the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the
Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to
enquire in his temple._” There are many that pray David’s words, but not
with David’s heart. _Unum petii_, one thing have I desired, _de
præterito_, for the time past; _et hoc requiram_, this I will still seek
after, _de futuro_, for the time to come: I have required it long, and
this suit I will urge till I have obtained it. What? To dwell in some of
the houses of God all the days of my life, and to leave them to my
children after me; not to serve him there with devotion, but to make the
place mine own possession? These love the house of God too well; they
love it to have and to hold: but because the conveyance is made by the
lawyer, and not by the minister, their title will be found nought in the
end; and if there be not a _nisi prius_ to prevent them, yet at that
great day of universal audit, the Judge of all the world shall condemn
them. By this way, the nearer to the church, the further from God. The
Lord’s temple is ordained to gain us to him, not for us to gain it from
him. If we love the Lord, we “will love the habitation of his house, and
the place where his honour dwelleth;” that so by being humble
frequenters of his temple below, we may be made noble saints of his
house above, the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 4._—David being in this safe condition, what doth he now think
upon or look at, as his main scope? Not as Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, to
sit still and be merry, when he had overcome the Romans and all his
enemies, as he sometime said to Cyneas, the philosopher, but to improve
his rest to perpetual piety, in going from day to day to God’s house, as
Hannah is said afterwards to have done. Luke ii. And this, first, for
the solace of his soul, in seeing the beauty of his sanctuary. Secondly,
that he might still be directed aright and be safe. Thirdly, that he
might yet be more highly exalted in kingly glory. Fourthly, for all
this, as he should have abundant cause, sacrificing and singing Psalms
to God without ceasing: see verses 5, 6.—_John Mayer._
_Verse 4._—O my soul, what sights have I seen in the house of God! what
provisions have I tasted! what entertainments have I had! what
enlargements in prayer and answers thereto! what impressions under his
word, what entertainment at his table, as he has sometimes brought me
into his banqueting-house, and his banner over me has been love! And
though I cannot, it may be, say so much of this as some others; yet what
I have found, I cannot but remember with thankfulness, and desire more;
and as this was _in the house of God, here_ would I still desire to
dwell.—_Daniel Wilcox_, 1676-1733.
_Verse 5.—“The time of trouble.”_ Though God does not always deliver his
people out of trouble, yet he delivers them from the evil of trouble,
the despair of trouble, by supporting the spirit; nay, he delivers by
trouble, for he sanctifies the trouble to cure the souls, and by less
troubles delivers from greater.—_From a Broad Sheet in the British
Museum, dated, “London: printed for D.M., 1678.”_
_Verse 5.—“He shall hide me.”_ The word here used means to hide, to
secrete, and then, to defend or protect. It would properly be applied to
one who had fled from oppression, or from any impending evil, and who
should be _secreted_ in a house or cavern, and thus rendered safe from
pursuers, or from the threatening evil.—_Albert Barnes._
_Verse 5.—“Pavilion”_ comes from _papilio_, a _butterfly_. It signifies
a _tent_ made of cloth stretched out on poles, which in form resembles
in some measure the insect above named.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 5.—“In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.”_ He
alludes to the ancient custom of offenders, who used to flee to the
tabernacle or altar, where they esteemed themselves safe. 1 Kings ii.
28.—_Matthew Pool._
_Verse 5.—“In the secret of his tabernacle.”_ Were there no other place,
he would put me in the _holy of holies_, so that an enemy would not dare
to approach me.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 6.—“Now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round
about me.”_ A man cannot drown so long as his head is above water. Now,
it is the proper office of hope to do this for the Christian in times of
any danger. Luke xxi. 28. “When these things begin to come to pass, then
look up, and lift up your heads: for your redemption draweth nigh.” A
strange time, one would think, for Christ then to bid his disciples
_lift up their heads_ in, when they see other men’s hearts failing them
for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the
earth (verse 26); yet now is the time of the rising of their sun, when
others’ is setting, and the blackness of darkness is overtaking others;
because now the Christian’s feast is coming, for which hope hath saved
its stomach so long. “Your redemption draweth nigh.” Two things make the
head hang down—fear and shame; hope easeth the Christian’s heart of both
these, and so forbids him to give any sign of a desponding mind by a
dejected countenance.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 6.—“Therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy.”_
“Surely,” some may say, “he could have called on God beyond the
precincts of the temple. Wherever he wandered as an exile, he carried
with him the precious promise of God, so that he needed not to put so
great a value upon the sight of the external edifice. He appears, by
some gross imagination or other, to suppose that God could be enclosed
by wood and stones.” But if we examine the words more carefully, it will
be easy to see, that his object was altogether different from a mere
sight of the noble building and its ornaments, however costly. He
speaks, indeed, of the temple, but he places that beauty not so much in
the goodliness that was to be seen by the eye, as in its being the
celestial pattern which was shown to Moses, as it is written in Exod.
xxv. 40: “And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was
showed thee in the mount.” As the fashion of the temple was not framed
according to the wisdom of man, but was an image of spiritual things,
the prophet directed his eyes and all his affections to this object.
Their madness is, therefore, truly detestable who wrest this place in
favour of pictures and images, which, instead of deserving to be
numbered among temple ornaments, are rather like dung and filth,
defiling all the purity of holy things.—_John Calvin._
_Verse 8.—“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”_ In the former verse, David begins a
prayer to God, “Hear, O Lord; have mercy upon me, and answer me.” This
verse is a ground of that prayer, “_Seek ye my face_,” saith God. The
heart answers again, “_Thy face, Lord, will I seek_;” therefore I am
encouraged to pray to thee. In the words are contained God’s command and
David’s obedience. God’s warrant and David’s work answerable, the voice
and the echo: the voice, “_Seek my face_;” the rebound back again of a
gracious heart, “_Thy face, Lord, will I seek_.” “_When thou saidst._”
It is not in the original. It only makes way to the sense. Passionate
speeches are usually abrupt: “_Seek my face_:” “Thy face, Lord, will I
seek.”... _God is willing to be known._ He is willing to open and
discover himself; God delights not to hide himself. God stands not upon
state, as some emperors do that think their presence diminisheth
respect. God is no such God, but he may be searched into. Man, if any
weakness be discovered, we can soon search into the depth of his
excellency; but with God it is clean otherwise. The more we know of him,
the more we shall admire him. None admire him more than the blessed
angels, that see most of him, and the blessed spirits that have
communion with him. Therefore he hides not himself, nay, he desires to
be known; and all those that have his Spirit desire to make him known.
Those that suppress the knowledge of God in his will, what he performs
for men, and what he requires of them, they are enemies to God and of
God’s people. They suppress the opening of God, clean contrary to God’s
meaning; “_Seek my face_;” I desire to be made known, and lay open
myself to you. Therefore we may observe by the way, that when we are in
any dark condition, that a Christian finds not the beams of God shining
on him, let him not lay the blame upon God, as if God were a God that
delighted to hide himself. Oh, no! it is not his delight. He loves not
strangeness to his poor creatures. It is not a point of his policy. He
is too great to affect[1] such poor things. No; the fault is altogether
in us. We walk not worthy of such a presence; we want humility and
preparation. If there be any darkness in the creature, that he finds God
doth not so shine on him as in former times, undoubtedly the cause is in
himself; for God saith, “_Seek my face_.” He desires to reveal
himself.—_Richard Sibbes._
_Verse 8.—“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face,”_ etc. All the Spirit’s
motions are seasonable, and therefore not to be put off; for delay is a
kind of denial, and savours of such ungrateful contempt, as must needs
be very displeasing to him. “_When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my
heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek._” God does not only
expect such an answer, but expects it immediately upon his call.
Whenever he blows with his wind, he looks that we should spread our
sails. If we refuse his offered help, we may deservedly want it when
desired. As Christ withdrew himself from the spouse because she let him
stand knocking so long at the door of her heart, and she still deferred
to open, and tired out his loving forbearance with vain and frivolous
excuses. Sol. Song, v. 2, etc. But as we must not omit the present
performance of any duty which he excites unto, we must not check his
influences by being weary of the duties which he assists us in: if we do
not improve extraordinary aids by holding out the longer, we provoke him
to depart.—_Timothy Cruso._
_Verse 8.—“When thou saidst, Seek ye my face,”_ etc. We see here thus
much, that God must _begin_ with us, before we can _close with him_; God
must seek us, before we can seek him; God must first desire that we
should draw near to him, before we for our particulars are able to draw
near unto God. Thou saidst, Seek my face; and then, and not till then my
heart said, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.—_Thomas Horton._
_Verse 8.—“When thou saidst,”_ etc. Now God then speaks to the heart to
pray when not only he puts upon the duty by saying to the conscience,
This thou oughtest to do; but God’s speaking to pray is such as his
speech at first was, when he made the world, when he said, “Let there be
light, and there was light:” so he says, let there be a prayer, and
there is a prayer; that is, he pours upon a man a spirit of grace and
supplication, a praying disposition; he puts in motives, suggests
arguments and pleas to God; all which you shall find come in readily,
and of themselves, and that likewise with a quickening heat and
enlargement of affection, and with a lingering, and longing, and
restlessness of spirit to be alone, to pour out the soul to God, and to
vent and form those motions and suggestions into a prayer, till you have
laid them together, and made a prayer of them. And this is a speaking to
the heart. Observe such times when God doth thus, and neglect them not,
then to strike whilst the iron is hot; thou hast then his ear; it is a
special opportunity for that business, such a one as thou mayst never
have the like. Suitors at court observe _molissima fandi tempora_, their
times of begging when they have kings in a good mood, which they will be
sure to take the advantage of; but especially if they should find that
the king himself should begin of himself to speak of the business which
they would have of him: and thus that phrase of Psalm x. 17, that God
prepares the heart, is understood by some, that God prepares the heart,
and causeth the ear to hear; that is, he fashions it and composeth it
into a praying frame. And sure it is a great sign that God means to hear
us when himself shall thus indite the petition.—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verse 8.—“When thou saidst,”_ etc. And well may this be pleaded, in
that God useth not so to stir up and strengthen us to seek him, but when
he intendeth to be found of us. Psalm x. 17. “Thou hast heard the desire
of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear
to hear.” Jer. xxix. 13. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your heart.” And God maketh it an argument
to himself, that if he say to any inwardly as well as outwardly, “_Seek
my face_,” he that speaketh righteousness cannot speak thus to them, and
frustrate their prayers, and so bid them seek his face in vain. Isaiah
xlv. 19, “I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain; I the
Lord speak right things.” If Ahasuerus bid his spouse to ask, surely he
will not fail to grant her petition (Esther vii. 2); so here. And as
when Christ called the blind man to come to him to tell him his
grievance, it was truly said to him by them, “Be of good comfort, rise,
for he calleth thee.” Mark x. 49. So it is in this case.—_Thomas
Cobbett._
_Verse 8.—“My heart said unto thee.”_ The heart is between God and our
obedience, as it were, an ambassador. It understands from God what God
would have done, and then it lays a command upon the whole man. The
heart and conscience of man is partly divine, partly human. It hath some
divinity in it, especially if the man be a holy man. God speaks, and the
heart speaks. God speaks to the heart, and the heart speaks to us. And
ofttimes when we hear conscience speaking to us, we neglect it; and as
St. Augustine said of himself, “God spake often to me, and I was
ignorant of it.” When there is no command in the word that the heart
directly thinks of (as indeed many profane careless men scarce have a
Bible in their houses), God speaks to them thus; conscience speaks to
them some broken command, that they learn against their wills. They heed
it not, but David did not so. God said, “_Seek ye my face_;” his _heart_
answers, “Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” The heart looks upward to God,
and then to itself, “_My heart said_.” It said to thee, and then to
itself. First, his heart said to God, “Lord, I have encouragement from
thee. Thou hast commanded that I should seek thy face.” So his heart
looked to God, and then it speaks to itself, “_Thy face, Lord, will I
seek._” It looks first to God, and then to all things that come from
itself.—_Richard Sibbes._
_Verse 8._—There are divers things considerable of us in this _answer_
and _compliance_ of David’s with God’s _command_ or _invitation_ to him.
First, it was _seasonable, and in due time_; presently does David make
this return: “Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” This is the property and
disposition of every wise and prudent Christian, to close with the very
first opportunities of God’s invitation. Secondly, this answer, as it
was seasonable and present, so it was also _full and complete_; the
performance was proportionable to the injunction. Ye shall have some
kind of people in the world that God bids them do one thing and they
will be sure to do the quite contrary; or, at least, not do as much as
they should do, but do it by halves. But, now, here David makes return
to God in the full extent and proportion of obedience. God said, “_Seek
my face_,” and he answered, “_Thy face, Lord, will I seek_.” Thirdly, it
was _real and entire, and sincere_; “My _heart_ said.” It is one thing
to say it with the _mouth_, and it is another thing to say it with the
_heart_. With the _mouth_ it is both easy and ordinary, and nothing more
usual. Lord, thy face will we seek, especially in any trouble or
calamity, which is incident unto us; but for the heart to say it, that
is not so frequent. Fourthly, it was _settled, and peremptory_, “Thy
face will I seek;” there is nothing shall hinder me of it, or keep me
from it, but I will do it against all opposition. Lastly, this
protestation of David was _absolute and indefinite and unlimited_; “I
will seek thy face;” without prescription of time, or place, or
condition; not only now, but hereafter; not only for a time, but for
ever, in all seasons, in all estates, in all circumstances, still I
shall keep me to this—to hold my communion with thee. Then are we
Christians, indeed, when we are so immutably and irreversibly and
independently upon the opinions or practices of any other
person.—_Condensed from Thomas Horton._
_Verse 8._—God hath promised his favour, and, therefore, his people may
seek his favour. Nay, he hath commanded his people to seek his favour,
and therefore they should seek it. It is an unadvised folly, during the
suspension of God’s favour, to unson ourselves, and unpeople ourselves,
_i.e._, by denying the grace and spiritual relation which exist between
us and God. That is not the way to gain favour; for when we have undone
our relation of children we exclude ourselves from the expectation of
favour. No, the wisest and surest way is to seek the renewing of God’s
loving countenance, and not to be driven away from God by our
unbelief.—_Obadiah Sedgwick, in “The Doubting Believer,”_ 1653.
_Verse 9.—“Hide not thy face far from me.”_ When I seek thy face,
vouchsafe, O God, not to hide thy face from me; for to what purpose
should I seek it if I cannot find it? and what hope of finding it if
thou be bent to hide it?—_Sir Richard Baker._
_Verse 9.—“Put not thy servant away in anger.”_ God puts away many in
anger for their supposed goodness, but not any at all for their
confessed badness.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 9.—“Thy servant.”_ It is a blessed and happy thing to be God’s
true “_servant_.” Consider what the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon’s
servants (1 Kings x. 8): “Happy are these thy servants,” etc. Now Christ
Jesus is greater than Solomon (Matt. xii. 42), and so a better Master.
Good earthly masters will honour good servants, as Prov. xxvii. 18, “He
that waiteth on his master shall be honoured;” chap. xvii. 2, “A wise
servant shall have a portion, or inheritance, among the brethren.” But
however some earthly masters may be Nabals and Labans, yet God will not
be so: John xii. 26: “Where I am, there shall also my servant be.” “If
any man serve me, him will my Father honour,” see Luke xii. 37. The
watchful servants are blessed; their master will make them to sit down
to meat, and will come forth and serve them, as Matt. xxv. 21, 23: “Well
done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy
of thy Lord.”—_Thomas Pierson._
_Verse 9.—“Thou hast been my help; leave me not,”_ etc. One act of mercy
engages God to another. Men argue thus: I have showed you kindness
already, therefore trouble me no more; but because God has shown mercy
he is more ready still to show mercy; his mercy in election makes him
justify, adopt, glorify.—_Thomas Watson._
_Verse 9.—“Leave me not;”_ rather, “dismiss me not;” “let not go thy
hold of me.” This is the proper sense of the Hebrew verb נָטַשׁ, to set
a thing loose, to let it go, to abandon it.—_Samuel Horsley._
_Verse 10.—“When my father and my mother forsake me.”_ As there seems to
be some difficulty in supposing the Psalmist’s parents to have
“deserted” him, they might perhaps be said to have “_forsaken_” him (as
Muis conjectures), that is, to have left him behind them, as being
dead.—_James Merrick, M.A._, 1720-1769.
_Verse 10.—“When my father and my mother forsake me.”_ It is indeed the
nature of all living creatures, though never so tender of their young
ones, yet when they are grown to a ripeness of age and strength, to turn
them off to shift for themselves; and even a father and a mother, as
tender as they are, have yet somewhat of this common nature in them; for
while their children are young they lead them by the hand, but when they
are grown up they leave them to their own legs, and if they chance to
fall let them rise as they can. But God even then takes his children up,
for he knows of what they are made; he knows their strength must be as
well supported as their weakness be assisted; he knows they must as well
be taken up when they fall, as be held up when they stand.—_Sir Richard
Baker._
_Verse 10.—“Father and Mother.”_ First, who are they? Properly and
chiefly our natural parents, of whom we were begotten and born; to whom
(under God) we owe our being and breeding. Yet here, not they only; but
by _synecdoche_ all other kinsfolks, neighbours, friends, acquaintances,
or, indeed, more generally yet, all worldly comforts, stays, and helps
whatsoever. 2. But, then, why these named the rathest, and the rest to
be included in these? Because we promise to ourselves more help from
them than from any of the other. We have a nearer relation to, and a
greater interest in them than any other; and they of all other are the
unlikeliest to forsake us. The very brute creatures forsake not their
young ones. A hen will not desert her chickens, nor a bear endure to be
robbed of her whelps. 3. But, then, thirdly, why _both_ named—_father_
and _mother_ too? Partly because it can hardly be imagined that both of
them should forsake their child, though one should hap to be unkind.
Partly because the _father’s love_ being commonly with more
_providence_, the _mother’s_ with more _tenderness_; both together do
better express than alone either would do, the abundant love of God
towards us, who is infinitely dear over us, beyond the care of the most
provident father, beyond the affection of the tenderest mother. 4. But,
then, fourthly, when may they be said to _forsake_ us? When at any time
they leave us destitute of such help as we stand in need of; whether it
be out of _choice_, when they list not to help us, though they might if
they would; or out of _necessity_, when they cannot help us, though they
would if they could.—_Robert Sanderson._
_Verse 10.—“Then the Lord will take me up.”_ But _dictum factum_: these
are but _words_: Are there producible any _deeds_ to make it good?
Verily, there are, and that to the very letter. When Ishmael’s mother,
despairing of his life, had _forsaken_ him, and laid him down gasping
(his last, for ought she knew or could do to help it), in the
wilderness, the Lord _took him up_; he opened a new spring of water, and
opened her eyes to see it, and so the child was preserved. Genesis xxi.
When Moses’ parents had also _forsaken_ him (for they durst not stand by
him any longer), and laid him down among the rushy flags, the Lord _took
him up_ too. He provided him of a saviour, the king’s own daughter, and
of a nurse the child’s own mother—and so he was preserved too. Exodus
ii. 6-9. Take but two examples more, out of either Testament one. David
and St. Paul, both _forsaken_ of men, both _taken up_ of God. How was
David forsaken, in Psalm cxlii. 4, when he had looked upon his right
hand, and saw no man that would know him; he had no place to fly unto,
and no man cared for his soul. But all the while _Dominus ad dextris_,
there was one at his right hand (though at first he was not aware of
him), ready to _take him up_; as it there followeth, verse 5, “I cried
unto thee, O Lord; I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land
of the living.” And how St. Paul was forsaken; take it from himself, 2
Timothy iv. 16, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men
forsook me:” a heavy case, and had been heavier had there not been one
ready to take his part, at the next verse, “Nevertheless the Lord stood
with me, and strengthened me,” etc. What need we any more witnesses? _In
ore duorum_—in the mouth of two such witnesses the point is sufficiently
established. But you will yet say, these two might testify what they had
already found _post factum_. But David, in the text, pronounceth it _de
futuro_, beforehand, and that somewhat confidently: “_The Lord will take
me up_.” As he doth also elsewhere: “Sure I am that the Lord will avenge
the poor, and maintain the cause of the helpless.” Psalm cxl. But is
there any ground for that? Doubtless there is; a _double_ ground; one in
the _nature_, another in the _promise_ of God. In his _nature_ four
_qualities_ there are (we take leave so to speak, suitably to our own
low apprehensions, for in the Godhead there are properly no
_qualities_); but call them _qualities_ or _attributes_, or what else
you will; there are _four perfections_ in God, opposite to those
_defects_ which in our _earthly parents_ we have found to be the chief
causes why they do so oft _forsake_ us; which give us full assurance
that he will _take us up_ when all other succours fail us. Those are his
_love_, his _wisdom_, his _power_, his _eternity_, and all in his
nature. To which _four_, add his _promise_, and you have the fulness of
all the assurance that can be desired.—_Robert Sanderson._
_Verse 10.—“The Lord will take me up;”_ Hebrew, _will gather me_, that
is, take me into his care and keeping. In the civil law we find
provision made for outcasts and friendless persons; some hospitals to
entertain them, some liberties to comfort and compensate their trouble.
’Tis sure, that in God the forlorn and fatherless find mercy.—_John
Trapp._