Exposition of the Whole Bible

y. 16. For J faid hear me, &c.] This he had exprefled in prayer to God; he had committed his caufe tohim, and intreated him that he would hear and anfwer him; giving this as a reafon, Lejt otherwife they fhould rejoice over me;, at his misfortunes and calamities, at the continuance of his trouble ' and diftrefs, both of body and mind. When my foot flippeth; as it fometimes did through the corruptions of nature, the temptations of Satan, and the fnares of the world; which is more or lefs the cafe of all the people of God, who are all fubjeé&t to flips and falls, though they fhall not finally and totally fall away. They magnify themfelves againft me; that is, his enemies exulted and triumphed over him: this was what he found by experience; and therefore makes ufe of it as an argument with God, that he would hear and anfwer, and deliver him out of his trouble, and preferve him from falling.

y. 17. For I am ready to balt, &c.] Meaning either that there was a pronenefs in him to fin; fee Fer. xx, 10. or that he was fubjeét to affliction and adverfity, as the fame word is rendered in Pfal. Xxxv. 15. and the words are either a reafon and argument ufed with the Lord, to hear and keep his foot from flipping, that fo his enemies might not rejoice over him, and magnify themfelves againft him; as they would do fhould he fall into fin or into any.calamity, both which he was liable to: or they are a reafon why he was fo calm and quiet under the ill ufage he met with from friends and ene= mies, becaufe he was ready for balling, or prepared® for it; he confidered that he was born for trouble and adverfity; that God had appointed him to it, and it was appointed for him, and therefore he was quiet under it; fee ob v. 6, 7. and xxiii. 14. he was prepared to meet it; he expected it, it being the common lot’ of God’s people; and therefore when it came upon him, it was no ftrange thing to him. The Septuagint verfion, and thofe that follow that, render the words, J am ready for fcourges; and Yerom, appliesthem to Chrift, who was ready to undergo fcourges, fufferings, and death itfelf for his people. dvd my forrow is continually before me; that is, for his fin, which was ever before him, ftared him in the face, lay heavy on his confcience, and appeared very terrible and loathfome to him; his forrow for it was without intermiffion, and was a godly forrow, a forrow for fin, as committed againfta God of love, grace, and mercy: or he may mean, that his affliction, which was grievous to him, was continually upon him night and day: our Lord himfelf, David’s antitype, was.a man of forrows all his days, — y. 18. For I will declare mine iniquity, 8c.) Either to men, to eafe his mind, juftify God in his proceedings with him, and for their caution and admonition; or rather to God, againft whom he had finned, and who only could pardon him s with a view to which, he was determined to make a free and open confeffion of it befor him: J will be forry for my fin, or careful Laer it; that is, how he committed it for the future: true repentance for fin produces a carefulnefs to abftain from all appearance P it; fee 2 Cor. vil. 10, If. oe |e

¥. 19. But mine enemies are lively, 8c. ] Or. living %, or live, not ina fpiritual fenfe; for they had no lively hope, nor living faith, but were dead in trefpafl{s and fins; nor merely in a natural fenfe or‘corporally, fo David was living, himfelf; but i great profperity and worldly happinefs, and fo were brifk and chearful, and lived a merry and jocund life. And shey are firong; not only hale and robuft in body, but abounded in riches and wealth, which are the ftrength of wicked men, And they that hate ‘me wrongfully are multiplied; that is, fuch as hated him without. a.caufe, and made lies, and falfhoods, the reafons of it; thefe increafed in numbers, or in their outward ftate and circumftances; fee Pfal. Ixxiii. 4, 5, 7,.12..and Ixix. 4. ¥. 20. They, alfo that render evil for good are mine adverfaries, &c.] See the note on Pfal, xxxv. 12. Becaufe I follow the thing that good is, or follow good; a good God,. whom his foul followed hard after, P/a/. Ixiii. 8. the good fhepherd of the fheep, who led him into green paftures, whither he followed him, P/al. xxiii. 1, 2, 3. the good Spirit of God his guide, whom he walked after, Rom. viii. 1. good and holy men of God, whom he took for examples and copied after; and every good work, which he purfued with eagernefs and pleafure; and all this drew upon him the hatred of his adverfaries.

¥. 21. Forfake me not, O-Lord, &c.] Orcontinue not to forfake; for he feems to have been under divine defertion, and might be under apprehenfions that God had utterly forfaken him; which he intreats he would not, though his friends had forfook him, and his own ftrength had failed and left him, ¥. 10, 11. O my God, be not far from mé; as to his gracious prefence, and with refpect to help and deliverance, otherwife God is not far from any of his creatures, being omniprefent.

¥. 22. Make hafte and belp me,&c.] Or, for my help; his cafe required hafte, and God does help his people when none elfe can, and that right early. O Lord, my falvation; by which it appears, that his prayer was a prayer of faith; he faw that his falvation was in. the Lord, andin no other; and though he had been and was in fuch a low condition, both in foul and body, yet his faith was not loft;. that is an abiding grace, and will continue under the influence of the author and finifher of it, until the end of itis received, the falvation of the foul..R..Moj/es ‘thinks the phrafe make hafte, is to be repeated here, andread thus, Make bajfte, O Lord, to my falvation.

To the chief mufician, even to Jeduthun, a pfalm of David.

OME take Feduthun to be the name of a mufical inftrument, as Farchi, on which, and others, the firft word of a fong, to the. tune of which this pfalm was fung, as “ben Ezra; though it feems beft, with Kimchi and others, to underftand it,.as the name of the chief mufician, to whom this, pfalm was fent to be made ufe of in public fervice; fince Feduthun was, with his fons, appointed by David to prophefy with harps and pialteries, and to give praife and thanks unto the Lord, 1 Chron. xvi. 41, 42. and xxv. 1, 3. he is the fame with Ethan‘. The occafion of it is thought, by fome, to be the rebellion of his fon Abjalom; fo Thecdoret thinks it was written when he fled from Abfalom, and was curfed by Shimei; or rather, it may be fome fore affliction, which lay upon David for the chaftifement of him; fee ¥. 9, 13. and the argument of the pfalm feems to be much the fame with that of the preceding one, as Kimchi obferves.

y. 1. I faid, &c.} ‘That is, in his heart; he purpofed and determined’ within himfelf to do as follows; and he might exprefs it with his mouth, and fo his purpofe became a promife. J will take heed to my ways; as every good man fhould; that is, to all his aétions, conduct, and converfation: it becomes him to take heed what ways he walks in; that they are the ways of God, which he direéts to; that they are the ways of Chrift, which he has left an example to follow in; and that they are according to the word of God; that he walks in Chrift, the way of falvation, and by faith on ‘him; that he choofes, and walks in the way of truth, and not error; and in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blamelefs; and in the path of holinefs, in which, though fools, they fhall not err: and it is alfo neceffary that he fhould take heed that he does nothing, either by

® In Aben Ezra & R. Jofeph Kimchi in R. David Kimchi in loc. * 9339 adverfum me, V.L, contra me, Cocccius; fo the Targum.

embracing error, or going into immorality, by which the ways of God, and Chrift, and truth, are evil-fpoken of, blafphemed and reproached; and that he does not depart out of thefe ways, nor ftumble, flip, and fall in them. That. I fin not with my tongue; which is a world of iniquity, and, has a multitude of vices belonging to it; not only in profane men, but in profeffors of religion; whom it becomes to take heed that they fin not with it, by lying one to another, by angry and paffionate exprefiions, by corrupt communication, filthinefs,. foolifh talking, and jefting, which are not convenient; by whifpering, tale-bearing, back-biting, and by evil-fpeaking one of another: particularly there are vices of the tongue, which the faints are liable to under afflictive providences, and feem, chiefly defigned here; fuch as envious expreffions at the profperity of others; words of impatience under their own afflictions, and murmurings at the hand of God upon them; fuch as thefe, the pfalmift determined, within himfelf, to guard againft; in order to which he propofed to take the following method. J will keep my mouth with a bridle; that is, bridle his tongue, that being an unruly member, and to be kept in with bit and bridle, like an unruly horfe; fee Fames i. 26. and iil. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8. While the wicked is before me; or agains me'; meaning either whilft 4bi:bophel and Abjalom were confpiring and rebelling againft him, and Shimei was curfing him, under which he behaved with great filence, calmnefs, and patience; fee 2 Sam. XV. 25, 26. and xvi. 5—12. or whilft he had the flourifhing condition of wicked men in his view, and was meditating on it; or rather, when any one of them came to vifit him in his affliction, he was determined to be wholly filent, that they might have no opportunity of rejoicing over him, nor of reproaching him, and the good ways of God: and indeed it is proper for the people of God to be always 8 Vid. Hiller. Onomattic. facr. p. §13, 805.

ways upon their guard, when they are in -the prefence of wicked men; and be careful what they utter with their lips, who watch their-words to improve them againft them, and the religion they profefs, & ewes

¥. 2. I was dumb with filence, 8c.) Quite filent, as if he had been‘a dumb man, -and could not fpeak; fo he was before men, efpecially wicked men, and under the afflicting hand of God; fee y. 9. thus he put his refolution into prattice. I held my peace, even from good; that is, he faid neither good nor bad: this expreffés the greatnefs of his filence; he did not choofe to open his lips, and fay any thing that was good, left evil fhould come out along with it: though this may be confidered as carrying the matter too far, even to a’criminal filence; faying nothing of the affliction he laboured under as coming from the hand of God, and of his own defert of it; nor praying to God forthe removal of it, nor giving him thanks for his divine goodnefs in fupporting him under it, and making it ufeful to him; though it feems rather to have refpeét. to his filence concerning the goodnefs of his caufe before men; he faid’ not one word’in the vindication of himfelf; but committed his caufe to him that judgeth righteoufly. The Yargum and ‘archi interpret it of his filence and ceffation from the words of the Law: he faid nothing ' concerning the good word of God; which fenfe, could it be admitted, the words in Fer. xx. 9. might becom:

pared with thefe and the following. Aad my forrow was ftirred; this. was the iffue and effect of his filence; his forrow being pent up, and not Jet, out and eafed by words; fwelled and*increaféd the more; or the forrow of his heart was ftirred up at the infults and reproaches of his enemies, as Paui’s {pirit was ftirred up by the fuperftition:and idolatry of thecity of Athens, Ais xvii. 16.

“yy. 3. My beart was hot within me, &cc.| Either with zeal for God; or rather with envy at the pro- {perity of wicked men, and with impatience at his own afflictions. -While I was mufing, the fire burned; not the fire of the divine word, whilft he was meditating upon it, which caufed his heart to burn within him’; nor the fire of divine love, the coals whereof give. a.moft vehement flame, when the love of God is fhed abroad in the heart, and the thoughts of it are directed by the Spirit of God to dwell in meditation on it; but the fire of paffion, anger, and.refentment, whilft. meditating on_ his own adverfity, and the profperity of others.. Then Jpake I with my tongue. and fo broke the refolution he had made, y. 1. he fpoke not for God, though

_to him; not, by way of thankfulnefs for his grace and goodnefs to him, in fupporting him under his exercifes; but in.a way of complaint, becaufe of his afflictions; it was in prayer he {poke to God with his tongue, and it was unadvifedly with: ‘his lips, as follows. —..

¥.4. Lord, make me to know mine end; &c.] Not Chrift, the end of the Law for righteoufnefs, as Yerom interprets it; nor how long he fhould live, how. many days, months and. years more; for though they are known of God, they are not to be known by men; but either the end of his affli€tions,. or his latter end, ‘his mortal ftate, that he might be more thoughtful of that, and fo lefs.concerned about worldly things, his own external happinefs, or that of others; or rather, his death; jee he faid in a finful, paffionate way, as impatient of — his afflictions and exercifes; and in the fame way the following expreffions are to.be underftood. And — the meafure of my days, what it is; being defirous to come to the end of it; otherwife he knew it was but as an hand’s-breadth, as he fays.in the following verfe. That [ may know how frail Tams — or what time I baveibere; or «hen I fhall ceafe te be. of, as the Largum is, when I fall ceafe from

\the world; fo common it is for the faints thenm felves, in an angry or impatient fit, to defire death; fee Fob'vii. 15, 16. Forab iv. 8. and avery raré and difficult thing it is to with for it from right principles, and with right views, as the apoftle Paul didy PBI. i2gs) - cers’ | _ ¥. 5. Bebold, thou haft made my daysas an bandbreadth, 8cc.] Thefe words, with the following’ claufe, are the pfalmift’s anfwer to his own’ enqui=" ries’; or rather a correétion of his enquiry and-im-= patience, fhewing how needlefs it'was to afk fuch’ queftions, and be impatient to die, whem it was fo” clear-and certain a cafe, that life-was'fo fhort; not ‘a yard or ell, but an hand-breadth,. the breadth of four fingers; or at moft a {pan of time was allowed © to man, whofe days are few, like the fhadow that declineth, andcthe grafs that withers; by which figurative expreffions, the brevity of human life is defcribed, P/al. cii, £1. and cili, 15. and this is the meafure made, cut out, and appointed by the Lord himfelf, who has determined the years, months, and days of man’s life; Fob-xiv. 5. And” mine age is as nolling before thie’ in’ the fight of: God; or in comparifon of his eternity; not'fo much” as an hand-breadth, or to be accounted as an inch,’ but nothing: at all; yea, lefs than’nothing, and‘ vanity; fee J/a. xl. 17. that is, the°age*or difeof! man’ in’ this world, as ‘the word uféd * fignifies 5? for otherwife the age or life of man,: if the’ world® to come, is of an everlafting duration; ‘but ‘the® years of this prefent life are threefcore and ten ordi" narily fpeaking; an hundred and thirty are by Fa-' cob reckoned but few; and evena thoufand years with the Lord are but as one day, Pfal. xcs 4; 10)" Verily every man at bis best ftate is altogether vani=. Selab, as vanity may fignify fin, emptinefs, - ily, falfhood, ficklenefs, and inconftancy 5 for? man is a very finful creature, empty’of ‘all thatis ’ good; foolifh as to the knowledge of divine things; he is deceiving and deceived, -his*heart is deceitful’

-and defperately wicked; and he is -unftable in all’

is ways: he.is all vanity *, as the words may be fendered; all that he has, or is, or ‘is in him, is _vanity; his body, in the“health, beauty, and® ftrength of it, ‘is fubjeét to'changé; and'fo até his’* mind, his memory, his judgment and affections,» his purpofes and promifes; and foarehis goodsand™ eftate, his. riches and«honours;: yea,’ all the vanity’ that is inthe creatures, that is, in the vegetab eae if enfitive creatures, yea that is in the whole world, - 4 £ - is in hims who is a microcofm, a little world himfelf: and this is true of every man, ‘even in Settled’ eftate’;, when he ftood the moft asthe © word ‘ufed fignifies: it is true of men Of high and ° low degree, of the wife, knowing, and‘learned, as vel as of the illiterate and ignorant, iy

Rom. i. 21, 22, €ven of thot te eiadaeeen profperous circumftances, in the ‘greateft eafe -

} %ob vi. ‘x1. and his fenfé is, that hemmightktiow death experimentally; or that he might diet this — wor On ay quanti avi ego, Montanus; quamdia mundanus ero, Vatablus; quam brevis temporis fim, Mufculas. w §95N vitale evam meum, Cocceius; my worldly time, Ainfworth., Montanus, Gejerus, Michaelis, Mufculus, Cocceius; fo Ainfworth. quamlibet firmus confiftere videatury Tigurine verfion, Vatablus; though fettled, Ainfworth; fo Janigs & Tre this is true of Adam in his beft eftate, in his eftate of ' innocence; for he was even then fubject to change, as the event has fhewn;, and being in honour, he abode not long; and tho’ upright, became finful, and came fhort of the glory. of, God: indeed, the fpiritual eftate of believers. in Chrift is fo well fettled, as that it cannot be altered. nor is it fubject to any vanity. Ofthe word Selah, {ee the note on Pfal. iii. 2. | i te sap lag if y. 6. Surely every man walketh in a vain foew, &c.]. Or in an image”; not in the image of the Lord, as the Targum; in the image in which God created man, for that is loft; nor in chat which is enftamped on men in regeneration; for every man does not walk in that; rather in the image of fallen man, in which every man is born and walks: or in a foadow*, or like one; to. which the days of man’s life are often compared, 1 Chron, xxix. 15. Pfal. ci. 11. and cxliv. 4. and who, forthe moft Batt, bufies. himfelf in fhadowy and imaginary, things; agreeable to all which the poet fays®, <¢ I s< fee that we who live are nothing elfe but ima- « ges, and a vain fhadow.” Some‘ interpret it of the fhadow of death; and others * of darkne s itfelf; and it fitly exprefies the ftate of unregeneracy and darknefs, in which every man walks without the grace of God; and which will end in, utter darknefs, if that does not prevent it; and which is called a walking in the vanily of the mind, Eph, iv. 17. Here it feems rather to intend the outward fhew, pomp, and grandeur of every great man; of emperors, kings, princes, nobles, and the great men of the world; which is all a vain fhew, a glittering appearance for a while, a glory. that. paffeth.a- ay, and will not defcend after them when Jaid in the grave, and oftentimes lafts not fo long. Sure-, Ly they are difquieted in vain, about vain things, as riches and honours, which are fickle and unftable; and fometimes in vain are all the carking cares and difquietude of the mind, and toil and labour of the. body, which are here reférred to, to obtain thefe things; fome rife early, and fit up, late, and yet eat the bread of forrow; and if they gain, their point, yet do not find the pleafure and fatisfaGtion in them they promifed themfelves, and expected. He beapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them; according to Farchi, the metaphor feems to be taken from a man that has been plowing and fowing, and reaping and laying up the increafe of the field in heaps, and yet knows not who fhall gather it into the barn, feeing he may die before itis gathered in; compare with-this Luke xii. 16—19. or the reaping is, when a man has amafied a prodigious deal of wealth together, he knows not who fhall enjoy it, whether a fon or a fervant, a friend or a foe, a good man or a bad man, a wife man ora fool, Eccl. ii. 18,19. vou

Look ‘for, or expeét in this view of things; not.

long life, fince the days of man are fo fhort, and his age as nothing; not help from man, fince he is altogether vanity; not riches and honour, fince they are fuch poor, fading, perifhing things; but the glories of another world, and the enjoyment of the Tord himfelf, both in this and that. My hope is in thee, the pfalmift now returns to himfelf, and comes to his right mind, and to a right way of judging.and aéting; making the Lord the objeét of his hope and truft, expecting all good things, grace and glory alone from him; and this is the hope which makes not afhamed.

¥..8. Deliver me from all my tranfereffions, 8cc.} Which were the caufe and occafion of all his diftreffes, inward and outward,; and the deliverance prayed for includes a. freedom from, the dorninion of fin, which is by the power, of efficacious graces and from the guilt of fin, which is by the application of the blood of Chrift; and from obligation to punifhment for it, or deliverance from wrath to come,which is through, Chrift’s being made a curfe, and enduring wrath in the room and ftead of his people; and from the. very being of fin, which, though it cannot be expected in this life, is defirable; and the pfalmift prays that he might be delivered from, a// his tranfgreflions; knowing that if one of them was. left to have dominion over him, or the guilt of it to lie upon him, and he be obliged to undergo due punifhment for it, he muft be for ever miferable.. Make me mot the reproach of the fooli/o; of a Nabal; meaning not any, particular perfon;,as H/au, according to Farchj, or Ab-

Jalom, as others; but every foolifh.,man, that is, a wicked man; fuch who deny the being and providence.of God, make a mock at fin, and fcoff at the faints: and the fenfe of the pfalmift is, that the Lord, would keep him:from finning, and deliver him out of all,his. affiictions, on account of which he was.reproached by wicked men.

X..9. Lwas dumb, I opened not my mouth, &c.} This refers. either to his former | filence, before he broke it, ¥. 15.2, or to what he. after that came into again, when he had feen the folly of his impatience, the frailty.of his life, the vanity of man, and. all human affairs,,and had been dire€ted to place his hope,and confidence in the Lord, y. 5—7.: or to the prefent frame of his mind, and his future conduét, he had refolved upon; and may be rendered, I am dumb; or will be dumb, and will,not. open my. mouth *; that is, not ina complaining and murmuring way againft the Lord, but. be ftill, and know, or own that he is God. Becau/e thou didft it; not Lecaufe thou aft. made me, as Austin reads the words, and as the Arabic verfion renders them, becaufe thou hast created me, though the confideration of God being a Creator lays his creatures under obligation as to ferve him, fo to be filent under his afflicting hand upon them; but the fenfe is, that the pfalmift was determined to be patient and quiet under his affliction, becaufe God was the author of it); for though he is not the author of the evil of fin, yet of the evil of affliction; fee Amos iii. 6, and it is a quieting confideration to a child of God under it, that it comes from God, who is a fovereign Being, and does what he pleafes; and does all things well and wifely, in truvh and faithfulnefs, and in mercy and loving-kindnefs: this fome ‘refer to the rebellion of 4b/alom, and the curfing of Shimei, 2 Sam.xii. 11. and Xvi. 10, 11. or it may refer to the death of his child, 2 Sam. xii. 22,23. or rather, to fome fore affliction upon himfelf; fince it follows, yr, 10. Remove thy ftroke away from me, 8c.) The pfalmift ftill confiders his affliction as coming from the hand of God, as his ftroke upon him, and which Jay as an heavy burden on him, and which God only could remove; and to him he ap- ~ » aoPhes 9. * In-umbra,yr > opw yap nas, Sophaclis Ajax, 4 Jarchi & Kimchi in loc, & R. Jonah in Miclol Yophi in log, plies for the removal of it, who is to be fought unto by his people to do fuch things for them; nor is fuch an application any ways contrary to that filence and patience before exprefled. J am confumed by the blow of thine band; meaning either that.

his flefh was confumed by his affliction, which ‘came from the hand of God, or he fhould be confumed if he did not remove it: he could not bear up under it, but muft fink and die; if he continued to ftrive and contend with him, his fpirit would fail before him, and the foul that he had made; and therefore he intreats he would remember he was but duft, and remove ‘his hand from him; for this is a reafon enforcing the preceding petition.

y. 11. When thou with rebukes doft correft man for iniquity, &c.| The pfalmift illuftrates his own cafe before fuggefted, by the common cafe and condition of men,when God correétsthem; which he has a right to do, as the Father of fpirits, and which he does with rebukes; fometimes with rebukes of wrath, with furious rebukes, rebukes in flames of fire, as the men of the world; and fometimes with rebukes of love, the chaftenings of a Father, as his own: dear children; and always for iniquity, whether one or another; and not the iniquity of Adam, is here meant, but perfonal iniquity: and correétion for it is to be underftood of fome bodily affliction, -as the effect of it fhews. Thou makeft his beauty to confume away like a moth; that is, fecretly, fuddenly, and at once; as a moth eats a garment, and takes off the beauty of it; oras eafily as a moth is crufhed between a man’s fingers; fo the Targum; ** he melts away as a moth, whofe ** body is broken:” the Vulgate Latin, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic verfions, and fo the metaphrafe of Apollinarius read, as a {pider which deftroys itfelf. The word rendered deauty takes in all that is defirable in man; as his flefh, his ftrength, his comelinefs, his pleafantnefs of countenance, &c. all which are quickly deftroyed by a diftemper of the body feizing on it; wherefore the pfalmift makes and confirms the conclufion he had made before; Surely every man is vanity. Selab. ee the

‘12. Hear my prayer, O Lord, &c.]) Which was, that he would remove the affliction from him, that lay fo hard and heavy upon him. nd give

ear unto my cry; which fhews the diftrefs he was in, and the vehemency with which he put up his petition to the Lord. Hold not thy peace at my tears; which were fhed in great plenty, through the violence of the affliction, and in his fervent prayers to God; fee Heb. v. 7. For Iam a ftranger with thee; not to God, to Chrift, to the Spirit, to the faints, to himfelf, and the plague of his own heart, or to the devices of Satan; but in, the world, and to the men of it; being unknown to them, and behaving as a ftranger among them; all which was known to God, and may be the meaning of the phrafe with thee; or reference may be had to the land of Canaan, in which David dwelt, and which was the Lord’s, and in which the J/raelites dwelt as ftrangers and fojourners with him, Lev. xxv. 23. as it follows here. And a /ojourner, as all my fathers were; meaning Abraham, Tfaac, and Facob, and their pofterity; fee Gen. Xxiil. 4. and xxxv. 27. Pjal. cv. 23. as are all the people of God in this world: this is not their native place; they belong ‘to another, and better — country; their citizenfhip is in heaven; their Father’s houfe is there, and theré is their inheritance, which they have a right unto, and a meetnefs for: they have no fettlement here; nor is their reft and fatisfaction in the things of this world: they reckon themfelves, whilft here, as not at home, but in a foreign land; and this the pfalmift: mentions, to engage the Lord to regard his prayers, fince he has fo often exprefied a concern for the ftrangers and fojourners in the land of J/rae/.

¥. 13. O fpare me, &c.] Or look from me*; turn away thy fierce countenance from me; of cea e from me*, and let me alone;:as in Fob x. 20. from whence the words feem to be taken, by what follows. hat I may recover ftrength; both corporal and fpiritual. Before Igo hence, out of this world. by death. And be no more; that is, among men in the Jand of the living; not but that he believed ° he fhould exift after death, and fhould be fomewhere, even in heaven, though he fhould return no more to the place where he was; fee fob x. 20, 21. when a man is born, he comes into the world; when he dies, he goes out of it; a phrafe frequently ufed for death in fcripture; fo the ancient heathens called death abitio, a going away *.

ARCH I interprets this pfalm of the J/raelites, and of their deliverance and fong at the red fea. The title of it, inthe Syriac verfion, is, ** A pfalm “¢ of David according to the letter, when Shemaiab «¢ brought the names of thofe who minifter in the “© houfe of the Lord;”’ fee 1 Chron. xxiv. 6. according to Kimcbi, the fubject of this pfalm is the fame with that of the two preceding; and R. Ob- _badiab thinks it was compofed by David, when he was recovered of a leprofy; but though it might be wrote by David, it was not written concerning himfelf, or on his own account, but of another. The title of this pfalm is fomewhat different from o-

thers in the order of the words; whereas it is ufu-. ally put 4 p/alm of, or for David; here it is, For David, a pfalm; and may be rendered,. as Ainfworth obferves, A pfalm concerning David'; not. literally; but typically underftood; not concerni David himfelf, but concerning his aatigpe And fon, who is called by hisname, Ezek. xxxvii. 25. Hof. iii, 5. and that it is to be interpretec him, is evident, from the application of ¥. 6, 7, unto him by the apoftle in Heb, x. 5g. and t whole of it is applicable to him; fome apply Feremiab in the dungeon, and others to Daniel the den, as Theodoret obferves. 9 +s ‘ | aon ‘ wll - oe

_ «x. 1. I waited patiently for the Lord, 8c.) Or waiting I waited‘; which denotes continuance, conftancy, and patience; and which Chrift exercifed in the garden, when he fubmitted himfelf entirely tothe willof God; andon thecrofs, when he continued in fure hope and firm expectation of his help and affiftance, though he was for a while forfaken by him; fee J/ai. 1. 7, 8, 9. And be inclined unto. me, and heard my cry; both in the garden, by delivering him from fear of death, andon the crofs, by upholding, helping, and affifting him, by carrying him through his fufferings and death, and raifing him from the dead; fee //ai. xlix. 8. Heb. v. 7. ¥. 2. He brought me up alfo out of an borrible “pit, &cc.] Which, with the following phrafe, Out of the miry clay, expreffes the ftate and condition Chrift was in at the time of his bloody fweat, his crucifixion, and his lying in /beol, the pit or grave, fometimes rendered hell, which thefe figu rative phrafes fitly fignify; when it is obferved, that he was madeé fina; and had the fins of all his people on him; and as the type of Fo/hua, was clothed with their filthy garments, he might be truly faid to be in the miry clay; and alfo that he was made a curfe for them, and bore the wrath of God in their room and ftead; and was forfaken by his God and Father, and fo endured both the punifhment of lofseand fenfe, and what was tantamount to the fufferings of the damned in hell; fee Pfal. \xix. 1, 2. to which may be added, the noify infults of malignant men, and the infernal fiends, who furrounded him on the crofs; when he was in an horrible, or noi/y pit, as the words may be rendered *, the ‘allufion being to fubterraneous caverns or pits, in which the falls of water make fo horrible a noife, as is intolerable; or to deep pits, into which any thing caft makes a great found: and the iffue of all this was, that he was laid in the pit of the grave, and held under the power, and with the cords of death; from all which he was delivered, when he was raifed from the dead, juttified in the Spirit, and glorified in the human nature by his God and Father. And fet my feet upon a rock; on mount Zion in heaven, whither he was carried up after his refurre€tion; whére he will remain until his fecond coming, being fet down at the right hand of God, in a moft ftable, firm, and unalterable ftate, as well as an honourable one; for he will die no more, and death fhall no more have dominion over him. And eftablifbed my goings; in treading the path of life, which was fhewn him at his refurrection; in paffing through the air, the territory of Satan, at his afcenfion; and in his entrance into his glory, and making his way to his Father’s right-hand and throne. ~ ¥. 3. And be hath put a new Jong in my mouth, even - praife to our God, &c.] Sung by him in the midft of the great congregation of angels and faints, upon his refurrection, afcenfion, and feffion at the right-hand of God; fee Pfal. xxii. 22,25. when he went to his God and ours, to his Father and ours; and in which fong he is joined by all his people above and below, Rev. v. g—13. Many jhall fee it, and fear, and fhall truft in the Lord; even all the elec of God, as many as are ordained to eternal life; the many whofe fins Chrift bore, for whom he became a ranfom, whom he juftifies and brings to glory: thefe all /ee him in the horrible pit and, miry clay, in his ftate of humiliation, as bearing their fins, and the punifhment due unto them; as wounded bruifed and crucified; as rifing again for their juftification; and as on mount Zion crowned with glory and honour;. and a multitude of harpers with him, finging the new fongs thefe fee the falvation he has wrought out, the glory, fulnefs, and fuitablenefs of it, and their intereft in it; and they fear not with a fear of hell and damnation, which is inconfiftent with the truft after mentioned; but with a godly and filial fear, which arifes from, and is encouraged by the grace and goodnefs of God, their faith in the fufferings, death, and refurreétion of Chrift Jefus, and which render him a proper ob- Ject of truft and confidence; for he is fo, both as fuffering, crucified and flain, and as rifen again, and exalted at the Father’s right-hand, Gal. ii. 20. I Pes. i. 22.

¥. 4. Bleffed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, &c.} For fuch are fafe and fecure in him, are pofleffed of all bleffings of grace through him, have peace in their own fouls now, and fhall enjoy eternal happingls with him hereafter. And refpeételbh not the proud fuch as the Pharifees, and all felf-righteous perfons; who truft in themfelves and their own righteoufnefs, fubmit not to the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and defpife others 5 to thefe, fuch who truft in Chrift have no refpeét; they neither efteem them, nor imitate them. Nor fuch as turn afide to lies; to idols, the lying vanities of the Gentiles; or to any doétrines injurious to the perfon, office, blood, righteoufnefs, facrifice, and grace of Chrift; which are no other than lies, and which thofe who believe in Chrift have no refpeét to, but abhor both them and the abettors of them.

y¥.5- Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderfulworks which thou bast done; &c.] This is the mew fong, as Aben Ezra rightly obferves, which is faid in ¥. 3. to be put in the mouth of the Meffiah; who fometimes {peaks in the plural number, being the reprefentative of his people, and fometimes in the fingular; for it is the fame perfon that fpeaks here, who is continued fpeaking in the next verfe, and following; and which are applied to Chrift, Hab. x. 5. the works here faid to be done, and to be many and wonderful, are not the creation of the world, the dividing of the fea, and feeding the-people of J/rael forty years in the wildernefs, as archi interprets them; but the incarnation of Chrift, redemption by him, the refurrection of him from the dead; regeneration and converfion, and the prefervation of the faints from the evil of the world, fafe to the kingdom and glory of God; all which, as they are many and various, and difplay the manifold wifdom and grace of God; fo they are marvellous, and will be the fubject of the wonder of faints to all e-. ternity. And thy thoughts which are to us-ward; that is, the decrees of God, as Aben Ezra truly explains them; the purpofes, counfels, and intentions of God; which, though mentioned laft, are before his works, and are the. fpring of them: thefe were in the mind of God from everlafting, were unknown till revealed, were thoughts of peace, and not of evil, and are unfruftrable, and ever fulfilled, and are manifold, precious and amazing, Pal. cxxxix. 17. and thefe were concernin all the elect of God as confidered in Chrift, ind members of his; and therefore he fays to us-ward; and all the works before mentioned were done to them, or for them, and on their account; and fo

Farchi and Aben Ezra interpret the phrafe, becaufe of us, or for our fakes; -even.the incarnation, fuf- -ferings, death and refurreétion of Chrift, and the thoughts of them, were for'them. They cannot-be reckoned up in order'ta thee, or there is none'can order them unto tbee', there is. no power in man to.

do it, as Aben Ezra obferves; or there is none like unto thee, as‘Farchi and the Oriental verfions; fee though this fenfe feems to break in upon the ac- _coant of the wonderful works and thoughts of God, which are ftill defigned.in the following claufe. If I could declare and fpeak of them, they are more than can be numbered; that is, by men: from this general account. of the:many and wonderful works and thoughts of God, the Meffiah pafles on to take notice of one particular defign and work of the Lord, the’ redemption of his people by the facrifice of himifelf. ¥. 6. Sacrifice and offering thou didft not defrre, &c,] Thefe. were defired, willed, and appomted by God, and that very early, creer the times of our. firft parents; and, ‘when performed aright, were, acceptable to God, quite down to the times of the, Meffiah: indeed} when offered without faith in Chrift,: and: with.a wicked» mind}: to merit any thing, at the hand of God, they were always abominable to him; and he'likewife ever preferred love to himfelf,; and of the neighbour, obedience to the commands of the moral law, and works of mercy to men, before all: the facrifices of the’ ceremonial Jaw,..1 Sam. xv.22. Hof. vi, 6. Mark xii. 33. nor were thefe ever in fuch efteem with him, as the facrifices of a broken and contrite heart, or of praife and thankfgiving,: Pfal. li: 16,17. and Ixix. 30, 81, nor were they ever regarded by him, but as they refpected' Chrift; nor were they ever ‘defigned to cleanfe from: fin, and take‘it away, but to lead to the propitiatory facrifice of Chrift: but none of thefe fenfes have place here: the meaning of the words is, that it was not the will of God, at the time this paffage refers to, that legal facrifices fhould continue any longer; and that ‘they fhould not be offered-up,: even by good men, in the beft manner, and to the beft ends’ and purpofes; the time being come that a better facrifice fhould be offered, which ‘was:the fam and fubftance of them, and was prefigured by them. Mine ears bast thou opened, or dug, or: bored™.; in: allufion, as is thought by many, to. Exod. xxi.'6. though the phrafe rather fignifies the formation and excavation of the ear; or the preparing and fitting it for its ufe; that is, to hearken to: the willof his heavenly Father, to become man, offer himfelf a facrifice,’and fuffer and die in the room of his people; to which he became obedient, taking upon him the form of a fervant, when found in fafhion as a man; and was obedient unto death, even the death of the crofs; fee [/a. 1, 46. in Heb. x. 5, the words are rendered as by the Septuagint, but a body haft thou prepared. me; and with it the Arabic and Erhiopic verfions agree; and fo Apoliinarius, *< fleth of mortal ‘¢ generation 3” a part of the body being put for the whole; and which indeed is fuppofed: for un-: lefs a. body. had been prepared for him, his ears yay not have been opened; and it was in the boy, im human nature, that he was the obedient fervant; and this is to be underftood, not only of a preparation of this body, in the purpofes, counfel, and covenant of God; but chiefly of the formation of it in the womb of the Virgin, where it was curioufly wrought and prepared by the Holy 'Ghoft, that he might have fomething to offer, and in it become, as he did, an offering and a facrifice to God, of a fweét-fmelling favour. Burut-offer ing and fin-offering bajt thou not required; any longers this body being ‘prepared for the Meffiah to be offered up in, (5 8 8 mae SY. 7: Then faid I, &c.] © As in the council and covenant of peace, ‘when and. where he declared his willingnefs to come into the world, and make fatisfaction for the fins of his people; fo when the fulnefs of time was come for his appearance in human nature he repeated the fame; for of the time.of his coming into the world are thefe words interpreted, Heb. x. '5.. when facrifice'and offering God would not ‘have any longer continued, and when a body was prepared him, then lie faid,. Lo, J come; O Father; as Apollinarius, inhis metaphrale, adds; that is, freely, and without compulfion; immediately, at once, without any delay; and he himfelf, and not another; and this not by change of place, but by afflumption of nature; taking the body, or.

human nature prepared for him, and uniting it to himfelf; to which the word /o is prefixed as a note of attention: and.admiration’; the incarnation of Chrift being a wonderfi'l affair, and of the utmoft moment and importance. Jn the volume of the book it is written of me; ‘either in the book of divine predeftination, in the purpofes and decrees of God, P/al. cxxxix. 16. or in the book of the feriptures; either in general, Fobuv. 39. Luke xXiv. 27, 44. or particularly in the book of the pfalms, P al. i.

1, 2, and ii, 2, 6, 7. or rather in the book of the Liaw, the five books of Ado/és; fince thefe were the’ only books or volumes that were compofed at the writing of this pfalm; and ir has refpect not to Deut. xviii. 15. nor chap, xvii. 18. nor Ewod. xxi. 6. but rather Gen. iii. 15. and feeing the coming of Chrift into the world was not only appointed of God, agreed unto by Chrift, but was prophefied of, and penned down in the facred writings; therefore at the appointed time he came, freely and willingly. This book is called.a volume, or roll, alluding to the manner of writing formerly; when what was wrote was finifhed, it was rolled about a ftick in the manner of a cylinder; and in this — form is the ‘book of the Law with the Jews to this day; fee the noteon Zuke'iv.17, y. 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God, &c.]

This he came down from heaven to do, and this — he did do, by preaching the gofpel, and working miracles; and above all, by obtaining eternal re-. demption for his people, which he effected by ful-.

ing and dying in their room; all which were the — will of God, and’ grateful to him, and in doing which Chrift took the utmoft delight and pleafure,

Fobniv. 34. Luke xii. 50. my beart; either the whole moral law, under whi he was, as man, and the furety of his people; and which was written upon his heart, and whi perfectly obeyed; or that particular law, inj tion, and command laid upon him by his Fath to offer himfelf a facrifice, and lay down his” for men; which he agreed to, had it in his his heart was fet upon it, and he chearfull plied with it, Fobax. 18. and Gp

¥.g. I have preached righteoufnefs in the great

PLxl. y.10o—1 4. the Law requires men to do; but the righteoufnefs which: Chrift himfelf wrought out, for the juftification of them that believe; this he was a preacher, as well as the author of, and is part of the glad tidings he was anointed to preach, J/a. Ixi. 1. and the. word" hete ufed’ fignifies, for the moft ‘part, the publifhing of good tidings; and this our Liord did publickly, before all the people, in ‘the fynagogues of the Jews, and'in the temple, whither the people in great numbers reforted;efpecially at the three great feftivals in the feafts paffover, pentecoft, and tabernacles, when all the males were obliged to appear, ‘and made upa great congregation indeed; fee Foby ij. 23, and v.'1, 14. and viii, 2. and xviii. 20. Do, F bave not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knoweft; Chrift appeals to his divine, Father, the fearcher of hearts, and trier of reins, for the truth of this; that he had'not laid any reftraint upon his lips, nor kept back any thing in his miniftry that was profitable; ‘but had taught the way of God in great integrity and fincerity; had opened his mouth, and fpoke freely and fully, and_ uled great plainnefs of fpeech. °

¥. 10. L have not bid thy ri. hteou fnefs within my-beart, 8cc.] Meaning not the effential righteoufnefs of God, though that was abundantly ‘declared in the wounds, fufferings, and death of Chrift; and which was the end indeed of his being a propitiation for fin, Rom. iii, 25,°26. but his own righteoufnefs, as before, which he wrought out; and brought in; and which is called the righteoufnefs of God his Father, becaufe it is approv- éd of by him, and accepted with him, and which he imputes to all his people. J have declared thy faithfulne{s, and thy falvation; ‘that is, the faithfalnefs of God in executing all his purpofes, ‘counfels and decrees, which are faid to be faithfulnefs'and truth; and in fulfilling his covenant and promifes, relating to the redemption and falvation of men by Chrift; and in the miffion of Chrift into this world on that account; and in the accomplifhment of all, the prophecies of the Old Teftament concerning him; and in making good all the particular promifes of fupport, help, and ftrength, made to the Meffiah himfelf; and by his /a/vation is meant, that which is of God the Father’s appointing, continuing and fettling, in the council and covenant of grace; which he fent his Son to be the author of, and which he has obtained; and is the great doctrine of the gofpel preached by himfelf, and his faithful minifters, Luke xix. 9, 10. Mark xvi. 16. I have not concealed thy loving-kindnefs and thy truth from the great congregation, or in the great congregation, asthe Targum. By the loving-kindne/s of God is defigned, both his love to Chrift, which was before the foundation of the world, and continued in his loweft ftate of humiliation, and which our Lord was far from concealing, but gave openly inftances of it, Fobn xvii. 24. and x. 17. and v. 20—23. and his love to his people; and which he declared to be the fame with that which he is loved with, and inftances in the gift of himfelf to them by his Father, as the great evidence of it, ‘Fobn xvii. 23. and iii. 16. and by éruth is intended the gofpel in general, which came by Chrift, was preached by him, which he bore witnefS to, to do which was one end of his coming into the world; and this was not concealed by him, who is truth itfelf; but was fully and plainly declared by him, as it had mot been before, Fobm i. 17. and XViii. 37- A (

¥. a1. Withhold not thou iby tender mercies from me, O Lord, &c.] This is a petition of Chrift to his Father, when in the midft of his forrows and fufferings, before related; and particularly when he hid his face from him, and withheld the difcoveries of his tender and affectionate love. Let thy loving-kindne[s and thy truth continually preferve me; as he had promifed; of which promile fome noticé is given, J/a. xlix. 8. in the fulfilment of which the loving-kindnefs, truth, and. faichfulnefs of God, would appear. ‘Some read thefe words as expreffive of faith in thefe things, ‘thou wilt not with: hold, 8c. thy loving-kindne/s and thy truth foall continually preferve me °.

y. 12. For innumerable evils have compaffed mé about, Sec. Like floods of water all around him; fee Pal. xviii. 4, 5. Fonab ii. 5. thefe are the evils of punifhment inflicted on him, as the furety and Saviour of his people; fuch as the forrows and gtiefs he bore all his days; the cruel mockings and feourges he endured; his being buffeted, and {pit upon; his head crowned with thorns, and his hands and feet pierced with nails; infulted by men and dea vils; crucified between two thieves, and fo died the fhameful and painful death of the crofs. Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me not any commits ed by him; he was conceived, born, and lived without fin, kitew none, nor did he any; but the fins of his people, which were imputed to him; laid upon him, and which he voluntarily took and bore; and which he reckoned as his own, and was refponfible for them; thefe, when he hung upon the crofs, came upon him from all quarters, and he bore them in his‘own body upon the tree, So that I am not able to look up or cannot fee?; ei- - ther the end of thefe iniquities, they being fo numerous, ‘as is after related; or he could not bear td look upon them, they were fo filthy and naufeous, and he fo pure and holy; or he could not behold his Father’s countenance, which: thefe fins that ‘were upon Him feparated him from, and caufed to be hid from him; or like one preffed down with the guilt of fin, as the poor publican was, could not fo much as lift up his eyes to heaven, Luke XVili, 13.. They are more than. the bairs of mine head, as they muft needs be, fince they were the

| iniquities of all the elect of God, of the whole general affembly and church of the firft-born, written in heaven, Ua. liii. 6. Therefore my heart faileth me; as man; fee Pfal. xxii. 14. though being fupported by his divine nature, and by his divine Father and eternal Spirit, he failed not, nor was he difcouraged, J/a. xlii. 4. this is faid to few the truth of the human nature, the greatnels of mens fins, the ftrictnefs of divine juftice, and what ftrength was neceffary to accomplifh man’s falvation, ¥. 13. Be pleafed, O Lord, to deliver me, &c.] From the innumerable evils which compaffed him about; from finful men, and from devils, fignified by the fword, dog, and lion, P/al. xxii. 20, ai, and from the power and dominion of death ‘and the grave; all which was done when he was raifed from the dead, and as the fruit and effect of God’s well-pleafednef8 in him, and with what he did and fuffered; fee P/a/. xxii. 8, and. xviii. 19. O Lord, make bafte to help me; fee the note on Pfal. &xii. 19. y. 14. Let them be afhamed and confounded together, 8c.) As they will be at the laft day, when _ they they fhall {ee him whom they have pierced, come: in the clouds of heaven, in his own and his Father’s glory, and in the glory of the holy angels. That jeek after my foul to destroy its that is, his life, as did Herod in his infancy, and the fcribes and Pharifees, chief priefts and elders of the people of the Jews, frequently, and at laft accomplithed what they fought after. Let them he driven backward, as thofe were who came with Fudas into the garden to apprehend him, Fobn xviii. 6. And put to shame that wifh me evil, as did the Jews, who fought all opportunities to enfnare him, and that they might have to accufe him to the Roman governor; and who earneftly defired his crucifixion, and vehemently wifhed his death; fee P/al. xli. 5.

¥. 15. Let them be defolate for a reward of their foame, &c.| Of their fhameful wifhes, words and actions, as they were: their habitations in feru alem were defolate, and fo was their houfe or temple there, and their whole land, and they themfelves were {tripped of every thing, when Ferufalem was taken and deftroyed; fee Matth, xxiii. 38. Ads i. 20. That fay unto me, Aba, aba; words expreffive of joy, P/al. xxxv. 21, 25. exulting at his miferies and fufferings on the crofs, Matth. xxvii. 39—44. fo the Targum, ‘+ we have rejoiced at his « deftruction, with joy at his affliction,”

y. 16. Let all thofe that feek thee, &c.| In the firft place, with their whole hearts, earneftly and diligently, in Chrift, and under the influences of his Spirit, for pardon, righteoufnefs, communion, larger meafures of grace, and for honour, glory, immortality, and eternal life. Rejoice and be glad in thee; as their covenant-God, the Father of their mercies, the God of all comfort and falvation; who pardons their fins, clothes them with the robes of righteoufnefs, and garments of falvation, and accepts their perfons in Chrift; all which is matter of joy and gladnefs: Chrift is concerned for the joy of his people, Yobn xv. 11. the Targum is, they foall, or let them rejoice, and be glad in thy word in himfelf, the effential Word, in whom there is always ground and reafon of joy and gladnefs; becaufe of his perfon, blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice. Let fuch as love thy falvation; either Chrift, who is God’s falvation, Gev. xlix. 18. J a.

xlix. 6. Luke ii. 29, 30. and who is loved by his people, univerfally, fuperlatively, and fincerely; or the falvation of him, his deliverance from the grave, refurrection from the dead, and exaltation; the benefits of which believers fhare in, and fo have reafon to love it: or the falvation he is the author of, which is loved by thofe that know it; partly becaufé. agreeable to the divine perfections, the glory of God is great init; and partly becaufe itis fo full and complete in itfelf, and fo fuitable to this be their conftant employment in this world, as it will be for ever in the next, to afcribe greatnefs to God; or greatly to praife him, becaufe of the great falvation wrought out for them.. y. 17. But I am poor and needy, &c.] As Chrift was literally, 2 Cor. viii. g. and in a fpiritual fenfe, when deferted by his Father, forfaken by his difciples, and furrounded by his enemies; and had the fins of his people, the curfe of the Law, and the wrath of God upon him. Yet the Lord thinketb upon me; thinketh good for me, as the Targum; or thinks highly of me; has mein great efteem, though defpifed of men, and in fuch a fuffering ftate. Thou art my help and my deliverer + he believed he fhould have what he prayed for, ¥. 13. fee Ja. 1. 7, 8,9. Make no tarrying, O my God which is a repetition of the requelt in W234 '

N this pfalm is a prophefy concerning Chrift, and concerning Yudas Ifcariot, as runs part of the title in the Syrzac vérfion; and in the Arabic verfion, it is called a prophecy concerning the incarnation, and the falutation of Fudas; and certain it is that the ninth verfe is to be underftood of him, and of his betraying Chrift into the hands of his enemies, fince it is cited and applied to him by our Lord himfelf, Fob xiii. 18, fo that having fuch a fure rule of interpretation, we may fafely venture to explain the whole pfalm of Chrift, which treats both of his humiliation and exaltation; for it neither agrees with David wholly, nor with Hezekiah, to whom fome afcribe it, as LAcodoret remarks.

y. 1. Bleffed is he that confidereth the poor, &c.

Not the poor of the world in common, nor poor faints in particular, but fome fingle poor man; for the word is in the fingular number, and defigns our Lord Jefus Chrift, who, in the laft verfe of the preceding pfalm, is faid to be poor and needy; and fo read the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic _ verfions here; who became poor for our fakes, _ that we might be enriched by his poverty; being born of poor parents, educated in a mean manner, and in public life was miniftred to by others: ‘the word *here ufed fignifies one that is attenuated, weak, and exhaufted either of his fubftance or ftrength, or both; as Chrift was in his ftate of humiliation, when he was emptied of his riches, and though Lord of all had not where to lay his head; and whofe ftrength was dried up like a potfherd, when he fuffered on the crofs; and indeed at beft he was encompafled with weaknefies and infirmities: and in this his low eftate he is to be wifely confidered, or attended to with wifdom and underftanding; and he may be faid wifely to confider him, who confiders how great a perfon he is, that came into fuch a low eftate for us; not a m man, but above angels and men, that has all the perfections of deity in him, is the eternal Son of °

God, truly and properly God, and the Creator of all things, and Governor of the univerfe; which confideration will engage to and encoutage faith and hope in him, lead to adore his wonderful grace, and to admire his condefcenfion and humility in becoming poor and weak; as alfo who confiders that the poverty of Chrift was for our fakes, and that we might be made rich with the riches of grace and glory; and confiders it fo as not to be offended with it; fee Mags. xi. 6, and xiii. 57. and

Say continually, The Lord be magnified; let which may ferve to fupport us under all meannefs and infirmity, and in whatfoever eftate faints may come into; and likewife who confiders him in his

Pf xliiv.2—s. offices which he exercifed in that his eftate as the apoftle and higheprieft of our profeffion; and him in his exalted ftate in heaven; fee Heb. xii, 3, and iii, 1. and vii. 4. and viii. 1. in a word, he wilely confiders him, who believes in him as his Saviour, prizes him as the pearl of great price, cleaves clofe unto him, and follows him wherever he goes; who defires to know more of him, is concerned for his honour, intereft, kingdom and glory, and pities his poor members, and freely and bountifully communicates to them; and fo the Targum, “‘ blefled is «< the man that wifely confiders the afflictions ot «© the poor, that he may have mercy on him; and fuch an one is an happy man, and the following things faid of him prove him to be fo, Tbe Lord will deliver him in time of trouble, or in the evil day"; out of all his trouble, temporal and fpiritual, of body and foul; in every time of affliction, private and perfonal 5 or in a time of public calamity; perhaps reference may be had to the time of Ferufalem’s deftruation, which was a time of great tribulation, Matt. xxiv, 21. when \thofe who did not confider Chrift in his poor and low eftate, but defpifed and rejected him, were deftroyed; and fuch as did, were faved from that calamity: and it may alfo include the day of judgment, which is the evil day, unto which the wicked are referved, and when they will be punifhed with everlafting deftruétion; but then thofe that confider Chrift, and believe in him, will be faved from wrath. Some’ take thefe words, with what follows in the two next verfes, as a prayer, and as delivered by him that vilits the fick, for his comfort; and fo Fofepb Kimchi interprets it of an honourable man vifiting a fick man, and inftructing and comforting him with fuch words as thefe, that tae Lord will deliver bim, &cc*. ¥. 2. The Lord will ‘preferve him and keep him alive, &c.] Amidft a thoufand deaths, to which he is expofed for making a profeffion of his faith in Chrift; fee 2 Cor. i. 10. and iv. 10, 11, and vi, g- or this. may refer to his {piritual life, which. is hid and preferved in Chrift, in whom he believes; and is fafe and fecure, becaufe Chrift lives he fhall live alfo, and fhall never die the fecond death, nor be hort by it, but fhall have everlafting life. And be foall be bleffed upon the earth; with temporal’ bleffings; for whatever he has, be it more or lefs, -he has it with the bleffing of God, and as a bleffing of the covenant, and in love, and fo is a bleffing indeed: and with fpiritual bleflings; with peace, pardon, righteoufnefs, and a right and title to eternal glory and happinefs; and he will be bleffed in the new earth, in which righteoufnefs will dwell, and where he will dwell, live and reign with Chrift a thoufand years. And thou wilt not deliver bim into the will of bis enemies 5 not-into the will of Satan, that roaring lion who, would devour him if he might; nor of wicked men, and furious perfecutors, whofe wrath the Lord makes to praife him; and the remainder of it is reftrained by him 5 fome read thefe words as a prayer, do not thou deliver him, &c. fee Pfal. xxvii..12. fo. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius and Tremellius, Ainfworth, and others. ¥. 3. Lhe Lord will firengthen him upon the bed of languifbing, 8c.) When on a fick bed, or a

_death-bed, where he lies languifhing and ready to

‘expire; when his natural ftrength, fpirits, and as fail him, then the Lord ftrengthens him with ftrength in his foul; and is the ftrength of his heart and his portion for ever. The Targum is, ‘* the

“ Word of the Lord fhall help him in his life, and ‘* fhali appear to him on the bed of his illnefs, to *¢ quicken him.” Thou wilt make all bis bed in bis Jicknefs, or all bis bed thou bajt turned ox wilt turn in bis fickne/s*; meaning, not the recovery of him from a bed of ficknefs to a flate of health, which is the fenle given by many; much lefs a turning him from a itate of eafe and reft into trouble and diitrels; but making him eafy and comfortable on a bed of ficknefs; which, in a literal fenfe, is done when a fick perfon’s bed is turned or made, or he is turned upon it from fide to fide; fo the Lord, by the comforts of his Spirit, makes a fick and deathbed eafy’to them that believe in Chrift, and often puts that triumphant fong into their mouths in their dying moments, O death, where is thy fling, &c. 1 Cor. Xv. 55. and this is the peaceful end and blifsful ftate of fuch who wilely confider Chrift and believe in him; whofe poor and low eftate, through the fins of his people.on him, the infults of his enemies, and the treachery of one of his difciples, is deicribed in the following verfes.

¥. 4. L faid, Lord, be merciful unto me, 8cc.] See the note on Pfal. xl 11. Heal my foul; not that it was difeafed with fin in fuch fenfe as the fouls of other mén are; but it is to be ‘underftood as a petition for comfort whilft bearing the fins of others, and which Chrift as man ftood in need of when in the garden, and on the crofs;. fo healing fignifies comtort in trouble, as in J/a. Ivii. 18. Mai. iv. 2. ° For I have finned against thee, or unto thee, or before thee, as the Targum not that any fin was committed by him in his own perfon, but he having all the fins of his people on him, which he calls his own, Pfal. xl.12. he was treated as a finner, and as guilty before God, J/a. liii, 12. and fo the words may be read, for I am a Jinner unto thee®; tam counted as one by thee, having the fins of my people imputed to me; and am bound unto thee, or under obligation to bear the punifhment of fin; or thus, For Lbave made an offering for fin unto ibee™, fo the word is ufed, Lev, vi. 26. and ix, 15. and fo it might be rendered in Lev. v. 7, and 11. and perhaps may be better rendered fo in Lev. iv, 3. and be underftood, not of the fin of the anointed prieft, but of his offering a facrifice for the foul that finned through ignorance, y. 2. which offering is direéted to: and then the fenfe here is, heal me, acquit me, difcharge me, and deliver me out of this poor and low eftate in which I am; for I have made my foul an offering for fin, and thereby have made atonement for all the fins of my people laid upon me; and accordingly he ‘was acquitted and juftified, 1, Tim. iii. 16. He “y. 5. Mine enemies fpeak evil of me, &c.]. That is, the Jews, who were enemies.to his perfon, people, doétrines and ordinances, and would, nat have him to reign over them; thefe fpake evil of him, charged him with being a glutton and a winebibber 5 faid. he had a devil, and was a Samaritan, imputed his miracles to diabolical influence; branded his doétrine with blafphemy, and {poke againft his religion and worfhip, and wifhed him ill, faying, When feall be die 2, they had a good-will to. affatfinate him privately, but, upon mature deliberation they confulted and determined to take: what advantage they could againft him, and deliver him ‘up to the Roman governor; they feared fhould he ‘go on and fucceed, through his doétrines and miracles, as he did, it would go ill with them, a they they concluded could he be brought to death, it would clearly appear to the common people that he was not the Meffiah; though this was the very thing he came into the world for, and which he himfelf was very defirous of; becaufe hereby, and hereby ofily, the falvation of his people could be brought about; and though this was a thing foretold in prophecy, yet it feems as if Chrift’s enemies the Jews, and Satan himfelf, were ignorant of it, and of its virtue and ufe to fave men; however, though it was an ill wifh in them it was well for us that he did die, though the confequence is not as they wifhed. And bis name perifo? that is, the fame of his doétrine and miracles, the memory of him and his worthy deeds, particularly his gofpel, which fo fully expreffes the glory of his perfon and grace; yea, he himfelf, for they hoped that upon his death he would come into general difgrace, that his name would never be mentioned but with reproach, that his gofpel would be no more preached, and that he would be accurfed of God and men: in all which they were fadly difappointed; for upon his refurrection, from the dead, he had a name given him above every name; his memory became precious to thoufands; an ordinance was appointed to remember him to the end of the world in all his churches; his gofpel was ordered to be preached to all the world as it was, and he himfelf is bleffed for evermore.

¥. 6. And if be come to fee me, &c.] Meaning any one of his enemies, when they came, as pretended, to pay him a friendly vifit. A late learned writer ” interprets this of Ab/alom, who vifited his father when he had the fmall-pox, which he thinks after mentioned, of which his enemies expected he would die, when Abfalom pretended great concern for his life; though he, with others, were plotting againft him, fhould he live, to deftroy him. He (peaketh vanity 5 lies and falfhoods, in a hypocritical manner, with a double heart; his mouth and his heart not agreeing together; fee Maith. xxii. 16. Fis heart gathereth iniquity to itfelf; amafies to itfelf greater treafures of wickednefs ftill, though that itfelf is defperately wicked, and very wickednefs: this is to be underftood of the enemies of

Chrift obferving his words and actions, ‘and laying them up, with a wicked intention, againft a proper time. When he goeth abroad, he telleth it; as in the inftances concerning giving tribute to Cz/ar, deftroying the temple, and faying he was the Son of God, Matth. xxii. 17, 18. compared with Luke xxili. 2. Fobn ii. 19, 21. compared with Mazth, Xxvi. 60, 61. Fobn v. 17, 18. compared with Fobn Ries

¥. 7. All that hate me, whifper together againft me, &c.] That is, they privately confpired againft him; fee Matth. xxii. 15. obn xi. 53. Matth, xxvi. 3, 4.. Againft me do they devife my burt; not only to take away his name and credit, but his life..

¥.8. An evil difeafe, fay they, cleaveth faft unto him, &c.] Not any bodily one, of which they might hope he would die; much lefs any foul difeafe, the difeafe of fin; but, as the phrafe may be rendered, a word of Belial*; that is, a wicked charge or accufation; a charge of fin brought againit him by the fons of Belial, as of blafphemy and fedition, which they concluded would be faftened upon him, and ftick by him, and in which they fhould fucceed to their wifhes; or elfe the ihameful punifhment, the death of the crofs inflict-