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Psalm Eighty-two
Psalm 82
Chapter Contents
An exhortation to judges. (1-5) The doom of evil rulers.
(6-8)
Commentary on Psalm 82:1-5
(Read Psalm 82:1-5)
Magistrates are the mighty in authority for the public
good. Magistrates are the ministers of God's providence
for keeping up order
and peace
and particularly in punishing evil-doers
and protecting those that
do well. Good princes and good judges
who mean well
are under Divine
direction; and bad ones
who mean ill
are under Divine restraint. The
authority of God is to be submitted to
in those governors whom his providence
places over us. But when justice is turned from what is right
no good can be
expected. The evil actions of public persons are public mischiefs.
Commentary on Psalm 82:6-8
(Read Psalm 82:6-8)
It is hard for men to have honour put upon them
and not
to be proud of it. But all the rulers of the earth shall die
and all their
honour shall be laid in the dust. God governs the world. There is a righteous
God to whom we may go
and on whom we may depend. This also has respect to the
kingdom of the Messiah. Considering the state of affairs in the world
we have
need to pray that the Lord Jesus would speedily rule over all nations
in
truth
righteousness
and peace.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 82
Verse 1
[1] God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he
judgeth among the gods.
Standeth — To observe all that is said or done there.
Mighty — Kings or chief rulers. By their congregation he understands
all persons whatsoever of this high and sacred order.
Judgeth — Passes sentence upon them.
The gods — Judges and magistrates are called gods
because they
have their commission from God
and act as his deputies.
Verse 2
[2] How long will ye judge unjustly
and accept the persons
of the wicked? /*Selah*/.
How long — The psalmist speaks to them in God's name.
Accept — By giving sentence according to your respect or
affection to the person.
Verse 5
[5] They know not
neither will they understand; they walk
on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
They — The magistrates of whom this psalm treats.
Know not — The duty of their place.
Nor will — Their ignorance is wilful.
Walk on — They persist: it is their constant course.
In darkness — In their sinful courses.
The foundations — This corruption of the supreme
rulers
flows from them to their inferior officers and members.
Verse 6
[6] I have said
Ye are gods; and all of you are children of
the most High.
Have said — I have given you my name and
power to rule your people in my stead.
All — Not only the rulers of Israel
but of all other
nations.
Children — Representing my person
and bearing both my name and
authority.
Verse 7
[7] But ye shall die like men
and fall like one of the
princes.
Like men — Or
like ordinary men.
Verse 8
[8] Arise
O God
judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit
all nations.
Arise — Take the sword of justice into thine own hand.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
TITLE AND
SUBJECT. A Psalm of Asaph. This poet of the temple here acts as a preacher
to the court and to the magistracy. Men who do one thing well are generally
equal to another; he who writes good verse is not unlikely to be able to
preach. What preaching it would have been had Milton entered the pulpit
or had
Virgil been an apostle.
Asaph's
sermon before the judges is now before us. He speaks very plainly
and his song
is rather characterised by strength than by sweetness. We have here a clear
proof that all psalms and hymns need not be direct expressions of praise to
God; we may
according to the example of this psalm
admonish one another in
our songs. Asaph no doubt saw around him much bribery and corruption
and while
David punished it with the sword
he resolved to scourge it with a prophetic
psalm. In so doing
the sweet singer was not forsaking his profession as a
musician for the Lord
but rather was practically carrying it out in another
department. He was praising God when he rebuked the sin which dishonoured him
and if he was not making music
he was hushing discord when he bade rulers
dispense justice with impartiality.
DIVISION. The Psalm is a
whole and needs no formal division.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He is the
overlooker
who
from his own point of view
sees all that is done by the great
ones of the earth. When they sit in state he stands over them
ready to deal
with them if they pervert judgment. Judges shall be judged
and to justices
justice shall be meted out. Our village squires and country magistrates would
do well to remember this. Some of them had need go to school to Asaph till they
have mastered this psalm. Their harsh decisions and strange judgments are made
in the presence of him who will surely visit them for every unseemly act
for
he has no respect unto the person of any
and is the champion of the poor and
needy. A higher authority will criticise the decision of petty sessions
and
even the judgments of our most impartial judges will be revised by the High
Court of heaven. He judgeth among the gods. They are gods to other men
but he
is GOD to them. He lends them his name
and this is their authority for acting
as judges
but they must take care that they do not misuse the power entrusted
to them
for the Judge of judges is in session among them. Our puisne judges are
but puny judges
and their brethren who administer common law will one day be
tried by the common law. This great truth is
upon the whole
well regarded
among us in these times
but it was not so in the earlier days of English
history
when Jeffries
and such as he
were an insult to the name of justice.
Oriental judges
even now
are frequently
if not generally
amenable to
bribes
and in past ages it was very hard to find a ruler who had any notion of
justice apart from his own arbitrary will. Such plain teaching as this psalm
contains was needful indeed
and he was a bold good man who
in such courtly
phrases
delivered his own soul.
Verse
2. How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the
wicked? It is indirectly stated that the magistrates had been unjust and
corrupt. They not only excused the wicked
but even decided in their favour
against the righteous. A little of this is too much
a short time too long.
Some suitors could get their claims settled at once
and in their own favour
while
others were wearing out their lives by waiting for an audience
or were robbed
by legal process because their opponents had the judge's ear: how long were
such things to be perpetuated? Would they never remember the Great Judge
and
renounce their wickedness? This verse is so grandly stern that one is tempted
to say
"Surely an Elijah is here." Selah. This gives the offenders
pause for consideration and confession.
Verse
3. Defend the poor and fatherless. Cease to do evil
learn to
do well. Look not to the interests of the wealthy whose hands proffer you
bribes
but protect the rights of the needy
and especially uphold the claims
of orphans whose property too often becomes a prey. Do not hunt down the
peasant for gathering a few sticks
and allow the gentlemanly swindler to break
through the meshes of the law. Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Even they
can claim from you as judge no more than justice; your pity for their
circumstances must not make you hold the scales unfairly: but if you give them
no more than justice
at least be sure that you give them that to the full.
Suffer not the afflicted to be further afflicted by enduring injustice
and let
not the needy long stand in need of an equitable hearing.
Verse
4. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the
wicked. Break the nets of the man catchers
the legal toils
the bonds
the
securities
with which cunning men capture and continue to hold in bondage the
poor and the embarrassed. It is a brave thing when a judge can liberate a
victim like a fly from the spider's web
and a horrible case when magistrate
and plunderer are in league. Law has too often been an instrument for vengeance
in the hand of unscrupulous men
an instrument as deadly as poison or the
dagger. It is for the judge to prevent such villainy.
Verse
5. They know not
neither will they understand. A wretched
plight for a nation to be in when its justices know no justice
and its judges
are devoid of judgment. Neither to know his duty nor to wish to know it is rather
the mark of an incorrigible criminal than of a magistrate
yet such a stigma
was justly set upon the rulers of Israel. They walk on in darkness. They are as
reckless as they are ignorant. Being both ignorant and wicked they yet dare to
pursue a path in which knowledge and righteousness are essential: they go on
without hesitation
forgetful of the responsibilities in which they are
involved
and the punishment which they are incurring. All the foundations of
the earth are out of course. When the dispensers of law have dispensed with
justice
settlements are unsettled
society is unhinged
the whole fabric of
the nation is shaken. When injustice is committed in due course of law the
world is indeed out of course. When "Justices' justice" becomes a
byword it is time that justice dealt with justices. Surely it would be well
that certain of "the great unpaid" should be paid off
when day after
day their judgments show that they have no judgment. When peasants may be
horsewhipped by farmers with impunity
and a pretty bird is thought more
precious than poor men
the foundations of the earth are indeed sinking like
rotten piles unable to bear up the structures built upon them. Thank God we
have
as an almost invariable rule
incorruptible judges; may it always be so.
Even our lesser magistrates are
in general
most worthy men; for which we
ought to be grateful to God evermore.
Verse
6. I have said
ye are gods. The greatest honour was thus put
upon them; they were delegated gods
clothed for a while with a little of that
authority by which the Lord judges among the sons of men. And all of you are
children of the Most High. This was their ex-officio character
not
their moral or spiritual relationship. There must be some government among men
and as angels are not sent to dispense it
God allows men to rule over men
and
endorses their office
so far at least that the prostitution of it becomes an
insult to his own prerogatives. Magistrates would have no right to condemn the
guilty if God had not sanctioned the establishment of government
the
administration of law
and the execution of sentences. Here the Spirit speaks
most honourably of these offices
even when it censures the officers; and
thereby teaches us to render honour to whom honour is due
honour to the office
even if we award censure to the officer bearer.
Verse
7. But ye shall die like men. What sarcasm it seems! Great as
the office made the men
they were still but men
and must die. To every judge
this verse is a memento mori! He must leave the bench to stand at the
bar
and on the way must put off the ermine to put on the shroud. And fall like
one of the princes. Who were usually the first to die: for battle
sedition
and luxury
made greater havoc among the great than among any others. Even as princes
have often been cut off by sudden and violent deaths
so should the judges be
who forget to do justice. Men usually respect the office of a judge
and do not
conspire to slay him
as they do to kill princes and kings; but injustice
withdraws this protection
and puts the unjust magistrate in personal danger.
How quickly death unrobes the great. What a leveller he is. He is no advocate
for liberty
but in promoting equality and fraternity he is a masterly
democrat. Great men die as common men do. As their blood is the same
so the
stroke which lets out their life produces the same pains and throes. No places
are too high for death's arrows: he brings down his birds from the tallest
trees. It is time that all men considered this.
Verse
8. Arise
O God
and judge the earth. Come thou Judge of all
mankind
put the bad judges to thy bar and end their corruption and baseness.
Here is the world's true hope of rescue from the fangs of tyranny. For thou
shalt inherit all nations. The time will come when all races of men shall own
their God
and accept him as their king. There is one who is "King by
right divine
"and he is even now on his way. The last days shall see him
enthroned
and all unrighteous potentates broken like potter's vessels by his
potent sceptre. The second advent is still earth's brightest hope. Come
quickly
even so
come
Lord Jesus.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. Asaph
who has written so much in the previous Psalms of the
coming of Christ in the flesh
now speaks of his second coming to judgment. Josephus
Maria Thomasius. 1649-1713.
Verse
1. God standeth. He is said to stand
because of his
immutability
his power
his abiding presence
and also because of his
promptness in act
to decide for the right
and to help the poor
as he did S.
Stephen. But one commentator draws a yet deeper lesson from the word stand.
He reminds us that it is for the judge to sit
and for the litigants or accused
to stand; as it is written
Moses sat to judge the people: and the people
stood by Moses from the morning until the evening. Ex 18:13. It is then a
solemn warning for judges to remember
that whatever cause is before them is
God's cause
since right and wrong are at stake in it
and that by acquitting
the guilty
or condemning the innocent
they pass sentence against God himself.
Albertus Magnus
Le Blanc
and Agellius
quoted by Neale and Littledale.
Verse
1. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty
or
of
God. These words are exegetical
and help to illustrate what he had said before:
God standeth in the congregation of God. What is that? Why he judgeth as
supreme amongst the judges of the world. He stands not as a cipher
or a bare
spectator
but he himself makes one amongst them.
1.
He judgeth actively amongst them. We look upon men
and think the judgment is
theirs
but it is God that exerciseth judgment amongst them.
2.
Passively
he is so in the midst of these earthly gods
that if they do
unjustly he will execute justice on them
and judge the judges of the world;
for though they be great
yet there is a greater than they
to whom they must
shortly give an account. Thomas Hall. 1659-60.
Verse
1. In the congregation. Rulers must understand that they are
not placed over stocks and stones
nor over swine and dogs
but over the
congregation of God: they must therefore be afraid of acting against God
himself when they act unjustly. Martin Luther.
Verse
2. And accept the persons of the wicked. The last clause
exemplifies one of the most peculiar Hebrew idioms. The combination usually
rendered respect persons in the English Bible
and applied to judicial
partiality
means literally to take (or take up) faces.
Some suppose this to mean the raising of the countenance
or causing to look up
from dejection. But the highest philological authorities are now agreed
that
the primary idea is that of accepting one man's face or person rather than
another's
the precise form of expression
though obscure
being probably
derived from the practice of admitting suitors to confer with governors or
rulers
face to face
a privilege which can sometimes only be obtained by
bribes
especially
though not exclusively
in oriental courts. Joseph
Addison Alexander.
Verse
3. It is said of Francis the First
of France
that when a woman
kneeled to him to beg justice
he bade her stand up; for
said he
Woman
it is
justice that I owe thee
and justice thou shalt have; if thou beg anything of
me
let it be mercy. A happy place and people surely
where justice (as it
seemeth)
was not extorted
but dropt as kindly as honey from the comb; where
there was no sale of offices
no exchanging of fees
no subtleties of delay
no
trucking for expedition
no making snares of petty and penal statutes: where
Justice had scales in her hand
not to weigh gold
but equity: where judges and
magistrates were as Noah's ark
to take in weary doves
and as the horns of the
altar
for oppressed innocency to betake himself unto; where lawyers
advocates
pleaders
did not call evil good
or good evil
bitter sweet
etc.
where plaintiffs and accusers did not inform or persecute through malice
envy
or for advantage; where subordinate officers durst not help potent delinquents
out of the briars
nor suffer poor men
tempest tossed in law
to languish in
their business within ken of harbour for want of giving a sop to Cerberus
or
sacrificing to the great Diana of expedition; where those setting dogs
such as
base
promoting informers
were not countenanced
and severely punished upon
any false
unjust
or malicious information. To close up all
where the
magistrate owed justice to the people
and paid it; where the people begged for
mercy and had it. William Price. 1642.
Verses
3-4. The touchstone of magistrates' justice is in the causes and cases
of the poor
fatherless
afflicted
and needy
who are not able to
attend long their suits of law
have no friends nor money to deal for them; to
whom
therefore
the mighty should be eyes to direct them
and a staff to their
weakness
to support and help them in their right. David Dickson.
Verse
5. They know not
neither will they understand
etc. Every
judge must have in him (as Baldus actually said) two kinds of salt; the first
is sal scientiae
that he may know his duty; the second is sal
conscientiae
that he may do his duty. Such as fail in the first
are
censured here with a nescierunt
and non intellexerunt; such as
fall in the second
are branded here with an ambulant in tenebris. The
dangers upon this neglect of these duties are two: the one concerning the whole
commonwealth
All the foundations of the earth are out of course; the
other especially touching the private persons of the judges
at the seventh
verse
Ye shall die like men
and fall like one of the princes
and
after death comes judgment
Ps 82:8: Arise
O God
judge the earth.
Almighty God "standeth in the congregation of princes
and is a judge
among gods; "he sits Chief Justice in every session and assize
to mark
what matters pass
and how they pass
ready to judge those righteously
who
judge others unjustly
"giving wrong judgment
and accepting the persons
of the wicked." Ps 67:4 pros to krithrion tou yeou. Thus I have made the
way plain before you; God infinitely rich in mercy grant
that both I in
speaking
and you in hearing
may walk therein (as the blessed Apostle phraseth
it
Ga 2:14) "with a right foot." They know not
neither will they
understand. That is
they neither know God
who made them gods; nor
yet understand his law
which is a lantern to their feet
and a light to
their paths. Or
as Placidus Parmensis upon the place
—They neither consider
how they that be called gods
as commissioners and ministers of God
ought to judge others; nor yet remember how they shall be judged themselves at
the last day
when "all the foundations of the world shall be moved
"and God himself shall "arise to judge the earth." Or
they be
so corrupt and abominable
that they will neither learn what is their office
from others
nor yet understand it by themselves. Or briefly
to give that
gloss (which fits best I think the text
I am sure the time)
Nescierunt
quid facti
non intelexerunt quid juris; they were both ignorant in the
matter of fact
as not searching out the cause; and ignorant in the matter of
law
sitting (as Paul said of Ananias) to give judgment according to the law
and yet commanding that which is contrary to the law. The first concerns a good
deal the jury
the second a great deal the judges; in both are condemned
as
the nurses of all confusions in a commonwealth
ignorantia simplex
and affectata;
simple ignorance
when as they be so shallow that they cannot; affected
ignorance
when as they be so deep
that they will not understand what is right
and reason. John Boys
in "The Judge's Charge
" 1618.
Verse
6. Ye are gods
etc. It is
of course
to civil governors
especially those entrusted with the administration of justice
that the prophet
addresses this stern admonition. He calls them "the gods
"and
"the sons of the Most High." To the people of Israel this kind of
appellation would not seem over bold: for it was applied to judges in well
known texts of the Law of Moses. Thus
in the code of civil statutes delivered
at Sinai
it is said
Thou shalt not revile the gods
nor curse the ruler of
thy people. Ex 22:28. Nor is that the only instance of the kind. In two
other passages of the same code (Ex 21:6 22:8-9)
the word which our
translators have rendered "the judges" is in the Hebrew
"the
gods
"or "God." Since the ordinary Hebrew word for God (Elohim)
is almost always used in the plural form
it is hard to say whether it ought to
be rendered in these passages in the singular or plural. The meaning is the
same either way. It is a matter of indifference
for example
whether the law
in Ex 21:6
be rendered thus
His (the bondman's) master shall bring him to
the gods; or with the Septuagint
his master shall bring him to the
judgment seat of God. (prosto krithrion tou Teou). In either case the terms
used are plainly meant to imply that the Majesty of God is present in the place
of judgment. As it is said of Solomon that he sat on the throne of the LORD
as King
1Ch 29:23
so it may be said of every magistrate that he sits in
God's seat. God has put upon him a portion of his own dominion and authority;
and has ordained that he is to be obeyed
not for wrath's sake only
but for
conscience sake. The civil magistrate
in discharging his high function
may
justly claim to govern with a divine right. No one needs to be told that this
old doctrine of the divine right of rulers has been woefully abused.
Sycophantic divines have often made of it a flattering unction for the care of
princes; teaching them that they owed no obedience to the laws; that they were
responsible to none but God for their administration; that any attempt on the
part of the people to curb their tyranny
or to depose them from their seats
when milder measures failed
was rebellion against God whose Viceregents they
were. Even now
the same doctrine occasionally makes itself heard from the
pulpit and the press; and thus men attempt to subject the consciences of the
people to the caprices of tyrants. Let it be carefully observed that the harp
of Asaph lends no sanction to this "right divine of kings to govern
wrong." If the prophet testifies that princes are gods
he includes in the
honour the humblest magistrate. The elders administering justice in the gate of
Bethlehem
though their town be little among the thousands of Judah
sit in
God's seat as truly as King Solomon on his ivory throne in the porch of
judgment at Jerusalem. The common saying that "the divine right of kings
is the divine right of constables
"is a rough way of expressing a Bible
truth. Let this be borne in mind
and no one will allege Scripture in defence
of royal claims to indefeasible and irresponsible authority
or claim for such
authority the sanction of divine right. But while care ought to be taken to
guard the divine right of civl government from abuse
the right itself is not
to be forgotten. The state is an ordinance of God
having
like the family
its
foundations in the very constitution of human nature. The officers of the
state
whether supreme or subordinate
have a divine right to administer
justice in the community over which Providence has placed them. They who resort
to the civil magistrate for judgment
resort to the judgment seat of God; just
as they who resort to the Ministry of the Word resort to the Great Prophet of
the Church. Unless the magistrate had received a commission from God
he could
not lawfully bear the sword. To take the life of an unarmed fellow man
without
a commission from the Most High warranting the act
would be to commit murder. William
Binnie.
Verse
6. In his Lex Rex
Rutherford argues from this psalm that
judges are not the creatures of kings
to execute their pleasure
and do not
derive their power from the monarch
but are authorized by God himself as much
as the king
and are therefore bound to execute justice whether the monarch
desires it or no.
Verse
6. I have said
ye are gods. Princes and judges are gods
(Elohim)
on the ground that unto them the word of God came (Joh
10:35)
constituting them such. Even here
where God is about to pass sentence
on them
he begins with recognizing their divinely appointed dignity on which
they presumed
as if giving them absolute power to do as they pleased
right or
wrong; forgetting that high office has its duties as well as its dignities.
Sonship is closely allied to kingship and judgeship. These
combined dignities
which by all others have been abused
shall be realized in
all their grandest ideal by the coming King
Judge
and Son of the Most High
(Ps 2:6-7
10-12.) A. R. Fausset.
Verse
6. I have said
ye are gods. As parasites in base flattery
and compliance with their pride
have vainly called some of them so
and as
some princes have most wickedly and blasphemously affected to be called
yea to
be adored
as gods
(God will take highest vengeance upon all those who take
his name upon them
or submit to it when given them)
so God himself hath put
his own name upon magistrates
to mind them of their duty
or for a twofold
end: First
that being called gods
they should judge and rule as God doth
or
with a mind like God
free from the mixture of a private or passionate spirit
and filled with a love to
and a delight in
impartial judgment and righteousness.
Secondly
that being called gods
all men might learn their duty
freely to
submit to them and duly to honour them; seeing any dishonour done to them
reflects upon God whose name they bear. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
6. Gods. It is not Jah or Jehovah
a name of essence
but Eloah or Elohim
a name of office that is given them. Thomas
Gataker.
Verses
6-7. Ye are gods; there he considered their pomp and dignity: But
ye shall die like men; there he minds their end
that with the change of
his note they might also change countenance. He tells them their honour
but
withal their lot. In power
wealth
train
titles
friends
they differ from
others; in death they differ not from others. They are cold when winter comes
withered with age
weak with sickness
and melt away with death
as the
meanest: all to ashes. All flesh is as grass
and all the glory of man as
the flower
1Pe 1:24: the glory
that is
the best of it
but a flower. No
great difference
the flower shows fairer
the grass stands longer
one scythe
cuts down both. Beasts fat and lean
fed in one pasture
killed in one
slaughter. The prince in his lofty palace
the beggar in his lowly cottage
have double difference
local and ceremonial height and lowness; yet meet at
the grave
and are mingled in ashes. We walk in this world as a man in a field
of snow; all the way appears smooth
yet cannot we be sure of any step. All are
like actors on a stage
some have one part and some another
death is still
busy amongst us; here drops one of the players
we bury him with sorrow
and to
our scene again: then falls another
yea all
one after another
till death be
left upon the stage. Death is that damp which puts out all the dim lights of
vanity. Yet man is easier to believe that all the world shall die
than to
suspect himself. Thomas Adams.
Verse
7. Ye shall die like men
etc. Even you which glisten like
angels
whom all the world admires
and sues and bows to
which are called
honourable
mighty and gracious lords
I will tell you to what your honour
shall come: first
ye shall wax old like others
then ye shall fall sick
like
others
then ye shall die like others
then ye shall be buried like others
then ye shall be consumed like others
then ye shall be judged like others
even like the beggars which cry at your gates: one sickens
the other sickens;
one dies
the other dies; one rots
the other rots: look in the grave
and shew
me which was Dives and which was Lazarus. This is some comfort to the poor
that once he shall be like the rich; one day he shall be as wealthy
and as
glorious as a king: one hour of death will make all alike; they which crowed
over others
and looked down upon them like oaks
others shall walk upon them
like worms
and they shall be gone as if they had never been. Henry Smith.
Verse
7. Ye shall die like men
and fall like one of the princes.
The meditation of death would pull down the plumes of pride; thou art but dust
animated; shall dust and ashes be proud? Thou hast a grassy body
and shall
shortly be mowed down: I have said
ye are gods; but lest they should
grow proud
he adds a corrective: ye shall die like men; ye are dying
gods. Thomas Watson.
Verse
7. And fall like one of the princes. Tyrants seldom go to
their graves in peace. Most of the Caesars fell by the hands of the people
q.d.
If you be like tyrants in sin
expect to be like them in punishment; as I cast
them out of their thrones for their insolence and violence
so will I cast you
out
and you shall fall like one of these tyrannical princes. Thomas Hall.
Verse
7.
1.
Ye shall fall from the highest pinnacle of honour and reputation. The place of
magistracy
which knoweth you now
will know you no more. One of the ancients
standing by Caesars tomb
crieth out
Ubi nunc pulchritudo Caesaris? quo
abiit magnificentia ejus? Where is now the beauty; what is become of the
magnificence; where are the armies now; where the honours
the triumphs
the
trophies of Caesar? All was gone when Caesar was gone. You honours and your
worships
your power
and your places
all die with you
if not before you.
2.
Ye fall from your greatest treasures and possessions. As ye brought nothing
into the world
so it is certain ye shall carry nothing out of the world. 1Ti
6:7. Saladin
the mighty monarch of the east
is gone
and hath carried no more
along with him than ye see—i.e.
a shirt hung up for that purpose—said
the priest that went before the bier.
3.
Ye fall from all your friends and relations; when ye die
they that were near
and dear to you will leave you. George Swinnock.
Verse
7. Impressiveness is a leading characteristic of the
"death" or "fall" of "princes:" such incidents
from a variety of causes
are most striking. But can the same remark be
commonly made respecting the decease of the children of poverty? Regard being
had to the startling effect which the demise of the potentate is calculated to
produce
—has the departure of the peasant
for example
in itself
the
same tendency to beget solemnity and awe
so that
even under this point of
view
the peasant might be justly affirmed to fall like one of the princes
Indeed
if you think of the outward circumstances attending his last
moments; and then
immediately afterwards
of those which belong to the close
of the life of the dweller in regal or stately halls
there would seem to be
hardly any ground here for instituting the slightest comparison: but I would
have you to associate the man
as he lies on the eve of dissolution
not with
others
his superiors in rank
in a similar case
but with himself
when
in the full vigour of existence
he walked to and fro
and performed his
own humble but laborious share of this world's business; and
as you
subsequently mark how the great Destroyer has crushed all his energies
and
left but a corpse behind
you will surely admit that there is as wide a
difference between the individual as he was and as he is
as
there can possibly be between the scenes at the death beds
respectively
of
princes and of the poor. Yes
and as impressive a difference too; so
that you have only to allow the exhibition of the striking change to have its
legitimate effect upon the mind
and then
so far as that effect will be
concerned
you may declare of the rural labourer
that "he has fallen
like one of the princes; "seeing that he has given a lesson every whit
as awakening and as emphatic in its admonitions as could the other. Hugh B.
Moffatt
1861.
Verses
7-8. Your day is coming! The saints are raising the loud cry of Ps
82:8
inviting Messiah
the true God
the Son of the Most High (Joh 10:34)
the
Mighty One
the Judge and Ruler
to arise and take his inheritance
for
he is the heir of all things
and to be the true Othniel
Ehud
Shamgar
Barak
Gideon
Tola
Jair
Jephthah
Samson
and Samuel
who will judge
or govern and rule
a mismanaged earth. We sing this song of Zion in his ears
urging him to come quickly; and we sing it to one another in joyful hope
while
the foundations of earth seem out of course
because here we find Messiah
the true Judge of a misgoverned world. Andrew A. Bonar.
Verse
8. Arise
O God. A metaphor taken from the common gesture of
judges
whose usual manner is to sit while they are hearing of cases; to arise
and stand up when they come to give sentence. Thomas Gataker.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1. The sovereignty of God over the most powerful and exalted. How
that sovereignty reveals itself
and what we may expect from it.
Verse
1. The Lord's presence in cabinets and senates.
Verse
2. A common sin. Regard for the persons of men often influences our
judgment of their opinions
virtues
vices
and general bearing; this involves
injustice to others
as well as deep injury to the flattered.
Verse
3. A plea for orphans.
Verse
5.
1.
The characters of wicked princes.
(a)
Ignorance: They know not.
(b) Wilful blindness: Neither will they
etc.
(c) Unrestrained perverseness: They walk on
etc.
2.
The consequences to others: All the foundations
etc.
(a)
Of personal security.
(b) Of social comfort.
(c) Of commercial prosperity.
(d) Of national tranquillity.
(e) Of religious liberty; all are out of course. G. R.
Verse
5. (middle clause). A description of the pilgrimage of
presumptuous sinners.
Verse
6. Ye are gods. The passage in the Old Testament which
involves the doctrine of the divinity of Christ. J. P. Lange.
Verse
8.
1.
The invocation: Arise
etc.
2. The prediction: For thou shalt
etc.—G. R.
WORK UPON THE
EIGHTY-SECOND PSALM
"The
Beauty of Magistracy. An Exposition of Psalm 82." By THOMAS HALL
B.D.
1659-60. (In SWINNOCK'S WORKS. Vol. 4. Nichol's Edition.)
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》