restoring him when the infused habits of grace fail, and sin grows
strong and vigorous. A Christian never fails in the exercise of grace,
but sin gives him a wound; and therefore David prayed, “_Lord, heal my
soul, for I have sinned._” And what David prayed for, God promiseth to
his people: “I will heal their backsliding.” Hosea xiv. 4. The weakness
and decay of grace, brings a Christian presently to the falling
sickness; and so it did David and Ephraim; ay, but God will be a
physician to the soul in this case, and will heal their diseases; and so
he did David’s falling sickness, for which he returned the tribute of
praise. Psalm ciii. 3.—_Samuel Blackerby._
_Verse 4. (last clause)._—Saul and Judas each said, “I have sinned;” but
David says, “I have sinned _against thee_.”—_William S. Plumer._
_Verse 5.—“Mine enemies speak evil of me.”_ _To speak_ is here used in
the sense of _to imprecate_.—_John Calvin._
_Verse 5.—“His name.”_ It is the _name_, the character, and privileges
of a true servant of God, that calls out the hatred of ungodly men, and
they would gladly extirpate him from their sight.—_W. Wilson, D.D._
_Verse 6.—“If he come to see me, he speaketh vanity:”_ many fair words,
but none of them true.—_David Dickson._
_Verse 6._—I remember a pretty apologue that Bromiard tells:—A fowler,
in a sharp frosty morning, having taken many little birds for which he
had long watched, began to take up his nets, and nipping the birds on
the head laid them down. A young thrush, espying the tears trickling
down his cheeks by reason of the extreme cold, said to her mother, that
certainly the man was very merciful and compassionate, who wept so
bitterly over the calamity of the poor birds. But her mother told her
more wisely, that she might better judge of the man’s disposition by his
hand than by his eye; and if the hands do strike treacherously, he can
never be admitted to friendship, who speaks fairly and weeps
pitifully.—_Jeremy Taylor._
_Verse 6.—“His heart gathereth iniquity to itself.”_ 1. By adding sin to
sin, in that he covers over his malice with such horrid hypocrisy. 2. By
inventing or contriving all the several ways he can to ensnare me, or do
me some mischief, thereby seeking to satisfy and please his corrupt
lusts and affections; 3. (which I like best), by observing all he can in
me, and drawing what he can from me, and so laying all up together in
his mind, as the ground of his unjust surmises and censures concerning
me.—_Arthur Jackson._
_Verse 8.—“An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him.”_ An
_evil_ deed of Belial cleaveth fast to him. Grammarians maintain that
the word _Belial_ is compounded of בְּלִי, _beli_, and יָעַל, _yaal_,
which signify “_not to rise_;” the expression, “_thing of Belial_” (for
so it is literally in the Hebrew), I understand in this place as meaning
an extraordinary and hateful crime which as we commonly say can never be
expiated, and from which there is no possibility of escape; unless
perhaps some would rather refer it to the affliction itself under which
he laboured, as if his enemies had said that he was seized by some
incurable malady.—_John Calvin._
_Verse 8.—“An evil disease,”_ etc. What is here meant by
דְּבַר־בְּלִיַּעַל is matter of some difficulty. The ancient
interpreters generally render it a _perverse_, or _mischievous_, or
_wicked word_; the Chaldee, a _perverse word_; the Syriac, a _word of
iniquity_; the LXX, λόγον παράνομον; the Latin, _iniquum verbum_, a
_wicked word_; the Arabic, _words contrary to the law_. And so in all
probability it is set to signify a _great slander_, or _calumny_—that as
“men of Belial” are _slanderous_ persons, so the _speech of Belial_
shall signify a _slanderous_ speech. And this is said to “_cleave_” to
him on whom it is fastened, it being the nature of calumnies, when
strongly affixed on any, to _cleave_ fast, and leave some _evil mark_
behind them.—_Henry Hammond._
_Verse 9.—“Yea, mine own familiar friend,”_ etc. The sufferings of the
church, like those of her Redeemer, generally begin at home: her open
enemies can do her no harm, until her pretended friends have delivered
her into their hands; and, unnatural as it may seem, they who have waxed
fat upon her bounty, are sometimes the first to “_lift the heel_”
against her.—_George Horne._
_Verse 9.—“Mine own familiar friend.”_ He who, on visiting me,
continually saluted me with the kiss of love and veneration, and the
usual address; peace be to thee.—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 9.—“Which did eat of my bread.”_ If the same sentiment prevailed
among the Hebrews, which prevails at the present day among the Bedouin
Arabs, of sacred regard to the person and property of one with whom they
have eaten bread and salt, the language is very forcible. “_Hath lifted
up his heel_:” a metaphor drawn from the horse, which attacks with its
heel. This language may well have been used by our Saviour in John xiii.
18, in the way of rhetorical illustration or emphasis.—_George R. Noyes,
D.D._
_Verse 9.—“Hath lifted up his heel against me.”_ In this phrase he seems
to allude to a beast’s kicking at his master by whom he is fed, or the
custom of men’s spurning at or trampling upon those that are cast down
on the ground, in a way of despite and contempt.—_Arthur Jackson._
_Verse 9.—“Hath lifted up his heel against me;”_ _i.e._, hath spurned
me, hath kicked at me, as a vicious beast of burden does; hath insulted
me in my misery.—_Daniel Cresswell._
_Verse 10.—“That I may requite them.”_ Either (1), kindness for injuries
(as in Psalm xxxv. 13): it is the mark of a good and brave man to do
good to all in his power, to hurt no one, even though provoked by wrong:
or, (2), punishment for wrong-doing—_that I may punish them_; for am I
not their magistrate, and the executioner of God’s justice!—_Martin
Geier._
_Verse 10.—“That I may requite them.”_ David was not as one of the
common people, but a king appointed by God and invested with authority,
and it is not from an impulse of the flesh, but in virtue of the nature
of his office, that he is led to denounce against his enemies the
punishment which they had merited.—_John Calvin._
_Verse 11.—“By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy
doth not triumph over me:”_ not because I have no enemies, or because I
have no trouble which would overcome me. Therefore when he wrote down
_many troubles_, he blotted it (as it were) with his pen again, as a
merchant razeth his book when the debt is discharged; and instead of
_many troubles_, he putteth in, _the Lord delivereth_. Because he
forgiveth all sins, he is said to deliver from all troubles, to show
that we have need of no Saviour, no helper, no comforter, but
him.—_Henry Smith._
_Verse 11.—“By this I know that thou favourest me.”_ In this text we see
two things. 1. How David assureth himself of God’s love towards him. 2.
How thankful he is to God for assuring him of his love. The first he
doth by two arguments; one is taken from his enemies, they were
prevented of their expectation “Therefore thou lovest me.” The other is
taken from his own estate, which was not one whit hurt, or impaired, but
bettered by them.... Here the prophet speaketh of his knowledge, and
telleth us that though he knew not all things, yet he knew that God
loved him, and so long as he knoweth that, he careth not greatly for
other matters, how the world goeth with him, etc. And, to say the truth,
he need not, for he that is sure of that, is sure of all. God loveth all
his creatures as a good God, and hateth nothing that he made, but he
loveth his elect children with a more especial love than the rest, as a
Father in Christ Jesus, and he that is sure that God doth so favour him,
is sure, I say, of all. For to him whom God loveth, he will deny no good
thing, no, not his own Son; and if he gave us his Son, because he loved
us, how shall he not with him give us all things else?
When the child is persuaded that his father loveth him, he is bold to
ask this and that of his father: so may we be bold to ask anything of
God our heavenly Father that is good for us, when we be sure that he
loveth us. As Mary and Martha put Christ in mind but of two things; the
first was, that Christ loved their brother Lazarus; the second was, that
Lazarus was sick; “He whom thou lovest is sick:” it was no need to tell
him what he should do, for they knew he would do what might be done for
him, because he loved him. So we may say to the Lord, when we are sure
that he loveth us: Lord, he whom thou lovest wanteth this or that for
his body or his soul. We need not then appoint him what to do, or when,
or how; for look what he seeth most convenient for us, and for his own
glory, he will surely do it. Therefore whatsoever David knoweth, he will
be sure to know this; and whatsoever he is ignorant of, yet of this he
will not be ignorant; to teach us that whatsoever we seek to make sure,
this must first be made sure, or else nothing is sure. Peter bids us
make our election sure; Job, when he saith, “I am sure that my Redeemer
liveth,” teacheth us to make our redemption sure. And here David
teacheth us to make _God’s favour_ sure: now if we make that sure, then
our election is sure, our redemption is sure, our vocation is sure, and
our salvation is sure.—_William Burton, 1602._
_Verse 11.—“Because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.”_ When God doth
deliver us from the hands of our enemies, or any trouble else, we may
persuade ourselves thereby, he hath a favour unto us, as David did. But
then it may be demanded, If God doth love his church, why doth he suffer
his church to be troubled and molested with enemies? The reason is this,
because by this means his love may be made more manifest in saving and
delivering them. For as a sure friend is not known but in time of need,
so God’s goodness and love is never so well perceived as it is in
helping of us when we cannot help ourselves. As Adam’s fall did serve to
manifest God’s justice and mercy, the one in punishing, the other in
pardoning of sin, which otherwise we had never known: so the troubles of
the church serve to manifest, first, our deserts by reason of our sins;
secondly, our weakness and inability to help ourselves; and, thirdly,
the lovingkindness of the Lord our God, in saving and defending, that so
we might be truly thankful, and return all the praise and glory to God,
and none to ourselves. So that the church of God may have enemies, and
yet be still the beloved of God, as Lazarus was beloved of Christ,
although he was sick; for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and
therefore he correcteth them because he loveth them.—_William Burton._
_Verse 11._—God preserves his own, and bringeth their foes to nought:
after Passion week comes Easter.—_J. P. Lange’s Commentary._
_Verse 12.—“Integrity.”_ This same integrity is like Noah’s ark, wherein
he was preserved, when others perished, being without it. It is like the
red thread, which the spies of Joshua gave to Rahab, it was a charter
whereby she claimed her life when the rest were destroyed, which had not
the like. So is this integrity of small reckoning, I confess, with the
men of this world, which think that there is no other heaven but earth;
but as Rahab’s thread was better to her than all her goods and substance
when the sword came, so this is better to God’s children than all the
world when death comes. If they have this within they care not, nay,
they need not care what can come without. If Satan’s buffeting come,
this is a helmet of proof; if Satan’s darts fly out, this is a shield to
quench them; if floods of crosses come to carry us away, this is a boat
to bear us up; if all the world cast mire and filth in our faces, we are
never a whit the more deformed, but still beautiful for all that, for
“the king’s daughter,” (saith Solomon, Psalm xlv. 13), that is, the
church of Christ, “is all glorious within.”—_William Burton._
_Verse 12.—“Settest me before thy face for ever;”_ _or hast confirmed or
established me in thy presence_; _i.e._, either under thine eye and
special care, or to minister unto thee, not only in thy temple, but as a
king over thy people, or in that land where thou art peculiarly
present.—_Matthew Pool._
_Verse 13.—“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to
everlasting. Amen, and Amen.”_ We are here taught, 1. To give glory to
God, as “_the Lord God of Israel_,” a God in covenant with his people;
that has done great and kind things for them, and has more and better in
reserve. 2. To give him glory as an eternal God, that has both his being
and his blessedness “_from everlasting and to everlasting_.” 3. To do
this with great affection and fervour of spirit, intimated in a double
seal set to it, “_Amen, and Amen_.” We say Amen to it, and let all
others say Amen too.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 13.—“Amen and Amen.”_ As the Psalms were not written by one man,
so neither do they form one book. The Psalter is, in fact, a Pentateuch,
and the lines of demarcation, which divide the five books one from
another, are clear and distinct enough. At the end of the 41st Psalm, of
the 72nd, of the 89th, and of the 106th, we meet with the solemn _Amen_,
single or redoubled, following on a doxology, which indicates that one
book ends and that another is about to begin. A closer study of the
Psalms shows that each book possesses characteristics of its own.
Jehovah, (“the Lord”) for example, is prominent as the divine name in
the first book, Elohim (“God”) in the second.—_E. H. Plumptre, M.A., in
“Biblical Studies,” 1870._
There is also another observable difference between the two books. In
the first, all those Psalms which have any inscription at all are
expressly assigned to David as their author, whereas in the second we
find a whole series attributed to some of the Levitical singers.—_J. J.
Stewart Perowne._
How ancient this division is cannot now be clearly ascertained. Jerome,
in his epistle to Marcella, and Epiphanius speak of the Psalms as having
been divided by the Hebrews into five books, but when this division was
made they do not inform us. The forms of ascriptions of praise, added at
the end of each of the five books, are in the Septuagint version, from
which we may conclude that this distribution had been made before that
version was executed. It was probably made by Ezra, after the return of
the Jews from Babylon to their own country, and the establishment of the
worship of God in the new temple, and it was perhaps made in imitation
of a similar distribution of the books of Moses. In making this division
of the Hebrew Psalter, regard appears to have been paid to the subject
matter of the Psalms.—_John Calvin._
These forty-one Psalms, it has been observed, forming the first book,
relate chiefly to the ministry of Christ upon earth, preparing those who
were looking for the consolation of Israel, for his appearing amongst
them. Accordingly, the second book, commencing with Psalm xlii., may
refer chiefly to the infant church of Christ.—_W. Wilson, D.D._
May not the growth of the Book of Psalms be illustrated by the case of
our Modern Hymn Books which in the course of years require first one
appendix and then another, so as to incorporate the growing psalmody of
the church? In this case the purely Davidic Psalms of the first division
formed the nucleus to which other sacred songs were speedily added.—_C.
H. S._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1 (first clause)._—The incidental blessings resulting from
considering the pious poor. 1. We learn gratitude. 2. We see patience.
3. We often remark the triumphs of great grace. 4. We obtain light on
Christian experience. 5. We have their prayers. 6. We feel the pleasure
of beneficence. 7. We enter into communion with the lowly Saviour.
_Verse 1._—The support of the Small-pox Hospitals recommended.—_Bishop
Squire, 1760._ Scores of sermons of this kind have been preached from
this text.
_Verse 2._—“_Blessed upon the earth._” What blessings of an earthly
character godly character secures, and in general what it is to be
blessed with regard to this life.
_Verse 2 (second clause)._—What it is to be delivered _in_ trouble. From
impatience, from despair, from sinful expedients, from violent attacks,
from losing fellowship with God.
_Verse 3._—Strength in weakness. Inward strength, divinely given,
continuously sustained, enduring to the end, triumphant in death,
glorifying to God, proving the reality of grace, winning others to the
faith.
_Verse 3 (last clause)._—The heavenly bed-making.
_Verse 4 (first clause)._—A saying worth repeating: “_I said._” It
expresses penitence, humility, earnestness, faith, importunity, fear of
God, etc.
_Verse 4._—“_Heal my soul._” I. The hereditary disease, breaking out in
many disorders—open sin, unbelief, decline of grace, etc. II. Spiritual
health struggling with it; shown in spiritual pain, desire, prayer,
effort. III. The well-proved Physician. Has healed, and will, by his
word, his blood, his Spirit, etc.
_Verse 4.—“I have sinned against thee.”_ This confession is personal,
plain, without pretence of excuse, comprehensive and intelligent, for it
reveals the very heart of sin—“against thee.”
_Verse 5._—What we may expect. What our enemies desire. What we may,
therefore prize, _i.e._, the power of Christian life and name. What we
should do—tell the Lord all in prayer. What good will then come of the
evil.
_Verse 6 (first clause)._—The folly and sin of frivolous visits.
_Verse 6 (second and third clauses)._—Like to like, or the way in which
character draws its like to itself. The same subject might be treated
under the title of _The Chiffonnier_, or the rag-collector. What he
gathers; where he puts it—in his “_heart_;” what he does with it; what
he gets for it; and what will become of him.
_Verses 7-12._—On a sick bed a man discovers not only his enemies and
his friends, but himself and his God, more intimately.
_Verse 9._—The treachery of Judas.
_Verse 11._—Deliverance from temptation a token of divine favour.
_Verse 12._—This text reveals the insignia of those whom grace has
distinguished. 1. Their integrity is manifest. 2. Their character is
divinely sustained. 3. They dwell in the favour of God. 4. Their
position is stable and continuous. 5. Their eternal future is secure.
_Verse 13._—I. The object of praise—Jehovah, the covenant God. II. The
nature of the praise—without beginning or end. III. Our participation in
the praise—“Amen and Amen.”
The ancient rabbins saw in the Five Books of the Psalter the image of
the Five Books of the Law. This way of looking on the Psalms as a second
Pentateuch, the echo of the first, passed over into the Christian
church, and found favour with some early fathers. It has commended
itself to the acceptance of good recent expositors, like Dr. Delitzsch,
who calls the Psalter “the Congregation’s five-fold word to the Lord,
even as the _Thora_ (the Law) is the Lord’s five-fold word to the
Congregation.” This may be mere fancy, but its existence from ancient
times shows that the five-fold division attracted early notice.—_William
Binnie, D.D._
God presented Israel with the Law, a Pentateuch, and grateful Israel
responded with a Psalter, a Pentateuch of praise, in acknowledgment of
the divine gift.—_J. L. K._
HERE ENDETH THE FIRST BOOK OF THE PSALMS.
PSALM XLII.
TITLE.—To the Chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.—_Dedicated
to the Master of Music, this Psalm is worthy of his office; he who can
sing best can have nothing better to sing. It is called Maschil, or an
instructive ode; and full as it is of deep experimental expressions, it
is eminently calculated to instruct those pilgrims whose road to heaven
is of the same trying kind as David’s was. It is always edifying to
listen to the experience of a thoroughly gracious and much afflicted
saint._
_That choice band of singers_, the sons of Korah, _are bidden to make
this delightful Psalm one of their peculiars. They had been spared when
their father and all his company, and all the children of his associates
were swallowed up alive in their sin._ (_Num._ xxvii. 11). _They were
the spared ones of sovereign grace. Preserved, we know not why, by the
distinguishing favour of God, it may be surmised that after their
remarkable election to mercy, they became so filled with gratitude that
they addicted themselves to sacred music in order that their spared
lives might be consecrated to the glory of God. At any rate, we who have
been rescued as they were from going down into the pit, out of the mere
good pleasure of Jehovah, can heartily join in this Psalm, and indeed
all the songs which show forth the praises of our God and the pantings
of our hearts after him. Although David is not mentioned as the author,
this Psalm must be the offspring of his pen; it is so Davidic, it smells
of the son of Jesse, it bears the marks of his style and experience in
every letter. We could sooner doubt the authorship of the second part of
Pilgrim’s Progress than question David’s title to be the composer of
this Psalm._
SUBJECT.—_It is the cry of a man far removed from the outward ordinances
and worship of God, sighing for the long-loved house of his God; and at
the same time it is the voice of a spiritual believer, under
depressions, longing for the renewal of the divine presence, struggling
with doubts and fears, but yet holding his ground by faith in the living
God. Most of the Lord’s family have sailed on the sea which is here so
graphically described. It is probable that David’s flight from Absolom
may have been the occasion for composing this Maschil._
DIVISION.—_The structure of the song directs us to consider it in two
parts which end with the same refrain; 1-5 and then 6-11._
EXPOSITION.
As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God.
2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come
and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually
say unto me, Where _is_ thy God?
4 When I remember these _things_, I pour out my soul in me: for I
had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God,
with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept
holyday.
5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and _why_ art thou disquieted
in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him _for_ the help
of his countenance.
1. “_As the hart panteth after the waterbrooks, so panteth my soul after
thee, O God._” As after a long drought the poor fainting hind longs for
the streams, or rather as the hunted hart instinctively seeks after the
river to lave its smoking flanks and to escape the dogs, even so my
weary, persecuted soul pants after the Lord my God. Debarred from public
worship, David was heartsick. Ease he did not seek, honour he did not
covet, but the enjoyment of communion with God was an urgent need of his
soul; he viewed it not merely as the sweetest of all luxuries, but as an
absolute necessity, like water to a stag. Like the parched traveller in
the wilderness, whose skin bottle is empty, and who finds the wells dry,
he must drink or die—he must have his God or faint. His _soul_, his very
self, his deepest life, was insatiable for a sense of the divine
presence. As the hart brays so his soul prays. Give him his God and he
is as content as the poor deer which at length slakes its thirst and is
perfectly happy; but deny him his Lord, and his heart heaves, his bosom
palpitates, his whole frame is convulsed, like one who gasps for breath,
or pants with long running. Dear reader, dost thou know what this is, by
personally having felt the same? It is a sweet bitterness. The next best
thing to living in the light of the Lord’s love is to be unhappy till we
have it, and to pant hourly after it—hourly, did I say? thirst is a
perpetual appetite, and not to be forgotten, and even thus continual is
the heart’s longing after God. When it is as natural for us to long for
God as for an animal to thirst, it is well with our souls, however
painful our feelings. We may learn from this verse that the eagerness of
our desires may be pleaded with God, and the more so, because there are
special promises for the importunate and fervent.