1. I will love thee, O Lord. With strong, hearty affection will I cling to thee; as a
child to its parent, or a spouse to her husband. The word is intensely
forcible; the love is of the deepest kind. Our triune God deserves the warmest
love of all our hearts. Father, Son and Spirit have each a claim upon our love.
The solemn purpose never to cease loving naturally springs from present fervor
of affection. My strength. Our God is the strength of our life, our
graces, our works, our hopes, our conflicts, our victories. This verse is not
found in 1 Samuel 22, and is a most precious addition, placed above all and
after all to form the pinnacle of the temple, the apex of the pyramid. Love is
still the crowning grace.
2. The Lord is
my rock and my fortress. Dwelling
among the crags and mountain fastnesses of Judaea David had escaped the malice
of Saul, and here he compares his God to such a place of concealment and
security. Believers are often hidden in their God from the strife of tongues
and the storm of trouble. My deliverer. Interposing in my hour of peril.
When almost captured the Lord’s people are rescued from the hand of the mighty
by him who is mightier still. This title of deliverer has many sermons
in it, and is well worthy of study by all experienced saints. My God.
This is all good things in one. It means “my perpetual, unchanging, infinite,
eternal good.” He who can truly say “my God” may well add, “my heaven, my
all.” My strength. This word is really “my rock,” in the sense of
strength and immobility. My sure, unchanging, eternal confidence and support.
Thus the word rock occurs twice, but it is no tautology, for the first
time it is a rock for concealment, but here a rock for firmness and
immutability. In whom I will trust. Faith must be exercised, or the
preciousness of God is not truly known; and God must be the object of faith, or
faith is mere presumption. My buckler. Warding off the blows of the
enemy, shielding me from arrow or sword. The Lord furnishes his warriors with
weapons both offensive and defensive. Our armory is completely stored
[provided] so that none need go to battle unarmed. The horn of my salvation.
Enabling me to push down my foes, and to triumph over them with holy
exaltation. My high tower. A citadel planted high on a rocky eminence
beyond the reach of my enemies, from the heights of which I look down upon
their fury without alarm, and survey a wide landscape of mercy. We may conclude
with Calvin that David here equips the faithful from head to foot.
3. The happy
poet resolves to invoke the Lord in joyful song, believing that in all future
conflicts his God would deal as well with him as in the past. It is well to
pray to God as to one who deserves to be praised, for then we plead in a happy
and confident manner. If I feel that I can and do bless the Lord for all his
past goodness, I am bold to ask great things of him. That word so has
much in it. To be saved singing is to be saved indeed. Many are saved mourning
and doubting; but David had such faith that he could fight singing, and win the
battle with a song still on his lips. How happy a thing to receive fresh mercy
with a heart already sensible of mercy enjoyed, and to anticipate new trials
with a confidence based upon past experience of divine love!
4–19. In most
poetical language the psalmist now describes his experience of Jehovah’s
delivering power. Poetry has in all her treasures no gem more lustrous than the
following verses; the sorrow, the cry, the descent of the Divine One, and the
rescue of the afflicted, are here set to a music worthy of the golden harps.
The Messiah our Saviour is evidently, over and beyond David or any other
believer, the main and chief subject of this song; and while studying it we
have grown more and more sure that every line here has its deepest and
profoundest fulfillment in him; but as we are desirous not to extend our
comment beyond moderate bounds, we must leave it with the devout reader to make
the very easy application of the passage to our once distressed but now
triumphant Lord.
4. The sorrow of death compassed me. Death like a cruel conqueror seemed to twist round about
him the cords of pain. He was environed and threatened with deaths of the most
appalling sort. Sad plight for the man after God’s own heart, but thus it is
that Jehovah dealeth with his sons. The floods of ungodly men made me
afraid. Torrents of ungodliness threatened to swamp all religion, and to
hurry away the godly man’s hope as a thing to be scorned and despised; so far
was this threat fulfilled, that even the hero who slew Goliath began to be
afraid. He who pens these lines has known better than most men what this verse
means, and feels inclined to weep, and yet to sing, while he writes upon a text
so descriptive of his own experience. Learn from our experience to trust in the
Lord Jehovah, who forsaketh not his chosen.
5. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. A cordon of devils hemmed in the hunted man of God; every
way of escape was closed up. Satan knows how to blockade our coasts with the
iron warships of sorrow, but, blessed be God, the port of all prayer is still
open, and grace can run the blockade bearing messages from earth to heaven, and
blessings in return from heaven to earth. The snares of death prevented me.
The case of this good man was as hopeless as could be, so utterly desperate
that none but an almighty arm could be of any service. According to the four
metaphors which he employs, he was bound like a malefactor for execution;
overwhelmed like a shipwrecked mariner; surrounded and standing at bay like a
hunted stag; and captured in a net like a trembling bird. What more of terror
and distress could meet upon one poor defenseless head?
6. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. Prayer is that postern gate which is left open even when
the city is straitly besieged by the enemy. Observe that he calls and
then cries; prayer grows in vehemence as it proceeds. Note also that he
first invokes his God under the name of Jehovah, and then advances to a more
familiar name, my God; thus faith increases by exercise, and he whom we
at first viewed as Lord is soon seen to be our God in covenant. It is never an
ill time to pray; no distress should prevent us from using the divine remedy of
supplication. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before
him, even into his ears. Far up within the bejeweled walls, and through the
gates of pearl, the cry of the suffering suppliant was heard. Music of angels
and harmony of seraphs availed not to drown or even to impair the voice of that
humble call. The king heard it in his palace of light insufferable, and lent a
willing ear to the cry of his own beloved child. Oh honored prayer, to be able
thus through Jesus’ blood to penetrate the very ears and heart of Deity. The
voice and the cry are themselves heard directly by the Lord, and not made to
pass through the medium of saints and intercessors: my cry came before him;
the operation of prayer with God is immediate and personal. We may cry with
confident and familiar importunity, while our Father himself listens.
7. There was
no great space between the cry and its answer. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, but is swift to rescue his afflicted. David has in his mind’s eye
the glorious manifestations of God in Egypt, at Sinai, and on different
occasions to Joshua and the judges; and he considers that his own case exhibits
the same glory of power and goodness, and that, therefore, he may accommodate
the descriptions of former displays of the divine majesty into his hymn of
praise. Then the earth shook and trembled. Observe how the most solid
and immovable things feel the force of supplication. Prayer has shaken houses,
opened prison doors, and made stout hearts to quail. Prayer rings the alarm
bell, and the Master of the house arises to the rescue, shaking all things
beneath his tread. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken,
because of his wrath. He who fixed the world’s pillars can make them rock
in their sockets, and can upheave the cornerstones of creation. Let not the
boaster dream that his present false confidence will support him in the dread
day of wrath.
8. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils. A violent oriental method of expressing fierce wrath.
Nothing makes God so angry as an injury done to his children. God is not
subject to the passions which govern his creatures, but acting as he does with
all the energy and speed of one who is angry, he is here aptly set forth in
poetic imagery suitable to human understandings. And fire out of his mouth
devoured. The opening of his lips is sufficient to destroy his enemies.
This fire was no temporary one but steady and lasting: coals were kindled by
it. The whole passage is intended to depict God’s descent to the help of
his child, attended by earthquake and tempest: at the majesty of his appearing
the earth rocks, the clouds gather like smoke, and the lightning as flaming
fire devours, setting the world ablaze. What grandeur of description is here!
9. Amid the
terror of the storm Jehovah the Avenger descended, bending beneath his foot the
arch of heaven. He came in haste, and spurned everything which impeded his
rapidity. The thickest gloom concealed his splendor; he fought within the dense
vapors, as a warrior in clouds of smoke and dust, and found out the hearts of
his enemies. Darkness is no impediment to God; its densest gloom he makes his
tent and secret pavilion. See how prayer moves earth and heaven, and raises
storms to overthrow in a moment the foes of God’s Israel. Things were bad for
David before he prayed, but they were much worse for his foes so soon as the
petition had gone up to heaven. A trustful heart, by enlisting the divine aid,
turns the tables on its enemies. If I must have an enemy let him not be a man
of prayer, or he will get the better of me by calling his God into the quarrel.
10. There is
inimitable grandeur in this verse. Under the Mosaic system cherubim are
frequently represented as the chariot of God. Angels are doubtless our guards
and ministering friends, and all their powers are enlisted to expedite the
rescue of the afflicted. Nature also yields all her agents to be our helpers,
and even the powers of the air are subservient: the wings of the wind.
The Lord comes flying when mercy is his errand, but he lingers long when
sinners are being wooed to repent.
11. The storm
thickened, and the clouds pouring out torrents of rain combined to form the
secret chamber of the invisible but wonder-working God. Faith saw him, but no
other eye could gaze through the thick clouds of the skies. Blessed is
the darkness which encurtains my God; if I may not see him, it is sweet to know
that he is working in secret for my eternal good. Even fools can believe that
God is abroad in the sunshine and the calm, but faith is wise, and discerns him
in the terrible darkness and threatening storm.
12. Suddenly
the terrible artillery of heaven was discharged; the brightness of
lightning lit up the clouds as with a glory proceeding from him who was
concealed within the cloudy pavilion; and volleys of hailstones and coals
of fire were hurled upon the enemy. The lightnings seemed to cleave the
clouds and kindle them into a blaze, and then hailstones and flakes of fire
with flashes of terrific grandeur terrified the sons of men.
13. Over all
this splendor of tempest pealed the dread thunder. Fit accompaniment for the
flames of vengeance. How will men bear to hear it at the last when addressed to
them in proclamation of their doom? Even now their hearts are in their mouths
if they do but hear it muttering from afar. In all this terror David found a theme
for song, and thus every believer finds even in the terrors of God a subject
for holy praise. Hailstones and coals of fire are twice mentioned to
show how certainly they are in the divine hand, and are the weapons of Heaven’s
vengeance. May the thunderstorm assure us of the real power of him who is our
Father and our friend, and tend to assure us of our safety while he fights our
battles for us.
14. The
lightnings were darted forth as forked arrows upon the hosts of the foe, and
speedily scattered them. Boastful sinners prove to be great cowards when
Jehovah enters the lists with them. They despise his words, and are very
tongue-valiant, but when it comes to blows they fly apace. The glittering
flames, and the fierce bolts of fire discomfited them. God is never at a
loss for weapons. Woe be unto him that contendeth with his Maker! Fly, O
sinner, to the rock of refuge before these arrows stick fast in thy soul.
15. So
tremendous was the shock of God’s assault in arms that the order of nature was
changed, and the bottoms of rivers and seas were laid bare. Vain are human
attempts to conceal anything from him whose word unbars the deep, and lifts the
doors of earth from their hinges! Vain are all hopes for resistance, for a
whisper of his voice makes the whole earth quail in abject terror.
16. Now comes
the rescue. The Author is divine (He sent); the work is heavenly (from
above); the deliverance is marvelous (he drew me out of many waters).
Here David was like another Moses, drawn from the water.
17. When we
have been rescued, we must take care to ascribe all the glory to God by
confessing our own weakness, and remembering the power of the conquered enemy.
God’s power derives honor from all the incidents of the conflict. Our great
spiritual adversary is a strong enemy indeed, much too strong for poor,
weak creatures like ourselves, but we have been delivered hitherto and shall be
even to the end. Our weakness is a reason for divine help; mark the force of
the for in the text.
18. It was an
ill day, a day of calamity, of which evil foes took cruel advantage,
while they used crafty means utterly to ruin him; yet David could say, but
the Lord is my stay. What a
blessed but which cuts the Gordian knot, and slays the hundred-headed
hydra! There is no fear of deliverance when our stay is in Jehovah.
19. He brought me forth also into a large place. From the cave of Adullam David mounted to the throne. Sweet
is pleasure after pain. Enlargement is the more delightful after a season of
pinching poverty and sorrowful confinement. Besieged souls delight in the broad
fields of the promise when God drives off the enemy and sets open the gates of
the environed city. The Lord does not leave his work half done, for having
routed the foe he leads out the captive into liberty. Large indeed is the
possession and place of the believer in Jesus; there need be no limit to his
peace, for there is no bound to his privilege. He delivered me, because he
delighted in me. Free grace lies at the foundation. Rest assured, if we go
deep enough, sovereign grace is the truth which lies at the bottom of every
well of mercy. Why Jehovah should delight in us is an answerless question, and
a mystery which angels cannot solve; but that he does delight in his beloved is
certain, and is the fruitful root of favors as numerous as they are precious.
20. Viewing
this psalm as prophetic of the Messiah, these strongly-expressed claims to
righteousness are readily understood, for his garments were white as snow; but
considered as the language of David they have perplexed many. The dispensations
of divine grace are to the fullest degree sovereign and irrespective of human
merit; yet in the dealings of Providence there is often discernible a rule of
justice by which the injured are at length aveneged, and the righteous
ultimately delivered. David’s early troubles arose from the wicked malice of
envious Saul, who no doubt prosecuted his persecutions under cover of charges
brought against the character of “the man after God’s own heart.” These
charges David declares to have been utterly false, and asserts that he
possessed a grace-given righteousness which the Lord had graciously rewarded in
defiance of all his calumniators. Before God, the man after God’s own heart was
a humble sinner, but before his slanderers he could with unblushing face speak
of the cleanness of [his] hands and the righteousness of his life. A
godly man has a clear conscience, and knows himself to be upright; is he to
deny his own consciousness, and to despise the work of the Holy Spirit, by
hypocritically making himself out to be worse than he is? Read the cluster of
expressions in this and the following verses as the song of a good conscience,
after having safely outridden a storm of obloquy, persecution, and abuse, and
there will be no fear of our upbraiding the writer as one who set too high a
price upon his own moral character.
21. Here the
assertion of purity is repeated, both in a positive and a negative form. There
is I have and have not, both of which must be blended in a truly
sanctified life; constraining and restraining grace must each take its share.
The words of this verse refer to the saint as a traveler carefully keeping to the
ways of the Lord, and not
wickedly, that is, designedly, willfully, persistently, defiantly forsaking
the ordained pathway in which God favors the pilgrim with his presence. Observe
how it is implied in the expression and have not wickedly departed from my
God that David lived habitually in communion with God, and knew him to be
his own God, whom he might speak of as my God. God never departs from
his people; let them take heed of departing from him.
22. The word,
character and actions of God should be evermore before our eyes; we should
learn, consider, and reverence them. We should keep the image of God so
constantly before us that we become in our measure confirmed to it. This inner
love to the right must be the mainspring of Christian integrity in our public
walk. I did not put away his statutes from me. To put away the
Scriptures from the mind’s study is the certain way to prevent their
influencing the outward behavior. Backsliders begin with dusty Bibles, and go
on to filthy garments.
23. I was also upright before him. Sincerity is here claimed; sincerity, such as would be
accounted genuine before the bar of God. Whatever evil men might think of him, David
felt that he had the good opinion of his God. Moreover, freedom from his one
great besetting sin he ventures also to plead: I kept myself from mine
iniquity. It is a very gracious sign when the most violent parts of our
nature have been well guarded. If the weakest link in the chain is not broken,
the stronger links will be safe enough. David’s impetuous temper might have led
him to slay Saul when he had him in his power, but grace enabled him to keep
his hands clean of the blood of his enemy; but what a wonder it was, and how
well worthy of such a grateful record as these verses afford! It will be a
sweet cordial to us one of these days to remember our self-denials, and to
bless God that we were able to exhibit them.
24. God first
gives us holiness, and then rewards us for it. We are his workmanship, vessels
made to honor; and when made, the honor is not withheld from the vessel,
though, in fact, it all belongs to the Potter upon whose wheel the vessel was
fashioned.
25. The
dealings of the Lord in his own case cause the grateful singer to remember the
usual rule of God’s moral government; he is just in his dealings with the sons
of men, and metes out to each man according to his measure. Everyone will have
his meat weighed in his own scales. Note that even the merciful need mercy; no
amount of generosity to the poor, or forgiveness to enemies, can set us beyond
the need of mercy.
26. The
sinner’s forwardness is sinful and rebellious, and the only sense in which the
term can be applied to the Most Holy God is that of judicial opposition and
sternness, in which the Judge of all the earth will act at cross-purposes with
the offender, and let him see that all things are not to be made subservient to
wicked whims and willfull fancies (see Leviticus 26:21–24).
27. For thou wilt save the afflicted people. This is a comforting assurance for the poor in spirit whose
spiritual griefs admit of no sufficient solace from any other than a divine
hand. They cannot save themselves, nor can others do it, but God will save
them. But wilt bring down high looks. Those who look down on others with
scorn will be looked down on with contempt before long. The Lord abhors a proud
look. What a reason for repentance and humiliation! A considerable number of
clauses occur in this passage in the future tense; how forcibly are we thus
brought to remember that our present joy or sorrow is not to have so much
weight with us as the great and eternal future!
28. Even the
children of the day sometimes need candlelight. In the darkest hour light will
arise; a candle will be lit; it will be comfort such as we may fittingly use
without dishonesty—it will be our own candle; yet God himself will find the
holy fire with which the candle will burn; our evidences are our own, but their
comfortable light is from above. The metaphor of the whole verse is founded
upon the dolorous nature of darkness and the delightfulness of light; and even
so the presence of the Lord removes all the gloom of sorrow, and enables the
believer to rejoice with exceeding great joy. The lighting of the lamp is a
cheerful moment in the winter’s evening, but the lifting up of the light of
God’s countenance is happier far. It is said that the poor in Egypt will stint
themselves of bread to buy oil for the lamp, so that they may not sit in
darkness; we could well afford to part with all earthly comforts if the light
of God’s love could but constantly gladden our souls.
29–45. Second
thoughts upon God’s mercy should be and often are the best. These verses are
the ripe fruit of a thankful spirit. They describe the believer’s victorious
career and his enemies’ confusion.
29. Whether
we meet the foe in the open field or leap upon them while they lurk behind the
battlements of a city, we shall by God’s grace defeat them in either case. Such
feats we have already performed, hewing our way at a run through hosts of
difficulties, and scaling impossibilities at a leap. It behooves God’s warriors
to be very careful to lay all their laurels at Jehovah’s feet, each one of them
saying, by my God have I wrought this valiant deed.
30. As for God, his way is perfect. Far past all fault and error are God’s dealings with his
people; all his actions are resplendent with justice, truth, tenderness, mercy,
and holiness. It is very consolatory to believe that he who has begun to bless
us will perfect his work, for all his ways are perfect. Nor must the
divine word be without its song of praise. The word of the Lord is tried, like silver refined
in the furnace. The doctrines are glorious, the precepts are pure, the promises
are faithful, and the whole revelation is superlatively full of grace and
truth. David had tried it, thousands have tried it, we have tried it, and it
has never failed. It was meet that when way and word had been extolled, the Lord
himself should be magnified; hence it is added, He is a buckler to all those
that trust in him. No armor of proof or shield of brass so well secures the
warrior as the covenant God of Israel protects his warring people. He himself
is the buckler of trustful ones; what a thought is this! What peace may every
trusting soul enjoy!
31. Having
mentioned his God, the psalmist’s heart bums, and his words sparkle; he
challenges heaven and earth to find another being worthy of adoration or trust
in comparison with Jehovah. The idols of the heathen he scorns to mention. Who
is God save the Lord? Who else
creates, sustains, foresees, and overrules? Who but he is perfect in every
attribute, and glorious in every act? Who else can claim their service and
their love? Who is a rock save our God? Surely in the Lord Jehovah alone
can we find rest and refuge.
32. Surveying
all the armor in which he fought and conquered, the joyful victor praises the
Lord for every part. The girdle of his loins earns the first stanza. Girt about
the loins with power from heaven, the warrior was filled with vigor, far above
all created might. Without this wondrous belt he would have been feeble and
effeminate, with relaxed energies and scattered forces he felt himself; but
when braced with the girdle of truth he was compact in purpose, courageous in
daring, and concentrated in power; so that his course was a complete success,
so undisturbed by disastrous defeat as to be called perfect. Have we
been made more than conquerors over sin, and has our life hitherto been such as
becomes the gospel? Then let us ascribe all the glory to him who girt us about
with his own inexhaustible strength, that we might be unconquered in battle and
unwearied in pilgrimage.
33. The
conqueror’s feet had been shod by a divine hand, and the next note must,
therefore, refer to them. Pursuing his foes the warrior had been swift of foot
as a young roe, but, instead of taking pleasure in the legs of a man, he
ascribes the boon of swiftness to the Lord alone. Climbing into impregnable
fortresses, David had been preserved from slipping, and made to stand where
scarce the wild goat can find a footing; herein was preserving mercy
manifested. We, too, have had our high places of honor, service,
temptation, and danger, but hitherto we have been kept from falling. Bring the
harp, and let us emulate the psalmist’s joyful thanksgiving.
34. Martial
prowess and skill in the use of weapons are gratefully acknowledged to be the
result of divine teaching; no sacrifice is offered at the shrine of self in
praise of natural dexterity, or acquired skillfullness; but, regarding all
warlike prowess as a gift of heavenly favor, thankfulness is presented to the
Giver. The Holy Spirit is the great Drillmaster of heavenly soldiers. The bow
(a bow of brass is probably meant) could scarcely be bent by the arms alone,
the archer had to gain the assistance of his foot; it was, therefore, a great
feat of strength to bend the bow, so far as even to snap it in halves. This was
meant of the enemies’ bow, which he not only snatched from his grasp, but
rendered useless by breaking it in pieces. Jesus not only destroyed the fiery
suggestions of Satan, but he broke his arguments with which he shot them, by using
Holy Scripture against him; by the same means we may win a like triumph,
breaking the bow and cutting the spear in sunder by the sharp edge of revealed
truth. Probably David had by nature a vigorous bodily frame; but it is even
more likely that, like Samson, he was at times clothed with more than common
strength; at any rate, he ascribes the honor of his feats entirely to his God.
35. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation. Above all we must take the shield of faith, for nothing
else can quench Satan’s fiery darts; this shield is of celestial workmanship,
and is in all cases a direct gift from God himself; it is the channel, the
sign, the guarantee, and the earnest of perfect salvation. Thy right hand
hath holden me up. Secret support is administered to us by the preserving
grace of God, and at the same time Providence kindly yields us manifest aid. We
are such babes that we cannot stand alone; but when the Lord’s right hand
upholds us, we are like brazen pillars which cannot be moved. Thy gentleness
hath made me great. There are several readings of this sentence. “Thy condescension”
may, perhaps, serve as a comprehensive reading. It is God’s making himself
little which is the cause of our being made great. We are so little that if God
should manifest his greatness without condescension, we should be trampled
under his feet; but God, who must stoop to view the skies and bow to see what
angels do, looks to the lowly and contrite, and makes them great. David
ascribes all his own greatness to the condescending goodness and graciousness
of the Father in heaven. Let us all feel this sentiment in our own hearts, and
confess that whatever of goodness or greatness God may have put upon us, we
must cast our crowns at his feet, and cry, thy goodness hath made me great.
36. A smooth
pathway leading to spacious possessions and camping-grounds had been opened up
for him. Instead of threading the narrow mountain paths, and hiding in the
cracks of caverns, he was able to traverse the plains and dwell under his own
fig tree. It is no small mercy to be brought into full Christian liberty and
enlargement, but it is a greater favor still to be enabled to walk worthily in
such liberty, not being permitted to slip with our feet. To stand upon the
rocks of affliction is the result of gracious upholding, but that aid is quite
as much needed in the luxurious plains of prosperity.
37. The
preservation of the saints bodes ill for their adversaries. The Amalekites
thought themselves clear away with their booty, but when David’s God guided him
in the pursuit, they were soon overtaken and cut in pieces. When God is with us
sins and sorrows flee, and all forms of evil are consumed before the
power of grace. What a noble picture this and the following verses present to
us of the victories of our glorious Lord Jesus!
38. The
destruction of our spiritual enemies is complete. We may exult over sin, death
and hell, as disarmed and disabled for us by our conquering Lord; may he
graciously give them a like defeat within us.
39–40. It is
impossible to be too frequent in the duty of ascribing all our victories to the
God of our salvation. It is true that we have to wrestle with our spiritual
antagonists, but the triumph is far more the Lord’s than ours. We must not
boast like the ambitious votaries of vainglory, but we may exult as the willing
and believing instruments in the Lord’s hands of accomplishing his great
designs.
41. Prayer is
so notable a weapon that even the wicked will take to it in their fits of
desperation. Bad men have appealed to God against God’s own servants, but all
in vain; the kingdom of heaven is not divided, and God never succors his foes
at the expense of his friends. There are prayers to God which are no better
than blasphemy, which bring no comfortable reply, but rather provoke the Lord
to greater wrath.
42. The
defeat of the nations who fought with King David was so utter and complete that
they were like powders pounded in a mortar. Thus powerless and base are the
enemies of God now become through the victory of the Son of David upon the
cross. Arise, O my soul, and meet thine enemies, for they have sustained a
deadly blow, and will fall before thy bold advance.
43. Internal
strife is very hard to deal with. A civil war is war in its most miserable
form. Our poet praises Jehovah for the union and peace which smiled in his
dominions, and if we have peace in the three kingdoms of our spirit, soul, and
body, we are in duty bound to give Jehovah a song. Unity in a church should
assuredly excite like gratitude. The neighboring nations yielded to the sway of
Judah’s prince. Oh, when shall all lands adore King Jesus, and serve him with
holy joy? Surely there is far more of Jesus than of David here. Missionaries
may derive rich encouragement from the positive declaration that heathen lands
will acknowledge the headship of the Crucified.
44. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. Thus readily did the once struggling captain become a
far-renowned victor, and thus easy shall be our triumphs. We prefer, however,
to speak of Jesus. In many cases the gospel is speedily received by hearts
apparently unprepared for it. Those who have never heard the gospel before have
been charmed by its first message, and yielded obedience to it; while others,
alas, who are accustomed to its joyful sound, are rather hardened than softened
by its teachings. “Love at first sight” is no uncommon thing when Jesus is
the wooer.
45. The strangers shall fade away. Like seared leaves or blasted trees our foes and Christ’s
foes will find no sap and stamina remaining in them. Those who are strangers to
Jesus are strangers to all lasting happiness; those must soon fade who refuse
to be watered from the river of life. And be afraid of their dose places.
Out of their mountain fastnesses the heathen crept in fear to own allegiance to
Israel’s king, and even so, from the castles of self-confidence and the dens of
carnal security, poor sinners come bending before the Saviour, Christ the Lord.
Our sins which have entrenched themselves in our flesh and blood as in
impregnable forts will yet be driven out by the sanctifying energy of the Holy
Spirit, and we shall serve the Lord in singleness of heart.
Thus with remembrance of conquests in the past, and with
glad anticipations of victories yet to come, the sweet singer closes the
description and returns to the exercise of more direct adoration of his
gracious God.
46. The Lord
liveth. Possessing underived, essential,
independent and eternal life. We serve no inanimate, imaginary, or dying God.
As the Lord our God liveth, so would we live to him. He is our rock, the
ground of our hope; let him be the subject of our praise. Our hearts bless the
Lord, with holy love extolling him. Let the God of my salvation be exalted.
As our Saviour, the Lord should more than ever be glorified. We should publish
abroad the story of the covenant and the cross, the Father’s election, the
Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s regeneration. He who rescues us from
deserved ruin should be very dear to us. In heaven they sing, “Unto him that
loved us and washed us in his blood”; the like music should be common in the
assemblies of the saints below.
47. To rejoice
in personal revenge is unhallowed and evil, but David viewed himself as the
instrument of vengeance upon the enemies of God and his people, and had he not
rejoiced in the success accorded to him he would have been worthy of censure.
That sinners perish is in itself a painful consideration, but that the Lord’s
law is avenged upon those who break it is to the devout mind a theme for
thankfulness. We must, however, always remember that vengeance is never ours;
vengeance belongeth unto the Lord, and he is so just that we may safely leave
its administration in his hands.
48. From all
enemies, and especially from one who was preeminent in violence, the Lord’s
anointed was preserved, and at the last over the head of Saul and all other
adversaries he reigned in honor. The like end awaits every saint, because Jesus
who stooped to be lightly esteemed among men is now made to sit far above all
principalities and powers.
49. Paul’s
citation of this verse in Romans 15:9 is clear evidence that David’s Lord is
here, but David is here, too, and is to be viewed as an example of a holy soul
making its boast in God even in the presence of ungodly men. Who are the
despisers of God that we should stop our mouths for them? Too much politeness
to traitors may be treason to our King.
50. This is
the winding up verse into which the writer throws a fullness of expression,
indicating the most rapturous delight of gratitude. Great deliverance.
The word is plural, to show the variety and completeness of the salvation; the
adjective great is well placed if we consider from what to what, and how
we are saved. All this mercy is given to us in our King, the Lord’s Anointed,
and those are blessed indeed who as his seed may expect mercy to be built up
forevermore. The Lord was faithful to the literal David, and he will not break
his covenant with the spiritual David, for that would far more involve the
honor of his crown and character.
The psalm concludes in the same loving spirit which shone
upon its commencement; happy are they who can sing from love to love, even as
the pilgrims marched from strength to strength.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
