thyself is to lay thy load upon God; he will take it up and also carry
thee. There is many a man would be willing to go of himself, if another
would but carry his burden for him; but if thou throwest thy burden upon
God he will not only carry that, but will also carry thee. He cares not
how much weight a Christian layeth on his back; a true Israelite may
ease himself, and best please his God at once. God delights not to see
tears in thine eyes, or paleness in thy countenance; thy groans and
sighs make no music in his ears. He had rather that thou wouldst free
thyself of thy burden by casting it upon him, that he might rejoice in
thy joy and comfort. Now, true confidence in God, and resting upon God,
will both free thee of thy burden and also bring in the strength of God
to sustain and bear thee up from falling. Wouldst thou, therefore, own
God as thy strength, and fetch strength from God to thy soul? rest upon
God, roll thyself upon him, and that, (1) In time of greatest weakness.
(2) In time of greatest service. (3) In times of greatest
trials.—_Samuel Blackerby, 1674._
_Verse 22.—“Cast thy burden”_ on him in the same way that the ship in a
storm casts her burden on the anchor, which anchor holds on to its sure
fixing place. And to my mind, that is the more beautiful sense of the
two—a sense which once entered into, may be followed out in these
glorious verses:—
And I see the good ship riding, all in a perilous road;
The low reef booming on her lee; the swell of ocean poured
Sea after sea, from stem to stern; the mainmast by the broad;
The bulwarks down; the rudder gone; the boats stove by the chains.
But courage still, brave mariners, the ANCHOR yet remains:
And he will flinch—no, never an inch—until ye pitch sky high;
Then he moves his head as if he said, “Fear nought; for here am I!”
_J. M. Neale’s Commentary._
_Verse 23.—“Shalt bring them down.”_ Indicating a violent death, like
that of the slain ox, which is said to _descend_, when it falls under
the stroke. The _pit_ of _putrefaction_ is meant, in which the corpse
decays, nor does it here merely denote the sepulchre, but the
ignominious condition of a corpse cast forth, as when it is thrown into
a pit.—_Hermann Venema._
_Verse 23.—“Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their
days.”_ A wicked man never lives out half his days; for either he is cut
off before he hath lived half the course of nature, or he is cut off
before he hath lived a quarter of the course of his desires; either he
lives not half so long as he might, or not a tenth, not a hundredth part
so long as he would; and therefore let him die when he will, his death
is full of terror, trouble, and confusion, because he dies out of
season. He never kept time or season with God, and surely God will not
keep or regard his time or season.—_Joseph Caryl._
_Verse 23.—“Half their days.”_ In the Jewish account threescore years
was the age of a man, and death at any time before that was looked upon
as untimely, and deemed and styled כּרת excision, of which they made
thirty-six degrees; so that _not to live out half one’s days_, is in
their style _to die before thirty years old_.—_Henry Hammond._
_Verse 23 (second clause)._—The more sins we do commit, the more we
hasten our own death; because as the wise man saith, “The fear of the
Lord prolongeth days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened”
(Prov. x. 27); and the prophet David saith, “_Bloody and deceitful men
shall not live out half their days_;” for sin is an epitomiser or
shortener of everything: it consumes our wealth, it confines our
liberty, it impeacheth our health, and it abbreviated our life, and
brings us speedily into our graves.—_Griffith Williams, 1636._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.
_Verse 1 (second clause)._—I. An evil to be dreaded: “_Hide not
thyself_,” etc. 1. By long delay in an urgent case. 2. In the sinner’s
case by refusing to hear altogether. II. Causes which may produce it. 1.
In the man. 2. In the prayer itself. 3. In the manner of the prayer.
III. Evils which will follow—a list which the preacher can readily think
of. IV. Remedies for the evil. There is none if it should continue; but
heart-searching, repentance, importunity, pleading the name of Jesus,
etc., will lead to its removal.
_Verse 2._—The Great Hearer. I. What address shall we present to him?
II. What sort of attention do we desire? III. How shall we secure it?
IV. What is the reflex duty on our part?—To attend and hear him.
_Verse 2 (second clause)._—Allowable complaining. I. Not _of_ God but
_to_ God. II. Mainly of ourselves. III. Of the world as against God and
right. IV. Ever with holy grief, and not selfish vexation.
_Verse 4._—The terrors of death. See Sermon by _Grove_ in the Notes.
_Verse 7._—Solitude. I. Its fancied benefits. II. Its sore temptations.
III. Its occasional benefits. IV. Its sweet solaces.
_Verse 8._—Too hasty a flight from trial. 1. Would show rebellion
against God. 2. Would manifest cowardly want of faith. 3. Would involve
loss of useful experience. 4. Would land us in other and worse trials.
5. Would prevent our glorifying God. 6. Would mar our conformity to
Christ and fellowship with his people. 7. Would lessen the value of
heaven.
_Verse 9 (first clause)._—The Babel of heresies. _Essential_, for truth
is one. _Inevitable_, for the motives of heretics clash. _Providential_,
for so they weaken each other. _Judicial_, for so they torment each
other.
_Verse 10 (first clause)._—The activity of evil.
_Verse 10 (second clause)._—The diabolical twins, or cause and effect.
_Verse 14._—The social companionships which grow out of religion. 1.
They are on a good foundation. 2. They yield profit—“counsel.” 3. They
yield pleasure—“sweet.” 4. They lead to enthusiasm—“walked in company.”
5. They ought to be sacredly maintained. 6. But they need to be
carefully watched.
_Verse 16._—The contrast. I. A child of God will not wrong others as
they do him. II. He will call upon God as they do not. III. God will
hear him as he does not the wicked. IV. God will deal with him at last
otherwise than with them.
_Verse 17._ 1.—David will pray fervently; “_I will pray and cry aloud._”
2. He will pray frequently; every day, and three times a day, evening
and morning, and at noon.—_Matthew Henry._
_Verse 18._—Our battles, our almost rout, our helper, our deliverances,
our praise.
_Verse 19._—The eternal government of God a threat to the ungodly.
_Verse 19 (second part)._—Prosperity creating atheism. This involves—1.
Ingratitude—they ought to be the more devout. 2. Impudence—they think
themselves as God. 3. Forgetfulness—they forget that changes will come.
4. Ignorance—they know not that unbroken prosperity is often for awhile
the portion of the accursed. 5. Insanity—for there is no reason in their
conduct. 6. Rottenness—preparing them to be cast away for ever.
_Verse 21._—The hypocrite’s mouth. 1. It has many words. 2. They are
only from his mouth. 3. They are very smooth. 4. They conceal rather
than reveal his purpose. 5. They are cutting and killing. 6. They will
kill himself.
_Verse 22 (first clause)._—Here we see the believer has—1. A _burden_ to
try him. 2. A _duty_ to engage him, “Cast thy burden,” etc. 3. A
_promise_ to encourage him, “He shall sustain,” etc.—_Ebenezer Temple,
1850._
_Verse 22 (last clause)._—Who are the righteous? What is meant by their
being moved? Whose permission is needful to accomplish it? Will he give
it? “Never.” Why not?
_Verse 23 (last clause)._—The grand “I WILL.” Sum up the Psalm.—When I
pray, 1-3. II. When I faint, 4-7. III. When I am sore beset, 9-11. IV.
When I am betrayed, 12-14, 20, 21. V. When others perish, 15. VI. After
I am delivered, 18. VII. In every condition, 22.
Footnote 24:
Terence.
Footnote 25:
Juvenal.
Footnote 26:
Erasmus.
Footnote 27:
A right Judas.
PSALM LVI.
TITLE.—To the Chief Musician. _That mighty minstrel by degrees acquired
a noble repertoire of hallowed songs, and set them all to music._ Upon
Jonath-elem-rechokim—_this was probably the title of the tune, as we
should say Old Hundred, or Sicilian Mariners. Perhaps the title may
however belong to the Psalm, and if so it is instructive, for it has
been translated “the silent dove in distant places.” We have here the
songs of God’s servant, who rejoices once more to return from
banishment, and to leave those dangerous places where he was compelled
to hold his peace even from good. There is such deep spiritual knowledge
in this Psalm that we might say of it, “Blessed art thou David
Bar-jonas, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee.” When
David plays the Jonah he is not like the prophet of that name; in David
the love of the dove predominates, but in Jonah its moaning and
complaining are most notable._ Michtam of David. _This is the second
golden Psalm; we had the first in Psalm xvi., to which this Psalm has a
great likeness, especially in its close, for it ends in the joyful
presence. A golden mystery, the gracious secret of the life of faith is
in both these Psalms most sweetly unveiled, and a pillar is set up
because of God’s truth._ When the Philistines took him in Gath. _He was
then like a dove in strangers’ hands, and on his escape he records his
gratitude._
DIVISIONS.—_In verses 1 and 2, he pours out his complaint; in verses 3
and 4 he declares his confidence in God; in verses 5 and 6 he returns to
his complaining, but pleads with earnest hope in verses 7-9, and sings a
grateful song from verse 10 to the close._
EXPOSITION.
Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting
daily oppresseth me.
2 Mine enemies would daily swallow _me_ up: for _they be_ many that
fight against me, O thou most High.
1. “_Be merciful unto me, O God._” In my deep distress my soul turns to
thee, my God. Man has no mercy on me, therefore double thy mercy to me.
If thy justice has let loose my enemies, let thy mercy shorten their
chain. It is sweet to see how the tender dove-like spirit of the
Psalmist flies to the tenderest attribute for succour in the hour of
peril. “_For man would swallow me up._” He is but thy creature, a mere
man, yet like a monster he is eager for blood, he pants, he gapes for
me; he would not merely wound me, or feed on my substance, but he would
fain swallow me altogether, and so make an end of me. The open mouths of
sinners when they rage against us should open our mouths in prayer. We
may plead the cruelty of men as a reason for the divine interposition—a
father is soon aroused when his children are shamefully entreated. “_He
fighting daily oppresseth me._” He gives me no interval—he fights daily.
He is successful in his unrighteous war—he oppresses me, he crushes me,
he presses me sore. David has his eye on the leader of his foes, and
lays his plaint against him in the right place. If we may thus plead
against man, much more against that great enemy of souls, the devil. We
ask the Lord to forgive us our trespasses, which is another way of
saying, “Be merciful unto me, O God,” and then we say, “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” The more violent the
attack of Satan the stronger our plea for deliverance.
2. “_Mine enemies would daily swallow me up._” Their appetite for blood
never fails them. With them there is no truce or armistice. They are
many, but one mind animates them. Nothing I can do can make them relent.
Unless they can quite devour me they will never be content. The ogres of
nursery tales exist in reality in the enemies of the church, who would
crush the bones of the godly, and make a mouthful of them if they could.
“_For they be many that fight against me._” Sinners are gregarious
creatures. Persecutors hunt in packs. These wolves of the church seldom
come down upon us singly. The number of our foes is a powerful plea for
the interposition of the one Defender of the faithful, who is mightier
than all their bands. These foes of the gracious are also keen-eyed, and
ever on the watch, hence the margin calls them “observers.” “_O thou
most High._” Thus he invokes against the lofty ones of the earth the aid
of one who is higher than the highest. Some translate the words
differently, and think that the writer means that his foes assailed him
from the high places in which pride and power had placed them. Saul, his
great foe, attacked him from his throne with all the force which his
high position placed at his disposal: our comfort in such a case is near
to hand, for God will help us from a higher place than our proudest foes
can occupy. The greatness of God as the Most High is a fertile source of
consolation to weak saints oppressed by mighty enemies.
3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will
not fear what flesh can do unto me.
3. “_What time I am afraid._” David was no braggart, he does not claim
never to be afraid, and he was no brutish Stoic free from fear because
of the lack of tenderness. David’s intelligence deprived him of the
stupid heedlessness of ignorance, he saw the imminence of his peril, and
was afraid. We are men, and therefore liable to overthrow; we are
feeble, and therefore unable to prevent it; we are sinful men, and
therefore deserving it, and for all these reasons we are afraid. But the
condition of the Psalmist’s mind was complex—he feared, but that fear
did not fill the whole area of his mind, for he adds, “_I will trust in
thee._” It is possible, then, for fear and faith to occupy the mind at
the same moment. We are strange beings, and our experience in the divine
life is stranger still. We are often in a twilight, where light and
darkness are both present, and it is hard to tell which predominates. It
is a blessed fear which drives us to trust. Unregenerate fear drives
from God, gracious fear drives to him. If I fear man I have only to
trust God, and I have the best antidote. To trust when there is no cause
for fear, is but the name of faith, but to be reliant upon God when
occasions for alarm are abundant and pressing, is the conquering faith
of God’s elect. Though the verse is in the form of a resolve, it became
a fact in David’s life, let us make it so in ours. Whether the fear
arise from without or within, from past, present, or future, from
temporals, or spirituals, from men or devils, let us maintain faith, and
we shall soon recover courage.
4. “_In God I will praise his word._” Faith brings forth praise. He who
can trust will soon sing. God’s promise, when fulfilled, is a noble
subject for praise, and even before fulfilment it should be the theme of
song. It is in or through God that we are able to praise. We praise as
well as pray in the Spirit. Or we may read it—in extolling the Lord one
of the main points for thanksgiving is his revealed will in the
Scriptures, and the fidelity with which he keeps his word of promise.
“_In God I have put my trust._” Altogether and alone should we stay
ourselves on God. What was a gracious resolve in the former verse, is
here asserted as already done. “_I will not fear what flesh can do unto
me._” Faith exercised, fear is banished, and holy triumph ensues, so
that the soul asks, “What can flesh do unto me?” What indeed? He can do
me no real injury; all his malice shall be overruled for my good. Man is
flesh, flesh is grass—Lord, in thy name I defy its utmost wrath. There
were two verses of complaint, and here are two of confidence; it is well
to weigh out a sufficient quantity of the sweet to counteract the sour.
5 Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts _are_ against me
for evil.
6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark
my steps, when they wait for my soul.
5. “_Every day they wrest my words._” This is a common mode of warfare
among the ungodly. They put our language on the rack, they extort
meanings from it which it cannot be made fairly to contain. Thus our
Saviour’s prophecy concerning the temple of his body, and countless
accusations against his servants, were founded on wilful perversions.
They who do this every day become great adepts in the art. A wolf can
always find in a lamb’s discourse a reason for eating him. Prayers are
blasphemies if you choose to read them the wrong way upwards. “_All
their thoughts are against me for evil._” No mixture of good will tone
down their malice. Whether they viewed him as a king, a Psalmist, a man,
a father, a warrior, a sufferer, it was all the same, they saw through
coloured glass, and could not think a generous thought towards him. Even
those actions of his which were an undoubted blessing to the
commonwealth, they endeavoured to undervalue. Oh, foul spring, from
which never a drop of pure water can come!
6. “_They gather themselves together._” Firebrands burn the fiercer for
being pushed together. They are afraid to meet the good man till their
numbers place terrible odds against him. Come out, ye cowards, man by
man, and fight the old hero! No, ye wait till ye are assembled like
thieves in bands, and even then ye waylay the man. There is nothing
brave about you. “_They hide themselves._” In ambuscade they wait their
opportunity. Men of malice are men of cowardice. He who dares not meet
his man on the king’s highway, writes himself down a villain. Constantly
are the reputations of good men assailed with deep-laid schemes, and
diabolical plots, in which the anonymous enemies stab in the dark.
“_They mark my steps_,” as hunters mark the trail of their game, and so
track them. Malicious men are frequently very sharp-sighted to detect
the failings, or supposed failings, of the righteous. Spies and
_mouchards_ are not all in the pay of earthly governments, some of them
will have wages to take in red-hot coin from one who himself is more
subtle than all the beasts of the field. “_When they wait for my soul._”
Nothing less than his life would content them, only his present and
eternal ruin could altogether glut them. The good man is no fool, he
sees that he has enemies, and that they are many and crafty; he sees
also his own danger, and then he shows his wisdom by spreading the whole
case before the Lord, and putting himself under divine protection.
7 Shall they escape by iniquity? in _thine_ anger cast down the
people, O God.
8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle:
_are they_ not in thy book?
9 When I cry _unto thee_, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I
know; for God _is_ for me.
7. “_Shall they escape by iniquity?_” Will such wickedness as this stand
them in good stead? Can it be that this conduct shall enable them to
avoid the sentence of earthly punishment? They slander the good man to
screen themselves—will this avail them? They have cunningly managed
hitherto, but will there not be an end to their games? “_In thine anger
cast down the people, O God._” Trip them up in their tricks. Hurl them
from the Tarpeian rock. A persecuted man finds a friend even in an angry
God, how much more in the God of love! When men seek to cast us down, it
is but natural and not at all unlawful to pray that they may be disabled
from the accomplishment of their infamous designs. What God often does
we may safely ask him to do.
8. “_Thou tellest my wanderings._” Every step which the fugitive had
taken when pursued by his enemies, was not only observed but thought
worthy of counting and recording. We perhaps are so confused after a
long course of trouble, that we hardly know where we have or where we
have not been; but the omniscient and considerate Father of our spirits
remembers all in detail, for he has counted them over as men count their
gold, for even the trial of our faith is precious in his sight. “_Put
thou my tears into thy bottle._” His sorrows were so many that there
would need a great wine-skin to hold them all. There is no allusion to
the little complimentary lachrymatories of fashionable and fanciful
Romans, it is a robuster metaphor by far; such floods of tears had David
wept that a leathern bottle would scarce hold them. He trusts that the
Lord will be so considerate of his tears as to store them up as men do
the juice of the vine, and he hopes that the place of storage will be a
special one—“_thy_ bottle,” not _a_ bottle. “_Are they not in thy
book?_” Yes, they are recorded there, but let not only the record but
the grief itself be present to thee. Look on my griefs as real things,
for these move the heart more than a mere account, however exact. How
condescending is the Lord! How exact his knowledge of us! How generous
his estimations! How tender his regard!
9. “_When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back._” So soon
as I pray they shall fly. So surely as I cry they shall be put to the
rout.
“So swift is prayer to reach the sky,
So kind is God to me.”
The machinery of prayer is not always visible, but it is most efficient.
God inclines us to pray, we cry in anguish of heart, he hears, he acts,
the enemy is turned back. What irresistible artillery is this which wins
the battle as soon as its report is heard! What a God is this who
hearkens to the cry of his children, and in a moment delivers them from
the mightiest adversaries! “_This I know._” This is one of the
believer’s certainties, his axioms, his infallible, indisputable
verities. “_For God is for me._” This we know, and we know, therefore,
that none can be against us who are worth a moment’s fear. “If God be
for us, who can be against us?” Who will restrain prayer when it is so
potent? Who will seek any other ally than God, who is instantly present
so soon as we give the ordained signal, by which we testify both our
need and our confidence?
10 In God will I praise _his_ word: in the LORD will I praise _his_
word.
11 In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do
unto me.
12 Thy vows _are_ upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
13 For thou hast delivered my soul from death: _wilt_ not _thou
deliver_ my feet from falling, that I way walk before God in the
light of the living?
10. “_In God will I praise his word._” Now comes the thanksgiving. He is
a wretch who, having obtained help, forgets to return a grateful
acknowledgment. The least we can do is to praise him from whom we
receive such distinguished favours. Does David here mean “by God’s grace
I will praise him?” If so, he shows us that all our emotions towards God
must be in God, produced by him and presented as such. Or does he mean,
“that which in God is most the object of my praise is his word, and the
faithfulness with which he keeps it?” If so, we see how attached our
hearts should be to the sure word of promise, and especially to _him_
who is the WORD incarnate. The Lord is to be praised under every aspect,
and in all his attributes and acts, but certain mercies more peculiarly
draw out our admiration towards special portions of the great whole.
That praise which is never special in its direction cannot be very
thoughtful, and it is to be feared cannot be very acceptable. “_In the
Lord will I praise his word._” He delights to dwell on his praise, he
therefore repeats his song. The change by which he brings in the
glorious name of Jehovah is doubtless meant to indicate that under every
aspect he delights in his God and in his word.
11. “_In God have I put my trust._” This and the former verse are
evidently the chorus of the Psalm. We cannot be too careful of our
faith, or see too sedulously that it is grounded on the Lord alone. “_I
will not be afraid what man can do unto me._” Faith has banished fear.
He views his foes in their most forcible character, calling them not
_flesh_, but indicating them as _man_, yet he dreads them not; though
the whole race were his enemies he would not be afraid now that his
trust is stayed on God. He is not afraid of what they threaten to do,
for much of that they cannot do; and even what is in their power, what
they _can do_, he defies with holy daring. He speaks for the future, “I
will not,” for he is sure that the security of the present will suffice
for days to come.