PLL HE Be)
of the earth, or to fuake terribly man from off the.
break in pieces, that is, Antichrift and his kingdom 3;
To the chief mufician, @ pfalm of David.
re HIS pfalm has no name; it is neither called
‘a pfalm, nor hymn, nor fong, nor prayer, only faid to be David’s; and is infcribed and directed as others to the chief mufician, or mafter of the fong, to be ufed in public fervice; and feems to be written much upon the fame fubject with the two preceding pfalms.. According to Theodoret it was written. when, David was periecuted by Sau/, and was advifed by fome to flee for his fafety.
_.¥. 145 In the Lord put I my truft, &c.) Not in himéelf, in his own heart, nor in his own righteoufnefs, and ftrength; nor in men, the greateft of men, the princes of the earth; nor in his armies, or any outward force; but in the Lord, as the God of providence and,of grace; and in the Meffiah, in his perfon and righteoufnefs; fo the Chaldee paraphrate renders it, in the Word of the Lord do I hope: and the phrafe denotes a continued exercife of faith in the Lord; that he was always looking to him, ftaying himfelf on him, and committing himfelf and all his concerns to him; for he does not fay, | have or I will, but I do put my truft in the Lord; at all times, even in the worft of times, and in the prefent one; wherefore he is difpleafed with his friends for endeavouring to intimidate him, perfuading him to flee and provide for his fafety, when he had betaken himfelf to the Lord, and was fafe enough. How fay ye to my foul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? they compare him to a little, fearful, trembling bird, wandering from its neft, moving through fear from place to place, whereas his heart was fixed trufting in the Lord; and this gave him a difguft: they advife him to flee either from his mountain, fo Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; that is, either from ‘fudea, which was a mountainous country, efpecially fome parts of it; or from mount Zion, or rather from the mountain in the wildernefs of Zipb, or the hill of Hachilab, where David fometimes was, 1 Sam. xxiii. 14, and XXVi. I, or it may be rendered ¢o your mountain as we, fo the Targum; that is, to the faid place or places where he had fometimes hid himfelf; and this they faid to his fou/, which was very cutting and grieving to him; the word rendered flee in the cetid or writing of the text, is 11) in the plural, flee ye; but is pointed for, and in the kerz, or marginal reading, is 993 flee thou; the latter agrees with this being faid to David’s foul, the former with the phrafe your mountain, and both are to be taken into the fenfe of the words; not as if the one refpeéted David’s foul only, and the other both foul and body, as Kimchi and Ben Melech obferve; but the one regards David’s perfon, and the other his companions, or the people with him; and contains an advice both to him and them, to flee for their fafety; the reafons follow.
SPOwWy MAMWA iD nant fundamenta defrauntur, Pifcator, Michaelis; Sp TWD PITS jultus quid operatus eit? Pagninus, Montanas, Vati " Juflus quid fecit? V.L.
devifing mifchief, and making preparations to ac-. complifh it. They make ready their arrow upon the string; of the bow, and are juft about to execute their wicked defigns. That they may privily hoot at the upright in heart; fach as David, and thofe that were with him were; they were men whofe hearts were upright before God, and were of upright converfations before men, and fo became the butt of the malice and refentment of wicked men; againft thefe they formed evil purpofes, delivered out bitter words, which were like fharp arrows of the mighty; threatened them with ruin and deftrudtion, and took methods to bring about their defigns and make good their words, in the moft private and fecret manner. Hence fome of David’s friends thought it moft advifeable for him to make his efcape; adding,
¥. 3. If the foundations be deStroyed, &c.] Or for toe foundations are deStroyed*; all things are out of order and courfe both in church and ftate; the laws, which are the foundations of government, are defpifed and difregarded; judgment is perverted, and juftice ftands afar off; the doétrines and principles of religion are derided and fubverted; fo that there is no ftanding, either in a political or religious fenfe. archi interprets this of the priefts of the Lord, the righteous, who are the foundations of the world, particularly the priefts of Nob, Main by Doeg. Other Jewifh writers, as dben Ezra, Kimchi and Ben Melecb, underftand it of the purpofes and counfels, nets and fnares laid by the wicked for the righteous, which are broken and deitroy-
‘ed; not by them, for what can they do? but by ‘the Lord, who is in his holy temple.
So it follows, What can the righteous do? or what the righteous one do‘? that is, the righteous Lord, he fits in the heavens, he beholds all the actions of the wicked, he diftinguifhes the righteous from them, and rains a violent ftorm of wrath upon them, as in the following verfes; or what has the righteous man done“? what has David done, that the priefts of Nob fhould be flain? nothing that was criminal; nor fhall he bear the fin, but they, according to Farchi’s{enfe,; or rather, what has he done that the wicked fhould bend their bow, prepare their arrow, and attempt to fhoot privily at him, and to overturn the foundations of juftice and equity? nothing that deferves fuch treatment: or if the fundamental doctrines of true religion and everlafting falvation be fubverted, what can the righteous do? he can do nothing to obtain falvation, nor do any good works of himifelf; the Cha/dee paraphrafe is, wherefore does be do good? hecanhave no principle, motive or end to do good, if fundamental truths are) deftroyed:
or what fhould be do’? fomething the righteous”
ones may do and fhould do when men are attempring ce
* Quid fucrit operatus juflus? Junius & Tremellius; quid fecerit? Schmide, iy pe P¢ XI. y. 47: ing to undermine and fap the foundation-articles ot religion; they fhould go to the throne of grace, to God in his holy temple, who knows what is doing, and plead with him to put a ftop to the de figns and attempts of fuch fubverters of foundations; and they fhould endeavour to build one another up on their moft holy faith, and conftantly affirm it whilft, others deny it; and fhould contend earneftly for it, and ftaiid faft in it,
%.4. The Lord is in bis boly temple, &c.] Not in the temple at Ferufalem,which as yet was not built; nor in the temple of Chiift’s human nature; but rather in the church, where he dwells, which is an holy temple to the Lord; and which is an argument for truft in him, and a reafon againft the fears of men in the worft of times; fee P/aém xlvi. 1—5. Though it may be beft to underftand it of heaven, the habitation of God’s holinefs,. and which is the true fanctuary; and whieh the holy places made with hands were only a figure of; fince it follows, The Lord’s throne is in beaven; yéa, the heaven is his throne;_ here he fits on a throne of grace, and here he has prepared his throne for judgment: and both this and the preceding claufe are expreffive of his glory and majetty; and are faid to command awe and reverence of the divine being, and to inject terror into the wicked; and to fhow that God is above the enemies of his people, and to encourage thé faints truft and confidence in him; and are mentioned as a reafon why David put his truft in him; “afid are, with what follows in the next verfe, oppofed ‘to the advice and reafonings of fome of his friends in the preceding ones. His eyes bebold; all men, aiid all their actions; he fees what the wicked are doing in the dark, what preparations for mifchief they are making, and beholds them when they fhoot privily at the upright in heart; he can turn the arrow another way, and caufe it to mifs the mark: his eyes run to and fro throughout the earth, in favour of thofe whofe hearts are perfect and fincere. God’s omnifcience, which is denied by wicked men, who are therefore hardened in fin, and promife themfelves impunity, is ufed by the faints as an argument to encourage their faith and truft in God, with refpect to their prefervation and deliverance. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin, Arabic and E-’
thiopic verfions read, bis eyes look unto the poor; butthis is an addition to the text not fuitable to the context. His eyelids try the children of men; he tries their reins, he fearches into their very ‘hearts, and into the inmoft recefles of them, and takes cognifance of their thoughts, intentions and defigns; and confounds and difappoints them, fo that they cannot perform their enterprifes.
¥. 5. The Lord trieth the righteous, &c.] As gold is tried in the fire, by afflictive providences; hereby he tries their graces, their faith and patience, their hope, and love, and fear; and by fo doing exprefies his love to them, fince this is all for their good: and therefore when he fuffers the wicked to go great lengths in perfecuting and diftreffing them, this fhould not weaken their confidence in him; he ftill loves them, and loves when he rebukes and chaftifes them. But the wicked, and him that loveth violence, bis foul bateth; thatis, fach who live in acourfe of fin and wickednefs, and who not only do injury to the perfons, characters and pro- rties of men, but love it, and delight therein, and alfo take pleafure in them that do the fame: thefe God has a continued and inward averfion to; fin and wickednefs being the abominable thing his righteous foul hates: and he fhews his hatred to them, by not chaftifing them now, as he does his own people, but referving everlafting puhifhmerit for them hereafter; fee Prov. xiii. 24.
¥.6. Upon rhe wicked, &c.| The wicked One; » the man of fin, Antichrift, and upon-all that wor+ 4 fhip the beaft and his image, on all perfecutors, and upon all wicked men in general: He jhall rain {nares, fire and brimstone, and an borrible tempest, this will be in hell, as Farchi obferves. The allufion is to the Lord’s raining fire and brimftone from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah; which was an example and emblem of eternal fire; fee Gen. xix.24. Jude 7. For the beaft and the falfe prophet, and all the antichriftian party, and all wicked men, will have their part in the lake which burns with fire’and brimftone. The phrafes ufed exprefs the dreadfulnefs and horriblenefs of their punifhment; the fuddennefs, violence and’ force with which it will come; and the rife of ir, pit will be from’heaven; God himfelf will rain this fhower of wrath upon them, od xx. 23. nor will there be any efcaping it, it will be inevitable: therefore /nares are faid to be rained; the wicked will be fnared in the works of their own hands; they will be taken and -held in the,ycords of their own fins; and full and deferved punifhment will be infli€ted on them, which will be very fevere and terrible. All that is dreadful in a ftorm. is here expreffed, even in a ftorm of fire. The word rendered /nares, is by fome thought to be the fame with ca»ygmyp burning coals; and may fignify burning ftones, hot thunderbolts; fee P a/.
XVill. 13, 14. fire may fignify lightning, with its dreadful flafhes, and which burn and confume in an inftant; and bdrim/tone, the naufeous fcent and {inell, which always attends lightning and thunder, as naturalifts obferve”; and the words for an bor= rible tempest, fignify a burning wind: fo that they all ferve to convey horrible ideas of the punifhment of the wicked in hell. The Zargum calls them /owers of vengeance. ‘This fhall be the por tion of their cup; which will be meafured out to them in proportion to their fins, and which God in righteous judgment has appointed for them 5 and which: they fhall all drink of, and wring out the very dregs of it.
¥.7. For the righteous Lord loveth righteoufnefs, &c.] The Lord is righteous in himfelf, and in all his ways and works; and therefore righteoufnefs, as it lies both in punifhing the wicked, and in maintaining the righteous caufe of his people, muft be loved by him, it being agreeable to his nature: he loves to exercife righteoufnefs in the earth, to adminifter it to and among men; this he delights in. He is well pleafed with the righteoufnefs of his Son, it being fatisfactory to his juftice, and that by which his law is magnified and made honourable; and he is well pleafed with his people, as they are clothed with it; and he approves of their righteous actions, as they are done in obedience to his righteous law, in faith, from a principle of love, and with a view to his glory; thefe are acceptable to him in Chrift. His countenance doth bebold the upright; whom wicked men privily fhoot at, ¥.2. God looks with pleafure upon them, and takes delight in them, and takes care of them, protects and defends them, and at laft faves them; and which, with all that
-goes before, was an encouragement to David to truft in the Lord; fee P/al. vii. 10. and moreover, the Lord lifts up the light of his countenance on fuch, and indulges them with his gracious prefence, than which nothing is more comfortable and defirable, Some choofe to render the word, their Count enange, t x meaning the Trinity of perfons, Fa- | upright fhall fee bis face, the face of God; fo the il and Spirit, who all have a gracious | Chaldee paraphrafe and the Arabic verfion; fee Pf. ait to fuch: others render the claufe thus, the | xvii. 15.
To the chief mufician upon Sheminith, a pfalm of David,
; HE word /eeminith is ufed in the title of pfalm vi, and fignifies eighth; and intends either the eighth note, to which the pfalm was fung, or rather, the harp of eight cords, to which it was fet, asthe Targum and Farchi interpret it. Some Jewith writers ¥ underftand it of the times of the Meffiah; and the Syriac verfion intitles the pfalm, «© an accufation of the wicked, and a prophecy © concerning the coming of the Meffiah:” and the Arabic verfion fays, it is concerning the end of the world, which fhall be in the eighth day; and concerning the coming of the Metliah; but Arnobius interprets it of the Lord’s day.
y.1. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceafeth, 8zc.] A godly man, according to the notation of the word *, is one that has received grace and mercy of the Lord; as pardoning mercy, juftifying and adopting grace; and who has principles of grace, goodnefs and holinefs wrought in him; who fears the Lord, and ferves him acceptably, with reverence and godly fear, and forrows for him after a godly fort; who loves the Lord, and hopes and believes in him; who is regenerated and fanétified by the Spirit of God, and isa true worfhipper of God, and lives in all holy converfation and godlinefs; and particularly, is beneficent, kind, and merciful* unto men: fuch may be faid to cea/e, when there are but few of them; when their number is greatly reduced *, either by death, or when fuch who have feemed, and have been thought to be fo, prove otherwife: in a view of which, the pfalmift prays for help and falvation; e/p, or fave *, Lord; meaning himfelf, being deftitute of the company, counfel and affiftance of good and gracious men; or the caufe and intereft of religion, which he feared would fink by the ceafing of godly men. When all friends and refuge fail, faints betake themfelves to God, and their falvation is of him; and he is their prefent help in a time of trouble; and he faves and referves for himfelf a number in the worft of times; as he did in Elijab’s’
time, who thought there was no godly man left but himfelf; fee Rom. xi. 1—5. or the faithful fail from among the children of men; {o that there are none left among them but carnal, unregenerate, ungodly; and unfaithful men. The faithful are fuch who are upright in heart and converfation; who truft in the Lord, and believe in the Meffiah; who abide by the truths and ordinances of God; and are faithful in what is committed to their truft, whether they be gifts of nature, providence, or grace; and to their fellow-chriftians, in advifing, reproving,?¢. when needful; thefe: may fail in the exercife of grace, and in the difcharge of duty, but not fo as to perifh eternally. The words
| defign the paucity of them, and the fad degeneracy * of the times to which they refer: and they may belong either to the times of David, when Sau?s courtiers flattered him, and fpoke evil of David; when the men of Keilah intended to have delivered him up; when the Zipbites difcovered him to Saul, and invited him to come and take him; or when Abfalom rofe up in rebellion againft him, and’ fo many of the people fell off from him: or elfe to the times of Chrift, the people of the Jews in his age were a wicked and faithlefs generation; and even among his own difciples there was great want of fidelity; one betrayed him, another denied him, and all forfook him and fled; after his death, fome doubted his being the Redeemer, and one of them could not believe he was rifen from the dead, when he was. And thefe words may be applied to the antichriftian times, the times of the grand apoftafy, and falling away from the faith, upon the revealing of the man of fin; fince which the holy city is trodden under foot; the witnefles prophefy in fackcloth; and the church is in the wildernefs, and is hid there. Yea, to the fecond coming of Chrift, when there will be great carnality and fecurity, and little faith found in the earth. A like complaint with this, fee in Z/a, lvii. 1. Mic. vii.2.
¥. 2. They [peak vanity every one with his neighbour, &c.] That which is falfe and a lie, either doétrinal or practical; what was not according to the word of God, and was vain and empty, frothy, filthy and corrupt; and which no godly and faithful man would do. And this being done in common, by the generality of men, one with another, fhews the degeneracy of the age, and fupports the complaint before made. _ They fpeak even with flattering lips, as Cain did to Abel, Foab to Amafa, the Herodians to Chrift, Fudas to his mafter, falfe teachers to thofe that are fimple, hypocrites to God himfelf, when they draw nigh to him only with their lips, and all formal profeffors. to the churches of Chrift, when they profefs themfelves to be what they are not. And this is a farther proof of the juftnefs of the above complaint. And with a double heart do they peak, or with an heart and an heart“; fuch are double-minded men, who fay one thing, and mean another; their words are not to be depended upon; there is no faithfulnef$ in them. The Chinefe * reckon a man of two hearts, as they call him, a very wicked man, and none more remote from honefty. $
¥. 3. The Lord foall cut off all flattering lips, &c.} This is either a prophecy or a prayer, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi obferve; that God either would or fhould cut off fuch who ufed flattery with their lips, by inflicting fome judgment in this life, or everlafting punifhment hereafter; by iene
® ee x 979935 facies eorum, Genebrardus, Vatablus, Gaffetius; fo R. Japhet in Aben Ezra who compares it with Genefis xx. 13.
y Sepher Lekach Shechachah apud Caphtor, fol. 64.1. & Cefeph Mifnah in Maimon. Hilch. Tefhuvah, c. 9. paflive pro beneficiario, five alterius beneficiis gratiofis cumulato, Gejeras.
them away by death out of the warld, as the Targum paraphrafes it; or by cafting them into hell, where all liars and deceitful perfons will have their portion; fee Fob xxxii. 21,22. And ¢he tongue that {peaketh proud things, or great things‘, as the little horn, Daa. vii. 20,25. and the beaft, or Romifo Antichrift, who is defigned by both, Rev. xiii. 5,6. and which will be accomplifhed when Chrift fhall deftroy him with the breath of his mouth, and the brightnefs of his coming; and indeed, every tongue that rifeth up againit God, Chrift, and his people, will be condemned; when ungodly finners will be convinced of all their hard fpeeches, J/a. liv. 17. Fude15. Perhaps fome regard may be had to the tongue of Doeg the Edomite; fee Pfal. lii. 3,4,5.
¥.4. Who have faid, With our tongue will we prevail, &c.] Either through the eloquence of them, or the outward force and power with which they are backed. The fenfe is, as we fay, fo fhall it be; our words are laws, and fhall be obeyed, there is no ftanding againft them; our edicts and decrees fhall every where be regarded: or we will make one to prevail, or have the dominion®; meaning Antichrift, the man of fin; for all this is true of the tongues of the antichriftian party, and of their laws, edicts and decrees; and which have obtained every where, and by which the wicked One has been eftablifhed in his tyrannical power and authority. Our lips.are our own, or with us": we will fay what we pleafe, and make what laws and decrees we think fit, and impofe them upon men; and fo change times and laws without control], Dan. vii. 25. Whois Lord over us? which is the very language and conduct of Antichrift, who oppofes and exalts himfelf above all that is called God, 2 Theff- ii. 4. and is indeed the language of the hearts and lives of all wicked and ungodly men, fons of Belial, men without any yoke or reftraint; who walk, and are refolved to walk after the imagination of their own evil hearts; not knowing the Lord, and being unwilling to obey him, or to be reftrained by him; fee Exod. v. 2.
¥.5. For the oppreffion of the poor, &c.|. The fervants and people-of God, who, for the moft part, are poor in a temporal fenfe, and are all of them, and always fo in a fpiritual fenfe, ftanding continually in need of frefh fupplies of grace; and being often afflicted, as the word fignifies, are mean and defpicable in the eyes of the men of this world, and fo oppreffed by them, as the poor generally are‘by the rich; and as the people of /frael were opprefied by the Egyptians, fo are the people of God by Antichrift, and by his tyrannical laws and ediéts, and by fuch haughty and infolent perfons as before defcribed. For the fighing of the needy; who groan under their oppreffions; being {tripped of all good things, their friends and worldly fubftance, they figh inwardly, and cry unto the Lord, who fees their oppreffions, hears their groans; and though he cannot be moved, as men are, by any thing without himfelf, yet, according to his abundant mercy and fovereign will, he appears and exerts himfelf on the behalf of his people, and for their relief and affiftance. Now will I arife, fai'b the Lord; to have mercy on the poor and needy, and to avenge them on their op-
1 Qui ponit ei laqueum, Manfter;
® Refpirationem dabit illi, Cloppenburgius; qui laqueum injicit illis, Heb. illi, Muiss fo Kimchi. 9 Ainfworth, and fome in Michaglis, preffors, and free them from them, And this the Lord promifes to do xow, fpeedily, immediately; God arifes in the moft feafonable time, when his people are in the greateft ftraits, and in the utmoft diftrefs; and herein, difplays his wifdom, power and goodnefs, ‘This is an anfwer to the petition of the pfalmift in ¥. 1. J will fet him in fafety from hitn that puffetb at him or in falvation'; in Chrift the Saviour. All God’s people are put into the hands of Chrift, and are preferved in him; there they are in fafety, for out of his hands none can pluck them; and being built on him, the Rock, they are fafe, notwithftanding the waves and winds of temptation, per; fecution, &%c, come with ever fo much force upon them. Here it feems to fignify; that Gad would deliver his poor and needy from their oppreffions, and put them into a comfortable, profperous, fate and happy fituation, in which they will be out of the reach of their enemies; as will be the witneffes, when they fhall afcend to heaven, Rev. xi. 11,12. even out of the reach of him that puffeth at them, defpifes them, and treats them with the utmoft fecorn and contempt; fee Pfalmx, 5, Or that breathes, or let him breathe * threatnings and flaughe ters; as Saul did againft the difciples of Chrift, Aéts ix.1. or that lays nares for bim', as the wicked dofor the righteous; orthat (peaks unto him in fuch haughty and infolent language as before exprefied. Some make this claufe a propofition of itfelf, be puffeth at him; meaning either that he that is fet in fafety puffs at his enemy, defpifes him,
-as he has been defpifed by him; or God, who breathes upon him, and whofe breath is as a ftream of brimftone, which kindles in him a fire of divine wrath, which is unquenchable; or elfe the fenfe is, God will /peak to bimfelf, or to bim™; in which fenfe the word is ufed /Z2d. ii.4. that is, good and comfortable words to the poor; or he will give him refrefoment, or reff; which he will determine in himfelf to fpeak to him: or be /all have breathing, or /et bim breathe”; he fhall have times of refrefhing from the Lord, and reft from adverfity, from the oppofitions and perfecutions of his enemies, ¥.6. The words of the Lord are pure words,&c.] This obfervation the pfalmift makes in reference ta what is juft now faid in the preceding verfe, and in oppofition to the words of wicked men in y. 2, 4, which are deceitful, finful and impure, The fcriptures are the words of God; and they are pure and holy, free from all human mixtures, and from all fraud and deceit, they are the fcriptures of truth. The promifes are the words of Gad, and they are firm and ftable, and always to be depended on, and are ever fulfilled, being yea and amen in Chrift Jefus. The gofpel, and the doétrines of it, are the words of God; that is the fincere millk of the word, pure and uncorrupt, as it is in itfelf, and as it is difpenfed by the faithful minifters of i; and they are all according to godlinefs, and tend to encourage and promote purity and holinefg of heart and life; fee Prov. xxx. 5, As /ilver tried in @ furnace of earth; they are as filver for worth and value; yea, they are more valuable than filver or gold, P/alm xix. 10, and cxix, 72, Prov.viii. 10,11. The Bible is a mine of rich treafure, and to be fearched into as for it; the promifes in ir are § 9533 b JEN nobifcum, Mufculus, Pagninus, Mong 1 PWD in falute, Pagnie k 999 1199? fpiret vel fpirabit fibi, m Logues are exceeding precious; they are like apples of gold in pictures of filver, and yield more joy than the finding a great fpoil. The doétrines of the gofpel are comparable to gold and filver and precious ftones, and to be bought at any rate, but to be fold at none:* and they are as filver ¢ried, which is pure, and free from drofs. The words of men, of falfe teachers, are as drofs and reprobate filver 5 but the words of the Lord are tried, and are pure, and free from all the drofs of error and falfhood, Pfalm xviii. 30. And they are as filver tried in a furnace of earth, which fome ° render by the Lord of the earth; but the word rather fignifies a furnace, or an operatory, in which metal is melted and purified; and may be applied to the Lord Jefus Chrift in human nature, in whom are all the treafures of wifdom and knowledge, and who came full fraught with the doétrines of the gofpel; and in whom they have been ¢ried, by his fufferings and death, and are found to be pure, folid and fubftantial: or to the minifters of the gofpel, who have this treafure in earthen veffels, whofe works and words and miniftry are tried by many fiery trials, and abide: or to all the people of God in general, who dwell in earthly tabernacles; and who, in the midft of various afflictions, have a comfortable and confirming evidence of the purity and truth of the words of God, of the promifes of his covenant, and the doctrines of the gofpel. Purified feven times, that is, many times, Prov. xxiv. 16. and fo compleatly and perfe&ly pure, and clear of all drofs whatfoever, as filver fo many times tried muft needs be: and fo the words of God are not only pure, but very pure, exceeding pure, Pfalm cxix. 140.
¥. 7. Thou foalt keep them, O Lord, &c.] Not the words before mentioned, as den Ezra explains it, for the affix is mafculine and not feminine; not but God has wonderfully kept and preferved the facred writings; and he keeps every word of promife which he has made; and the doétrines of the gofpel will always continue from one generation to another; ‘but the fenfe is, that God will keep the poor and needy, and fuch as he fets in fafety, as Kimchi rightly obferves: they are not their own keepers, but God is the keeper of them; he keeps them by his power, and in his Son, in whofe hands they are, and who is able to keep them from+falling; they are kept by him from a total and final falling away; from the dominion and damning power of fin, and from being devoured by Satan, and from the evil of the world: and this the pfalm-: ift had good reafon to believe, becaufe of the love of God to them, his covenant with them, and thé promifes of fafety and falvation he has made unto’ ~ them. hou halt preferve them from this generation for ever; or thou shalt preferve him”; that is, every one of the poor and needy, from the wicked generation of men in which they live, from being corrupted or intimidated by them; and who are defcribed in the beginning of the pfalm. Some take thefe words to be a prayer, keep thou them, O -
Lord, and preferve them, &c.* and fo the following words may be thought to be a reafon or argument enforcing the requett. i Be.
¥. 8. The wicked walk on every fide, &c.) OF the poor and needy, or the righteous ones, to watch them, lay fnares for them and hurt them; therefore Lord keep and preferve them: the wicked are every where in great numbers, the whole world lies in wickednefs; and the men of it are like their father the devil, they go about to do all the mifchief they can to the faints; wherefore they ftand in need continually of divine prefervation. When the viles men are exalted; either to great dignities and high offices, to be magiftrates and rulers; fee Prov. xxix. 2. or are highly efteemed and carefled; which fhews the fad degeneracy and badnefs of the times, and the unfafe and dangerous condition the people of God are-in, ‘unlefs kept by him; fee Mal. iii. 15, 16. or elfe thefe words may be confidered as expreffive of the judgment of God upon wicked men; and fo confirm what the pfalmift had faid of God’s regard to and prefervation of his own people; and the fenfe be, that the wicked fhall walk up’and down here and there, as outcafts and vagabonds, in a moft defolate, deftitute and miferable condition; and as the latter claufe may be rendered, according to their exaltation fhall be the vilene/s, depreflion, or humiliation of the children of men*; they fhall be brought as low as they have been made high; by how much the more highly they have been exalted, by fo much the more deeply they thall be humbled; or elfe the meaning is, they fhall walk about here and there fretting and vexing, when they fhall fee fuch who in their opinion are the meaneft and bafeft of men, of low degree, and of a mean extraét, exalted to the higheft pofts of honour and dignity; as David, who was taken from the fheepfold, and placed on the throne of J/rael; fo Farchi, who obferves that the Haggadab explains it of the I raelites who will be exalted in time to come.