is here meant? Plainly, the one which was already extant when the
Psalmist was writing. If the Psalmist was David himself (as the title of
the Psalm seems to affirm), the only parts of the Hebrew Scriptures then
extant, and of course, the only part to which he could refer, must have
been the Pentateuch, and perhaps the book of Joshua. Beyond any
reasonable doubt, then, the κεφαλὶς βιβλίον (מְגִלַּת סֵפֶר) was the
Pentateuch.... But I apprehend the meaning of the writer to be, that the
_book of the law_, which prescribes sacrifices that were merely σκιαὶ or
παραβολαὶ of the great atoning sacrifice by Christ, did itself teach, by
the use of these, that something of a higher and better nature was to be
looked for than Levitical rites. In a word, it pointed to the Messiah;
or, some of the contents of the _written_ law had respect to him.—_Moses
Stuart, M.A., in “A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews,” 1851._
_Verse 7.—“The volume of the book,”_ etc. When I first considered Rom.
v. 14 and other Scriptures in the New Testament which make the first
Adam, and the whole story of him both before and after, and in his
sinning or falling, to be the type and lively shadow of Christ, the
second Adam; likewise observing that the apostle Paul stands admiring at
the greatness of this mystery or mystical type, the Christ, the second
Adam should so wonderfully be shadowed forth therein, as Eph. v. 32, he
cries out, “This is a great mystery,” which he speaks applying and
fitting some passages about Adam and Eve unto Christ and his church; it
made me more to consider an interpretation of a passage in Heb. x. 7,
out of Psalm xl. 7, which I before had not only not regarded, but wholly
rejected, as being too like a postil[18] gloss. The passage is, that
“when Christ came into the world,” to take our nature on him, he alleged
the reason of it to be the fulfilling of a Scripture written in “the
beginning of God’s book,” ἐν κεφαλίδι Βιβλίου, so out of the original
the words may be, and are by many interpreters, translated, though our
translation reads them only thus, “_In the volume of the book it is
written of me._” It is true, indeed, that in the fortieth Psalm, whence
they are quoted, the words in the Hebrew may signify no more than that
in God’s book (the manner of writing which was anciently in rolls of
parchment, folded up in a volume) Christ was everywhere written and
spoken of. Yet the word κεφαλις, which out of the Septuagint’s
translation the apostle took, signifying, as all know, the beginning of
a book; and we finding such an emphasis set by the apostle in the fifth
chapter of the Ephesians, upon the history of Adam in the beginning of
Genesis, as containing the mystery, yea, the great mystery about Christ,
it did somewhat induce, though not so fully persuade, me to think, that
the Holy Ghost in those words might have some glance at the story of
Adam in the first of the first book of Moses. And withal the rather
because so, the words so understood do intimate a higher and further
inducement to Christ to assume our nature, the scope of the speech, Heb.
x., being to render the reason why he so willingly took man’s nature:
not only because God liked not sacrifice and burnt-offering, which came
in but upon occasion of sin, and after the fall, and could not take sins
away, but further, that he was prophesied of, and his assuming a body
prophetically foresignified as in the fortieth Psalm, so even by Adam’s
story before the fall, recorded in the very beginning of Genesis, which
many other Scriptures do expressly apply it unto.—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verse 8.—“I delight to do thy will, O my God.”_ The will of God to
redeem sinners by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, was most
grateful and pleasing to the very heart of Christ. It is said, Prov.
viii. 31, when he was solacing himself in the sweetest enjoyment of his
Father, whilst he lay in that blessed bosom of delights, yet the very
prospect of this work gave him pleasure, then his “delights were with
the sons of men.” And when he was come into the world, and had endured
many abuses and injuries, and was even now come to the most difficult
part of the work; yet, “how am I straitened, or pained (saith he), till
it be accomplished!” Luke xii. 50. Two things call our thoughts to stay
upon them in this point. First.—The _decency_ of it—why it ought to be
so. 1.—It became Christ to go about this work with cheerfulness and
delight, that thereby he might give his death the nature and formality
of a sacrifice. In all sacrifices you shall find that God had still a
regard, a special respect to the will of the offerer. See Exod. xxxv. 5,
21, and Levit. i. 3. 2.—It ought to be so in view of the unity of
Christ’s will with the Father’s. 3.—This was necessary to commend the
love of Jesus Christ to us for whom he gave himself. That he came into
the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude; but that he
came in love to our souls, and underwent all his sufferings with such
willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension.
4.—It was necessary to be so for the regulating of all our obedience to
God, according to this pattern; that seeing and setting this great
example of obedience before us, we might never grudge nor grumble at any
duty or suffering that God should call us to. _Secondly._—Let us
consider and examine whence it came to be so pleasant and acceptable to
Jesus Christ, to come into the world and die for poor sinners. 1.—That
in his sufferings there would be made a glorious display and
manifestation of the divine attributes. 2.—Another delightful prospect
Christ had of the fruit of his sufferings, was the recovery and
salvation of all the elect by his death; and though his sufferings were
exceedingly bitter, yet such fruit of them as this was exceedingly
sweet. 3.—Add to this, the glory which would redound to him from his
redeemed ones to all eternity, for it will be the everlasting employment
of the saints in heaven to be ascribing glory, praise, and honour to the
Redeemer. Did Christ find pleasure in abasement and torment, in
suffering and dying for me, and can I find no pleasure in praying,
hearing, meditating, and enjoying the sweet duties of communion with
him? Did he come so cheerfully to die for me, and do I go so
deadheartedly to prayers and sacraments to enjoy fellowship with him?
Was it a pleasure to him to shed his blood, and is it none to me to
apply it, and reap the benefits of it? O let there be no more
grumblings, lazy excuses, shiftings of duty, or dead-hearted and
listless performances of them, after such an example as this. Be ready
to do the will of God, be ye also ready to suffer it. And as to
sufferings for Christ, they should not be grievous to Christians that
know how cheerfully Christ came from the bosom of the Father to die for
them. What have we to leave or lose, in comparison with him? What are
our sufferings to Christ’s. Alas! there is no compare; there was more
bitterness in one drop of his sufferings than in a sea of ours. To
conclude: your delight and readiness in the paths of obedience is the
very measure of your sanctification.—_Condensed from John Flavel._
_Verse 8._—Now, saith Christ, “_I delight to do thy will, O my God_;” it
is the joy and rejoicing of my heart to be a-seeking and a-saving lost
sinners. When Christ was an hungry, he went not into a victualling house
but into the temple, and taught the people most part of the day, to show
how much he delighted in the salvation of sinners, etc. Christ did so
much delight, and his heart was so much set upon the conversion and
salvation of the Samaritans, that he neglected his own body to save
their souls, as you may clearly see in John iv.—_Thomas Brooks._
_Verse 8.—“To do.”_ It was Jesus who was the doer of the work. The
Father willed it; but he did not do it. It was Jesus who did it, who
wrought it out; who brought it in; who carried it within the veil, and
laid it as an acceptable and meritorious offering at the feet of his
well-pleased Father. The work then is done; it is finished. We need not
attempt to do it. We cannot do it. We cannot do that which is already
done; and we could not do it, though it were yet undone. There is much
that man can do, but he cannot make a propitiation.—_James Frame._
_Verse 8.—“Thy will.”_ The covenant between the Father and the Son, as
elsewhere, so it is most clearly expressed (Heb. x. 7, from Ps. xl. 7,
8), “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I
delight to do thy will, O my God.” And what will? Verse 10, “The will by
which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.” The will of God was, that Jesus should be offered; and to
this end, that we might be sanctified and saved. It is called “The
offering of the body of Jesus Christ,” in answer to what was said
before, “A body hast thou prepared me,” or a human nature, by a
synecdoche. “My will,” says God the Father, “is that thou have a body,
and that thy body be offered up; and all to this end, that the children,
the elect, might be sanctified.” Says the Son to this, “Lo, I come to do
thy will;”—“I accept of the condition, and give up myself to the
performance of thy will.”—_John Owen._
_Verse 8.—“Thy law is within my heart.”_ The law of God is not to be
kept in books, but in the midst of our hearts, that we may rightly
understand the same, admire it, and observe it.—_Martin Geier._
_Verse 8.—“Thy law is within my heart.”_ The will of God in which Christ
delighted, was (as appears by the coherence, and the quotation of Heb.
x. 5) that Christ should make his soul an offering for sin, as more
acceptable to God than all other burnt-offerings and sin-offerings. This
law was _in his heart_, בְּתֹוךְ מֵעָי, in the midst of his bowels. He
did as much delight in it as we do in following those inclinations which
nature has implanted in our hearts, as we do in eating and drinking. So
he expresses it (John iv. 34), “My meat is to do the will of him that
sent me, and to finish his work.” He was as willing to bleed and die for
thee as thou art to eat when hungry. He was delighted as much to be
scourged, wounded, crucified, as thou delightest in meat when most
delicious.—_David Clarkson._
_Verse 8.—“Within my heart,”_ margin, _my bowels_. The intestines or
viscera are here mentioned as the place of the most profound spiritual
occupation.—_Franz Delitzsch._
_Verse 9.—“I have preached righteousness,”_ etc. It is Jesus who speaks,
and he speaks of himself as a PREACHER. He was a preacher, and a great
preacher too. He was great—1. In _genuine eloquence_. All the handmaids
of the choicest rhetoric ministered to him as he spake. His mind touched
the minds of his auditors on all sides. 2. He was great in _knowledge_.
Many who have an astonishing command of words, and who can use their
words with astonishing rhetorical adroitness, spoil their influence by
their “lack of knowledge.” They go blunderingly onward when they attempt
to think for themselves, or to guide their hearers into fields of
thought which have not been tracked by minds of the pioneer order. 3. He
was great also in _goodness_. There is a greatness in goodness, and the
greatness of goodness is an important element in the greatness of a
preacher. 4. Jesus was great, too, in _official status_. Official
status, whether in things civil, literary, or sacred, when conferred on
worthy individuals, confers, in its turn, undoubted weight and moral
authority. Now Jesus was the highest official in the universe. His
authority extended to all other office-bearers, his office exceeded all
other offices. He came from above, and was “above all.” He was Lord of
lords, and King of kings. 5. Another element still in the greatness of
Jesus, as a preacher, consisted in the greatness of his _essential
dignity_. He was God as well as man. Such was Christ as a preacher. True
he was more than a preacher; he was likewise a pattern, and a priest,
and a propitiator; and as pattern, priest, and propitiator, he stands
without a peer. But he was a preacher, too, and as a preacher, he has
never had, and never will have an equal.—_Condensed from James Frame._
_Verse 9.—“The great congregation.”_ The “_congregation_” here referred
to was “_great_” not only in _numbers_, but “_great_” also in the
necessities of its individual members, and great in _pollution_.—_James
Frame._
_Verses 9, 10.—“I have published.... I would not refrain.... I have not
covered ... I have uttered ... I have not hid:”_ words are heaped upon
words to express the eager forwardness of a heart burning to show forth
its gratitude. No elaborate description could so well have given us the
likeness of one whose “life was a thanksgiving.”—_J. J. Stewart
Perowne._
_Verses 9, 10._—The true way of justification of sinners by faith is a
jewel so precious and necessary for poor souls, that it should not be
concealed: “_I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart._” One
sermon on this subject is not sufficient; it is necessary to make this
mystery plain, how by faith in Christ the man that flieth to him is
justified from his sins, and saved according to the covenant passed
between the suffering Mediator and God the faithful promiser, to justify
and save by his own way. “_I have declared thy faithfulness and thy
salvation._”—_David Dickson._
_Verses 9, 10.—“Thy.”_ The adding _thy_ to every one of them is
emphatical; it was _thy_ righteousness I had commission to declare,
_thy_ faithfulness I had order to proclaim, _thy_ mercy I had charge to
publish; _thou_ wert as much interested in all that I did as I myself
was. I shall be counted false and a liar, thou wilt be counted unjust
and cruel, if all be not fulfilled as I have spoken. Since it was thy
rule I observed, and thy glory I aimed at in declaring it, disgrace not
thyself and me in refusing the petition of such a suppliant, who
believes in my word which I gave out by thy authority.—_Stephen
Charnock._
_Verse 10.—“I have not hid.”_ This intimates, that whoever undertook to
preach the gospel of Christ would be in great temptation to hide it, and
conceal it, because it must be preached with great contention, and in
the face of great opposition.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 10.—“I have not hid,”_ etc. What God has done for us, or for the
church, we should lay _to_ heart; but not lock up in our heart.—_Carl
Bernhard Moll in Lange’s “Bibelwerk,” 1869._
_Verse 11.—“Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me.”_ Do not
hinder them from coming showering down upon me. “_Let thy lovingkindness
and thy truth continually preserve me_;” or, do thou employ them in
preserving me.—_John Diodati._
_Verse 12.—“For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine
iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up;
they are more than the hairs of mine head.”_ We lose ourselves when we
speak of the sins of our lives. It may astonish any considering man to
take notice how many sins he is guilty of any one day; how many sins
accompany any one single act; nay, how many bewray themselves in any one
religious duty. Whensoever ye do anything forbidden, you omit the duty
at that time commanded; and whenever you neglect that which is enjoined,
the omission is joined with the acting of something forbidden; so that
the sin, whether omission or commission, is always double; nay, the
apostle makes every sin tenfold. James ii. 10. That which seems one to
us, according to the sense of the law, and the account of God, is
multiplied by ten. He breaks every command by sinning directly against
one, and so sins ten times at once; besides that swarm of sinful
circumstances and aggravations which surround every act in such numbers,
as atoms use to surround your body in a dusty room; you may more easily
number these than those. And though some count these but fractions,
incomplete sins, yet even from hence it is more difficult to take an
account of their number. And, which is more for astonishment, pick out
the best religious duty that ever you performed, and even in that
performance you may find such a swarm of sins as cannot be numbered. In
the best prayer that ever you put up to God, irreverence, lukewarmness,
unbelief, spiritual pride, self-seeking, hypocrisy, distractions, etc.,
and many more, that an enlightened soul grieves and bewails; and yet
there are many more that the pure eye of God discerns, than any man does
take notice of.—_David Clarkson._
_Verse 12.—“Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me.”_ They seized him
as the sinner’s substitute, to deal with him as regards their own
penalty, according to the sinner’s desert.—_James Frame._
_Verse 13._—The remaining verses of this Psalm are almost exactly
identical with Psalm LXX.
_Verse 14.—“Let them be ashamed and confounded,”_ etc. Even this prayer
carried benevolence in its bosom. It sought from the divine Father, such
a manifestation of what was glorious and God-like as might unnerve each
rebel arm, and overawe each rebel heart in the traitor’s company. If
each arm were for a little unnerved, if each heart were for a little
unmanned, there might be time for the better principles of their nature
to rise and put an arrest upon the prosecution of their wicked design.
Such being the benevolent aim of the prayer, we need not wonder that it
issued from the same heart that by-and-by exclaimed, “Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do;” neither need we marvel that it
was answered to the very letter, and that as soon as he said to the
traitor band, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the
ground.—_James Frame._
_Verse 15.—“Aha, aha.”_ An exclamation which occurs three times in the
Psalms; and in each case there seems to be reference to the mockery at
the Passion. See xxxv. 21; and lxx. 3, which appear to belong to the
same time as the present Psalm.—_Christopher Wordsworth._
_Verse 16.—“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.”_
As every mercy to every believer giveth a proof of God’s readiness to
show the like mercy to all believers, when they stand in need; so should
every mercy shown to any of the number, being known to the rest, be made
the matter and occasion of magnifying the Lord.—_David Dickson._
_Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.”_ To love God’s salvation is to
love God himself, the Saviour, or Jesus.—_Martin Geier._
_Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.”_ One would think that self-love
alone should make us love salvation. Ay, but they love it because it is
his, “that love thy salvation.” It is the character of a holy saint to
love salvation itself; not as his own only, but as God’s, as God’s that
saves him.—_Thomas Goodwin._
_Verse 16.—“Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be
magnified.”_ Jesus who gave us our capacity of happiness and our
capacity of speaking, realised the relation which he had established
between them; and hence in praying for his friends, he prayed that in
the joy and gladness of their souls they might say, “The Lord be
magnified.” He desired them to speak of their holy happiness; and it was
his wish that when they did speak of it they should speak in terms of
laudation of Jehovah, for he was the source of it. He desired them to
say continually, “_The Lord be magnified._”—_James Frame._
_Verse 17._—In Dr. Malan’s memoir, the editor, one of his sons, thus
writes of his brother Jocelyn, who was for some years prior to his
death, the subject of intense bodily sufferings:—“One striking feature
in his character was his holy fear of God, and reverence for his will.
One day I was repeating a verse from the Psalms, ‘_As for me, I am poor
and needy, but the Lord careth for me: thou art my helper and deliverer;
O Lord, make no long tarrying._’ He said, ‘Mamma, I love that verse, all
but the last bit, it looks like a murmur against God. He never tarries
in my case.’”—_From “The Life, Labours, and Writings of Cæsar Malan
(1787-1864): By one of his sons,” 1689._
_Verse 17.—“Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.”_ Sacred story derives from
heaven the kindness of Abimelech to Abraham, of Laban and Esau to Jacob,
of Ruth to Naomi, of Boaz to Ruth, and Jonathan to David. When others
think of kindness to us, let us imitate David, ’tis the Lord that
thinketh upon me, and forms those thoughts within their hearts. This
should calm our spirits when a former friend’s heart is alienated by
rash admissions of false suggestions, or when any faithful Jonathan
expires his spirit into the bosom of God. It should not be lost what
Hobson, the late noted carrier of Cambridge, said to a young student
receiving a letter of the sad tidings of his uncle’s decease (who
maintained him at the University), and weeping bitterly, and reciting
the cause of his grief, he replied, _Who gave you that friend?_ Which
saying did greatly comfort him, and was a sweet support to him
afterwards in his ministry. The Everliving God is the portion of a
living faith, and _he_ can never want that hath such an ocean. He that
turns the hearts of kings like rivers at his pleasure, turns all the
little brooks in the world into what scorched and parched ground he
pleases.—_Samuel Lee._
_Verse 17.—“The Lord thinketh upon me.”_ There are three things in
_God’s thinking upon us_, that are solacing and delightful. Observe the
_frequency_ of his thoughts. Indeed, they are incessant. You have a
friend, whom you esteem and love. You wish to live in his mind. You say
when you part, and when you write, “Think of me.” You give him, perhaps,
a token to revive his remembrance. How naturally is Selkirk, in his
solitary island, made to say:
“My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a _thought_ after me?
O tell me, I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.
Ye winds, that have made me your sport,
Convey to this desolate shore
Some cordial, endearing report.
Of a land I shall visit no more.”
But the dearest connexion in the world cannot be always thinking upon
you. Half his time he is in a state of unconsciousness; and how much
during the other half, is he engrossed! But there is no remission in the
Lord’s thoughts.... Observe in the next place, the _wisdom_ of his
thoughts. You have a dear child, absent from you, and you follow him in
your mind. But you know not his present circumstances. You left him in
such a place; but where is he now? You left him in such a condition. But
what is he now? Perhaps, while you are thinking upon his health, he is
groaning under a bruised limb, or a painful disorder. Perhaps, while you
are thinking of his safety, some enemy is taking advantage of his
innocency. Perhaps, while you are rejoicing in his prudence, he is going
to take a step that will involve him for life. But when God thinketh
upon you, he is perfectly acquainted with your situation, your dangers,
your wants. He knows all your walking through this great wilderness, and
can afford you the seasonable succour you need. For again, observe the
_efficiency_ of his thoughts. You think upon another, and you are
anxious to guide, or defend, or relieve him. But in how many cases can
you think only? Solicitude cannot control the disease of the body,
cannot dissipate the melancholy of the mind. But with God all things are
possible. He who thinks upon you is a God at hand and not afar off; he
has all events under his control; he is the God of all grace. If,
therefore, he does not immediately deliver, it is not because he is
unable to redress, but because he is waiting to be gracious.—_William
Jay._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1._—I. _My part_—praying and waiting. II. _God’s
part_—condescension and reply.