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Psalm One
Hundred and Two
Psalm 102
Chapter Contents
A sorrowful complaint of great afflictions. (1-11)
Encouragement by expecting the performances of God's promises to his church.
(12-22) The unchangeableness of God. (23-28)
Commentary on Psalm 102:1-11
(Read Psalm 102:1-11)
The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer;
but here
is often elsewhere
the Holy Ghost has put words into our mouths.
Here is a prayer put into the hands of the afflicted; let them present it to
God. Even good men may be almost overwhelmed with afflictions. It is our duty
and interest to pray; and it is comfort to an afflicted spirit to unburden
itself
by a humble representation of its griefs. We must say
Blessed be the
name of the Lord
who both gives and takes away. The psalmist looked upon
himself as a dying man; My days are like a shadow.
Commentary on Psalm 102:12-22
(Read Psalm 102:12-22)
We are dying creatures
but God is an everlasting God
the protector of his church; we may be confident that it will not be neglected.
When we consider our own vileness
our darkness and deadness
and the manifold
defects in our prayers
we have cause to fear that they will not be received in
heaven; but we are here assured of the contrary
for we have an Advocate with
the Father
and are under grace
not under the law. Redemption is the subject
of praise in the Christian church; and that great work is described by the
temporal deliverance and restoration of Israel. Look down upon us
Lord Jesus;
and bring us into the glorious liberty of thy children
that we may bless and
praise thy name.
Commentary on Psalm 102:23-28
(Read Psalm 102:23-28)
Bodily distempers soon weaken our strength
then what can
we expect but that our months should be cut off in the midst; and what should
we do but provide accordingly? We must own God's hand in it; and must reconcile
this to his love
for often those that have used their strength well
have it weakened;
and those who
as we think
can very ill be spared
have their days shortened.
It is very comfortable
in reference to all the changes and dangers of the
church
to remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
to-day
and for
ever. And in reference to the death of our bodies
and the removal of friends
to remember that God is an everlasting God. Do not let us overlook the
assurance this psalm contains of a happy end to all the believer's trials.
Though all things are changing
dying
perishing
like a vesture folding up and
hastening to decay
yet Jesus lives
and thus all is secure
for he hath said
Because I live ye shall live also.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 102
Verse 3
[3] For
my days are consumed like smoke
and my bones are burned as an hearth.
An hearth — An
hearth is heated or burnt by the coals which are laid upon it.
Verse 5
[5] By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
Skin — My
flesh being quite consumed.
Verse 6
[6] I am
like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
A pelican — Is
a solitary and mournful bird.
Verse 9
[9] For
I have eaten ashes like bread
and mingled my drink with weeping
Bread —
The sense is
dust and ashes are as familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I
cover my head with them; I sit
yea
lie down in them
as mourners often did.
Verse 10
[10] Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up
and cast me down.
Lifted me — As
a man lifts up a thing as high as he can
that he may cast it to the ground
with greater force.
Verse 12
[12] But
thou
O LORD
shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
Remembrance —
Thy name
Jehovah
which is called by this very word
God's remembrance
or
memorial
and that unto all generations
Exodus 3:15.
Verse 13
[13] Thou
shalt arise
and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her
yea
the set
time
is come.
The set time —
The end of those seventy years which thou hast fixed.
Verse 18
[18] This
shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be
created shall praise the LORD.
This —
This wonderful deliverance shall be carefully recorded by thy people.
Verse 19
[19] For
he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD
behold the earth;
Looked —
From heaven.
Verse 20
[20] To
hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
To loose — To
release his poor captives out of Babylon
and from the chains of sin and
eternal destruction.
Verse 21
[21] To
declare the name of the LORD in Zion
and his praise in Jerusalem;
To declare —
That they might publish the name and praises of God in his church.
Verse 22
[22] When
the people are gathered together
and the kingdoms
to serve the LORD.
When —
When the Gentiles shall gather themselves to the Jews
and join with them in
the worship of the true God.
Verse 23
[23] He
weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
He — God.
The way — In
the midst of the course of our lives. Some think the psalmist here speaks of
the whole commonwealth as of one man
and of its continuance
as of the life of
one man.
Verse 24
[24] I
said
O my God
take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are
throughout all generations.
I said — Do
not wholly destroy thy people Israel.
In the midst —
Before they come to a full possession of thy promises and especially of that
fundamental promise of the Messiah.
Thy years —
Though we die
yet thou art the everlasting God.
Verse 26
[26] They
shall perish
but thou shalt endure: yea
all of them shall wax old like a
garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them
and they shall be changed:
Perish — As
to their present nature and use.
Verse 28
[28] The
children of thy servants shall continue
and their seed shall be established
before thee.
Continue —
Though the heavens and earth perish
yet we rest assured that our children
and
their children after them
shall enjoy an happy restitution to
and settlement
in their own land.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. A prayer of
the afflicted
when he is overwhelmed
and poureth out his complaint before the
Lord. This Psalm is a prayer far more in spirit than in words. The formal
petitions are few
but a strong stream of supplication runs from beginning to
end
and like an under-current
finds its way heavenward through the moanings
of grief and confessions of faith which make up the major part of the Psalm. It
is a prayer of the afflicted
or of "a sufferer
"and it bears the
marks of its parent age; as it is recorded of Jabez that "his mother bore
him with sorrow
"so may we say of this Psalm; yet as Rachel's Benoni
or
child of sorrow
was also her Benjamin
or son of her right hand
so is this
Psalm as eminently expressive of consolation as of desolation. It is scarcely
correct to call it a penitential Psalm
for the sorrow of it is rather of one
suffering than sinning. It has its own bitterness
and it is not the same as
that of the Fifty-first. The sufferer is afflicted more for others than for
himself
more for Zion and the house of the Lord
than for his own house. When
he is overwhelmed
or sorely troubled
and depressed. The best of men are not
always able to stem the torrent of sorrow. Even when Jesus is on board
the
vessel may fill with water and begin to sink. And poureth out his complaint
before the LORD. When a cup is overwhelmed or turned bottom over
all that is
in it is naturally poured out; great trouble removes the heart from all reserve
and causes the soul to flow out without restraint; it is well when that which
is in the soul is such as may be poured out in the presence of God
and this is
only the case where the heart has been renewed by divine grace. The word
rendered "complaint" has in it none of the idea of fault-finding or
repining
but should rather be rendered "moaning
"—the expression of
pain
not of rebellion. To help the memory we will call this Psalm THE
PATRIOT'S PLAINT.
SUBJECT. This is a
patriot's lament over his country's distress. He arrays himself in the griefs
of his nation as in a garment of sackcloth
and casts her dust and ashes upon
his head as the ensigns and causes of his sorrow. He has his own private woes
and personal enemies
he is moreover sore afflicted in body by sickness
but
the miseries of his people cause him a far more bitter anguish
and this he
pours out in an earnest
pathetic lamentation. Not
however
without hope does
the patriot mourn; he has faith in God
and looks for the resurrection of the
nation through the omnipotent favour of the Lord; this causes him to walk among
the ruins of Jerusalem
and to say with hopeful spirit
"No
Zion
thou
shalt never perish. Thy sun is not set for ever; brighter days are in store for
thee." It is in vain to enquire into the precise point of Israel's history
which thus stirred a patriot's soul
for many a time was the land oppressed
and at any of her sad seasons this song and prayer would have been a most
natural and appropriate utterance.
DIVISION. In the first
part of the Psalm
Ps 102:1-11
the moaning monopolizes every verse
the
lamentation is unceasing
sorrow rules the hour. The second portion
from Ps
102:12-28
has a vision of better things
a view of the gracious Lord
and his
eternal existence
and care for his people
and therefore it is interspersed
with sunlight as well as shaded by the cloud
and it ends up right gloriously
with calm confidence for the future
and sweet restfulness in the Lord. The
whole composition may be compared to a day which
opening with wind and rain
clears up at noon and is warm with the sun
continues fine
with intervening
showers
and finally closes with a brilliant sunset.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Hear my prayer
O LORD. Or O JEHOVAH. Sincere supplicants
are not content with praying for praying's sake
they desire really to reach
the ear and heart of the great God. It is a great relief in time of distress to
acquaint others with our trouble
we are eased by their hearing our
lamentation
but it is the sweetest solace of all to have God himself as a
sympathizing listener to our plaint. That he is such is no dream or fiction
but an assured fact. It would be the direst of all our woes if we could be
indisputably convinced that with God there is neither hearing nor answering; he
who could argue us into so dreary a belief would do us no better service than
if he had read us our death-warrants. Better die than be denied the mercy-seat.
As well be atheists at once as believe in an unhearing
unfeeling God. And let
my cry come unto thee. When sorrow rises to such a height that words become too
weak a medium of expression
and prayer is intensified into a cry
then the
heart is even more urgent to have audience with the Lord. If our cries do not
enter within the veil
and reach to the living God
we may as well cease from
prayer at once
for it is idle to cry to the winds; but
blessed be God
the
philosophy which suggests such a hideous idea is disproved by the facts of
every day experience
since thousands of the saints can declare
"Verily
God hath heard us."
Verse
2. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble.
Do not seem as if thou didst not see me
or wouldst not own me. Smile now at
any rate. Reserve thy frowns for other times when I can bear them better
if
indeed
I can ever bear them; but now in my heavy distress
favour me with
looks of compassion. Incline thine ear unto me. Bow thy greatness to my
weakness. If because of sin thy face is turned away
at least let me have a
side view of thee
lend me thine ear if I may not see thine eye. Turn thyself
to me again if
my sin has turned thee away
give to thine ear an inclination
to my prayers. In the day when I call answer me speedily. Because the case is
urgent
and my soul little able to wait. We may ask to have answers to prayer
as soon as possible
but we may not complain of the Lord if he should think it
more wise to delay. We have permission to request and to use importunity
but
no right to dictate or to be petulant. If it be important that the deliverance
should arrive at once
we are quite right in making an early time a point of
our entreaty
for God is as willing to grant us a favour now as to-morrow
and
he is not slack concerning his promise. It is a proverb concerning favours from
human hands
that "he gives twice who gives quickly
"because a gift
is enhanced in value by arriving in a time of urgent necessity; and we may be
sure that our heavenly Patron will grant us the best gifts in the best manner
granting us grace to help in time of need. When answers come upon the heels of
our prayers they are all the more striking
more consoling
and more
encouraging. In these two verses the psalmist has gathered up a variety of
expressions all to the same effect; in them all he entreats an audience and
answer of the Lord
and the whole may be regarded as a sort of preface to the
prayer which follows.
Verse
3. For my days are consumed like smoke. My grief has made
life unsubstantial to me
I seem to be but a puff of vapour which has nothing
in it
and is soon dissipated. The metaphor is very admirably chosen
for
to
the unhappy
life seems not merely to be frail
but to be surrounded by so much
that is darkening
defiling
blinding
and depressing
that
sitting down in
despair
they compare themselves to men wandering in a dense fog
and
themselves so dried up thereby that they are little better than pillars of
smoke. When our days have neither light of joy nor fire of energy in them
but
become as a smoking flax which dies out ignobly in darkness
then have we cause
enough to appeal to the Lord that he would not utterly quench us. And my bones
are burned as an hearth. He became as dry as the hearth on which a wood fire
has burned out
or as spent ashes in which scarcely a trace of fire can be
found. His soul was ready to be blown away as smoke
and his body seemed likely
to remain as the bare hearth when the last comforting ember is quenched. How
often has our piety appeared to us to be in this condition! We have had to
question its reality
and fear that it never was anything more than a smoke; we
have had the most convincing evidence of its weakness
for we could not derive
even the smallest comfort from it
any more than a chilled traveller can derive
from the cold hearth on which a fire had burned long ago. Soul-trouble
experienced in our own heart will help us to interpret the language here
employed; and church-troubles may help us also
if unhappily we have been
called to endure them. The psalmist was moved to grief by a view of national
calamities
and these so wrought upon his patriotic soul that he was wasted
with anxiety
his spirits were dried up
and his very life was ready to expire.
There is hope for any country which owns such a son; no nation can die while
true hearts are ready to die for it.
Verse
4. My heart is smitten
like a plant parched by the fierce
heat of a tropical sun
and withered like grass
which dries up when
once the scythe has laid it low. The psalmist's heart was as a wilted
withered
flower
a burned up mass of what once was verdure. His energy
beauty
freshness
and joy
were utterly gone
through the wasting influence of his
anguish. So that I forget to eat my bread
or "because I forget to eat my
bread." Grief often destroys the appetite
and the neglect of food tends
further to injure the constitution and create a yet deeper sinking of spirit.
As the smitten flower no longer drinks in the dew
or draws up nutriment from
the soil
so a heart parched with intense grief often refuses consolation for
itself and nourishment for the bodily frame
and descends at a doubly rapid
rate into weakness
despondency
and dismay. The case here described is by no
means rare
we have frequently met with individuals so disordered by sorrow
that their memory has failed them even upon such pressing matters as their
meals
and we must confess that we have passed through the same condition
ourselves. One sharp pang has filled the soul
monopolized the mind
and driven
everything else into the background
so that such common matters as eating and
drinking have been utterly despised
and the appointed hours of refreshment
have gone by unheeded
leaving no manifest faintness of body
but an increased
weariness of heart.
Verse
5. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my
skin. He became emaciated with sorrow. He had groaned himself down to a
living skeleton
and so in his bodily appearance was the more like the
smoke-dried
withered
burnt-up things to which he had previously compared
himself. It will be a very long time before the distresses of the church of God
make some Christians shrivel into anatomies
but this good man was so moved
with sympathy for Zion's ills that he was wasted down to skin and bone.
Verse
6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness
a mournful and even
hideous object
the very image of desolation. I am like an owl of the desert;
loving solitude
moping among ruins
hooting discordantly. The Psalmist likens
himself to two birds which were commonly used as emblems of gloom and
wretchedness; on other occasions he had been as the eagle
but the griefs of
his people had pulled him down
the brightness was gone from his eye
and the
beauty from his person; he seemed to himself to be as a melancholy bird sitting
among the fallen palaces and prostrate temples of his native land. Should not
we also lament when the ways of Zion mourn and her strength languishes? Were
there more of this holy sorrow we should soon see the Lord returning to build
up his church. It is ill for men to be playing the peacock with worldly pride
when the ills of the times should make them as mournful as the pelican; and it
is a terrible thing to see men flocking like vultures to devour the prey of a
decaying church
when they ought rather to be lamenting among her ruins like
the owl.
Verse
7. I watch
and am like a sparrow alone upon the house top: I
keep a solitary vigil as the lone sentry of my nation; my fellows are too
selfish
too careless to care for the beloved land
and so like a bird which
sits alone on the housetop
I keep up a sad watch over my country. The Psalmist
compared himself to a bird
—a bird when it has lost its mate or its young
or
is for some other reason made to mope alone in a solitary place. Probably he
did not refer to the cheerful sparrow of our own land
but if he did
the
illustration would not be out of place
for the sparrow is happy in company
and if it were alone
the sole one of its species in the neighbourhood
there
can be little doubt that it would become very miserable
and sit and pine away.
He who has felt himself to be so weak and inconsiderable as to have no more
power over his times than a sparrow over a city
has also
when bowed down with
despondency concerning the evils of the age
sat himself down in utter
wretchedness to lament the ills which he could not heal. Christians of an
earnest
watchful kind often find themselves among those who have no sympathy
with them; even in the church they look in vain for kindred spirits; then do
they persevere in their prayers and labours
but feel themselves to be as
lonely as the poor bird which looks from the ridge of the roof
and meets with
no friendly greeting from any of its kind.
Verse
8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day. Their rage was
unrelenting and unceasing
and vented itself in taunts and insults
the
Psalmist's patriotism and his griefs were both made the subjects of their
sport. Pointing to the sad estate of his people they would ask him
"Where
is your God?" and exult over him because their false gods were in the
ascendant. Reproach cuts like a razor
and when it is continued from hour to
hour
and repeated all the day and every day
it makes life itself undesirable.
And they that are mad against me are sworn against me. They were so furious
that they bound themselves by oath to destroy him
and used his name as their
usual execration
a word to curse by
the synonym of abhorrence and contempt.
What with inward sorrows and outward persecutions he was in as ill a plight as
may well be conceived.
Verse
9. For I have eaten ashes like bread. He had so frequently
cast ashes upon his head in token of mourning
that they had mixed with his
ordinary food
and grated between his teeth when he ate his daily bread. One
while he forgot to eat
and then the fit changed
and he ate with such a hunger
that even ashes were devoured. Grief has strange moods and tenses. And mingled
my drink with weeping. His drink became as nauseous as his meat
for copious
showers of tears had made it brackish. This is a telling description of
all-saturating
all-embittering sadness
—and this was the portion of one of the
best of men
and that for no fault of his own
but because of his love to the
Lord's people. If we
too
are called to mourn
let us not be amazed by the
fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened unto us. Both in meat and
drink we have sinned; it is not therefore wonderful if in both we are made to
mourn.
Verse
10. Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast
lifted me up and cast me down. A sense of the divine wrath which had been
manifested in the overthrow of the chosen nation and their sad captivity led
the Psalmist into the greatest distress. He felt like a sere leaf caught up by
a hurricane and carried right away
or the spray of the sea which is dashed
upwards that it may be scattered and dissolved. Our translation gives the idea
of a vessel uplifted in order that it may be dashed to the earth with all the
greater violence and the more completely broken in pieces; or to change the
figure
it reminds us of a wrestler whom his opponent catches up that he may
give him a more desperate fall. The first interpretation which we have given
is
however
more fully in accordance with the original
and sets forth the
utter helplessness which the writer felt
and the sense of overpowering terror
which bore him along in a rush of tumultuous grief which he could not
withstand.
Verse
11. My days are like a shadow that declineth. His days were
but a shadow at best
but now they seem to be like a shadow which was passing
away. A shadow is unsubstantial enough
how feeble a thing must a declining
shadow be? No expression could more forcibly set forth his extreme feebleness.
And I am withered like grass. He was like grass
blasted by a parching wind
or
cut down with a scythe
and then left to be dried up by the burning heat of the
sun. There are times when through depression of spirit a man feels as if all
life were gone from him
and existence had become merely a breathing death.
Heart-break has a marvellously withering influence over our entire system; our
flesh at its best is but as grass
and when it is wounded with sharp sorrows
its beauty fades
and it becomes a shrivelled
dried
uncomely thing.
Verse
12. Now the writer's mind is turned away from his personal and
relative troubles to the true source of all consolation
namely
the Lord
himself
and his gracious purposes towards his own people. But thou
O Lord
shalt endure for ever. I perish
but thou wilt not
my nation has become almost
extinct
but thou art altogether unchanged. The original has the word "sit
"—"thou
Jehovah
to eternity shalt sit:" that is to say
thou
reignest on
thy throne is still secure even when thy chosen city lies in
ruins
and thy peculiar people are carried into captivity. The sovereignty of
God in all things is an unfailing ground for consolation; he rules and reigns
whatever happens
and therefore all is well.
Firm
as his throne his promise stands
And he can well secure
What I have committed to his hands.
Till the decisive hour.
And
thy rememberance unto all generations. Men will forget me
but as for thee
O
God
the constant tokens of thy presence will keep the race of man in mind of
thee from age to age. What God is now he always will be
that which our
forefathers told us of the Lord we find to be true at this present time
and what
our experience enables us to record will be confirmed by our children and their
children's children. All things else are vanishing like smoke
and withering
like grass
but over all the one eternal
immutable light shines on
and will
shine on when all these shadows have declined into nothingness.
Verse
13. Thou shalt arise
and have mercy upon Zion. He firmly
believed and boldly prophesied that apparent inaction on God's part would turn
to effective working. Others might remain sluggish in the matter
but the Lord
would most surely bestir himself. Zion had been chosen of old
highly favoured
gloriously inhabited
and wondrously preserved
and therefore by the memory of
her past mercies it was certain that mercy would again be showed to her. God
will not always leave his church in a low condition; he may for a while hide
himself from her in chastisement
to make her see her nakedness and poverty
apart from himself
but in love he must return to her
and stand up in her
defence
to work her welfare. For the time to favour her
yea
the set time
is
come. Divine decree has appointed a season for blessing the church
and when
that period has arrived
blessed she shall be. There was an appointed time for
the Jews in Babylon
and when the weeks were fulfilled
no bolts nor bars could
longer imprison the ransomed of the Lord. When the time came for the walls to
rise stone by stone
no Tobiah or Sanballat could stay the work
for the Lord
himself had arisen
and who can restrain the hand of the Almighty? When God's
own time is come
neither Rome
nor the devil
nor persecutors
nor atheists
can prevent the kingdom of Christ from extending its bounds. It is God's work
to do it;—he must "arise"; he will do it
but he has his own
appointed season; and meanwhile we must
with holy anxiety and believing
expectation
wait upon him.
Verse
14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones
and favour the
dust thereof. They delight in her so greatly that even her rubbish is dear
to them. It was a good omen for Jerusalem when the captives began to feel a
home-sickness
and began to sigh after her. We may expect the modern Jews to be
restored to their own land when the love of their country begins to sway them
and casts out the love of gain. To the church of God no token can be more full
of hope than to see the members thereof deeply interested in all that concerns
her; no prosperity is likely to rest upon a church when carelessness about
ordinances
enterprises
and services is manifest; but when even the least and
lowest matter connected with the Lord's work is carefully attended to
we may
be sure that tne set time to favour Zion is come. The poorest church member
the most grievous backslider
the most ignorant convert
should be precious in
our sight
because forming a part
although possibly a very feeble part
of the
new Jerusalem. If we do not care about the prosperity of the church to which we
belong
need we wonder if the blessing of the Lord is withheld?
Verse
15. So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD. Mercy
within the church is soon perceived by those without. When a candle is lit in
the house
it shines through the window. When Zion rejoices in her God
the
heathen been to reverence his name
for they hear of the wonders of his power
and are impressed thereby. And all the kings of the earth thy glory. The
restoration of Jerusalem was a marvel among the princes who heard of it
and
its ultimate resurrection in days yet to come will be one of the prodigies of
history. A church quickened by divine power is so striking an object in current
history that it cannot escape notice
rulers cannot ignore it
it affects the
Legislature
and forces from the great ones of the earth a recognition of the
divine working. Oh that we might see in our days such a revival of religion
that our senators and princes might be compelled to pay homage to the Lord
and
own his glorious grace. This cannot be till the saints are better edified
and
more fully builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Internal prosperity is the true source of the church's external influence.
Verse
16. When the LORD shall build up Zion
he shall appear in his
glory. As kings display their skill and power and wealth in the erection of
their capitals
so would the Lord reveal the splendour of his attributes in the
restoration of Zion
and so will he now glorify himself in the edification of
his church. Never is the Lord more honourable in the eyes of his saints than
when he prospers the church. To add converts to her
to train these for holy
service
to instruct
illuminate
and sanctify the brotherhood
to bind all
together in the bonds of Christian love
and to fill the whole body with the
energy of the Holy Spirit—this is to build up Zion. Other builders do but puff
her up
and their wood
hay
and stubble come to an end almost as rapidly as it
was heaped together; but what the Lord builds is surely and well done
and
redounds to his glory. Truly
when we see the church in a low state
and mark
the folly
helplessness
and indifference of those who profess to be her
builders; and
on the other hand
the energy
craft
and influence of those
opposed to her
we are fully prepared to own that it will be a glorious work of
omnipotent grace should she ever rise to her pristine grandeur and purity.
Verse
17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute. Only the
poorest of the people were left to sigh and cry among the ruins of the beloved
city; as for the rest
they were strangers in a strange land
and far away from
the holy place
yet the prayers of the captives and the forlorn offscourings of
the land would be heard of the Lord
who does not hear men because of the
amount of money they possess
or the breadth of the acres which they call their
own
but in mercy listens most readily to the cry of the greatest need. And not
despise their prayer. When great kings are building their palaces it is not
reasonable to expect them to turn aside and listen to every beggar who pleads
with them
yet when the Lord builds up Zion
and appears in his robes of glory
he makes a point of listening to every petition of the poor and needy. He will
not treat their pleas with contempt; he will incline his ear to hear
his heart
to consider
and his hand to help. What comfort is here for those who account
themselves to be utterly destitute; their abject want is here met with a most
condescending promise. It is worth while to be destitute to be thus assured of
the divine regard.
Verse
18. This shall be written for the generation to come. A note
shall be made of it
for there will be destitute ones in future
generations
—"the poor shall never cease out of the land
"—and it
will make glad their eyes to read the story of the Lord's mercy to the needy in
former times. Registers of divine kindness ought to be made and preserved; we
write dcwn in history the calamities of nations
—wars
famines
pestilences
and earthquakes are recorded; how much rather then should we set up memorials
of the Lord's lovingkindness! Those who have in their own souls endured
spiritual destitution
and have been delivered out of it
cannot forget it;
they are bound to tell others of it
and especially to instruct their children
in the goodness of the Lord. And the people which shall be created shall praise
the LORD. The Psalmist here intends to say that the rebuilding of Jerusalem
would be a fact in history for which the Lord would be praised from age to age.
Revivals of religion not only cause great joy to those who are immediately
concerned in them
but they give encouragement and delight to the people of God
long after
and are indeed perpetual incentives to adoration throughout the
church of God. This verse teaches us that we ought to have an eye to posterity
and especially should we endeavour to perpetuate the memory of God's love to
his church and to his poor people
so that young people as they grow up may
know that the Lord God of their fathers is good and full of compassion. Sad as
the Psalmist was when he wrote the dreary portions of this complaint
he was
not so absorbed in his own sorrow
or so distracted by the national calamity
as to forget the claims of coming generations; this
indeed
is a clear proof
that he was not without hope for his people
for he who is making arrangements
for the good of a future generation has not yet despaired of his nation. The
praise of God should be the great object of all that we do
and to secure him a
revenue of glory both from the present and the future is the noblest aim of
intelligent beings.
Verses
19-20. For he hath looked down from the heights of his sanctuary
or "leaned from the high place of his holiness
" from heaven did the
LORD behold the earth
looking out like a watcher from his tower. What was the
object of this leaning lrom the battlements of heaven? Why this intent gaze
upon the race of men? The answer is full of astounding mercy; the Lord does not
look upon mankind to note their grandees
and observe the doings of their
nobles
but to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed
to death. Now the groans of those in prison so far from being musical are
very horrible to hear
yet God bends to hear them: those who are bound for
death are usually ill company
yet Jehovah deigns to stoop from his greatness
to relieve their extreme distress and break their chains. This he does by
providential rescues
by restoring health to the dying
and by finding food for
the famishing: and spiritually this deed of grace is accomplished by sovereign
grace
which delivers us by pardon from the sentence of sin
and by the
sweetness of the promise from the deadly despair which a sense of sin had
created within us. Well may those of us praise the Lord who were once the
children of death
but are now brought into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. The Jews in captivity were in Haman's time appointed to death
but their God found a way of escape for them
and they joyfully kept the feast
of Purim in memorial thereof; let fill souls that have been set free from the
crafty malice of the old dragon with even greater gratitude magnify the Lord of
infinite compassion.
Verse
21. To declare the name of the LORD in Zion
and his praise in
Jerusalem. Great mercy displayed to those greatly in need of it
is the
plainest method of revealing the attributes of the Most High. Actions speak
more loudly than words; deeds of grace are a revelation even more impressive
than the most tender promises. Jerusalem restored
the church re-edified
desponding souls encouraged
and all other manifestations of Jehovah's power to
bless
are so many manifestoes and proclamations put up upon the walls of Zion
to publish the character and glory of the great God. Every day's experience
should be to us a new gazette of love
a court circular from heaven
a daily
despatch from the headquarters of grace. We are bound to inform our fellow
Christians of all this
making them helpers in our praise
as they hear of the
goodness which we have experienced. While God's mercies speak so eloquently
we
ought not to be dumb. To communicate to others what God has done for us personally
and for the church at large is so evidently our duty
that we ought not to need
urging to fulfil it. God has ever an eye to the glory of his grace in all that
he does
and we ought not wilfully to defraud him of the revenue of his praise.
Verse
22. When the people are gathered together
and the kingdoms
to
serve the Lord. The great work of restoring ruined Zion is to be spoken of
in those golden ages when the heathen nations shall be converted unto God; even
those glorious times will not be able to despise that grand event
which
like
the passage of Israel through the Red Sea
will never be eclipsed and never
cease to awaken the enthusiasm of the cliosen people. Happy will the day be
when all nations shall unite in the sole worship of Jehovah
then shall the
histories of the olden times be read with adoring wonder
and the hand of the
Lord shall be seen as having ever rested upon the sacramental host of his
elect: then shall shouts of exulting praise ascend to heaven in honour of him
who loosed the captives
delivered the condemned
raised up the desolations of
ages
and made out of stones and rubbish a temple for his worship.
Verse
23. He weakened my strength in the way. Here the Psalmist
comes down again to the mournful string
and pours forth his personal
complaint. His sorrow had cast down his spirit
and even caused weakness in his
bodily frame
so that he was like a pilgrim who limped along the road
and was
ready to lie down and die. He shortened my days. Though he had bright hopes for
Jerusalem
he feared that he should have departed this life long before those
visions had become realities; he felt that he was pining away and would be a
shortlived man. Perhaps this may be our lot
and it will materially help us to
be content with it
if we are persuaded that the grandest of all interests is
safe
and the good old cause secure in the hands of the Lord.
Verse
24. I said
O my God
take me not away in the midst of my days.
He betook himself to prayer. What better remedy is there for hcart-sickness and
depression? We may lawfully ask for recovery from sickness and may hope to be
heard. Good men should not dread death
but they are not forbidden to love
life: for many reasons the man who has the best hope of heaven may nevertheless
think it desirable to continue here a little longer
for the sake of his
family
his work
the church of God
and even the glory of God itself. Some
read the passage
"Take me not up
"let me not ascend like
disappearing smoke
do not whirl me away like Elijah in a chariot of fire
for
as yet I have only seen half my days
and that a sorrowful half; give me to
live till the blustering morning shall have softened into a bright afternoon of
happier existence. Thy years are throughout all generations. Thou livest
Lord;
let me live also. A fulness of existence is with thee
let me partake therein.
Note the contrast between himself pining and ready to expire
and his God
living on in the fulness of strength for ever and ever; this contrast is full
of consolatory power to the man whose heart is stayed upon the Lord. Blessed be
his name
he faileth not
and
therefore
our hope shall not fail us
neither
will we despair for ourselves or for his church.
Verse
25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth.
Creation is no new work with God
and therefore to "create Jerusalem a
praise in the earth" will not be difficult to him. Long ere the holy city
was laid in ruins the Lord made a world out of nothing
and it will be no
labour to him to raise the walls from their heaps and replace the stones in
their courses. We can neither continue our own existence nor give being to
others; but the Lord not only is
but he is the Maker of all things that are;
hence
when our affairs are at the very lowest ebb we are not at all despairing
because the Almighty and Eternal Lord can yet restore us. And the heavens are
the work of thine hands. Thou canst therefore not merely lay the foundations of
Zion
but complete its roof
even as thou hast arched in the world with its
ceiling of blue; the loftiest stories of thine earthly palace shall be piled on
high without difficulty when thou dost undertake the building thereof
since
thou art architect of the stars
and the spheres in which they move. When a
great labour is to be performed it is eminently reassuring to contemplate the
power of him who has undertaken to accomplish it; and when our own strength is
exhausted it is supremely cheering to see the unfailing energy which is still
engaged on our behalf.
Verse
26. They shall perish
but thou shalt endure. The power which
made them shall dissolve them
even as the city of thy love was destroyed at
thy command; yet neither the ruined city nor the ruined earth can make a change
in thee
reverse thy purpose
or diminish thy glory. Thou standest when all
things fall. Yea
all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou
change them
and they shall be changed. Time impairs all things
the
fashion becomes obsolete and passes away. The visible creation
which is like
the garment of the invisible God
is waxing old and wearing out
and our great
King is not so poor that he must always wear the same robes; he will ere long
fold up the worlds and put them aside as worn out vestures
and he will array
himself in new attire
making a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. How readily will all this be done. "Thou shalt change them
and they shall be changed; "as in the creation so in the restoration
omnipotence shall work its way without hindrance.
Verse
27. But thou art the same
or
"thou art he." As a
man remains the same when he has changed his clothing
so is the Lord evermore
the unchanging One
though his works in creation may be changed
and the
operations of his providence may vary. When heaven and earth shall flee away
from the dread presence of the great Judge
he will be unaltered by the
terrible confusion
and the world in conflagration will effect no change in
him; even so
the Psalmist remembered that when Israel was vanquished
her
capital destroyed
and her temple levelled with the ground
her God remained
the same self-existent
all-sufficient being
and would restore his people
even as he will restore the heavens and the earth
bestowing at the same time a
new glory never known before. The doctrine of the immutability of God should be
more considered than it is
for the neglect of it tinges the theology of many
religious teachers
and makes them utter many things of which they would have
seen the absurdity long ago if they had remembered the divine declaration
"I am God
I change not
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not
consumed." And thy years shall have no end. God lives on
no decay can
happen to him
or destruction overtake him. What a joy is this! We may lose our
dearest earthly friends
but not our heavenly Friend. Men's days are often
suddenly cut short
and at the longest they are but few
but the years of the
right hand of the Most High cannot be counted
for they have neither first nor
last
beginning nor end. O my soul
rejoice thou in the Lord always
since he
is always the same.
Verse
28. The children of thy servants shall continue. The Psalmist
had early in the psalm looked forward to a future generation
and here he
speaks with confidence that such a race would arise and be preserved and
blessed of God. Some read it as a prayer
"let the sons of thy servants
abide." Any way
it is full of good cheer to us; we may plead for the
Lord's favour to our seed
and we may expect that the cause of God and truth
will revive in future generations. Let us hope that those who are to succeed us
will not be so stubborn
unbelieving and erring as we have been. If the church
has been minished and brought low by the lukewarmness of the present race
let
us entreat the Lord to raise up a better order of men
whose zeal and obedience
shall win and hold a long prosperity. May our own dear ones be among the better
generation who shall continue in the Lord's ways
obedient to the end. And
their seed shall be established before thee. God does not neglect the children
of his servants. It is the rule that Abraham's Isaac should be the Lord's
that
Isaac's Jacob should be beloved of the Most High
and that Jacob's Joseph
should find favour in the sight of God. Grace is not hereditary
yet God loves
to be served by the same family time out of mind
even as many great landowners
feel a pleasure in having the same families as tenants upon their estates from
generation to generation. Here is Zion's hope
her sons will build her up
her
offspring will restore her former glories. We may
therefore
not only for our
own sakes
but also out of love to the church of God
daily pray that our sons
and daughters may be saved
and kept by divine grace even unto the
end
—established before the Lord. We have thus passed through the cloud
and in
the next psalm we shall bask in the sunshine. Such is the chequered experience
of the believer. Paul in the seventh of Romans cries and groans
and then in
the eighth rejoices and leaps for joy; and so
from the moaning of the hundred
and second psalm
we now advance to the songs and dancing of the hundred and
third
blessing the Lord that
"though weeping may endure for a night
joy
cometh in the morning."
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
TITLE. A prayer
etc. The prayer following is longer than others. When Satan
the Law-Adversary
doth extend his pleas against us
it is meet that we should enlarge our counter
pleas for our own souls; as the powers of darkness do lengthen aud multiply
their wrestlings
so must we our counter wrestlings of prayer. Eph 6:12
18. Thomas
Cobbet
1667.
Title. When he...
poureth out
etc. Here we have the manner of the church's prayer suitable
to her extremity illustrated by a simile taken from a vessel overcharged with
new wine or strong liquor
that bursts for vent. Oh the heart-bursting cries
she sends out all the day! Here is no lazy
slothful
lip labour
stinted forms
of prayer
no empty sounds of verbal expressions
which can never procure her a
comfortable answer from her God
or the least ease to her burdened soul; but
poured-out prayers as Hannah
1Sa 1:15
and Jeremy
La 2:12
pressed forth with vehemence of spirit and heart pangs of inward grief: thus
the Lord deals with his church and people; ere he pour out cups of consolation
they must pour out tears in great measure. Finiens Canus Vove.
Title.
This
is the mourner's prayer when he is faint
And to the Eternal Father breathes his plaint. John Keble.
Whole
Psalm. The psalm has been attributed to Daniel
to Jeremiah
to Nehemiah
or to some of the other prophets who flourished
during the time of the captivity. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has
applied Ps 102:25-27 to our Lord
and the perpetuity of his kingdom. Adam
Clarke.
Whole
Psalm. I doubt whether
without apostolic teaching
any of us would have
had the boldness to understand it; for in many respects it is the most
remarkable of all the Psalms—the Psalm of "THE AFFLICTED ONE"—while
his soul is overwhelmed within him in great affliction
and sorrow
and anxious
fear. Adolph Saphir
in "Expository Lectures on the Epistle to the
Hebrews."
Verse
1. Hear my prayer
O LORD
and let my cry come unto thee.
When
at any time we see the beggars
or poor folks
that are pained and
grieved with hunger and cold
lying in the streets of cities and towns
full of
sores
we are somewhat moved inwardly with pity and mercy; but if we our own
selves attend and give ear to their wailings
cryings
and lamentable noises
that they make
we should be much more stirred to show our pity and mercy on
them; for no man else can show the grief of the sick and sore persons
so well
and in so pathetic a manner as he himself. Therefore
since the miserable
crying and wailing of those that suffer bodily pain and misery can prevail so
much upon the hearts of mortal creatures; I doubt not
Good Lord
but thou
who
art all merciful
must needs be inclined to exercise thy mercy
if my
sorrowful cry and petition may come unto thine ears
or into thy
presence. John Fisher (1459-1535) in "A Treatise concerning the
fruitful Sayings of David
"1714.
Verse
1. My prayer. His own
and not another's; not what was
composed for him
but composed by him; which came out of his own heart
and out
of unfeigned lips
and expressed under a feeling sense of his own wants and
troubles; and though dictated and inwrought in his heart by the Spirit of God
yet
being put up by him in faith and fervency
it is called his own
and which
he desires might be heard. John Gill.
Verse
1. My cry. Lest my praying should not prevail
behold
O God
I raise it to a cry; and crying
I may say
is the greatest bell in all the
ring of praying: for louder than crying I cannot pray. O
then
if not my
prayer
at least let my cry come unto thee. If I be not heard when I
cry
I shall cry for not being heard; and if heard when I cry
I shall cry to
be heard yet more; and so whether heard or not heard
I shall cry still
and
God grant I may cry still; so thou be pleased
O God
to "hear my prayer
"and to "let my cry come unto thee." Sir R. Baker.
Verses
1-2. This language is the language of godly sorrow
of faith
of
tribulation
and of anxious hope: of faith
for the devout suppliant
lifts up his heart and voice to heaven
"as seeing him who is invisible
"(Heb 11:27) and entreats him to hear his prayer and listen to his crying:
of tribulation
for he describes himself as enduring affliction
and
unwilling to lose the countenance of the Lord in his time of his trouble: of
anxious hope
for he seems to expect
in the midst of his groaning
that
his prayers
like those of Cornelius
will "go up for a memorial before
God" who will hear him
"and that right soon." Charles
Oxenden
in "Sermons on the Seven Penitential Psalms
" 1838.
Verses
1-2. The Lord suffereth his babbling children to speak to him in their
own form of speech
(albeit the terms which they use be not fitted for his
spiritual
invisible
and incomprehensible majesty); such as are
"Hear
me
""hide not thy face
""incline thine ear to me
"and
such like other speeches. David Dickson.
Verses
1-2. Note
David sent his prayer as a sacred ambassador to God. Now
there are four things requisite to make an embassy prosperous. The ambassador
must be regarded with favourable eye: he must be heard with a ready ear: he
must speedily return when his demands are conceded. These four things David as
a suppliant asks from God his King. Le Blanc.
Verse
2. Incline thine ear unto me. The great exhaustion of the
affiicted one is hinted at: so worn out is he
that he is hardly able to cry
any more
but with a faint voice only feebly mutters
like a weak sick man
whose voice if we would catch
we must incline the ear. Martin Geier.
Verse
3. Consumed like smoke
would be better read
"pass away
as in smoke
"as if they disappeared into smoke and ashes. Burned
as an hearth
is not a felicitous translation
for a "hearth"
should be incombustible. Better "burned as a faggot
"as any fuel.
The sentiment
My days waste away to nothing
turn to no good account
are
lost. Henry Cowles.
Verse
3. My days are consumed like smoke; or
as Hebrew
literally
"in (into) smoke." The very same expression which David in Ps
37:20 had used of "the enemies of the Lord:" "They shall consume
into smoke" (compare Ps 68:2). Hereby the ideal sufferer virtually
complains that the lot of the wicked befalls him
though being righteous (Ps
101:1-8). A. R. Fausset.
Verse
3. My days are consumed like smoke. As the smoke is a vapour
proceeding from the fire
yet hath no heat in it: so my days are come from the
torrid zone of youth into the region of cold and age; and as the smoke seems a
thick substance for the present
but presently vanisheth into air; so my days
made as great shew at first as if they would never have been spent; but now
alas
are wasted and leave me scarce a being. As the smoke is fuliginous and dark
and affords no pleasure to look upon it; so my days are all black and in
mourning; no joy nor pleasure to be taken in them. And as the smoke ascends
indeed
but by ascending wastes itself and comes to nothing: so my days are
wasted in growing
are diminished in increasing; their plenty hath made a
scarcity
and the more they have been the fewer they are. And how
indeed
can
my days choose but be consumed as smoke
when my bones are burned as an hearth?
for as when the hearth is burned there can be made no more fire upon it; so
when my bones
which are as the hearth upon which my fire of life is made
come
once to be burned; how can any more fire of life be made upon them? and when no
fire can be made
what will remain but only smoke? Sir R. Baker.
Verse
3. As an hearth. Or
as a trivet
or
gridiron;so
the Targum: or
as a frying-pan: so the Arabic version. John Gill.
Verse
4. My heart is smitten and withered like grass. The metaphor
here is taken from grass
cut down in the meadow. It is first "smitten"
with the scythe
and then "withered" by the sun. Thus
the Jews were smitten with the judgments of God; and they are now withered
under the fire of the Chaldeans. Adam Clarke.
Verse
4. I forget to eat my bread. I have heard of some that have
forgotten their own names
but I never heard of any that forget to eat his
meat; for there is a certain prompter called hunger that will make a man to
remember his meat in spite of his teeth. And yet it is true
when the heart is
blasted and withered like grass
such a forgetfulness of necessity will follow.
Is it that the withering of the heart is the prime cause of sorrow; at least
cause of the prime sorrow; and immoderate sorrow is the mother of stupidity
stupifying and benumbing the animal faculties
that neither the understanding
nor the memory can execute their functions? Or is it
that sorrow is so
intentire to that it sorrows for
that it cannot intent to think anything else?
Or is it
that nature makes account
that to feed in sorrow were to feed
sorrow
and therefore thinks best to forbear all eating? Or is it
that as
sorrow draws moisture from the brain and fills the eyes with water; so it draws
a like juice from other parts
which fills the stomach instead of meat? However
it be
it shews a wonderful operation that is in sorrow; to make not only the
stomach to refuse its meat
but to make the brain forget the stomach
between
whom there is so natural a sympathy and so near a correspondence. But as the
vigour of the heart breeds plenty of spirits
which convey to all the parts
gives everyone a natural appetite; so when the heart is blasted and withered
like grass
and that there is no more any rigour in it
the spirits are
presently at a stand
and then no marvel if the stomach lose its appetite
and
forget to eat bread. Sir R. Baker.
Verse
4. I forget to eat my bread. When grief hath thus dejected
the spirits
the man has no appetite for that food which is to recruit and
elevate them. Ahab
smitten with one kind of grief
David with another
and
Daniel with a third
all forgot
or refused
to eat their bread. 1Ki 21:4; 2Sa
12:16; Da 10:3. Such natural companions are mourning and fasting. Samuel
Burder.
Verse
5. My bones cleave to my skin. When the bones cleave to the
skin
both are near cleaving to the dust. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
5. That grief readily causes the body to pine away is very well
known. It is related of Cardinal Wolsey
by an eye-witness
that when he heard
that his master's favour was turned from him
he was wrung with such an agony
of grief
which continued a whole night
that in the morning his face was
dwindled away into half its usual dimensions.
Verse
6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness. The Kaath was a
bird of solitude that was to be found in the "wilderness
"i.e.
far from the habitations of man. This is one of the characteristics of the
pelican
which loves not the neighbourhood of human beings
and is fond of
resulting to broad
uncultivated lands
where it will not be disturbed. In them
it makes its nest and hatches its young
and to them it retires after feeding
in order to digest in quiet the ample meal which it has made. Mr. Tristram well
suggests that the metaphor of the Psalmist may allude to the habit common to
the pelican and its kin
of sitting motionless for hours after it has gorged
itself with food
its head sunk on its shoulders
and its bill resting on its
breast. J.G. Wood.
Verse
6. A pelican of the wilderness. Here only at Hulet
have I seen the pelican of the wilderness
as David calls it. I once had one of
them shot just below this place
and
as it was merely wounded in the wing
I
had a good opportunity to study its character. It was certainly the most
sombre
austere bird I ever saw. It gave one the blues merely to look at it.
David could find no more expressive type of solitude and melancholy by which to
illustrate his own sad state. It seemed as large as a half-grown donkey
and
when fairly settled on its stout legs
it looked like one. The pelican is never
seen but in these unfrequented solitudes. W.M. Thomson.
Verse
6. Consider that thou needest not complain
like Elijah
that thou
art left alone
seeing the best of God's saints in all ages have
smarted in the same kind—instance in David:indeed sometimes he boasts
how he "lay in green pastures
and was led by still waters; "but
after he bemoans that he "sinks in deep mire
where there was no
standing." What is become of those green pastures? parched up with the
drought. Where are those still waters troubled with the tempest of affliction.
The same David compares himself to an "owl
"and in the next
Psalm resembles himself to an "eagle." Do two fowls fly of
more different kind? The one the scorn
the other the sovereign;the
one the slowest
the other the swiftest;the one the most sharp-sighted
the other the most dim-eyed of all birds. Wonder not
then
to find in
thyself sudden and strange alterations. It fared thus with all God's servants
in their agonies of temptation; and be confident thereof
though now run
aground with grief
in due time thou shalt be all afloat with comfort. Thomas
Fuller.
Verse
6. Owl. Some kind of owl
it is thought
is intended by the
Hebrew word cos
translated "little owl" in Le 11:17;
De 14:16
where it is mentioned amongst the unclean birds. It occurs also in Ps
102:6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of ruined
places (A. V.
"desert"). The Hebrew word cos means a
"cup" in some passages of Scripture
from a root meaning to
"receive
"to "hide
"or "bring together"; hence
the pelican
"the cup
"or "pouch-bird
"has been suggested
as the bird intended. In this case the verse in the Psalm would be rendered
thus: "I am become like a pelican in the wilderness
even as the
pouch-bird in the desert places." But the fact that both the pelican and
the cos are enumerated in the list of birds to be avoided as food is
against this theory
unless the word changed its meaning in the Psalmist's
time
which is improbable. The expression cos "of ruined
places" looks very much as if some owl were denoted. The Arabic definitely
applies a kindred expression as one of the names of an owl
viz.
um
elcharab
i.e. "mother of ruins." The Septuagint gives
nukkktikorax as the meaning of cos;and we know from Aristotle that the
Greek word was a synonym of wtov
evidently
from his description of the bird
one of the cared owls. Dr. Tristram is disposed to refer the cos to the
little Athene Persica
the most common of all the owls in Psalestine
the representative of the A noetua of Southern Europe. The Arabs call
this bird "boomah
"from his note; he is described "as a
grotesque and comical-looking little bird
familiar and yet cautious; never
moving unnecessarily
but remaining glued to his perch
unless he has good
reason for believing that he has been aetected
and twisting and turning his head
instead of his eyes to watch what is going on." He is to be found amongst
rocks in the wadys or trees by the water-side
in olive yards
in the tombs and
on the ruins
on the sandy mounds of Beersheba
and on "the spray-beaten
fragments of Tyre
where his low wailing noto is sure to be heard at sunset
and himself seen bowing and keeping time to his own music." W.
Houghton
in "Cassell's Biblical Educator
"1874
Verse
6. Owl of the desert.
Save
that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such as
wandering near her secret bower
Molest her ancient solitary reign.
—Thomas Gray (1716-1771).
Verse
7. I watch. During the hours allotted to sleep "I
wake
" like a little bird which sits solitary on the house-top
while
all beneath enjoy the sleep which he giveth to his beloved. Alfred
Edersheim.
Verse
7. A sparrow alone upon the house-top. When one of them has
lost its mate—a matter of every-day occurrence—he will sit on the house-top
alone
and lament by the hour his sad bereavement. W. M. Thomson.
Verse
7. I am as a sparrow alone
etc. It is evident that the
"sparrow alone and melancholy upon the house-tops" cannot be the
lively
gregarious sparrow which assembles in such numbers on these favourite
feeding-places the house-tops of the East. We must therefore look for
some other bird
and naturalists are now agreed that we may accept the Blue
Thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneus) as the particular tzippor
or small bird
which sits alone on the house-tops. The colour of this bird is a dark blue
whence it derives its popular name. Its habits exactly correspond with the idea
of solitude and melancholy. The Blue Thrushes never assemble in flocks
and it
is very rare to see more than a pair together. It is fond of sitting on the tops
of houses
uttering its note
which
however agreeable to itself
is monotonous
and melancholy to human ear. J.G. Wood
in "Bible Animals."
Verse
7. A sparrow. Most readers are struck with the incongruity of
the image
as it appears in our version
intended by the Psalmist to express a
condition of distress and desolation. The sparrow is found
indeed
all over
the East
in connection with houses
as it is with ourselves; but it is
everywhere one of the most social of birds
cheerful to impertinence; and
mischievously disposed
instead of being retiring in its habits
and melancholy
in its demeanour. The word
in the original
is a general term for all the
small birds
insectivorous and frugivirous
denominated clean
and that might
be eaten according to the law
the thrushes
larks
wagtails
finches
as well
as sparrows. It seems to be
indeed
a mere imitation of their common note
like the one which we have in the word "chirrup." Most critics are
therefore
content with the rendering
"solitary bird
"or
"solitary little bird." But this is very unsatisfactory. It does not
identify the species: and there is every probability that there must have been
a particular bird which the Psalmist
writing at the close of the Babylonish
captivity
had in his eye
corresponding to his representation of it
and
illustrative of his isolated condition. Such there is at the present day
of
common occurrence in Southern Europe and Western Asia. Its history is very
little known to the world
and its existence has hitherto escaped the notice of
all biblical commentators. Remarkably enough
the bird is commonly
but
erroneously
called a sparrow
for it is a real thrush in size
in shape
in
habits
and in song. It differs singularly from the rest of the tribe
throughout
all the East
by a marked preference for sitting solitary upon the habitation
of man. It never associates with any other
and only at one season with its own
mate; and even then it is often seen quite alone upon the house-top
where it
warbles its sweet and plaintive strains
and continues its song
moving from
roof to roof. America has its solitary thrush
of another species
and of
somewhat different habits. The dark solitary cane and myrtle swamps of the
southern states are there the favourite haunts of the recluse bird; and the
more dense and gloomy these are the more certainly is it to be found flitting
in them.—"The Biblical Treasury".
Verse
7. Alone. But little do men perceive what solitude is
and
how far it extendeth; for a crowd is not company
and faces are but a gallery
of pictures
and talk but a tinkling cymbal where there is no love. The Latin
adage meeteth it a little: "magna civitas
magno solitudo; "because
in a great town friends are scattered
so that there is not that fellowship
for the most part
which is in less neighbourhoods; but we may go further
and
affirm most truly
that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true
friends
without which the world is but a wilderness; and even in this sense
also of solitude
whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is unfit
for friendship
he taketh it of the beast
and not from humanity. Francis
Bacon.
Verse
7. Alone. See the reason why people in trouble love
solitariness. They are full of sorrow; and sorrow
if it have taken deep root
is naturally reserved
and flies all conversation. Grief is a thing that is
very silent and private. Those people that are very talkative and clamorous in
their sorrows
are never very sorrowful. Some are apt to wonder
why
melancholy people delight to be so much alone
and I will tell you the
reason of it. 1. Because the disordered humours of their bodies alter their
temper
their humours
and their inclinations
that they are no more the
same that they used to be; their very distemper is averse to what is joyous
and diverting; and they that wonder at them may as wisely wonder why they will
be diseased
which they would not be if the knew how to help it; but the
Disease of Melancholy is so obstinate
and so unknown to all but those who have
it
that nothing but the power of God can totally overthrow it
and I know no
other cure for it. 2. Another reason why they choose to be alone is
because people do not generally mind what they say
nor believe them
but rather deride them
which they do not use so cruelly to do with those that
are in other distempers; and no man is to be blamed for avoiding society
when
it does not afford the common credit to his words that is due to the rest of
men. But
3
Another
and the principal reason why people in trouble and
sadness choose to be alone is
because they generally apprehend themselves
singled out to be the marks of God's peculiar displeasure
and they are
often by their sharp afflictions a terror to themselves
and a wonder to
others. It even breaks their hearts to see how low they are fallen
how
oppressed
that were once as easy
as pleasant
as full of hope as others are
Job 6:21: "Ye see my casting down
and are afraid." Ps 71:7. "I
am as a wonder unto many." And it is usually unpleasant to others to be
with them. Ps 88:18: "Lover and friend hast thou put far from me
and mine
acquaintance into darkness." And though it was not so with the friends of
Job
to see a man whom they had once known happy
to be so miserable; one whom
they had seen so very prosperous
to be so very poor
in such sorry
forlorn
circumstances
did greatly affect them; he
poor man
was changed
they knew
him not
Job 2:12-13
"And when they lifted up their eyes afar off
and
knew him not
they lifted up their voice
and wept; and they rent every one his
mantle
and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down
with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights
and none spake a word
unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." As the prophet represents
one under spiritual and great afflictions
"That he sitteth alone
and
keepeth silence
" La 3:28. Timothy Rogers (1660-1729)
in "A
Discourse on Trouble of Mind
and the Disease of Melancholy."
Verse
8. Mine enemies reproach me. It is true what Plutarch writes
that men are more touched with reproaches than with other injuries; affliction
too
gives a keener edge to calumny
for the afflicted are more fitting objects
of pity than of mockery. Mollerus.
Verse
8. Mine enemies reproach me
etc. If I be where they are they
rail at me to my face; and if I be not amongst them they revile me behind my
back; and they do it not by starts and fits
that might give me some breathing
time; but they are spitting their poison all the day long; and not
single and one by one
that might leave hope of resisting; but they make
combinations
and enter leagues against me; and to make their leagues the
stronger
and less subject to dissolving
they bind themselves by oath
and
take the sacrament upon it. And now sum up all these miseries and afflictions;
begin with my fasting; then take my groaning; then add my watching; then the
shame of being wondered at in company; then the discomfort of sitting
disconsolate alone; and
lastly
add to these the spite and malice of my enemies;
and what marvel
then
if these miseries joined all together make me altogether
miserable; what marvel if I be nothing but skin and bone
when no flesh that
were wise would ever stay upon a body to endure such misery. Sir R. Baker.
Verse
8 (last clause). Swearing by one
means
to make his name a
by-word of execration
or an example of cursing. (Isa 65:15; Je 29:22 42:18). Carl
Bernard Moll
in Lange's Commentary.
Verse
9. I have eaten ashes like bread. Though the bread indeed be
strange
yet not so strange as this
—that having complained before of
forgetting to eat his bread
he should now on a sudden fall to eating of
ashes like bread. For had he not been better to have forgotten it still
unless it had been more worth remembering? For there is not in nature so unfit
a thing to eat as ashes;it is worse than Nebuchadnezzar's grass. Sir
R. Baker.
Verse
9. I have mingled my drink with weeping. If you think his
bread to be bad
you will find his drink to be worse; for he mingles his
drink with tears: and what are tears
but brinish and salt humours? and is
brine a fit liquor to quench one's thirst? May we not say here
the remedy is
worse than the disease? for were it not better to endure any thirst
than to
seek to quench it with such drink? Is it not a pitiful thing to have no drink
to put in the stomach
but that which is drawn out of the eyes? and yet whose
case is any better? No man certainly commits sin
but with a design of
pleasure; but sin will not be so committed; for whosoever commit sin
let them
be sure at some time or other to find a thousand times more trouble about it
than ever they found pleasure in it. For all sin is a kind of surfeit
and
there is no way to keep it from being mortal but by this strict diet of eating
ashes like bread and mingling his drink with tears. O my soul
if these be
works of repentance in David
where shall we find a penitent in the world
besides himself? To talk of repentance is obvious in everyone's mouth; but
where is any that eats ashes like bread
and mingles his drink with tears? Sir
R. Baker.
Verse
10. For thou hast lifted me up
and cast me down. Thou hast
lifted me up of a great height
in that thou madest me like unto thine image
touching my reasonable soul
and hast given me power
by thy grace
to inherit
the everlasting joys of heaven
both body and soul
if I did live here after
thy commandments. What greater gift canst thou give me
Lord
than to have the
fruition of thee that art all in all things? How canst thou lift me higher than
to eternal beatitude? But then
alas
thou hast letten me fall down again
for
thou hast joined my noble soul with an earthly
heavy
and a frail body; the
weight and burden thereof draweth down my mind and heart from the consideration
of thy goodness
and from well doing
unto all kinds of vices
and to the
regarding of temporal things according to his nature. The earthly mansion
keepeth down the understanding. Thus setting me up
as it were
above the wind
thou hast given me a very great fall (Job 30:22). I am in creation above all
other kind of earthly creatures
and almost equal with angels; but being in
this estate thou hast knit a knot thereto
that for breaking the least of thy
commandments I shall suffer damnation. So that without thy continual mercy and
help I am in worse case herein than any brute beast
whose life or soul dieth
with the body. Sir Anthony Cope (1551).
Verse
10. For thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. That is that
I might fall with greater poise. Significatur gravissima collisio. Here
the prophet accuseth not God of cruelty
but bewaileth his own misery. Miserum
est fusisse felicem
it is no small unhappiness to have been happy. John
Trapp.
Verse
11 (first clause). My days (my term of life) are as the
lengthened shade
the lengthening shade of evening
that shows the near
approach of night. The comparison
though not strictly expressed
is
beautifully suggestive of the thought intended. Thomas J. Conant.
Verse
11 (last clause). The and I
in the Hebrew
stands in
designed contrast to "But thou
"Ps 102:12. A. R. Fausset.
Verse
13. Thou shalt arise
and have mercy
etc. Tu miserebere
"Thou shalt
"as the Shunamite to the prophet
catching hold on
his feet
though Gehazi thrust her away
Vivit Dominus
"As the
Lord liveth
and as thy soul liveth
I will not let thee go; "and
as
Jacob to the angel
when he had wrestled the whole night with him
Non
dimittam
I will not let thee loose till I have a blessing from thee. From
"A Sermon at Paules Crosse on behalfe of Paules Church
March 26
1620. By the B. of London" John King.
Verse
13. The set time. There is a certain set time for God's great
actions. He lets the powers of darkness have their hour
and God will take his
hour. He hath a set time for the discovery of his mercy
and he will not stay a
jot beyond it. What is this time? Ps 102:9
etc. When they "eat ashes like
bread
and mingle their drink with weeping; "when they are most humble
and when the servants of God have moral affection to the church; when their
humble and ardent affections are strong
even to the ruin and rubbish of it;
when they have a mighty desire and longing for the reparation of it
as the
Jews in captivity had for the very dust of the temple: Ps 102:14: "For thy
servants take pleasure in her stones
and favour the dust thereof." "For"
there notes it to be a reason why the set time was judged by them to be come.
That is God's set time when the church is most believing
most humble
most
affectionate to God's interest in it
and most sincere. Without faith we are
not fit to desire mercy
without humility we are not fit to receive it
without
affection we are not fit to value it
without sincerity we are not fit to
improve it. Times of extremity contribute to the growth and exercise of these
qualifications. Stephen Charnock.
Verse
14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones. That is
they are still attached to her
and regard her with extreme affection
although
in ruins. Jerusalem itself affords at this day a touching illustration of this
passage. There is reason to believe that a considerable portion of the lower
part of the walls which enclose the present mosque of Omar
which occupies
the site of the ancient Jewish temple
are the same
or at least the southern
western
and eastern sides are the same as those of Solomon's temple. At one
part where the remains of this old wall are the most considerable and of the
most massive character—where two courses of masonry
composed of massive blocks
of stone
rising to the height of thirty feet—is what is called the Wailing Place
of the Jews. "Here
"says Dr. Olin
"at the foot of the wall
is
an open place paved with flags
where the Jews assemble every Friday
and in
small numbers on other days
for the purpose of praying and bewailing the
desolations of their holy places. Neither the Jews nor Christians are allowed
to enter the Haram
which is consecrated to Mohammedan worship
and this part
of the wall is the nearest approach they can make to what they regard as the
precise spot within the forbidden enclosure upon which the ancient temple
stood. They keep the pavement swept with great care
and take off their shoes
as on holy ground. Standing or kneeling with their faces towards the ancient
wall
they gaze in silence upon its venerable stones
or pour forth their
complaints in half-suppressed
though audible tones. This
to me
was always a
most affecting sight
and I repeated my visit to this interesting spot to enjoy
and sympathise with the melancholy yet pleasing spectacle. The poor people
sometimes sobbed aloud
and still found tears to pour out for the desolations
of their `beautiful house.' `If I forget thee
O Jerusalem
let my right hand
forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee
let my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.'" Kitto's
Pictorial Bible.
Verse
16. When the LORD shall build up Zion
he shall appear in his
glory. So sincere is God to his people
that he gives his own glory in
hostage to them for their security; his own robes of glory are locked up in
their prosperity and salvation: he will not
indeed he cannot
present himself
in all his magnificence and royalty
till he hath made up his intended thoughts
of mercy to his people; he is pleased to prorogue the time of his appearing in
all his glory to the world till he hath actually accomplished their
deliverance
that he and they may come forth together in their glory on the
same day: "When the LORD shall build up Zion
he shall appear in his
glory." The sun is ever glorious in the most cloudy day
but appears not
so till it hath scattered the clouds that muffle it up from the sight of the
lower world: God is glorious when the world sees him not: but his declarative
glory then appears
when the glory of his mercy
truth and faithfulness break
forth in his people's salvation. Now
what shame must this cover thy face with
O Christian
if thou shouldst not sincerely aim at thy God's glory
who loves
thee
yea
all his children so dearly
as to ship his own glory and your
happiness in one bottom
that he cannot now lose the one
and save the other! William
Gumall.
Verse
16. When the LORD shall build up Zion
he shall appear in his
glory. There are two reasons why the Lord appears thus glorious in this
work rather than in any other. First
because it is a work that infinitely
pleaseth him. Men choose to appear in their clothes and behaviour suitable to
the work that they are to be employed in: the woman of Tekoah must feign
herself to be a mourner when she goes on a mournful message; and David
when he
goes on a doleful journey
covers his face
and puts on mourning apparel; but
when Solomon is to be crowned
he goes in all his royalty; and a bride adorns
herself gloriously when she is to be married: verily so doth the Lord
when he
goes about a work he takes no pleasure in
he puts on his mourning apparel
he
covers himself with a cloud and the heavens with blackness; when he is to do a
strange work of judgment
then he mourns
"How shall I give thee up
Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how
shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me
my repentings are
kindled together." Ho 11:8. But the building of Zion doth infinitely
please him
because Zion is as the apple of his eye to him; he bought Zion at a
dear rate
with his own blood; he lays Zion in his bosom
he is ravished with
Zion
Zion is his love
his dove
his fair one; he hath chosen Zion
and loves
the gates of it
better than all the palaces of Jacob; and being so pleasing to
him
no marvel if he put on all his glorious apparel when he is to adorn and
build up Zion. And
secondly
it is because all the glory that he looks for to
eternity must arise out of this one work of building Zion; this one work shall
be the only monument of his glory to eternity: this goodly world
this heaven
and earth
that you see and enjoy the use of
is set up only as a shop
as a
workshop
to stand only for a week
for six or seven thousand years
("a
thousand years is with the Lord but as a day"); and when his work is done he
will throw this piece of clay down again
and out of this he looks for no other
glory than from a cabul
a land of dirt
or a shepherd's cottage
or a
gourd which springs up in a night and withers in a day; but this piece he sets
up for a higher end
to be the eternal mansion of his holiness and honour; this
is his metropolis
his temple
his house where his fire and furnace is
his court
his glorious high throne
and therefore his glory is much concerned
in this work. When Nebuchadnezzar would have a city for the honour of his
kingdom
and the glory of his majesty
he will make it a stately piece. Solomon
made all his kingdom very rich and glorious
but he made his court
and
especially his throne
another manner of thing
so stately that the like was
not to be seen in any other kingdom; and therefore no wonder though he appear
in his glory in building up of that
which we may boldly say must be one day
made as glorious as his wisdom can contrive
and his power bring to pass. Stephen
Marshall
in a Sermon preached to the Right Honourable the House of Peers
entitled "God's Master-Piece
" 1645.
Verses
16.-17. Shall build—shall appear—will regard—and will not despise.
These futures
in the original
are all present; buildeth—appeareth—regardeth—and
despiseth not. The Psalmist
in his confidence of the event
speaks of it
as doing. Samuel Horsley.
Verse
17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute
etc. The
persons are here called "the destitute." The Hebrew word which
is here translated "destitute" doth properly signify myrica
a
low shrub
humiles myrica
low shrubs that grow in wildernesses
some
think they were juniper shrubs
some a kind of wild tamaris
but
a base wild shrub that grew nowhere but in a desolate forlorn place; and
sometimes the word in the text is used to signify the deserts of Arabia
the
sandy desert place of Arabia
which was a miserable wilderness. Now when this
word is applied to men
it always means such as were forsaken men
despised
men; such men as are stripped of all that is comfortable to them: either they
never had children
or else their children are taken away from them
and all
comforts banished
and themselves left utterly forlorn
like the barren heath
ih a desolate howling wilderness. These are the people of whom my text speaks
that
the Lord will regard the prayer of "the destitute; "and this
was now the state of the Church of God when they offered up this prayer
and
yet by faith did foretell that God would grant such a glorious answer. . . .
This is also a lesson of singular comfort to every afflicted soul
to assure
them their prayers and supplications are tenderly regarded before God. I have
often observed such poor forsaken ones
who in their own eyes are brought very
low
that of all other people they are most desirous to beg and obtain the
prayers of their friends
when they see any that hath gifts
and peace
and
cheerfulness of spirit
and liberty
and abilities to perform duties
O how
glad they are to get such a man's prayers I "I beseech you
will you pray
for me
will you please to remember me at the throne of grace
"whereas
in truth
if we could give a right judgment
all such woudd rather desire the poor
and the desolate
to be mediators for them; for
certainly
whomsoever God neglects
he will listen to the cry of those that are forsaken
and destitute. And therefore
O thou afflicted and tossed with tempests
who
thinkest thou art wholly rejected by the Lord
continue to pour out thy soul to
him; thou hast a faithful promise from him to be rewarded: he will regard the
prayer of the destitute. Stephen Marshall
in a Sermon entitled "The
Strong Helper
" 1645.
Verse
17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute. It is worthy
of observation that he ascribes the redemption and restoration of the people to
the prayers of the faithful. That is truly a free gift
and dependent wholly
upon the divine mercy
and yet God himself often attributes it to our prayers
to stir us up and render us the more active in the pursuit of prayer. Mollerus.
Verse
17. The prayer of the destitute. A man that is destitute knows
how to pray. He needs not any instructor. His miseries indoctrinate him
wonderfully in the art of offering prayer. Let us know ourselves destitute
that we may know how to pray; destitute of strength
of wisdom
of due influence
of true happiness
of proper faith
of thorough consecration
of the knowledge
of the Scriptures
of righteousness. These words introduce and stand in
immediate connection with a prophecy of glorious things to be witnessed in the
latter times. We profess to be eager for the accomplishment of those marvellous
things; but are we offering the prayer of the destitute? On the contrary
is
not the Church at large too much like the church at Laodicea? Will not a just
interpretation of many of its acts and ways bring forth the words
"I am
rich and increased in goods
and have need of nothing?" And do not its
prayers meet with this reproachful answer
"Thou art wretched
and
miserable
and poor
and blind
and naked
and knowest it not. Thy temporal
affluence implies not spiritual affluence. Thy spiritual condition is inversely
as the worldly prosperity that has turned thy head. I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire. Give all thy trashy gold—trashy while it is with
thee—give it to my poor; and I will give thee true gold
namely
a sense of thy
misery and meanness; a longing for grace
pubity
usefulness; a love of thy
fellow-men; and my love shed abroad in thy heart." George Bowen.
Verse
17. Not despise their prayer. How many in every place (who
have served the Lord in this great work) hath prayer helped at a dead lift?
Prayer hath hitherto saved the kingdom. I remember a proud boast of our
enemies
when we had lost Bristol and the Vies
they then sent
abroad even into other kingdoms a triumphant paper
wherein they concluded all
was now subdued to them
and among many other confident expressions
there was
one to this purpose
Nil restat superare Regem
etc.
which might be
construed two ways; either thus
—There remains nothing for the King to conquer
but only the prayers of a few fanatic people;or thus
—There is nothing
left to conquer the King
but the prayers of a few fanatic people:
everything else was lost
all was now their own. And indeed we were then in a
very low condition. Our strongholds taken
our armies melted away
our hearts
generally failing us for fear
multitudes flying out of the kingdom
and many
deserting the cause as desperate
making their peace at Oxford;nothing
almost left us but preces et lachrymae; but blessed be God
prayer
was not conquered;they have found it the hardest wall to climb
the
strongest brigade to overthrow; it hath hitherto preserved us
it hath raised
up unexpected helps
and brought many unhoped for successes and deliverances.
Let us therefore
under God
set the crown upon the head of prayer. Ye nobles
and worthies
be ye all content to have it so; it will wrong none of you in
your deserved praise; God and man will give you your due. Many of you have
done worthily
but prayer surpasses you all: and this is no new thing
prayer hath always had the pre-eminence in the building of Zion. God hath
reserved several works for several men and several ages; but in all ages and
among all men
prayer hath been the chiefest instrument
especially in the
building up of Zion. Stephen Marshall.
Verse
17. Not despise their prayer. He will
then
give ear to the
suits of the poor
and not reject their supplications. But who will believe
this? Is it likely that when God is in his glory
he will attend to such mean
things as hearkening to the poor? Can it stand with the honour of his glory to
stand reading petitions
and specially of men that come in forma pauperis?
scarce credible indeed with men
who
raised in honour
keep a distance from
the poor and count it a degree of falling to look downwards: but credible
enough with God
who counts it his glory to regard the inglorious; and being
the Most High
yet looks as low as to the lowest
and favours them most who are
most despised. And this did Christ after his transfiguration
when he had
appeared in his glory; he then shewed acts of greatest humility; he then washed
the disciples' feet; and made Peter as much wonder to see his humbleness
as he
had done before to see his glory. Sir R. Baker.
Verse
18. Shall praise the LORD. The people whom God in mercy brings
from a low and mean condition
are the people from whom God promises to receive
praise and glory. Indeed
such is the selfishness of our corrupt nature
that
if we are anything
or do anything
we are prone to forget God
and sacrifice
to our own nets
and burn incense to our own yarn; inasmuch
that whenever God
finds a people who shall either trust in him
or praise him
it must be
"an afflicted and poor people
"(Zep 3:11-13; Ps 22:22-25)
or a
people brought from such an estate: free grace is even most valued by such a
people. And if you look all the Scripture over
you will find that all the
praises and songs of deliverance that have been made to God have proceeded from
a people that have thus judged of themselves
as those that were brought to
nothing; but God in mercy had brought them back again from the gates of death
and usually until they had such apprehensions of themselves they never gave
unto God the glory due unto his name. Stephen Marshall.
Verse
18. Expositors observe upon this text
that this redeemed Church
takes no thought concerning themselves
about their own ease
pleasure
wealth
gain
or anything else which might accrue unto themselves
by this deliverance
to make their own life easy or sweet; but their thoughts
and studies are wholly laid out
how the present and succeeding generations
should give all glory to God for it. . . . There are three special reasons why
this should be the great work of the Lord's saved and rescued people
and why
indeed they can do no other than study thus to exalt him.
1.
One is
because they well know that the Lord hath reserved nothing to himself
but only his glory; the benefits he gives to them; all the sweetness and honey
that can be found in them he gives them leave to suck out; but his glory and
his praise is his own
and that which he hath wholly reserved; of that he is
jealous
lest it should either be denied
eclipsed
diminished
or any the
least violation offered to it in any kind. All God's people know this of him
and therefore they cannot but endeavour to preserve it for him.
2.
Secondly
besides
they know
as God is jealous in that point
so it is all the
work that he hath appointed them to do; he hath therefore separated them to
himself out of all nations of the world
to be his peculiar ones for this very
end
that they might give him all the glory and praise of his mercy. "I
have( said God) created him
formed
and made him for my
glory." Isa 43:7. This is the law of his new creation
which is as powerful
in them as the law of nature
or the first creation
is in the rest of his
works. And therefore with a holy and spiritual naturalness (if I may so call
it) the hearts of all the saints are carried to give God the glory
as really
as the stones are carried to the centre
or the fire to fly upwards: this is
fixed in their hearts
the work of grace hath moulded them to it
that they can
do no other but endeavour to exalt God
it being the very end why their
spiritual life and all their other privileges are conferred upon them.
3.
Yea
thirdly
they know their own interests are much concerned in God's glory
they never are losers by it: if in any work of God he want his praise
they
will want their comfort; but if God be a gainer
they shall certainly be no
losers. Whatever is poured upon the head of Christ—what ointment soever of
praise or glory
it will in a due proportion fall down to the skirts of his
garments; nor is there any other way to have any sweetness
comfort
praise
or
glory to be derived unto themselves
but by giving all unto him to whom alone
it belongeth
and then although he will never give away his glory—the glory of
being the fountain
the first
supreme
original giver of all
good; yet they shall have the glory of instruments
and of fellow workers with
him
which is a glory and praise sufficient. Stephen Marshall.
Verse
18 (first clause). Calvin translates thus
—This shall be
registered for the generations to come; and observes
—"The Psalmist
intimates
that this will be a memorable work of God
the praise of which shall
be handed down to succeeding ages. Many things are worthy of praise
which are
soon forgotten; but the prophet distinguishes between the salvation of the
Church
for which he makes supplication
and common benefits. By the word register
he means that the history of this would be worthy of having a place in the
public records
that the remembrance of it might be transmitted to future
generations."
Verse
18. This shall be written. Nothing is more tenacious than
man's
memory when he suffers an injury; nothing more lax if a benefit is
conferred. For this reason God desires lest his gifts should fall out of mind
to have them committed to writing. Le Blanc.
Verse
20. To hear the groaning of the prisoner. God takes notice not
only of the prayers of his afflicted people
which are the language of grace;
but even of their groans
which are the language of nature. Matthew Henry.
Verse
20. Appointed unto death. Who
in their captivity
are
experiencing so much affliction
that it is manifest their cruel enemies are
desirous of destroying them utterly; or
at least
of bringing them into such a
low and pitiable state
as to blot out their name from among the nations of the
earth. William Keatinge Clay.
Verse
24. 0 my God. The leaving out one word in a will may mar the
estate and disappoint all a man's hopes; the want of this one word
my
(God) is the wicked man's loss of heaven
and the dagger which will pierce his
heart in hell to all eternity. The degree of satisfaction in any good is
according to the degree of our union to it
(hence our delight is greater in
food than in clothes
and the saint's joy is greater in God in the other world
than in this
because the union is nearer;)but where there is no property there
is no union
therefore no complacency. The pronoun my is as much worth
to the soul as the boundless portion. All our comfort is locked up in that
private cabinet. Wine in the glass doth not cheer the heart
but taken down
Into the body. The property of the Psalmist's in God was the mouth whereby he
fed on those dainties which did so exceedingly delight him. No love potion was
ever so effectual as this pronoun. When God saith to the soul
as Ahab to
Benhadad "Behold
I am thine
and all that I have
"who can tell how
the heart leaps for joy in
and expires almost in desires after him upon such
news! Others
like strangers
may behold his honour and excellencies
but this
saint only
like the wife
enjoyeth him. Luther saith
Much religion lieth in
pronouns. All our consolation
indeed
consisteth in this pronoun. It is the
cup which holdeth all our cordial waters. I will undertake as bad as the devil
is
he shall give the whole world
were it in his power
more freely than ever
he offered it to Christ for his worship
for leave from God to pronounce those
two words. MY GOD. All the joys of the believer are hung upon this one string;
break that asunder
and all is lost. I have sometimes thought how David rolls
it as a lump of sugar under his tongue
as one loth to lose its sweetness too
soon: "I will love thee
O LORD
my strength
my buckler
and the horn of
my salvation
and my high tower
"Ps 18:1-2. This pronoun is the door at
which the King of saints entereth into our hearts
with his whole train of
delights and comforts. George Swinnock.
Verse
24. Take me not away
is more exactly
Take me not up
with possible reference to the case of Elijah
"taken up." Henry
Cowles.
Verse
24. Take me not away in the midst of my days. The word is
"Let
me not ascend in the midst of my days
"that is
before I have
measured the usual course of life. Thus
to ascend is the same as to
be cut off;death cuts off the best from this world
and then they ascend to
a better. The word ascend is conceived to have in it a double allusion;
first
to corn which is taken up by the hand of the reaper
and then laid down
on the stubble. Secondly
unto the light of a candle
which as the candle
spends
or as that which is the food of the fire is spending
ascends
and at
last goes out and vanisheth. Joseph Caryl.
Verse
24. Thy years are throughout all generations. The Psalmist
says of Christ
"Thy years are throughout all generations
"
Ps 102:24; which Psalm the apostle quoteth of him
Heb 1:10. Let us trace his
existence punctually through all times. Let us go from point to point
and see
how in particulars the Scriptures accord with it. The first joint of time we
will begin that chronology of his existence withal is that instant afore he was
to come into the world.
First
We find him
to have existed just afore he came into the world
the instance of his
conception
Heb 10:5
in these words
"Wherefore when he comes into the
world
says he
A body hast thou prepared me." Heb 10:7
"Lo
I come
to do thy will
O God." Here is a person distinct from God the Father
a me
an I
distinct also from that human nature he was to assume
which he
terms a "body prepared."... Therefore besides and afore that human
nature there was a divine person that existed
that was not of this world
but
that came into it
"when he cometh into the world
he says
"etc.
to
become a part of it
and be manifested in it.
Secondly
We find him
to have existed afore John the Baptist
though John was conceived and born some
months afore him. I note these several joints of time because the Scripture
notes them
and hath set a special mark upon them: Joh 1:15. "John bare
witness of him
"and cried
saying
"This was he of whom I spake
He
that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me." This
priority of existence is that which John doth specially give witness to. And it
is priority in existence
for he allegeth it as a reason why he was preferred
afore him; "for he was before me."
Thirdly
We find him
existing when all the prophets wrote and spake
1Pe 1:11. The Spirit of Christ
is said to have been in all the prophets
even as Paul
who came after Christ
also speaks
"You seek a proof of Christ speaking in me
"2Co 13:3.
And therefore he himself
whose Spirit it was
or whom he sent
must needs
exist as a person sending him.
Fourthly
We find him
existing in Moses' time
both because it was he that was tempted in the
wilderness
"Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted
and
were destroyed of serpents
" 1Co 10:9; and it was Christ that was the
person said to be tempted by them
as well as now by us
as the word kai
"as they also
"evidently shows. And it points to that angel that was
sent with them
Ex 23:20-21
in whom the name of God was
and who as God had
the power of pardoning sins
Ex 23:21. See also Ac 7:35
Heb 12:26.
Fifthly
We find him
existing in and afore Abraham's time: "Verily
verily
I say unto you
Before Abraham was
I am
"Joh 8:58.
Sixthly
We find him
existing in the days of Noah
1Pe 3:19. He says of Christ
that he was
"put to death in the flesh
but quickened in the Spirit." He
evidently distinguisheth of two natures
his divine and human
even as Ro 1:3-4
and elsewhere; and then declares how by that divine nature
which he terms
"Spirit
"in which he was existent in Noah's times
he went and
preached to those of the old world
whose souls are now in prison in hell.
These words
"in Spirit
"are not put to signify the subject of
vivification; for such neither his soul nor Godhead could be said to be
for
that is not quickened which was not dead; but for the principal and cause of
his vivification
which his soul was not
but his Godhead was. And besides by
his Spirit is not meant his soul
for that then must be supposed to have
preached to souls in hell (where these are affirmed to be). Now
there is no
preaching where there is no capacity of faith. But his meaning is
that those
persons that lived in Noah's time
and were preached unto
their souls and
spirits were now
when this was written
spirits in prison
that is
in hell.
And therefore he also adds this word "sometimes": who were sometimes
disobedient in Noah's days. These words give us to understand that this
preaching was performed by Noah ministerially
yet by Christ in Noah; who
according to his divine person was extant
and went with him
as with Moses
and the church in the wilderness
and preached unto them.
Seventhly
He was extant
at the beginning of the world
"In the beginning was the Word." In
which words
there being no predicate or attribute affirmed of this word
the
sentence or affirmation is terminated or ended merely with his existence:
"he was
"and he was then
"in the beginning." He says not
that he was made in the beginning
but that "he was in the
beginning." And it is in the beginning absolutely
without any limitation.
And therefore Moses's beginning
Ge 1:1
is meant
as also the words after
show
"All was made by him that was made; "and
Ge 1:10
the world he
came into was made by him. And as from the beginning is usually taken from the
first times or infancy of the world; so then
when God began to create
then
was our Christ. And this here is set in opposition (Joh 1:14) unto the time of
his being made flesh
lest that should have been thought his beginning. And
unto this accords that of Heb 1:10
where
speaking of Christ
out of Ps
102:24
Thou
Lord
in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth;
so as to be sure he existed then. But further
in Ps 102:24
it runs thus
Thy
years are throughout all generations. We have run
you see
through all
generations since the creation
and have found his years throughout them all.
And yet lest that should be taken only of the generations of this world
he
adds (as Rivet expounds it)
Before thou laidst the foundation of the earth.
Eighthly
So then we
come to this
that he hath been before the creation
yea
from everlasting.
But
Ninthly
If you would have his eternity yet more express
see Heb 7:3
where mentioning Melchisedec
Christ's type
he renders him to have been his
type in this—"Without father
without mother
without descent
having
neither beginning of days
nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God;
abideth a priest continually." Where his meaning is to declare that
look
what Melchisedec was typice
or umbraiter
in a shadow
that our
Christ was really and substantially.
Lastly
Add to this
that in Mic 5:2
"But thou
Bethlehem Ephratah
though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old
from
everlasting; "where he evidently speaks of two births Christ had
under
the metaphor of going forth: one as man at Bethlehem in the fulness of time
the other as Son of God from everlasting. As Son of God
his goings forth (that
is
his birth) are from everlasting. And it is termed
"goings forth
"in the plural; because it is actus continuus
and hath been every
moment continued from everlasting. As the sun begets light and beams every
moment
so God doth his Son. So then we have two everlastings attributed
to Christ's person; one to come
Heb 1:10
and another past
here in Mic 5:2.
And so as of God himself it is said
Ps 90:2
"From everlasting to
everlasting thou art God
"so also of Christ. Condensed from T. Goodwin's
Treatise on "The Knowledge of God the Father
and his Son Jesus
Christ."
Verse
25. Earth. Heavens. He names here the most stable parts of the
world
and the most beautiful parts of the creation
those that are freest from
corruptibility and change
to illustrate thereby the immutability of God
that
though the heavens and earth have a prerogative of fixedness above other parts
of the world
and the creatures that reside below
the heavens remain the same
as they were created
and the centre of the earth retains its fixedness
and
are as beautiful and fresh in their age as they were in their youth many years
ago
notwithstanding the change of the elements
fire and water being often
turned into air
so that there may remain but little of that air which was
first created
by reason of the continual transmutation; yet this firmness of
the earth and heavens is not to be regarded in comparison of the unmoveableness
and fixedness of the being of God. As their beauty comes short of the glory of
his being
so doth their firmness come short of his stability. Stephen
Charnock.
Verse
26. The shall perish. The greater the cirruption
the vaster
the destruction. Some think that the fiery deluge shall ascend no higher than
did the watery. It may be the earth shall be burned
that is the worst
guest at the table
the common sewer of all other creatures
but shall the
heavens pass away? It may be the airy heaven; but shall the starry heaven where
God hath printed such figures of his glory? Yes
caelum
elementurn
terra
when ignis ubique ferox ruptis regnabit habenis. The former deluge is
called the world's winter
the next the world's summer. The one was with a cold
and moist element
the other shall be with an element hot and dry. But what
then shall become of the saints? They shall be delivered out of all; walking
like those three servants in the midst of that great furnace
the burning
world
and not be scorched
because there is one among them to deliver them
"the Son of God
"Da 3:25
their Redeemer. But shall all quite
perish? No
there is rather a mutation than an abolition of their substance. Thou
shalt change them
and they shall be changed
not abolished. The
concupiscence shall pass
not the essence; the form
not the nature. In the
altering of an old garment
we destroy it not
but trim it
refresh it
and
make it seem new. They pass
they do not perish; the dross is purged
the metal
stays. The corrupt quality shall be renewed
and all things restored to that
original beauty wherein they were created. "The end of all things is at
hand
"1Pe 4:7: an end of us
an end of our days
an end of our ways
and
end of our thoughts. If a man could say as Job's messenger
I alone am escaped
it were somewhat; or might find an ark with Noah. But there is no ark to defend
them from that heat
but only the bosom of Jesus Christ. Thomas Adams.
Verse
26. Like a garment. The whole creation is as a garment
wherein the Lord shows his power clothed unto men; whence in particular he is
said to clothe himself with light as with a garment. And in it is the hiding of
his power. Hid it is
as a man is hid with a garment; not that he should not be
seen at all
but that he should not be seen perfectly and as he is. It shows
the man
and he is known by it; but also it hides him
that he is not perfectly
or fully seen. So are the works of creation unto God
he so far makes them his
garment or clothing as in them to give out some instances of his power and
wisdom; but he is also hid in them
in that by them no creature can come to the
full and perfect knowledge of him. Now
when this work shall cease
and God
shall unclothe or unveil all his glory to his saints
and they shall know him
perfectly
see him as he is
so far as a created nature is capable of that
comprehension
then will he lay them aside and fold them up
at least as to
that use
as easily as a man lays aside a garment that he will wear or use no
more. This lies in the metaphor. John Owen.
Verse
27. Thou art the same. The essence of God
with all the
perfections of his nature
are pronounced the same
without any variation from
eternity to eternity. So that the text doth not only assert the eternal
duration of God
but his immutability in that duration; his eternity is
signified in that expression
"thou shalt endure; "his immutability
in this
"thou art the same." To endure
argues indeed this
immutability as well as eternity; for what endures is not changed
and what is
changed doth not endure. "But thou art the same
"awx xta
doth more fully signify it. He could not be the same if he could be changed
into any other thing than what he is. The Psalmist therefore puts
not thou hast
been or shall be
but thou art the same
without any
alteration; thou art the same
that is
the same God
the same in essence and
nature
the same in will and purpose
thou dost change all other things as thou
pleaseth; but thou art immutable in every respect
and receivest no shadow of
change
thought never so light and small. The Psalmist here alludes to the name
Jehovah
I am
and doth not only ascribe immutability to God
but
exclude everything else from partaking in that perfection. Stephen Charnock.
Verse
28. The children of thy servants shall continue. In what sense
is "children" taken? Either the children of their flesh
or of
their faith. Some say the children of the same faith with the godly teachers
and servants of the Lord
begotten by them to God
as noting the perpetuity of
the church
who shall in every age bring forth children to God. It is the
comfort of God's people to see a young brood growing up to continue his
remembrance in the world
that when they die religion shall not die with them
nor the succession of the church be interrupted. This sense is not altogether
incongruous; but rather I think the children of their body are here intended;
it being a blessing often promised: see Ps 103:17. "The mercy of the LORD
is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him
and his
righteousness unto children's children." "Shall continue;
""shall be established." In what sense is it spoken? Some
think only pro more faederis
according to the fashion of that covenant
which the people of God were then under
when eternity was but more darkly
revealed and shadowed out
either by long life
or the continuance of their
name in their posterity
which was a kind of literal immortality. Clearly such
a kind of regard is had
as appeareth by that which you find in Ps 37:28. "The
LORD loveth judgment
and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for
ever." How? since they die as others do: mark the antithesis
and that
will explain it. "They are preserved for ever: but the seed of the
wicked shall be cut off." They are preserved in their posterity.
Children are but the parents multiplied
and the parent continued
it is nodosa
aeternitas;when the father's life is run out to the last
there is a knot
tied
and the line is still continued by the child. I confess
temporal
blessings
such as long life
and the promise of a happy posterity
are more
visible in the eye of that dispensation of the covenant; but yet God still
taketh care for the children of his people
and many promises run that way that
belong to the gospel-administration
and still God's service is the surest way
to establish a family
as sin is the ready way to root it out. And if it doth
not always fall out accordingly
yet for the most part it doth; and we are no
competent judges of God's dispensations in this kind
because we see Providence
by pieces
and have not the skill to set them together; but at the day of
judgment
when the whole contexture of God's dealings is laid before us we
shall clearly understand how the children of his servants continue
and their
seed is established. Thomas Manton.
Verse
28. O the folly of the world
that seeks to make perpetuities to
their houses by devises in the law
which may perhaps reach to continue their
estates
but can it reach to continue their seed? It may entail lands to their
heirs
but can it entail heirs to their lands? No
God knows! This is a
perpetuity of only God's making
a privilege of only God's servants: for The
children of his servants shall continue
and theiv seed shall be established
before him; but that any others shall continue is no part of David's
warrant. Sir R. Baker.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
TITLE.
1.
Afflicted men may pray.
2.
Afflicted men should pray even when overhelmed.
3.
Afflicted men can pray—for what is wanted is a pouring out of their complaint
not an oratorical display.
4.
Afflicted men are accepted in prayer—for this prayer is placed on record.
Verses
1-2. Five steps to the mercy-seat. The Psalmist prays for
1.
Audience: "Hear my prayer."
2. Access: "Let my cry come before thee."
3. Unveiling: "Hide not thy face."
4. An intent ear: "Incline thine ear."
5. Answer. C. Davis.
Verses
1
17
19-20. An interesting discourse may be founded upon these passages.
1.
The Lord entreated to hear—Ps 102:1.
2. The Promise given that he will hear—Ps 102:17.
3. The Record that the Lord has heard—Ps 102:19-20.
Verse
2.
1.
Prayer in trouble is most needed.
2. Prayer in trouble is most heeded.
3. Prayer in trouble is most speeded: "Answer me speedily."
Or
1.
Prayer in trouble: "In the day
"etc.
2.
The prayer of trouble: "Hide not thy face; "not remove the trial
but
be with me in it. A fiery furnace is a paradise when God is with us there. G.
R.
Verse
2 (first elause). He deprecates the loss of the divine
countenance when under trouble.
1.
That would intensify it a thousandfold.
2. That would deprive him of strength to bear the trouble.
3. That would prevent his acting so as to glorify God in the trouble.
4. That might injure the result of the trouble.
Verse
2 (last clause).
1.
We often need to be answered speedily.
2. God can so answer.
3. God has so answered.
4. God has promised so to answer.
Verses
3-11.
1.
The causes of grief. (a) The brevity of life. Ps 102:3. (b) Bodily pain. Ps
102:3. (c) Dejection of spirit. Ps 102:4- 5. (d) Solitariness. Ps 102:6-7. (e)
Reproach. Ps 102:8. (f) Humiliation. Ps 102:9. (g) The hidings of God's
countenance. Ps 102:10. (h) Wasting away. Ps 102:11.
2.
The eloquence of grief. (a) The brevit of life is as vanishing
"smoke." (b) Bodily pain is fire in the bones. (c) Dejection of
spirit is "withered grass." Who can eat when the heart is sad? (d)
Solitariness is like "The pelican in the wilderness
the owl in the
desert
and the sparrow upon the housetop." (e) Reproach is being
surrounded by madmen—"they that are mad." (f) Humiliation is
"eating ashes like bread
"and "drinking tears." (g) The
hidings of God's countenance is lifting up in order to be cast down. (h)
Wasting away is a shadow declining and grass withering. G. R.
Verse
4. Unbelieving sorrow makes us forget to use proper means for our
support.
1.
We forget the promises.
2.
Forget the past and its expcriences.
3.
Forget the Lord Jesus
our life.
4.
Forget the everlasting love of God. This leads to weakness
faintness
etc.
and is to be avoided.
Verse
6. This as a text
together with Ps 103:5
makes an interesting
contrast
and gives scope for much experimental teaching.
Verse
7. The evils and benefits of solitude; when it may be sought
and
when it becomes a folly. Or
the mournful watcher—alone
outside the pale of
communion
insignificant
wishful for fellowship
set apart to watch.
Verse
9. The sorrows of the saints—their number
bitterness
sources
correctives
influences
and consolations.
Verse
10.
1.
The trial of trials—thine indignation and thy wrath.
2.
The aggravation of that trial—former favour
"thou hast lifted me up
"etc.
3.
The best behaviour under it: see Ps 102:9
12-13.
Verse
l0 (last cause). The prosperity of a church or an individual
often followed by declension; worldly aggrandisement frequently succeeded by
affliction; great joy in the Lord very generally succeeded by trial.
Verses
11-12. I and Thou
or the notable contrast.
1. I:
my days are like a shadow
(a) Because it is unsubstantial; because it partakes
of the nature of the darkness which is to absorb it; because the longer it
becomes the briefer its continuance. (b) I am like grass cut down by the
scythe; scorched by drought.
2. Thou.
Lord. Ever enduring. Ever memorable. Ever the study of passing generations of
men. C. D.
Verse
13.
1.
Zion often needs restoration. It needs "mercy."
2.
Its restoration is certain: "Thou shalt arise
" etc.
3.
The seasons of its restoration are determined. There is a "time" to
favour her; a "set" time.
4.
Intimations of those coming seasons are often given "The time
the set
time
is come." G. R.
Verses
13-14.
1.
Visitation expected.
2.
Predestination relied upon.
3.
Evidence observed.
4.
Enquiry suggested—Do we take pleasure in her stones? etc.
Verses
13-14. The interest of the Lord's people in the concerns of Zion one of
the surest signs of her returning prosperity.
Verse
15. The inward prosperity of the church essential to her power in the
world.
Verse
16. God is Zion's purchaser
architect
builder
inhabitant
Lord.
1.
Zion built up. Conversions frequent; confessions numerous; union firm;
edification solid; missions extended.
2.
God glorified. In its very foundation; by its ministry; by difficulties and
enemies; by poor workers
and poor materials; and even by our failures.
3.
Hope excited. Because we may expect the Lord to glorify himself.
4.
Inquiry suggested. Am I concerned
as built
or building? not merely
doctrinally
but experimentally?
Verse
17.
1.
The destitute pray.
2.
They pray most.
4.
They pray best.
4.
They pray most effectually. Or the surest way to succeed in prayer is to pray
as the destitute; show the reason of this.
Verse
18.
1.
A memorial.
2. A magnificat. W. Durban.
Verses
18-21.
1.
Misery in extremis.
2. Divinity observant.
3. Deity actively assisting.
4. Glory consequently published.
Verses
19-22.
1.
The notice which God takes of the world
Ps 102:19. (a) The place from which he
beholds it: "from heaven
" not from an earthly point of view. (b)
The character in which he beholds it; "from the height of his sanctuary
"from the mercy-seat.
2.
What attracts his notice most in the world. The groaning of the prisoner and of
those appointed to death.
3.
The purpose for which he notices them. "To loose
" etc.;" to
declare
" etc. (a) For human comfort. (b) For his own glory.
4.
When his notice is thus fixed upon the earth. "When
" etc.
Ps
102:22. G. R.
Verse
23. For the sick.
1.
Submission—The Lord sent the trial—"He weakeneth
" etc.
2.
Service—exonerated from some work
he now requires of me patience
earnestness
etc.
3.
Preparation—for going home.
4.
Prayer—for others to occupy my place.
5.
Expectation—I shall soon be in heaven
now that my days are shortened.
Verse
24.
1. The
prayer. "Take me not away
"etc. (a) Not in the midst of life
is
the prayer of some. (b) Not in the midst of worldly prosperity is the prayer of
many
for the sake of those dependent upon them. (c) Not in the midst of
spiritual growth
is the prayer of not a few: "Oh spare me
that I may
recover strength
"etc. (d) Not in the midst of Christian work and
usefulness
is the prayer of others.
2. The
plea. "Thy years
"etc.; years are plentiful with thee
therefore
to give me longer days will be an easy gift—and thine own are throughout all
generations. G. R.
Verse
25-27.
1.
The unchangeableness of God amidst past changes: "of old
" etc. (a)
He was the same before as after he had laid the foundations of the earth. (b)
He was the same after as before.
2.
The unchangeableness of God amidst future changes. "They shall
perish
" etc. (a) The same before they perish as after. (b) After as
before.
3.
The unchangeableness of God in the past and the future. "Thou art the
same
" etc. G. R.
Verse
26-27.
1.
How far God may change—only in his garments
or outward manifestations of
creation and providence.
2.
Wherein he cannot change—his nature
attributes
covenant
love
etc.
3.
The comfortable truths which may be safely inferred
or which gather support
from this fact.
Verse
26-27.
1.
The material universe of God. (a) No more to him than a garment to the wearer.
(b) Ever waxing old
but he the same. (c) Soon to be changed and left to
perish
but of his years no end.
2.
Our relation to each (a) Let us never love the dress more than the wearer. (b)
Nor trust more in the changeful than in the abiding. (c) Nor live for that
which will die out.
Verse
28. The true apostolical succession.
1.
There always will be saints.
2.
They will frequently be the seed of the saints after the flesh.
3.
They will always be the spiritual seed of the godly
for God converts one by
means of another.
4.
We should order our efforts with an eye to the church's future.
WORKS UPON THE
HUNDRED AND SECOND PSALM
BISHOP
FISHER'S Treatise on the Penitential Psalms. (See "Treasury of
David
"Vol. II.
pg 114.) There is an edition in 12mo.
printed in the
year MDCCXIV.
besides those referred to as above.
In "Meditations
on Twenty select Psalms
by Sir SIR ANTHONY COPE
Chamberlain to Queen
Katherine Parr. Reprinted from the edition of 1547; ...By WILLIAM H. COPE. M.A.
1848
"there is a Meditation on this Psalm.
Meditations
and Disquisitions upon the Seven Psalms of David
commonly called the
Penitentiall Psalmes
By Sir RICHARD BAKER
Knight. 1639. pg 139-180.
Zion's
Joy in her King Coming in his Glory. Wherein the estate of the
Poore distressed Church of the Gentiles (travailing in the Wildernesse towards
the new Jerusalem of the Jewes) in her utmost extremities
and height of her
Joyes
is lively delineated; In some Meditations upon that Propheticall Psalme
102
wherein the sense is opened
and many difficult places of Scripture
inlightned by a harmony
and consent of the Scriptures. Delightfull and
profitable to be read in these times of the Churches troubles
and much longed
for restauration and deliverance. By FINIENS CANUS VOVE. Compiled in Exile
and
lately now revised and somewhat augmented as the weight of the Subject and the
revolution of the times required... 1643. 4to.
In "Sermons
on the Seven Penitential Psalms
Preached during Lent
1838
" by the
Rev. CHARLES OXENDON
there is an Exposition of this Psalm.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》