PSALM XIUL
Ccording to Theodoret this pfalm was written by David, not when he fled from Sau/ but from Abfalam; and gives this reafon for it, what happened to him from Saul was before his fin, and therefore he could fpeak with great boldnefs; but what befel him from Ab/alom was after it, and’therefore mourning and groans were mixed with his words, y..1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever? &c.] When God does nes immediately de- -liver his people from their enemies, or help them and-‘ doubled as if it was Sy. @ Cuftodi eum, Tigurine verfion, Vatablus; cuftodito eorum fecundum fuperelevationem, vilitas (erit vel eft) Cocceius, out of an affli€tion; when he does not difeover his love, communicate his grace, apply the bleifings and promifes of his covenant as ufual; and when he does not vifit them in his wonted manner, and fo frequently as he has formerly done, they are ready to conclude he has forgotten them; and fometimes this contiues long, and then they fear they are forgotten for ever; and this they cannot bear, and therefore expoftulate with God in a querelous manner; as the pfalmift does here; but this is to be un=— derftood not in reality but in their own pa fion, and in the opinion of their eriemies; for God never does nor can forget his people; oblivion does not fall upon him with refpect to common perfons and things; and much lefs with refpect to his own dear children, for whom a fpecial book of remembrance is written; fee the note on P/alm ix. 18. How long wilt thou hide thy face from me? his love, and the manifeftation of it, from his perfon; his gracious prefence, the light of his fmiling countenance, which fometimes God hides or withdraws from his people by way of refentment of their unbecoming carriage to him; and which is very diftrefling to them, for they are apt to imagine it is in wrath and hot difpleafure, when he ‘till loves them, and will with everlafting kindnefs have mercy on them; fee //a. viii. 17. and lix. 2. and liv.7—10. The Targum renders it, the glory of thy face.
y. 2. How long foall I take counfel in my foul, &c.] Orsput it*; to take counfel of good men and faithful friends, in matters of moment and difhculty, is fafe and right; and it is beft of all to take counfel of God who is wonderful in it, and guides his people with it; but nothing is worfe than for a man to take counfel of his own heart, or only to confult himfelf; for fuch counfel often cafts aman down, and he is afhamed of it fooner or later: but, this feems not to be the fenfe here; the phrafe denotes the diftrefling circumftances and anxiety of mind the pfalmiit was in; he was at his wits end, and caft about in his-mind, and had various devifes,and counfels formed there; and yet knew not what way to take, what courfe to fteer- Having forrow in my heart daily; by reafon of God’s hiding his face from him; on account of fin that dwelt in him, or was committed by him; becaute of, his diftance from the houfe of God, and the worthip and ordinances of it; and by reafon of his many enemies that furrounded him on every fide: this forrow was an heart-forrow, and what continually attended him day by day; or was in the day-time, when men are generally amufed with bufinefs or, diverfions, as well as in the night, as Kimchi obferves. How long jhall mine enemy be exalted over me? even the vileft of men, P/al. xii. 8. this may be underftood either of temporal enemies, and was true of David when he was obliged not only to quit his own houfe and family, but the land of 7udea, and flee to the Philiftines; and when he fled from Ab/alom his fon, left he fhould be taken and flain by him:.or of {piritual enemies, and is true of faints when fin prevails and leads captive, and when the temptations of Satan fucceed; as when he prevailed upon David to number the people, Peter to deny his mafter, &c. The Jewifh writers ‘:obferve that here are four Low longs, anfwerable to the four monarchies, Babylonian, Perfian, Grecian, and Roman, and their captivities under them.
y¥. 3. Confider and bear me, O Lord my God, &c.] The pfalmift amidft all his diftreffes rightly applies to God by prayer, claims his intereft in him as his covenant-God, which ftill continued notwithftand- ~ ing all his darknefs, defertions and afflictions; and intreats him to confider his affliction.and trouble, and deliver him out of it; to confider his enemies, how many and mighty they were; and his own weaknefs, his-frame, that he was but duft, and unable to ftand againft them: or to /ook “upon his affliction, and upon him under it, with an eye of pity and compaflion; to have refpect to him and to his prayers, and to turn unto him, and lift up the light of his countenance upon him: and fo this petition is oppofed to the complaint in ¥. 1. and he farther requefts that he would ear him; that is, fo as to anfwer him, and that immediately, and thereby fhew that he had not forgotten him, but was mindful of him, of his love to him, and covenant with him. Lighten mine eyes; meaning either the eyes of his body, which might be dim and dull through a failure of the animal fpirits, by reafon of inward grief, outward afflictions, or for want of bodily food; which when obtained refrefhes nature, chears the animal fpirits, enlightens, or gives a brifknefs to the eyes; fee 1 Sam. xiv. 27, 29. or elfe the eyes of his underftanding, Fh. i. 18. that he might behold wondrous things in the law of God, know the things which were freely given to him of God, fee more clearly his intereft in him, and in the covenant of his grace, and have his foul refrefhed and comforted with the light of God’s countenance; and he be better able to difcern his enemies, and guard againft them; and be directed to take the beft method to be delivered and. fecured from them. The people of God are fometimes in the dark, and fee no light; efpecially when benighted, and in fleepy frames; and it is God’s work to enlighten and quicken them. Les J fleep the fleep of death, a natural death”, which iscomparable to fleep, and often expreffed by it; and which fenfe agrees with lightening the eyes of his body, as before explained; or rather, the fenfe is, lift up the light of thy countenance, revive thy work in the midft of the years; let me fee thy goodnefs in the land of the living, that I may not faint and fink and die away. Or it may be aneternal death is defigned; for though true believers fhall never die this death, yet they may be in fuch circumftances, as through unbelief to fear they fhall. The Yargum paraphrafes the word thus; ‘‘enlight- ‘* en mine eyes in thy law, left I fin, and fleep with “¢ thofe who are guilty of death.” ¥. 4. Le mine enemy fay, I have prevailed again him, &c.| Which is an argument God takes notice of; and for which reafon he does not give up his people into the hands of their enemies; fee Deut, xxxil. 27.. The Chaldee paraphrafe interprets this of the evil imagination or corruption of nature, and reprefents it as a perfon, as the apoftle Paul does in Rom. vii. and which may be faid to prevail, when it pufhes on to fin, and hinders doing good, and carries captive; and it may be applied to Satan, the great enemy of God’s people, who triumphs over them, when he fucceeds in his temptations. And ¢hofe that trouble me rejoice when I am moved; meaning from his houfe and family, from his country and kingdom, from a profperous {tate and condition to a diftrefléd one; at which the troublers of David’s peace would rejoice. They that trouble the faints are fin, Satan, and the world; and, the two laft rejoice when they are in an uncomfortable and afflicted condition; and efpecially Satan rejoices when he gains his point, if itis but to move them from any degree of {tedfaftnefs, of faith and hope, or from the ways of God in any refpect: the Targum adds, from thy ways; for to be moved fo as to perifh eternally they cannot, being built upon the rock of ages, and furrounded by the power and grace of God. ¥. 5. But I have trusted in thy mercy, &c.| The faith, hope, and comfort of the pfalmift grew and increafed by prayer; from complaining he goes to praying, * t Jarchi, Midrath in Kimchi & Abendana in Miclok praying, from praying to believing; he trufted not in himfelf, noc in his own heart, nor in his own righteoufnefs and merits, but in the mercy of God; and not in the bare abfolute mercy of God, but in the grace and goodnefs of God, as the word * here ufed fignifies, as it is difplayed in the plenteous redemption which is by Chritt; which is a fufficient ground of faith and hope; fee Pfal. cxxx.7. My heart fhall rejoice in thy falvation; which God is the contriver, author, and giver of, and in which the glory of his perfeétions is fo greatly difplayed: and a true believer rejoices more on account that God is glorified by it, than becaufe of his own intereft in it; and this joy is an inward one, it is joy in the heart, and is real and unfeigned, and is what continues, and will be felt and expreffed both here and hereafter.
y¥. 6. I will fing unto the Lord, &c.] In prayer faith is encouraged, through believing the heart is filled with joy; and this joy is exprefied by the lips, in fongs of praife to the Lord, afcribing the glory of falvation to him, and giving him thanks for every mercy and blefling of life. Becaufe be hath dealt bountifully with me; both in a way of providence and grace, granting life and preferving it, and fupporting with the comforts of it; bleffing with fpiritual bleffings, and crowning with loving kind- — nefs and tender mercies; all which is generous and bountiful dealing, and affords a juft occafion of praifé and thankfgiving; fee P/al. cxvi. 7. and Cill, 1=—5.
To the chief mufician, @ pfalm of David.
HE argument of this pfalm, according to
Theodoret, is Sennacheril’s invafion of Fudea, when he fent Rab/hakeb to Hezekiah with menaces and curfes; upon which Hezekiah implored divine help and obtained it, and the 4//yrian army was deftroyed by an angel; of all which he thinks this pfalm was prophetic.
y. 1. The fool hath faid in bis heart, &c.) This is to be underftood not of a fingle individual perfon, as Nabal, which isthe word here ufed; nor of fome Gentile king, as Sennacherib, or Rabfbakeb his general, as Theodoret; nor of Nebuchadnezzar, nor of Titus, as fome Jewifh writers’ interpret it, making one to be here intended, and the other in P/a. lili.
the fame with this; but of a body, a fet of men, who juftly bear this charaéter; and defign not fuch who are ideots, perfons void of common fenfe and underftanding; but fuch who are fools in their morals, without underftanding in fpiritual things; wicked profligate wretches, apoftates from God, alienated from the life of God; and whofe hearts are full of blindnefs and ignorance, and whofe converfations are vile and impure, and they enemies of righteoufnefs, though full. of all wicked fubtlety and mifchief: thefe fay in their hearts, which are defperately wicked, and out of which evil thoughts proceed, pregnant with atheifm and impiety; thefe endeavour to work themfelves into fuch a belief, and inwardly to conclude, at leaft to wifh, there is no God; though they do not exprefs it with their mouths, yet they would fain perfuade their hearts to deny the being of God; that fo having no fuperior to whom they are accountable, they may go on in fin with impunity; however, to confider him as altogether fuch an one as themfelves, and to remove {uch perfections from him, as may render him unworthy to be regarded by them; fuch as omni- {cience, omniprefence, &c. and to canceive of him as entirely negligent of, and unconcerned about affairs of this Jower world, having nothing to do with the government of it: and thus to deny his perfections and providence, is all one as to den his exiftence, or that there is a God: accordingly the Targum paraphrafes it, “ there is no Nyu>Tw “© government of God in the earth;” fo Kimchi interprets it, ‘¢ there is no governor, nor judge in *s the world, to render to man according to his
“ works.” They are corrupt; that is, every one of thefe fools; and it is owing to the corruption of their hearts they fay fuch things: they are corrupt in themfelves; they have corrupt natures, they are born in fin, and of the flefh, and muft be carnal and corrupt: or they do corrupt, or have corrupted”: they corrupt themfelves by their atheiftical thoughts and wicked practices, Fude 10. or their works, as the Chaldee paraphrafe adds; or their ways, their manner and courfe of life, Gen. vi.12. and they corrupt others with their evil communications, their bad principles and practices, their ill examples and wicked lives. hey have done abominable works: every finful action is abominable in the fight of God; but there are fome fins more abominable than others; there are abominable idolatries, and abominable lufts, fuch as were committed in Sodom; and it may be thefe are pointed at here, and which are ufually committed by fuch who like not to retain God in their Knowledge; fee Rom.i.24,28. There is none that doth good; any one good work in a fpiritual manner; not in faith, from love, in the name and ftrength of Chrift, and with a view to the glory of God: nor can any man do a good work without the grace of God, and ftrength from Chrift, and the
-affiftance of the Spirit of God: hence, whatfoever a wicked man does, whether in a civil or in a religious way, is fin; fee Prov. xxi. 4,27. Arama takes thefe to be the words of the fool, or atheift, faying, there is no God that does good, like thofe in Zeph. i. 12.
¥.2. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, &c.] As he did when all flefh had corrupted its way, and before he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly, Gen.-vi, 12. This is faid in dire&t oppofition to the atheiftical thoughts and reafonings of wicked men, in'the preceding verfe. There is a God, and he takes notice of the children of men, and of what is done by them; though his throne is in the heavens, and. his dwelling there, yet he looks down from thence, and takes cognifance of all human affairs. This muft be underftood confiftent with the omnifcience and omniprefence of God; it is an anthropopathy, or a {peaking after the manner of men; and denotes the exaét notice which God takes, and dif.
tinét obfervation he makes, and the ae. accurate’
* JIOMS in bonitate tua, Vatablus; in benignitate tua, Junius & Tremellius, Pifcator; in benigniffima voluntate tua, accurate knowledge he has of men and their actions; fee Gen. xi. 5. and xvili. 20,21. P/al.xxxili, 13—15. To fee if there were any that did underftand: not things natural, civil and moral, but things fpiritual, as the Apoftle Paw/ interprets the words, Rom. iii. 11. For though man has not loft the natural faculty of his underftanding, and may have an underftanding of the things of nature, yet not of the things of God, until a fupernatural light is put into him; not any {piritual, experimental knowledge of God in Chrift, nor of the way of falvation by Chrift, nor of the work of the Spirit of God upon the heart, nor of the doétrines of the gofpel, nor any true fight and fenfe of his own {tate and condition. And feek God; that is, after God; as the apoftle in the fame place explains it; after the knowledge of him and his ways, and communion with him; after the things of God, his intereft and his glory: they do not feek after him in prayer, or by an attendance on his worfhip and ordinances; at leaft with their whole hearts, earneftly, diligently, conftantly, and in the firft place; nor do they feek after him in Chrift, where he is only to be found; nor under the influence, and with the affiftance of the bleffed Spirit.
¥.3. They are all gone afide, &c.| As bankrupts, having run out their whole ftock, and into debt, and have nothing to pay, nor make compofition with, and are obliged to abfcond, as ddam, Gen, iii. 8,24. The words in Pfalm liii. 3. are, every one of them is gone back; from God; have revolted from him, and turned their backs upon him, and have gone back from his commandment, defpifed his law, and caft away his word. The Apoftle Paul interprets it, they are all gone aut of the way; out of God’s way, into'their own way; out of the path of truth, righteoufnefs and holinefs, into the way of fin, error, darknefs and death; and with this agrees the interpretation of Aben Ezra, who adds, out of the right way; and of Kimchi and Ben Melech, whofe glofs is, out of the good way, which is Gad’s way, or the way of his commandments. They are all together become filthy, or ftinking *, like putrid and corrupt flefh; fee P -xxxviii,
5. Ifa. 1.6. and fo unprofitable, ufelefs, and good for nothing, as the Apoftle renders it, Rom. iii. 12. Mankind are univerfally filthy and unclean; they are all of them defiled with fin, both in foul and body, in all the faculties of their fouls and members of their bodies; and they are originally and naturally fo; nor can any thing cleanfe them from their pollution but the blood of Chrift. There is none that doth good, no not one: this is repeated partly to affeverate more ftrongly the depravity-of mankind, and partly to expreis the univerfality of it; that there is no exception-to it in any that defcend from Adam by ordinary generation. Here follow in the Septuagint verfion, according to the Vatican copy, all thofe paffages quoted by the Apoftle, Rom. iii. 13-18. which have been generally fuppofed to have been taken from different parts of feripture; fo the Syriac {choliaft fays, in fome ancient Greek copies are found eight more verfes, and thefe are they, Their throat, &c.
y¥. 4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? &c,] Of the being of God, of the nature of fin, and of the punifhment due unto it? This queftion is put either by way of admiration, as Kimchi and Aben Ezra obferve; the pfalmift, or rather God fpeaking after the manner of men, wondering that there fhould be fuch ignorance and ftupidity among men, as before expreffed; or rather, as denying this to be the cafe, and affirming that they have knowledge, notwithftanding they think and fay and do as before related, as in Rom. ix.21. Do not they know that there is a God? that fin is the tranfgreffion of the law of God? and that they are accountable to him for their actions? Verily they do: for this is faid, not of finners of the Gentiles; though even they, by the light of nature, know there is a God, and fhew the work of the law written in their hearts; and have a confcioufnefs in them of good andevil 5 but of finners in Zion, of the profligate part of mankind among the Jews, who had a divine revelation, by which they knew the one God of J/rae/; anda law, by which was the knowledge of fin, and whofe fanctions were rewards and punifhments. And it feems to defign the chief among them, who had power over others, to eat them up and devour them; even their political and ecclefiaftical governors; fee Mic. iii. 1,2,3. Ezek. xxxiv.2. who, tho’ they had no fpiritual underftanding, nor experimental knowledge of things, yet had a theoretical and fpeculative one; fo that their fins were attended with this ageravation, that they were againft light and knowledge, particularly what follows: Who eat up my people as they eat bread: not David’s people, but the Lord’s people; fee y. 2. whom he chofe for his people, who were his covenant-people, and who profefled his name, and were called by it; thefe the workers of iniquity eat up, devoured and confumed; fee Fer. x,25. by re proaching and perfecuting them, doing injury to their perfons, property and character: they devoured their perfons, by ufing them cruelly and pute ting them to death; they devoured their fubftance, by fpoiling them of it, and converting it to their own ufe, as the Pharifees are faid to devour widows houfes; and they deftroyed their good names and characters with their devouring words: and this they did with as much eafe, delight and pleafure, and without any remorfe of confcience, and as conftantly as a man eats his bread, Or the words. may be rendered, they eat up my people, they eat bread; that is, though they act fuch a wicked and cruel part, yet they have bread to eat, and fulnefs of it; they are not in ftraits, nor afflicted and punifhed; and becaufe they are not, they are hardened in their impiety and iniquity: or they eat bread, after they have perfecuted and devoured the Lord’s people, with peace of mind, without remorfe of confcience, as if they had done no iniquity, like the adulterous woman in Prov, xxx. 20. And call not upon the Lord; or pray to him, or ferve and worfhip him; for invocation includes the whole worfhip of God, and this they do not, though they know him, and aie daily fupplied by him, and eat his bread. Some read this claufe with the former, they eat bread, and call not on the Lord; as if their fin was, that when they eat bread, they did not afk a bleffing upon it, nor return thanks to God for it, which ought to be done; but the accent athnach under =m bread, will not admit of this fenfe, though it feems to be countenanced by the Targum, ¥.5. There were they in great fear, &c.] This fhews that they had fome knowledge of God, and ‘confcioufnefs of guilt, which they endeavoured to banifh out of their minds by their fears of punifhment; and thefe fears men of the moft. atheiftical principles cannot get rid of, In P/alm lili. 5, it 1§ is added, where no fear was; that is, any caufe or reafon for it: fuch men are often frighted at their own fhadows, afraid to be in the dark alone, as Hobbes the atheift was. The wicked flee when no man purfues, and are chafed by the found of a fhaken leaf; fee Prov. xxviii. 1. Lev. xxvi. 36. oF where there was no fear of God before their eyes, nor on their hearts, as well as no regard to men; or where before there were perfect peace and fecurity, and no apprehenfion or dread of any calamity, ruin and deftruction. For God is in the generation of the righteous, or of the righteous one”; which fome underftand of Jefus Chrift the righteous: and though the age or generation in which he lived was a very wicked one, yet God was with him; as was feen by the doétrines he taught, and the miracles he wrought; and which filled the Jews with panic fears, left the Romans fhould come and take away their place and nation: but rather, this is to be underftood of the generation of the faints, who are righteous through the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and have the new man in them, which is created in righteoufnefs and true holinefs, and live foberly and righteoufly; thefe are fometimes called the generation of the upright, and of the children of God, and of them that feek him, P/al. cxii. 2. and Ixxiii. 15. and xxiv. 6, in the midft of thefe God is, among them he affords his gracious prefence, and is with them, for their help and affiftance again{ft their enemies: and as this makes them fearlefs of them, it fills their enemies with dread and terror; feé Yofbua ii.g—11. The Largum renders it, «¢ the Word of the Lord is in the gene- *¢ ration of the righteous.”
¥.6. You have foamed the counfel of the poor, &c.}] The poor faints, the Lord’s people, the generation of the righteous, who are generally the poor of this world; poor in fpirit, and an afflicted people: and the counfel of them, intends not the counfel which they give to others, but the counfel which they receive from the Lord, from the Spirit of counfel, which refts upon them, and with which they are guided; and this is to truft in the Lord, and to make him their refuge; and which is good advice, the beft of counfel. Happy and fafe are they that take it! But this is derided by wicked and ungodly men; they mock at the poor faints for it, and endeavour to fhame them out of it; but hope makes not afhamed; fee Pfal. xxii. 7,8. Becaufe the Lord is bis refuge: he betakes - himfelf to him when all others fail; and finds him to be a refuge from the ftorm of impending calamities, and from_all enemies.*: ‘ ¥.7. O that the falvation of Ifrael were come out of Zion, &c.] By whom is meant the Meffiah, the Saviour of J/rae/, of all the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; and who is fo called, becaufe the falvation of them was put into his hands, and he undertook it; and becaufe he is the Captain and Author of it, and it is in him, and in no ~ other. He was to come out of Zion, out of Fudea, from among the Jews; Zion being, as Kimchi obferves, the head of the kingdom of J/rael; — fee Rom. Xi.26. Accordingly Chrift did come of the Jews, and falvation was of them, Rom. ix.4,5- Fobkn iv.22. and for-his coming from hence, or for his incarnation, the pfalmift moft earneftly wifhes: he was one of thofe kings, prophets, and righteous men, that defired to fee the days of the Meffiah, Matt. xiii. 17. Luke x. 24. And what might move him fo vehemently to wifh for it, at this time, might be the fad corruption and depravity of mankind, he had been defcribing, and the afflicted and diftrefled ftate of the faints. When the Lord bringeth back the caplivity of bis people. The people of God are in their unregeneracy, in a {tate of captivity to fin, Satan and the law 5 the work of the Meffiah, when he came, was to proclaim liberty to the captives, to fet them free, to deliver them from their fpiritual bondage: and this Chrift has done; he has redeemed his people from all their fins, and from the curfe of the law, and from the power of Satan, and has led cap- ° tivity captive; and which has juftly occafioned great joy in the redeemed ones, according to this prophecy: Facob fhall rejoice, and Ifrael fhall be glad; that is, the pofterity of Facob and I rael; not his natural but fpiritual feed, fuch who are the true fons of Facob, Iraelites indeed; thefe having faith and hope in the plenteous redemption of Chrift, rejoice in the view of their intereft in it; they fing the fong of redeeming love now, and thefe ranfomed ones will hereafter come to Zion with joy, and everlafting joy upon their heads. The Jews refer this to the times of the Meffiah*,
S in the preceding pfalm, according to Theo- A doret, the falvation of the inhabitants of 7erufaiem is foretold, and the liberty of the captives; fo in this advice is given to them, and the life they ought to live propofed, who fhould fhare in fuch benefits.
y. 1. Lord, who fhall abide in thy tabernacle? &c.| This queftion, with the following, is put by the pfalmift in a view of the fad corruption and degeneracy of mankind defcribed in the preceding pfalm, which renders the fons of men unfit for the prefence of God, and communion with him; and it is put to the Lord himfelf, the founder of Zion, who has fet his King over this holy hill of his; who has enacted laws for the good of it, and brings his people thither, making them: meet for it, and fo is
‘moft proper to give the qualifications of fuch as are admitted here; for by the tabernacle is meant not the human nature of Chrift, asin Hed. viii. 2. and ix. rr. as fome interpret it, and apply all the characters in the following verfes to Chrift; nor heaven itfelf, of which the holy place made with hands in the tabernacle and temple were a figure, Heb. ix. 24. for to fojourn* or lodge as in an inn, as the word rendered abide fignifies, will not fuit with that ftate and place which is fixed and im- -_ moveable; but the church of God on earth, called ~ a tabernacle, in allufion to the tabernacle of where God granted his prefence, facrifices were fered up with acceptance, and the holy vefféls were put; and which was mean without, but rich and — glorious within: fo God affords his gracious prefence in his church, accepts the fpiritual facrifices of prayer and praife offered to him there; and here are the veffels of mercy placed, which are fanctified and meet for the matter’s ufe; and though it is mean and defpicable in its outward appearance, in the eyes of men, it is all glorious within; fee Cant. i. 6. and this is the tabernacle of God, being of his building, and preferving, and the place of his refidence. Who fhall dwell in thy holy bill? the fame is here intended as in the preceding claufe; the allufion is to mount Zion, whither the ark of the Lord was brought in David’s time, and on one part of which the temple was afterwards built: and the church may be compared to this hill, for its eminence and vifibility in the world; for the holinefs which God has put upon it, and for the immoveablenefs of it; for though like a tabernacle it may be carried from place to place, yet it is like an hill that can never be removed out of the world; it is built on a fure foundation, the rock of ages. Now the purport of thefe queftions is, who is a proper perfon to be an inhabitant of Zion? or to be a member of the church of God? the anf{wer is in the following verfes.
y¥. 2. He that walketh uprightly, &c.] Or per- Fecly*; fee Ge. xvii. 1. not fo as to be without fin entirely, but as not to be chargeable with any notorious crime, and living in it; moreover perfection and uprightnefs often fignify fincerity, and the phrafe here may defign an J/raelite indeed, in whom is no guile; whofe faith is unfeigned, whofe love is without diffimulation, whofe hope is without hypocrify, and his whole condu& without fraud and deceit; likewife fuch an one may be faid to walk uprightly who walks according to the truth of the gofpel, and by faith on Chrift and in Chrift, as he has received him; and fuch an one is fit to be a member of a gofpel-church. And worketh righteoufne/s; not in order to his juftification before God, for not fuch an one, but he that trufts in the Lord for righteoufnefs, fhall inherit his holy mountain, J/a. vii. 12,13. but he that works the work of faith, and believes in the righteoufnefs of Chrift; who looks to it and receives it; that lays hold on it and pleads it as his juftifying righteoufnefs; he that does righteoufnefs in this fenfe, is righteous as Chrift is righteous, 1 Yobn iii. 7. and fuch an one is a proper perfon to dwell in his houfe; and who alfo by faith does works of righteoufnefs, and whofe life is a feries and courfe of righteoufnefs, as a fruit of his faith, and in confequence of his having laid hold on the righteoufnefs of Chrift. And /peaketh the truth in his heart receives Chrift who is the truth, and the gofpel the word of truth into his heart, and makes an hearty profeffion of the fame before men; and both fpeaks according to his light in the fcriptures of truth, whenever he {peaks of divine things; and in common converfation {peaks truth from his heart to his neighbour, and does not fpeak with a double heart, or fay one thing with his mouth, and intend another in his heart; fee Pfal. xii. 2. or endeavour to deceive perfons, and impofe a falfhood on them, or tell them lies; for as fuch a perfon is not fit to dwell in a private houfe, or to be in a civil fociety, much lefs is he a proper perfon to be in the houfe of God.
man’s back fpeaks evil of him, devours and deftroys his credit and reputation: the word here ufed comes from 939 which fignifies the foot, and denotes fuch a perfon who goes about from houfe to houfe, fpeaking things he fhould not, 1 Zim. v. 13. and a word from this root fignifies /pies; and the phrafe here may point at fuch perfons who creep into houfes, pry into the fecrets of families, and divulge them, and oftentimes reprefent them in a falfe light. Such are ranked among the worft of men, and are very unfit to be in the fociety of the faints, or in a church of Chrift; fee Rom. i.30, 2 Cor. xii. 20. Nor doeth evil to bis neighbour; to
“any man whatever, good or bad, friend or foe, whether in a natural, civil, or fpiritual relation, either by words or deeds, to his perfon, property, or good name. Nor taketh up a reproach again# his neighbour; does not raife any {candalous report on him himfelf, nor will he bear to hear one from another, much lefs will he fpread one; nor will he fuffer one to lie upon his neighbour, but will do all he can to vindicate him, and clear his character.
¥. 4. In whofe eyes a vile per fon is contemned, &c.
A vile man is a very wicked, profligate, and abandoned creature, one that is to every good work reprobate; and fuch fometimes are in high places, Pfal. xii. 8. Dan, xi. 21. and are greatly carefled and efteemed by the men of the world; but then, as they are an abomination to God, they fhould be defpifed by his people, let them be what they will as to their riches, honours, and wifdom among men; asHaman was by Mordecai, Eth. ili. 2, and Abab by Elifoa, 2 Kings iii. 14, and fuch wha keep company with, and exprefs a delight and pleafure in fuch fort of perfons, ought by no means to have a place in the houfe of God. Some under ftand this of a good man being de/pifed in bis own eyes, as it may be rendered‘; on account of his vilenefs, and the imperfection of his obedience, and as expreffive of his great humility, efteeming others better than himfelf; and who renounces himfelf, and is rejected by himfelf, having a very mean opinion of himfelf; which is the fenfe of the Targum, Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and which is no bad fenfe, tho’ the former is countenanced by what follows.. But he honoureth them that fear the Lord; who have the covenant-grace of fear wrought in their hearts, and ferve the Lord with reverence and godly fear; that is, who are truly religious and godly perfons; thefe, fuch who are fit members of the church of Chrift love heartily, efteem of highly, and honour them by thinking and fpeaking well of them, and behaving with great refpect and decency to them; fee Rom. xii.10. He that /weareth to his own burt, and changeth not; having taken a folemn oath, fo facred is it with him, and fuch a regard has he to the name of God, by whomhe fwears, that tho” it is to his civil lofs and detriment, yet ‘he will not break it and depart from it, but punctually obferve it: fome render it, be that fwears to his neighbour, and changeth not *; he that is juft to his word, faithful to his promifes, that exactly fulfils all the obligations he lays himfelf under unto others; he that is honeft and upright in all his dealings, The Jewith writers interpret this claufe of a man’s vowe ing and {wearing to afflict himfelf by fafting, which, though it is to the emaciating of his body, yet he ftrictly obferves his vow or oath; but this is foreign from the fcope of the place: it might be rendered, he that fwears to doevil, and does not recompenfe or perform,
F9}9YI MDI qui defpicit fe in oculis fuis, fo fome in Vatablus; ills perform", it being better to break through fuch an oath than to keep it; fee Lev. v. 4.
y. 5. He that putteth not out bis money to ufury, &c.] To the poor, in an extravagant and exorbitant way, by which he bites, devours, and deftroys his little fubftance, and fadly afflicts and diftrefies him; fee Exod. xxii. 25. otherwife, to lend money on moderate intereft, and according to the laws, cuftoms, and ufages of nations, and to take intereft for it, is no more unlawful than to take intereft for houfes and land; yea it is according to the law of common juftice and equity, that if one man lends money to another to trade with, and gain by, that he fhould have a proportionate fhare in the gain of fuch a trade, but the defign of this paflage, and the law on which it is founded, is, to forbid all exactions and oppreffions of the poor, and all avaritious practices, and to encourage liberality and beneficence; and fuch who are covetous, and bite and opprefs the poor, are not fit for church- communion; fee t Cor. v.11. Eph. v.5. Nor taketh reward agains the innocent; either to fwear falfly againft him, or to pafs a wrong fentence on him; fee 1 Sam. xii. 3. He that doeth thefe things foall never be moved; from the tabernacle of God, and his holy hill; he is fit to be a member of the church of God, and an inhabitant of Zion; and he fhall dwell and abide there, he fhall be a pillar which fhall never go out, Rev. iii. 12. he fhall finally perfevere, through the grace of God; he fhall hald on and out unto the end: and though he may fall through infirmity and temptation into fin, and that many times, yet he fhall not finally and totally fall, 2 Pet. i. 10. but fhall be as mount Zion which can never be removed, P/al. cxxv. 1,2. ‘The words
| fhould be rendered, fince the accent athnach is on “Po thefe things, thus; he that doth thefe things, not only what is mentioned in this verfe, but in the foregoing, he, I fay, foall never be moved. *
‘HIS is a new title, not met with before, tho’ it afterwards is prefixed to five pfalms running, Pjal. lvi, lvii, lviii, lix, lx, Some’take the word mictam to be the name of a mufical inftrument, as Kimchi on Pfal. iv. 1. others the name of one of the tunes, as Zarchi; and others the tune of a fong which began with this word, as 4ben Ezra obferves, to which this pfalm was fung; the Septuagint tranflate it /telography, or an inicription upona pillar; fuch an one as is erected by conquerors as Theodoret obferves, having writing on it declaring the victory obtained; fuggefting that the pfalm, or the fubject of it, the death and refurrection of Chrift, was worthy to be infcribed on a pillar of marble; and the Targum renders it, a right engraving, that deferves to be engraven in a monument ot brafs: but what feems to be the beft fenfe of the word is, that it fienifies a work of gold, and may be rendered, a golden pfalm of David; fo called, either becaufe it was a dear and favourite fong of his; or from the fubject-matter, which is more valuable and precious than the moft fine gold: the title of it in the Syréac and Arabic verfions is, ** concern- «« ing the election of the church, and the refurrec- «< tion of Chrift;” and certain it is from y. 10. the refurrection of Chrift is fpoken of in it, as is clear from the teftimonies ef two apoftles, Peer and Paul, who cite it in proof of it, A#s ii, 25-31. and xiii. 35, 36, 37. and fince there is but one perfon fpeaking throughout the pfalm, and Chrift is he that fpeaks in y. 10. and which cannot be un. derftood of David, nor of any other perfon, but Chrift, the whole of the pfalm muft be interpreted of him.
¥. 1. Preferve me, O God, &c.] Prayer is proper to Chrift as man; he offered up many prayers and fupplications to God, even his Father, and his God, and as the ftrong and mighty God, as the word ‘ here ufed is commonly rendered by interpreters; with whom all things are poffible, and who is able to fave; fee Heb. v. 7. Luke vi. 12. Matt. xxvi. 39> 42544. fobn xvii. 1. and this petition for prefervation was fuitable to him and his cafe, and was
1 ON Deus fortis feu potens, Muis; Dens omnipotens, Cocceius, heard and anfwered by God; he was very remarkably preferved in his infancy from the rage and © fury of Herod; and very wonderfully was his body preferved and fupported in the wildernefs under a faft of forty days and forty nights together, and from being torn to pieces by the wild beafts among which he was, and from the temptations of Satan, with which he was there affaulted; and throughout the whole of his miniftry he was preferved from being hindered in the execution of his office, either by the flatteries, or menaces, or falfe charges of his enemies; and though his life was often attempted they could not take it away before his time: and whereas Chrift is in this pfalm reprefented as in the view of death and the grave, this petition may be of the fame kind with thofe in Fohn xii, 27. Matt. xxvi. 39, 42. and put up with the fame fubmiffion to the will of God; and at leaft may intend divine help and fupport in his fufferings and death, prefervation from corruption in the grave, and the refurreCtion of him from the dead; and it may alfo include his concern for the prefervation of his church, his other felf, and the members of it, his apoftles, difciples, and all that did or fhould believe in his name, for whom he prayed after this manner a little before his death; fee Luke xxii.31,32. Fobn XVil, 11, 15, 20,24. For in thee do I put my trust; or have boped*; the graces of faith and hope were implanted in the heart of Chrift, as man, who had the gifts and graces of the Spirit without meafure beftowed on him, and thefe very early appeared in him, and fhewed themfelves in a very lively exercife, P/al. xxii. 7. Luke ii. 49. and were ina very eminent manner exercifed by him a little before his death, in the view of it, and when he was under his fufferings, and hung upon the crofs, J/a. 1. 6—9. Matt. xxvii. 46. Pfal. xvi. g, 10. and xxii. 8. and this his truft and confidence in God alone, and not in any other, is ufed as a reafon or argument for his prefervation and fafety.: ¥.2, O my foul, thou baft faid unto the Lord, &cc.] Some take thefe to be the words of David {peaking to the church, who had owned the Lord to be her Lord, and had declared what follows; é&
* ‘i } Pf. xvi. ¥. 354-6 others think they are the words of God the Father to his Son, fuggefting to him what he had faid; but they are rather an apoftrophe, or an addrefs of Chrift to his own foul; and the phrafe, O my foul, though not in the original text, is rightly fupplied by our tranflators, and which is confirmed by the Largum, and by the Jewifh commentators, ‘archi, Aben Ezra and Kimchi. Thou art my Lord, Chrift, as man, is a creature made by God; his human nature is the true tabernacle which God pitched and not man, and on this confideration he is his Lord, being his Creator; and as mediator Chrift is his fervant, and was made under the Jaw to him, obeyed him, and fubmitted to his will in all things; fo that he not only in words faid he was his Lord, but by deeds declared him to be fo. My goodne/s extendeth xot to thee; fuch who fuppofe that David here {peaks in his own perfon, or in the perfon of other believers, or that the church here fpeaks, differently interpret thefe words: fome render them, my goodnefs is not above thee’; it is far inferior to thine, it is not to be mentioned with it, it is nothing in comparifon of it; all my goodnefs, happinefs and felicity lies in thee, P/al. Ixxiii. 25. others, J have no goodne/s without thee; the fenfe is the fame as if it was I have faid, as read the Greek, Vulgate Latin, and oriental verfions, and fo Apollinarius, Ihave none but what comes from thee; what I have is given me by thee, which is the fenfe of the Targum; fee Fames i. 17. others, my goodne/s is not upon thee™; does not lie upon thee, or thou art not obliged to beftow the bleffings of goodnefs on me; they are not due to me, they {pring from thy free grace and favour; to this fenfe incline Zarchi, Aben Ezra and Kimchi; fee Luke xvii. 10. Rom. xi. 35. others, thou haS no need of my goodne/s; nor will it profit thee, fo R. Fofeph Kimchi, fee Fob xxii..2, 3. and xxxv. 7, 8. or the words may be rendered, O my goodnefs, or thou art my good, nothing is above thee"; no goodnefs inany fuperior to God. But they are the words of Chrift, and to be underftood of his goodnefs; not of his effential goodnefs as God, nor of his providential goodnefs, the fame-with his Father’s; but of his fpecial goodnefs, and the effect of it to his church and people; and denotes his love, grace, and goodwill towards them, fhewn in his incarnation, fufferings and death; and the bleflings of goodnefs which come thereby; fuch as a juttifying righteoufnefs, forgivenefs of fin, peace and reconciliation, redemption, falvation, and eternal life. Now tho’ God is glorified by Chrift in his incarnation, fufferings and death, and in the work of man’s redemption, yet he ftood in no need of the obedience and fufferings of hisSon; he could have glorified his juftice another way, as he did in not fparing the angels that finned, in drowning the old world, and in burning Sodom and Gomorrah, and in other inftances of his vengeance; though there is glory to God in the higheft in the affair of falvation by Chrift, yet the good will is to men; though the debt of obedience and fufferings was paid to the juftice of God, whereby that is fatisfied and glorified, yet the kindnefs in paying the debt was not to God but to men, defcribed in the next verfe,
¥. 3. But to the faints that are in the earth, &c.
Who are fanétified or fet apart by God the Father in eleCtion; whofe fins are expiated by the blood of Chrift in redemption, and who are fanctified or made holy by the Spirit of God in effectual vocation; and who live a holy life and converfation: thefe are faid to be in the earth, not to diftinguifh them from the faints in heaven, to whom the goodnefs of Chrift extends as to them; unlefs it be co diftinguifh them from the angels in heaven, who are called faints, Deut, xxxiii, 2. as Aben Exra obferves; but to point out the place of their abode, fcattered up and down » in the earth; and to fhew that Jove, grace, goodnefs and kindnefs of Chrift reaches to them in the prefent {tate of things, notwithftanding all their meannefs and imperfection in themfelves, and their defpicablenefs in the eyes of others; fee Fobm xiii. 1. And to the excellent; the fame with the faints, who though reckoned by men the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, are in high efteem with Chrift; they are zobles° in his account, as the word is rendered in Yer. xxx. 21. they are princes in all the earth, and thefe princes are kings; they are made kings and priefts unto God by Chrift; they wear and live like kings, and have the attendance, power, riches and glory of kings; they are guarded by angels, they have power with God, they are rich in iaith, and heirs of a kingdom.- Jn whom is all my delight; Chrift’s delights were with thefe fons of men before the world was, and have always continued with them; they are his bephzi-bab and beulah, as in L/a. \xii, 4. hence he became incarnate, and fuffered and died for them, and makes application of all the bleffings of his grace and goodnefs to them.
¥. 4. Their forrows fhall be multiplied, &c.] Not the forrows of the faints and excellent ones, by feeing the idolatry of men, as Aben Ezra interprets it; but the forrows of fuch that Aaften after another God; a falfe god, an idol, to ferve and worfhip it; for generally {peaking, idolaters are more forward, eager and hafty to attend a falfe worfhip, than the worfhippers of the true God are to attend his fervice: now their forrows are many, even in their worfhip, by cutting their bodies with knives and lancets, as the worfhippers of Baal did; and by facrificing their own children, which, notwithftanding their rafh and precipitate zeal, could not fail of giving them pain and uneafinefs; and befides temporal punifhments inflicted on them for their idolatry by God, and ftings of confcience which muft fometimes attend them, the wrath of God lies upon them, and they will have their portion in the lake of fire, and the fmoke of their torment. will afcend for ever and ever. idols are multipled; and fo the Chaldee paraphrafe,
Some render the words, their
‘¢ they multiply their idols, and after that haften to “¢ offer their facrifices;’” when men leave the true God, they know not where to ftop; the heathens had not lefs than thirty thoufand gods, and the Jews when they fell into idolatry ran in the fame way, fer. ii. 28. and xi. 13. Hof. viii.11. The word God is not in the original text, though the fupplement is countenanced ii the Jewifh writers, who interpret it in this way; but I rather think the text is to be underftood not of heathen idolaters,
‘but of unbelieving Jews, who, rejecting the true
Meffiah, haften after another Meffiah, King and Saviour; when Jefus the true Meffiah came, they received him not; but when another came in his own name they were eager to embrace him, Fob v. 43. and to this day they are haftening after another; and in their daily prayers pray that the com- m Bonum meum non eft fuper te, Montanus, Cocceius, ing of the Meffiah might be MMI i hafte, in their days*; and the fenfe of the paflage is, that the forrows of the Jews, rejecting the Meffiah and haftening after another, would come thick and faft upon them, until wrath came upon them to the uttermoft, Matt. xxiv. 6—8. 1 Theff. ii. 16. and it holds good of all, whether Jews or Gentiles, that haften after another Saviour; that fay to the works of their hands, that they are their gods, or go about to eftablith a righteoufnefs of their own, or feek for life and falvation by their own doings; thefe, fooner or later, will lie down in forrow, J/a. 1.11. Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer; meaning not the libations of the Gentiles, which were not wine, according to the law, Numb. xv. 10, but blood, even fometimes human blood; but the facrifices of the Jews, which were either got by blood, murders and robberies, and on that account were hateful to God, J/a. \xi. 8. or rather the facrifices of bloodthirfty perfons, whofe hands were full of blood, J a.
i. r1—15. and fuch were the offerings. of the priefts, fcribes and pharifees, in Chrift’s time, who were the children of them that killed the prophets, and fought after the blood of Chrift. Or it may be rendered, J will not offer their drink-offerings becaufe of blood’; meaning his own blood fhed for the remiffion of fins, which being obtained, there remains no more offering for fin; and fo the words may exprefs the abolition of all legal facrifices, and the caufing of them to ceafe through the blood and facrifice of Chrift. This fhews the perfon fpeaking to be a prieft, and therefore could not be David, but muft be the Meffiah, who is a prieft after the order of Me/chizedek; and who had a better facrifice to offer up, than any of the offerings of the Jews, even his own felf, by which he has put away fin for ever. He adds, xor take up their names into my lips; not the names of idol-deities, nor of their worfhippers, but of the Jews that rejected him as the Meffiah, for whom he would not pray, Fohn xvii. 9. and fo as he refufed to offer their facrifices, he would not perform the other part of his prieftly office for them in interceffion; though this may alfo have refpect to the rejection of the Jewifh nation as the people of God; writing a /o-ammi upon them, declaring them to be no longer the children of the living God; leaving their names for a curfe, a taunt, anda proverb in every place; expreffing the utmoft abhorrence of them, and fhewing the utmoft indignation at them, as perfons whofe names were not worthy or fit to be mentioned, Eps, v. 3. ¥. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup, &c.| This is faid by Chrift as a prieft, and in allufion to the Levitical priefts, who had no inheritance in the land of Canaan with their brethren, but the Lord was their part and portion, and their inheritance, Numb. xviii. 20. Deut. xviii. 1,2. and it exprefies the ftrong love and affe&tion Chrift had for the Lord as his God, the delight and pleafure he had in him, and the fatisfaétion he had in the enjoyment of him and communion with him, and that it was his meat and drink to ferve him, and to do his will; and tho’ _ his goodnefs did not extend to him, yet his’ goodnefs and happinefs as man lay in him: {s the fenfe fhould be, “* the Lord is he who es me the portion of mine inheritance;*? me@iing his church and people, all the elect of Godj§who are Chrift’s portion and inheritance, given hifn by the Father; fee Deut. xxxii, 9. P/al. ii.8, daffigns to me my cup, as of bleffings, fo of forrows and fufferings, which being meafured out, filled up, and put into his hand by his Father, he freely took it, fabn xviil.11. Thou maintaineft my lot 5 that is, either his intereft in God himfelf, as his covenant-God, which always continued; or the lot of goods, of grace and glory, put into his hands for his people, which always remains; or rather, the faints themfelves, who,.as they are Chrift’s portion and inheritance, fo they are his lot; in allufion to the land of Canaan, which was divided by lot: thefe Febovah took hold of, kept, preferved and upheld, as the word * fignifies; fo that they fhall never totally and finally fall and perith; and this fenfe is countenanced by what follows.
y¥. 6. The lines are fallen unto me in pleafant pla. ces, &c.] The allufion is to the meafuring of land by lines, and appropriating each part to the proper owners; and lines defign the land that is meafured out by them, and here the church and people of God, the chofen ones who are given to Enritt, as his portion and inheritance; and the fenfe is, that Chrift’s portion lies among or in pleafant perfons; fuch as were fo to him, as he faw them in his father’s purpofes and decrees; and as they are clothed in his righteoufnefs, and wafhed in his blood; and as they are adorned with the graces of his Spirit; and as they will be as a bride adorned for him in the new Yerufalem-ftate; for rather perfons than places are here meant: though as the bounds of the faints habitations are fet, and they are known to Chrift, fo they were pleafant to him, and he took delight and rejoiced in the very fpots of ground where he knew they would dwell, Prov. viii. 31. and the word places is fupplied by Aben Ezra and Kimchi: but the former fenfe feems bett, ' and agrees with what follows. ea, I have a goodly beritage: fo the Lord’s people are called, 1 Pet. v. 3. thefe are Chrift’s heritage, his peculiar treafure, his jewels, with whom he is greatly delighted and well pleafed,; more than men are with their gold and filver, houfes and land, and ~ their greateft wealth and fubftance: thefe perfons are the inheritance with which he is contented and fully fatisfied.. 7 y.7. I will blefs the Lord, &c.] As prayer, fo thanksgiving belongs to Chrift, as man and me= diator; fee Matt. xi. 25,26. ohn xi. 42. and here he determines to praife the Lord, and give thanks to him for counfel and inftruction: Who hath given me counfel 5 for though he himfelf is the Counfellor, with refpecét to his people, yet as man he received counfel from God, and the Spiritof coun- ~ fel refted on him, J/2. xi. 2. and fitted him for, and directed him in the execution of his prophetic office; for the doétrine he taught was not his own, but his Father’s; and he faid nothing of himfelf but what his Father taught him, and i
50. And he alfo gave him counfel about the execution of his prieftly office, or about his fufferings and death, and drinking of the cup, which he, with fubmiffion to the divine will, defired might pafs from him; but having advice in this matter, moft chearfully and courageoufly yielded to take it; fee Matt. xxvi. 39, 42, 44, 46, 50153954: y reins alfo instruct me in the night-feafons 5 sf s gaged in prayer to God, in which he fometimes continued a whole night together, Luke vi.12. and os et xxi.37. and efpecially in that dark and difmal night in which he was betrayed, when it was the hour and power of darknefs with his enemies; then, his inward parts being influenced by the Spirit of wifdom and counfel, directed him how to behave and conduct himfelf. Or éhe reins being the feat of the affections, and being put for them, may fignify, that his {trong affection for God, and love to his people, put him upon, and moved him to take the fteps he did, to deliver up himfelf into the hands of finful men, in order to fuffer and die for his friends, and obtain eternal falvation for them.
y. 8. I have fet the Lord always before me,8c.] Not his fear only, or the book of the law, as Zarchi interprets it, but the Lord himfelf; or, forefaw the Lord always before my face, Acts ii, 26. as Chrift is fet before men in the gofpel, to look unto as the object of faith and hope, to truft in and depend upon for life and falvation, fo Fehovah the father is the objeét, which Chriit fet before him, and looked unto in the whole courfe of his life here on earth; he had always an eye to his glory, as the ultimate end of all his aétions; and to his will, his orders and commands, as the rule of them; and to his purpofes, and counfel, and covenant, to accomplifh them; and to his power, truth and faithfulnefs, to affift, fupport, and encourage him invall his difficulties and moft diftreffed circumftances. Becaufe he is at my right hand; to counfel and inftruét, to help, protect and defend: the phrafe is expreffive of the nearnefs of God to Chrift, his prefence with him, and readinefs to affift and ftand by him againft all his enemies; fee P/fal. cix. 31. and cx. 5. and cxxi. 5. fo the Targum paraphrafes it, becaufe bis fhekinab rejts upon me. I fhall not be moved: as he was not from his place and nation, from the duty of his office, and the execution of it, by all the threats and menaces of men; nor from the fear, worfhip and fervice of God, by all the temptations of Satan; nor from the caufe of his people he had efpoufed, by all the terrors of death, the flaming {word of juftice, and the wrath of God; but in the midft and view of. all, ftood unfhaken and unmoved; fee J/a.xlii. 4. and 1, 5—9.
¥.9. Therefore my heart is glad, &c.J] Becaufe he had the Lord always in view; he was at his right hand, for his fupport and affiftance, as well as becaufe of what is exprefied in the next verfes:
this is the fame with rejoicing in fpirit, Luke x.21.
it denotes an inward joy, and fulnefs of it, becaufe of the Lord’s prefence with him; fee 4s ii. 28. And my glory rejoiceth; meaning either his foul, which is the moft glorious and noble part of man, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; or rather his tongue, as in fs ii. 26. the faculty of fpeaking in man being what gives him a fuperior glory and excellency to other creatures, and is that whereby he glorifies God; and fo the word is often ufed in this book; fee Pfal. xxx. 12, and lvii. 8, and cviii, 1. and here the phrafe defigns Chrift’s glorifying God, and finging his praife with joyful lips, among his difciples, a little before his fufferings and death. My fich alfo foall reft in hope; in the grave; which, as it is a refting-place to the members of Chrift, from all their forrow, toil, and labour here; fo it was to Chrift their head, who refted in it on the Jewith fabbath, that day of reft, and that both ix fafety*, as the word ufed may fignify, and in hope of his refurreétion from the dead, as follows,
_¥. 10. For thou wilt not leave my foul in bell, &c,
Meaning, not in the place of the damned, where Chrift never went, nor was; for at his death his foul was committed to his Father, and was the fame day in paradife: but rather, foeol here, as hades in the New Teftament, fignifies the ftate of the dead, the feparate ftate of fouls after death, the invifible world of fouls, where Chrift’s foul was; though it was not left there, nor did it continue, but on the third day returned to its body again: though it feems beft of all to interpret it of the grave, as the word is rendered in Gen, xlii. 38, Lfa. xxxviii. 18. and then by his /ou/ muft be meant, not the more noble part of his human nature, the foul, in diftin¢étion from the body; for as it died not, but went to God, it was nat laid in the grave; but either he himfelf, in which fenfe the word /oul is fometimes ufed, even for a man’s felf, P/al. iii. 2. and xi.1, For it might be truly faid of him, God’s holy One, that he was laid in the grave, though not left there; or rather, his dead body, for fo the word xephe/b is rendered in Numb. ix. 6,10. and xix. 11,13. fo anima is ufed in Latin authors": this was laid in the grave 3 for Fofepb having begged it of Pilate, took it down from the crofs, and laid it in his own new tomb; though it was the will of God it fhould not be left there, but be raifed from the dead, as it was on the third day, before it was corrupted, as follows: Neither wilt thou fuffer thine holy One to fee corruption; that is, to lie fo long in the grave as to putrify and be corrupted; wherefore he was raifed from the dead on the third day, according to the fcriptures, before the time bodies begin to be corrupted; fee Febn xi. 39, and this was owing not to the care of Fafepb or Nicodemus, in pravid= ing fpices to preferve it, but of Gad who raifed him from the dead, and gave him glory; and who would not fuffer his body to be corrupted, becaufe he was holy, and becaufe he was his holy One; that fo as there was no moral corruption in him, there fhould be no natural corruption in him; fo the Jewifh Midra/h” interprets it, that « no worm “* or maggot fhould have power aver him;” which is not true of David, nor of any but the Meffiah. This character of oly One eminently belongs to Chrift above angels and men, yea it is often ufed of the divine being, and it agrees with Chrift in his _ divine nature, and is true of him as man; he is the holy thing, the holy child Jefus; his nature is pure and fpotlefs, free from the taint of original fin; his life and converfation were holy and harmlefs, he did no fin, nor knew any, nor could any be found in him by men or devils; his doétrines were holy, and tended to promote holinefs of life; all his works are holy, and fuch is the work of redemption, which is wrought out in confiftence with and to the glory of the holinefs and righteoufnefs of God; Chrift is holy in all his offices, and is the fountain of holinefs to his people; and he is God’s holy One, he has property in him as his Son, and as mediator, and even as an holy One; for he was fanctified and fent into the world by him, being anointed with the holy oil of his Spirit without meafure. The word may be rendered, a merciful * or liberal and beneficent one: for Chrift is all this; he is a merciful as well as a faithful high-prieft, and he generoufly diftributes grace and glory to his people.
y. 11. Thou wilt fhew me the path of life, &c.} Not the way of life and falvation for loft finners, which isChrift himfelf; but the refurreétion of the dead, which is a paffing from death to life; and was fhewn to Chrift, not doétrinally, or by illuminating his mind, and leading him into the doétrine of it, for fo he himfelf has brought it to light by the gofpel; but practically and experimentally, by yaifing him from the dead, or by caufing him to pafs from death to life; and he was the firft to whom the path of life was fhewn in this fenfe, or the firft who ever trod in it, and fo has led the way for others: hence he is called the firft fruits of them that flept, the firft-born and firft-begotten from the dead; for though others were raifed before, yet not to an immortal life, never to die more, as he was; now the view, the faith, and hope of this, of not being left in the grave fo long as to fee corruption, and of being raifed from the dead to an immortal life, caufed joy and gladnefs in Chrift, at the time of his fufferings and death, as well as what follows. Jn thy prefence is fulnefs of joy, Chrift being raifed from the dead afcended to heaven and was received up into glory, into his Father’s prefence, and is glorified with his own felf, with his glorious prefence, for which he prayed, ‘obm xvii.5. and which fills his human nature with fulnefs of joy, with a joy unfpeakable and full of glory; fee
HIS prayer was put up by David either in his own perfon, on his own account, praying to God for the vindication of his caufe, and for falvation and deliverance from his enemies; or in the perfon of the Meffiah, whofe type he was, and of the whole church, fo Ferom of old interpreted it; and the title of it in the Arabic verfion is, ‘* a *¢ prayer in the perfon of a perfect man, and of «¢ Chrift himfelf, and of every one that is redeem- *« ed by him;” in which prefervation and protection are prayed for, and hope of eternal life is expreffed. It was written, according to Theodoret, when David fuffered perfecution from Saul.
¥. 1. Hear the right, O Lord, &c.] The pfalmift appeals to the Lord as a judge, fitting on the throne judging right, that he would hear his caufe litigated between him and his adverfaries, determine and give the decifive fentence about it; fo Chrift committed himfelf to him that judgeth righteoufly, 1 Pet. ii. 23. for by right may be meant his right and caufe, or his righteous caufe, as in Pfal. ix. 4. unlefs rather his righteous prayer fhould be intended, fo the Zargum paraphrafes it, my prayer in righteoufnefs; not prefented for the fake of his own righteoufnefs, but on account of the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and for the vindication of his righteous caufe before men: the Vulgate Latin, Ethiopic and Arabic verfions render it my righteou - nefs, meaning his righteous caufe; but rather the word may be rendered righteoufne/s*, or the righteous one, and may defign the pfalmift himfelf, who was a righteous perfon, and fuch the Lord hears;
As ii. 28. and as it is with the head, it will be with the members in fome meafure; now the prefence of God puts more joy and gladnefs into them than any thing elfe can do; but as yet their joy is” not full, but it will be when they {hall enter into the joy of their Lord, into the prefence of God in the other world, then everlafting joy will be upon — their heads. At thy right hand there are pleafures for evermore; Chrift being entered into heaven 1s fet down at the right hand of God in human nature, an honour which is not conferred on any of the angels, Heb. i. 13. where the man Chrift Jefus is infinitely delighted with the prefence of God, the never-fading joys of heaven, the company of angels and glorified faints; here he fits and fees of the travail of his foul; he prolongs his days and fees his feed, fouls called by grace, and brought to glory one after another, until they are all brought in, in whom is all his delight; and which was the joy fet before him at the time of his fufferings and death: or the words may be rendered, in thy right band are pleafant things for ever’, and may defign thofe gifts and graces, whichChrift, being exalted at the right hand of God, received from thence and gives to men, for the ufe and fervice of his church and { ple, ‘in the feveral fucceffive ages of time; iG Aben Ezra takes the words to be an allufion to a man’s giving pleafant gifts to his friend with his right hand..
or Chrift, whofe name is the Lord our phteohtt nefs, Fer. xxiii. 6. and who, as an advocate or interceflor for himfelf and for his people, is Jefus Chrift the righteous, 1 Foba ii. 1.) gint verfion takes it to be an epithet of the Lord himfelf, tranflating it, O Lord of my righteoufne s, as