demanded whether Christ were exalted unto his glory and dignity,
according to both his natures, both his Godhead and his manhood, I
answer, according to both. According to his Godhead, not as it is
considered in itself, but inasmuch as his Godhead, which from his birth
unto his death did little show itself, after his resurrection was made
manifest in his manhood; for, as the apostle saith (Rom. i. 4), “He was
declared mightily to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the
dead,” even by the resurrection, and after his resurrection from the
dead, he which was thought only to be man, was most plainly manifested
likewise to be God. Now, as touching his manhood, he was therein exalted
unto highest majesty in the heavenly places, not only shaking off all
infirmities of man’s nature, but also being beautified and adorned with
all qualities of glory, both in his soul and in his body, yet so that he
still retaineth the properties of a true body, for even as he was man,
he was set at the right hand of the Father, to rule and reign over all,
till all his enemies be destroyed, and put under his feet. To knit up
all in a word, Christ, God, and man, after his resurrection, was crowned
with glory and honour, even such as plainly showed him to be God, and
was set on the throne of God, there to rule and reign as sovereign Lord
and King, till he come in the clouds to judge both quick and dead. Here,
then, is both matter of comfort and consolation unto the godly, and
likewise of fear and astonishment unto the wicked and ungodly.—_Henry
Airay, 1560-1616._
_Verse 5 (last clause)._—Christ was “a man of sorrows” on earth, but he
is full of joy in heaven. He that “wipes away all tears from the eyes of
his people,” surely has none of his own. There was a _joy set before
him_ before he suffered, and doubtless it was given him when he sat down
at God’s right hand. We may take the latter to be an actual donation of
the former; the joy he had in prospect when he suffered he had in
possession when he came to his throne. This is the time of his receiving
the Father’s public approbation, and the tokens of his love, before the
whole heavenly assembly, which must be matter of great joy to him who so
much valued and delighted in his Father’s love.—_John Hurrion,
1675-1731._
_Verse 5._—Happy he who hath a bone, or an arm, to put the crown upon
the head of our highest King, whose chariot is paved with love. Were
there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these highest
heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them, till
angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to fix the
princely throne of that Lord Jesus (whose ye are) above them
all.—_Samuel Rutherford._
_Verse 6.—“Thou hast made him exceeding glad:”_ literally, “brightened
him,” possibly in allusion to the brightness of Moses’ face.—_Dalman
Hapstone, M.A., in “The Ancient Psalms ... A Literal Translation and
Notes,” etc, 1867._
_Verse 6.—“Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.”_
Though this be metaphorically used for _favour_, yet is the speech not
all metaphor, and that well-experienced Christians will tell
you.—_Zachary Bogan, in “The Mirth of a Christian Life,” 1653._
_Verse 6 (first clause)._—Literally, as in the Bible marginal
translation, “Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever.” Most truly
said of the King in whom all the nations of the earth were to be
blessed.—_Richard Mant._
_Verse 8.—“Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
shall find out those that hate thee.”_ By a kind of climax in the form
of expression, “_hand_,” is followed by “_right hand_,” a still more
emphatic sign of active strength. To “_find_,” in this connection,
includes the ideas of detecting and reaching. Compare 1 Sam. xxiii. 17;
Isaiah x. 10; in the latter of which places the verb is construed with a
preposition (ל), as it is in the first clause of the verse before us,
whereas in the other clause it governs the noun directly. If any
difference of meaning was intended, it is probably not greater than that
between _find_ and _find out_ in English.—_Joseph Addison Alexander._
_Verse 8.—“Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
shall find out those that hate thee.”_ Saul killed himself, for fear of
falling into the hands of his enemies, and thought death less terrible
than the shame that he would have endured in seeing himself in their
power. What will it be then “to fall into the hands of the living God”
(Heb. x. 31), of an offended God? of God unchangeably determined to be
avenged? “Who can stand before his indignation?” says the prophet Nahum
(chap. i. 6). Who will dare look on him? Who will dare show himself?
“_Who may abide the day of his coming_” (Mal. iii. 2) without shuddering
and fainting for fear? If Joseph’s brethren were so terrified that they
“could not answer him,” when he said, “I am Joseph your brother,” how
will it be with sinners, when they shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, when he shall triumph over them in his wrath, and say unto them, “I
am he” whom ye despised; “I am he” whom ye have offended; “I am he” whom
ye have crucified? If these words, “I am he,” overthrew the soldiers in
the garden of Olives (John xviii. 6), though spoken with extreme
gentleness, how will it be when his indignation bursts forth, when it
falls upon his enemies like a thunderbolt, and reduces them into dust?
Then will they cry out in terror and say to the mountains, “_Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb._” Rev. vi. 16.—_James Nouet._
_Verse 8.—“Thine hand shall find out,”_ etc. It is not meant only of a
discovery of a person (though it be a truth, that the Lord will discover
all that are his enemies), but _thine hand shall find them out_, is, it
shall take hold of them, grasp them, and arrest them. “Thine hand shall
find out” _all_ “thine enemies,” though close, though covert enemies;
not only thy above-ground enemies, but thy under-ground enemies; as well
those that undermine thee, as those that assault thee.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 9.—“Thou shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall
devour them.”_ How then shall it fare with sinners, when, after all,
shall come that general fire so often foretold, which shall either fall
from heaven, or ascend out of hell, or (according to Albertus Magnus),
proceed from both, and shall devour and consume all it meets with?
Whither shall the miserable fly, when that river of flames, or (to say
better), that inundation and deluge of fire shall so encompass them, as
no place of surety shall be left; where nothing can avail but a holy
life; when all besides shall perish, in that universal ruin of the whole
world? What lamentations were in Rome, when it burnt for seven days
together! What shrieks were heard in Troy, when it was wholly consumed
with flames! What howling and astonishment in Pentapolis, when those
cities were destroyed with fire from heaven! What weeping was there in
Jerusalem, when they beheld the house of God, the glory of their
kingdom, the wonder of the world, involved in fire and smoke! Imagine
what these people felt; they saw their houses and goods on fire, and no
possibility of saving them; when the husband heard the shrieks and cries
of his dying wife; the father, of his little children; and, unawares,
perceived himself so encompassed with flames, that he could neither
relieve them, nor free himself. What shall it then profit the
worldlings, to have rich vessels of gold and silver, curious
embroideries, precious tapestries, pleasant gardens, sumptuous palaces,
and all what the world now esteems, when they shall with their own eyes,
behold their costly palaces burnt, their rich and curious pieces of gold
melted, and their flourishing and pleasant orchards consumed, without
power to preserve them or themselves? All shall burn, and with it the
world, and all the memory and fame of it shall die; and that which
mortals thought to be immortal, shall then end and perish.—_Jeremy
Taylor._
_Verse 9.—“Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
anger.”_ They shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire (Matt. xiii.
42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace, they
shall be their own tormentors, the reflections and terrors of their own
consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule
and save them, but rejected him, and fought against him, even the
remembrance of that will be enough to make them to eternity a fiery oven
to themselves.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 9.—“Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven:”_ thou shalt make them
on fire within, by the consciousness of their ungodliness: “_In the time
of thy countenance_;” in the time of thy manifestation.—_Augustine._
_Verse 9.—“As a fiery oven,”_ where the burning is extremely hot, the
heat striking upon what is in it from all sides, above, below, and
about, on all hands, and the door closed from going out, or from
suffering any cool refreshment to come in.—_David Dickson._
_Verse 9.—“As a fiery oven.”_ Shall make them like a vault of fire,
literally, “_an oven_,” as in our translation, or “furnace of fire.”
Bishop Horsley remarks, “It describes the smoke of the Messiah’s enemies
perishing by fire, ascending like the smoke of a furnace. ‘The smoke of
their torments shall ascend for ever and ever.’” How awfully grand is
that description of the ruins of the cities of the plain, as the
prospect struck on Abraham’s eye on the fatal morning of their
destruction! “And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all
the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country
went up as the smoke of a furnace.” Milton puts it—
“Overhead the dismal hiss
Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew,
And flying vaulted either host with fire.”
_Richard Mant._
_Verse 9._—The Chaldee reads:—“The fire of Gehenna, or hell.”—_John
Morison._
_Verse 9.—“The time of thine anger.”_ If God be willing to pour out his
heavy displeasure upon those that displease him, what can hinder his
mighty arm from performing? Creatures indeed may be angry, but
oftentimes, like drones without stings, cannot hurt; as cannons charged
with powder without shot only make a roaring; like the Pope’s Bulls,
threaten many, hurt none but those whose consciences are enslaved. Saul
may be angry at David, but cannot find him out; but from God’s
all-piercing eye none can hide himself. Satan may desire to kill Job,
Jonah may be angry till death for Nineveh’s preservation; yet God puts a
bit in both their mouths, who, if he be angry, nothing can be holden out
of his reach. Princes, if they take captives, may have them rescued from
them again, as Lot was from the King of Sodom; bought with a price, as
Joseph of the Ishmaelites. But no power can rescue us from God’s anger,
no ransom but Christ’s blood redeem us. God’s will being set afoot, all
his attributes follow; if his will say, Be angry, his eye seeks out the
object of his anger, and finds it; his wisdom tempers the cup, his hand
whets the sword, his arm strikes the blow. Thus you see there is a time
of God’s anger for sin, because he will have it so.—_John Cragge._
_Verse 9.—“The fire shall devour them.”_ Being troubled by the vengeance
of the Lord, after the accusation of their conscience, they shall be
given up to eternal fire to be devoured.—_Augustine._
_Verse 9._—I have read that a frown of Queen Elizabeth killed Sir
Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor of England. What then shall the
frowns of the King of nations do? If the rocks rend, the mountains melt,
and the foundations of the earth tremble under his wrath; how will the
ungodly sinner appear when he comes in all his royal glory to take
vengeance on all that knew him not, and that obeyed not his glorious
gospel.—_Charles Bradbury._
_Verse 10.—“Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their
seed from among the children of men.”_ A day is coming when all the
“_fruits_” of sin, brought forth by sinners in their words, their
writings, and their actions shall be “_destroyed_;” yea, the tree
itself, which had produced them, shall be rooted up, and cast into the
fire. The “_seed_” and posterity of the wicked, if they continue in the
way of their forefathers, will be punished like them. Let parents
consider, that upon their principles and practices may depend the
salvation or destruction of multitudes after them. The case of the Jews,
daily before their eyes, should make them tremble.—_George Horne._
_Verse 11.—“They intended,”_ or warped. Hebrew, _have bent or
stretched_. A similitude taken from weavers, who warp their yarn before
they weave: or from archers, who, when they have bent their bow and put
in their arrow, do take their aim.—_John Diodati._
_Verse 12.—“Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,”_ or, _thou
shalt set them as a butt_, “_when thou shalt make ready thine arrows
upon thy strings against the face of them._” The judgments of God are
called his “arrows,” being sharp, swift, sure, and deadly. What a
dreadful situation, to be set as a mark and “_butt_” at which these
arrows are directed! View Jerusalem encompassed by the Roman armies
without, and torn to pieces by the animosity of desperate and bloody
factions within! No farther commentary is requisite upon this
verse.—_George Horne._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1._—The joy of Jesus and of his people in the strength and
salvation of God.
_Verses 1, 2._—The doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
contained in the text, may be considered under three heads:—I. _As an
answer to prayer._ II. _His joy therein—even in the resurrection._ III.
As a necessary appendage to this—_our own individual concern in his
glory and in his joy_.—_Hamilton Verschoyle._
_Verse 2._—The successful Advocate.
_Verse 3 (first clause)._—Preventing mercies.
_Verse 3 (first clause)._—GOD GOING BEFORE US, or, God’s anticipation of
our necessities by his merciful dispensations. God prevents us with the
blessings of his goodness:—I. When we come into the world. II. When we
become personal transgressors. III. When we enter upon the duties and
upon the cares of mature life. IV. When, in the general course of life,
we enter upon new paths. V. In the dark “valley of the shadow of death.”
VI. By giving us many mercies without our asking for them; and thus
creating occasion, not for prayer, but for praise only. VII. By opening
to us the gate of heaven, and by storing heaven with every provision for
our blessedness.—_Samuel Martin._
_Verse 3 (second clause)._—Jesus crowned. I. His previous labours. II.
The dominion bestowed. III. The character of the crown. IV. The divine
coronant.
_Verse 4._—Jesus ever living.
_Verse 5._—The glory of the Mediator.
_Verse 6._—The blessedness of Jesus.
_Verse 7._—Jesus, an example of faith and of its results.
_Verse 8._—The secret sinner unearthed, and deprived of all hope of
concealment.
_Verses 8, 9._—The certainty and terror of the punishment of the wicked.
_Verses 11, 12._—The guilt and punishment of evil intentions.
_Verse 12._—The retreat of the grand army of hell.
_Verse 13.—A devout Doxology._ I. God exalted. II. God alone exalted.
III. God exalted by his own strength. IV. His people singing his praise.
PSALM XXII.
TITLE.—“To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar. A Psalm of David.”
_This ode of singular excellence was committed to the most excellent of
the temple songsters; the chief among ten thousand is worthy to be
extolled by the chief Musician; no meaner singer must have charge of
such a strain; we must see to it that we call up our best abilities when
Jesus is the theme of praise. The words_ Aijeleth Shahar _are
enigmatical, and their meaning is uncertain; some refer them to a
musical instrument used upon mournful occasions, but the majority adhere
to the translation of our margin, “Concerning the hind of the morning.”
This last interpretation is the subject of much enquiry and conjecture.
Calmet believes that the Psalm was addressed to the music master who
presided over the band called the “Morning Hind,” and Adam Clarke thinks
this to be the most likely of all the conjectural interpretations,
although he himself inclines to the belief that no interpretation should
be attempted, and believes that it is a merely arbitrary and unmeaning
title, such as Orientals have always been in the habit of appending to
their songs. Our Lord Jesus is so often compared to a hind, and his
cruel huntings are so pathetically described in this most affecting
psalm, that we cannot but believe that the title indicates the Lord
Jesus under a well-known poetical metaphor; at any rate, Jesus is that
Hind of the morning concerning whom David here sings._
SUBJECT.—_This is beyond all others_ THE PSALM OF THE CROSS. _It may
have been actually repeated word by word by our Lord when hanging on the
tree; it would be too bold to say that it was so, but even a casual
reader may see that it might have been. It begins with, “My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?” and ends, according to some, in the original
with “It is finished.” For plaintive expressions uprising from
unutterable depths of woe we may say of this Psalm, “there is none like
it.” It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of his
dying words, the lachrymatory of his last tears, the memorial of his
expiring joys. David and his afflictions may be here in a very modified
sense, but, as the star is concealed by the light of the sun, he who
sees Jesus will probably neither see nor care to see David. Before us we
have a description both of the darkness and of the glory of the cross,
the sufferings of Christ and the glory which shall follow. Oh for grace
to draw near and see this great sight! We should read reverently,
putting off our shoes from off our feet, as Moses did at the burning
bush, for if there be holy ground anywhere in Scripture it is in this
Psalm._
DIVISION.—_From the commencement to the twenty-first verse is a most
pitiful cry for help, and from verse 21 to 31 is a most precious
foretaste of deliverance. The first division may be sub-divided at the
tenth verse, from verse 1 to 10 being an appeal based upon covenant
relationship; and from verse 10 to 21 being an equally earnest plea
derived from the imminence of his peril._
EXPOSITION.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? _why art thou so_ far
from helping me, _and from_ the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the
night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou _art_ holy, _O thou_ that inhabitest the praises of
Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver
them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee,
and were not confounded.
6 But I _am_ a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of
the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip,
they shake the head, _saying_,
8 He trusted on the LORD _that_ he would deliver him: let him
deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou _art_ he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me
hope _when I was_ upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou _art_ my God from my
mother’s belly.
1. “_My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?_” This was the startling
cry of Golgotha: Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani. The Jews mocked, but the
angels adored when Jesus cried this exceeding bitter cry. Nailed to the
tree we behold our great Redeemer in extremities, and what see we?
Having ears to hear let us hear, and having eyes to see let us see! Let
us gaze with holy wonder, and and mark the flashes of light amid the
awful darkness of that midday-midnight. First, our Lord’s faith beams
forth and deserves our reverent imitation; he keeps his hold upon his
God with both hands and cries twice, “_My God, my God!_” The spirit of
adoption was strong within the suffering Son of Man, and he felt no
doubt about his interest in his God. Oh that we could imitate this
cleaving to an afflicting God! Nor does the sufferer distrust the power
of God to sustain him, for the title used—“_El_”—signifies _strength_,
and is the name of the Mighty God. He knows the Lord to be the
all-sufficient support and succour of his spirit, and therefore appeals
to him in the agony of grief, but not in the misery of doubt. He would
fain know why he is left, he raises that question and repeats it, but
neither the power nor the faithfulness of God does he mistrust. What an
enquiry is this before us! “_Why hast thou forsaken me?_” We must lay
the emphasis on every word of this saddest of all utterances. “_Why?_”
what is the great cause of such a strange fact as for God to leave his
own Son at such a time and in such a plight? There was no cause in him,
why then was he deserted? “_Hast_:” it is done, and the Saviour is
feeling its dread effect as he asks the question; it is surely true, but
how mysterious! It was no threatening of forsaking which made the great
Surety cry aloud, he endured that forsaking in very deed. “_Thou_:” I
can understand why traitorous Judas and timid Peter should be gone, but
_thou_, my God, my faithful friend, how canst thou leave me? This is
worst of all, yea worse than all put together. Hell itself has for its
fiercest flame the separation of the soul from God. “_Forsaken_:” if
thou hadst chastened I might bear it, for thy face would shine; but to
forsake me utterly, ah! why is this? “_Me_:” thine innocent, obedient,
suffering Son, why leavest thou _me to_ perish? A sight of self seen by
penitence, and of Jesus on the cross seen by faith will best expound
this question. Jesus is forsaken because our sins had separated between
us and our God.
“_Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my
roaring?_” The Man of Sorrows had prayed until his speech failed him,
and he could only utter moanings and groanings as men do in severe
sicknesses, like the roarings of a wounded animal. To what extremity of
grief was our Master driven! What strong crying and tears were those
which made him too hoarse for speech! What must have been his anguish to
find his own beloved and trusted Father standing afar off, and neither
granting help nor apparently hearing prayer. This was good cause to make
him “roar.” Yet there was a reason for all this which those who rest in
Jesus as their Substitute well know.
2. “_O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not._” For our
prayers to appear to be unheard is no new trial, Jesus felt it before
us, and it is observable that he still held fast his believing hold on
God, and cried still, “_My God_.” On the other hand his faith did not
render him less importunate, for amid the hurry and horror of that
dismal day he ceased not his cry, even as in Gethsemane he had agonized
all through the gloomy night. Our Lord continued to pray even though no
comfortable answer came, and in this he set us an example of obedience
to his own words, “men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” No
daylight is too glaring, and no midnight too dark to pray in; and no
delay or apparent denial, however grievous, should tempt us to forbear
from importunate pleading.
3. “_But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel._”
However ill things may look, there is no ill in thee, O God! We are very
apt to think and speak hardly of God when we are under his afflicting
hand, but not so the obedient Son. He knows too well his Father’s
goodness to let outward circumstances libel his character. There is no
unrighteousness with the God of Jacob, he deserves no censures; let him
do what he will, he is to be praised, and to reign enthroned amid the
songs of his chosen people. If prayer be unanswered it is not because
God is unfaithful, but for some other good and weighty reason. If we
cannot perceive any ground for the delay, we must leave the riddle
unsolved, but we must not fly in God’s face in order to invent an
answer. While the holiness of God is in the highest degree acknowledged
and adored, the afflicted speaker in this verse seems to marvel how the
holy God could forsake him, and be silent to his cries. The argument is,
thou art holy, oh! why is it that thou dost disregard thy holy One in
his hour of sharpest anguish? We may not question the holiness of God,
but we may argue from it, and use it as a plea in our petitions.
4. “_Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver
them._” This is the rule of life with all the chosen family. Three times
over is it mentioned, they _trusted_, and _trusted_, and _trusted_, and
never left off trusting, for it was their very life; and they fared well
too, for _thou didst deliver them_. Out of all their straits,
difficulties, and miseries faith brought them by calling their God to
the rescue; but in the case of our Lord it appeared as if faith would
bring no assistance from heaven, he alone of all the trusting ones was
to remain without deliverance. The experience of other saints may be a
great consolation to us when in deep waters if faith can be sure that
their deliverance will be ours; but when we feel ourselves sinking, it
is poor comfort to know that others are swimming. Our Lord here pleads
the past dealings of God with his people as a reason why he should not
be left alone; here again he is an example to us in the skilful use of
the weapon of all prayer. The use of the plural pronoun “_our_” shows
how one with his people Jesus was even on the cross. We say, “Our Father
which art in heaven,” and he calls those “our fathers” through whom we
came into the world, although he was without father as to the flesh.