¥. 6. And now foall mine bead be lifted up, &e. j That is, when broughtinto the houfe of the Lord, hid in the fecret of his tabernacle, and fet upon the rock Chrift; by this phrafe he means, either that he fhould be then reftored to his former happy and comfortable condition, as it is ufed in Gen. x. 1 a or, that he fhould overcome all his enemies, and triumph over them, being exalted, as he adds, Above mine enemies round about me; fo that not only they fhould not be able to come at him, but fhould be fubdued under him. 7; herefore will I offer in his tabernacle facrifices of joy; attended with fhouting and founding of trumpets: in allufion to the blowing of trumpets at the time of facrifice, Numb. x. 10. Sacrifices of praife and thankfgiving, with a joyful heart, for mercies received, offered up publickly in the houfe of the Lord, are here intended. J will fing, yea I will fing praifes unto the Lord; for whom praife waits in Zion, to whom it isdue; he being the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, and the author and giver of all bleffings, temporal and fpiritual.
y. 7. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, &c.] Which is to be underftood of prayer, and that in the time of diftrefs; and of vocal prayer, as_ diftinguifhed from mental prayer; and the phrafe denotes the vehemency and intenfenels of it: and’ the requeft is, that the Lord would hear it; not only as he is omnifcient and omniprefent, and fo hears the prayers of all good and bad; buna
Paver PRAMS
not leave his people deftitute-of his: prefence finally and totally; nor to themfelves and the corruptions of their hearts, nor to the temptations of Satan; nor will he forfake the work of his hands, the work of grace upon their hearts; or fo forfake them) as that they fhall perifh: and that the Lord would not leavé nor forfake him in fuch fenfe, the pfalmift had reafon to conclude; fince he had been his 4e/p’in ‘times paft, a prefent help in time of trouble; and his arm was not fhortened, his power was the fame to help as ever, and fo were his inclination.and will; {ince he could alfo call unto him, and upon him, as follows: O God of my Salvation; the author. both of his temporal, piritual, and eternal falvation; and what might henot hope for from him? falvation includes all bleffings, both for foul and body, for time and eternity.
y..10. When my father and my mother forfake me, &c.} Which is not to be underftood ftriatly and literally of his parents, that were in that near relation to him'according to the flefh, nor of any thing that had paft; not of his parents leaving him to fhift for himfelf, after having brought him up; nor of his father being unmindful of. him, when Samuel came to anoint one of his fons to be king; nor of any flight and neglect of him by them when perfecuted by Saw/; nor of their inability tohelp him then; fee 1 Sam.) xxii. 3, 4. but this is to be underftood of fomething fuppofed yet to come; and it feems beft to interpret it of his neareft and: deareft friends, chis. clofeft. adherents, beft counfellors, and moft firm allies; that when they fhould fail and drop him, his God would not leave him » the defign of it is to fet: forth the love and care of God, as fuperior to that of the moft affeétionate friends; fee J/ai. xlix. 14, 15, 16. Then the Lord will take me up; like a foundling in the ftreet, and fuch are called in the Talmudic language; perfons gathered up‘; and {fo the words may be rendered here, then the Lord will gather me*s; into his arms and bofom, and. under. the wings of his protection, and at laft to himfelf in glory.
Wy. 11. Leach me thy way, O Lord, &c.] Of providence, grace, and duty; fee the note on P/a/, xxv. 4. And lead mé in a plain path; as the path of truth is to thofe that underftand and find knowledge; and as the way of holinefs is, even to fuch who in other things are fools, but fhall not err therein, Prov. vill. 9. J/ai. xxxv, 8. or the path of righteoufnefs, in which Chrift, the wifdom of God, and fhepherd of his people, leads them, P/a/. xxiii. 3. Prov. vii. 20. Becaufe of mine enemies, or thofe that obferve me; who eyed him as Saud did, 1 Sam, xviii..9. and waited for his halting, as ‘feremiah’s familiars did for him; and lay in wait to deceive him, and lead him out of the way, as falfe teachers do; and come upon him at an un- /awares, and take every advantage againft him, as Satan does, y. 12. Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies, &c.| It is a dreadful thing for a man.to be given up to his own heart’s lufts, and to be delivered up into the hands of Satan; who would fain have even the people of God themfelves in his hands, that he might diftrefs them at pleafure, if not deftroy them; and alfo to be fuffered to fall into the hands of wicked men, whofe tender mercies are cruel. For falfe witneffes are rifen up against me laying to his charge, that he fought to take away from Sau/ his crown and kingdom, and even
‘God gracious and merciful, who fometimes very quickly hears, and anfwers in a gracious way, and fometimes feems to turn a deaf ear, to fhut out the prayers of his people, and cover himfelf with a cloud, that they fhould not pafs through, or, however, defers an an{wer to it fora little while; yet, fooner or later, he always fhews himfelf a God hearing prayer, Have mercy alfo upon me by delivering him out of his temporal diftreffes, and by forgiving his iniquities. ud anfwer me; by {peaking a word in feafon; commanding ‘off the affliction he Jay under, and by faying to’ him, that his fins were forgiven him.
¥. 8. When thou faidft, Seck ye my faces &c.] To feek the face of the Lord, is to attend his houfe and ordinances, where he grants. his pre-
‘fence; and with this view to enjoy his gracious prefence, and the light of his countenance, not being content with bare attendance without it; it is to feék the Lord himfelf, and communion with him through Chrift, the brightnefs of his glory, and the angel of his prefence,; for the right way of feeking the Lord isin Chrift, who is the way of accefs to him, and of acceptance and fellowfhip with him; and that by prayer and fupplication for his fake, and with all the heart and foul; and this the Lord:calls upon his people to do, in his word, in his providences, and by his Spirit, moving upon their hearts, and inclining them to it, as follows. My heart faid unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I feck, it is an encouragement to believers to: feek the Lord when he calls them to it; for it is acommand with promife, that they fhall find him, fee his face, and enjoy his favour; and he never fays to any, Seek ye my face, in vain; and they always find it good for them to draw nigh to him: and as it is the beft way of feeking God, when the heart is engaged init, foit isa token for good; and it
Jooks as though the Lord had a mind to manifeft himfelf, and grant the favour fought for, when he inclines the hearts of his people to pray unto him for it; and this the pfalmift makes mention of as taking encouragement from it, to hope and believe that the Lord would hear and anfwer him, and have mercy on him;_ becaufe he had bid him feek his face, and he found his heart ready to do it.
¥. 9. Hide not thy face far from me, &c.] Yea, not at all from him; forthe word far is not in the text: this is fometimes the cafe of the beft of men, and was of the pfalmift at times, and might be now, notwithftanding his ftrong expreffions of faith and joy in the preceding veries; for frames are very changeable things; and this cafe is confiftent with the everlafting and unchangeable love of God to his people; though they are ready to impute it to wrath and anger, and is what is very cutting and grievous to them; and therefore deprecate it as the pfalmift does here, Put not thy fervant away in angers either caft him not away from thy prefence, as being angry with him, though there is juft reafon for it; or fatfer him not to go away angry, fretting, and murmuring: he makes mention of his relation to God as a fervant, as he was; not 6nly by creation as aman, and by his office as a king, but by efficacious grace as a converted man; and this only as defcriptive of himfelf, and as acknowledging his dependence on the Lord, and his obligation to him; but not as a reafon why he fhould be regarded by him, for he knew he was but an unprofitable fervant. Thou baft been my help, leave me not, neither forfake me, which requett, as the reft, he might put up in faith; for God will cruelty; as Doeg the Edomite, whofe: tongué was as a fharp razor, and by whofe hands fourfcore and five priefts were flain, on account of David’s being fapplied with bread by bimelech; the word is inthe fingular number; fee Pfal. hii. 1—4. ‘and 1 Sam, xxii. 18. compare with this claufe 4és ix. 1. and Horace’s phrafe, Spirabat amores *, u a!
y. 13. I had fainted, &c.J]_ When falfe witnefies rofe up-againtt him, and threatened to take away his life, and the life ‘of his! friends, in the moft barbarous and: cruel: manner: the people of God are fubjeét'to faintings, in the prefent ftate of things, by reafon of afflictions; becaufe of the nature, number and continuance of them and efpecially when they apprehend them to-be in wrath and fore difpleafure:. and on‘account of their fins, and the corruptions of their hearts; fearing left there fhould be no pardon for them; or that the true work of grace is not in them or that they fhall fall, to the difhonour-ef the name of God, and to the reproach of his caufe and intereft; or that they fhall perifh eternally: likewife, by reafon of Satan’s. temptations, which are fometimes fo grievous, that if Chrift did not pray for them, their faith would fail; and alfo on account of the hidings of God’s face, which they cannot bear: they are fometimes ready to faint in the way of their duty, in the courfe of their profeffion, becaufe of the difficulties and difcouragements, reproaches and perfecutions they meet with; and fometimes in the expectation of bleffings, and of the fulfilment of promifes, and of anfwers of prayer, which have been long defered. This claufe is not in the original text, but js a fupplement of our tranflators; and it is generally agreed, there is a defeét of expreffion, which muft be fupplied in fome way or other: the Jew- ' ifh interpreters generally refer it to the preceding words; one fupplies thus ™, tho/e fal/e witneffes would have rofe up againft me, and confumed me, another * after this manner, mine enemies had almoft got the dominion over me; a third’, I bad almoft perifhed at their fayings; and afourth®, and they would have deftroyed me. Perhaps it may beas well fupplied from Pfal. cxix. 92. I fhould then have perifhed in mine affiittion; it follows, Unlefs Ihad believed to fee the goodnefs of the Lord in the land of the living; both the providential goodnefs of the Lord, in fupplying him with the neceffaries of life, and in delivering him out.of the hands of his enemies; and his fpecial goodnefs, which he has laid up in his covenant, and in his Son; even all fpiritual bleffings in Chrift, in whom he canfes all his goodnefs to pafs before his people. The pfalmift believed that he fhould /ee; chat is, enjoy all thefe, or whatever was needful for him; all the good things of life, all fpecial favours; as fupports under afflictions, views of pardoning grace, under a fenfe of fin, ftrength againft Satan’s temptations, and deliverance out of them; the difcoveries of the love of God, and the light of his countenance, after defertions, and divine refrefhments in his houfe, from his word arid ordiriances; and at laft all che glories of the other world;and faith in thefe things, is the beft antidote again{ft faintings. By the land of the living may be meant, either the land of Canaan, where the living God. was worfhipped, and living faints dwelt, in oppofition to other lands, the habitations of men dead in fins; and at a diftance from which David now might be; or elfe the world in general, in oppofition to the place and {tate of the dead; or, as fome think, heaven, or the life of the world to come, as Kimchi exprefles it; and fo Apoilinarius paraphratfes it, ‘* thall fee
«¢ the bleffed God with my eyes in the land of the «¢ bleffed.” The word xv rendered uzlefs, is one of the fifteen words which are extraordinarily pointed in the Hebrew Bible.
y. 14. Wait on the Lord, &c.] This, with what follows, is fpoken by the pfalmitt either to himfelf or to others, or it may be to both, upon the rich experience he declares in the preceding verfe: it becomes believers to wait on the Lord for the common bleffings of life, for even the eyes of all wait upon him for their daily food; and for the light of his countenance, when it is withdrawn from them, for he will return again at the fet time; and for anfwers-of prayer, which will be given fooner or later; and for the performance of his promifes, which are yeaand amen in Chrift: they fhould wait upon him in his houfe and ordinances conftantly, with reverence and godly fear; they fhould wait upon him as fervants on their matters, obferve his orders, and diligently execute them; and, as beggars for their alms, they fhould knock and wait ar wifdom’s gates, tell their cafe and wait, take repulfes and wait, and when they fucceed, give’ thanks, It is good to wait upon the Lord; many are the favours and bleffings fuch receivenow, and eye has not feen what God has prepared for them that wait for him. - Be of good courage; the faints have need of courage, confidering the enemies they have to grapple with; the corruptions of their own hearts, the enemies of a man’s own houfe; the worft of all; Satan, and his principalities and powers, and men of the world, and a world of them: and they have great reafon, notwithftanding, to be of good courage, fince God is for them; Chriftis the Captain of their falvation; the holy Spirit, that ~ is in them, is greater than he that is in the worlds angels encamp around them; they are provided with the whole armour of God; they are engaged in a good caufe, are fure of victory, and fhall wear the crown of righteoufnefs; and it follows, And he fhall firengthen thine heart; that is, the Lord will do it, as he has promifed to them that wait on him, J/a. xl. 31. and xli, 10. or Jet thine heart be Strengthened; as the Septuagint render it; and fo the Chaldee paraphrafe, Strengthen thine heart; talxing it for an exhortation; as indeed it feems to be by what goes before and follows; fee Fofp. i. 6, 9. Wait, I fay, on the Lord; this is repeated, to exprefs the importance of this duty, and to encourage to it,
HIS pfalm, Aben Ezra fays, David either | him; compofed himfelf, or one of the fingers for the former feems moft likely; and it might be made by him when he was perfecuted by aie ™ Jarchi. in Miclol Yophi in loc.
b Aben Ezra,
or when delivered from him; or at leaft when he had faith and hope that he fhould be delivered: the pfalm confifts of two parts, petitions and ia givings. =.
¥. 1. Unto thee will I cry, &¢.] This denotes the diftrefs the pfalmift was in, fervency and ardour in prayer, refolution to continue in it, and fingularity with refpect to the object of it; determining to cry tothe Lord only; to which he was encouraged by what follows. O Lord my rock; he being a {trong tower and place of defence to him, in whom were all his fafety, and his truft and confidence, and in whom he had an intereft. Be not filent to me; or deaf *; perfons that do not hear are.filent, and make no anfwer; as the Lord feems to be, when he returns no anfwer to the cries of his people; when he does not arife and help them; when he feems not to take any notice of his and their enemies, but ftands at a diftance from them, and as. if he had. forfaken them; fee P/al. xxxix. 12. and xxxv. 22, 23. and |. 3, 21. J/a. Ixv. 6. the words may be confidered, as they are by fome, as an addrefs to Chrift his rock, his advocate and interceffor;- that he would not be filent, but. {peak for him, and pre- {ent his fupplications to God, with the much incenfe of his mediation; fee 1 Sam. vil. 8. Lest if thou be filent to me, ef become like them that go down into the pit; either like fuch that fall into a ditch, and cannot help themfelves out, and they cry, and there is néne to take them out from thence; of like fuch that die in battle, and are caft into a pit, and there buried in common with others; which David might fear would be his cafe, through Sau/’s violent purfuit after him; or left he fhould be like the dead, who are not regarded, and are remembered no more; or left he fhould really die by the hands of his enemies, and fo be laid in the grave, the pit of corruption; or be in fuch diftrefs and detpair, as even the damned in hell be, the pit out of which there is no deliverance,., y¥. 2. Hear the voice of my fupplications, 8cc.] Which proceed from the Spirit of grace and of fupplication, and are put up ina humble manner, under a fenfe of wants and unworthinefs, and on the foot of grace and mercy, and not merit, When I cry unto thee; as he now did, and determined he would, and continue fo doing, until he was heard. When I lift up my bands toward thy holy oracle; the Holy of holies, in the tabernacle and in the temple, which was fometimes fo called, 1 Kings vi. 23. com-.
pared with 2 Chron. iti. ro, where were the ark, the mercy-feat and Cherubim, between which the Lord dwelt, and gave refponfes to his people; or heaven itfelf, which the Holy of holies was a figure of; where is the throne of God, and from whence he hears the prayers of his people directed to-him;
or elfe Chrift himfelf, who is the moft holy, and’
the debir, or oracle, who fpeaks to the Lord for his people; and by whom the Lord fpeaks to them ain, and communes with them. The oracle had its name, debir, from fpeaking. Lifting up of the handsis a prayer-gefture, and here defigns the performance of that duty to God in heaven, through Chrift; fee Lam. iii. 41. 1 Tim. ii. 8. it was frequently ufed, even by the heathens, as a prayergefture’; fee Pal. cxli. 2.
¥. 3. Draw me not away with the wicked, &c.] That is, with thofe who are notorioufly wicked;
.does not excufe their wickednefs.
who are inwardly and outwardly wicked; whofe inward part is very wickednefs, and who fell themfelves, and give up themfelves to work wickednefs: the fenfe is, that God would not fuffer him to be drawn away, or drawn afide by wicked men, but that he would deliver him from temptation; of that hé would not give him up into their hands, to be at their mercy; who he knew would not fpare him, if they had him in their power; or that he might not die the death of the wickéd, and perith with them; fee P/al. xxvi. 9; 10. And with the workers of iniquity; who make it the trade and bufinefs of their lives to commit fin; and which may be applied; not only to profane finners,: but to profeffors of religion, Matth, vii. 23. fince it follows, Which [peak peace to their neighbours, but mifchief is in their bearts; hypocrites, double-minded men, who have a form of godlinefs; but deny the power of it; pretend to religion, and have none; and {peak fair to the face, but defign mifchief and ruin; as Sau/ and his fervants did to David, 1 Sam. XVili, 17, 22.
¥. 4. Give them according to their deeds, &c.] According to the demerit of them, which is death, even death eternal. nd according to the wickednefs of their endeavours; for though wicked men do not always fucceed; yet their want of fuccefs Give them after the wark of their bands, fee 2 Tim. iv. 14. Rens der ta them their defert, what their iniquities, in thought, word, and deed, deferve: fuch petitions are not contrary to that chriftian charity, which the gofpel recommends; nor do they favour of a fpirit of revenge, which is condemned by the word of God; for it fhould be obferved, that thefe things are faid with refpeét to men given up to a reprobate mind; and that the pfalmift does not feek to avenge himfelf, nor to gratify his own mind; but he fought the glory of God, and moreover {poke by a prophetic fpirit, knowing what was the will of God in this cafe; fee y. 5. and therefore thefe petitions of his are not to be drawn into an example in common and ordinary cafes.
¥. 5. Becaufe they regard not the works of the Lord, &c.) Neither the work of creation, as if there was no firft caufe of all things; nor the work of providence, taking no notice either of the judements or of the mercies of God; as though they believed that God had forfaken the earth, and would do neither good nor evil; and ftill lefs the work of redemption, which in covenant, promife, and prophecy, was appointed for the Meffiah to- work out; and as for the work of the Spirit of God upon the foul, they had no notion of that, of the nature and neceffity of it; the things of the Spirit of God being foolifhnefs to them, and undifcernible by them; fee J/@. v. 12., Perhaps the pfalmift may have fome regard to his being anointed by Samuel, according to the will of God, and to the victory which he obtained over Goliath, and over others, which juftly gained him great efteem among fome, and created envy in others; and alfo the wonderful proteétion of him from time to time; the Chaldee paraphrafe is, because they do not under- Stand the law of the Lord. \t follows, Nor the operation of bis bands; in which his hand was fo very apparent, that nothing lefs could be faid, than that this was the finger of God; wherefore, He /hall deftroy them, and not build them up; that is, they
dere palmas ante Deum delubra, Lucretius 1, 5. prope finem,
-fhall be irrecoverably lof;
with everlafting deftruétion; there will be nohelp or remedy for them: fome * underftand this as a they fhall be punithed him; and this joy was very great, a joy ung eakable, and’ full of glory; it was not carnal, bu fpiritual, a-heart-joy, joy in the Holy Ghoft. poe;
prayer, that God would? deftroy them ‘in’ fuch a manner, and render it, /et him deftroy them, &c.* yi. 6. Bleffed be. the Lord, &c.J “Which muft be underftood, not as invoking, nor-as-conferring a bleffing on him, neither of which can be done by a creature; nor does he ftand in need of any, he being E/-/baddai, God all-fufficient, God over all, bleffed for ever 5 but as: afcribing all bleffednefs to him, congratulating his greatneis and happinels, and giving him praife and glory for merciés -received;, and particularly: for the following. Becaufe be bath beard the voice of my fupplications what he had prayed for, ¥. 2. an anfwer was quickly returned, even whilft he was fpeaking, J a. Ixv.
24, though this may. be.an expreffion of faith, being fully perfuaded and:affured that he was heard, and would be anfwered, and may be faid by a prophetic fpiric; ‘knowing that what he had humbly afked for would be granted; fo dben Ezra and Kimchi underftand it, in a way of prophecy. 7. The Lord is. my firength, &c.]_ That is, the author both of natural and fpiritwal ftrength; that gave him ftrength of body, and fortitude of mind, to. bear up under all the exercifes he was tried with; the ftrength of his life, fpiritual and temporal, and of his falvation; the ftrength of his heart under’ prefent diftreffes, and who he knew would be fo inthe hour of death, when his heart and ftrength would fail... dud my fhield; to protect and defend him; as were the love, power, and faithfulnefs of God, and the Lord Jefus Chrift, his power and fulnefs, his blood, righteoufnefs and falvation. My heart trufted in him; inthe Lord as his ftrength and fhield; not in any creature, nor in his own ftreneth and righteoufnefs; but in the Lord God, in whom are righteoufnefs and ftrength; and it is plain, he did not truft in his own heart, fince his heart trufted in the Lord; and which fhews, that his truft was an hearty one, his faith was a faith unfeigned, he believed with the heart unto righteoufnefs...4ud I am helped; this was the fruit of his truft, even a gracious experience of divine affiftance: faints are helplefs in themfelves, and are alfo as to the help of man; God is the only helper of them; he helps them out of all their troubles; in whatfoever he calls them unto, and to what they want; and the help he affords is fometimes quick, and always feafonable; and fometimes by means, and fometimes without them. Therefore my beart greatly rejoiceth; that is, in the Lord, the ground of which was the help he had from