Exposition of the Whole Bible

Nob, and of Nadal, &c. as did alfo Eiijab of the widow of Sarepta: and though there might have been initances of fome of the pofterity of the righteous who got their bread by begging at the door, as in the cafe of Lazarus; yet David nad never obferved any fuch inftance during the time of his life, which fhews that fuch inftances are very rare; whereas among wicked men, and their offspring, the cafe is frequent and common. Again, it may be obferved, that the pfalmift is fpeaking in the context of righteous men that are liberal, and give to the poor freely and largely; and it is feldom if ever known, that they or their children come to want and poverty. Once more, the word forfaken may be repeated in this claufe, thus; nor his feed begging bread forfaken* or feeking it in vain, and finally deftitute of it; though they have been fo reduced as to beg their bread, they have not been ¥ forfaken; they have had it, bread fufficient to fupport life, as Apollinarius paraphrafes it; their bread has been given and their water fure; fee J/a. xli. 17,18. Inanancient Midrajh ’, or expofition of the Jews, the fenfe is thus given: ‘* Although his «¢ feed and his fons are begging bread, yet I «* have not feen the righteous man, their father for- *< faken, becaufe of his fear of the bleffed:God.”

¥. 26. He is ever merciful and lendeth, &c.] He fympathizes with the poor. in diftrefs; and fhews mercy to miferable objeéts; not only by words, but deeds: and.this is his conftant difpofition and conduct; of which his lending, as well as giving to perfons in neceffity, is an inftance; and which fhews capacity, and is a proof of the obfervation of the pfalmift, that fuch are never forfaken, nor left to beg their bread: fo far from it, that they have to lend and give to others. nd bis feed is bleffed; either his feed fown, his alms-deeds, which are bleffed to him and his, and to them to whom he niinifters, as Farchi explains it; fee 2 Cor. ix. 6, 10. or rather, his offspring, who are blefled of God with things temporal for his fake; and are blefied by men, who fay of them, thefe are the pofterity of fuch and fuch liberal perfons.

y. 27. Depart from evil, and do good, &c.] Depart from evil-doers, and their evil ways; join not with them, nor fret and be envious at them; but do aéts of beneficence, and all good works; fince righteous men, and their feed, are not forfaken, but blefied of God; fee the note on Pal. xxxiv. 14. And dwell for evermore; or thou /halt dwell for evermore*; fee ¥..3. that is, in everlafting habitations, in the houfe not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, Luke xvi. 9. 2 Cor. v. 1. The Targum is, that thou mayeft dwell in everlasting life.

y. 28. For the Lord loveth judgment, &c.] Righteoufnefs, or righteous aétions, when done according to his will, from love, in faith, and to his glory; fee Pfal. xi. 7. or to minifter judgment to the people, and to render to every man according to his works. And forfaketh not his faints; his holy ones, who are called with an holy calling, are created in righteoufnefs and true holinefs, and have principles of grace and holinefs wrought in them; or whom he profecutes with his favour and goodnefs, with his everlafting love and mercy, with, fpiritual bleffings, with the bleffings of juftification, pardon, adoption, and a right to eternal life; thefe he never forfakes, not their perfons, neither in life nor at death, nor at judgment, nor does he ever forfake the work of his own hands in ther; but per forms it until the day of Chrift: nor will he ever fo forfake them, as that they fhall perifh through the ftrength of fin, the temptations of Satan, or the {nares of the world. They are preferved for evers from the dominion and damning power of fin, from being devoured by Satan, from a total and final falling away, and. from being hurt of the fecond death: they are preferved in Chrift, in whofe hands they are, and by the power of God, fafe to his kingdom and glory, into which they fhall have an abundantentrance. But the feed of the wickéd /hall be cut off; out of the earth, in the midft of their days, like withered branches; and be caft into everlafting burnings.

y. 29. The righteous fhall inherit the land, &c.] See ¥. 9, 11. And dwell therein for ever 5 as in ~ 273 roe The mouth of the righteous fpeaketh wif dom; &c.] Or meditateth wifdom*; that is, utters the wifdom he has been meditating upon; fee Pal. xlix. 3. he meditates and fpeaks of the wifdom of God, which appears in the works of creation, providence, and grace; and of Chrift, who is wifdom itfelf, and the wifdom of God effentially 5 and who, as Mediator, has the Spirit of wifdom refting on him, the treafures of wifdom hid in him, and is made wifdom to his people: and righteous men meditate upon, and {peak of the glories of his perfon, the fulnefs of his grace, and the works of his hands; as alfo of the gofpel, which is the wifdom of God, myfterious, hidden, ancient wifdom, ordained before the world for their glory; and like wife of that internal wifdom, and experience of divine prace; the Lord has made them to know in the hidden part; which lies in the knowledge of them+ felves, and in a {piritual, experimental, and faving knowledge of Chrift, and the way of falvation by: him; and his mouth delivers out wife fayings, and ufeful inftructions, fetched out of the word of God,’ and founded on experience and obfervation. And his tongue talketh of judgment; of the judgment which the righteous God ordinarily minifters in a providential way; and of his extraordinary and awful judgments, which have been, or are in the earth; thefe he takes notice of for his own ufe, and obferves them to others for their inftruction; and alfo of the laft judgment, the judgment to come,’ which he fpeaks of a8 fure and certain, as univerfal and inevitable, and at which he mutt appear before God: and he talks of judgment or righteoufnefs 5 that is, of the righteoufnefs of Chrift; he makes mention of this only, as his juftifying righteoufnefs before God’; he rejoices and glories in it, and defires to be found in it living and dying, and at judgment; and whatfoever things are honeft, juft, pure, and of good report, he thinks and fpeaks’ of them, and inftruéts his family, his children and fervants in them, that they may do them; fee Gen. xviii. 19.

¥. 31. The law of bis God is in bis heart, &c.] Which may be underftood of the moral Law, which was written in the heart of 4dam at his creation, and continued there during his ftate of innocence, but. was greatly obliterated by fin: there are fome remains of it in fallen man, even in the very Gentiles; who, tho’ without the Law, do fome things contained in it, which fhews the work of it to be written in them; tho’ in fome it is fcarcely legible, having loft all diftinétion between good and aa 3

* Juftam non vidi derelitum, & femen jufti querens panem non vidi derelictam; fo Hopfnerus, Titelmannus, Lorinus, but in regeneration the law of God is re-infcribed, according to the promife of the covenant of grace, Fer. Xxxi. 33. and fuch have a real knowledge of the fpirituality and perfection of it; of the impofiibility of juftification by it; and of Chrift being the fulfilling end of it: and they havea ftrong affection for it; they love it; and delight in it after the inward man, and ferve it with their minds; in which Jies part of their conformity to Chrift, and is a branch of their character as good men; fee Pfal. xl. 8. J/a. li. 7. moreover, the word F471, here ufed, fignifies any doétrine or inftruéction, and is fometimes ufed for the doctrine of the gofpel, J a.

ii. 3. and xlii. 4. and may have this fenfe here, and the meaning be; that that has a place in the hearts of righteous men, dwells richly there, and works effectually in them; and particularly, the doétrine of grace which relates to covenant-intereft in God; for it is the law or doctrine of bis God that is in his heart. None of bis Steps fhall fide; not that he fhall never flip nor fall; for that is fuppofed y. 24.

but he fhall never finally and totally go out of the- paths of truth, holinefs and righteoufnefs: the Lord keeps the feet of his faints, and orders their fteps, and directs them in the way they fhould go, and preferves them in it; and enables them to walk uprightly, according to the rule of the divine word, and in all his commandments and ordinances; and to hold on and out unto the end: or the claufe may be rendred, it, the Law, ball not caufe bis Steps to flide®; neither the Law of God, nor the gofpel of Chrift, but fhall guide him in the right way, and be a lamp unto his feet, and a light unto: his ath,

: y. 32. The wicked watcheth the righteous, &c.] All his motions and fteps, his works and actions; he watches for his halting, and to take all opportunities and advantages againft him, fee Fer. xx. 10. And fecketh to flay him; murder his reputation, deftroy his fubftance, and take away his life: fome underftand it of the devil, who watches the faints, obferves their failings, accufes them before the throne, and feeks to devour them, 1 Per. v. 8.

¥. 33. The: Lord will not leave him in bis band, &c.] Or power; but will in his own time deliver him from all the reproach, affliction, and perfecution he endures by him; as he will deliver him out of all the temptations of Satan. Nor condemn him when be is judged; by the wicked man: he will not join in the fentence, but reverfeit, and condemn the tongue that rifes up in judgment againft him, and fave him from him; fee P/a. cix.

gx. and J/a. liv. 17. nor will the Lord condemn him when he is judged by him at the laft judgment; but will acquit him before men and angels, and introduce him into his kingdom and glory,

¥. 34. Wait on the Lord, &c.} In the way of his appointments and ordinances; where may be fearned, the defign of his providences, and of the profperity of the wicked, and their end, P/al. xxiii. 16——18. and in a providential way, for the performance of his promifes, in which he never fails; and patiently bear whatever he is pleafed to lay upon them; waiting for a deliverance out of every affiction, which will be inhis own,time. The Cdaldee paraphrafe is, “¢ truft in the word of the Lord.” And keep bis way; which he has pointed out in his word, and has directed his people to walk in; though tempted by Satan to turn afide to the right-hand or the left; though wicked men reproach, ‘perfe- éute, and feek to pervert it; and though a narrow

© PAWN FVM non vacillat greflus ejus, Cocceius.

and rough way, yet keep conftantly in’ it, in which there is both pleafure and profit; good - comes of it, and in it peace is had, and the fence of God enjoyed. And be shall exalt thee to inberit the land; that is, fhall raife out of a low and uncomfortable fituation of life, to a more comfortable one; or however, hereafter, to dwell in. the new heavens and new earth, to reign with Chrift upon his throne, and to enjoy the eternal inheritance. When the wicked are cut off; as in ¥.g, 22, 28. Thou fhalt fee it; with joy and plea-

N. 35. I have feen ihe wicked in gréat power, &c.] Meaning fome particular perfon invefted with great power, in great authority among men, one of the fpiritual. wickednefés in high places; fuch a man as. Haman in Abafuerus’s court; and though the pfalmift does not chufe to mention hisname, he doubtlefs had him in his mind’; as ei ther Saul, or Doeg the Edomite, or Abitbophel, or fome fuch man, who was in an exalted ftation of life; and it may be when he himfelf was in low and diftrefied circumftances: the word ufed * fignifies one formidable and terrible, ftriking terror to all around; of whom others are afraid, as dben Ezra interprets it, J/a. xxix. 20, and xlix. 25. dnd Spreading bimfelf like a green bay-tree, or like one that grows up out of the earth of itfelf, and is in its native foil, and very flourifhing; and the metaphor denotes an increafe of riches and honour, and a feemingly fettled ftate im the enjoyment of fuch outward felicity; fo archi interprets it yw, taking root, as well as fuch a man’s glorying in, and boafting of his. affluence and fullnefs; fee P al.

Ixxiil. 12. fer. xii. 1, 2.°Pfal, xlix. 6. Aben Eze ra explains. it. of a wicked man’s openly committing iniquity, declaring his fin as Sodom, and glorying in his fhame; but rather it denotes a man in great authority and efteem, as a man crownéd ria laurels, and in a very exalted and triumphant

¥. 36. Yet be paffed away, &c.] At once, on a genes either his riches and honour, which, in ur, came to nought, by one providence or another; or he himfelf by death, in the midft of all his profperjty, and whilft bleffing himfelf in it, his foul was required of him; and fo the Targum is, he ceafed from the world, he went out of it unawares: the laurel, or bay-tree, very quickly grows old*. And lo, be was not; he was not reduced to nothing; he did not become a non-entity, though he might wifh himfelf to be fo; it being better for him if he had never been born; but he was not in the land of the living, in hell he lift up his eyes. Yea, I fought him, but he could not be found; in the place where he formerly was, that knowing him no more; he could not be found on earth, trom whencé he was gone; nor in heaven, where no place is found for {uch wicked men; he was gone to his own place, as is faid of Judas, and of whom Yerom interprets the whole of this paf= fage. 4: ee ¥. 37. Mark the perfec man, &c.) None are fo in themfelves, not the moft holy man upon _ earth; for though all grace is implanted at once in regeneration; the feed of grace of wit Bee is caft into the heart at once; yet it opens and fpreads, and gradually increafes; nor is any grace in its exercile perfect; not faith, nor hope, nor love;

a greater degree of grace and knowledge than another, and in a comparative fenfe be perfect; and there is a perfection of parts, though not of degrees, in all; the new man is formed ‘in all its parts, though thefe are not grown to their full perfection: and whereas perfection often denotes truth and fincerity, fuch may be faid to be perfect, that is, fincere, who have received the grace of

God in truth, have the truth and root of the matter in them; fo Noab, Fob, and others, are faid to be perfect men; but not fimply and abfolutely in themfelves, but as in Chrift Jefus; who has obtained complete redemption, perfectly fulfilled the Law for them, fully expiated their fins, procured the entire pardon of them, and brought in an everlafting righteoufnefs; by which they are juftified from all fin, and are perfectly comely, and a perfection of beauty, through the comelinefs of Chrift putupon them. And bebold the upright; the man that is upright in heart and converfation, who has a right fpirit renewed in him, and the uprightnefs of Chrift fhewed unto him; or, in other words, who has the truth of grace within him, and the righteoufnefs of Chrift upon him: fuch men are to be marked, obferved, viewed and confidered, as rare and uncommon men; and to be imitated and and followed in the exercife of grace, and difcharge of duty; and efpecially the end of fuch perfons is to be marked and beheld, as follows. For the end of that man is peace; fuch a man now enjoys acon- {cience-peace, which pafles the underftanding of worldly men; and which he poffeffes in Chrift, and from him, amidft a variety of tribulations, arifing from a view of intereft in his blood and righteousnefs; and, generally fpeaking, goes off the ftage of life, if not triumphing, yet refigned to the will of

God, and in a ferene and tranquil frame of fpirit; and even defiring to be gone, and to be with Chrift, and to have leave, with good old Simeon, to depart in peace; and as foon as they are departed, they enter into peace, into the joy of theif per into his prefence, where is fulnefs of joy, and pleafures for evermore; fee Num), xxiii. 10.

¥. 38. But the tranfgreffors fall be deftroyed together, &c.] This is to be underftood of obftinate and continued tranfgreffors, who live and die in their tranfgreffions; fee Prov. xi. 3. otherwife all men are tranfgreffors in 4dam, and finned and fell with him in his tranfgreffion; and are juftly called tranfgrefiors from the womb; and are guilty of aétual tranfgreflions, nor are any clear from them; and are arraigned, convinced, and judged - by the Law as tranfgreffors; and for many of thefe Chrift died, and makes interceflion; and who are converted, and turned from their tranfgreffions; and thefe are pardoned, and faved, and not deftroyed: but ftubborn and perverfe tranfgreffors _are deftroyed: not only with a temporal deftruction of their fubftance, and of their names, and they themfelves are rooted out of the earth; but with an everlafting deftruction from the prefence of the Lord, and the glory of his power; for this feems to refer to the day of judgment, when all the wicked will be together; and fhall in a body ftand at Chrift’s left-hand, and be bid to go, ye curfed fin is in the beft of men, and all ftand in need of frefh fupplies of grace. None of the faints ever affirmed, that they had arrived td perfection, but have difclaimed it: one faint may indeed attain to into everlafting fire, and fhall be turned into hel! at once, and together. The end of the wicked /hall be cut off; meaning either their pofterity, as the word is rendered in Pfal. cix. 13. or their hope and expectation of good things here and hereafter; when the righteous man receives the end of his faith, hope and expectation, even the falvation of his foul; but thefe fhall be difappointed and fruftrated of their end; fee Prov. xxiii. 18. or their laft end is cutting off from the prefence and fight of God, utter ruin and deftruction; and fo it ftands oppofed to the end of the perfect and upright man, which is eternal peace and happinefs,

¥. 39. But the falvation of the righteous is of the Lord, &c.} Both their temporal, fpiritual, and eternal falvation; particularly the latter, which is originally of the Lord, and fprings from the thoughts, purpofes, and refolutions of his heart: it is of him freely, of his rich grace, and abundant mercy 3 and it is of him fully and compleatly; it is an entire falvation of foul and body; includes all bleffings of grace, and glory in it; it is to the uttermoft, and trom all fin, and every. enemy; and it is of him only; there is no falvation in any other; and the glory of it is to be afcribed to him, even to Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit; for all the three divine perfons have a concern in it: the determination, contrivance and fettlement of it, is of Jehovah the Father; the impetration or effecting of it, is of Jehovah the Son; and the application of it, is of Jehovah the Spirit; fee the note on Pfal. iii. 8. He is their ftrength in the time of trouble; by reafon of the hidings of God’s face, the temptations of Satan, the prevalence of corruptions, the weaknefs of grace, and the many afflictions that befal them from God and men; the Lord he is their {trong hold and munition of rocks whither they betake themfelves, and find fuctour; protection and fafety; he puts underneath ever lafting arms, bears them up, and upholds them with the right-hand of his righteoufnefs; and is the ftreneth of their hearts, of their lives, and of their

¥. 40. And the Lord fhall help them, &c.] In their diftrefs, and out of their troubles, when none elfe can, and they themfelves cannot; and that feafonably, aid fometimes with means, and fometimes without. And deliver them; out of all their affli€tions, which he does fooner or later; if not in life, yet at death. He /hall deliver them from the wicked; this is repeated both for confirmation and explanation-fake, fhewing who they are the Lord will deliver his people from, even from wicked and unreafonable men; he will not leave them in their hands now to do with them as they fhall think fit; and he will free them from them to all eternity in the other world, where they fhall ceafe from giving them any trouble. And fave them, becauje they trust in bim, not that there is any faving virtue in faith, or in trufting in the Lord; the faving virtue is in the Lord, the objeét of faith and truft; but inafmuch as the Lord has appointed falvation to be through faith, or has made that the means of receiving and enjoying falvation, and the bleffings of it, and has declared, that he that believeth fhall be faved, he does accordingly fave all fuch perfons; wherefore bleffed are they that truft in him. The Chaldee paraphrafe is, ** he fhall redeem them be- “ caufe they truft in his Word.”

6 is PA HIS pfalm was compofed by David under fome fore affliction, and when in great diftreis of mind by reafon of fin, perhaps his fin with Bathfbeba; and was written as a memorial of his fenfe of fin, of his great afflictions, and deliverance from them; and therefore is faid to be to bring to remembrance, or to refrefh his memory with the faid things. Kimchi and Ben Melech think the pfalm was made for the fake of fuch as are in diftrefs, to put them in mind and teach them how to pray. The Targum calls the pfalm,*+** a good remem- *¢ brance concerning J/racl;” and archi fays it was to remember the diftrefs of J/rael before the Lord, and that it is faid with refpeét to all J rae/;

though others think the word /ebazcir is the name of a pfalm-tune; and Aben Ezra was of opinion that it was the firft word of fome pleafant poem. The Septuagint verfion adds, ‘* concerning the fab- ‘© bath,” as if it was wrote to put perfons in mind of that day; whereas there is nothing in the whole pfalm that has any fuch tendency.

y. 1. O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, &c.] This and the following claufe are the fame as in Pfal. vi. 1. only inftead of wrath there it is anger; fee the note there.

y. 2. For thine arrows ftick faft in me, &c.] Meaning either words with which as a father the Lord rebuked him; and which were fharp and cuting, entered into him and abode with him, and gave him much pain and uneafinefs, and by which he concluded that his rebukes were in wrath and hot difpleafure; fuch as thofe in 2 Sam. xii. 11. fo the words of men are compared to arrows, P/alm Ivii. 4. and Ixiv. 3. or outward afflictions, attended with inward trouble of foul; for as judgments are the arrows of God, fuch as famine, peftilence, &c. Ezek. v.16. Pfal. xci. 5, 6. Deut. xxxii. 21, 42. fo the chaftening difpenfations of providence, under which the people of God themfelves are, are fo called, becaufe they oftentimes come fwiftly, fuddenly, and at unawares, and are very pungent and diftreffing; and fometimes ftick faft and continue long, by reafon of which they are inwardly wounded, and conceive of God as forely difpleafed with them; fee Fob vi. 4. And thy band preffeth me fore; the afflicting hand of God, which lay heavy upon him; and is a mighty hand when laid on fuch worms as mortal finful men are, who cannot bear up under it, unlefs they have divine fupports;' fee Fob xix. 21. This is by fome fuppofed to be fome bodily difeafe infli€ted on him; fome have thought of the leprofy, which was a ftroke from the hand of God; but this is not likely, fince he ~ muft have been depofed and fhut up; the Jews in-.

deed fay‘that he was a leper fix months, and that the divine prefence was taken from him; a Jate learned man‘ thinks it was the fmall pox, from the unfoundnefs of his flefh, the forenefs of the dif eafe, the ftench of it, temporary blindnefs, and his friends {tanding aloof from him; though perhaps no other than affliction of mind for fin, comparable to the difeafe defcribed, is meant.

A pfalm of David to bring to remembrance. * cgi

yi 3. There is no foundne/s in my flefh, becatfe of thine anger, &cc.) Such was the nature of the affli€tion the pfalmift laboured under, and which he took to be an effect of the anger of God towards him, that the whole frame of nature was affected with it, and from the crown of the head to the foles of the feet, there was no health or foundnefs, as in Ifa. i, 6. where the fame word is ufed as here; fome think the word ® here ufed has the fignification of man; and that the fenfe is, that through the violence of the diftemper he had not fo much as the form of a man, as his antitype in J/a. lit, 14; and as this led him to a view of his fins, as the caufe of his affliction, he was fo far from thinking himfelf found and whole, or perfect in a {fpiritual fenfe, that he faw he was all over difeafed with fin, and that in his flefh dwelt no good thing. | Neither is there any reft in my bones, becaufe of my Jin; or peace “there; fin breaks the believer’s reft; and difturbs his peace; nor can he, in a view of it, find any reft in himfelf, nor in any creature, nor in any fervice or duty, only in Jefus Chrift, his blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice. = y. 4. For mine iniquities are gone over mine bead, &c,] Like an inundationyof waters, as the waves and billows of the fea; for the waters to come up to the neck or chin fhews great danger; but when they go over the head, the cafe is defperate, and a. perfon is finking and drowning; compare with this Pfal. \xix. 1, 2. the fimile may denote both the number and weight of fins, and alfo fignifies the overwhelming diftrefs the pfalmift was in, under a view of them. 4s an heavy burden they are*toa heavy for me; the guilt of fin upon the confcience, without a view of pardon, lies heavy indeed, and makes a man a burden to himfelf, as it did Fob, chap. vii. 20, 21. yea, fin is not only grieving and affliGting to pardoned ones, and who know they are pardoned, but it isa burden to them under which they groan; nor is it poffible for any fo to bear it as to fatisfy and make atonement for it here; but. Chrift could ever do this, and he has done it; nor is there any relief for burdened fouls, but by looking to a fin-bearing and fin-atoning Saviour, and by cafting the burden upon him who invites them to him for reft. ape cng y. 5. My wounds ftink, and are corrupt J Meaning his fins, which had wounded him, nd for which there is no healing but in a wounded Saviour, and by his ftripes we are healed, Z/a 5. where the fame word is ufed as here; Chrift’s black and blue ftripes and wounds, as the word fig

¥. 6. Tam troubled, &cc.] Difcompofed and perplexed in mind; his thoughts were difturbed and irregular, and in the utmoft confufion and diftrefs: this trouble was not only on account of the affliction that was upon him, but chiefly becaufe of his fin; and which was increafed by the view he had of the difpleafure of God, concluding he was come forth againft him in wrath.and. fury. I am bowed down greatly; not in his body, at leaft not in that only, as if he was bowed together by his diforder, that he could not lift himfelt up; for he is faid to walk in the next claufe: or rather, he bowed down his head as a bullrufh voluntarily, and through forrow and fhame could not lift it up before the Lord; though it may chiefly defign the preffure of his mind, that his foul was caft down within him, and with all his fpiritual reafonings he could not erect himfelf; it is the Lord that raifeth up thofe that are bowed down in this fenfe; fee Pfal. xlii. 5, 6, 11. and cxlv.14. Igo mourning all. the day long; ov Igo black, or in black*; meaning either that his {kin was black, through the difeafe upon him, and the trouble that was in him, ob xxx. 30. or that he was clothed in black garments, as a token of mourning; as white garrhents were of joy and chearfulnefs, Eccl. ix. 7, 8. and he was blacker {till in his own apprehenfion, by reafon of inward corruptions and outward tranfgreffions, which appeared in a very black hue, attended with ageravating circumftances; fee Cant. i. 5. Pfal. ik 7:

4 >. For-my loins are filled with a loathfome difeafe, &c.] The word here ufed has the fignification of burning *; and the Targum renders it, my loins are filled with burning; a burning fever was upon him, or there was an inflammation in thofe parts; a hot byrning ulcer, which might be naufeous; and fo was true in both fenfes. Aben Ezra interprets it, abominable and vile; fomething not fit to be mentioned; and fo Kimchi and Ben Melech. ‘The word is rendered ‘fometimes lightly efteemed; as in 1 Sam. xviii. 23..and Farchi thinks it has this fenfe here; and the meaning is, that he was vile in his owneyes, and mean in his own efteem, Doubtlefs the pfalmift has reference to fomething more than a bodily difeafe; at -leaft not tothat only, but to the difeafe of his foul alfo, fin, which has the nature of a difeafe; itis an he- ‘reditary one, which is derived from one to.-another by propagation; it is univerfal, and reaches to all amen, and to all the parts of the body and powers of the foul; it is a complication of diforders'; it isin its own nature mortal, and ever incurable but by Chrift; and, as here, it is a loathfome one; ‘it is loathfome to God, and to all fenfible finners: and when the pfalmift fays his loins were filled with it, it may fignify, that it was an internal diforder that was in him; finthat dwelt in him, a law in his members; and may denote the aboundings of fin ‘in him, the {warms of corruptions that were in him; as alfo the pain it gave him, and the quick fenfe he had of it. And there is no foundne s in my

“flefh; which is repeated, fee ¥. 3. partly for con- ‘firmation-fake, and partly to fhew the continued fenfe of it, as perfons under a diforder are continually making mention of it. wi)

¥. 8. Tam feeble, &c.] Both in body, natu: ral ftrength being weakened by the affliction, and dried up like a potfherd by the heat of the diftempers and in foul, being weak in the exercife of faith and other graces. The word is ufed of Facob, fainting at and difbelieving the news of his-fon Fo eph;

being alive, Gen. xlv. 26. And fore broken in his conftitution with the difeafe, andin his mind with trouble; efpecially for his fin, and under a fenfe of the divine difpleafuré; his bones were broken by his fall, and his heart broken with a fenfe of fin, P/al. li. 8, 17. I have roared by rea- Jon of the difquietnefs of my beart 3 which was like the raging of the fea, as the word ' rendered diquietne/s, here fignifies; and to which the uneafinefs and reftlefsnefs of wicked men is fometimes compared, J/ai. v. 30. and lvii. 20. and fo great was the difquietude of this good man under afflition, and fenie of fin and wrath, that he had no reft night nor day; and could not forbear crying out, in a very hideous manner, like the roaring of a

¥. 9. Lord, all my defire is before thee, &c.] To be delivered from his afflictions, to have a difcovery and application of pardoning grace, and to have communion with his God: the defire of his foul was unto thefe things; and it was fome fatisfaction to him, that iv was before the Lord, and known unto him, before whom all things are naked and open. And my groaning is not hid from thee; under the weight of his affli€tion, the burden

.of his fin, and which he exprefled in prayer to the

Lord, and which is often done with groanings which cannot be uttered: but even thefe are know and underftood by the Lord..

¥. 10, My heart panteth, &c.] Or goes about ™; runs here and there and finds no reft; as Aben Ezra interprets the word from the Targum he cites though the Targum we have renders it, my heart Joakes with fear, or dread, as perfons ina fever. Farcht interprets the word, furrounded with grief; it denotes the panting or palpitation of the heart, through forrow and dread, and the failing of it even as at death. My ftrength faileth me, or forfakes me” bodily ftrength and fpiritual ftrength; the flrength of faith, hope, and confidence. As for the light of mine eyes, it alfois gone from me; which is often the cafe of perfons under bodily diforders, their eyes grow dim, and fight fails them’; and this; might be true in a fpiritual fenfe of the pfalmift, who had loft fight of God as his covenant-God; of his intereft in his love, in the blefsings of /his grace, and in eternal falvation, and was walking in darknefs, and faw no light.

y. 11. My lovers and my friends fiand aloof from my fore, &c.} As if it was a plague-fore, left they fhould he infected with it; or becaufe they could not bear the ftench of his wounds, and the loathfomenefs of his difeafe, or to fee him in his agonies, and hear his roaring and his groans, y. 2, 3, 4, 7, 8,9. or as taking his cafe to be defperate, asit he was juft dying and no help could be given him, y. vo. If it was the leprofy, as fome Jewith writers have affirmed, the word 33} tranflated fore, being ufed for the plague of the leprofy; they were obliged by the ceremonial law to keep at a aR from him: but this rather feems tobe voluntary, and to proceed from neglect and contempt. Thefe dovers and friends were fuch for whom David had had an affection, and had been friendly to, and therefore it was ungrateful in them to act the part they did; and fuch who had pretended love and friendfhip to him in his. health and profperity, but now had deferted him, which is a common cafe; fee Fob xix. 13, 14, 19. Pfal. xix. 8. and Ixxxviii. 18. Afflictions try mens friends; and as that isa time when friendly vifits are moft wanting and moft ufeful, fo it is an aggravation of the affliction, and makes it the heavier when fuch are denied. And my kinfmen ftand afar off; that were near to him by the ties of nature, or friendfhip.

y. 12. They alfo that feek after my life, &c.] His avowed and implacable enemies, whom nothing would fatisfy but the taking away of his life: thefe came too near him; for thefe, he fays, lay fnares for me, as Satan does for the fouls of men, as the Jews did for Chrift, and as wicked men do for the faints, P/al. cxxiv. 7. And they that feek my burt {peak mifchievous things, to the injury of his character and reputation; And imagine deceits all the day long, contrive artful fchemes to deceive; fee P/al. xxxv. 20.

¥. 13. But I as a deaf man beard not, &c.| He acted the part of a deaf man, and made as if he did not hear the mifchievous things his enemies fpoke; as ‘Sau/, when the fons of Belial {poke againft him and defpifed him, 1 Sam. x. 27. and as our Lord when his enemies accufed him, Matt. XXVli, 12, 13, 14. And I was as a dumb man, that dpeneth not bis mouth, made no reply to what they faid, and did not render railing for railing 5 in which Chrift was the antitype of him, J/é. liii. 7. 1 Pet. ii. 23. and iid. g.

¥.14. Thus I wasas aman that heareth not, &c.} Any thing that is faid unto him; he took no more notice of it than if he had never heardit; but bore all the railings and calumnies of men with calmnefs and patience. And in whofe mouth are no reproofs; as if he had nothing to fay for himfelf, in vindication of his character, and to the refutation of his enemies; as if he had no arguments to make ufe of, for the conviction and reproof of his adverfaries.,

¥. 15. For in thee, O Lord, do I hope, &c.) That he would plead his caufe againft his accufers and revilers, and who fought his hurt; that he fhould be deliveréd out of their hands, and out of all his afflictions; that he fhould be healed of his difeafes, both of foul.and body under which he laboured; and fhould again enjoy the light of God’s countenance, and have the difcoveries of his pardoning grace and mercy; and this was the reafon why he was fo calm and quiet amidft the unkindneffes of his friends, and the cruel ufage of his enemies. Thou wilt bear, or anfwer, O Lord my God; in the midft of all his diftreffes of body and mind, he had not given up his intereft in God, as his God and Father 5 which is the great bleffing of the covenant of grace, and which ever continues; and is the great fupport of believers, under whatfoever they meet with in foul and body, from friends or foes; this his God the pfalmift believed would not only hear his cries in his fore diftrefs, but hear the reproaches of his enemies, and anfwer them in a providential way in his own time, by terrible things in righteoufnefs to their conviction and confufion; and therefore he himfelf was filent.