2. But this darkness, while it hides his coming
judgment, bespeaks sorrow and anguish to the objects of his wrath. Luke
xxi. 25, 26.—_W. Wilson. in loc._
_Verses 9-11_:—
“He also bowed the heavens,
And thence he did descend;
And thickest clouds of darkness did
Under his feet attend.
And he upon a cherub rode,
And thereon he did fly;
Yea, on the swift wings of the wind,
His flight was from on high.
He darkness made his secret place;
About him for his tent
Dark waters were, and thickest clouds
Of the airy firmament.”
_Scotch Version, 1649._
_Verses 9-12_:—
“In his descent, bow’d heaven with earth did meet,
And gloomy darkness roll’d beneath his feet;
A golden winged cherub he bestrid,
And on the swiftly-flying tempest rid.
He darkness made his secret cabinet;
Thick fogs and dropping clouds about him set;
The beams of his bright presence these expel,
Whence showers of burning coals and hailstones fell.”
_George Sandys, 1577-1643._
_Verse 10.—“Cherub.”_ The Hebrew name hath affinity with _Rechub_, a
chariot, used in Psalm civ. 3, almost in like sense as “_cherub_” is
here; and the _cherubims_ are called a chariot, 1 Chron. xxviii. 18; and
God’s angels are his chariots, Psalm lxviii. 18, and they seem to be
meant in this place; for as the angels are said to fly, Dan. ix. 21; so
the _cherubims_ had wings, Exod. xxv. 20, and are by the apostle called
“cherubims of glory,” Heb. ix. 5. In Psalm lxxx. 2, God is said “to sit
on the cherubims,” as here, to ride; and “_a cherub_” may be put for
many, or all the _cherubims_, as chariot for chariots. Psalm lxviii.
18.—_Henry Ainsworth._
_Verse 10.—“Cherubs.”_ The “_cherub_” with the countenances of man, the
lion, the bull, and the eagle (combining in itself, as it were, the
intelligence, majesty, strength, and life of nature), was a symbol of
the powers of nature. When powerful elements, as in a storm, are serving
God, he is said to “_ride on a cherub._”—_Augustus F. Tholuck._
_Verse 10.—“Cherub.”_—
“He on the wings of _cherub_ rode sublime
On the crystalline sky.”
_John Milton._
_Verse 10._—When God comes to punish his foes and rescue his people,
nothing has ever surprised his friends or foes more than the admirable
swiftness with which he moves and acts: _He flies “upon the wings of the
wind._”—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 10._—Every circumstance that can add to the splendour of
Jehovah’s descent upon his enemies is thrown into the narrative by the
inspired poet. It is not enough that the heavens should bend beneath
him, and that clouds of darkness should be seen rolling, in terrible
majesty, under his feet; cherubic legions also are the willing
supporters of his throne, and, swift as air, he flies “_upon the wings
of the wind_.” Into this amazing scene the awful appendages of the
mercy-seat are introduced; on the bending heavens, the cloudy chariot
rides sublime, and the winds of heaven bear it majestically along.—_J.
Morison._
_Verse 12.—“Coals of fire.”_ The word signifies, living, _burning
coals_. Where the lightning fell, it devoured all before it, and burned
whatever it touched into burning embers.—_Samuel Chandler._
_Verse 14.—“Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them,”_ etc. O
that you who are now strangers to God would but consider these things! O
that you would but think what this battle may be, where the combatants
are so unequal! Stand still, O sun, in the valley of Ajalon, till the
Lord have avenged him of his enemies! Muster yourselves, O ye stars, and
fight in your courses against those miserable sinners that have waged
war against their Maker; plant your mighty cannons, shoot down huge
hailstones, arrows of fire, and hot thunderbolts! Oh, how do the wounded
fall! How many are the slain of the Lord, multitudes in the Valley of
Decision, for the day of the Lord is terrible. Behold, God’s enemies
falling by thousands, behold the garments rolling in blood, hear the
prancing of his terrible ones, the mountains are covered with horses and
chariots of fire. God’s soldiers run from one place to another with
their flaming swords in their hands, armed with the justice of God,
jealousy, power, and indignation! Oh, the dreadful slaughter that is
made! Millions, millions fall; they are not able to stand; not one of
them can lift up his hand; their hearts fail them; paleness and
trembling hath seized upon the stoutest of them all. The bow of the Lord
is strong; from the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the
bow of the Lord turneth not back, the sword of the Almighty returns not
empty. How do the mighty ones fall in this battle! A hot battle indeed,
in which none escape! Who is he that cometh from Edom, with dyed
garments from Bozrah? He that is glorious in his apparel, and thy
garments like him that treadeth the wine vat? I have trodden the
wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in mine anger and trample them in my fury; and I will bring
down their strength to the earth: the hand of the Lord shall be known,
the power of the mighty Jehovah shall be felt, and his indignation
towards his enemies. For behold he will come with fire and with chariots
like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with
flames of fire; for by fire and by his sword will he plead with all
flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many, and the saints shall go
forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed
against me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be
quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. Upon the wicked
he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This
shall be the portion of their cup! This it is to fight against God! This
it is to defy the Lord of Hosts!—_James Janeway._
_Verse 14.—“He shot out his lightnings.”_ בְּרָקִים רָב. LXX ἀστραπὰς
ἐπλήθυνε. _Fulgura multiplicavit_; Vulg. and so all the versions. He
multiplied his thunderbolts; or, shot them out thick one after another;
as the word properly signifies.
וַיְהֻמֵּם. _And discomfited them_, as we render the word; or rather, as
I think it should be translated, _and melted them_; namely, the
heavens.—_Samuel Chandler._
_Verse 14 (last clause)._—It is written, “_destroyed them_,” because the
Holy Ghost would not so much as name, by the mouth of his prophet, the
evil spirits to whom he refers.—_Euthymius Zigabenus (1125) quoted by J.
M. Neale._
_Verse 15._—“_The foundations of the world were discovered_;” _i.e._,
such large and deep chasms, or apertures, were made by the violence of
the earthquake, as one might almost see the very foundations, or as
Jonah calls them, _the bottoms_, or rather, _the extremities of the
mountains_, in the bottom of the sea. Jonah ii. 6.—_Samuel Chandler._
_Verse 15._—The Lord interposed with the same notoriety of his presence,
as when the waters of the sea were driven back by a strong east wind,
and the deep turned into dry ground (Ex. xiv. 21, 22), to give the
Israelites a safe passage out of their thraldom, and to drown the
Egyptians.—_Henry Hammond._
_Verse 16.—“He sent from above,”_ etc. He “_sent_” angels, or assistance
otherwise.—_Matthew Poole._
_Verse 16.—“He took.”_ God’s grasp cannot be broken. None can pluck his
chosen out of his hand.—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 16.—“Drew me out of many waters._” This hath reference to Moses’
case, who was “drawn out of the water,” and thereupon called _Mosheh_
(Ex. ii. 10); that word _Mashah_ is used here by David, and nowhere else
in Scripture. “_Waters_,” signify _troubles_, and sometimes multitudes
of _people_.—_H. Ainsworth._
_Verse 18._—“_They prevented me in the day of my calamity_;” _i.e._,
came on me suddenly unawares, when I was unprovided and helpless, and
must have destroyed me had not God upheld and supported me when I was in
danger of perishing. God was to the Psalmist לְמִשֵׁעָן, _for a staff_
to support him. What the staff is to one that is ready to fall, the
means of recovering and preserving him; that was God to David in the
time of his extremity. For he several times preserved him from Saul,
when he, David, thought his destruction by him almost unavoidable. See 1
Sam. xxiii. 26, 27.—_Samuel Chandler._
_Verse 18.—“They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord
was my stay.”_ When Henry the Eighth had spoken and written bitterly
against Luther; saith Luther, Tell the Henries, the bishops, the Turks,
and the devil himself, do what they can, we are the children of the
kingdom, worshipping of the true God, whom they, and such as they, spit
upon and crucified. And of the same spirit were many martyrs. Basil
affirms of the primitive saints, that they had so much courage and
confidence in their sufferings, that many of the heathens seeing their
heroic zeal and constancy, turned Christians.—_Charles Bradbury._
_Verse 20._—“_The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me._” We must
stand our ground, and be stiff for ourselves against all misjudgings. It
is good to be zealously affected always in a good matter, whether it
respects the glory of God immediately and alone, or whether it respects
the credit of our brethren or our own. To desire to be famous in the
world, and as those giants in the old world (Gen. vi. 4), men of renown,
or, as the original text hath it, men of name, is a very great vanity;
but to protect and preserve our good name is a great and necessary
duty.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 21._—“_I have not wickedly departed from my God_;” that is, with
a purpose and resolution of heart to continue in a way of sinning; and
that is the property of sincerity. A man indeed may be overtaken and
surprised by a temptation, but it is not with a resolution to forsake
God and to cleave unto the sin, or rest in it. He will not sleep in it,
spare it, or favour it; that is, to do wickedly against God, to have a
double heart and a double eye; to look upon two objects, partly at God
and partly at sin; so to keep God, as to keep some sin also, as it is
with all false-hearted men in the world. They look not upon God alone,
let them pretend to religion never so much, yet they look not unto God
alone, but upon something else together with God; as Herod regarded
John, but regarded his Herodias more; and the young man in the gospel,
comes to Christ, yet he looks after his estate; and Judas followed in
Christ, yet looks after the bag; this is _to depart wickedly from
God_.—_William Strong, 1650._
_Verse 21 (last clause)._—Although a godly man may break a particular
commandment again and again against knowledge, yet his knowledge never
suffers him to go so far as to venture knowingly to break the covenant
of grace with God, and to depart from him; when he hath gone on so far
in a sin as he comes to apprehend he must break with God, and lose him
if he goes on any further, this apprehension stays him, stops and brings
him back again; he may presumptuously venture (though seldom; and always
to his cost) to commit an act of sin against knowledge, because he may
withal think, that by one act the covenant is not broken, nor all
friendship and love hazarded between God and him, nor his interest in
the state of grace, nor God, quite lost by it, though he may well think
he would be displeased with him; but if he should begin to allow himself
in it, and to continue to go on again and again in it, then he knows the
covenant would be broken, it cannot stand with grace; and when this
apprehension comes, and comes in strongly, he cannot sin against it, for
this were to cast away the Lord, and to depart wickedly from him, now so
he doth not. So David, though he sinned highly and presumptuously, yet
says he, “_I have not departed wickedly from my God_;” that is, I have
not so far departed from him as though I apprehended I should utterly
lose my interest in him, yet I would go on. No; for he is my God, there
lies the consideration that kept him from departing from him. So Psalm
xliv. 17, “We have not dealt falsely in thy covenant,” says the church
there. Many acts of displeasing him may pass and be ventured, but if the
holy soul thinks that the covenant lay at stake, that he and God must
utterly part and break off, thus far he will never go.—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verses 22, 23._—An unsound soul will not take notice of such a precept
as opposeth his special sin; such a precept must go for a blank, which
the soul throws by, and will not think of, but as conscience now and
then puts him in mind of it, whether he will or no. But it is not so
with a man in whom sincerity is: that precept which doth most oppose
that sin to which he is most inclined, he labours to obey as well as any
other. An unsound soul sets so many of God’s statutes before him, as
rulers to walk by, as suits with himself and the times, and no more.
Such precepts as oppose his special corruptions, or displease the times,
and so expose him to suffering, these he baulks and puts away, as David
here saith, and calls them as the rotten Scribes and Pharisees were wont
to do, “least commandments,” small things not to be regarded; which
rottenness Christ took up roundly in those ironical words, “Whosoever
shall break one of these least commandments, shall be called the least
in the kingdom of God.” Godly sincerity makes no difference of greatest
and least between the precepts of God, but sets all before a man as a
rule to walk by, and makes the soul laborious to observe all. “Then
shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.”
Psalm cxix. 6.—_Nicholas Lockyer, 1649._
_Verse 23.—“I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine
iniquity.”_ He who says, “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is
written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is
within my heart;” and who by the apostle, in the tenth chapter of the
epistle to the Hebrews, is identified with Jesus Christ, says also
(verse 12), “innumerable evils have compassed me about; mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more
than the hairs of mine head; therefore mine heart faileth me;” and in
the forty-first Psalm, “He whose familiar friend, to whom he had
committed a trust, who ate of his bread, lifted up his heel against
him,” whom our Lord in the thirteenth chapter of the gospel of John
identifies with himself, says (verse 4), “Lord, be merciful to me: heal
my soul for I have sinned;” I am guilty “before thee.” The difficulty is
removed by the undoubtedly true principle—the principle which, above all
others, gives Christianity its peculiar character—“He who knew no sin,
was made sin;” “On his righteous servant, Jehovah made to fall the
iniquities of us all.” In this sense, “innumerable iniquities compassed
him,” the iniquities made to fall on him made “his” as to their
liabilities—by divine appointment laid hold of him. In the sense of
_culpa_—blame-worthiness—he had no sin. In the sense of
_reatus_—liability to the penal effects of sin—never had any one so much
sin to bear as he—“He bore the sins of many.”—_John Brown._
_Verse 23.—“I was upright before him.”_ Hence observe:—first, that a
godly man may have his heart upright and perfect even in the
imperfection of his ways. Secondly, a man that is sincere is in God’s
account a perfect man: sincerity is the truth of all grace, the highest
pitch that is to be attained here. Thirdly, sincerity of heart gives a
man boldness even in the presence of God, notwithstanding many failings.
The Lord doth “charge his angels with folly,” how much more man that
“dwells in a house of clay”? Job. iv. David, whose faith failed, and who
had said, “I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul,” and whose tongue
had faltered also to Abimelech, the priest; three or four several lies
he had told; yet David can say to God, that he was _perfect_ with him
for all that. It is a strange boldness that the saints have in the
presence of God by virtue of the new covenant. All their sins shall be
laid open at the last day as a cancelled bond, that they wonder how they
shall look upon them and not blush; but the same spirit of sonship that
shall give them perfect boldness then, doth give them boldness in a
great measure even now in this life; that they shall be able to say,
“Neither height nor depth,” etc., nothing “shall separate us from the
love of Christ.”—_William Strong._
_Verse 23.—“I was upright,”_ etc. An upright Christian will not allow
himself in any known sin; he dares not touch the forbidden fruit. Gen.
xxxix. 9. “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against
God?” Though it be a complexion-sin, he disinherits it. There is no man
but doth propend and incline more to one sin than another; as in the
body there is one humour predominant, or as in the hive there is one
master-bee; so in the heart there is one master-sin; there is one sin
which is not only near to a man as the garment, but dear to him as the
right eye. This is Satan’s fort-royal, all his strength lies here; and
though we beat down his out-works, gross sin, yet if we let him hold
this fort of complexion-sin, it is as much as he desires. The devil can
hold a man as fast by this one link, as by a whole chain of vices. The
fowler hath the bird fast enough by one wing. Now, an upright Christian
will not indulge himself in this complexion-sin: “_I was upright before
him, and kept myself from mine iniquity._” An upright Christian takes
the sacrificing knife of mortification, and runs it through his dearest
sin. Herod did many things, but there was one sin so dear to him, that
he would sooner behead the prophet, than behead that sin. Herod would
have a gap for his incest. An upright heart is not only angry with sin
(which may admit of reconciliation), but hates sin; and if he sees this
serpent creeping into his bosom, the nearer it is the more he hates
it.—_Thomas Watson._
_Verse 23.—“I kept myself.”_ Kept himself! Who made man his own keeper?
It’s the Lord that is his keeper: he is the keeper of Israel, and the
preserver of man. If a man cannot keep himself from sorrow, how is he
able to keep himself from sin? God indeed in our first conversion works
upon us as he did upon the earth, or Adam’s body in paradise, before he
breathed a soul into it, and made it a living creature; such a power as
Christ put forth on Lazarus in his grave, for we are “dead in trespasses
and sins;” but yet being living he must walk and act of himself, the
Lord will have us to co-operate together with him, for we are built upon
Christ, not as dead, but as “living stones.” 1 Pet. ii. 5. The grace
whereby we are made alive is his, and the power is his; he it is that
works in us both to will and to do, when we perform anything; and yet by
his grace we do it also; _ille facit ut nos faciamus, quæ præcepit_
(_Augustine_).—_William Strong._
_Verse 23.—“I kept myself from mine iniquity.”_ It is possible to keep
ourselves from such sins as David did, who professes here of himself
great sincerity, that he had _kept_ himself from that _iniquity_ to
which he was strongly tempted, and which he was prone to fall into. The
method which holy David made use of gives us the first and best
direction; and that is, by constant and fervent prayer to implore the
divine aid and the continual assistance of his Holy Spirit, that God
would not only keep us from falling into them, but even turn our hearts
from inclining to them, and help us to see our folly and our danger. For
alas! we are not able of ourselves to help ourselves, not so much as to
think a good thought, much less to resist an evil inclination, or a
strong temptation; but “our sufficiency is of God:” “It is God (says the
Psalmist here), that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way
perfect:” verse 32.... Next, that we take care to avoid such things and
decline such occasions as are most likely to snare us and gain upon us,
lest one thing hook in another, and we be caught in the gin before we
suspect the danger.—_Henry Dove, 1690._
_Verse 23.—“Mine iniquity.”_ A man’s darling sin may change with the
change of a man’s condition, and some occasion that may present itself.
What was Saul’s and Jehu’s sin before they came unto the crown we know
not; but surely it was that wherein their lust did afterwards run
out—the establishing a kingdom upon their posterity. Wantonness may be
the darling of a man’s youth, and worldliness the darling of his age;
and a man’s being raised unto honour, and having the opportunities that
he had not in times past, the lust may run in another channel, he having
now such an opportunity as before he never expected.—_William Strong._
_Verse 23.—“Mine iniquity.”_ There is some particular sin to which one
is more prone than to another, of which he may say by way of emphasis,
’tis “_mine iniquity_,” at which he may point with his finger, and say,
“That’s it.”... There are more temptations to some sins than others,
from the different professions or courses of life men take upon
themselves. If they follow the court I need not tell you what
temptations and snares there are to divers sins, and what danger there
is of falling into them, unless your vows for virtue, and a tender
regard to the honour which cometh of God only, keep you upright. If they
be listed in the camp, that tempts them to rapine and violence, neglect
of God’s worship, and profaneness. If they exercise trading and
merchandise, they meet with greater enticements to lying and cozening,
over-reaching and unjust dealing; and the mystery of some trades, as bad
men manage them, is a downright “mystery of iniquity.” If husbandry, to
anxiety about the things of the world, a distrust of God’s providence,
or murmuring against it. Nay, I could wish in the most sacred profession
of all there might be an exception made in this particular; but Paul
tells us that even in his days “some preached Christ even of envy and
strife,” some for filthy lucre only, as well as “some of good will.”
Phil. i. 15.—_Henry Dove._