will not, but mainly because he cannot. Want follows upon waste, and
debt remains undischarged. Often are the wicked thus impoverished in
this life. Their wanton extravagance brings them down to the usurer’s
door and to the bankrupt’s suit. “_But the righteous sheweth mercy, and
giveth._” Mercy has given to him, and therefore he gives in mercy. He is
generous and prosperous. He is not a borrower, but a giver. So far as
the good man can do it, he lends an ear to the requests of need, and
instead of being impoverished by what he imparts, he grows richer, and
is able to do more. He does not give to encourage idleness, but in real
mercy, which supposes real need. The text suggests to us how much better
it generally is to give than to lend. Generally, lending comes to giving
in the end, and it is as well to anticipate the fact, and by a little
liberality forestall the inevitable. If these two sentences describe the
wicked and the righteous, the writer of these lines has reason to know
that in and about the city of London the wicked are very numerous.
22. “_For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth._” God’s
benediction is true wealth after all. True happiness, such as the
covenant secures to all the chosen of heaven, lies wrapped up in the
divine favour. “_And they that be cursed of him shall be cut off._” His
frown is death; nay, more, ’tis hell.
23. “_The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord._” All his course
of life is graciously ordained, and in lovingkindness all is fixed,
settled, and maintained. No reckless fate, no fickle chance rules us;
our every step is the subject of divine decree. “_He delighteth in his
way._” As parents are pleased with the tottering footsteps of their
babes. All that concerns a saint is interesting to his heavenly Father.
God loves to view the holy strivings of a soul pressing forward to the
skies. In the trials and the joys of the faithful, Jesus has fellowship
with them, and delights to be their sympathising companion.
24. “_Though he fall._” Disasters and reverses may lay him low; he may,
like Job, be stripped of everything; like Joseph, be put in prison; like
Jonah, be cast into the deep. “_He shall not be utterly cast down._” He
shall not be altogether prostrate. He shall be brought on his knees, but
not on his face; or, if laid prone for a moment he shall be up again ere
long. No saint shall fall finally or fatally. Sorrow may bring us to the
earth, and death may bring us to the grave, but lower we cannot sink,
and out of the lowest of all we shall arise to the highest of all. “_For
the Lord upholdeth him with his hand._” Condescendingly, with his own
hand, God upholds his saints; he does not leave them to mere delegated
agency, he affords personal assistance. Even in our falls the Lord gives
a measure of sustaining. Where grace does not keep from going down, it
shall save from keeping down. Job had double wealth at last, Joseph
reigned over Egypt, Jonah was safely landed. It is not that the saints
are strong, or wise, or meritorious, that therefore they rise after
every fall, but because God is their helper, and therefore none can
prevail against them.
25 I have been young, and _now_ am old; yet have I not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
26 _He is_ ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed _is_ blessed.
25. This was David’s observation, “_I have been young, and now am old;
yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging
bread._” It is not my observation just as it stands, for I have relieved
the children of undoubtedly good men, who have appealed to me as common
mendicants. But this does not cast a doubt upon the observation of
David. He lived under a dispensation more outward, and more of this
world than the present rule of personal faith. Never are the righteous
forsaken; that is a rule without exception. Seldom indeed do their seed
beg bread; and although it does occasionally occur, through dissipation,
idleness, or some such causes on the part of their sons, yet doubtless
it is so rare a thing that there are many alive who never saw it. Go
into the union house and see how few are the children of godly parents;
enter the gaol and see how much rarer still is the case. Poor ministers’
sons often become rich. I am not old, but I have seen the families of
the poor godly become rich, and have seen the Lord reward the
faithfulness of the father in the success of the son, so that I have
often thought that the best way to endow one’s seed with wealth is to
become poor for Christ’s sake. In the Indian mission of the “Baptist
Missionary Society,” this is abundantly illustrated.
26. “_He is ever merciful, and lendeth._” The righteous are constantly
under generous impulses; they do not prosper through parsimony, but
through bounty. Like the bounteous giver of all good, of whom they are
the beloved sons, they delight in doing good. How stingy, covetous
professors can hope for salvation is a marvel to those who read such
verses as this in the Bible. “_And his seed is blessed._” God pays back
with interest in the next generation. Where the children of the
righteous are not godly, there must be some reason for it in parental
neglect, or _some_ other guilty cause. The friend of the father is the
friend of the family. The God of Abraham is the God of Isaac and of
Jacob.
27 Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.
28 For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they
are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.
Here we have the seventh precept, which takes a negative and positive
form, and is the quintessence of the entire Psalm.
27. “_Depart from evil, and do good._” We must not envy the doers of
evil, but depart altogether from their spirit and example. As Lot left
Sodom without casting a look behind, so must we leave sin. No truce or
parley is to be held with sin, we must turn away from it without
hesitation, and set ourselves practically to work in the opposite
direction. He who neglects to do good will soon fall into evil. “_And
dwell for evermore._” Obtain an abiding and quiet inheritance.
Shortlived are the gains and pleasures of evil, but eternal are the
rewards of grace.
28. “_For the Lord loveth judgment._” The awarding of honour to whom
honour is due is God’s delight, especially when the upright man has been
traduced by his fellow men. It must be a divine pleasure to right
wrongs, and to defeat the machinations, of the unjust. The great Arbiter
of human destinies is sure to deal out righteous measure both to rich
and poor, to good and evil, for such judgment is his delight. “_And
forsaketh not his saints._” This would not be right, and, therefore,
shall never be done. God is as faithful to the objects of his love as he
is just towards all mankind. “_They are preserved for ever._” By
covenant engagements their security is fixed, and by suretyship
fulfilments that safety is accomplished; come what may, the saints are
preserved in Christ Jesus, and because he lives, they shall live also. A
king will not lose his jewels, nor will Jehovah lose his people. As the
manna in the golden pot, which else had melted, was preserved in the ark
of the covenant beneath the mercy-seat, so shall the faithful be
preserved in the covenant by the power of Jesus their propitiation.
“_But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off._” Like the house of
Jeroboam and Ahab, of which not a dog was left. Honour and wealth
ill-gotten seldom reach the third generation; the curse grows ripe
before many years have passed, and falls upon the evil house. Among the
legacies of wicked men the surest entail is a judgment on their family.
29. “_The righteous shall inherit the land._” As heirs with Jesus
Christ, the Canaan above, which is the antitype of “the land,” shall be
theirs with all covenant blessing. “_And dwell therein for ever._”
Tenures differ, but none can match the holding which believers have of
heaven. Paradise is theirs for ever by inheritance, and they shall live
for ever to enjoy it. Who would not be a saint on such terms? Who would
fret concerning the fleeting treasures of the godless?
30 The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue
talketh of judgment.
31 The law of his God _is_ in his heart; none of his steps shall
slide.
32 The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he
is judged.
30. “_The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom._” Where the whole
Psalm is dedicated to a description of the different fates of the just
and the wicked, it was meet to give a test by which they could be known.
A man’s tongue is no ill index of his character. The mouth betrays the
heart. Good men, as a rule, speak that which is to edifying, sound
speech, religious conversation, consistent with the divine illumination
which they have received. Righteousness is wisdom in action, hence all
good men are practically wise men, and well may the speech be wise.
“_His tongue talketh of judgment._” He advocates justice, gives an
honest verdict on things and men, and he foretells that God’s judgments
will come upon the wicked, as in the former days. His talk is neither
foolish nor ribald, neither vapid nor profane. Our conversation is of
far more consequence than some men imagine.
31. “_The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall
slide._” The best thing in the best place, producing the best results.
Well might the man’s talk be so admirable when his heart was so well
stored. To love holiness, to have the motives and desires sanctified, to
be in one’s inmost nature obedient to the Lord—this is the surest method
of making the whole run of our life efficient for its great ends, and
even for securing the details of it, our _steps_ from any serious
mistake. To keep the even tenor of one’s way, in such times as these, is
given only to those whose hearts are sound towards God, who can, as in
the text, call God their God. Policy slips and trips, it twists and
tacks, and after all is worsted in the long run, but sincerity plods on
its plain pathway and reaches the goal.
32. “_The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him._” If
it were not for the laws of the land, we should soon see a massacre of
the righteous. Jesus was watched by his enemies, who were thirsting for
his blood: his disciples must not look for favour where their Master
found hatred and death.
33. “_The Lord will not leave him in his hand._” God often appears to
deliver his servants, and when he does not do so in this life as to
their bodies, he gives their souls such joy and peace that they
triumphantly rise beyond their tormentor’s power. We may be in the
enemy’s hand for awhile, as Job was, but we cannot be left there. “_Nor
condemn him when he is judged._” Time shall reverse the verdict of
haste, or else eternity shall clear away the condemnation of time. In
due season just men will be justified. Temporary injustices are
tolerated, in the order of Providence, for purposes most wise; but the
bitter shall not always be called sweet, not light for ever be traduced
as darkness; the right shall appear in due season; the fictitious and
pretentious shall be unmasked, and the real and true shall be revealed.
If we have done faithfully, we may appeal from the petty sessions of
society to the solemn assize of the great day.
34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to
inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see _it_.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like
a green bay tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he _was_ not: yea, I sought him, but
he could not be found.
37 Mark the perfect _man_, and behold the upright: for the end of
_that_ man _is_ peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the
wicked shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous _is_ of the LORD; _he is_
their strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver
them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.
34. “_Wait on the Lord._” We have here the eighth precept, and it is a
lofty eminence to attain to. Tarry the Lord’s leisure. Wait in obedience
as a servant, in hope as an heir, in expectation as a believer. This
little word “wait” is easy to say, but hard to carry out, yet faith must
do it. “_And keep his way._” Continue in the narrow path; let no haste
for riches or ease cause unholy action. Let your motto be, “On, on, on,”
Never flag, or dream of turning aside. “He that endureth to the end, the
same shall be saved.” “_And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land._”
Thou shalt have all of earthly good which is really good, and of
heavenly good there shall be no stint. Exaltation shall be the lot of
the excellent. “_When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it._” A
sight how terrible and how instructive! What a rebuke for fretfulness!
what an incentive to gratitude! My soul, be still, as thou foreseest the
end, the awful end of the Lord’s enemies.
35. A second time David turns to his diary, and this time in poetic
imagery tells us of what he had observed. It were well if we too took
notes of divine providences. “_I have seen the wicked in great power._”
The man was terrible to others, ruling with much authority, and carrying
things with a high hand, a Cæsar in might, a Crœsus in wealth. “_And
spreading himself like a green bay tree._” Adding house to house and
field to field, rising higher and higher in the state. He seemed to be
ever verdant like a laurel, he grew as a tree in its own native soil,
from which it had never been transplanted. No particular tree is here
meant, a spreading beech or a wide expanding oak may serve us to realise
the picture; it is a thing of earth, whose roots are in the clay; its
honours are fading leaves; and though its shadow dwarfs the plants which
are condemned to pine beneath it, yet it is itself a dying thing, as the
feller’s axe shall prove. In the noble tree, which claims to be king of
the forest, behold the grandeur of the ungodly to-day; wait awhile and
wonder at the change, as the timber is carried away, and the very root
torn from the ground.
36. “_Yet he passed away._” Tree and man both gone, the son of man as
surely as the child of the forest. What clean sweeps death makes! “_And
lo, he was not._” To the surprise of all men the great man was gone, his
estates sold, his business bankrupt, his house alienated, his name
forgotten, and all in a few months! “_Yea, I sought him, but he could
not be found._” Moved by curiosity, if we enquire for the ungodly, they
have left no trace; like birds of ill omen none desire to remember them.
Some of the humblest of the godly are immortalised, their names are
imperishably fragrant in the church, while of the ablest of infidels and
blasphemers hardly their names are remembered beyond a few years. Men
who were in everybody’s mouths but yesterday are forgotten to-morrow,
for only virtue is immortal.
37. “_Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright._” After having
watched with surprise the downfall of the wicked, give your attention to
the sincerely godly man, and observe the blessed contrast. Good men are
men of mark, and are worth our study. Upright men are marvels of grace,
and worth beholding. “_For the end of that man is peace._” The man of
peace has an end of peace. Peace without end comes in the end to the man
of God. His way may be rough, but it leads home. With believers it may
rain in the morning, thunder at midday, and pour in torrents in the
afternoon, but it must clear up ere the sun goes down. War may last till
our last hour, but then we shall hear the last of it.
38. “_But the transgressors shall be destroyed together._” A common ruin
awaits those who joined in common rebellion. “_The end of the wicked
shall be cut off._” Their time shall be shortened, their happiness shall
be ended, their hopes for ever blasted, their execution hastened on.
Their present is shortened by their sins; they shall not live out half
their days. They have no future worth having, while the righteous count
their future as their true heritage.
39. “_But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord._” Sound
doctrine this. The very marrow of the gospel of free grace. By salvation
is meant deliverance of every kind; not only _the_ salvation which
finally lands us in glory, but all the minor rescues of the way; these
are all to be ascribed unto the Lord, and to him alone. Let him have
glory from those to whom he grants salvation. “_He is their strength in
the time of trouble._” While trouble overthrows the wicked, it only
drives the righteous to their strong Helper, who rejoices to uphold
them.
40. “_And the Lord shall help them._” In all future time Jehovah will
stand up for his chosen. Our Great Ally will bring up his forces in the
heat of the battle. “_He shall deliver them from the wicked._” As he
rescued Daniel from the lions, so will he preserve his beloved from
their enemies; they need not therefore fret, nor be discouraged. “_And
save them, because they trust in him._” Faith shall ensure the safety of
the elect. It is the mark of the sheep by which they shall be separated
from the goats. Not their merit, but their believing, shall distinguish
them. Who would not try the walk of faith? Whoever truly believes in God
will be no longer fretful against the apparent irregularities of this
present life, but will rest assured that what is mysterious is
nevertheless just, and what seems hard, is, beyond a doubt ordered in
mercy. So the Psalm ends with a note which is the death-knell of the
unhallowed disquietude with which the Psalm commenced. Happy they who
can thus sing themselves out of ill frames into gracious conditions.
EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.
_Whole Psalm._—The righteous are preserved in Christ with a special
preservation and in a peculiar safety. In the thirty-seventh Psalm this
point is excellently and at large handled, both by direct proof, and by
answer to all the usual objections against their safety. That they shall
be preserved is affirmed, verses 3, 17, 23, 25, 32. The objections
answered are many.
_Objection 1._—Wicked men flourish.
_Solution._—A righteous man should never grieve at that, for “they shall
soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.” Verse 2.
_Object. 2._—Righteous men are in distress.
_Sol.—Verse 6._—The night of their adversity will be turned into the
light of prosperity; and as surely as they can believe when it is night
that it shall be day, so surely may they be persuaded when crosses are
upon them, that comfort and deliverance shall come.
_Object. 3._—But there are great plots laid against the righteous, and
they are pursued with great malice, and their intended ruin is come
almost to the very issue.
_Sol.—Verses 12-15._—The Lord sees all the plots of wicked men, and
laughs at their spiteful and foolish malice; while they are busy to
destroy the righteous, and hope to have a day against them, “The Lord
seeth that their own day is coming upon them, even a day of destruction,
a day of great judgment and eternal misery;” their bow shall be broken,
and the sword that they have drawn shall enter into their own heart.
_Object. 4._—But the just have but small means.
_Sol.—Verses 16, 17._—“A little that a righteous man hath is better than
the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken:
but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.”
_Object. 5._—Heavy times are like to befall them.
_Sol.—Verse 19._—“They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the
days of famine they shall have enough.”
_Object. 6._—But the wicked wax fatter and fatter, and they prevail in
vexing the righteous.
_Sol.—Verse 20._—Indeed the wicked are fat, but it is but “the fat of
lambs,” their prosperity shall soon melt; and as they be like smoke in
vexing the godly, so shall they be like smoke in vanishing away.
_Object. 7._—But the righteous do fall.
_Sol.—Verse 24_.—Though he do fall, yet he falls not finally, nor
totally, for he “is not utterly cast down;” and besides, there is an
upholding providence of God in all the falls of the righteous.
_Object. 8._—We see some wicked men that do not so fall into adversity,
but rather are in prosperity to their dying days.
_Sol.—Verse 28_.—Though they do, yet “their seed shall be cut off.”
_Object. 9._—But some wicked men are strong yet, and in their seed
spread also.
_Sol.—Verses 35, 36._—Note also that these “spreading bay-trees” many
times “soon pass away;” and they and their houses are sometimes “utterly
cut off.”
_Object. 10._—But upright men are under many and long crosses.
_Sol.—Verse 37._—Yet, “his end is peace.”
_Object. 11_.—But nobody stands for the godly when they come into
question.
_Sol.—Verses 39, 40._—“Their salvation is of the Lord;” he is their
strength, he will help them and deliver them, etc.
But if we would be thus delivered, observe: 1. That we must not
unthankfully fret at God’s providence (verse 1). 2. We must “trust in
the Lord and do good” (verse 3). 3. We must “delight ourselves in the
Lord,” and not place our contentment on earthly things (verse 4). 4. We
must “commit our ways to God” (verse 5). 5. We must get patience and
humble affections (verses 7-11). 6. We must be of upright conversation
(verse 14). 7. We must be merciful (verses 25, 26). 8. We must “speak
righteous things,” and get “the law into our hearts” (verses 30, 31). 9.
We must “keep our way,” and “wait on God,” and not use ill
means.—_Nicholas Byfield._
_Whole Psalm._—This Psalm may well be styled, The good man’s cordial in
bad times: a sovereign plaister for the plague of discontent: or, a
choice antidote against the poison of impatience—_Nathanael Hardy, in a
Funeral Sermon, 1649._
_Whole Psalm._—This Psalm very much reminds one in its construction of
the sententious and pithy conciseness of the Book of Proverbs. It does
not contain any prayer, nor any direct allusion to David’s own
circumstances of persecution or distress. It is rather the utterance of
sound practical wisdom and godliness from the lips of experience and
age, such as we might suppose an elder of the church, or a father of a
family, to let fall as he sat with his household gathered around him,
and listening to his earnest and affectionate admonition.—_Barton
Bouchier._
_Whole Psalm._—The present Psalm is one of the alphabetical Psalms, it
is called “_Providentiæ speculum_,” by Tertullian; “_Potio contra
murmur_,” by Isidore; “_Vestis piorum_,” by Luther.—_Christopher
Wordsworth._
_Verse 1._—“_Fret_,” or, inflame not, burn not thyself with anger or
grief.—_John Diodati._
_Verse 1.—“Neither be thou envious,”_ etc. Queen Elizabeth envied the
milk-maid when she was in prison; but if she had known what a glorious
reign she should have had afterwards for forty-four years, she would not
have envied her. And as little needeth a godly man, though in misery, to
envy a wicked man in the ruff of all his prosperity and jollity,
considering what he hath in hand, much more what he hath in hope.—_John
Trapp._
_Verse 1._—Would it not be accounted folly in a man that is heir to many
thousands per annum that he should envy a stage-player, clothed in the
habit of a king, and yet not heir to one foot of land? who, though he
have the form, respect, and apparel of a king or nobleman, yet he is, at
the same time, a very beggar, and worth nothing? Thus, wicked men,
though they are arrayed gorgeously, and fare deliciously, wanting
nothing, and having more than heart can wish, yet they are but only
possessors: the godly Christian is the heir. What good doth all their
prosperity do them? It does but hasten their ruin, not their reward. The
ox that is the labouring ox is the longer lived than the ox that is put
into the pasture; the very putting of him there doth but hasten his
slaughter; and when God puts the wicked men into fat pastures, into
places of honour and power, it is but to hasten their ruin. Let no man,
therefore, fret himself because of evil doers, nor be envious at the
prosperity of the wicked; for the candle of the wicked shall be put into
everlasting darkness; they shall soon be cut off, and wither as a green
herb.—_Ludovic de Carbone, quoted by John Spencer._