1. O God, my heart is fixed. Though I have many wars to disturb me, and many cares to
toss me to and fro, yet I am settled in one mind and cannot be driven from it.
My heart has taken hold and abides in one resolve. Thy grace has overcome the
fickleness of nature, and I am now in a resolute and determined frame of mind. I
will sing and give praise. Both with voice and music will I extol thee—“I
will sing and play,” as some read it. Even though I have to shout in the
battle I will also sing in my soul, and if my fingers must be engaged with the
bow, yet shall they also touch the ten-stringed instrument and show forth thy
praise. Even with my glory—with my intellect, my tongue, my poetic
faculty, my musical skill, or whatever else causes me to be renowned, and
confers honor upon me. It is my glory to be able to speak and not be a dumb
animal, therefore my voice will show forth thy praise; it is my glory to know
God and not to be a heathen, and therefore my instructed intellect will adore
thee.
2. Awake, psaltery and harp. As if he could not be content with voice alone, but must
use the well-tuned strings, and communicate to them something of his own
liveliness. Strings are wonderful things when some people play upon them; they
seem to become sympathetic and incorporated with the minstrel, as if his very
soul were imparted to them and thrilled through them. Only when a thoroughly
enraptured soul speaks in the instrument can music be acceptable with God. I
myself will awake early. I will call up the dawn. The best and brightest
hours of the day will find me heartily aroused to bless my God. In all worship
this should be the personal resolve of each worshiper.
3. I will praise thee, O Lord,
among the people. Whoever may come to hear me, devout
or profane, believer or heathen, civilized or barbarian, I will not cease my
music. Happy man, to have thus made his choice to be the Lord’s musician; he
retains his office as the Poet Laureate of the kingdom of heaven, and will
retain it till the crack of doom. And I will sing praises unto thee among the
nations. This is written, not only to complete the parallelism of the
verse, but to reaffirm his fixed resolve. He would march to battle praising
Jehovah, and when he had conquered he would make the captured cities ring with
Jehovah’s praises. He would carry his religion with him wherever he pushed his
conquests, and the vanquished should not hear the praises of David, but the
glories of the Lord of Hosts. Nations and peoples would soon know the Gospel of
Jesus if every Christian traveler were as intensely devout as the psalmist.
4. For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and therefore there must be no limit of time, or place, or
people, when that mercy is to be extolled. As the heavens overarch the whole
earth, and from above mercy pours down upon people, so shalt thou be praised
everywhere beneath the sky. And thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. As
far as we can see we behold thy truth and faithfulness, and there is much
beyond which lies shrouded in cloud, but we are sure that it is all mercy,
though it be far above and out of our sight. Therefore shall the song be lifted
high and the psalm shall peal forth without stint of far-resounding music. Here
is ample space for the loudest chorus, and a subject which deserves thunders of
praise.
5. Let thy praise
be according to the greatness of thy mercy. Ah, if we were to measure our
devotion thus, with what ardor should we sing! We long for the time when God
will be universally worshiped, and his glory in the Gospel will be everywhere
made known. This is a truly missionary prayer. David had none of the
exclusiveness of the modern Jew, or the narrow-heartedness of some nominal
Christians. For God’s sake, that his glory might be everywhere revealed, he
longed to see heaven and earth full of the divine praise. Amen.
6–12. Now
prayer follows upon praise, and derives strength of faith and holy boldness
therefrom. It is frequently best to begin worship with a hymn, and then to
bring forth our vials full of odors after the harps have commenced their
sweeter sounds.
6. Let my
prayer avail for all the beloved ones. Sometimes a nation seems to hang upon
the petitions of one man. With what ardor should such a one pour out his soul!
David does so here. It is easy praying for the Lord’s beloved, for we feel sure
of a favorable answer, since the Lord’s heart is already set upon doing them
good: yet it is solemn work to plead when we feel that the condition of a whole
beloved nation depends upon what the Lord means to do with us whom he has
placed in a representative position. David felt that the case demanded the right
hand of God—his wisest, speediest, and most efficient interposition, and he
feels sure of obtaining it for himself, since his cause involved the safety of
the chosen people. When our suit is not a selfish one, but is bound up with the
cause of God, we may be very bold about it.
7. God hath spoken in his holiness. Aforetime the Lord had made large promises to David, and
these his holiness had guaranteed. The divine attributes were pledged to give
the son of Jesse great blessings; there was no fear that the covenant God would
run back from his plighted word. I will rejoice. If God has spoken we
may well be glad: the very fact of a divine revelation is a joy. If the Lord
had meant to destroy us he would not have spoken to us as he has done. But what
God has spoken is a still further reason for gladness, for he has declared
“the sure mercies of David,” and promised to establish his descendants upon
his throne, and to subdue all his enemies. David greatly rejoiced after the
Lord had spoken to him by the mouth of Nathan. He sat before the Lord in a
wonder of joy. See 1 Chronicles 17, and note that in the next chapter David
began to act vigorously against his enemies, just as in this psalm he vows to
do. I will divide Shechem. Home conquests come first. Foes must be
dislodged from Israel’s territory, and lands properly settled and managed. And
mete out the valley of Succoth. On the other side of Jordan as well as on
this the land must be put in order, and secured against all wandering
marauders. Some rejoicing leads to inaction, but not that which is grounded
upon a lively faith in the promise of God. See how David prays, as if he had
the blessing already, and could share it among his men: this comes of having
sung so heartily unto the Lord his helper. See how he resolves on action, like
a man whose prayers are only a part of his life and vital portions of his
action.
8. Gilead is mine.
Thankful hearts dwell upon the gifts which the Lord has given them, and think
it no task to mention them one by one. Manasseh is mine. I have it
already, and it is to me the token and assurance that the rest of the promised
heritage will also come into my possession in due time. If we gratefully
acknowledge what we have we shall be in better heart for obtaining that which
as yet we have not received. He who gives us Gilead and Manasseh will not fail
to put the rest of the promised territory into our hands. Ephraim also is
the strength of mine hand. This tribe furnished David with more than twenty
thousand “mighty men of valor, famous throughout the house of their fathers”:
the faithful loyalty of this band was, no doubt, a proof that the rest of the
tribe were with him, and so he regarded them as the helmet of the state, the
guard of his royal crown. Judah is my lawgiver. There had he seated the
government and chief courts of justice. No other tribe could lawfully govern
but Judah: till Shiloh came the divine decree fixed the legal power in that
state. To us also there is no lawgiver but our Lord who sprang out of Judah;
and whenever Rome, or Canterbury, or any other power attempts to set up laws
and ordinances for the church, we have but one reply—“Judah is my lawgiver.”
Thus the royal psalmist rejoiced because his own land had been cleansed of
intruders, and a regular government had been set up, and guarded by an ample
force, and in all this he found encouragement to plead for victory over his
foreign foes. Even thus do we plead with the Lord that as in one land and
another Christ’s holy Gospel has been set up and maintained, so also in other
lands the power of his scepter of grace may be owned till the whole earth bows
before him, and the Edom of Antichrist will be crushed beneath his feet.
9. Moab is my washpot.
This nation had shown no friendly spirit to the Israelites, but had continually
viewed them as a detested rival; therefore they were to be subdued and made
subject to David’s throne. He claims by faith the victory, and regards his
powerful enemy with contempt. Nor was he disappointed, for “the Moabites
became David’s servants and brought him gifts” (2 Samuel 8:2). As people wash
their feet after a long journey, and so are revived, so vanquished difficulties
serve to refresh us: we use Moab for a washpot. Over Edom will I cast out my
shoe. It will be as the floor upon which the bather throws his sandals; it
will lie beneath his foot, subject to his will and altogether his own. Edom was
proud, but David throws his slipper at it; its capital was high, but he casts
his sandal over it; it was strong, but he hurls his shoe at it as a pledge of
battle. He had not entered yet into its rock-built fortresses, but since the
Lord was with him he felt sure that he would do so. Under the leadership of the
Almighty, he felt so secure of conquering even fierce Edom itself that he looks
upon it as a mere slave, over which he could exult with impunity. We ought
never to fear those who are defending the wrong side, for since God is not with
them their wisdom is folly, their strength is weakness, and their glory is
their shame. We think too much of God’s foes and talk of them with too much
respect. Over Phillistia will I triumph. David had done so in his youth,
and he is all the more sure of doing it again. We read that “David smote the
Philistines and subdued them” (2 Samuel 8:1), just as he had smitten Edom and
filled it with his garrison. The enemies with whom we battled in our youth are
yet alive, and we shall have more brushes with them before we die, but, blessed
be God, we are by no means dismayed at the prospect, for we expect to triumph
over them even more easily than aforetime.
10. Faith
leads on to strong desire for the realization of the promise, and hence the
practical question, Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me
into Edom? The difficulty is plainly perceived. Petra is strong and hard to
enter: the psalmist warrior knows that he cannot enter the city by his own
power, and he therefore asks who is to help him. He asks of the right person,
even of his Lord, who has all men at his beck, and can say to this man, “show
my servant the road,” and he will show it, or to this band, “cut your way
into the rock city,” and they will assuredly do it. Of Edom it is written by
Obadiah, “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in
the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, who
shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and
though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith
the Lord.” David looked for his conquest to Jehovah’s infinite power, and he
looked not in vain.
11. Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? This is grand faith which can trust the Lord even when he
seems to have cast us off. Some can barely trust him when he pampers them, and
yet David relied upon him when Israel seemed under a cloud and the Lord had
hidden his face. And wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?
Canst thou forever leave thy people to be overthrown by thine enemies? The
sweet singer is sure that Edom will be captured, because he cannot and will not
believe that God will refrain from going forth with the armies of his chosen
people. When we ask ourselves, “Who will be the means of our obtaining a
promised blessing?” we need not be discouraged if we perceive no secondary
agent, for we may then fall back upon the great Promiser himself, and believe
that he himself will perform his word unto us. If no one else will lead us into
Edom, the Lord himself will do it, if he had promised it. Or if there must be
visible instruments he will use our hosts, feeble as they are. We need
not that any new agency should be created; God can strengthen our present hosts
and enable them to do all that is needed.
12. This
prayer has often fallen from the lips of people who have been utterly
disappointed by their fellows, and it has also been poured out unto the Lord in
the presence of some gigantic labor in which mortal power is evidently of no
avail. We ought to pray with all the more confidence in God when our confidence
in man is altogether gone.
13. God’s
help will inspire us to help ourselves. Faith is neither a coward nor a
sluggard: she knows that God is with her, and therefore she does valiantly. Through
God is our secret support; from that source we draw all our courage,
wisdom, and strength. We shall do valiantly. This is the public outflow
from that secret source: our inward and spiritual faith proves itself by
outward and valorous deeds. He shall tread down our enemies. They will
fall before him, and as they lie prostrate he will march over them, and all the
hosts of his people with him. This is a prophecy. It was fulfilled to David,
but it remains true to the Son of David and all who are on his side. The church
will yet arouse herself to praise her God with all her heart, and then with
songs and hosannas she will advance to the great battle; her foes will be
overthrown and utterly crushed by the power of her God, and the Lord’s glory
will be above all the earth. Send it in our time, we beseech thee, O Lord.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
