ears are open unto their cry.”_ Strangers may howl, and we take little
notice what they ail—it is a venture whether we relieve them or no; but
if our children cry, being in great distress, we hasten to their help.
Our relation to God may well strengthen our hope that our desires shall
be heard. He that can cry, _Abba_, Father, may be confident of the
success of his suit, and that God wilt deal with him as a son.—_George
Swinnock._
_Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.”_ God
is _nigh unto them_ (with reverence be it spoken), God takes so much
complacency in the company of such, that he cannot endure to have them
far from him; he must have them always nigh to him, always under his
eyes; as for these “_broken_” ones, he will be sure not to leave them
long, nor to go far from them, but will be ready at hand to set their
bones, to bind up their wounds to keep them from festering. It may be he
may put them to much pain before he brings the cure to perfection, but
it is to prevent future aches. He is a foolish cruel chirurgeon, who,
for fear of putting his patient to some pain, never searcheth the wound,
but skins it over presently; and a wise man will not think him
unmerciful that puts him to exquisite pain, so he make a thorough cure
of it. Thus God doth by his patients sometimes, when the nature of their
distemper calls for it. But, however, he will be sure not to be out of
the way when they want him most. It is possible they may look upon
themselves as forgotten by God, they may not know their Physician when
he is by them, and they may take their Friend for an enemy; they may
think God far off when he is near; but when their eyes are opened and
their distemper is pretty well worn off, they will, with shame and
thankfulness, acknowledge their error; nay, they do from their souls
confess, that they do not deserve the least look of kindness from God,
but to be counted strangers and enemies; but God will let them know that
he loves to act like himself, that is, like a God of love, mercy, and
goodness; and that they are the persons that he hath set his heart upon;
he will have them in his bosom, never leave them nor forsake them; and
though these contrite ones many times look upon themselves as lost, yet
God will save them, and they shall sing a song of thankfulness amongst
his delivered ones.—_James Janeway._
_Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them,”_ etc. Consider the ADVANTAGES
of this broken heart; as I. A broken heart is acceptable and well
pleasing to God, “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not
despise.” Psalm li. 17. II. It makes up many defects in your service and
duties, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” Psalm li. 17. III.
It makes the soul a fit receptacle for God to dwell in, “For thus saith
the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I
dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and
humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the
heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah lvii. 15. IV. It brings God near to
men, “_The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit._” Psalm xxxiv. 18. And V. It lays you
open to Christ’s sweet healing, “I will bind up that which was broken,
and will strengthen that which was sick.” Ezek. xxxiv. 16. And, oh, who
would not be broken that they may find Christ’s soft hand healing them,
and find the proof of that sweet word, “For I will restore health unto
thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” Jer. xxx. 17.
Yea, VI. It puts you in the right road to heaven, where all your wounds
and bruises will be cured; for there is a tree (Rev. xxii. 2) the leaves
whereof are for the healing of the nations; there is no complaining
there of wounds or bruises, but all are perfectly healed.—_John
Spalding, in “Synaxis Sacra, or a Collection of Sermons_,” etc., 1703.
_Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them,”_ etc. We are apt to overlook
men, in proportion as they are humbled beneath us; God regards them in
that proportion. Vessels of honour are made of that clay which is
“_broken_” into the smallest parts. _George Horne._
_Verse 18.—“Broken heart ... contrite spirit.”_ Oh, this is the misery
of all miseries which ministers have most cause to complain of, that men
are not fitted enough for Jesus Christ, they are not lost enough in
themselves for a Saviour. “In thee the fatherless findeth mercy.” Hosea
xiv. 3. Were we more hopeless, helpless, and fatherless, we should find
more mercy from the hand of Jesus Christ. O that God would awaken and
shake some sin-sleeping soul this day! O that this doctrine thus opened
might be as a thunderbolt to let some of you see the inside of
yourselves! O poor sinner, thou hast an unsupportable burden of sin and
guilt lying on thy soul, ready to press thee down to hell, and yet thou
feelest it not; thou hast the wrath of God hanging over thy head by the
twined thread of a short life, which it may be thou mayest not be free
from one year, nay, perhaps not one month, but thou seest it not; if
thou didst but see it, then thou wouldest cry out as he did in Bosworth
field, “A horse! a horse! a kingdom for a horse!” So thou wouldest cry
out, None but Christ! nothing but Christ! ten thousand worlds for
Christ! _James Nalton, 1664._
_Verse 18.—“A contrite spirit.”_ דַּכְּאֵי־רוּחַ, _dakkeey ruach_, “the
beaten-out spirit.” In both words the _hammer_ is necessarily implied;
in breaking to pieces the ore first, and then plating out the metal when
it has been separated from the ore. This will call to the reader’s
remembrance Jer. xxiii. 29, “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the
Lord: and like a _hammer_ that breaketh the _rock_ in pieces?” The
_breaking to shivers_, and _beating out_ are metaphorical expressions:
so are the _hammer_ and the _rock_. What the large _hammer_ struck on a
rock by a powerful hand would do, so does the word of the Lord when
struck on the sinner’s heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. The
_broken heart_, and the _contrite spirit_, are two essential
characteristics of true repentance.—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 19.—“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,”_ etc. Be our
troubles many in number, strange in nature, heavy in measure; yet God’s
mercies are more numerous, his wisdom more wondrous, his power more
miraculous; he will deliver us out of all.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 19.—“Many are the afflictions of the righteous,”_ etc. When David
did behold his trouble, like the host of the Aramites (2 Kings vi. 16),
he looked back unto God like Elisha, and spied one with him stronger
than all against him. Therefore, respecting his afflictions he crieth,
“_Many are the troubles of the righteous_;” respecting the promise he
sayeth, “_The Lord delivereth him out of all_.” Thus, by his own foot,
David measureth the condition of the righteous, and saith, “_Many are
the troubles of the righteous_;” and then, by his own cure, he showeth
how they should be healed by saying, “_The Lord will deliver him out of
them all_.”... The lawyer can deliver his client but from strife, the
physician can deliver his patient but from sickness, the master can
deliver his servant but from bondage, but the Lord delivereth us from
_all_. As when Moses came to deliver the Israelites, he would not leave
a hoof behind him, so when the Lord cometh to deliver the righteous he
will not leave a trouble behind him. He who saith, “I put away all thine
iniquities,” will also say, “I put away all thine infirmities.”—_Henry
Smith._
_Verse 20.—“He keepeth all his bones,”_ which were very many. Perhaps
(saith Abenezra here), David had been scourged by the Philistines, but
his bones were not broken, nor were our Saviour’s. John xix. 36.—_John
Trapp._
_Verse 20.—“All his bones.”_ Muis observes, “It says not his _body_, for
this he permits to be afflicted; but it signifies that the evils of the
godly are light, and scarcely penetrate to the bone;” but Geier
observes, “This is too subtle, rather the bone reminds us of the
essential parts of the body, by whose injury the whole frame is
endangered. It is a proverbial form of speech like that in Matt. x. 30,
‘The very hairs of your head are all numbered,’ expressing the
remarkable defence afforded to the righteous.” Genebrard, says, “The
bones are put by synecdoche for all the members.”—_From Poli Synopsis._
_Verse 20._—The passover lamb, of which not a bone was broken,
prefigured Jesus as one, “not a bone of whose body should be broken;”
and yet, at the same time it prefigured the complete keeping and safety
of Christ’s body, the church; as it is written, “_He keepeth all his
bones; not one of them is broken_.”—_Andrew A. Bonar’s Commentary on
Leviticus._
_Verse 20._—Christ’s bones were in themselves breakable, but could not
actually be broken by all the violence in the world, because God had
fore-decreed, _a bone of him shall not be broken_. So we confess God’s
children mortal; but all the power of devil or man may not, must not,
cannot, kill them before their conversion, according to God’s election
of them to life, which must be fully accomplished.—_Thomas Fuller._
_Verse 20._—Observe as a point of resemblance between this and the
following Psalm, the mention of the bones here and in Psalm xxxv.
10.—_C. Wordsworth._
_Verse 21.—“Evil.”_ Afflictions though in the plural, prove not ruinous
to the righteous, for the Lord delivers him out of them all, whereas
_evil_ in _the singular_ slays the wicked, to signify the difference of
God’s economy towards righteous and wicked men. The former is permitted
to fall into many pressures, the latter is not so frequently exercised
with them, yet the many that befall the one do no hurt, but work good
for him, whereas the fewer that befall the wicked, or perhaps the _one
singular affliction_ of his life is the utter ruin of him.—_Henry
Hammond._
_Verse 21_:—
Conscience’ self the culprit tortures, gnawing him with pangs
unknown;
For that now amendment’s season is for ever past and gone,
And that late repentance findeth pardon none for all her moan.
S. Peter Damiano, 988-1072.
_Verse 21.—“Shall be desolate.”_ In the margin it is, _shall be guilty_.
And this is the proper meaning of the original word, יֶאְשָׁמו. They are
guilty, and liable to punishment. Thus the word is frequently rendered
in our version (see Levit. iv. 13, 22); and generally includes in it the
idea of guilt, and the punishment incurred by it.—_Samuel Chandler,
D.D._
_Verse 22._—The promises of God to his church, and his threatenings of
sin recorded in the living book of his word, are not antiquate; no age
shall ever superannuate them, or put them out of full force and virtue.
What if good persons and good causes do suffer oppression? The poet is a
divine in that case—
_Informes hiemes reducit
Jupiter; idem
Summovet. Non si male nunc, et olim
Sic erit._
After foul weather comes fair; though it be ill with us now, it will not
be always. What if enemies of religion and moths of commonwealth do
flourish and prosper, and have all things at will, let it not trouble
David and Job; both of them saw as fair a sunshine shut up in a dark
cloud, and a world of foul weather following.—_Edward Marbury._
_Verse 22._—Satan cannot tempt longer than God shall give him leave; and
he will never suffer thee to be tempted above measure, but will give a
good issue unto the temptation. Thou art called to fight under the
banner of Christ Jesus, and in the name of the Lord thou shalt be
enabled to do valiantly and overcome. If Satan continue his assaults,
“God’s grace is sufficient for thee.” 2 Cor. xii. 9. If thy strength be
clean gone, God’s power shall be magnified the more in thee, and he hath
brought thee low that thou mayest not trust in thyself, but in the
living Lord, and that the whole praise of the victory might be ascribed
unto him. If thy strength did remain, it was not to be leaned unto; and
now it is decayed and gone, there is no cause of fear for the Lord will
be thy stay. In the most difficult assaults and tedious encounters, we
are exhorted to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
Be of good courage, and God will grant thee an easy, a joyful victory.
Satan’s drift in tempting is to turmoil, dishearten, and perplex with
fears, and drive into despair; and if thou take heart to rest quietly
upon God’s grace, and fly unto his name, thou shalt put him to flight,
thou hast already got the day. Wait but awhile, and these dark mists and
terrible storms shall be dispersed. By these temptations the Lord hath
taught thee to see thy weakness, and the malice of Satan; to deny thine
own wisdom and prize his favour, lightly to esteem all things here
below, and highly to value mercy reaching to the pardon of sin, and
heavenly communion, and fellowship with God. And if this bitter potion
hath wrought so kindly for thy spiritual good, why shouldst thou be
dismayed? Trust in the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen
thee. “_The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them
that trust in him shall be desolate._”—_John Ball._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1._—Firm resolution, serious difficulties in carrying it out,
helps for its performance, excellent consequences of so doing.
Six questions.—_Who?_ “I.” _What?_ “Will bless.” _Whom?_ “The Lord.”
_When?_ “At all times.” _How?_ _Why?_
_Verse 1._—Direction for making a heaven below.
_Verse 2._—The commendable boaster and his gratified audience.
We may boast of the Lord, in himself, his manifestations of himself, his
relationship to us, our interest in him, our expectations from him, etc.
The duty of believers to relate their experience for the benefit of
others.
_Verse 3._—Invitation to united praise.
_Verse 3._—_Magnifying_—or making great the work of God, a noble
exercise.
_Verse 4._—_Confessions of a ransomed soul._ Simple, honouring to God,
exclude merit, and encourage others to seek also.
_Verse 4._—_Four stages_, “fears,” “sought,” “heard,” “delivered.”
_Verse 5._—The power of a faith-look.
_Verse 6._—I. The poor man’s heritage, “troubles.” II. The poor mans
friend. III. The poor man’s cry. IV. The poor man’s salvation.
_Verse 6._—The poor man’s wealth.
The position of prayer in the economy of grace, or the natural history
of mercy in the soul.
_Verse 7._—_Castra angelorum, salvatio bonorum._
_Verse 7._—The ministry of angels.
In what sense Jesus is “The angel of the Lord.”
_Verse 8._—Experience the only true test of religious truth.
_Verse 8._—_Taste._ The sanctified palate, the _recherché_ provision,
the gratified verdict, the celestial host.
_Verse 9._—The blest estate of a God-fearing man.
_Verse 9._—Fear expelling fear. _Similia similibus curantur._
_Verse 10._—Lions lacking, but the children satisfied. See “Spurgeon’s
Sermons,” No. 65. I. Description of a true Christian, “seek the Lord.”
II. The promise set forth by a contrast. III. The promise fulfilled.
_Verse 10._—What is a good thing?
_Verse 11._—A royal teacher, his youthful disciples, his mode of
instruction, “Come;” his choice subject.
_Verse 11._—Sunday-school work.
_Verses 12, 13, 14._—How to make the best of both worlds.
_Verse 13._—Sins of the tongue—their mischief, their cause, and their
cure.
_Verse 14 (first clause)._—The relation between the negative and
positive virtues.
_Verse 14 (second clause)._—_The royal hunt._ The game, the difficulties
of the chase, the hunters, their methods, and their rewards.
_Verse 15._—Our observant God. Eyes and ears both set on us.
_Verse 16._—The evil man checkmated in life, and forgotten in death.
_Verse 17._—_Afflictions and their threefold blessing._ I. They make us
pray. II. They bring us the Lord’s hearing ear. III. They afford room
for joyful experience of deliverance.
_Verse 18._—The nearness of God to broken hearts, and the certainty of
their salvation.
_Verse 19._—Black and white, or bane and antidote.
Special people, special trials, special deliverances, special faith as a
duty.
_Verse 20._—The real safety of a believer when in great perils. His
soul, his spiritual life, his faith, hope, love, etc.; his interest in
Jesus, his adoption, justification, these all kept.
_Verse 21._—Wickedness, its own executioner, illustrated by scriptural
cases, by history, by the lost in hell. Lessons from the solemn fact.
The forlorn condition of a man of malicious spirit.
_Verses 21, 22._—Who shall and who shall not be desolate.
_Verse 22._—_Redemption_ in its various meanings; _faith_ in its
universal preservation; _the Lord_ in his unrivalled glory in the work
of grace.
PSALM XXXV.
TITLE.—A Psalm of David.—_Here is all we know concerning this Psalm, but
internal evidence seems to fix the date of its composition in those
troublous times when Saul hunted David over hill and dale, and when
those who fawned upon the cruel king, slandered the innocent object of
his wrath, or it may be referred to the unquiet days of frequent
insurrections in David’s old age. The whole Psalm is the appeal to
heaven of a bold heart and a clear conscience, irritated beyond measure
by oppression and malice. Beyond a doubt David’s Lord may be seen here
by the spiritual eye._
DIVISIONS.—_The most natural mode of dividing this Psalm is to note its
triple character. Its complaint, prayer, and promise of praise are
repeated with remarkable parallelism three times, even as our Lord in
the Garden prayed three times using the same words. The first portion
occupies from verse 1 to 10, the second from 11 to 18, and the last from
19 to the close: each section ending with a note of grateful song._
EXPOSITION.
Plead _my cause_, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight
against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop _the way_ against them that
persecute me: say unto my soul, I _am_ thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul:
let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my
hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind; and let the angel of the
LORD chase _them_.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery; and let the angel of the LORD
persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net _in_ a pit,
_which_ without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he
hath hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his
salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which
deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the
poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
1. “_Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me._” Plead
against those who plead against me; strive with my strivers; contend
with my contenders. If they urge their suit in the law-court, Lord, meet
them there, and beat them at their own weapons. Every saint of God shall
have this privilege: the accuser of the brethren shall be met by the
Advocate of the saints. “_Fight against them that fight against me._” If
my adversaries try force as well as fraud, be a match for them; oppose
thy strength to their strength. Jesus does this for all his beloved—for
them he is both intercessor and champion; whatever aid they need they
shall receive from him, and in whatever manner they are assaulted they
shall be effectually defended. Let us not fail to leave our case into
the Lord’s hand. Vain is the help of man, but ever effectual is the
interposition of heaven. What is here asked for as a boon, may be
regarded as a promise, to all the saints; in judgment they shall have a
divine advocate, in warfare a divine protection.
2 “_Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help._” In
vivid metaphor the Lord is pictured as coming forth armed for battle,
and interposing himself between his servant and his enemies. The greater
and lesser protections of providence may be here intended by the two
defensive weapons, and by the Lord’s standing up is meant his active and
zealous preservation of his servant in the perilous hour. This poetic
imagery shows how the Psalmist realised the existence and power of God;
and thought of him as a real and actual personage, truly working for his
afflicted.
3. “_Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that
persecute me._” Before the enemy comes to close quarters the Lord can
push them off as with a long spear. To stave off trouble is no mean act
of lovingkindness. As when some valiant warrior with his lance blocks up
a defile, and keeps back a host until his weaker brethren have made good
their escape, so does the Lord often hold the believer’s foes at bay
until the good man has taken breath, or clean fled from his foes. He
often gives the foes of Zion some other work to do, and so gives rest to
his church. What a glorious idea is this of Jehovah blocking the way of
persecutors, holding them at the pike’s end, and giving time for the
hunted saint to elude their pursuit! “_Say unto my soul, I am thy
salvation._” Besides holding off the enemy the Lord can also calm the
mind of his servant by express assurance from his own mouth, that he is,
and shall be, safe under the Almighty wing. An inward persuasion of
security in God is of all things the most precious in the furnace of
persecution. One word from the Lord quiets all our fears.
4. “_Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul._”
There is nothing malicious here, the slandered man simply craves for
justice, and the petition is natural and justifiable. Guided by God’s
good spirit the Psalmist foretells the everlasting confusion of all the
haters of the righteous. Shameful disappointment shall be the portion of
the enemies of the gospel, nor would the most tender-hearted Christian
have it otherwise: viewing sinners as men, we love them and seek their
good, but regarding them as enemies of God, we cannot think of them with
anything but detestation, and a loyal desire for the confusion of their
devices. No loyal subject can wish well to rebels. Squeamish
sentimentality may object to the strong language here used, but in their
hearts all good men wish confusion to mischief-makers.
5. “_Let them be as chaff before the wind._” They were swift enough to
attack, let them be as swift to flee. Let their own fears and the alarms
of their consciences unman them so that the least breeze of trouble
shall carry them hither and thither. Ungodly men are worthless in
character, and light in their behaviour, being destitute of solidity and
fixedness; it is but just that those who make themselves chaff should be
treated as such. When this imprecation is fulfilled in graceless men,
they will find it an awful thing to be for ever without rest, without
peace of mind, or stay of soul, hurried from fear to fear, and from
misery to misery. “_And let the angel of the Lord chase them._” Fallen
angels shall haunt them, good angels shall afflict them. To be pursued
by avenging spirits will be the lot of those who delight in persecution.
Observe the whole scene as the Psalmist sketches it: the furious foe is
first held at bay, then turned back, then driven to headlong flight, and
chased by fiery messengers from whom there is no escape, while his
pathway becomes dark and dangerous, and his destruction overwhelming.
6. “_Let their way be dark and slippery._” What terrors are gathered
here! No light, no foothold, and a fierce avenger at their heels! What a
doom is appointed for the enemies of God! They may rage and rave to-day,
but how altered will be their plight ere long! “_And let the angel of
the Lord persecute them._” He will follow them hot-foot, as we say,
never turning aside, but like a trusty pursuivant serving the writ of
vengeance upon them, and arresting them in the name of unflinching
justice. Woe, woe, woe, unto those who touch the people of God; their
destruction is both swift and sure.