I. The _efficient_ or _author_ of these wings—God. “Who will give me?”
Who? that is, who but _God_?
II. The _matter_ of the wish—“_wings_.” “Who will give me wings?”
III. The _form_ of those wings—_dove-like_. “Who will give me wings like
unto a dove?”
IV. The _end mediate_—_flying_. “Then would I fly away.”
V. The _end ultimate_—_resting_. “And be at rest.”
I. “Who will give me?” There’s _Christian humility_. II. “Who will give
me wings?” There’s _prudent celerity_. III. “Wings like unto a dove.”
There’s _innocent simplicity_. IV. “Then would I fly away.” There’s
_devout sublimity_. V. “And be at rest.” There’s _permanent
security_.—_John Rawlinson, in “The Dove-like Sovle. A Sermon preached
before the Prince’s Highnes at Whitehall,” Feb. 19, 1618._
_Verse 6.—“Oh that I had wings,”_ etc. Some of the most astounding
sermons ever delivered have been preached on this text, which was a very
favourite one with the old divines. They ransacked Pliny and Aldrovandus
for the most outrageous fables about doves, their eyes, their livers,
their crops, and even their dung, and then went on to find emblems of
Christians in every fact and fable. Griffith Williams, at considerable
length, enlarges upon the fact that David did not desire wings like a
grasshopper to hop from flower to flower, as those hasty souls who leap
in religion but do not run with perseverance; nor like an ostrich which
keeps to the earth, though it be a bird, as hypocrites do who never
mount towards heavenly things; nor like an eagle, or a peacock, or a
beetle, or a crow, or a kite, or a bat; and after he has shown in many
ways the similarity between the godly and doves, he refers us to Hugo
Cardinalis, and others, for more. We do not think it would be to
edification to load these pages with such eccentricities and conceits.
This one single sentence from Bishop Patrick is worth them all, “He
rather wished than hoped to escape.” He saw no way of escape except by
some improbable or impossible means._—C. H. S._
_Verse 6._—When the Gauls had tasted the wine of Italy, they asked where
the grapes grew, and would never be quiet till they came there. Thus may
you cry, “_Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away,
and be at rest._” A believer is willing to lose the world for the
enjoyment of grace; and he is willing to leave the world for the
fruition of glory.—_William Secker._
_Verse 6.—“Wings like a dove.”_ The pigeon, or dove, is one of the
swiftest of birds.—_The Religious Tract Society’s “Book of Psalms, with
Preface and Explanatory Notes.”_
_Verse 6._—An old writer tells us it would have been more honourable for
him to have asked for the strength of an ox to bear his trials, than for
the wings of a dove to flee from them.—_William Jay, 1769-1853._
_Verse 6.—“Dove.”_ The reference is to the turtle-dove, I suppose. Their
low, sad plaint may be heard all day long at certain seasons in the
olive-groves, and in the solitary and shady valleys among these
mountains; I have, however, been more affected by it in the vast
orchards round Damascus than anywhere else—so subdued, so very sorrowful
among the trees, where the air sighs softly, and little rills roll their
melting murmurs down the flowery aisles. These birds can never be tamed.
Confined in a cage they droop, and like Cowper, sigh for
“_A lodge in some vast wilderness—some boundless contiguity of
shade_;”
and no sooner are they set at liberty than they flee, as a bird, to
their mountain Ps. xi. 1. David refers to their habits in this respect
when his heart was sore pained within him: “_Oh that I had wings like a
dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander
far off, and remain in the wilderness._” And there you will meet these
timid birds far away from the haunts of cruel hunters, of whose society
they are peculiarly suspicious.—_W. M. Thomson, in “The Land and the
Book,” 1859._
_Verse 6.—“Oh that I had wings,”_ etc.—
At first her mother-earth she holdeth deare,
And doth embrace the world and worldly things;
She flies close by the ground, and hovers here,
And mounts not up with her celestiall wings.
Yet under heaven she cannot light on ought
That with her heavenly nature doth agree;
She cannot rest, she cannot fix her thought,
She cannot in this world contented be:
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 pleas’d with none, doth rise and soare away;
So when the Soule finds here no true content;
And, like Noah’s dove, 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, 1569-1626._
_Verse 7.—“Lo, then would I wander far off_,” etc. A passage in the
“Octavia” of Seneca has been referred to as being parallel to this of
David. It is in the answer of Octavia to the Chorus, act v., ver.
914-923.
My woes who enough can bewail?
O what notes can my sorrows express?
Sweet Philomel’s self e’en would fail
To respond with her plaintive distress.
O had I her wings, I would fly
To where sorrows I ne’er should feel more,
Upborne on her plumes through the sky,
Regions far from mankind would explore.
In a grove where sad silence should reign,
On a spray would I seat me alone;
In shrill lamentations complain,
And in wailings would pour forth my moan.
_J. B. Clarke_ [_From Adam Clarke_, _in loc._]
_Verse 8.—“I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.”_
There was a windy storm and tempest without, and which is worse, a
tumult and combustion within in his thoughts. A man may escape from
external confusions, but how shall he fly from himself? If he be out of
the reach of all the blood-suckers on earth, and all the furies in hell,
yet be dogged and haunted with his own turbulent, ungovernable
cogitations, he needs no other tormentors. This holy man was thus doubly
distressed, a storm abroad and an earthquake at home rendered his
condition most dolorous; but for both he hath εν μεγα; he goes not about
with the foxes of this world to relieve himself with subtle stratagems
and wiles, by carnal shifts and policies, a vanity tossed to and fro by
them that seek death. No, his one great refuge is to get aloft, to
ascend to God.—_Thomas Sharp._
_Verse 9.—“Destroy, Lord, and divide their tongues.”_ In the first
place, their tongues were truly destroyed and they themselves divided,
when the testimony of the two false witnesses agreed not so together.
Then, secondly, by the contradictory account of the soldiers that kept
watch at the sepulchre.—_Michael Ayguan (1416), in J. M. Neale’s
Commentary, 1860._
_Verse 9.—“Divide their tongues:”_ _i.e._, cause them to give
conflicting opinions.—_French and Skinner, 1842._
_Verse 10.—“Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.”_ The city,
as Abenezra observes, was like a circle; violence and strife were as a
line round about it, and mischief and sorrow the centre of it; and these
two commonly go together: where mischief is, sorrow follows.—_John
Gill._
_Verse 12.—“Then I could have borne it.”_ It is remarkable that the
Lord, who endured the other unspeakable sorrows and agonies of his
passion in perfect and marvellous silence, allowed his grief at this one
alone to escape him, bewailing himself to his disciples that one of them
should betray him, and addressing that one, when he was taken, in these
words of reproach—“Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a
kiss?”—_Fra Thomé de Jesu, 1582._
_Verse 12.—“Then I would have hid myself from him.”_ It is generally
easy to get out of the way of an avowed enemy, but how can one be on his
guard against a treacherous friend?—_A. R. Fausset, in “A Commentary,
Critical, Experimental, and Practical,” 1866._
_Verse 13.—“A man mine equal.”_ The LXX here not badly, ἰσόψυχε (of
equal soul), Jerome, _unanimus mens_ (of one mind).—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 14.—“We took sweet counsel.”_ From מָתַק, _to be sweet_, and the
ordinary notion of סוֹד for _secret_, the phrase נַמְתִּיק סוֹד will
literally be read, _we made our secret sweet_. And so it may be an
elegance, to signify the pleasure of his friendship, or of communicating
secrets to him.—_Henry Hammond._
_Verse 14._—The first clause speaks of private intimacy, the next of
association in public acts, and especially in the great festivals and
processions of the temple.—_J. J. Stewart Perowne, 1864._
_Verse 14.—“In company.”_ In the end of the verse בְּרָגֶשׁ may be
rendered _with a noise_: and so the Chaldee seems to have taken it,
which reads _with haste_; and to that agree the Jewish doctors, who tell
us men are to go in _haste_ and with _speed_ to the _synagogue_, but
return thence very _leisurely_.—_Henry Hammond._
_Verse 15.—“Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into
hell.”_ The last part and end of sinners’ lives is worst with them. They
have in their lives been busily trading in the world, buying and
selling, and getting gain and ruffling it in the world, but meanwhile by
their sins they run deep in debt with God, and for want of interest in
Christ to be their surety at death (it may be on the sudden) it comes to
that of the Psalmist, “_Let death seize upon them, and let them go down
quick into hell._” Death seizeth on them unawares, as a sergeant or
pursevant, casts them into prison, which is expressed by their going
down quick into hell (as it is said, Num. xvi. 32, 33), that Korah and
his company did.—_Anthony Tuckney, 1599-1670._
_Verse 15.—“Let death seize upon them”_ by divine warrant, and let them
go quick into hell; let them be dead and buried, and damned in a moment;
for wickedness is wherever they are, it is in the midst of them. The
souls of impenitent sinners go down quick, or alive, into hell; for they
have a perfect sense of their miseries, and shall therefore live still,
that they may be still miserable. This prayer is a prophecy of the
utter, the final, the everlasting ruin of all those who, whether
secretly or openly, oppose and rebel against the Lord’s
Messiah.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 15.—“Quick,”_ that is, _alive_, like Korah, Dathan and
Abiram.—_From “The Psalms chronologically arranged. By Four Friends,”
1867._
_Verse 15._—Throughout this series of Psalms, there appears to be a
peculiar penalty attached to each class of transgressions, or, each
variety of opposition against God meets a suitable end. The ungodly,
that is, the irreligious and indifferent lay up for themselves an evil
recompence when the wrath of God shall be revealed (Psalm liv. 5): but
an instant punishment falls upon false and treacherous professors; as
Paul denounced “anathema” against any who perverted the gospel of Christ
in the churches of Galatia; so in this Psalm, “_Let death seize upon
them, and let them go down quick into hell_,” announces the awful
judgment of Jehovah, as once it was shown upon Dathan and Abiram; a
punishment that will by its suddenness and notoriety at the same time
expose the guilt, and make manifest the displeasure of the Almighty
against it.—_R. H. Ryland, in “The Psalms restored to Messiah,” 1853._
_Verse 17.—“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray.”_ This was
the custom of the pious Hebrews. See Dan. vi. 10. The Hebrews began
their day in the _evening_, and hence David mentions the _evening
first_. The rabbins say, men should pray three times each day, because
the day changes three times. This was observed in the primitive church;
but the times in different places were various. The old Psalter gives
this a curious turn: “At _even_ I sall tel his louing (_praise_) what
tim Crist was on the Crosse; and at _morn_ I sall schew his louing, what
tim he ros fra dede. And sua he sall here my voice at _midday_, that is
sitand at the right hand of his fader, wheder he stegh (ascended) at
midday.”—_Adam Clarke._
_Verse 17.—“Evening and morning,”_ etc. The three principal parts of the
day are mentioned, not as marking special times set apart for prayer,
but as a poetical expression for “the whole day,” “at all times,”
“without ceasing.”—_J. J. Stewart Perowne._
_Verse 17._—If our poor, frail bodies need refreshment from food three
times a day, who, that knows his own weakness, will say that we need not
as frequent refreshment for our poor frail spirits?—_William S. Plumer,
1867._
_Verse 17._—I can no more believe him to be frequent and spiritual in
ejaculatory prayer, who neglects the season of solemn prayer, than I can
believe that he keeps every day in the week a Sabbath, who neglects to
keep that one which God hath appointed.—_William Gurnall, 1617-1679._
_Verse 17._—There is no limited time in the court of heaven for hearing
petitions. It is not like the court of earthly princes, for there is a
free access any day of the week, any hour of the day, or the night, any
minute of the hour. As the lawyer saith of the king, for having his due,
_Nullum tempus occurrit regi_: so may I say of the godly, for making his
prayers and granting his requests, _Nullum tempus occurrit fidelibus_,
no time unseasonable, so the heart be seasoned with faith; no _non term_
in God’s court of requests. He keeps continually open house for all
comers and goers; and indeed, most for comers, then goers. His eyes are
always open to behold our tears; his ears are always open to hear our
groans; his heart also and his bowels are always open, and never shut up
so fast, but they will yearn and turn within him, if our misery be never
so little. For as we have not an High Priest to pray by “that cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities;” so neither have we a God
to pray to, that shall see us in distress, and hear us call and cry, and
never be moved.—_Zachary Bogan (1625-1659), in “Meditations of the Mirth
of a Christian Life.”_
_Verse 17.—“And cry aloud.”_ The word here employed properly means to
murmur; to make a humming sound; to sigh; to growl; to groan. Here the
language means that he would give utterance to his deep feelings in
appropriate tones—whether words, sighs, or groans.—_Albert Barnes._
_Verse 17.—“And he shall hear.”_ And what will this loud cry obtain? A
hearing without doubt, so he assures himself, “_He shall hear me._” Not
that God hears any prayers whether he will or no (as men sometimes do
that upon importunity which they have no mind to); but he hath no will,
no mind not to hear such prayers, the prayers of those who cry aloud to
him.—_Joseph Caryl, 1602-1673._
_Verse 18.—“He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle.”_ In the
midst of war the Lord can keep a man as safe as in the time of peace,
and in extreme perils preserve him from danger. He that depends upon God
in the time of trouble, albeit he had an host against him, yet hath he
more with him when God is with him, than can be against him.—_David
Dickson._
_Verse 18.—“For.”_ The “_for_” implies the reason why God interposed to
deliver him; namely, because of the general principle that God ministers
relief when his people are come to an extremity.—_A. R. Fausset._
_Verse 18.—“There were many with me.”_ This is doubtful whether it be
meant of _foes_ or _friends_. If of _foes_, it may be resolved thus:
_for with many_ (with a great multitude) _they were fighters with me_.
If of _friends_, it may be understood of God’s _angels_, that _in a
great number were with him_, pitching camp for his aid (Psalm xxxiv. 7);
as Elisha said, “Many more are with us than with them.” 2 Kings vi. 16,
17. The Chaldee explaineth it, “For in many afflictions his word was for
my help.”—_Henry Ainsworth._
_Verse 19.—“Even he that abideth of old.”_ The deeds by which God had
already showed himself from of old as the righteous King and Judge, the
judgments, for example, upon the wicked in the land of Shinar (ver. 9),
the company of Korah (ver. 9 and 18), the cities of the plain (ver. 15),
pledge his still ready interposition. He who had already so long held
the throne, must now also show himself as King and Judge; he cannot now,
at so late a period, be another.—_E. W. Hengstenberg, 1845._
_Verse 19.—“Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.”_
That is, there is no new thing among them, no extraordinary providential
turns, no judiciary changes, their prosperity keeps a settled course,
and because they find all things going on in the old course of
providence, therefore they go on in their old course of sinfulness,
“_they fear not God_;” intimating, that as such _changes_ always should,
so usually they do, awaken fear; and that, if the Lord would but change,
and toss, and tumble them about, by various troublesome dispensations,
surely they would fear him.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 19.—“Because they have no changes,”_ etc. Or, “_with whom_ also
there be _no changes, yet they fear not God_.” If _changes_ be referred
to their temporal estates and welfare, as Job x. 17 (it is the same word
there as here, חְלִיפוֹת), “changes and war are against me;” then,
according to the first translation, “_because_,” etc., a reason is given
of their perseverance in wickedness, and contempt of God; to wit, their
constant and uninterrupted world prosperity. Or, according to the
second, “_With whom there are no changes, yet_,” etc.; it is a great
aggravation of their impenitency, that notwithstanding so much goodness
vouchsafed unto them, they should continue so unthankful as to requite
so ill, or so stupid and insensible as not to acknowledge the author.
But if changes be referred, as by many, to the soul, then the meaning
is—that through long use and continuance of sinning, they are, through
God’s just judgment, become altogether obdurate and inflexible; and
therefore, no wonder if nothing work upon them to their conversion. “Can
the Ethiopian change his skin?” etc. Jer. xiii. 23. But this “_changes_”
might also have another meaning. The Grecians used to say, στρέπται
φρένες ἐσθλῶν, that the minds or hearts of good men are changeable;
their meaning is, that good men are merciful. _Quos quisque est major,
magis est placabilis ira: et faciles motus mens generosa capit_, as the
Latin proverb expresses it. He may therefore say, that they show by
their cruel unmercifulness, that they have no fear or sense of God at
all; else they would fear him, of whose mercy themselves stood in so
much need, and consider that they whom they so fiercely persecute are
his creatures as well as they.—_Westminster Assembly’s Annotations._
_Verse 19.—“They have no changes,”_ etc. Who are they who have no
changes? Apparently those whom God is said to humble or chastise. And
what is the meaning of the word “_changes_” as here used? Many
understand it of a moral change; “who are without change of heart or
reformation.” But the word never occurs in this sense. It means,
properly, “_a change_,” in the sense of _succession_; as of garments, of
troops relieving guard, servants leaving work, and the like. Hence it
would rather mean in a moral sense: “They who have no cessation in their
course (by being relieved guard, for instance), who always continue, and
persevere in their evil life.” Calvin and others understand it of
_change of fortune_, _i.e._, “who are always prosperous;” but this again
is not supported by usage.—_J. J. Stewart Perowne._
_Verse 19.—“They fear not God.”_ The fear required here, is to fear him
as God, and as God presented in this name, _Elohim_; which, though it be
a name primarily rooted in power and strength (for _El_ is _Deus
fortis_, The powerful God; and as there is no love without fear, so
there is no fear without power), yet properly it signifies his judgment,
and order, and providence, and dispensations and government of his
creatures. It is that name which goes through all God’s whole work of
the creation, and disposition of all creatures in the first of Genesis:
in all that he is called by no other name than this, the name God; not
by Jehovah, to present an infinite majesty; nor by Adonai, to present an
absolute power; nor by Tzebaoth, to present a force, or conquest: but
only the name of God, his name of government. All ends in this; to fear
God is to adhere to him, in his way, as he hath dispensed and notified
himself to us; that is, as God is manifested in Christ, in the
Scriptures, and applied to us out of those Scriptures, by the church:
not to rest in nature without God, nor in God without Christ.—_John
Donne, 1573-1631._
_Verse 21.—“The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,”_ etc. Of
this complexion are the cant of hypocrites, the charity of bigots and
fanatics, the benevolence of atheists, the professions of the world, the
allurements of the flesh, and the temptations of Satan, when he thinks
proper to appear in the character of an angel of light.—_George Horne,
1730-1792._
_Verse 21.—“Butter.”_ The Eastern butter is by no means like the solid
substance, which is known by that name in these colder climates; but is
liquid and flowing, as appears from different passages in Scripture,
particularly Job xxix. 6; xx. 17; and as is confirmed by the accounts of
modern travellers; so that in fact it more resembles “cream,” which
Vitringa says is the genuine sense of the word here used.—_Richard Mant,
1776-1849._
_Verse 21._—To avoid all difficulties, the readiest expedient is to
receive the Septuagint rendering of חָלְקוּ, διεμερίσθησαν, _they were_,
or _are divided_, viz., the _members_ of the wicked man there spoken of,
they are at great distance one from the other; מַחֲמָאֹת פִּיו, _butter
their mouth_, or, _their mouth is butter_, וּקִרָב־לִבּוֹ and _war their
heart_, or, _their heart is war_; and this seems to be the fairest
rendering of it.—_Henry Hammond, 1605-1660._
_Verse 21._—A feigned friend is much like a crocodile who, when he
smileth, poisoneth; and when he weepeth, devoureth; or the hyæna, having
the voice of a man and the mind of a wolf, speaking like a friend and
devouring like a fiend; or the flattering sirens that sweetly sing the
sailor’s wreck; or the fowler’s pipe that pleasantly playeth the bird’s
death; or the bee, who carrieth honey in her mouth and a sting in her
tail; or the box-tree, whose leaves are always green, but the seeds
poison. So his countenance is friendly and his words pleasant, but his
intent dangerous, and his deeds unwholesome.
His fetch is to flatter, to catch what he can;
His purpose obtained, a fig for his man.
_L. Wright, 1616._
_Verse 21.—“The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war
was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn
swords.”_ Well, when I came to the justice again, there was Mr. Foster,
of Bedford, who coming out of another room, and seeing me by the light
of the candle, for it was dark night when I came thither, he said unto
me, “Who is there? John Bunyan?” with much seeming affection, as if he
would have leaped in my neck and kissed me,[27] which made me somewhat
wonder that such a man as he, with whom I had so little acquaintance,
and, besides, that had ever been a close opposer of the ways of God,
should carry himself so full of love to me, but afterwards when I saw
what he did, it caused me to remember those sayings, “_Their tongues
were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords_,” and again, “Beware
of men,” etc. When I had answered him that, blessed be God, I was well,
he said, “What is the occasion of your being here?” or to that purpose.
To whom I answered that I was at a meeting of people a little way off,
intending to speak a word of exhortation to them; but the justice
hearing thereof (said I) was pleased to send his warrant to fetch me
before him, etc.—_John Bunyan. In relation to J. B.’s imprisonment:
written by himself. Offor’s edit., Vol. I. p. 52._
_Verse 21 (first clause)._—
Smooth are his words, his voice as honey sweet,
Yet war is in his heart, and dark deceit.
_Mosschus (B.C. 250)._
_Verse 22.—“Cast thy burden upon the Lord,”_ etc. The remedy which the
Psalm suggests, and, perhaps, the only resource in a difficulty of the
kind, where the enemies of true religion are fighting under the
semblance of friendship, is announced in an oracular voice from God:
“Cast thy care upon Jehovah, for he will sustain thee; he will not
suffer the just one to be tossed about for ever.”—_R. H. Ryland._