handled, in five branches. 1st. Some think it to be only an ornament of
speech, to grace the language with a sweet emphasis; or a
non-significant word to complete the harmony, lest the verse should halt
for want of a foot, but this conjecture is infirm, and many feet wide
from the truth.
2nd. It is not only an adoration of speech, but signifies _an end_ of
that verse, matter, or Psalm, where it is found, and it is ever in the
end of Psalm and verse, these four places only exempted from this rule:
Psalm lv. 19; lvii. 3; Habakkuk iii. 3, 9. For as we write “finis” at
the end of a book, song, or poem, so the Jews underwrite “Selah,”
“Salome,” or “Amen,” at the end or finishing of any canticle or work.
And the modern Jews at this day, following the opinion of Aben-Ezra,
take “Selah” to be the same with “Amen,” using it at the end of their
epitaphs and prayers twice or thrice indifferently; thus: “Amen, Selah,
Amen, Selah,” which receives some credit from this that the particular
Psalms end with “Selah” (Psalm iii. 8), and the books of Psalms with
“Amen.” For whereas the Psalter is divided into five books, four of them
end with “Amen”—_so be it_. As you shall find: Psalm xli. 13, the end of
the first book; Psalm lxxii. 19, the end of the second book; Psalm
lxxxix. 52, the end of the third; and Psalm cvi. 48, the conclusion of
the fourth.
3rd. _Selah_ is an hyperbole or illustration of the truth by way of
excess in advancing and enlarging it, to make the truth and sense more
clear and evident, as if we should say, “_that is wonderful!_” or,
“_that is excellent!_” and sometimes by way of _aggravation_ that is
“_monstrous_,” “_intolerable_,” “_horrible!_” “_The Lord came from Teman
and the holy One from Mount Paran. Selah._” Habak. iii. 3. _Selah._ 1.
God came with _great dignity_, _excellency_, and _ample majesty_. “Many
there be that say of my soul there is no help for him in God. _Selah._”
Psalm iii. 2. _Selah_, as if he had said, _Oh, monstrous_, and _horrible
blasphemy_, to excommunicate a child out of the favour of his heavenly
Father; and limit his mercy whose hand is _omnipotent_ to relieve all
that rely upon him.
4th. It serves to declare _the eternity of the truth_ revealed in that
Psalm or verse, though perhaps it only began then to be manifested to
the church, or more fully at that time than in former ages. Howsoever,
the people unto whom it was published, or the persons unto whom it was
sent, were otherwise persuaded at the first publication of it. That it
was a veritie from everlasting and shall continue for ever: instance
Psalm iii. 8, “Salvation belongs unto the Lord, thy blessing is upon thy
people. Selah.” As if he had said, “This is a thing beyond all
controversy true, that God hath ever delivered, and will for ever bless
his people.” This doctrine is sempeternal and durable, that the mercy of
the Lord endureth for ever. Psalm cxxxvi.
5th. It did instruct them to meditate seriously upon those themes where
“Selah” was engraven, as containing matter worthy of singular
observation, meditation, and remembrance, as either concerning Christ,
“Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.
Selah.” Psalm xxiv. 10. The mysteries of grace. “The Lord of hosts is
with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” Psalm xlvi. 7. Man’s
duty (Psalm iv. 4; Psalm xxxii. 5), or frailty (Psalm ix. 20; xxxii. 4).
That as the diamond is of greater value than other precious stones, and
the sun is more glorious than the planets, so those sentences are more
resplendent, than other parcels of Scripture. Which though at the first
bare view, it doth not always so appear, there being other texts of Holy
Writ more excellent (if it were meet to make any comparison) where Selah
is not found, yet if we dive into the _occasion_, _scope_, and _nature_
of the sentence, we shall more willingly accept, when we consider, that
it is an usual custom of the Holy Spirit, for our singular instruction
and benefit, to propound things of a low and inferior nature to our
deepest meditation. Instance Psalm ix. 16. “The Lord is known by the
judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own
hands,” which is shut up with “Higgaion Selah,” meditation Selah, as if
he had said, here is a matter worthy of observation and eternal
meditation; the righteous should never forget this, that the wicked
perish in their own counsels, and are taken in their own net. An
observation worthy to be engraven in every religious person’s bosom,
that God will one time or other be known among the wicked by his most
severe judgments executed upon them, though they would never learn by
his patience and mercies to acknowledge him for their Lord. Thus far of
the matter. Now it remains for a conclusion to unfold the several
instructions which “Selah” afforded unto the congregation, which are
these six.
1st. It served as a _note of attention and inattention of the mind_ to
what was sung or said, Ps. iii. v. 2-8, that wheresoever they cast an
eye upon “Selah,” they might conceive they heard the Lord’s voice from
heaven speaking. “Hear this, all ye people, give ear, all ye inhabitants
of the world. Both high and low, rich and poor together.” Ps. xlix. 1,
2. That as their voices were lift up in singing, so much more their
hearts and affections might be elevated, that their voice and hearts
being both in tune, the joint harmony might be sweet in the ears of the
Lord.
2ndly. It was a note of affirmation, whereby they declared their consent
and assent unto the truth delivered, as we say when we approve of
another’s speech; right, just, you say truly, it is most certain. So
their “Selah” was as much as true, certain, excellent. Instance, Ps.
iii. 4, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his
holy hill. _Selah_,” _i.e._, It is most certain that the Lord knows the
secrets of our hearts, and is the judge of the quick and dead, and will
pass most righteous sentence upon us, giving to every man according to
his deeds in the flesh, whether good or evil. Ps. lii. 3. “Thou lovest
evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness.
_Selah._”—that is to say, undeniable, we all confess it, our own
experience and sorrows have made us know this, that those who have not
the fear of God before their eyes love to speak and do all the mischief
they are able against God’s people, to _hurt_ them rather than _help_
them, to wound their innocent reputation rather than preserve it.
3rdly. It was a devout _ejaculation_ of the heart and soul unto God,
wishing and desiring the _accomplishment_ of what was spoken or
promised. Instance, Habak. iii. 13.—“Thou wentest forth for the
salvation of thy people. _Selah._” As if he had said, Lord, I beseech
thee, evermore go out so to deliver thine anointed. Ps. lv. 17-19.
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he
shall hear my voice. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle
that was against me; for there were many with me. God shall hear, and
afflict them, even he that abideth of old. _Selah_,” _i.e._, _O Lord, I
entreat thee_, ever bow down an ear unto my humble suit, and rise up
against them that rise up against me.
4thly. It denoted their _admiration_ at some strange, unusual effect,
whether the work of God, or wickedness of man. Ps. lvii. 3. “He shall
send from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow
me up. _Selah_,” _i.e._, Oh, wonderful and admirable goodness of God,
that is pleased to send sometimes his angel from heaven, always his
mercy and truth, to deliver his poor perplexed servants from them that
are too strong and mighty for them, Ps. liv. 3. “Strangers are risen up
against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God
before them. _Selah_,” _i.e._, _Oh, horrible impiety_ and cruelty to
hunt after the life of the saints, and cast the God of life and his
remembrance behind their backs.
5thly. _Of humiliation and consternation of their mind_, by the
consideration of God’s incomprehensible majesty, and their own great
frailty and misery. Instance, Ps. lxvi. 7. “He ruleth by his power for
ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt
themselves. _Selah_,” _i.e._, here is matter of humiliation before the
King of all the world, Ps. lxviii. 7, 8. “O God, when thou wentest forth
before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness.
_Selah_,” _i.e._, my very heart trembled to consider; I am moved out of
my place, to reflect upon that majesty before whom “the earth shook, the
heavens also dropped at the presence of God; even Sinai itself was moved
at the presence of God, the God of Israel.” Ps. xxxix. 11. “When thou
with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to
consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. _Selah._” As if he
should say, this may humble the proudest heart in the world, and cast
him down to the ground.
6thly. _It was a note of Doxology and praising of God_ in a special
manner, not much unlike, or the very same with this, “For thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.” As for example,
“All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee, they shall
sing to thy name. _Selah_,” Ps. lxvi. 4. “Yea, Lord, in thee will we
boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever. _Selah_,” Ps.
xliv. 8. “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth
wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the
whole earth be filled with his glory; so be it, even so be it.” Ps.
lxxii. 18, 19.—_Edmund Layfielde._
_Verse 6.—“Man walketh in a vain shew.”_ I see that we who live are
nothing else but images, and a vain shadow.—_Sophocles._
_Verse 6 (first clause)._—When in the Bristol election, his competitor
died, Burke said, “What shadows we are, and what shadows we
pursue.”—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 6._—Every carnal man walks _in a vain shew_, and yet how vain is
he of his shew of vanity! He is “_disquieted in vain_,” and it is only
vanity which disquiets him. He labours all his life for the profit of
riches, and yet in death his riches will not profit him. He that views
an ox grazing in a fat pasture, concludes that he is but preparing for
the day of slaughter.—_William Secker._
_Verse 6.—“He heapeth up riches.”_ This is the great foolishness and
disease, especially of old age, that the less way a man has to go, he
makes the greater provision for it. When the hands are stiff, and fit
for no other labour, they are fitted and composed for scraping
together.—_Robert Leighton._
_Verse 6.—“He heapeth up riches.”_ The Hebrew word rendered, “_He
heapeth up_,” signifies _to rake together_; in which there is an
allusion to the husbandman’s collecting his corn together before he
carries it to the barn. The metaphor is elegant, intimating the
precariousness of human life, and the vanity of human acquisitions;
which though heaped up together like corn, by one person, may soon
become the possession of another.—_Samuel Burder._
_Verse 6._—
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow.
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more; it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
_William Shakspeare._
_Verse 6._—The plentiful showers of tears which stand in our eyes when
we come from the womb, and when we draw to the tomb, are faithful
witnesses of man’s vanity. We bid the world “good morrow” with grief,
and “good night” with a groan.—_Edmund Layfielde._
_Verse 7.—“Lord, what wait I for?”_
At first her mother earth she holdeth deare,
And doth embrace the world and worldly things:
She flies close by the ground and houers here
And mounts not up with her celestiall wings.
Yet vnder heauen she cannot light on ought
That with her heauenly nature doth agree;
She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought,
She cannot in this world contented bee.
Then as a bee which among weeds doth fall.
Which seeme sweet flowers with lustre fresh and gay
She lights on that, and this, and tasteth all,
But pleased with none, doth rise, and soare away.
So, when the soule finds here no true content,
And like Noah’s doue, can no sure footing take,
She doth returne from whence she first was sent,
And flies to Him, that first her wings did make.
_Sir John Davies._
_Verse 7._—
O loose this frame, this knot of man untie,
That my free soul may use her wing,
Which is now pinioned with mortality,
As an entangled, hamper’d thing.
What have I left that I should stay and groan?
The most of me to heaven is fled;
My thoughts and joys are all pack’d up and gone.
And for their old acquaintance plead.
_George Herbert._
_Verse 7.—“My hope is in thee.”_ Sweet is it that our hope should rest
in him who is never shaken; should abide in him who never changeth;
should bind us to him who can hold us fast to himself, who alone is the
full contentment of the soul; should, as it were, enter into him; since
“_in_ him is our being,” who is love.—_E. B. Pusey, D.D., 1853._
_Verse 8.—“Make me not the reproach of the foolish.”_ Let not their
prosperity and my misery give them occasion to deride and reproach me
for my serving of thee and trusting in thee to so little
purpose.—_Matthew Pool._
_Verse 8.—“Make me not the reproach of the foolish.”_ Doubt not this;
that of all the bitter agony which will be the portion of the lost soul
at that, “Depart, ye cursed,” not the least will be the bitter
reproaches and derision of those evil spirits who have seduced him to
his ruin. “For this morsel of meat to have sold thy birthright! For the
fleshly pleasures of a few days to have bartered thine eternal jewel!
For a few grains of yellow earth to have missed the city with streets of
gold, and gates of several pearls! O fool, beyond all folly! O madman,
beyond all insanity! Truly we have need to pray with all earnestness,
‘_Make me not the reproach of the foolish._’”—_Origen, quoted by J. M.
Neale._
_Verse 9.—“I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.”_
See David’s carriage here; it was a patience not constrained, but from
satisfaction of spirit: he saw love in his affliction, and that
sweetened his soul.—_Joseph Symonds._
_Verse 9.—“I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it.”_
God is training up his children here. This is the true character of his
dealings with them. The education of his saints is the object he has in
view. It is training for the kingdom; it is education for eternity....
It is the discipline of love. Every step of it is kindness. There is no
wrath nor vengeance in any part of the process. The discipline of the
school may be harsh and stern; but that of the family is love, We are
sure of this; and the consolation which it affords is unutterable. Love
will not wrong us. There will be no needless suffering. Were this but
kept in mind there would be fewer hard thoughts of God amongst men, even
when his strokes are most severe. I know not a better illustration of
what the feelings of a saint should be, in the hour of bitterness, than
the case of Richard Cameron’s father. The aged saint was in prison “for
the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The bleeding
head of his martyred son was brought to him by his unfeeling
persecutors, and he was asked derisively if he knew it. “I know it, I
know it,”—said the father, as he kissed the mangled forehead of his
fair-haired son—“it is my son’s, my own dear son’s! It is the Lord! good
is the will of the Lord, who cannot wrong me or mine, but who hath made
goodness and mercy to follow us all our days.”—_Horatius Bonar, in “The
Night of Weeping,” 1847._
_Verse 9.—“Because thou didst it.”_ This holy man had a breach made both
at his body and spirit at this time; he was sick and sad; yet he
remembers from whose hand the blow came. Thou, Lord, didst it; thou,
whom I love dearly, and so can take it kindly; thou whom I have
offended, and so take it patiently; yea, thou, who mightest have cast me
into a bed of flames, instead of my bed of sickness, and therefore I
accept thy correction thankfully. Thus he catches at the blow without
retorting it back upon God by any quarrelling discontented
language.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 9.—“Because thou didst it.”_ We digest not a blow from our
equals, but a blow from our king we can well digest. If the King of
kings lays his hand on our backs, let us, beloved, lay our hands on our
mouths. I am sure this stopped David’s mouth from venting fretful
speeches. “I held my tongue and said nothing.” Why didst thou so, David?
“_Because thou, Lord, didst it_;” and God gives this testimony of such
an one; that he is a prudent man that keeps silence at an evil time.
Amos v. 13.—_Nicholas Estwick, B.D., 1644._
_Verse 9._—Perkins, in his “_Salve for a Sick Man_,” gives the “last
words” of many holy men, among others of Calvin:—“I held my tongue,
because thou, Lord, hast done it—I mourned as a dove—Lord, thou grindest
me to powder, but it sufficeth me because it is thy hand.”
_Verse 9._—I wondered once at providence, and called white providence
black and unjust, that I should be smothered in a town where no soul
will take Christ off my hand. But providence hath another lustre[14]
with God than with my bleared eyes. I proclaim myself a blind body, who
knoweth not black and white, in the unco[15] course of God’s providence.
Suppose that Christ should set hell where heaven is and devils up in
glory beside the elect angels (which yet cannot be), I would I had a
heart to acquiesce in his way, without further dispute. I see that
infinite wisdom is the mother of his judgments, and that his ways pass
finding out. I cannot learn, but I desire to learn, to bring my
thoughts, will, and lusts in under[16] Christ’s feet, that he may
trample upon them. But, alas! I am still upon Christ’s wrong
side.—_Samuel Rutherford._
_Verse 9._—A little girl, in the providence of God, was born deaf and
dumb. She was received, and instructed, at an institution established
for these afflicted ones. A visitor was one day requested to examine the
children thus sadly laid aside from childhood’s common joys. Several
questions were asked, and quickly answered by means of a slate and
pencil. At length the gentleman wrote, “_Why were you born deaf and
dumb?_” A look of anguish clouded for the moment the expressive face of
the little girl; but it quickly passed, as she took her slate, and
wrote, “_Even so, Father; for so it seemeth good in thy sight._”—_Mrs.
Rogers, in “The Shepherd King.”_
_Verse 10.—“Remove thy plague away from me:”_ thy plague and mine; thine
by affliction, mine by passion; thine because thou didst send it, mine
because I endure it; thine because it comes from thy justice, mine
because it answers my injustice; remit what I have done, and remove what
thou hast done. But whosoever laid it on, the Lord will take
off.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 10.—“Remove,”_ etc. Having first prayed off his sin, he would now
pray off his pain, though it less troubled him; and for ease he
repaireth to _Jehovah that healeth_, as well as woundeth. Hosea vi.
1.—_John Trapp._
_Verse 11.—“Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.”_ The
meaning may be, As the moth crumbles into dust under the slightest
pressure, or the gentlest touch, so man dissolves with equal ease, and
vanishes into darkness, under the finger of the Almighty.—_Paxton’s
Illustrations of Scripture._
_Verse 11.—“Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.”_ Moths
I must not omit naming. I once saw some knives, the back bone hafts of
which were said to have been half-consumed by them. I also saw the
remains of a hair-seated sofa which had been devoured. It is no uncommon
thing to find dresses consumed in a single night. In Isaiah li. 6, “wax
old” probably refers to a garment that is moth-eaten. So in Psalm vi. 7,
and xxxi. 9, “_consumed_” means moth-eaten; and again in Psalm xxxix.
11.—_John Gadsby._
_Verse 11.—“Like a moth.”_ The moths of the East are very large and
beautiful, but short lived. After a few showers these splendid insects
may be seen fluttering in every breeze, but the dry weather, and their
numerous enemies, soon consign them to the common lot. Thus the beauty
of man consumes away like that of this gay rover, dressed in his robes
of purple, and scarlet, and green.—_John Kitto._
_Verse 11._—The body of man is as a “garment” to the soul: in this
garment sin hath lodged a “moth,” which, by degrees, fretteth and
weareth away, first, the beauty, then the strength, and, finally, the
contexture of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a
consumption, or any other lingering distemper, nay, the slow and silent
devastations of time alone, in the human frame, will need no farther
illustration of this just and affecting similitude; but will discern at
once the propriety of the reflection which follows upon it.—_“Surely
every man is vanity.” George Horne._
_Verse 11.—“Surely every man is vanity.”_ What is greatness? Can we
predicate it of man, independently of his qualities as an immortal
being? or of his actions, independently of principles and motives? Then
the glitter of nobility is not superior to the plumage of the peacock;
nor the valour of Alexander to the fury of a tiger; nor the sensual
delights of Epicurus to those of any animal that roams the
forest.—_Ebenezer Porter, D.D., in Lectures on Homiletics, 1834._
_Verse 12.—“Hear my prayer, O Lord.”_ etc. Now, in this prayer of David,
we find three things, which are the chief qualifications of all
acceptable prayers. The first is _humility_. He humbly confesses his
sins, and his own weakness and worthlessness. We are not to put on a
stoical, flinty kind of spirit under our affliction, that so we may seem
to shun womanish repinings and complaints, lest we run into the other
evil, of _despising the hand of God_, but we are to humble our proud
hearts, and break our unruly passions.... The second qualification of
this prayer is, _fervency_ and _importunity_, which appears in the
elegant gradation of the words, “_Hear my prayer_,” my words; if not
that, yet “_Give ear to my cry_,” which is louder; and if that prevail
not, yet, “_Hold not thy peace at my tears_,” which is the loudest of
all; so David, elsewhere, calls it “_the voice of my weeping_.”... The
third qualification is _faith_, “He who comes to God must believe that
he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb.
xi. 6. And, certainly, as he that comes to God must believe this, so he
that believes this, cannot but come to God; and if he be not presently
answered, “he that believes makes no haste,” he resolves patiently to
wait for the Lord, and to go to no other.—_Condensed from Robert
Leighton._
_Verse 12.—“Hold not thy peace at my tears.”_ We may, in all humility,
plead our heart-breakings and weepings in sense of want of mercies which
we crave, and our pantings and faintings after the same.—_Thomas
Cobbett._
_Verse 12.—“For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my
fathers were.”_ Both in thy judgment expressed (Levit. xxv. 23), and in
their own opinion (Heb. xi. 13), Upon which account thou didst take a
special care of them, and therefore do so to me also.—_Matthew Pool._