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Psalm One
Hundred Forty-six
Psalm 146
Chapter Contents
Why we should not trust in men. (1-4) Why we should trust
in God. (5-10)
Commentary on Psalm 146:1-4
(Read Psalm 146:1-4)
If it is our delight to praise the Lord while we live
we
shall certainly praise him to all eternity. With this glorious prospect before
us
how low do worldly pursuits seem! There is a Son of man in whom there is
help
even him who is also the Son of God
who will not fail those that trust
in him. But all other sons of men are like the man from whom they sprung
who
being in honour
did not abide. God has given the earth to the children of men
but there is great striving about it. Yet
after a while
no part of the earth
will be their own
except that in which their dead bodies are laid. And when
man returns to his earth
in that very day all his plans and designs vanish and
are gone: what then comes of expectations from him?
Commentary on Psalm 146:5-10
(Read Psalm 146:5-10)
The psalmist encourages us to put confidence in God. We
must hope in the providence of God for all we need as to this life
and in the
grace of God for that which is to come. The God of heaven became a man that he
might become our salvation. Though he died on the cross for our sins
and was
laid in the grave
yet his thoughts of love to us did not perish; he rose again
to fulfil them. When on earth
his miracles were examples of what he is still
doing every day. He grants deliverance to captives bound in the chains of sin
and Satan. He opens the eyes of the understanding. He feeds with the bread of
life those who hunger for salvation; and he is the constant Friend of the poor
in spirit
the helpless: with him poor sinners
that are as fatherless
find
mercy; and his kingdom shall continue for ever. Then let sinners flee to him
and believers rejoice in him. And as the Lord shall reign for ever
let us stir
up each other to praise his holy name.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Psalms》
Psalm 146
Verse 4
[4] His breath goeth forth
he returneth to his earth; in
that very day his thoughts perish.
That day — As soon as ever he is dead.
Thoughts — All his designs and endeavours either for himself or
for others.
Verse 6
[6] Which made heaven
and earth
the sea
and all that
therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
For ever — Both because he liveth for ever to fulfil his
promises
and because he is eternally faithful.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Psalms》
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and
Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village
Preacher
DIVISION. We are now
among the Hallelujahs. The rest of our journey lies through the Delectable
Mountains. All is praise to the close of the book. The key is high pitched: the
music is upon the high sounding cymbals. O for a heart full of joyful
gratitude
that we may run
and leap
and glorify God
even as these Psalms do.
Alexander
thinks that this song may be regarded as composed of two equal parts; in the
first we see the happiness of those who trust in God
and not in man (Ps
146:1-5)
while the second gives the reason drawn from the Divine perfections
(Ps 146:5-10). This might suffice for our purpose; but as there is really no
break at all
we will keep it entire. It is "one pearl"
a sacred
censer of holy incense
pouring forth one sweet perfume.
EXPOSITION
Verse
1. Praise ye the LORD
or
Hallelujah. It is saddening to
remember how this majestic word has been trailed in the mire of late. Its
irreverent use is an aggravated instance of taking the name of Jehovah our God
in vain. Let us hope that it has been done in ignorance by the ruder sort; but
great responsibility lies with leaders who countenance and even copy this
blasphemy. With holy awe let us pronounce the word HALLELUJAH
and by it summon
ourselves and all others to adore the God of the whole earth. Men need to be
called to praise; it is important that they should praise; and there are many
reasons why they should do it at once. Let all who hear the word Hallelujah
unite immediately in holy praise. Praise the LORD
O my soul. He would practise
what he had preached. He would be the leader of the choir which he had
summoned. It is a poor business if we solely exhort others
and do not stir up
our own soul. It is an evil thing to say
"Praise ye"
and never to
add
"Praise
O my soul." When we praise God let us arouse our
innermost self
our central life: we have but one soul
and if it be saved from
eternal wrath
it is bound to praise its Saviour. Come heart
mind
thought!
Come my whole being
my soul
my all
be all on flame with joyful adoration!
Up
my brethren! Lift up the song! "Praise ye the Lord." But what am
I at? How dare I call upon others
and be negligent myself? If ever man was
under bonds to bless the Lord I am that man
wherefore let me put my soul into
the centre of the choir
and then let my better nature excite my whole manhood
to the utmost height of loving praise. "O for a well tuned harp!"
Nay
rather
O for a sanctified heart. Then if my voice should be of the poorer
sort
and somewhat lacking in melody
yet my soul without my voice shall
accomplish my resolve to magnify the Lord.
Verse
2. While I live will I praise the LORD. I shall not live here
for ever. This mortal life will find a finis in death; but while it lasts I
will laud the Lord my God. I cannot tell how long or short my life may be; but
every hour of it shall be given to the praises of my God. While I live I'll
love; and while I breathe I'll bless. It is but for a while
and I will not
while that time away in idleness
but consecrate it to that same service which
shall occupy eternity. As our life is the gift of God's mercy
it should be
used for his glory. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
When I am no longer in being on earth
I hope to have a higher being in heaven
and there I will not only praise
but sing praises. Here I have to sigh
and praise
but there I shall only sing and praise. This "while I have any
being" will be a great while
but the whole of it shall be filled up with
adoration; for the glorious Jehovah is my God
my own God by covenant
and by
blood relationship in Christ Jesus. I have no being apart from my God
therefore
I will not attempt to enjoy my being otherwise than by singing to
his honour. Twice the Psalmist says "I will"; here first thoughts and
second thoughts are alike good. We cannot be too firm in the holy resolve to
praise God
for it is the chief end of our living and being that we should
glorify God and enjoy him for ever.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes. If David be the author this
warning comes from a prince. In any case it comes from the Spirit of the living
God. Men are always far too apt to depend upon the great ones of earth
and
forget the Great One above; and this habit is the fruitful source of
disappointment. Princes are only men
and men with greater needs than others;
why
then
should we look to them for aid? They are in greater danger
are
burdened with greater cares
and are more likely to be misled than other men;
therefore
it is folly to select them for our confidence. Probably no order of
men have been so false to their promises and treaties as men of royal blood. So
live as to deserve their trust
but do not burden them with your trust.
Nor in the son of man
in whom there is no help. Though you should select one
son of man out of the many
and should imagine that he differs from the rest
and may be safely depended on
you will be mistaken. There is none to be
trusted
no
not one. Adam fell; therefore lean not on his sons. Man is a
helpless creature without God; therefore
look not for help in that direction.
All men are like the few men who are made into princes
they are more in
appearance than in reality
more in promising than in performing
more apt to
help themselves than to help others. How many have turned away heartsick from
men on whom they once relied! Never was this the case with a believer in the
Lord. He is a very present help in time of trouble. In man there is no help in
times of mental depression
in the day of sore bereavement
in the night of
conviction of sin
or in the hour of death. What a horror when most in need of
help to read those black words
NO HELP!
Verse
4. His breath goeth forth
he returneth to his earth. His
breath goes from his body
and his body goes to the grave. His spirit goes one
way
and his body another. High as he stood
the want of a little air brings
him down to the ground
and lays him under it. Man who comes from the earth
returns to the earth: it is the mother and sister of his body
and he must
needs lie among Ins kindred as soon as the spirit which was his life has made
its exit. There is a spirit in man
and when that goes the man goes. The spirit
returns to God who gave it
and the flesh to the dust out of which it was
fashioned. This is a poor creature to trust in: a dying creature
a corrupting
creature. Those hopes will surely fall to the ground which are built upon men
who so soon lie under ground. In that very day his thoughts perish. Whatever he
may have proposed to do
the proposal ends in smoke. He cannot think
and what
he had thought of cannot effect itself
and therefore it dies. Now that he is
gone
men are ready enough to let his thoughts go with him into oblivion;
another thinker comes
and turns the thoughts of his predecessor to ridicule.
It is a pitiful thing to be waiting upon princes or upon any other men
in the
hope that they will think of us. In an hour they are gone
and where are their
schemes for our promotion? A day has ended their thoughts by ending them;
and our trusts have perished
for their thoughts have perished. Men's
ambitions
expectations
declarations
and boastings all vanish into thin air
when the breath of life vanishes from their bodies. This is the narrow estate
of man: his breath
his earth
and his thoughts; and this is his threefold
climax therein
—his breath goeth forth
to his earth he returns
and his
thoughts perish. Is this a being to be relied upon? Vanity of vanities
all is
vanity. To trust it would be a still greater vanity.
Verse
5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help.
Heaped up is his happiness. He has happiness indeed: the true and the real
delight is with him. The God of Jacob is the God of the covenant
the God of
wrestling prayer
the God of the tried believer; he is the only living and true
God. The God of Jacob is Jehovah
who appeared unto Moses
and led the tribes
of Jacob out of Egypt
and through the wilderness. Those are happy who trust
him
for they shall never be ashamed or confounded. The Lord never dies
neither do his thoughts perish: his purpose of mercy
like himself
endures
throughout all generations. Hallelujah! Whose hope is in the LORD his God. He
is happy in help for the present and in hope for the future
who has placed all
his confidence in Jehovah
who is his God by a covenant of salt. Happy is he
when others are despairing! Happiest shall he be in that very hour when others
are discovering the depths of agony. We have here a statement which we have
personally tried and proved: resting in the Lord
we know a happiness which is
beyond description
beyond comparison
beyond conception. O how blessed a thing
it is to know that God is our present help
and our eternal hope. Full
assurance is more than heaven in the bud
the flower has begun to open. We
would not exchange with Caesar; his sceptre is a bauble
but our bliss is true
treasure. In each of the two titles here given
namely
"the God of
Jacob"
and "Jehovah his God"
there is a peculiar sweetness.
Either one of them has a fountain of joy in it; but the first will not cheer us
without the second. Unless Jehovah be his God no man can find confidence in the
fact that he was Jacob's God. But when by faith we know the Lord to be ours
then we are "rich to all the intents of bliss."
Verse
6. Which made heaven
and earth
the sea
and all that therein
is. Wisely may we trust our Creator: justly may we expect to be happy in so
doing. He who made heaven can make a heaven for us
and make us fit for heaven.
He who made the earth can preserve us while we are on earth
and help us to
make good use of it while we sojourn upon it. He who made the sea and all its
mysteries can steer us across the pathless deeps of a troubled life
and make
it a way for his redeemed to pass over. This God who still makes the world by
keeping it in existence is assuredly able to keep us to his eternal kingdom and
glory. The making of the worlds is the standing proof of the power and wisdom
of that great God in whom we trust. It is our joy that he not only made heaven
but the sea; not only things which are bright and blessed
but things which are
deep and dark. Concerning all our circumstances
we may say the Lord is there.
In storms and hurricanes the Lord reigneth as truly as in that great calm which
rules the firmament above. Which keepeth truth for ever. This is a second and
most forcible justification of our trust: the Lord will never permit his
promise to fail. He is true to his own nature
true to the relationships which
he has assumed
true to his covenant
true to his Word
true to his Son. He
keeps true
and is the keeper of all that is true. Immutable fidelity is the
character of Jehovah's procedure. None can charge him with falsehood or
vacillation.
Verse
7. Which executeth judgment for the oppressed. He is a swift
and impartial administrator of justice. Our King surpasses all earthly princes
because he pays no deference to rank or wealth
and is never the respecter of
persons. He is the friend of the down trodden
the avenger of the persecuted
the champion of the helpless. Safely may we trust our cause with such a Judge
if it be a just one: happy are we to be under such a Ruler. Are we "evil
entreated"? Are our rights denied us? Are we slandered? Let this console
us
that he who occupies the throne will not only think upon our case
but
bestir himself to execute judgment on our behalf. Which giveth food to the
hungry. Glorious King art thou; O Jehovah! Thou dost not only mete out justice
but thou dost dispense bounty! All food comes from God; but when we are reduced
to hunger
and providence supplies our necessity
we are peculiarly struck with
the fact. Let every hungry man lay hold on this statement
and plead it before
the mercy seat
whether he suffer bodily hunger
or heart hunger. See how our
God finds his special clients among the lowest of mankind: the oppressed and
the starving find help in the God of Jacob. The LORD looseth the prisoners.
Thus he completes the triple blessing: justice
bread
and liberty. Jehovah
loves not to see men pining in dungeons
or fretting in fetters: he brought up
Joseph from the round house
and Israel from the house of bondage. Jesus is the
Emancipator
spiritually
providentially
and nationally. Thy chains
O Africa!
were broken by his hand. As faith in Jehovah shall become common among men
freedom will advance in every form
especially will mental
moral
and
spiritual bonds be loosed
and the slaves of error
sin
and death shall be set
free. Well might the Psalmist praise Jehovah
who is so kind to men in bonds!
Well may the loosened ones be loudest in the song!
Verse
8. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind. Jesus did this
very frequently
and hereby proved himself to be Jehovah. He who made the eye
can open it
and when he does so it is to his glory. How often is the mental
eye closed in moral night! And who can remove this dreary effect of the fall
but the Almighty God This miracle of grace he has performed in myriads of
cases
and it is in each case a theme for loftiest praise. The Lord raiseth
them that are bowed down. This also Jesus did literally
thus doing the work
peculiar to God. Jehovah consoles the bereaved
cheers the defeated
solaces
the despondent
comforts the despairing. Let those who are bowed to the ground
appeal to him
and he will speedily upraise them. The LORD loveth the
righteous. He gives to them the love of complacency
communion
and reward. Bad
kings affect the licentious
but Jehovah makes the upright to be his favoured
ones. This is greatly to his glory. Let those who enjoy the inestimable
privilege of his love magnify his name with enthusiastic delight. Loved ones
you must never be absent from the choir! You must never pause from his praise
whose infinite love has made you what you are.
Verse
9. The Lord preserveth the strangers. Many monarchs hunted
aliens down
or transported them from place to place
or left them as outlaws
unworthy of the rights of man; but Jehovah made special laws for their shelter
within his domain. In this country the stranger was
a little while ago
looked
upon as a vagabond
—a kind of wild beast to be avoided if not to be assaulted;
and even to this day there are prejudices against foreigners which are contrary
to our holy religion. Our God and King is never strange to any of his creatures
and if any are left in a solitary and forlorn condition he has a special eye to
their preservation. He relieveth the fatherless and widow. These excite his
compassion
and he shows it in a practical way by upraising them from their
forlorn condition. The Mosaic law made provision for these destitute persons.
When the secondary fatherhood is gone the child falls back upon the primary
fatherhood of the Creator; when the husband of earth is removed the godly widow
casts herself upon the care of her Maker. But the way of the wicked he turneth
upside down. He fills it with crooked places; he reverses it
sets it down
or
upsets it. That which the man aimed at he misses
and he secures that for
himself which he would gladly have avoided. The wicked man's way is in itself a
turning of things upside down morally
and the Lord makes it so to him
providentially: everything goes wrong with him who goes wrong.
Verse
10. The LORD shall reign for ever. Jehovah is King
and his
kingdom can never come to an end. Neither does he die
nor abdicate
nor lose
his crown by force. Glory be to his name
his throne is never in jeopardy. As
the Lord ever liveth
so he ever reigneth. Even thy God
O Zion
unto all
generations. Zion's God
the God of his worshipping people
is he who in every
age shall reign. There will always be a Zion; Zion will always have Jehovah for
her King; for her he will always prove himself to be reigning in great power.
What should we do in the presence of so great a King
but enter into his courts
with praise
and pay to him our joyful homage? Praise ye the LORD. Again they
said Hallelujah. Again the sweet perfume arose from the golden vials full of
sweet odours. Are we not prepared for an outburst of holy song? Do not we also
say—Hallelujah? Here endeth this happy Psalm. Here endeth not the praise
of the Lord
which shall ascend for ever and ever. Amen.
EXPLANATORY
NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS
Psalms
146:1 to 148:14. At the dedication of the second Temple
in the beginning of the
seventh year of Darius
Ps 146:1-10 Ps 147:1-20 and Ps 148:1-14
seem to have
been sung; for in the Septuagint Version they are styled the Psalms of Haggai
and Zechariah
as if they had been composed by them for this occasion. This
no
doubt
was from some ancient tradition; but in the original Hebrew these Psalms
have no such title prefixed to them
neither have they any other to contradict
it.—Humphrey Prideaux.
Psalms
146:1 to 150:6. We do not know who put together these different sacred
compositions
or whether they were arranged on any particular principle. This
however
is obvious
—that the last series
those that close the whole
are full
of praise. Though we meet frequently with grief and shame and tears in the
former part
a great deal that presses upon the spirit
and in the centre a
great many references to the various vicissitudes and fortunes through which
the church or the individual has passed
—yet
as we get towards the end
and as
the book closes
it is Hallelujah—praise. As the ancient church ceases
to speak to us
as she lays down her lyre
and ceases to touch it
the last
tones are tones of heaven; as if the warfare were done
the conflict
accomplished
and she were anticipating either the revelations which are to
make her glorious here
the "new thing" which God is about to
"create" when he places her under another dispensation
or as you and
I (I trust) shall do when we come to die
anticipating the praise and
occupation of that eternity and rest for which we hope in the bosom of God.—Thomas
Binney
1798-1874.
Whole
Psalm. This Psalm gives in brief the Gospel of Confidence. It inculcates
the elements of Faith
Hope
and Thanksgiving.—Martin Geier.
Verse
1. Praise ye the LORD. The word here used is Alleluia
and this is very proper to be constantly used by us who are dependent
creatures
and under such great obligations to the Father of mercies. We have
often heard of prayer doing great wonders; but instances also are not wanting
of praise being accompanied with signal events. The ancient Britons
in the
year 420
obtained a victory over the army of the Picts and Saxons
near Mold
in Flintshire. The Britons
unarmed
having Germanicus and Lupus at their head
when the Picts and Saxons came to the attack
the two commanders
Gideon like
ordered their little army to shout Alleluia three times over
at the
sound of which the enemy
being suddenly struck with terror
ran away in the
greatest confusion
and left the Britons masters of the field. A stone monument
to perpetuate the remembrance of this Alleluia victory
I believe
remains to
this day
in a field near Mold.—Charles Buck
1771-1815.
Verse
1. Praise the LORD
O My soul. The Psalmist calls upon the
noblest element of his being to exercise its noblest function.—Hermann
Venema.
Verse
2. While I live will I praise the LORD. Mr. John Janeway on
his deathbed cried out thus
—"Come
help me with praises
yet all is too
little. Come
help me
all ye mighty and glorious angels
who are so well
skilled in the heavenly work of praise! Praise him
all ye creatures upon earth;
let every thing that hath being help me to praise God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Praise is now my work
and I shall be engaged in this sweet work
now and for ever. Bring the Bible; turn to David's Psalms
and let us sing a
Psalm of praise. Come
let us lift up our voices in the praises of the Most
High. I will sing with you as long as my breath doth last
and when I have
none
I shall do it better."
Verse
2. While live will I praise the LORD. George Carpenter
the
Bavarian martyr
being desired by some godly brethren
that when he was burning
in the fire he would give them same sign of his constancy
answered
"Let
this be a sure sign unto you of my faith and perseverance in the truth
that so
long as I am able to hold open my mouth
or to whisper
I will never cease to
praise God
and to profess his truth"; the which also he did
saith mine
author; and so did many other martyrs besides.—John Trapp.
Verse
2. I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. He
had consecrated his entire earthly existence to the exercise of praise. And not
only so
but he adds
I will sing praises unto my God while I have any
being. In which expression we may fairly conclude that the Psalmist
stretches his thoughts beyond the limits of time
and contemplates that scene
of eternal praise which shall succeed the less perfect songs of the church
below.—John Morison.
Verse
2. Unto my God. Then praise is most pleasant
when in
praising God we have an eye to him as ours
whom we have an interest in
and
stand in relation to.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
2. While I have any being. Praise God for deliverances
constantly. Some will be thankful while the memory of a deliverance is fresh
and then leave off. The Carthaginians used
at first
to send the tenth of
their yearly revenue to Hercules; and then by degrees they grew weary
and left
off sending; but we must be constant in our eucharistic sacrifice
or thank
offering. The motion of our praise must be like the motion of our pulse
which
beats as long as life lasts.—Thomas Watson.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes
etc. Through some kind of
weakness
the soul of man
whensoever it is in tribulation here
despairs of
God
and chooseth to rely on man. Let it be said to one when set in some
affliction
"There is a great man by whom thou mayest be set free";
he smiles
he rejoiceth
he is lifted up. But if it is said to him
"God
frees you"
he is chilled
so to speak
by despair. The aid of a mortal is
promised
and thou rejoicest; the aid of the Immortal is promised
and art thou
sad? It is promised thee that thou shalt be freed by one who needeth to be
freed with thee
and you exult as at some great aid: thou art promised that
great Liberator
who needeth none to free him
and you despair
as though it
were but a fable. Woe to such thoughts: they wander far; truly there is sad and
great death in them.—Augustine.
Verse
3. Put your trust in princes. The word rendered
"princes" signifieth liberal
bountiful ones
eurgetai
so princes
would be accounted; but there's no trusting to them without God
or against
him.—John Trapp.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes. King Charles had given the
Earl of Strafford a solemn pledge
on the word of a king
that he should not
suffer in "life
honour
or fortune"
yet with singular baseness and
ingratitude
as well as short sighted policy
gave his assent to the bill of
attainder. On learning that this had been done
Strafford
laying his hand on
his heart
and raising his eyes to heaven
uttered the memorable words
"Put not your trust in princes
nor in the sons of men
for in them there
is no salvation."—James Taylor
in the "Imperial Dictionary of
Universal Biography"
1868.
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes. Shakespeare puts this
sentiment into Wolsey's mouth:
"O
how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favour!
There is
betwixt that smile we would aspire to
That sweet aspect of princes
and their ruin
More pangs and fears than wars and women have:
And when he falls
he falls like Lucifer
Never to hope again."
Verse
3. Put not your trust in princes
etc. True
may some say
it
were a folly to trust in weak princes
to trust in them for help who have no
power to help; but we will apply to mighty princes; we hope there is help in
them. No; those words
"in whom there is no help"
are not a
distinction of weak princes
from strong
but a conclusion that there is no
help in the strongest. That's strange. What? No help in strong princes! If he
had said
no help in mean men
carnal reason would have consented; but when he
saith
"Trust not in princes
nor in any son of man"
one or
other
who can believe this? Yet this is divine truth; we may write insufficiency
insufficiency
and a third time
insufficiency
upon them all; the
close of this verse may be their motto
There is no help
in them.—Joseph
Caryl.
Verse
3. Princes. Earthly princes offer baubles to allure the soul
from the pursuit of an eternal prize. Princes themselves have pronounced their
principality to be their own greatest peril. Pope Pius the Fifth said
"When I was a monk I had hope of my salvation; when I became Cardinal I
began to fear; when I was made Pope I all but despaired of eternity."—Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
3. Nor in the son of man. All sons of man are like the man
they are sprung of
who
being in honour
did not abide.—Matthew Henry.
Verse
3. For one man to put confidence in another
is as if one beggar
should ask an alms of another
or one cripple should carry another
or the
blind lead the blind.—Anthony Farindon.
Verses
3-4. You see the first and the last
highest and lowest
of all the
sons of Adam
they may be made honourable princes
but they are born
sinful
the sons of men; born weak
there is no help in them;
born mortal
their breath departeth; born corruptible
they return to
their earth; and lastly
the mortality and corruption is not only in their
flesh
but in some part or remnant of their spirits
for their thoughts
perish. The prophet (if you mark it) climbeth up by degrees to the
disabling of the best men amongst us
and in them of all the rest. For if
princes deserve not confidence
the argument must needs hold by comparison
much less do meaner men deserve it. The order of the words is so set that the
members following are evermore either the reason or some confirmation to that
which went before. "Trust not in princes." Why? Because they
are "the sons of men." Why not in "the sons of
men"? Because there is no help in them. Why is there no help in
them? Because when "their breath goeth forth
they turn again to their
earth." What if their flesh be corrupted? Nay
"their
thoughts" also "come to nothing."
For
first
this first order and rank which the prophet hath here placed
the
princes and gods of the earth
are by birth men;
secondly
weak men
and such in whom no help is;
thirdly
not only weak
but dying
their breath goeth out;
fourthly
not only dying
but subject to dissolution
they turn to the earth;
fifthly
if their bodies only were dissolved
and their intentions and actions might
stand
there were less cause to distrust them; but their thoughts are as
transitory as their bodies.—John King (1559?-1621)
in a Funeral
Sermon.
Verses
3-4. The Psalmist inscribes an antithesis. Princes
though masters of
armies
possessors of riches
loaded with honours
revelling in pleasures
are
at the mercy of a ruthless Black Prince. Death is tyrant over prince and
peasant alike. The very pleasures which are envied are often ministers of death
to voluptuous princes.—Thomas Le Blanc.
Verse
4. He returneth to his earth. The earth—the dust—is "his."
1.
It is "his" as that from which he was made: he turns back to
what he was
Ge 3:19. "Dust thou art
and unto dust shalt thou
return."
2.
The earth—the dust—the grave is "his"
and it is his home—the
place where he will abide.
3.
It is "his" as it is the only property which he has in
reversion. All that a man—a prince
a nobleman
a monarch
a millionaire—will
soon have will be his grave
his few feet of earth. That will be his by
light of possession
by the fact that for the time being he will occupy it
and
not another man! But that
too
may soon become another man's grave
so that
even there he is a tenant only for a time; he has no permanent possession even
of a grave.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
4. His breath goeth forth. There is the death's head
the
mortality of man indeed
that a breath is as much as his being is worth. Our
soul
that spiraculum vitarum (breath of lives)
the Lord inspired it
not into Adam's eye
or ear
or mouth
but into his nostrils
which may show to
man his imbecility
cujus anima in naribus
whose soul is in his
nostrils
and depends upon a breath
as it were; for the very soul must away if
but breath expires; soul and breath go forth together. Now hear this
all ye
people
ponder it high and low; your castle is built upon the very air
the
subsistence is in your nostrils
in a breath that is gone in the twinkling of
an eye. Wherefore David maketh a question
saying
"Lord
what is
man?" He answereth himself also: "Man is a vanishing shadow" (Ps
144:3-4)
a shadow of smoke
or the dream of a shadow rather
as the poet
speaketh. Blessed therefore are the poor in spirit; this advantage have all
afflicted ones
that they have checks enough to call them home
and make them
see they be but men. The curtain of honour
profit
or pleasure
hard it is and
rare to draw aside when it is spread over us: "man in honour understandeth
not" (Ps 49:20). To great ones therefore be it spoken; the Psalm intends
it of very princes: "His breath goeth forth." See we now the
continuity
exit
"it goeth" as if it were now presently in
its passage: showing this
that Homo vivens continue moritur
that life
is a continued death; our candle lightens
consumes
and dies: as in the
passing of an hourglass
every minute some sand faileth
and the glass once
turned
no creature can intreat the sands to stay
but they continue to fall
till all are gone: so is our life
it shortens and dies every minute
and we
cannot beg a minute of time back
and that which we call death is but the
termination
or consummation of it.—Thomas Williamson; in a Sermon
entitled
"A Comfortable Meditation of Humane Frailtie and Divine
Mercie"
1630.
Verse
4. The primary idea of breath and the secondary one of spirit
run into each other in the usage of the Hebrew word xwr
so that either may be
expressed in the translation without entirely excluding the other.—Joseph
Addison Alexander.
Verse
4. His breath (or spirit) goeth forth. Now I come to
the liberty of the spirit
that it recedes inviolate; 1. In Act; "it goeth":
2. In Essence; "it goeth forth."
1.
Our spirit is free in the act; it is not snatched
as it were; "it
goeth." A soul in life sealed to eternity by the first fruits of the
Spirit hath its good issue
its free passing
its hopes even in death; for let
this breath fade
fidelis Deus
God who cannot lie
will stand nigh us
in that exigency
and begin to help where man leaveth. The Holy Spirit
whose
name is the Comforter
will not omit and leave off his own act or office in the
great needs of death. Hence good Hilarion
having served the Lord Christ
seventy years
checks his soul that it was so loath at the last to go forth
saying
Egredere
O anima mea
egredere
"Go forth
my soul
go
forth." Devout Simeon sues for a manumission: "Lord
now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace
according to thy word." The spirit goeth
forth; it passes freely; because it taketh up or embraces the cross of Christ
as he commandeth us to do. But is the act at our will and liberty? Not simply.
We may not projicere animam
thrust or cast forth our breath or spirit; spiritus
exit
it goeth forth. Strive
we must
to cast the world out of us; we may
not cast ourselves out of the world. Saint Paul dares not dissolve himself
though he could wish to be dissolved: God must part that which he joins; God
giveth
and God taketh away; and if God say
as he doth to Lazarus
Exi
foras
Come forth; with faithful Stephen we must resign our spirit and all
into his hands. When God biddeth us yoke
he is the wisest man that yieldeth
his neck most willingly. When our great Captain recalls us
we must take the
retreat in good part. But it is heathenish to force out the soul; for when the
misdeeming flesh
amidst our disasters
will not listen with patience for God's
call
but rather shake off the thought of divine providence quite
then are we
ready to curse God and die
and that is probably to leap e fumo in flammam
out of the sin of self murder into hell. No
but God will have our spirits to
pass forth upon good terms. Spiritus exit
"the spirit goeth
forth."
2.
Secondly
the spirit goeth free or inviolate in essence; death is not
the end
but the outgoing of the soul
a transmigration or journey from one
place to another. "It goeth forth"; so the character of our
weakness we see in the issue; it is an argument of our eternity; for man indeed
is perishing
but so is not his spirit. The phoenix goes forth or out of his
ashes
"the spirit returneth to God who gave it" (Ec 12:7); that is
it abides still; and as in the body it pleased God to inclose the soul for a
season
so it may as well exist elsewhere without it
if God will; for it hath
no rise at all from the clay
yea
it bears in it immortality
an image of that
breast whence it is breathed. The separate and very abstract acts of the spirit
even while it is in the body
the wondrous visions of the Lord to his prophets
usually when their bodies were bound up in sleep; Saint Paul's rapture when he
knew not whether he was in the body or out of it; the admirable inventions and
arts of men
manifest the soul's self consisting. Not Socrates
and Cato
and
the civilised heathen only
but the very savages believe this
and so entertain
death
ut exitum
non ut exitium
as a dissolution
not as a
destruction: spiritus exit
"his spirit goeth forth."—Thomas
Williamson.
Verse
4. His breath goeth forth
etc. The Hebrew gives the idea not
that the spirit
but the mortal part of man will return to the dust.
"His soul (fem. xwr) goeth forth"
i.e.
returneth to
God; "returneth he (masc. bv) to his earth." As in Ec 12:7: "He"
is the mortal man of clay
but "his breath" (soul) is
the real immortal man.—Simon de Muis.
Verse
4. He returneth to his earth. Returning
in its proper
notion
is a going back to that place from whence we came
so that in this clause
here is a threefold truth
implied
expressed
inferred.
1.
That which is implied in this phrase of returning is
that man in
respect of his body came from the earth; and as it is here implied
so it is
expressed concerning the first man by Moses (Ge 2:7). "The Lord God formed
man" (that is
the body of man) "of the dust"; or
according to the Hebrew "dust of the ground"; and by St. Paul (1Co
15:47)
where he saith
"The first man is of the earth
earthy." True
it is
we are formed in our mother's womb; but yet inasmuch as we all came from
the first man
we are truly said to come from the earth; only with this
difference
that he immediately
we mediately are framed out of the earth. This
truth was engraven in full characters upon the name of the first man
who is
called Adam
from a word that signifieth red earth
and that very
word is here used
perhaps to mind us of that earth whereof man was first made;
yea
according to the usual etymology
the name homo
which in the Latin
is a common name to both sexes
is derived ab humo
from the ground.
For this reason it is that the earth is called by the poet magna parens
the great parent of all mankind
and in the answer of the Oracle
our
mother; and in this respect we are said by Eliphaz "to dwell in houses
of clay
whose foundation is in the dust"
Job 4:19.
2.
That which is expressed is
that man (when he dieth) returneth to the
earth
pantez luomenoi koniz esmen saith the poet
"We are all dust when
dissolved." As the white snow when melted is black water; so flesh and
blood when bereaved of the soul become dust and ashes: in which respect St.
Paul giveth this epithet of "vile" to our bodies. Php 3:21. Indeed
man's original being from the earth
he had a natural propensity to earth;
according to the maxim
Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum
"Everything hath an aptitude of returning to the principle whence it
cometh"; but yet had he not turned away from God he had never
actually returned thither. It is sin which hath brought upon man a necessity
of dying
and that dying brings a necessity of returning to the earth: in which
respect it is observable
that the threat
"thou shalt die the death"
(Ge 2:17)
which was denounced against man before his fall
being afterwards
renewed (Ge 3:19)
is explained (as to temporal death) by these words
"to
dust thou shalt return"; so that now the motion of the little world man is
like that of the great
Circulare ab eodem puncto ad idem
from the same
to the same; and that as in his soul from God to God
so in his body
from the earth to the earth. The rivers come from the sea
and they return
thither. The sun ariseth out of the east
and thither it returneth. Man is
formed of the earth
and into earth he is again transformed: with which agreeth
that of the poet Lucretius: Cedit item retro de terra quod fuit ante.
3.
That which is inferred in the emphatic pronoun "his"
which is annexed to the noun "earth"
is that the earth to
which man returneth is his; this being that which ariseth out of both
the former conclusions; since it is therefore his earth because he
cometh from and returneth to it. Earth is man's Genesis and Analysis
his
composition and resolution
his Alpha and Omega
his first and last; Ortus
pulvis
finis cinis; earth is his both originally and finally. So that our
bodies can challenge no alliance with
or property in anything so much as
earth. For if we call those things ours which had only an external
relation to us
as our friends
our horses
our goods
our lands; much more may
we call that our earth whereof we are made and into which we shall
moulder; no wonder it is here said to be "his"; so elsewhere
he is said to be earth
as being called by that name.—Nathanael
Hardy
in a Funeral Sermon entitled
"Man's Last Journey to his Long
Home
" 1659.
Verse
4. In that very day his thoughts perish. The thoughts which
the Psalmist here
no doubt
especially intends are those purposes which
are in the minds of great men of doing good to those who are under
and depend
upon them. The Hebrew word here used is derived from a verb that signifieth to
be bright: cogitationes serenae
those candid
serene
benign
benevolent
thoughts which they have of advancing their allies
friends and followers.
These thoughts are said to "perish" in "that day"
wherein they are conceived; so Tremellius glosses. In which sense the
instability of great men's favour is asserted
whose smiles are quickly changed
into frowns
love into hatred
and so in a moment their mind being changed
their well wishing thoughts vanish. But more rationally
"their thoughts
perish in that day" wherein their persons die
because there is no
opportunity of putting their purposes into execution. They perish like the
child which comes to the birth
and there is no strength to bring forth; or
like the fruit which is plucked off before it be ripe. Whilst they live we may
be deceived in our expectations by the alteration of their minds; but
however
their condition is mortal
and when that great change by death comes
their
designs (how well so ever meant) must want success. From hence it followeth
which is by some looked upon as a part of the meaning of the words
that the thoughts
or hopes of them who trust in them perish. It is a true apothegm
Major
pars hominum expectundo moritur; the greatest part of men perish by
expectation. And good reason
inasmuch as their expectation
being misplaced
perisheth. How strongly this argument serveth to press the Psalmist's caution
against confidence in man
though never so great
is obvious. It is true
princes
and nobles being invested with honour
wealth and authority
have power in
their hands
and perhaps they may have thoughts in their hearts to do thee
good; but
alas
how uncertain is the execution of those intentions
and
therefore how foolish is it to depend upon them. "Trust in the Lord
Jehovah" (saith the prophet)
"for with him is everlasting
strength." Aye
and with him is unchangeable goodness. It is safe building
upon the rock
trusting upon God
whose thoughts of mercy are (like himself)
from everlasting to everlasting; but nothing is more foolish than to build on
the sand
trust to men
whose persons
together with their thoughts
perish in
a moment. Therefore let our resolution be that of David: "It is better to
trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; it is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in princes"
Ps 118:8-9.—Nathanael Hardy.
Verse
4. In that very day his thoughts perish. At death a man sees
all those thoughts which were not spent upon God to be fruitless. All worldly
vain thoughts
in the day of death perish and come to nothing. What good will
the whole globe of the world do at such a time? Those who have revelled out
their thoughts in impertinences will but be the more disquieted; it will cut
them to the heart to think how they have spun a fool's thread. A Scythian
captain having
for a draught of water
yielded up a city
cried out:
"What have I lost? What have I betrayed?" So will it be with that man
when he comes to die
who hath spent all his meditations upon the world; he
will say
What have I lost? What have I betrayed? I have lost heaven
I have
betrayed my soul. Should not the consideration of this fix our minds upon the
thoughts of God and glory? All other meditations are fruitless; like a piece of
ground which hath much cost laid out upon it
but it yields no crop.—Thomas
Watson.
Verse
4. I would have you take this passage and illustrate it as applying
to purposes
projects
and intentions. That
I think now
is precisely the idea
intended to be conveyed. "In that very day his thoughts perish";
his purposes
his projects—what he intended to do. These cherished thoughts are
gone. My dear brethren
there is something here for us. You find many beautiful
passages and instances in Scripture in which this idea is embodied and
realised
sometimes with great beauty and poetic effect
in relation to the
enemies of the church. "The enemy said
I will pursue
I will overtake
I
will divide the spoil
my hand shall destroy them; thou didst blow with thy
wind
the sea covered them
they sank as lead in the mighty waters." In
that very day their thoughts perished "Have they not sped? have they not
divided the prey? to every man a damsel or two? to Sisera a prey of divers
colours of needlework? So let all thine enemies perish
O Lord." The
sacred poet does not even suggest that they had perished; but feeling that it
was a fact
only lifts up her heart to God. "So let all thine enemies
perish
O Lord." And so you will find in many parts of Scripture beautiful
ideas like this concerning the purposes and intentions that were in men's
hearts utterly "perishing" by God's just laying his hand upon
them—the purposes that were in their hearts against the church.—Thomas
Binney.
Verse
4. In that very day his thoughts perish. In the case of the
rich fool (Lu 12:16
20) his "thoughts" of building larger barns
and
of many years of ease and prosperity
—all his selfish and worldly
schemes
—"perished" in that self same night.—John W. Haley
in
"An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible
" 1875.
Verse
4. His thoughts perish. The science
the philosophy
the
statesmanship of one age is exploded in the next. The men who are the masters
of the world's intellect today are discrowned tomorrow. In this age of restless
and rapid change they may survive their own thoughts; their thoughts do not
survive them.—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
4. His thoughts perish. As the purposes of all about worldly
things perish in the approaches of death
so do the purposes of some about
spiritual and heavenly things. How many have had purposes to repent
to amend
their lives and turn to God
which have been prevented and totally broken off
by the extremity of pain and sickness
but chiefly by the stroke of death when
they have (as they thought) "been about to repent"
and (as we say)
"turn over a new leaf" in their lives; they have been turned into the
grave by death
and into hell by the just wrath of God.—Joseph Caryl.
Verse
4. His thoughts. Rather
"his false deceitful
show"; literally
"his glitterings."—Samuel Horsley
1733-1806.
Verse
4. To trust man is to lean not on a pillar but on a little heap of
dust. The proudest element in man is his thought. In the thoughts of his heart
he is lifted up if nowhere else; but
behold
even his proudest thoughts
says
the Psalmist
will be degraded and perish in that dust to which he will return.
Poor
perishing pride! Who should trust it?—Johannes Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
5. Happy is he. This is the last of the twenty-five places
(or twenty-six
if Ps 128:2 be included) in which the word ashre
with
which the psalter begins
is found.—Speaker's Commentary.
Verse
5. Alas
how often do we trust when we should be afraid
and become
afraid when we should trust!—Lange's Commentary.
Verse
5. The God of Jacob. A famous and significant description of
God; and that
First
in respect of his nature
or the verity and
reality of his being and excellence. He is styled here by way of elegancy or
emphasis
"The God of Jacob"
saith Mollerus
to discern and
distinguish the true God of Israel from all Heathenish deities
and to explode
all fictitious gods and all worships thereof. As the true God is the God of
Jacob
so the God of Jacob is the true God. He is God alone
and there is no
other besides him...Secondly. This title or appellation serves also to describe
him in his special relation to his people. We find him called by our
Psalmist
"The mighty God of Jacob": Ps 132:5. He is indeed the God
of the whole earth
but in a peculiar manner "the God of Israel":
Mt 15:31 ...It is observable in Scripture that he styles not himself so
frequently
in his revelations of himself to them
"the God of heaven and
earth" (though that also is a title full of encouragement)
but "the
God of Abraham
Isaac
and Jacob"; as if he had borne such choice
goodwill
and had such a peculiar care for these three men
as to overlook all
the world besides them. So near and intimate relation have God's people to him
that their interests are mutually involved
and twisted in a reciprocal and covenant
bond. They are his
he is their portion; their Beloved is theirs and they are
his: they are called by his name
the saints are styled his "holy
ones"
and the Church is termed expressly "Christ." Yea
he
condescends to be called by their name; he assumes the name of Jacob
Ps
24:6: "This is the generation of them that seek him
that seek thy face
O
Jacob:"—From "The Saints' Ebenezer"
by F.E.
1667.
Verse
5. The God of Jacob. This verse aptly warrants us to apply to
all believers all the illustrations of help and hope furnished by
Jacob in his exile when none but God could help him.—Simon de Muis.
Verses
5-6. The God of Jacob...which wade heaven and earth
the sea
and
all that therein is. It is a characteristic of these Psalms
to proclaim to
all nations which worshipped idols
that "the God of Jacob"
"the God of Zion"
is the Creator and Governor of all things; and to
make an appeal to all nations to turn to him. All these Psalms have a
missionary character and an evangelical function. We may compare
here the apostolic prayer at Jerusalem
after the descent of the Holy Ghost at
Pentecost: "They lifted up their voices to God with one accord
and said
Lord
thou art God
that made heaven and earth
and the sea
and all that in
them is" (where the words are the same as in the Septuagint in this
place): "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said. Why do the
heathen rage?" Ac 4:24-25 The office of these Psalms is to declare to the
universe
that Jehovah
and he alone
is Elohim; and to invite all to
worship him as such
by their oft repeated Hallelujah.—Christopher
Wordsworth.
Verse
6. Which keepeth truth for ever. Stored in his inexhaustible
treasury as the most costly jewel ever there. And that because the truth
which he so keeps
and which is the sustaining power which preserves the fabric
of creation
is the Eternal Word
his only begotten Son
Jesus Christ.—Dionysius
the Carthusian
and Ayguan
in Neale and Littledale.
Verse
6. Which keepeth truth for ever. God does indeed keep the
truth from age to age—how else would the Book of God have lived?—John
Lorinus.
Verses
6-9. The LORD
is an Almighty God
as the Creator of the
universe; next
he is a faithful God "who keepeth truth
forever"; further
he is a righteous God (Ps 146:7) a bountiful
God (ib.) a gracious God (Ps 146:7-9).—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
7. Giveth food to the hungry. We learn from this that he is
not always so indulgent to his own as to load them with abundance
but
occasionally withdraws his blessing
that he may succour them when reduced to
hunger. Had the Psalmist said that God fed his people with abundance and
pampered them
would not any of those under want
or in famine have immediately
desponded? The goodness of God is therefore properly extended farther to the
feeding of the hungry.—John Calvin.
Verse
7. Giveth food to the hungry. Now
that Jesus was that Lord
of whom the Psalmist in this place
and in Ps 145:16
speaketh
was fully
testified by the miracles which he wrought
in feeding many thousands with some
few loaves and two small fishes
and in filling so many baskets with the
fragments or relics of that small provision wherewith he bad filled thousands.
From these miracles
the people which had seen him do them and tasted of his
bounty
did rightly infer that he was the prophet which was to come into the
world
as you may read
Joh 6:14; and being supposed to be the prophet
they
consequently presumed that he was likewise to be the King of Israel; and out of
this concert or presumption they would have enforced him to be their king
Joh
6:15.—Thomas Jackson
1579-1640.
Verse
7. The Lord looseth the prisoners. As in that place of Isa
61:1 the phrase of "opening the prison to them that are bound"
is by
the learned thought to be a prophetic elegance
to signify the cure of those
that are deaf and dumb
whose souls consequently were shut up from being able
to express themselves
as language enables others to do; so here also it may be
used poetically
and then it will be directly parallel to that part of Christ's
answer
"the deaf hear" (Mt 11:5). At the curing of such
Christ's
form of speech was
Ephphatha
"be opened"
as to the door of a
prison
when those which were under restraint therein were to be let loose out
of it
their fetters being shaken off from them. But then
'tis further
manifest
that those that were under any sore disease or lameness
etc.
are
said to be "bound by Satan" (Lu 13:16)
and be "loosed" by
Christ
when they were cured by him. So saith Christ (Lu 13:12)
"Woman
thou
art loosed from thine infirmity: and immediately she was made straight."
Her being "made straight" was her being loosed out of her restraint
or bonds
or prison. And in this latitude of the poetic or prophetic
expression
the Lord's loosing the prisoners here will comprehend the
walking of the lame
the lepers being cleansed
the hearing of the deaf
yea
and the raising up of the dead; for those of all others are fastest bound
and
so when they were raised
the style is as proper as to Lazarus in respect of
the graveclothes
"loose them
and let him go."—Henry Hammond.
Verses
7-8. It ought not to pass without remark that the name Jehovah is
repeated here five times in five lines
to intimate that it is an almighty
power
that of Jehovah
that is engaged and exerted for the relief of the
oppressed; and that it is as much to the glory of God to succour them that are
in misery
as it is to ride on the heavens by his name JAH
Ps 68:4.—Matthew
Henry.
Verse
8. Openeth the eyes of the blind. Literally
"openeth
the blind"—i.e.
maketh them to see. The expression may be used
figuratively
as a remedy applied either to physical helplessness
as De 28:29
Isa 59:9-10 Job 12:25 or to spiritual want of discernment
as Isa 29:18
42:7
18
43:8. Here the context favours the former.—J.J. Stewart Perowne.
Verse
8. The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind. The Hebrew does
not mention the eyes of the blind. Hilary renders it sapientificat.
The Arabic version follows the same. Jehovah by his wisdom illumines dark
minds. It is mental blindness which is the common affliction of
men.—John Lorinus.
Verse
8. The blind. The large number of blind persons to be seen
feeling their way along the streets in Cairo and Alexandria has been noticed by
Volney. "Walking in the streets of Cairo"
he says
"out of a hundred
persons whom I met
there were often twenty blind
eighteen one eyed
and
twenty others with eyes red
purulent
or spotted. Almost every one wears
bandages
indicating that they either have or are recovering from
ophthalmia." Ophthalmia is
in fact
one of the scourges of Egypt
as all
physicians know. Its prevalence must be attributed in a great degree to the
sand which the wind blows into the eyes; but one can understand how in Oriental
countries in general the excessive heat of the sun must make blindness much
commoner than it is with us. It is not therefore surprising to any one who
knows the East to find the blind so often mentioned in the gospel history
and
to meet in Scripture with so many allusions to this infirmity. Of the twelve
maledictions of the Levites there is one against him "who maketh the blind
to go out of the way": De 27:18. "The spirit of God hath anointed
me"
said Jesus
quoting from Isaiah
"to preach the gospel to the
poor
and recovery of sight to the blind": Lu 4:19. "The Lord"
says David
"setteth at liberty them that are bound; the Lord giveth sight
to the blind."—Felix Bovet (1824—)
in "Egypt
Palestine
and Phoenicia
" 1882.
Verse
9. The LORD preserveth the strangers. God has peculiar love
for wanderers and pilgrims (De 10:18)
and Jacob was a stranger in a strange
land when God showed himself to be the God of Jacob as his elect servant.—Thomas
Le Blanc.
Verse
9. The Lord preserveth the strangers. They who do not belong
to Babylon
nor to this world
but the true pilgrims in a strange land.—Robert
Bellarmine.
Verse
9. He relieveth the fatherless and the widow. The olive tree
is not to be twice shaken
the vineyard is not to be twice gathered
nor are
the sheaves of corn left in the fields to be gleaned; all that belongs to the
poor
to the widow and the orphan. It was allowable to pluck with the hand the
ears of corn while passing through a neighbour's field (De 23:25)
though a
sickle might not be used. The law cares most anxiously for widows and orphans
for "God is a father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows" (Ps
68:5). A widow's raiment might not be taken in pledge
and both widows and
orphans were to be invited to their feasts. An institution specially designed
for the protection and relief of the poor was the second tithe
the so called
poor's tithe. The first tithe belonged to the Levites. What remained over was
again tithed
and the produce of this second tithe
devoted in the first two
years to a feast in the sanctuary at the offering of firstfruits
was devoted
in the third year to a feast in the dwelling house
to which the Levites and
the strangers
the widows and the orphans
were invited (De 14:28-29 De
26:12-13).—G. Uhlhorn
in "Christian Charity in the Ancient
Church
" 1883.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. He overturns
their plans
defeats their schemes; makes their purposes accomplish what they
did not intend they should accomplish: The Hebrew word here means to bend
to
curve
to make crooked
to distort; then
to overturn
to turn upside down. The
same word is applied to the conduct of the wicked
in Ps 119:78: "They
dealt perversely with me." The idea here is that the path is not a
straight path; that God makes it a crooked way; that they are diverted from their
design; that through them he accomplishes purposes which they did not intend;
that he prevents their accomplishing their own designs; and that he will make
their plans subservient to a higher and better purpose than their own. This is
the eleventh reason why those who put their trust in God are happy. It is that
God is worthy of confidence and love
because he has all the plans of wicked
men entirely under his control.—Albert Barnes.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. As the
potter's clay
when the potter hath spent some time and pains in tempering and
forming it upon the wheel
and now the vessel is even almost brought to its
shape
a man that stands by may
with the least push
put it clean out of
shape
and mar all on a sudden that he hath been so long a making: so is it
that all the plots and contrivances of wicked men
all their turning of things
upside down shall be but as the potter's clay; for when they think they have
brought all to maturity
ripeness
and perfection
when they look upon their
business as good as done
all on a sudden all their labour is lost; for God
who stands by all the while and looks on
will
with one small touch
with the
least breath of his wrath
blast and break all in pieces.—Edlin
1656.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. All the ten
clauses preceding lift up the poor saint step by step
higher and higher. At
one word suddenly
like Satan falling as lightning from heaven
the wicked are
shown dashed down the whole way from the summit of pride to the depths of
hell.—Johannes Paulus Palanterius.
Verse
9. The way of the wicked he turneth upside down. A striking
illustration of the folly of counting God out of one's plans for life is given
in the course of William M. Tweed
whose death is recently announced. Here was
a man who sought wealth and power
and who for a time seemed successful in
their pursuit. Apparently he did not propose to obey God or to live for a life
to come. What he wanted was worldly prosperity. He thought he had it. He went to
Congress. He gathered his millions. He controlled the material interests of the
metropolis of his country. He openly defied public sentiment and courts of
justice in the prosecution of his plans. He was a brilliant and therefore a
dangerous example of successful villainy. But the promise of prosperity for the
life which now is
is only to the godly. As William M. Tweed lay dying in a
prison house in the city he once ruled
his confession of bitter disappointment
was
"My life has been a failure in everything. There is nothing I am
proud of." If any young man wants to come to an end like this
the way to
it is simple and plain. "The great God that formed all things both
rewardeth the fool
and rewardeth transgressors." "The way of the
wicked he turneth upside down."—American Sunday School Times
1878.
HINTS TO THE
VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse
1.
1.
An exhortation: it is addressed to ourselves: "Praise ye the Lord."
2. An example: the Psalmist cries to himself
"Praise the Lord."
3. An echo: "Praise the Lord
O my soul." Let us say this to our own
souls.
Verse
1. Whom should I praise? And why? And when? And how?
Verse
1. Public worship.
1.
Should be with a sense of fellowship: "Praise ye": pleasures
of communion in praise.
2.
Should never lose its individuality: "O my soul." God is only praised
by individual hearts. Temptations to wandering in public services.
3.
Should be full of Jehovah's felt presence: each and all should worship him
alone.—W.B.H.
Verse
2. Work for here and hereafter.
1.
"While I live"; or a period of uncertainty and mystery.
2.
"I will praise the Lord"; or a service definite
determined
due
and
delightful. Certainty amid uncertainty.
3.
"While I have any being"; or an enthusiastic pre-engagement of
eternity.—W.B.H.
Verse
3.
1.
It dishonours God.
2. It degrades you.
3. It disappoints in every case.
Verse
4. Decease
Decay
Defeat.
Verse
4. (second clause). The failure of man's projects
the
disappearance of his philosophies
the disproving of his boastings.
Verse
5. The secret of true happiness.
1. What
it is not. The man here mentioned has his work and warfare
for he needs
help; and he has not all he desires
for he is a man of hope.
2. What
it is. It lies in the hath
the help
and the hope
and these are all in God.
Verses
6-7. The God of our hope is
1.
Creator.
2. Truth keeper.
3. Vindicator.
4. Provider.
5. Deliverer.
Verse
7. (last clause).—See "Spurgeon's Sermons"
No.
484: "The Lord—the Liberator."
Verse
7. The People's Rights.
1.
Three rights of humanity. Justice
Bread
Freedom.
2.
God's interventions in their behalf. Revolutions
Reforms
Regenerations.
Christ's war with Satan.
3.
The magnificent supply of the three blessings in Christ's kingdom.
4.
The men who are fashioned and trained under this regime.—W.B.H.
Verse
8. (first clause). Spiritual blindness
its curse
cause
and
cure.
Verse
8. (second clause). Who are the people? Who raises them? How
he does it. And what then?
Verse
8. (third clause). God's love to the righteous.
1.
He made them righteous.
2. They are like him.
3. They love him.
4. Their purposes are one with his own.
Verse
9. Observe the provision made in the Jewish law for the stranger.
The way in which strangers were received by God. The truth that his chosen are
strangers in the world. His design to gather in strangers in the latter days.
Verse
9. (centre clause). The claims of orphans and widows upon the
people of God.
Verse
9. (last clause). Illustrated by Joseph's brethren
Haman
and others.
Verse
10.
1.
A cause for praise—"The Lord shall reign for ever."
2. A centre of praise: "O Zion."
3. A cycle of praise: "all generations."
4. A call to praise; "Praise ye the Lord."
── C.H. Spurgeon《The Treasury of David》