Psalm 139 › Explanatory notes and quaint sayings (continued)
Verses 23, 24. — Hypocrisy at the fashionable end of the town is very different from hypocrisy in the city. The modish hypocrite endeavours to appear more vicious than he really is, the other kind of hypocrite more virtuous. The former is afraid of everything that has the show of religion in it, and would be thought engaged in many criminal gallantries and amours which he is not guilty of. The latter assumes a face of sanctity, and covers a multitude of vices under a seeming religious deportment.
But there is another kind of hypocrisy, which differs from both these; I mean that hypocrisy by which a man does not only deceive the world, but very often imposes on himself; that hypocrisy which conceals his own heart from him, and makes him believe he is more virtuous than he really is, and either not attend to his vices, or mistake even his vices for virtues. It is this fatal hypocrisy and selfdeceit which is taken notice of in those words, " Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults."
These two kinds of hypocrisy, namely, that of deceiving the world, and that of imposing on ourselves, are touched with wonderful beauty in the hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm. The folly of the first kind of hypocrisy is there set forth by reflections on God's omniscience and omnipresence, which are celebrated in as noble strains of poetry as any other I ever met with, either sacred or profane. The other kind of hypocrisy, whereby a man deceives himself, is intimated in the two last verses, where the Psalmist addresses himself to the great Searcher of hearts in that emphatical petition; " Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart: prove me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." — Joseph Addison (1672 — 1719), in "The Spectator."
Verses 23, 24. — How beautiful is the humility of David 1 He cannot speak of the wicked but in terms of righteous indignation; he cannot but hate the haters of his God; yet, he seems immediately to recollect, and to check himself — " Try me, O Lord, and seek the ground of my heart." Precisely in the same spirit of inward humility and self-recollection, Abraham, when pleading before God in prayer for guilty depraved Sodom, fails not to speak of himself, as being dust and ashes: Gen. xviii. 27. — James Ford, 1871.
Verses 23, 24. — Why did David pray thus to God, "Search me, O God, and know my heart," having said before, in the first verse, "Thou hast searched me, and known me "? Seeing David knew that God had searched him, what needed he to pray that God would search him? why did he beg God to do that which he had done already? The answer is at hand. David was a diligent self-searcher, and therefore he was so willing to be searched, yea, he delighted to be searched by God; and that not (as was said) because himself had done it already, but also because he knew God could do it better. He knew by his own search that he did not live in any way of wickedness against his knowledge, and yet he knew there might be some way of wickedness in him that he knew not of. And therefore he doth not only say, "Search me, 0 God, and know my thoughts "; but he adds, "See if there be any wicked way (or any way of pain and grief) in me"; (the same word signifies both, because wicked ways lead in the end to pain and grief); " and lead me in the way everlasting." As if he had said, Lord, I have searched myself, and can see no wicked way in me; but, Lord, thy sight is infinitely clearer than mine, and if thou wilt but search me thou mayest see some wicked way in me which I could not see, and I would fain see and know the worst of myself, that I might amend and grow better; therefore, Lord, if there be any such way in me, cause me to know it also. O take that way out of me, and take me out of that way; "lead me in the way everlasting." David had tried himself, and he would again be tried by God, that he, being better tried, might become yet better. He found himself gold upon his own trial, and yet he feared there might be some dross in him that he had not found; and now he would be re-tried that he might come forth purest gold. Pure gold fears neither the furnace nor the fire, neither the test nor the touchstone; nor is weighty gold afraid of the balance. He that is weight will be weight, how often soever he is weighed; he that is gold will be gold, how often soever he is tried, and the oftener he is tried the purer gold he will be; what he is he will be, and he would be better than he is. — Joseph Caryl.
Verse 24. — "See if there be any wicked way in me." This is a beautiful and Impressive prayer for the commencement of every day. It is, also, a great sentiment to admonish us at the beginning of each day.
There is the way of unbelief within, to which we are very prone. There is the way of vanity and pride, to which we often accustom ourselves. There is the way of selfishness in which we frequently walk. There is the way of worldliness we often pursue — empty pleasures, shadowy honours, etc. There is the way of sluggishness. What apathy in prayer, in the examination and application of God's Word, we manifest! There is the way of self-dependence, by which we often dishonour God and injure ourselves. There is, unhappily, the way of disobedience, in which we often walk. At any rate, our obedience is cold, reluctant, uncertain — not simple, entire, fervent.
How necessary is it, then, to go to God at once, and earnestly to prefer the petition, "Lord, see if there be any wicked way in me." Let nothing that is wrong, that is opposed to thy character, repugnant to thy word, or injurious and debasing to ourselves, remain, or be harboured within us. — Condensed from T. Wallace, in "Homiletic Commentary."
Verse 24. — "See if there be any wicked way in me." To what a holiness must David have attained ere he could need, if we may so speak, Divine scrutiny, in order to his being informed of errors and defects! Is there one of us who can say that he has corrected his conduct up to the measure of his knowledge, and that now he must wait the being better informed before he can do more towards improving his life? I do not know how to define a higher point in religious attainment than supposing a man warranted in offering up the prayer of our text. I call upon you to be cautious in using this prayer. It is easy to mock God, by asking him to search you whilst you have made but little effort to search yourselves, and perhaps still less to act upon the result of the scrutiny. — Henry Melvill.
Verse 24. — "See if there be any wicked way in me," etc. —
Think and be careful what thou art within, For there is sin in the desire of sin: Think and be thankful, in a different case, For there is grace in the desire of grace.
Verse 24. — "The way everlasting." Way of eternity, or of antiquity, the old way, as Jer. vi. 16; meaning the way of faith and godliness, which God taught from the beginning, and which continueth for ever; contrary to " the way of the wicked," which perisheth: Ps. i. 6. — Henry Ainsworth.
Verses 1 and 23. — A matter of fact made a matter of prayer.
Verse 1. — 1. A cheering thought for sinners. If God knew them not perfectly, how could he have prepared a perfect salvation for them? 2. A comfortable truth for saints. " Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."— G. R.
Verses I — 5. — In these verses we have God's Omniscience, I. Described. 1. As observing minute and comparatively unimportant actions: " My downsitting and uprising." 2. As taking note of our thoughts and the motives behind them: " Understandest my thought." 3. As investigating all our ways: " Thou compassest," etc.; better rendered, " Thou triest my walking and lying down," i.e., my activities and restings. 4. Accurately estimating every word at the instant of its utterance: " For there is not a word," etc. 5. As being " behind " men, remembering their past, and " before " men, acquainted with their future: " Thou hast beset me," etc. 6. As every instant holding men under watchful scrutiny: " And laid," etc. II. Personally realized and pondered: " Thou hast searched me." Me and my run through the whole set of statements. Thus felt and used, the fact of God's omniscience. 1. Begets reverence. 2. Inspires confidence. 3. Produces carefulness of conduct. — J. F.
Verses 2 — 4. — The knowledge of God extends, I. To our movements, our " downsitting and uprising " — when we sit down to read, write, or converse, and when we rise up to active service. II. To our thoughts: " Thou understandest my thoughts
afar off." What they have been, what they now are, what they will be, what under all circumstances they would have been. He who made minds knows what their thoughts will be at all times, or he could not predict future events, or govern the world. He can know our thoughts without being the Author of them. III. To our actions: verse 3. Every step we take by day, and all we purpose to do in wakeful hours of the night: all our private, social, and public ways, are compassed or sifted by him, to distinguish the good from the bad, as wheat from the chaff. IV. To our words: verse 4. It has been said that the words of all men and from all time are registered in the atmosphere, and may be faithfully recalled. Whether it be so or not, they are phonographed in the mind of God. — G. R.
Verse 2 (first clause). — The importance of the commonest acts of life.
Verse 2 (second clause). — The serious nature of thoughts. Known to God; seen through, their drift perceived; and attention given to them while as yet in the distance.
Verse 4. — I. Words on the tongue first in it, and in that stage known to God. II. Words on the tongue very numerous, yet all known. III. Words on the tongue have wide meaning, yet known " altogether." Lesson: Take heed of your words not yet spoken.
Verse 6. — I. God imperfectly known to man. II. Man perfectly known to God. It has been said that wise men never wonder; to us it appears they are always wondering. — G. R.
Verse 6. — Theme: the facts of our religion, too wonderful to understand, are just those in which we have most reason to rejoice. I. Prove it. 1. The incom prehensible attributes of God give unspeakable value to his promises. 2. The Incarnation is at once the most complete and most endearing manifestation of God we possess, yet it is the most inexplicable. 3. Redemption by the death of Christ is the highest guarantee of salvation we can conceive; but who can explain it?
4. Inspiration makes the Bible the word of God, though none can give an account of its mode of operation in the minds of those " moved by the Holy Ghost."
5. The resurrection of the body, and its glorification, satisfy the deepest yearning of our soul (Rom. viii. 23; 2 Cor. v. 2 — 4); but none can conceive the how. II. Apply its lessons. 1. Let us not stumble at doctrines simply because they are mysterious. 2. Let us be thankful God has not kept back the great mysteries of our religion simply because there would be some offended at them. 3. Let us readily receive all the joy which the mysteries bring, and calmly wait the light of heaven to make them better understood. — J. F.
Verses 7 — 10. — I. God is wherever I am. I fill but a small part of space; he fills all space. II. He is wherever I shall be. He does not move with me, but I move in him. " In him we live, and move," etc. III. God is wherever I could be. " If I ascend to heaven," etc. " If I descend to Sheol," etc. If I travel with the sunbeams to the most distant part of the earth, or heavens, or the sea, I shall be in thy hand. No mention is here made of annihilation, as though that were possible; which would be the only escape from the Divine Presence; for he is not the God of the dead, of the annihilated, in the Sadducean meaning of the word, but of the living. Man is always somewhere, and God is always everywhere. — G. R.
Verse 8. — The glory of heaven and the terror of hell: " THOU."
Verses 9, 10. — I. The greatest security and encouragement to a sinner supposed. 1. The place — the remotest part of the sea; by which you are to understand the most obscure nook in the creation. 2. His swift and speedy flight after the com mission of sin, to this supposed refuge and sanctuary: " If I take the wings of the morning." II. This supposed security and encouragement is utterly destroyed (verse 10). — See Flavel's "Seaman's Preservative in Foreign Countries."
Verses 11, 12.— Darkness and light are both alike to God. I. Naturally. " I form the light, and I create the darkness." II. Providentially. Providential dispensations that are dark to us are light to him. We change with respect to him, not he to us. III. Spiritually. " Let him that walketh in darkness," etc. " Yea, though I walk," etc. He went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide them by day, and a pillar of fire to guide them by night. It was the same God in the day-cloud and in the night-light.— G. R.
Verse 14. — " I am fearfully and wonderfully made." This is true of man in his fourfold state. I. In his primitive integrity. II. In his deplorable depravity. III. In his regeneration. IV. In his fixed state in hell or heaven. — W. W.
Verses 17, 18. — The Psalm dilates upon the omniscience of God. In no mournful manner, but the reverse. I. God's thoughts of us. 1. How certain. 2. How numerous. 3. How condescending. 4. How tender. 5. How wise. 6. How practical. 7. How constant. II. Our thoughts upon his thoughts. 1. How rare and yet how due to the subject. 2. How delightful. 3. How consoling. 4. How strengthening to faith. 5. How arousing to love. III. Our thoughts upon God himself. I. They place us near God. 2. They keep us near God. 3. They restore us to him. We are with God when we awake from sleep, from lethargy, from death.
Verses 17, 18. — I. The saint precious to God. He thinks of him tenderly; in countless ways; perpetually. II. God precious to the saints. Noting God's loving-kindnesses, numbering them, newly awakening to them. III. The mingling of these loves: " I am still with thee."— W. B. H.
Verse 18. — "When I awake I am still with thee." Awaking is sometimes, yea, most commonly, taken in the natural signification, for the recovery from bodily sleep. 2. Morally, for recovery from sin. 3. Mystically; " when I shall awake," that is, from the sleep of death. — T. Horton.
Verse 18. — " A Christian on Earth still in Heaven " [an Appendix to " A Christian on the Mount; or, A Treatise concerning Meditation "], by Thomas Watson, 1660.
Verse 18. — "/ am still with thee." 1. By way of meditation. 2. In respect to communion. 3. In regard of action, and the businesses which are done by us. — T. Horton.
Verse 19. — I. The doctrine of punishment the necessary outcome of omniscience. II. Inevitable judgment an argument for separation from sinners. — W. B. H.
Verse 20. — Two scandalous offences against God. I. To speak slanderously of him. II. To speak irreverently of him. These are committed only by his enemies.
Verses 21, 22. — I. Such hatred one need not be ashamed of. II. Such hatred one should be able to define: " grieved." III. Such hatred one must labour to keep right. " Perfect hatred " is a form of hate consistent with all the virtues.
Verses 23, 24. — The language, I. Of self-examination. 1. As in the sight of God. 2. With a desire for the help of God: verse 23. Look me through and through, and tell me what thou thinkest of me. II. Of self-renunciation: " See if," etc. (verse 24); any sin unpardoned, any evil disposition unsubdued, any evil habit unrestrained, that I may renounce it. III. Of self-dedication: " Lead me," etc.: a submission entirely to divine guidance in the future. — G. R.
Verse 24. — I. The evil way. Naturally in us; may be of different kinds; must be removed; removal needs Divine help. II. The everlasting way. There is but one, we need leading in it. It is the good old way, it does not come to an end; it leads to blessedness without end.
