gathers his saints to himself in various ways. 1. _He gathers them to
himself in their conversion._ The commission given by Christ to his
ministers is, “Go ye forth into all the world, and preach the gospel to
every creature,” or in other words, “_Gather my saints together unto
me._” The gospel is to be preached to _sinners_ in order that they may
become _saints_. 2. _Saints are gathered together by God in public
worship_.... 3. _He gathers his saints together to himself in times of
danger._ When storms appear to be gathering around them, he is desirous
to screen them from the blast. He says to them, in the language of
Isaiah, “Come, my people, and enter into thy chamber—the chamber of my
perfections and my promises—enter into thy chamber and shut the doors
about thee, and hide thyself until the calamity is overpast.” 4. _God
gathers his saints together in the service of his church._ Thus Christ
collected his apostles together to give them their apostolic commission
to go and teach all nations. At the period of the Reformation, the great
Head of the church raised up Luther and Calvin, together with other
eminent reformers, in order that they might light up a flame in Europe,
yea, throughout the world, that the breath of popery should never be
able to blow out. 5. _God gathers his saints together in death, and at
the resurrection._ “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of
his saints.” This is the commission which death is habitually
receiving—“Go, death, and gather such-and-such of my saints unto me.” As
the gardener enters the garden, and plucks the full-blown flower and the
ripened fruit, so Jesus Christ enters the garden of his church and
gathers his saints to himself; for he says, “Father, I will that all
they whom thou hast given me may be with me, where I am, and behold my
glory.”—_Condensed from J. Sibree’s “Sermon preached at the reopening of
Surrey Chapel, August 29th, 1830.”_
_Verse 5 (second clause).—“Made,”_ or _ratifying a covenant_; literally,
_cutting_, striking, perhaps in allusion to the practice of slaying and
dividing victims as a religious rite, accompanying solemn compacts. (See
Genesis xv. 10-18). The same usage may be referred to in the following
words, _over sacrifice_, _i.e._, standing over it; or, _on sacrifice_,
_i.e._, founding the engagement on a previous appeal to God. There is
probably allusion to the great covenant transaction recorded in Ex.
xxiv. 4-8. This reference to sacrifice shows clearly that what follows
was not intended to discredit or repudiate that essential symbol of the
typical or ceremonial system.—_J. A. Alexander._
_Verse 5.—“Made a covenant with me.”_ Formerly soldiers used to take an
oath not to flinch from their colours, but faithfully to cleave to their
leaders; this they called _sacramentum militare_, a military oath; such
an oath lies upon every Christian. It is so essential to the being of a
saint, that they are described by this, “_Gather my saints together unto
me; those that have made a covenant with me._” We are not Christians
till we have subscribed this covenant, and that without any reservation.
When we take upon us the profession of Christ’s name, we enlist
ourselves in his muster-roll, and by it do promise that we will live and
die with him in opposition to all his enemies.... He will not entertain
us till we resign up ourselves freely to his disposal, that there may be
no disputing with his commands afterwards, but, as one under his
authority, go and come at his word.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 6.—“The heavens shall declare his righteousness.”_ It is the
manner of Scripture to commit the teaching of that which it desires
should be most noticeable, and important to _the heavens and the earth_:
for _the heavens_ are seen by all, and their light discovers all things.
Here it speaks of _the heavens_, not _the earth_, because these are
everlasting, but not the earth.—_Geier and Muis in Pool’s Synopsis._
_Verse 8.—“I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices;”_ _i.e._, for thy
neglect of them, but for thy resting in them, sticking in the bark,
bringing me the bare shell without the kernel, not referring to the
right end and use, but satisfying thyself in the work done.—_John
Trapp._
_Verse 8.—“I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt
offerings continually before me.”_ Those words “_to have been_,” which
our translators supply, may be left out, and the sense remain perfect:
or if those words be continued, then the negative particle _not_, is to
be reassumed out of the first part of the verse, and the whole read
thus, “_I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt
offerings not to have been continually before me._” That is, I will not
charge thee with a neglect of outward duty or worship, the inward or
spiritual (of which he speaks, ver. 14), being that which is most
pleasing unto me.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verses 8, 9._—It is the very remonstrance which our Lord himself makes
against the Pharisees of his days, for laying so much stress on the
outward observance of their own traditions, the washing of pots and cups
and other such like things; the paying of tithes of anise and mint and
cummin; the ostentatious fulfilment of all ceremonious observances in
the eyes of men, the exalting the shadow to the exclusion of the
substance. And have we not seen the like in our own days, even to the
very vestment of the minister, the obeisance of the knee, and the
posture of the body? as if the material church were all in all, and God
were no Spirit, that demanded of those that worshipped him that they
should worship him in spirit and in truth; as if the gold and ornaments
of the temple were far beyond the hidden man of the heart in that which
is incorruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is
in the sight of God of great price.—_Barton Bouchier._
_Verse 10.—“For to me_ [belongs] _every beast of the forest, the cattle
in hills of a thousand.”_ This last idiomatic phrase may either mean a
thousand hills, or hills where the cattle rove by thousands, with
probable allusion to the hilly grounds of Bashan beyond Jordan.
According to etymology, the noun in the first clause means an _animal_,
and that in the second _beasts_ or _brutes_ in general. But when placed
in antithesis, the first denotes a wild beast, and the second
domesticated animals or cattle. Both words were necessary to express
God’s sovereign propriety in the whole animal creation. Thus understood,
the verse assigns a reason for the negative assertion in the one before
it. Even if God could stand in need of animal oblations, for his own
sake, or for their sake, he would not be under the necessity of coming
to man for them, since the whole animal creation is his property and
perfectly at his disposal.—_J. A. Alexander._
_Verses 11, 12._—We show our scorn of God’s sufficiency, by secret
thoughts of meriting from him by any religious act, as though God could
be indebted to us, and obliged by us. As though our devotions could
bring a blessedness to God more than he essentially hath; when indeed
“our goodness extends not to him.” Ps. xvi. 2. Our services to God are
rather services to ourselves, and bring a happiness to us, not to God.
This secret opinion of merit (though disputed among the Papists, yet) is
natural to man; and this secret self-pleasing, when we have performed
any duty, and upon that account expect some fair compensation from God,
as having been profitable to him; God intimates this: “The wild beasts
of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the
world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” He implies, that they wronged
his infinite fulness, by thinking that he stood in need of their
sacrifices and services, and that he was beholden to them for their
adoration of him. All merit implies a moral or natural insufficiency in
the person of whom we merit, and our doing something for him, which he
could not, or at least so well do for himself. It is implied in our
murmuring at God’s dealing with us as a course of cross providences,
wherein men think they have deserved better at the hands of God by their
service, than to be cast aside and degraded by him. In our prosperity we
are apt to have secret thoughts that our enjoyments were the debts God
owed us, rather than gifts freely bestowed upon us. Hence it is that men
are more unwilling to part with their righteousness than with their
sins, and are apt to challenge salvation as a due, rather than beg it as
an act of grace.—_Stephen Charnock._
_Verse 12.—“If I were hungry,”_ etc. Pagan sacrifices were considered as
feasts of the gods.—_Daniel Cresswell._
_Verse 13.—“Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of
goats?”_ That is, did I want anything I would not tell thee; but hast
thou indeed such gross notions of men, as to imagine that I have
appointed and required the blood and flesh of animals for their own sake
and not with some design? Dost thou think I am pleased with these, when
they are offered without faith, love, and gratitude? Nay, offer the
sacrifice of praise, etc. Render to me a spiritual and reasonable
service, performing thy engagements, and then thou wilt find me a very
present help in trouble.—_B. Boothroyd._
_Verse 15.—“Call upon me,”_ etc. Prayer is like the ring which Queen
Elizabeth gave to the Earl of Essex, bidding him if he were in any
distress send that ring to her, and she would help him. God commandeth
his people if they be in any perplexity to send this ring to him: “_Call
upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify me._“—_George Swinnock._
_Verse 15.—“Call upon me in the day of trouble,”_ etc. Who will scrape
to a keeper for a piece of venison who may have free access to the
master of the game to ask and have? Hanker not after other helpers, rely
on him only, fully trusting him in the use of such means as he
prescribeth and affordeth. God is jealous, will have no co-rival, nor
allow thee (in this case) two strings to thy bow. He who worketh all in
all must be unto thee all in all: of, through, and to whom are all
things, to him be all praise for ever. Rom. xi. 36.—_George Gipps, in “A
Sermon preached (before God, and from him) to the Honourable House of
Commons, 1645.”_
_Verse 15.—“Call upon me in the day of trouble,”_ etc. The Lord hath
promised his children supply of all good things, yet they must see the
means of impetration; by prayer. He feeds the young ravens when they
call upon him. Ps. cxlvii. 9. He feeds the young ravens, but first they
call upon him. God withholds from them that ask not, lest he should give
to them that desire not. (Augustine.) David was confident that by God’s
power he should spring over a wall; yet not without putting his own
strength and agility to it. Those things we pray for, we must work for.
(Augustine.) The carter in Isidore, when his cart was overthrown, would
needs have his god Hercules come down from heaven, to help him up with
it; but whilst he forbore to set his own shoulder to it, his cart lay
still. Abraham was as rich as any of our aldermen, David as valiant as
any of our gentlemen, Solomon as wise as any of our deepest naturians,
Susanna as fair as any of our painted pieces. Yet none of them thought
that their riches, valour, policy, beauty, or excellent parts could save
them; but they stirred the sparks of grace, and bestirred themselves in
pious work. And this is our means, if our meaning be to be
saved.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 15.—“I will deliver thee:”_ properly, “_I will draw thee forth
with my own mighty hand_,” and plant thee in liberty and
prosperity.—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 16.—“Unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare
my statutes?”_ etc. “As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so
honour is not seemly for a fool.” Is it not? No wonder then that divine
wisdom requires us ourselves to put off the old man (as snakes put off
their skins) before we take on us the most honourable office of
reproving sin; a duty which above any other brings praise to God, and
profit to men; insomuch that God hath not a more honourable work that I
know of to set us about. And what think you? Are greasy scullions fit to
stand before kings? Are dirty kennel-rakers fit to be plenipotentiaries
or ambassadors? Are unclean beasts fit to be made lord-almoners, and
sent to bestow the king’s favours? Are swine fit to cast pearl, and the
very richest pearl of God’s royal word? No man dreams it; consequently
none can believe himself qualified or commissioned to be a reprover of
sin “till he is washed, till he is sanctified, till he is justified in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.” A
lunatick beggar in Athens would not believe but that all the ships in
the harbour were his. His mistake exceeded not theirs, who persuade
themselves that this richer office is theirs, before they are “alive
from the dead,” and “born of the Spirit,” before they are returned to
God or to themselves. The Duke of Alva is said to have complained that,
“his king sent him in fetters to fight for him;” because without his
pardon given him, and while he was a prisoner, he employed him in war.
But the supreme King is a more merciful one, and orders our charity to
begin at home; making it our first duty to break off our sins; and then
when we have put off these our shackles, go to fight his
battles.—_Daniel Burgess (1645—1712-13) in “The Golden Snuffers.”_
_Verse 16.—“The wicked.”_ By whom are meant, not openly profane sinners;
but men under a profession of religion, and indeed who were teachers of
others, as appears from the following expostulations with them: the
Scribes, Pharisees, and doctors among the Jews, are designed, and so
Kimchi interprets it of their wise men, who learnt and taught the law,
but did not act according to it.—_John Gill._
_Verse 16.—“What hast thou to do to declare my statutes?”_ etc. All the
mediæval writers teach us, even from the Mosaic law concerning the
leper, how the writer of this Psalm only put into words what those
statutes expressed in fact. For so it is written: “The leper in whom the
plague is, ... he shall put a covering upon his upper lip.” As they all,
following Origen, say: Let them who are themselves of polluted lips,
take good heed not to teach others. Or, to take it in the opposite way,
see how Isaiah would not speak to his people, because he was a man of
polluted lips, and he dwelt among a people of polluted lips, till they
had been touched with the living coal from the altar; and by that, as by
a sacrament of the Old Testament, a sentence of absolution had been
pronounced upon them.—_J. M. Neale._
_Verse 16 (second clause)._—Emphasis is laid on the phrase, _to declare
God’s statutes_, which both denotes such an accurate knowledge of them
as one may obtain by _numbering_ them, and a diligent and public review
of them. Properly speaking the word is derived from the Arabic, and
signifies _to reckon in dust_, for the ancients were accustomed to
calculate in _dust_ finely sprinkled over tablets or the
Abacus.—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 16.—“But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do ... to
take my covenant into thy mouth?”_ For whom is the covenant made but for
the wicked? If men were not wicked or sinful, what needed there a
covenant of grace? The covenant is for the wicked, and the covenant
brings grace enough to pardon those who are most wicked; why, then, doth
the Lord say to the wicked, “_What hast thou to do to take my covenant
into thy mouth?_” Observe what follows, and his meaning is expounded:
“_Seeing thou hatest to be reformed._” As if God had said, Thou wicked
man, who protectest thy sin, and holdest it close, refusing to return
and hating to reform; what hast thou to do to meddle with my covenant?
Lay off thy defiled hands. He that is resolved to hold his sin takes
hold of the covenant in vain, or rather he lets it go, while he seems to
hold it. Woe unto those who sue for mercy while they neglect
duty.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 16._—When a minister does not do what he teaches, this makes him
a vile person; nay, this makes him ridiculous, like Lucian’s apothecary,
who had medicines in his shop to cure the cough, and told others that he
had them, and yet was troubled with it himself. With what a forehead
canst thou stand in a pulpit and publish the laws of God, and undertake
the charge of souls, that when thine own nakedness appears, when thy
tongue is of a larger size than thy hands, thy ministry is divided
against itself, thy courses give thy doctrine the lie; thou sayest that
men must be holy, and thy deeds do declare thy mouth’s hypocrisy; thou
doest more mischief than a hundred others.—_William Fenner._
_Verse 17.—“And castest my words behind thee.”_ _Thou castest away
contemptuously._ with disgust and detestation, as idols are cast out of
a city; or as Moses indignantly dashed to the earth the tables of the
law.—_Martin Geier._
_Verse 17.—“My words:”_ apparently the ten commandments, accustomed to
be called the ten words, by which God is often said to have made his
covenant with Israel.—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 18.—“When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him;”_
or _didst run with him_. This was literally true of the Scribes and
Pharisees; they devoured widows’ houses, and robbed them of their
substance, under a pretext of long prayers; they consented to the deeds
of Barabbas, a robber, when they preferred him to Jesus Christ; and they
joined with the thieves on the cross in reviling him; and, in a
spiritual sense, they stole away the word of the Lord, every man from
his neighbour; took away the key of knowledge from the people, and put
false glosses upon the sacred writings.—_John Gill._
_Verse 18.—“Thou consentedst with him;”_ _became his accomplice_.
Συνέτρεχες αὐτῷ, LXX, _i.e._, you helped him to carry off his booty and
to make his escape.—_Samuel Horsley._
_Verse 18.—“Thou consentedst with him.”_ Or, thou runnest along with
him. “_Hast been partaker with_;” namely, thou art his companion; a term
taken from commerce of merchants, or from banquets made after the
ancient manner, to which divers did contribute, and had their shares
therein.—_John Diodati._
_Verse 18 (last clause)._—To give entertainment to them we know to be
dissolute, is to communicate with their sins.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 19.—“Thou givest thy mouth to evil,”_ etc. “_Thou givest._” Heb.,
_thou sendest forth_; to wit, free; for the word is used of men’s
dismissing their wives or their servants, whom they left to their
freedom. Thou hast an unbridled tongue, and castest off all restraints
of God’s law, and of thine own conscience, and givest thy tongue liberty
to speak what thou pleasest, though it be offensive and dishonourable to
God, and injurious to thy neighbour, or to thy own soul; which is justly
produced as an evidence of their hypocrisy. “_To evil_,” either to
sinful or mischievous speeches. “_Frameth deceit_,” _i.e._, uttereth
lies or fair words, wherewith to circumvent those who deal with
them.—_Matthew Pool._
_Verse 19._—The ninth commandment is now added to the other two, as
being habitually violated by the person here addressed.—_J. A.
Alexander._
_Verse 20.—“Thou sittest and speakest,”_ etc. A man may both speak and
do evil while he sits still and doth nothing; an idle posture may serve
the turn for such work as that.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 20.—“Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother,”_ etc. When
you are sitting still, and have nothing else to do, you are ever
injuring your neighbour with your slanderous speech. Your table-talk is
abuse of your nearest friends.—_Samuel Horsley._
_Verse 20.—“Thine own mother’s son.”_ To understand the force of this
expression, it is necessary to bear in mind that polygamy was allowed
amongst the Israelites. Those who were born to the same father were all
brethren, but a yet more intimate relationship subsisted between those
who had the same mother as well as the same father.—_French and
Skinner._
_Verse 21.—“These things hast thou done, and I kept silence.”_ Neither
sleep nor slumber, nor connivance, nor neglect of anything can be
incident to God. Because he doth not execute present judgment and
visible destruction upon sinners, therefore blasphemy presumptuously
inferreth—will God trouble himself about such petty matters? So they
imagined of their imaginary Jupiter. _Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse
Jovem._ What a narrow and finite apprehension this is of God! He that
causeth and produceth every action—shall he not be present at every
action? What can we do without him, that cannot move but in him? He that
takes notice of sparrows, and numbers the seeds which the very ploughman
thrusts in the ground, can any action of man escape his knowledge, or
slip from his contemplation? He may seem to wink at things, but never
shuts his eyes. He doth not always manifest a reprehensive knowledge,
yet he always retains an apprehensive knowledge. Though David smote not
Shimei cursing, yet he heard Shimei cursing. As judges often determine
to hear, but do not hear to determine; so though God does not see to
like, yet he likes to see.—_Thomas Adams._
_Verse 21.—“Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as
thyself.”_ Such is the blindness and corruption of our nature, that we
have very deformed and misshapen thoughts of him, till with the eye of
faith we see his face in the glass of the word; and therefore Mr.
Perkins affirms, that all men who ever came of Adam (Christ alone
excepted) are by nature atheists; because at the same time that they
acknowledge God, they deny his power, presence, and justice, and allow
him to be only what pleaseth themselves. Indeed, it is natural for every
man to desire to accommodate his lusts with such conception of God as
may be most favourable to and suit best with them. God charges some for
this: “_Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself._”
Sinners do with God as the Ethiopians do with angels, whom they picture
with black faces that they may be like themselves.—_William Gurnall._
_Verse 21.—“Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as
thyself.”_ This men do when they plead for sins as little, as venial, as
that which is below God to take notice of; because they themselves think
it so, therefore God must think it so too. Men, with a giant-like pride,
would climb into the throne of the Almighty, and establish a
contradiction to the will of God by making his own will, and not God’s,
the square and rule of his actions. This principle commenced, and took
date in Paradise, when Adam would not depend upon the will of God
revealed to him, but upon himself and his own will, and thereby makes
himself as God.—_Stephen Charnock._
_Verse 21.—“I will set them in order before thine eyes.”_ This is to be
understood _more militari_, when sins shall be set in rank and file, in
bloody array against thy soul; or _more forensi_, when they shall be set
in order as so many indictments for thy rebellion and treason.—_Stephen
Charnock._
_Verse 21.—“And set them in order before thine eyes:”_ as if he should
say, Thou thoughtest all thy sins were scattered and dispersed; that
there was not a sin to be found; that they should never be rallied and
brought together; but I assure thee I will make an army of those sins, a
complete army of them, I will set them in rank and file before thine
eyes; and see how thou canst behold, much less contend with, such an
host as they. Take heed therefore you do not levy war against your own
souls; that’s the worst of all civil or intestine wars. If any army of
divine terrors be so fearful, what will an army of black, hellish sins
be? when God shall bring whole regiments of sins against you—here a
regiment of oaths, there a regiment of lies, there a third of false
dealings, here a troop of filthy actions, and there a legion of unclean
or profane thoughts, all at once fighting against thy life and
everlasting peace.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 21._—Atheists do mock at those Scriptures which tell us that we
shall give account of all our deeds; but God shall make them find the
truth of it in that day of their reckoning. It is as easy for him to
make their forgetful minds remember as to create the minds in them. When
he applieth his register to their forgetful spirits they shall see all
their forgotten sins. When the printer presseth clean paper upon his
oiled irons, it receiveth the print of every letter: so when God shall
stamp their minds with his register, they shall see all their former
sins in a view. The hand was ever writing against Belshazzar, as he was
ever sinning, though he saw it not till the cup was filled: so is it to
the wicked; their sins are numbered, and themselves weighed, and see not
till they be divided by a fearful wakening.—_William Struther._