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Psalm One
Hundred Forty-four
Psalm 144
Chapter Contents
David acknowledges the great goodness of God
and prays
for help. (1-8) He prays for the prosperity of his kingdom. (9-15)
Commentary on Psalm 144:1-8
(Read Psalm 144:1-8)
When men become eminent for things as to which they have
had few advantages
they should be more deeply sensible that God has been their
Teacher. Happy those to whom the Lord gives that noblest victory
conquest and
dominion over their own spirits. A prayer for further mercy is fitly begun with
a thanksgiving for former mercy. There was a special power of God
inclining
the people of Israel to be subject to David; it was typical of the bringing
souls into subjection to the Lord Jesus. Man's days have little substance
considering how many thoughts and cares of a never-dying soul are employed
about a poor dying body. Man's life is as a shadow that passes away. In their
highest earthly exaltation
believers will recollect how mean
sinful
and vile
they are in themselves; thus they will be preserved from self-importance and
presumption. God's time to help his people is
when they are sinking
and all
other helps fail.
Commentary on Psalm 144:9-15
(Read Psalm 144:9-15)
Fresh favours call for fresh returns of thanks; we must
praise God for the mercies we hope for by his promise
as well as those we have
received by his providence. To be saved from the hurtful sword
or from wasting
sickness
without deliverance from the dominion of sin and the wrath to come
is
but a small advantage. The public prosperity David desired for his people
is
stated. It adds much to the comfort and happiness of parents in this world
to
see their children likely to do well. To see them as plants
not as weeds
not
as thorns; to see them as plants growing
not withered and blasted; to see them
likely to bring forth fruit unto God in their day; to see them in their youth
growing strong in the Spirit. Plenty is to be desired
that we may be thankful
to God
generous to our friends
and charitable to the poor; otherwise
what
profit is it to have our garners full? Also
uninterrupted peace. War brings
abundance of mischiefs
whether it be to attack others or to defend ourselves.
And in proportion as we do not adhere to the worship and service of God
we
cease to be a happy people. The subjects of the Saviour
the Son of David
share the blessings of his authority and victories
and are happy because they
have the Lord for their God.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 144
Verse 2
[2] My
goodness
and my fortress; my high tower
and my deliverer; my shield
and he
in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
Subdued —
Who hath disposed my peoples hearts to receive and obey me as their king.
Verse 5
[5] Bow thy heavens
O LORD
and come down: touch the mountains
and they
shall smoke.
Come — To
help me.
Smoke — As
Sinai did at thy glorious appearance
Exodus 19:18. This is a figurative and poetical
description of God's coming to take vengeance upon his enemies.
Verse 7
[7] Send
thine hand from above; rid me
and deliver me out of great waters
from the
hand of strange children;
Strange children —
Either of the Heathen nations: or of the rebellious Israelites.
Verse 8
[8]
Whose mouth speaketh vanity
and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Vanity —
Vain brags and threatenings which shall come to nothing.
Falsehood —
Deceiving themselves
by being unable to do what they designed; and others
by not
giving them that help which they promised.
Verse 12
[12] That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters
may be as corner stones
polished after the similitude of a palace:
That —
This mercy I beg not only for my own sake
but for the sake of thy people
that
they may enjoy those blessings which thou hast promised them; and particularly
that our sons
who are the strength and hopes of a nation
may be like plants
flourishing and growing in height and strength
as plants do in their youth;
for when they grow old
they wither and decay.
Cornerstone —
Strong and beautiful.
Verse 14
[14] That
our oxen may be strong to labour; that there be no breaking in
nor going out;
that there be no complaining in our streets.
Breaking in — Of
enemies invading the land
or assaulting our cities
and making breaches in
their walls.
Going out — Of
our people
either out of the cities to fight with an invading enemy: or out of
the land into captivity.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
Albeit that
this Psalm is in some measure very similar to Ps 18:1-50
yet it is a new song
and in its latter portion it is strikingly so. Let the reader accept it as a new
psalm
and not as a mere variation of an old one
or as two compositions
roughly joined together. It is true that it would be a complete composition if
the passage from Ps 144:12-15 were dropped; but there are other parts
of
David's poems which might be equally self contained if certain verses were
omitted; and the same might be said of many uninspired sonnets. It does not
therefore
follow that the latter part was added by another hand
nor even that
the latter part was a fragment by the same author
appended to the first song
merely with the view of preserving it. It seems to us to be highly probable
that the Psalmist
remembering that he had trodden some of the same ground
before
felt his mind moved to fresh thought
and that the Holy Spirit used this
mood for his own high purposes. Assuredly the addendum is worthy of the
greatest Hebrew poet
and it is so admirable in language
and so full of
beautiful imagery
that persons of taste who were by no means overloaded with
reverence have quoted it times without number
thus confessing its singular
poetical excellence. To us the whole psalm appears to be perfect as it stands
and to exhibit such unity throughout that it would be a literary Vandalism
as
well as a spiritual crime
to rend away one part from the other.
TITLE. Its title is "Of
David"
and its language is of David
if ever language can belong to
any man. As surely as we could say of any poem
this is of Tennyson
or of
Longfellow
we may say
This is of David. Nothing but the disease which closes
the eye to manifest fact and opens it to fancy
could have led learned critics
to ascribe this song to anybody but David. Alexander well says
"The
Davidic origin of this psalm is as marked as that of any in the Psalter."
It
is to God the devout warrior sings when he extols him as his strength and stay
(Ps 144:1-2). Man he holds in small account
and wonders at the Lord's regard
for him (Ps 144:3-4); but he turns in his hour of conflict to the Lord
who is
declared to be "a man of war"
whose triumphant interposition he
implores (Ps 144:5-8). He again extols and entreats in Ps 144:9-11 and then
closes with a delightful picture of the Lord's work for his chosen people
who
are congratulated upon having such a God to be their God.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Blessed be the LORD my strength. He cannot delay the
utterance of his gratitude
he bursts at once into a loud note of praise. His
best word is given to his best friend—"Blessed be Jehovah." When the
heart is in a right state it must praise God
it cannot be restrained; its
utterances leap forth as waters forcing their way from a living spring. With
all his strength David blesses the God of his strength. We ought not to receive
so great a boon as strength to resist evil
to defend truth
and to conquer error
without knowing who gave it to us
and rendering to him the glory of it. Not
only does Jehovah give strength to his saints
but he is their strength. The
strength is made theirs because God is theirs. God is full of power
and he
becomes the power of those who trust him. In him our great strength lieth
and
to him be blessings more than we are able to utter. It may be read
"My
Rock"; but this hardly so well consorts with the following words:
Which
teacheth my hands to war
and my fingers to fight. The word rock is
the Hebrew way of expressing strength: the grand old language is full of such
suggestive symbols. The Psalmist in the second part of the verse sets forth the
Lord as teacher in the arts of war. If we have strength we are not much the
better unless we have skill also. Untrained force is often an injury to the man
who possesses it
and it even becomes a danger to those who are round about
him; and therefore the Psalmist blesses the Lord as much for teaching as for
strength. Let us also bless Jehovah if he has in anything made us efficient.
The tuition mentioned was very practical
it was not so much of the brain as of
the hands and fingers; for these were the members most needful for conflict.
Men with little scholastic education should be grateful for deftness and skill
in their handicrafts. To a fighting man the education of the hands is of far
more value than mere book learning could ever be; he who has to use a sling or
a bow needs suitable training
quite as much as a scientific man or a classical
professor. Men are too apt to fancy that an artisan's efficiency is to be
ascribed to himself; but this is a popular fallacy. A clergyman may be supposed
to be taught of God
but people do not allow this to be true of weavers or
workers in brass; yet these callings are specially mentioned in the Bible as
having been taught to holy women and earnest men when the tabernacle was set up
at the first. All wisdom and skill are from the Lord
and for them he deserves
to be gratefully extolled. This teaching extends to the smallest members of our
frame; the Lord teaches fingers as well as hands; indeed
it sometimes happens
that if the finger is not well trained the whole hand is incapable.
David
was called to be a man of war
and he was eminently successful in his battles;
he does not trace this to his good generalship or valour
but to his being
taught and strengthened for the war and the fight. If the Lord deigns to have a
hand in such unspiritual work as fighting
surely he will help us to proclaim
the gospel and win souls; and then we will bless his name with even greater
intensity of heart. We will be pupils
and he shall be our Master
and if we
ever accomplish anything we will give our Instructor hearty blessing. This
verse is full of personality; it is mercy shown to David himself which is the
subject of grateful song. It has also a presence about it; for Jehovah is now
his strength
and is still teaching him; we ought to make a point of presenting
praise while yet the blessing is on the wing. The verse is also preeminently
practical
and full of the actual life of every day; for David's days were
spent in camps and conflicts. Some of us who are grievously tormented with
rheumatism might cry
"Blessed be the Lord
my Comforter
who teacheth my
knees to bear in patience
and my feet to endure in resignation"; others
who are on the look out to help young converts might say
"Blessed be God
who teaches my eyes to see wounded souls
and my lips to cheer them"; but
David has his own peculiar help from God
and praises him accordingly. This
tends to make the harmony of heaven perfect when all the singers take their
parts; if
we all followed the same score
the music would not be so full and
rich.
Verse
2. Now our royal poet multiplies metaphors to extol his God. My
goodness
and my fortress. The word for goodness signifies mercy.
Whoever we may be
and wherever we may be
we need mercy such as can only be
found in the infinite God. It is all of mercy that he is any of the other good
things to us
so that this is a highly comprehensive title. O how truly has the
Lord been mercy to many of us in a thousand ways! He is goodness itself
and he
has been unbounded goodness to us. We have no goodness of our own
but the Lord
has become goodness to us. So is he himself also our fortress and safe
abode: in him we dwell as behind impregnable ramparts and immovable bastions.
We cannot be driven out
or starved out; for our fortress is prepared for a
siege; it is stored with abundance of food
and a well of living water is within
it. Kings usually think much of their fenced cities
but King David relies upon
his God
who is more to him than fortresses could have been.
My
high tower
and my deliverer. As from a lofty watchtower the believer
trusting
in the Lord
looks down upon his enemies. They cannot reach him in his elevated
position; he is out of bow shot; he is beyond their scaling ladders; he dwells
on high. Nor is this all; for Jehovah is our Deliverer as well as our Defender.
These different figures set forth the varied benefits which come to us from our
Lord. He is every good thing which we can need for this world or the next. He
not only places us out of harm's way full often
but when we must be exposed
he comes to our rescue
he raises the siege
routs the foe
and sets us in
joyous liberty. My shield
and he in whom I trust. When the warrior rushes on
his adversary
he bears his target upon his arm
and thrusts death aside; thus
doth the believer oppose the Lord to the blows of the enemy
and finds himself
secure from harm. For this and a thousand other reasons our trust rests in our
God for everything; he never fails us
and we feel boundless confidence in him.
Who
subdueth my people under me. He keeps my natural subjects subject
and my
conquered subjects peaceful under my sway. Men who rule others should thank God
if they succeed in the task. Such strange creatures are human beings
that if a
number of them are kept in peaceful association under the leadership of any one
of the Lord's servants
he is bound to bless God every day for the wonderful
fact. The victories of peace are as much worthy of joyful gratitude as the
victories of war. Leaders in the Christian church cannot maintain their
position except as the Lord preserves to them the mighty influence which ensures
obedience and evokes enthusiastic loyalty. For every particle of influence for
good which we may possess let us magnify the name of the Lord. Thus has David
blessed Jehovah for blessing him. How many times he has appropriated the Lord
by that little word My! Each time he grasps the Lord
he adores and
blesses him; for the one word Blessed runs through all the passage like
a golden thread. He began by acknowledging that his strength for fighting
foreign enemies was of the Lord
and he concluded by ascribing his domestic
peace to the same source. All round as a king he saw himself to be surrounded
by the King of kings
to whom he bowed in lowly homage
doing suit and service
on bent knee
with grateful heart admitting that he owed everything to the Rock
of his salvation.
Verse
3. LORD
what is man
that thou takest knowledge of him? What
a contrast between Jehovah and man! The Psalmist turns from the glorious all
sufficiency of God to the insignificance and nothingness of man. He sees
Jehovah to be everything
and then cries
"Lord
what is man!" What
is man in the presence of the Infinite God? What can he be compared to? He is
too little to be described at all; only God
who knows the most minute object
can tell what man is. Certainly he is not fit to be the rock of our confidence:
he is at once too feeble and too fickle to be relied upon. The Psalmist's
wonder is that God should stoop to know him
and indeed it is more remarkable
than if the greatest archangel should make a study of emmets
or become the
friend of mites. God knows his people with a tender intimacy
a constant
careful observation: he foreknew them in love
he knows them by care
he will
know them in acceptance at last. Why and wherefore is this? What has man done?
What has he been? What is he now that God should know him
and make himself
known to him as his goodness
fortress
and high tower? This is an unanswerable
question. Infinite condescension can alone account for the Lord stooping to be
the friend of man. That he should make man the subject of election
the object
of redemption
the child of eternal love
the darling of infallible providence
the next of kin to Deity
is indeed a matter requiring more than the two notes
of exclamation found in this verse. Or the son of man
that thou makest account
of him! The son of man is a weaker being still
—so the original word implies.
He is not so much man as God made him
but man as his mother bore him;
and how can the Lord think of him
and write down such a cipher in his
accounts? The Lord thinks much of man
and in connection with redeeming love
makes a great figure of him: this can be believed
but it cannot be explained.
Adoring wonder makes us each one cry out
Why dost thou take knowledge of me?
We know by experience how little man is to be reckoned upon
and we know by
observation how greatly he can vaunt himself
it is therefore meet for us to be
humble and to distrust ourselves; but all this should make us the more grateful
to the Lord
who knows man better than we do
and yet communes with him
and
even dwells in him. Every trace of the misanthrope should be hateful to the
believer; for if God makes account of man it is not for us to despise our own
kind.
Verse
4. Man is like to vanity. Adam is like to Abel. He is like
that which is nothing at all. He is actually vain
and he resembles that
unsubstantial empty thing which is nothing but a blown up nothing
—a puff
a
bubble. Yet he is not vanity
but only like it. He is not so substantial as
that unreal thing; he is only the likeness of it. Lord
what is a man? It is
wonderful that God should think of such a pretentious insignificance. His days
are as a shadow that passeth away. He is so short lived that he scarcely
attains to years
but exists by the day
like the ephemera
whose birth and
death are both seen by the self same sun. His life is only like to a shadow
which is in itself a vague resemblance
an absence of something rather than in
itself an existence. Observe that human life is not only as a shade
but as a
shade which is about to depart. It is a mere mirage
the image of a thing which
is not
a phantasm which melts back into nothing. How is it that the Eternal
should make so much of mortal man
who begins to die as soon as he begins to
live? The connection of the two verses before us with the rest of the psalm is
not far to seek: David trusts in God and finds him everything; he looks to man
and sees him to be nothing; and then he wonders how it is that the great Lord
can condescend to take notice of such a piece of folly and deceit as man.
Verse
5. Bow thy heavens
O LORD
and come down. The heavens are
the Lord's own
and he who exalted them can bow them. His servant is struggling
against bitter foes
and he finds no help in men
therefore he entreats Jehovah
to come down to his rescue. It is
indeed
a coming down for Jehovah to
interfere in the conflicts of his tried people. Earth cries to heaven to stoop;
nay
the cry is to the Lord of heaven to bow the heaven
and appear among the
sons of earth. The Lord has often done this
and never more fully than when in
Bethlehem the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us: now doth he know the way
and he never refuses to come down to defend his beloved ones. David would have
the real presence of God to counterbalance the mocking appearance of boastful
man: eternal verity could alone relieve him of human vanity. Touch the
mountains
and they shall smoke. It was so when the Lord appeared on Sinai; the
strongest pillars of earth cannot bear the weight of the finger of God. He is a
consuming fire
and his touch kindles the peaks of the Alps
and makes them
smoke. If Jehovah would appear
nothing could stand before him; if the mighty
mountains smoke at his touch
then all mortal power which is opposed to the
Lord must end in smoke. How long suffering he is to his adversaries
whom he
could so readily consume. A touch would do it; God's finger of flame would set
the hills on fire
and consume opposition of every kind.
Verse
6. Cast forth lightning
and scatter them. The Eternal can
hurl his lightnings wheresoever he pleases
and effect his purpose
instantaneously. The artillery of heaven soon puts the enemy to flight: a
single bolt sets the armies running hither and thither in utter rout. Shoot out
thine arrows
and destroy them. Jehovah never misses the mark; his arrows are
fatal to his foes when he goes forth to war. It was no common faith which led
the poet king to expect the Lord to use his thunderbolts on behalf of a single
member of that race which he had just now described as "like to
vanity." A believer in God may without presumption expect the Almighty
Lord to use on his behalf all the stores of his wisdom and power: even the
terrible forces of tempest shall be marshalled to the fight
for the defence of
the Lord's chosen. When we have once mastered the greater difficulty of the
Lord's taking any interest in us
it is but a small thing that we should expect
him to exert his great power on our behalf. This is far from being the only
time in which this believing warrior had thus prayed: Ps 18:1-50 is specially
like the present; the good man was not abashed at his former boldness
but here
repeats himself without fear.
Verse
7. Send thine hand from above. Let thy long and strong arm be
stretched out till thine hand seizes my foes
and delivers me from them. Rid
me
and deliver me out of great waters. Make a Moses of me
—one drawn out of
the waters. My foes pour in upon me like torrents
they threaten to overwhelm
me; save me from their force and fury; take them from me
and me from them.
From the hand of strange children. From foreigners of every race; men strange
to me and thee
who therefore must work evil to me
and rebellion against
thyself. Those against whom he pleaded were out of covenant with God; they were
Philistines and Edomites; or else they were men of his own nation of black
heart and traitorous spirit
who were real strangers
though they bore the name
of Israel. Oh to be rid of those infidel
blaspheming beings who pollute
society with their false teachings and hard speeches! Oh to be delivered from
slanderous tongues
deceptive lips
and false hearts! No wonder these words are
repeated
for they are the frequent cry of many a tried child of God;—"Rid
me
and deliver me." The devil's children are strange to us: we can
never agree with them
and they will never understand us: they are aliens to
us
and we are despised by them. O Lord
deliver us from the evil one
and from
all who are of his race.
Verse
8. Whose mouth speaketh vanity. No wonder that men who are
vanity speak vanity. "When he speaketh a lie
he speaketh of his own.
"They cannot be depended upon
let them promise as fairly as they may:
their solemn declarations are light as the foam of the sea
in no wise to be
depended upon. Good men desire to be rid of such characters: of all men
deceivers and liars are among the most disgusting to true hearts. And their
right hand is a right hand of falsehood. So far their hands and their tongues
agree
for they are vanity and falsehood. These men act as falsely as they
speak
and prove themselves to be all of a piece. Their falsehood is right
handed
they lie with dexterity
they deceive with all their might. It is a
dreadful thing when a man's expertness lies more in lies than in truth; when he
can neither speak nor act without proving himself to be false. God save us from
lying mouths
and hands of falsehood.
Verse
9. I will sing a new song unto thee
O God. Weary of the
false
I will adore the true. Fired with fresh enthusiasm
my gratitude shall
make a new channel for itself. I will sing as others have done; but it shall be
a new song
such as no others have sung. That song shall be all and altogether
for my God: I will extol none but the Lord
from whom my deliverance has come.
Upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto
thee. His hand should aid his tongue
not as in the case of the wicked
cooperating in deceit; but his hand should unite with his mouth in truthful
praise. David intended to tune his best instruments as well as to use his best
vocal music: the best is all too poor for so great a God
and therefore we must
not fall short of our utmost. He meant to use many instruments of music
that
by all means he might express his great joy in God. The Old Testament
dispensation abounded in types
and figures
and outward ritual
and therefore
music dropped naturally into its place in the "worldly sanctuary";
but
after all
it can do no more than represent praise
and assist our
expression of it; the real praise is in the heart
the true music is that of
the soul. When music drowns the voice
and artistic skill takes a higher place
than hearty singing
it is time that instruments were banished from public
worship; but when they are subordinate to the song
as here
it is not for us
to prohibit them
or condemn those who use them
though we ourselves greatly
prefer to do without them
since it seems to us that the utmost simplicity of
praise is far more congruous with the spirit of the gospel than pomp of organs.
The private worshipper
singing his solo unto the Lord
has often found it
helpful to accompany himself on some familiar instrument
and of this David in
the present psalm is an instance
for he says
"I will sing praise unto
thee"
—that is
not so much in the company of others as by himself alone.
He saith not "we"
but "I."
Verse
10. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings. Those whom the
Lord sets up he will keep up. Kings
from their conspicuous position
are
exposed to special danger
and when their lives and their thrones are preserved
to them they should give the Lord the glory of it. In his many battles David
would have perished had not almighty care preserved him. He had by his valour
wrought salvation for Israel
but he lays his laurels at the feet of his Lord
and Preserver. If any men need salvation kings do
and if they get it the fact
is so astonishing that it deserves a verse to itself in the psalm of praise.
Who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword. He traces his escape
from death to the delivering hand of God. Note
he speaks in the present tense—delivereth
for this was an act which covered his whole life. He puts his name to the
confession of his indebtedness: it is David who owns without demur to mercy
given to himself. He styles himself the Lord's servant
accepting this as the
highest title he had attained or desired.
Verse
11. Because of what the Lord had done
David returns to his pleading.
He begs deliverance from him who is ever delivering him. Rid me
and deliver me
from the hand of strange children. This is in measure the refrain of the song
and the burden of the prayer. He desired to be delivered from his open and
foreign adversaries
who had broken compacts
and treated treaties as vain
things. Whose mouth speaketh vanity
and their right hand is a right hand of
falsehood. He would not strike hands with those who carried a lie in their
right hand: he would be quit of such at once
if possible. Those who are
surrounded by such serpents know not how to deal with them
and the only
available method seems to be prayer to God for a riddance and deliverance.
David in Ps 144:7
according to the original
had sought the help of both the
Lord's hands
and well he might
for his deceitful enemies
with remarkable
unanimity
were with one mouth and one hand seeking his destruction. Riddance
from the wicked and the gracious presence of the Lord are sought with a special
eye to the peace and prosperity which will follow thereupon. The sparing of
David's life would mean the peace and happiness of a whole nation. We can
scarcely judge how much of happiness may hang upon the Lord's favour to one
man.
Verse
12. God's blessing works wonders for a people. That our sons may be
as plants grown up in their youth. Our sons are of first importance to the
state
since men take a leading part in its affairs; and that the young men are
the older men will be. He desires that they may be like strong
well rooted
young trees
which promise great things. If they do not grow in their youth
when will they grow? If in their opening manhood they are dwarfed
they will
never get over it. O the joys which we may have through our sons! And
on the
other hand
what misery they may cause us! Plants may grow crooked
or in some
other way disappoint the planter
and so may our sons. But when we see them
developed in holiness
what joy we have of them! That our daughters may be as
corner stones
polished after the similitude of a palace. We desire a
blessing for our whole family
daughters as well as sons. For the girls to be
left out of the circle of blessing would be unhappy indeed. Daughters unite
families as corner stones join walls together
and at the same time they adorn
them as polished stones garnish the structure into which they are builded. Home
becomes a palace when the daughters are maids of honour
and the sons are
nobles in spirit; then the father is a king
and the mother a queen
and royal
residences are more than outdone. A city built up of such dwellings is a city
of palaces
and a state composed of such cities is a republic of princes.
Verse
13. That our garners may be full
affording all manner of store.
A household must exercise thrift and forethought: it must have its granary as
well as its nursery. Husbands should husband their resources; and should not
only furnish their tables but fill their garners. Where there are happy
households
there must needs be plentiful provision for them
for famine brings
misery even where love abounds. It is well when there is plenty
and that
plenty consists of "all manner of store." We have occasionally heard
murmurs concerning the abundance of grain
and the cheapness of the poor man's
loaf. A novel calamity! We dare not pray against it. David would have prayed
for it
and blessed the Lord when he saw his heart's desire. When all the fruits
of the earth are plentiful
the fruits of our lips should be joyful worship and
thanksgiving. Plenteous and varied may cur products be
that every form of want
may be readily supplied. That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten
thousands in our streets
or rather in the open places
the fields
and
sheep walks where lambs should be born. A teeming increase is here described.
Adam tilled the ground to fill the garner
but Abel kept sheep
and watched the
lambs. Each occupation needs the divine blessing. The second man who was born
into this world was a shepherd
and that trade has ever held an important part
in the economy of nations. Food and clothing come from the flock
and both are
of first consideration.
Verse
14. That our oxen may be strong to labour; so that the
ploughing and cartage of the farm may be duly performed
and the husbandman's
work may be accomplished without unduly taxing the cattle
or working them
cruelly. That there be no breaking in
nor going out; no irruption of
marauders
and no forced emigration; no burglaries and no evictions. That there
be no complaining in our streets; no secret dissatisfaction
no public riot; no
fainting of poverty
no clamour for rights denied
nor concerning wrongs
unredressed. The state of things here pictured is very delightful: all is
peaceful and prosperous; the throne is occupied efficiently
and even the
beasts in their stalls are the better for it. This has been the condition of
our own country
and if it should now be changed
who can wonder? For our
ingratitude well deserves to be deprived of blessings which it has despised.
These verses may with a little accommodation be applied to a prosperous church
where the converts are growing and beautiful
the gospel stores abundant
and
the spiritual increase most cheering. There ministers and workers are in full
vigour
and the people are happy and united. The Lord make it so in all our
churches evermore.
Verse
15. Happy is that people that is in such a case. Such things
are not to be overlooked. Temporal blessings are not trifles
for the miss of
them would be a dire calamity. It is a great happiness to belong to a people so
highly favoured. Yea
happy is that people
whose God is the LORD. This comes
in as an explanation of their prosperity. Under the Old Testament Israel had
present earthly rewards for obedience: when Jehovah was their God they were a
nation enriched and flourishing. This sentence is also a sort of correction of
all that had gone before; as if the poet would say—all these temporal gifts are
a part of happiness
but still the heart and soul of happiness lies in the
people being right with God
and having a full possession of him. Those who
worship the happy God become a happy people. Then if we have not temporal
mercies literally we have something better: if we have not the silver of earth
we have the gold of heaven
which is better still. In this psalm David ascribes
his own power over the people
and the prosperity which attended his reign
to
the Lord himself. Happy was the nation which he ruled; happy in its king
in
its families
in its prosperity
and in the possession of peace; but yet more
in enjoying true religion and worshipping Jehovah
the only living and true
God.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Whole
Psalm. The psalm
in its mingled tones of prayer and praise
is a fit
connecting link between the supplicatory psalms which go before
and the
strains of thanksgiving which follow it.—Speaker's Commentary.
Whole
Psalm. After six psalms of sorrowful prayer in distress
we have now a
psalm of praise and thanksgiving for God's gracious answer to supplications;
and also a psalm of intercession. The present psalm bears a strong resemblance
to David's last song in 2Sa 22:51 and to Ps 18:1-50. Here we have a vision of
Christ rejoicing;—after his passion—risen in glory
and having ascended in
triumph
and pleading for us at the right hand of God.—Christopher
Wordsworth.
Whole
Psalm. This psalm is ruled by the numbers ten and seven. Ten verses
complete the first part of the psalm
which falls into two divisions. The first
portion contains
in Ps 144:1-2
ten attributes of God
—three and seven
the
seven divided into four and three. In like manner it contains ten requests to
God in Ps 144:5-7
divided precisely as the attributes. To this significance of
the number ten for the first part
allusion is pointedly made in Ps 144:9.
Seven blessings are prayed for in the second part
four in Ps 144:12-13
(valiant sons
beautiful daughters
full storehouses
numerous flocks)
and
three in Ps 144:14 (labouring oxen
no breach and diminution
no cry). The
whole contains
apart from the closing epiphonem
which
as usual
stands
outside the formal arrangement
seven strophes
each of two verses.
An
objection has been brought against the Davidic authorship from the "traces
of reading" it contains. But one would require to consider more exactly
what sort of reading is here to be thought of. It is only the psalms of David
which form the ground work of this new psalm. But that it is one of David's
peculiarities to derive from his earlier productions a foundation for new ones
is evident from a variety of facts
which
if any doubt must still be
entertained on the subject
would obtain a firm ground to stand upon in this
psalm
which can only have been composed by David. The way and manner of
the use made of such materials is to be kept in view. This is always of a
spirited and feeling nature
and no trace anywhere exists of a dead borrowing.
That we cannot think here of such a borrowing; that the appropriation of the
earlier language did not proceed from spiritual impotence
but rested upon
deeper grounds
is manifest from the consideration of the second part
where
the dependence entirely ceases
and where even the opponents of the Davidic
authorship have not been able to overlook the strong poetical spirit of the
time of David. They betake themselves to the miserable shift of affirming
that
the Psalmist borrowed this part of the psalm from a much older poem now lost.—E.W.
Hengstenberg.
Verse
1. Blessed be the LORD. A prayer for further mercy is fitly
begun with a thanksgiving for former mercy; and when we are waiting upon God to
bless us
we should stir up ourselves to bless him.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
1. The LORD my strength
etc. Agamemnon says to Achilles—
If
thou hast strength
'twas heaven that strength bestowed;
For know
vain man! thy valour is from God.—Homer.
Verse
1. My strength (Heb. "my rock"). The climax
should be noted; the rock
or cliff
comes first as the place of refuge
then
the fortress or fastness
as a place carefully fortified
then the
personal deliverer
without whose intervention escape would have been
impossible.—Speaker's Commentary.
Verse
1. The LORD...teacheth: and not as man teacheth. Thus he
taught Gideon to fight with the innumerable host of Midian by sending to their
homes twenty-two thousand
and retaining but ten thousand of his soldiers: and
then again by reducing that remnant to the little band of three hundred who
lapped when brought down to the water. Thus he taught Samson by abstaining from
strong drink
and by suffering no razor to pass over his head. Thus he taught
the three kings in the wilderness to war against their enemies
not by any
strength of their armies
but by making ditches in the desert. Thus he taught
David himself by waiting for the sound of the going in the tops of the mulberry
trees. And so he taught the arms of the True David to fight when stretched on
the cross: nailed
to human sight
to the tree of suffering
but
in reality
winning for themselves the crown of glory: helpless in the eyes of scribes and
Pharisees; in those of archangels
laying hold of the two pillars
sin and
death
whereon the house of Satan rested
and heaving them up from
their
foundation.—Ayguan
in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
1. The LORD my strength
which teacheth my hands to war.
There were three qualities of a valiant soldier found in Christ
the Captain of
our salvation
in his war against Satan
which his followers are bound to
emulate: boldness in attack
skill in defence
steadiness in conflict
all
which he teaches by his example (Mt 4:1
4
7
10-11). He was bold in attack
for he began the combat by going up into the wilderness to defy the enemy. So
we
too
should be always beforehand with Satan
ought to fast
even if not
tempted to gluttony
and be humble
though not assailed by pride
and so forth.
He was skilful in defence
parrying every attack with Holy Writ; where
we
too
in the examples of the saints
may find lessons for the combat. He was
steadfast in conflict
for he persevered to the end
till the devil left
him
and angels came and ministered unto him; and we
too
should not be
content with repelling the first attack
but persevere in our resistance until
evil thoughts are put to flight
and heavenly resolutions take their place.—Neale
and Littledale.
Verse
1. Teacheth my hands. Used to the hook and harp
and not to
the sword and spear; but God hath apted and abled them to feats of arms and
warlike exploits. It is God that giveth skill and success
saith Solomon (Pr
8:1-36); wisdom and ability
saith Daniel (Da 2:1-49). And as in the spiritual
warfare
so here; our weapons are "mighty through God" (2Co 10:4)
who promises that no weapon formed against his people shall prosper (Isa 54:17).—John
Trapp.
Verse
1. To war
...to fight. I want to speak of a great defect
among us
which often prevents the realization of going "from strength to
strength"; viz.
the not using
not trading with
the strength
given. We should not think of going to God for money only to keep it in the
bank. But are we not doing this with regard to strength? We are constantly
asking for strength for service; but if we are not putting this out in hearty
effort
it is of no use to us. Nothing comes of hoarded strength. "Blessed
be the Lord my strength
which teacheth my hands to war
and my finger to
fight." David
you see
was looking for strength for a purpose. Some
people seem to expect strength
but never attempt to put forth their hands to
war
and their fingers to fight—there is so little venturing upon God
so
little use of grace given
partly from fear of man
partly from indolence and
worldly mindedness. It is not for us to be merely luxuriating in the power
which God supplies. Action strengthens
and before we have a right to ask for
an increase
we must use that already given.—Catherine Pennefather
in
"Service
" 1881.
Verse
1. Is not the spiritual victory of every believer achieved by God?
Truly it is he who teaches his hands to war and his fingers to fight;
and when the final triumph shall be sung in heaven
the victor's song will be
"Not unto me
O Lord
not unto me
but unto thy name give glory
for thy
mercy and for thy truth's sake."—John Morison.
Verse
1. My hands for fight
my fingers for war. Fight and war
are both verbs and nouns in English
but the Hebrew words are nouns with the
article prefixed.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
1. My fingers to fight. Probably the immediate reference here
is to the use of the bow
—placing the arrow
and drawing the string.—Albert
Barnes.
Verse
2. My goodness
etc. This way of using the word in a passive
sense
as in the Hebrew
sounds harshly; just as elsewhere (Ps 18:50) he calls
himself "God's king"
not in the sense of his having dominion over
God
but being made and appointed king by him. Having experienced God's
kindness in so many ways
he calls him "his goodness"
meaning
that whatever good he possessed flowed from him. The accumulation of terms
one
upon another
which follows
may appear unnecessary
yet it tends greatly to
strengthen faith. We know how unstable men's minds are
and especially how soon
faith wavers
when they are assailed by some trial of more than usual
severity.—John Calvin.
Verse
2. My fortress. David calls God by names connected with the
chief deliverances of his life. The psalms abound in local references and
descriptive expressions
e.g. Ps 18:2 (and in this place). The word translated "fortress"
is metzuriah or masada. From 1Sa 23:29
I have no doubt that he is
speaking of Masada
an isolated peak 1
500 feet high
on which was a
stronghold.—James Wareing Bardsley
in "Glimpses through the
Veil
" 1883.
Verse
2. My high tower. Such towers were erected on
mountains
on rocks
or on the walls of a city
and were regarded as safe
places mainly because they were inaccessible. So the old castles in Europe
—as
that at Heidelberg
and generally those along the Rhine
—were built on lofty
places
and in such positions as not to be easily accessible.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
2. My shield. The Hebrew word signifies
not the huge shield
which was carried by an armourbearer
but the handy target with which heroes
entered into hand to hand conflicts. A warrior took it with him when he used
his bow or his sword. It was often made of metal
but still was portable
and
useful
and was made to serve as an ornament
being brightened or anointed with
oil. David had made abundant use of the Lord
his God
from day to day
in
battles many and murderous.—C.H.S.
Verse
2. Who subdueth my people under me. David
accordingly
having
ascribed the victories he had gained over foreign enemies to God
thanks him at
the same time for the settled state of the kingdom. Raised indeed as he was
from an obscure station
and exposed to hatred from calumnious charges
it was
scarcely to have been believed that he would ever obtain a peaceable reign. The
people had suddenly
and beyond expectation
submitted to him; and so
surprising a change was eminently God's work.—John Calvin.
Verse
3. LORD
what is man
etc.
Now
what is man when grace reveals
The virtues of a Saviour's blood?
Again a life divine he feels
Despises earth
and walks with God.
And
what in yonder realms above
Is ransomed man ordained to be?
With honour
holiness
and love
No seraph more adorned than he.
Nearest
the throne
and first in song.
Man shall his hallelujahs raise
While wondering angels round him strong
And swell the chorus of his praise.
—John Newton
in Olney Hymns.
Verse
3. LORD
what is man? Take him in his four elements
of
earth
air
fire
and water. In the earth
he is as fleeting dust; in
the air
he is as a disappearing vapour; in the water
he is as a
breaking bubble; and in the fire
he is as consuming smoke.—William
Seeker
in "The Nonsuch Professor."
Verses
3-4. LORD
what is man
etc. There is no book so well worthy reading
as this living one. Even now David spake as a king of men
of people subdued
under him: now he speaks as a humble vassal to God: LORD
what is man
that thou takest knowledge of him? In one breath is both sovereignty and
subjugation: an absolute sovereignty over his people: My people are subdued
under me; an humble subjection to the God of kings; "LORD
what is
man?" Yea
in the very same word wherein
is the profession of that
sovereignty
there is an acknowledgment of subjection: "Thou hast
subdued my people." In that he had a people
he was a king: that they
might be his people
a subjection was requisite; and that subjugation was
God's
and not his own: "Thou hast subdued." Lo
David had not
subdued his people
if God had not subdued them for him. He was a great king
but they were a stiff people: the God that made them swayed them to a due
subjection. The great conquerors of worlds could not conquer hearts
if he
that moulded hearts
did not temper them. "By me kings reign"
saith
the Eternal Wisdom; and he that had courage enough to encounter a bear
a lion
Goliath
yet can say
"Thou hast subdued my people."
Contrarily
in the lowliest subjection of himself
there is an acknowledgment of greatness.
Though he abused himself with
"What is man?" yet
withal he adds
"Thou
takest knowledge of him
thou makest account of him": and this
knowledge
this account of God
doth more exalt man than his own vanity can
depress him. My text
then
ye see
is David's rapture
expressed in an
ecstatical question of sudden wonder; a wonder at God
and at man: man's
vileness; "What is man?" God's mercy and favour
in his
knowledge
in his estimation of man. Lo
there are but two lessons that we need
to take out here
in the world
God and man; man
in the notion of his
wretchedness; God
in the notion of his bounty. Let us
if you please
take a
short view of both; and
in the one
see cause of our humiliation; of our joy
and thankfulness in the other: and if
in the former
there be a sad Lent of
mortification; there is
in the latter
a cheerful Easter of our raising and
exaltation.
Many
a one besides David wonders at himself: one wonders at his own honour; and
though he will not say so
yet thinks
"What a great man am I! Is not this
great Babel
which I have built?" This is Nebuchadnezzar's wonder. Another
wonders at his person
and finds
either a good face
or a fair eye
or an
exquisite hand
or a well shaped leg
or some gay fleece
to admire in himself:
this was Absalom's wonder. Another wonders at his wit and learning: "How
came I by all this? Turba haec! This vulgar
that knows not the law
is
accursed": this was the Pharisee's wonder. Another wonders at his wealth;
"Soul
take thine ease"; as the epicure in the gospel. David's wonder
is as much above
as against all these: he wonders at his vileness: like as the
Chosen Vessel would boast of nothing but his infirmities: "LORD
what
is man?" How well this hangs together! No sooner had he said
"Thou
hast subdued my people under me"
than he adds
"LORD
what is
man?" Some vain heart would have been lifted up with a conceit of his
own eminence; "Who am I? I am not as other men. I have people under me;
and people of my own
and people subdued to me"; this is to be more than a
man. I know who hath said
"I said ye are gods."—Joseph Hall.
Verse
3. Dr. Hammond refers this psalm to the slaying of Goliath
and thus
understands the appellation "son of man"
—"David was but a young
stripling
the youngest and most inconsiderable of all the sons of Jesse
who
also was himself an ordinary man."
Verse
3. Thou takest knowledge of him. It is a great word. Alas!
what knowledge do we take of the gnats that play in the sun; or the ants
or
worms
that are crawling in our grounds? Yet the disproportion betwixt us and
them is but finite; infinite betwixt God and us. Thou
the Great God of Heaven
to take knowledge of such a thing as man. If a mighty prince shall vouchsafe to
spy and single out a plain homely swain in a throng
as the Great Sultan did lately
a tankard bearer; and take special notice of him
and call him but to a kiss of
his hand and nearness to his person; he boasts of it as a great favour: for
thee
then
O God
who abasest thyself to behold the things in heaven itself
to cast thine eye upon so poor a worm as man
it must needs be a wonderful
mercy.—Exigua pauperibus magna; as Nazianzen to his Amphilochius.—Joseph
Hall.
Verse
4. Man is like to vanity As he that goeth to a fair
with a
purse full of money
is devising and debating with himself how to lay it
out—possibly thinking that such and such commodities will be most profitable
and bring him in the greatest gain—when on a sudden a cut purse comes and eases
him both of his money and care how to dispose of it. Surely you might have taken
notice how some of thy neighbours or countrymen
when they have been busy in
their contrivances
and big with many plots and projects how to raise their
estate and names and families
were arrested by death in a moment
returned to
their earth
and in that day all their gay
their great thoughts perished
and
came to nothing. The heathen historian could not but observe how Alexander the
Great
when he had to carry on his great designs
summoned a parliament before
him of the whole world
he was himself summoned by death to appear in the other
world. The Dutch
therefore
very wittily to express the world's vanity
picture at Amsterdam a man with a full blown bladder on his shoulders
and
another standing by pricking the bladder with a pin
with this motto
quam
subito
How soon is all blown down!—George Swinnock.
Verse
4. Man is like to vanity. When Cain was born
there was much
ado about his birth; "I have gotten a man child from God"
saith his
mother: she looked upon him as a great possession
and therefore called his
name Cain
which signifies "a possession." But the second man
that was born unto the world bare the title of the world
"vanity";
his name was Abel
that is
"vanity." A premonition was
given in the name of the second man what would or should be the condition of
all men. In Ps 144:4 there is an allusion unto those two names. We translate
it
"Man is like to vanity"; the Hebrew is
"Adam is
as Abel"; Adam
you know
was the name of the first man
the name of
Abel's father; but as Adam was the proper name of the first
so it is an
appellative
or common to all men: now Adam
that is
man of all men
are Abel
vain
and walking in a vain show.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
4. Man is like to vanity
etc. The occasion of the
introduction of these sentiments here is not quite clear. It may be the
humility of the warrior who ascribes all success to God instead of to human
prowess
or it may be a reflection uttered over the corpses of comrades
or
perhaps a blending of the two.—A.S. Aglen.
Verse
4. Man is like to vanity
etc. With what idle dreams
what
foolish plans
what vain pursuits
are men for the most part occupied! They
undertake dangerous expeditions and difficult enterprises in foreign countries
and they acquire fame; but what is it?—Vanity! They pursue deep and
abstruse speculations
and give themselves to that "much study which is a
weariness to the flesh"
and they attain to literary renown
and survive
in their writings; but what is it?—Vanity! They rise up early
and sit
up late
and eat the bread of anxiety and care
and thus they amass wealth; but
what is it?—Vanity! They frame and execute plans and schemes of
ambition—they are loaded with honours and adorned with titles—they afford
employment for the herald
and form a subject for the historian; but what is
it?—Vanity! In fact
all occupations and pursuits are worthy of no other
epithet
if they are not preceded by
and connected with
a deep and paramount
regard to the salvation of the soul
the honour of God
and the interests of
eternity...Oh
then
what phantoms
what airy nothings are those things that
wholly absorb the powers and occupy the days of the great mass of mankind
around us! Their most substantial good perishes in the using
and their most
enduring realities are but "the fashion of this world that passeth
away."—Thomas Raffles
1788-1863.
Verse
4. A shadow that passeth away. The shadows of the mountains
are constantly shifting their position during the day
and ultimately disappear
altogether on the approach of night: so is it with man who is every day
advancing to the moment of his final departure from this world.—Bellarmine.
Verse
5. Bow thy heavens. This expression is derived from the
appearance of the clouds during a tempest: they hang low
so as to obscure the
hills and mountains
and seem to mingle earth and heaven together. Such an
appearance is figuratively used to depict the coming of God
to execute
vengeance upon the enemies of his people. See Ps 18:10
and other instances.—William
Walford.
Verse
5. Bow thy heavens
O LORD
and come down
etc. This was
never so remarkably fulfilled as in the incarnation of Jesus Christ
when
heaven and earth were
as it were
brought together. Heaven itself was
as it
were
made to bow that it might be united to the earth. God did
as it were
come down and bring heaven with him. He not only came down to the earth
but he
brought heaven down with him to men and for men. It was a most strange and
wonderful thing. But this will be more remarkably fulfilled still by Christ's
second coming
when he will indeed bring all heaven down with him—viz.
all the
inhabitants of heaven. Heaven shall be left empty of its inhabitants to come
down to the earth; and then the mountains shall smoke
and shall indeed flow
down at his presence
as in Isa 64:1.—Jonathan Edwards.
Verse
5. Touch the mountains
and they shall smoke. The meaning is
when God doth but lay his hand upon great men
upon the mightiest of the world
he makes them smoke or fume
which some understand of their anger; they are
presently in a passion
if God do but touch them. Or we may understand it of
their consumption. A smoking mountain will soon be a burnt
mountain. In our language
to make a man smoke is a proverbial expression for
destroying or subduing.—Joseph Caryl.
Verses
5-6.
Bow
thy heavens
Jehovah
Come down in thy might;
Let the rays of thy glory
The mountaintops light.
With the bolts of thy thunder
Discomfit my foe
With the flash of thine arrows
Their force overthrow.
—William Digby Seymour.
Verse
6. Cast forth lightning. The Hebrew here is
"Lighten
lightning"; that is
Send forth lightning. The word is used as a verb
nowhere else.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
7. Send thine hand from above. Hebrew
hands
both
hands
all thy whole power
for I need it.—John Trapp.
Verse
7. Rid me
and deliver me. Away
you who theorize about
suffering
and can do no more than descant upon it
away! for in the time of
weeping we cannot endure your reasonings. If you have no means of delivering
us
if you have nothing but sententious phrases to offer
put your hands on
your mouths; enwrap yourselves in silence! It is enough to suffer; but to
suffer and listen to you is more than we can bear. If Job's mouth was nigh unto
blasphemy
the blame is yours
ye miserable comforters
who talked instead of weeping.
If I must suffer
then I pray for suffering without fine talk!—E. De
Pressense.
Verse
7. Rid me
and deliver me...from the hand of strange children.
We must remember that as the Grecians (conceiting themselves the best bred
people in the world) called all other nations "barbarians"; so the
people of Israel
the stock of Abraham (being God's peculiar covenant people)
called all other nations "aliens" or "strangers";
and because they were hated and maligned by all other nations
therefore they
called all professed strangers enemies; so the word is used (Isa 1:7)
"Your land strangers shall devour"; that is
enemies shall invade and
prevail over you. "Deliver me out of the hand of strange
children"
or out of the hand of strangers; that is
out of the hand
of mine enemies. The Latin word alienus is often put for hostis
and the Roman orator (Cicero) telleth us that "he who is now called a
stranger was called an enemy by our ancestors." The reason was because
strangers proved unkind to
yea
turned enemies against those that entertained
them.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
7. Strange children. He calls them strangers
not in
respect of generic origin
but character and disposition.—John Calvin.
Verse
7. The strange children
now the enemies of David
shall be
either won to willing subjection
or else shall be crushed under the triumphant
Messiah (Ps 2:1-12). The Spirit by David spake things the deep significance of
which reached further than even he understood (1Pe 1:11-12).—Andrew Robert
Fausset.
Verse
8. Whose mouth speaketh vanity
etc. Two things go naturally
together in the verse—the lying tongue and deceitful hand. The meaning is that
upon the matter in hand nothing was to be looked for from any of their
promises
since it was only to deceive that they flattered with their mouth and
gave the hand.—John Calvin.
Verse
8. Their right hand is a right hand of falsehood. The pledge
of the right hand
which used to be a witness of good faith
was violated by
treachery and wickedness.—Cicero. Philip. xi. c. 2.
Verse
9. Psaltery—an instrument of ten strings. Nebelazor. We are
led to the conclusion that the nebel was the veritable harp of
the Hebrews. It could not have been large
because it is so frequently
mentioned in the Bible as being carried in processions ...The English
translators render nebel (apparently without any special reason) by no
less than four words; (1) psaltery
(2) psalm
(3) lute
(4) viol. The first of
these is by far the most common in the Authorized Version
and is no doubt the
most correct translation if the word be understood in its true sense as a portable
harp. Nebels were made of fir wood
and afterwards of almug
or algum
which was
perhaps
the red sandalwood of India...With nebel is often
associated the word azor
which is traced to a root signifying ten
and which has therefore been rendered in the Septuagint by by en dekacordw or
as qalthrion dekacordon
(psalterium decem chordarum) or in
dechachordo psalterio in the Vulgate. In the Chaldee
Syriac
and Arabic
versions also are found words implying the existence of ten strings in the nebelazor.
The word azor may therefore be considered as qualifying or describing
the special kind of nebel to be used
much in the same way as we now
speak of a trichord pianoforte. It is in our English version always
rendered by the words "ten stringed."—John Stainer
in
"The Music of the Bible
" 1882.
Verse
10. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings. Ferdinand
king
of Aragon
sending his son against the Florentines
thus bespake him: Believe
me
son
victories are not gotten by art or subtlety
but given of God.—John
Trapp.
Verse
10. It is he that giveth salvation unto kings. What a doctrine
this for the kings and great men of the earth to remember! Could they be
brought to feel and acknowledge it
they would not trust to the sagacity of
their own councils
nor to the strength of their own arm; but would ever
remember that the Most High is the ruler among the nations
and that he putteth
down one and raiseth up another according to the dictates of his own all
perfect will. Such remembrances as this would stain the pride of all human
glory
and would lead men to feel that the Lord alone is to be exalted.—John
Morison.
Verse
11. This psalm is the language of a prince who wished his people's
prosperity: that their "garners might be full of all manner of
stores"; that their "sheep might bring forth thousands and ten
thousands in their streets"; that their "oxen" might be fat for
slaughter
or "strong for labour"; that there might be neither
robbery nor beggary in their streets: no oppressive magistrates
nor
complaining people: and as if all these blessings were to be derived from the
character of the people
and the character of the people from the education
they had received
our text is a prayer for the youth of Judea.—Robert
Robinson (1735-1790)
in "The Nature and Necessity of Early Piety."
Verse
12. The reminiscences or imitations of Ps 18:1-50
suddenly cease
here
and are followed by a series of original
peculiar
and for the most part
or no doubt antique expressions. Oil the supposition that the title is correct
in making David the author
this is natural enough. On any other supposition it
is unaccountable
unless by the gratuitous assumption
that this is a fragment
of an older composition
a mode of reasoning by which anything may be either
proved or disproved.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
12. That our sons may be as plants
etc. They who have ever
been employed in the cultivation of plants of any kind
are continually tempted
to wish that the human objects of their care and culture would grow up as
rapidly
as straight
as flourishing
would as uniformly fulfil their specific
idea and purpose
as abundantly reward the labour bestowed on them...If our
sons are indeed to grow up as young plants
like our English oaks
which
according to the analogies of Nature
furnish no inappropriate type of our
national character
they must not be stunted or dwarfed or pollarded
for the
sake of being kept under the shade of a stranger. They should grow up straight
toward heaven
as God had ordained them to grow...There is something so
palpable and striking in this type
that twenty-five years ago
in speaking of
the gentlemanly character
I was led to say
"If a gentleman is to grow up
he must grow like a tree: there must be nothing between him and heaven."—Julius
Charles Hare
in a Sermon entitled "Education the Necessity of
Mankind
" 1851.
Verse
12. That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth
etc. Thus David prays for the rising generation. Metaphors seem generally
unsuitable to prayer
but they do not wear this aspect in the prayers recorded
in the Scriptures. The language of the text is tropical
but the metaphors are
suitable and seasonable. Roots of vegetables are necessarily invisible. Tender
plants are insignificant. A plant grown up
having height in its stem
width in its branches
abundance in its foliage
and fulness in its bloom
is
conspicuous. David prays that the sons of that generation might be in their
youth "as plants grown up"
that is
that their piety might
not only live
but that their godliness might be fully expressed. The stones of
a foundation are concealed. The stones in the mid wall of a
building are also necessarily hid. The stones on the surface of a wall
are visible
but they are not distinguished. The cornerstone of
buildings in that day was prominent and eminent. Placed at the angle of the
structure
where two walls met
on the top of the walls
and being richly
ornamented and polished
it attracted attention. David prays that the daughters
of that day might make an open and lovely profession of religion—that both sons
and daughters might not only have piety but show it.—Samuel
Martin
in "Cares of Youth."
Verse
12. "Plants grown up" "Corner stones
polished." These processes of growth and polish can be carried on in
one place only
the church of Christ.—Neale and Littledale.
Verse
12. That our daughters may be as corner stones
etc. "The
polished corners of the temple"
rather "the sculptured
angles
the ornament
of a palace." Great care and much ornament were
bestowed by the ancients upon the angles of their splendid palaces. It is
remarkable that the Greeks made use of pilasters
called Caryatides (carved
after the figure of a woman dressed in long robes)
to support the entablatures
of their buildings.—Daniel Cresswell.
Verse
12. That our daughters may be as corner stones
polished after the
similitude of a palace or temple. By daughters families are united and
connected to their mutual strength
as the parts of a building are by the
cornerstones; and when they are graceful and beautiful both in body and mind
they are then polished after the similitude of a nice and curious structure.
When we see our daughters well established
and stayed with wisdom and
discretion
as cornerstones are fastened in the building; when we see them by
faith united to Christ
as the chief cornerstone
adorned with the graces of
God's Spirit
which are the polishing of that which is naturally rough
and
"become women professing godliness"; when we see them purified and
consecrated to God as living temples
we think ourselves happy in them.—Matthew
Henry.
Verse
12. That our daughters may be as corner stones
etc. One might
perhaps at the first glance have expected that the daughters of a household
would be as the graceful ornament of the clustering foliage or the fruit
bearing tree
and the sons as the cornerstones upholding the weight and
burden of the building
and yet it is the reverse here. And I think one may
read the love and tenderness of the Lord in this apparently casual but intended
expression
and that he meant the nations of the earth to know and understand
how much of their happiness
their strength
and their security was dependent
on the female children of a family. It has not been so considered in many a
nation that knew not God: in polished Greece in times of old
and in some
heathen nations even to this day
the female children of a family have been
cruelly destroyed
as adding to the burdens and diminishing the resources of a
household; and alas! too
even in Christian countries
if not destroyed
they
are with equal pitiless and remorseless cruelty cut off from all the solace and
ties and endearments of life
and immured in that living mockery of a grave
the cloister
that they may not prove incumbrances and hindrances to others!
How contrary all this to the loving purpose of our loving God! whose Holy
Spirit has written for our learning that sons and daughters are alike intended
to be the ornament and grace
the happiness and blessing of every household.—Barton
Bouchier.
Verse
12. After the similitude of a palace. Most interpreters give
the last word the vague sense of "a palace." There is
something
however
far more striking in the translation temple
found
in the Prayer Book and the ancient versions. The omission of the article is a
poetic license of perpetual occurrence. The temple was the great architectural
model and standard of comparison
and particularly remarkable for the great
size and skilful elaboration of its foundation stones
some of which
there is
reason to believe
have remained undisturbed since the time of Solomon.—Joseph
Addison Alexander.
Verses
12-15. In the former part of the psalm he speaks of such things as
concern his own happiness: "Blessed be the Lord my strength"
(Ps 144:1); "Send thine hand from above; and deliver me out of great
waters" (Ps 144:7); "Rid me
and deliver me from the hand of strange
children" (Ps 144:11). And he might as easily have continued the same strain
in the clauses following: "That my sons may grow up as plants
my
daughters may be as the polished corners of the temple
my sheep
fruitful
my oxen strong
my garners full and plenteous";
and accordingly he might have concluded it also—"Happy shall I be
if I be in such a case." This
I say
he might have done; nay
this
he would have done
if his desires had reflected only upon himself. But being
of a diffusive heart
and knowing what belonged to the neighbourhoods of piety
as loath to enjoy this happiness alone
he alters his style
and (being in the
height of well wishes to himself) he turns the singular into a plural—our
sheep
our oxen
our garners
our sons and daughters
that he might
compendiate all in this
—Happy are the people. Here is a true testimony
both of a religious and generous mind
who knew in his most retired thoughts to
look out of himself
and to be mindful of the public welfare in his most
private meditations. S. Ambrose observes it as a clear character of a noble
spirit
to do what tends to the public good
though to his own disadvantage.—Richard
Holdsworth (1590-1649)
in "The Valley of Vision."
Verses
12-15. These words contain a striking picture of a prosperous and happy
nation. We are presented with a view of the masculine youth of the
nation by the oaks of the forest
become great in the early period of the
vigour and excellency of the soil. They are represented in the distinguishing
character of their sex
standing abroad the strength of the nation
whence its
resources for action must be derived. On the other hand
the young females
of a nation are exhibited under an equally just and proper representation of
their position and distinguishing character. They are not exhibited by a
metaphor derived from the hardier tenants of the forest
but they are shown to
us by a representation taken from the perpetual accompaniments of the dwelling;
they are the supports and the ornaments of domestic life. Plenty of
every kind is represented to us in possession and in reasonable expectation. No
breaking in
no invasion by a furious foe
oppresses the inhabitants of
this happy country with terror; neither is there any going out. The
barbarous practice employed by Sennacherib
and other ancient conquerors
of
transporting the inhabitants of a vanquished country to some distant
unfriendly
and hated land
—the practice at this moment employed
to the
scandal of the name and the sorrow of Europe—they dread not: they fear no "going
out." Under circumstances of such a nature causes of distress or
complaint exist not; or
if they do
they are capable of being so modified
and
alleviated
and remedied
that there is no complaining in the streets.
"Happy
then
is that people
that is in such a case."—John Pye
Smith
1775-1851.
Verse
13. That our sheep may bring forth thousands
etc. The
surprising fecundity of the sheep has been celebrated by writers of every
class. It has not escaped the notice of the royal Psalmist
who
in a beautiful
ascription of praise to the living and the true God
entreats that the sheep of
his chosen people might "bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our
streets." In another song of Zion
he represents
by a very elegant
metaphor
the numerous flocks covering like a garment the face of the
field:—"The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered
over with corn; they shout for joy
they also sing": Ps 65:13. The bold
figure is fully warranted by the prodigious numbers of sheep which whitened the
extensive pastures of Syria and Canaan. In that part of Arabia which borders on
Judea
the patriarch Job possessed at first seven thousand
and after the
return of his prosperity
fourteen thousand sheep; and Mesha
the king of Moab
paid the king of Israel "a yearly tribute of a hundred thousand lambs
and
an equal number of rams with the wool": 2Ki 3:4. In the war which the
tribe of Reuben waged with the Hagarites
the former drove away "two
hundred and fifty thousand sheep": 1Ch 5:21. At the dedication of the
temple
Solomon offered in sacrifice "an hundred and twenty thousand
sheep." At the feast of the passover
Josiah
the king of Judah
"gave to the people
of the flock
lambs and kids
all for the passover
offerings
for all that were present
to the number of thirty thousand
and
three thousand bullocks: these were of the king's substance": 2Ch 35:7.
The ewe brings forth her young commonly once a year
and in more ungenial
climes
seldom more than one lamb at a time. But twin lambs are as frequent in
the oriental regions
as they are rare in other places; which accounts in a
satisfactory manner for the prodigious numbers which the Syrian shepherd led to
the mountains. This uncommon fruitfulness seems to be intimated by Solomon in
his address to the spouse:—"Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are
even shorn
which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins
and
none is barren among them": So 4:2.—George Paxton (1762-1837)
in
"Illustrations of Scripture."
Verses
13-14. Streets
though not incorrect
is an inadequate translation of
the Hebrew word
which means external spaces
streets as opposed to the inside
of houses
fields or country as opposed to a whole town. Here it includes not
only roads but fields.—Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse
14. That our oxen may be strong to labour. (Margin: "able
to bear burdens"
or
loaded with flesh.) As in the verse
before he had ascribed the fruitfulness of the herds and flocks to God's
goodness
so now the fattening of their oxen
to show that there is nothing
relating to us here which he overlooks.—John Calvin.
Verse
14. That our oxen may be strong to labour. Oxen were not only
used for ploughing
thrashing
and drawing
but also for bearing burdens;
compare 1Ch 12:40
which passage is peculiarly fitted to throw light on the
verse before us. Laden oxen presuppose a rich abundance of produce.—E.W.
Hengstenberg.
Verse
14. That there be no complaining in our streets
etc. Rather
"and no cry of sorrow" (comp. Isa 24:11 Jer 14:2 46:12) "in our
open places"
i.e.
the places where the people commonly assembled
near the gate of the city (comp. 2Ch 32:6 Ne 8:1). The word rendered "complaining"
does not occur elsewhere in the psalter.—Speaker's Commentary.
Verse
14. No complaining. No outcries but "Harvest
homes."—John Trapp.
Verse
15. Happy is that people
etc. We have in the text happiness
with an echo
or ingemination; "happy" and "happy."
From this ingemination arise the parts of the text; the same which are the
parts both of the greater world and the less. As the heaven and earth in the
one
and the body and soul in the other; so are the passages of this Scripture
in the two veins of happiness. We may range them as Isaac does the two parts of
his blessing (Ge 27:28); the vein of civil happiness
in "the fatness of
the earth"; and the vein of Divine happiness
in "the fatness of heaven."
Or (if you will have it out of the gospel)
here's Martha's portion in the
"many things" of the body; and Mary's better part in the unum
necessarium of the soul. To give it yet more concisely
here's the path of prosperity
in outward comforts
"Happy is that people that is in such a
case"; and the path of piety in comforts spiritual: Yea
happy is that people
whose God is the LORD. In the handling of the first
without any further subdivision
I will only show what it is the Psalmist
treats of; and that shall be by way of gradation
in these three particulars.
It is De Felicitate; De Felicitate Populi; De Hac Felicitate Populi: of happiness;
of the people's happiness; of the people's happiness
as in
such a case.
Happiness is the
general
and the first: a noble argument
and worthy of an inspired pen
especially the Psalmist's. Of all other there can be none better to speak of popular
happiness than such a king; nor of celestial
than such a prophet.
Yet I mean not to discourse of it in the full latitude
but only as it hath a
peculiar posture in this psalm
very various and different from the order of
other psalms. In this psalm it is reserved to the end
as the close of
the foregoing meditations. In other psalms it is set in the front
or
first place of all; as in Ps 32:1-11
in Ps 112:1-10
in Ps 119:1-176
and in
the Ps 128:1-6. Again
in this the Psalmist ends with our happiness and
begins with God's. "Blessed be the LORD my strength." In Ps 41:1-13
contrary
he makes his exordium from man's; "Blessed is he
that considereth the poor"; his conclusion with God's;
"Blessed be the Lend God of Israel." I therefore observe these
variations
because they are helpful to the understanding both of the essence
and splendour of true happiness. To the knowledge of the essence
they help
because they demonstrate how our own happiness is enfolded in the
glory of God
and subordinate unto it. As we cannot begin with beatus
unless we end with benedictus: so we must begin with benedictus
that we may end with beatus. The reason is this
—because the glory of
God is as well the consummation as the introduction to a
Christian's happiness. Therefore as in the other psalm he begins below and ends
upwards; so in this
having begun from above with that which is principal
"Blessed be the LORD"; he fixes his second thoughts upon the
subordinate
"Blessed
or happy
are the people." He could not
proceed in a better order: he first looks up to God's kingdom
then
reflects upon his own
as not meaning to take blessedness before he had given
it.—Richard Holdsworth.
Verse
15. Happy is that people
that is in such a case
etc. The first part
of this text hath relation to temporal blessings
"Blessed is the
people that be so": the second to spiritual
"Yea
blessed is
the people while God is the LORD." "His left hand is under my
head"
saith the spouse (So 2:6); that sustains me from falling into
murmuring
or diffidence of his providence
because out of his left hand he
hath given me a competency of his temporal blessings; "But his right hand
doth embrace me"
saith the spouse there; his spiritual blessings fill me
possess me so that no rebellious fire breaks out within me
no outward
temptation breaks in upon me. So also Solomon says again
"In her left
hand is riches and glory" (temporal blessings) "and in her right hand
length of days" (Pr 3:16)
all that accomplishes and fulfils the eternal
joys of the saints of heaven. The person to whom Solomon attributes this right
and left hand is Wisdom; and a wise man may reach out his right and left hand
to receive the blessings of both sorts. And the person whom Solomon represents
by Wisdom there
is Christ himself. So that not only a worldly wise man
but a
Christian wise man may reach out both hands
to both kinds of blessings
right
and left
spiritual and temporal.
Now
for this first blessedness
as no philosophers could ever tell us amongst the
Gentiles what true blessedness was
so no grammarian amongst the Jews
amongst
the Hebrews
could ever tell us what the right signification of this word is
in which David expresses blessedness here; whether asherei
which is the
word
be a plural noun
and signify beatitudines
blessednesses in the
plural
and intimate thus much
that blessedness consists not in any one thing
but in a harmony and consent of many; or whether this asherei be an
adverb
and signify beate
and so be an acclamation
O how happily
how
blessedly are such men provided for that are so; they cannot tell. Whatsoever
it be
it is the very first word with which David begins his Book of Psalms; beatus
vir; as the last word of that book is
laudate Dominum; to show that
all that passes between God and man
from first to last
is blessings from God
to man
and praises from man to God; and that the first degree of blessedness is
to find the print of the hand of God even in his temporal blessednesses
and to
praise and glorify him for them in the right use of them. A man that hath no
land to hold by it
nor title to recover by it
is never the better for
finding
or buying
or having a fair piece of evidence
a fair instrument
fairly written
duly sealed
authentically testified; a man that hath not the
grace of God
and spiritual blessings too
is never the nearer happiness
for
all his abundances of temporal blessedness. Evidences are evidences to them who
have title. Temporal blessings are evidences to them who have a testimony of
God's spiritual blessings in the temporal. Otherwise
as in his hands who hath
no title
it is a suspicious thing to find evidences
and he will be thought to
have embezzled and purloined them
he will be thought to have forged and
counterfeited them
and he will be called to an account for them
how he came
by them
and what he meant to do with them: so to them who have temporal
blessings without spiritual
they are but useless blessings
they are but
counterfeit blessings
they shall not purchase a minute's peace here
nor a
minute's refreshing to the soul hereafter; and there must be a heavy account
made for them
both how they were got
and how they were employed.—John
Donne.
Verse
15. Happy is that people
etc. It is only a narrow and one
sided religion that can see anything out of place in this beatitude of plenty
and peace. If we could rejoice with the psalms fully and without misgiving
in
the temporal blessings bestowed by heaven
we should the more readily and
sincerely enter into the depths of their spiritual experience. And the secret
of this lies in the full comprehension and contemplation of the beautiful and
pleasant as the gift of God.—A.S. Aglen.
Verse
15. Yea
happy is that people
whose God is the LORD. "Yea
happy." This is the best wine
kept to the last
though all men be not
of this opinion. You shall hardly bring a worldly man to think so. The world is
willing enough to misconstrue the order of the words
and to give the priority
to civil happiness
as if it were first in dignity
because 'tis first named:
they like better to hear of the cui sic than the cui Dominus. To
prevent this folly
the Psalmist interposes a caution in this corrective
particle
"yea
happy." It hath the force of a revocation
whereby he seems to retract what went before
not simply and absolutely
but in
a certain degree
lest worldly men should wrest it to a misinterpretation. It
is not an absolute revocation
but a comparative; it doth not
simply deny that there is some part of popular happiness in these outward
things
but it prefers the spirituals before them: "Yea"
that
is
Yea more
or
Yea rather; like that of Christ in the Gospel
when one in the company blessed the womb that bare him
he presently replies
"Yea
rather blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it":
Lu 11:28. In like manner
the prophet David
having first premised the inferior
part and outside of a happy condition; fearing lest any should of purpose
mistake his meaning
and
hearing the first proposition
should either there
set up their rest
and not at all take up the second; or if they take it in
do
it preposterously
and give it the precedence before the second
according to
the world's order
Virtus post nummos. In this respect he puts in the
clause of revocation
whereby he shows that these outward things
though named
first
yet they are not to be reputed first. The particle "Yea"
removes them to the second place; it tacitly transposes the order; and the path
of piety
which was locally after
it places virtually before.
'Tis as if he had said
Did I call them happy who are in such a case?
Nay
miserable are they if they be only in such a case: the temporal part
cannot make them so without the spiritual. Admit the windows of the visible
heaven were opened
and all outward blessings poured down upon us; admit we did
perfectly enjoy whatsoever the vastness of the earth contains in it; tell me
What will it profit to gain all and lose God? If the earth be bestowed upon us
and not heaven; or the material heaven be opened
and not the beatifical; or
the whole world made ours
and God not ours; we do not arrive at happiness. All
that is in the first proposition is nothing unless this be added
"Yea
happy are the people which have the Lord for their God."—Richard
Holdsworth.
Verse
15.
Thrice
happy nations
where with look benign
Thine aspect bends; beneath thy smile divine
The fields are with increasing harvests crown'd
The flocks grow fast
and plenty reigns around
Nor sire
nor infant son
black death shall crave
Till ripe with age they drop into the grave;
Nor fell suspicion
nor relentless care
Nor peace destroying discord enter there
But friends and brothers
wives and sisters
join
The feast in concord and in love divine.—Callimachus.
Verse
15. David having prayed for many temporal blessings in the behalf of
the people from Ps 144:12-15
at last concludes
Blessed are the people that
are in such a case; but presently he checks and corrects himself
and eats
as it were
his own words
but rather
happy is that people whose God is the
Lord. The Syriac rendereth it question wise
"Is not the people
(happy) that is in such a case?" The answer is
"No"
except they have God to boot: Ps 146:5. Nothing can make that man truly
miserable that hath God for his portion
and nothing can make that man truly
happy that wants God for his portion. God is the author of all true happiness;
he is the donor of all true happiness; he is the maintainer of all true
happiness
and he is the centre of all true happiness; and
therefore
he that
hath him for his God
and for his portion
is the only happy man in the world.—Thomas
Brooks.
Verse
15. Whose God is JEHOVAH. A word or name well known to us
English
by our translators now often retaining that name in the mention of God
in our English Bible
and therefore we shall do well to retain it. Lord
was a lower word
in common acceptation
than God. But JEHOVAH is a
higher name than either
and more peculiar
incommunicable
and comprehensive.
Ex 6:3: "I appeared" (saith the Lord) "unto Abraham
unto Isaac
and unto Jacob
by the name God Almighty
but by my name JEHOVAH was I
not known to them."
To
have God to be our Jehovah is the insurance of happiness to us. For of
many
observe but these two things in the name Jehovah: First
God's
absolute independency—that he is of himself omnipotent
Ex 3:14:
"And God said
I AM THAT I AM." Secondly
God's faithfulness
that he cannot but be as good as his word
Ex 6:2-4
6: "And I have also
established my covenant with them; wherefore say unto the children of Israel
I
am JEHOVAH (so in the Hebrew)
and I will bring you out from under the burdens
of the Egyptians." So that this name is our security of God's
performance. Examine we therefore our bonds
and bills
that is
his promises
to us; behold
they are all the promises of Jehovah; they must stand good
for
they bear his name; they must reflect his name
and promote both our good and
God's grand design.—Nathanael Homes
1678.
With
this prayer of Jehovah's anointed One end the prayers of the Book of Psalms.
The remaining six psalms consist exclusively of praise and high Hallelujahs.—Lord
Congleton
in "The Psalms: a new Version
with Notes"
1875.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1.
1.
Two things needful in our holy war—strength and skill; for the hands and the
fingers
for the difficult and the delicate.
2.
In what way God supplies us with both. He is the one
and teaches the other.
Impartation and Instruction. The teaching comes by illumination
experience
distinct guidance.
Verse
1. Things not to be forgotten by the Christian Soldier.
1.
The true source of his strength: "The Lord my strength." If
remembered
a)
He will not be found trusting in self.
b) He will never be wanting in courage.
c) He will always anticipate victory.
d) He will never be worsted in the conflict.
2.
His constant need of instruction
and the Teacher who never forgets him:
"Which teacheth my hands"
etc. If remembered
a)
He will gird on the armour provided and commended by God.
b)
He will select for his weapon the sword of the Spirit.
c)
He will study the divinely given text book of military tactics and discipline
that he may learn (1) the devices of the enemy; (2) methods of attack and
defence; (3) how to bear himself in the thick of the fight.
d)
He will wait upon God for understanding.
3.
The praise due to God
both for victories won and skill displayed:
"Blessed be"
etc. If remembered
a)
He will wear his honours humbly.
b) Glorify the honour of his King.
c) Twice taste the sweets of victory in the happiness of gratitude.—J.F.
Verse
2. Double flowers.
1.
Good preserved from evil: "goodness" and "fortress."
2.
Safety enlarged into liberty: "tower"
"deliverer."
3.
Security attended with rest: "shield
in whom I trust."
4.
Sufficiency to maintain superiority: "subdueth my people under me."
View God as working all.
Verse
2. A Group of Titles. Notice
1.
Which comes first. "Goodness." Heb. "Mercy."
a)
It is right and natural that a saved sinner should make the most of
"mercy"
and place it in the foreground.
b)
Mercy is the ground and reason of the other titles named. For whatever God is
to us
it is a special manifestation of his mercy.
c)
It is a good thing to see a believer ripe in experience making mercy the
leading note in his song of praise.
2.
Which comes last: "He in whom I trust." It suggests
a)
That what God is makes him worthy of trust.
b)
That meditation upon what he is strengthens our trust.
3.
What peculiar force the word "my" gives to each. It makes it
a)
A record of experience.
b)
An ascription of praise.
c)
A blessed boasting.
d)
An incentive
enough to set others longing.—J.F.
Verse
3. A note of interrogation
exclamation
and admiration.
Verse
3. The question
1.
Denies any right in man to claim the regard of God.
2.
Asserts the great honour God has nevertheless put upon him.
3.
Suggests that the true reason of God's generous dealings is the graciousness of
his own heart.
4.
Implies the becomingness of gratitude and humility.
5.
Encourages the most unworthy to put their confidence in God.—J.F.
Verse
3.
1.
What was man as he came from the hands of his Creator?
a)
Rational.
b) Responsible.
c) Immortal.
d) Holy and happy.
2.
What is man in his present condition?
a)
Fallen.
b) Guilty.
c) Sinful.
d) Miserable
and helpless in his misery.
3.
What is man when he has believed in Christ?
a)
Restored to a right relation to God.
b) Restored to a right disposition toward God.
c) He enjoys the influences of the Holy Spirit.
d) He is in process of preparation for the heavenly world.
4.
What shall man be when he is admitted into heaven?
a)
Free from sin and sorrow.
b) Advanced to the perfection of his nature.
c) Associated with angels.
d) Near to his Saviour and his God.
—George
Brooks
in "The Homiletic Commentary
" 1879.
Verse
3. Worthless man much regarded by the mighty God. Sermon by Ebenezer
Erskine. Works 3
pp. 141-162.
Verse
3. It is a wonder above all wonders
that ever the great God should
make such account of such a thing as man.
1.
It will appear if you consider what a great God the Lord is.
2. What a poor thing man is.
3. What a great account the great God hath of this poor thing
man.
—Joseph Alleine.
Verse
4. He is nothing
he pretends to be something
he is soon gone
he
ends in nothing as to this life; yet there is a light somewhere.
Verse
4. The Shadow World.
1.
Our lives are like shadows.
2.
But God's light casts these shadows. Our being is of God. The brevity and
mystery of life are a part of providence.
3.
The destiny of the shadows; eternal night; or eternal light.—W.B.H.
Verse
4. The brevity of our earthly life.
1.
A profitable subject for meditation.
2.
A rebuke to those who provide for this life alone.
3.
A trumpet call to prepare for eternity.
4.
An incentive to the Christian to make the best of this life for the glory of
God.—J.F.
Verse
5. Condescension
visitation
contact
and conflagration.
Verses
7-8
11. Repetitions
not vain. Repetitions in prayer are vain when they
result from form
thoughtlessness
or superstition; but not
e.g.
1.
When they are the utterance of genuine fervour.
2.
When the danger prayed against is imminent.
3.
When the fear which prompts the prayer is urgent.
4. When
the repetition is prompted by a new motive
Ps 144:7-8; by God's condescension
Ps 144:3
11; by God's former deliverance
Ps 144:10; and by the results which
will flow from the answer
Ps 144:12-14.—C.A.D.
Verse
8. What is "a right hand of falsehood"? Ask the hypocrite
the schemer
the man of false doctrine
the boaster
the slanderer
the man who
forgets his promise
the apostate.
Verse
9. For God's Ear.
1.
The Singer. A grateful heart.
2.
The Song. Full of Praise. New.
3.
The Accompaniment: "Psaltery." Helps to devotion. Give God the best.
4.
The Auditor and Object of the eulogium: "Thee
O God."—W.B.H.
Verse
11. Persons from whom it is a mercy to escape: those alien to God
vain in conversation
false in deed.
Verses
11-12. The Nature and Necessity of early Piety. A Sermon preached to a
Society of Young People
at Willingham
Cambridgeshire
on the First Day of the
Year 1772.—Robert Robinson.
Verse
12. Youth attended with development
stability
usefulness
and
spiritual health.
Verse
12. (first clause). To Young Men. Consider
1.
What is desired on your behalf: "Sons may be as plants"
etc.
(a)
That you may be respected and valued.
(b)
That you may have settled principles and virtues. Plants are not blown hither
and thither.
(c)
That you may be vigorous and strong in moral power.
2.
What is requisite on your part to the accomplishment of this desire.
(a)
A good rooting in Christ.
(b)
Constant nourishment from the word of God.
(c)
The dews of divine grace obtained by prayer.
(d)
A resolute tendency within to answer the God appointed purpose of your
existence.—J.F.
Verse
12. (second clause). To Young Women. Consider
1.
The important position you may occupy in the social fabric: "As
cornerstones."
(a)
The moral and religious tone of society is determined more by your character
and influence than by those of men.
(b)
The complexion of home life will be a reflex of your conduct and character
either as daughters
sisters
or wives.
(c)
The moulding of the character of the next generation
remember
begins with the
mother's influence.
(d)
Let these facts weigh with you as a motive in seeking the grace of God
without
which you can never fulfil your mission worthily.
2.
The beauty which ought to belong to you in your position. "Polished
after"
etc. The beauty of
(a)
Heart purity: "The King's daughter is all glorious within."
(b)
A noble and modest conduct: "wrought gold"
no imitation; real gold.
(c)
Gracious and gentle demeanour.
3.
How both the right position and right beauty are obtained.
(a)
By yielding yourselves to God.
(b)
By Christ dwelling in your heart.
(c)
By becoming living stones and polished stones under the workmanship of the Holy
Spirit.—J.F.
Verse
14. A prayer for our ministers
and for the security
unity
and
happiness of the church.
Verse
14. The prosperous Church. There—
1.
Labour is cheerfully performed.
2. The enemy is kept without the gate.
3. There are few or no departures.
4. Faith and content silence complaint.
5. Pray that such may be our case as a church.—W.B.H.
Verse
15. The peculiar happiness of those whose God is the Lord.
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》