1. My heart.
There is no writing like that dictated by the heart. Heartless hymns are
insults to heaven. Is inditing a good matter. A good heart will only be
content with good thoughts. The word may be read “overfloweth,” “boileth,”
or “bubbleth up,” denoting the warmth of the writer’s love, the fullness of
his heart, and the consequent richness and glow of his utterance. It is a sad
thing when the heart is cold with a good matter, and worse when it is warm with
a bad matter, but incomparably well when a warm heart and a good matter meet
together. Oh that we may often offer to God an acceptable oblation fresh from
hearts warmed with gratitude and admiration. I speak of the things which I
have made touching the King. This song has the King for its only subject,
and for the King’s honor alone was it composed. The psalmist calls his poem his
works, or things which he had made. We are not to offer to the Lord that which
cost us nothing. Good material deserves good workmanship. We should well digest
in our heart’s affections and our mind’s meditations any discourse or poem in
which we speak of one so great and glorious as our Royal Lord. The psalmist
wrote of what he had personally tasted and handled concerning the King. My
tongue is the pen of a ready writer, not so much for rapidity, for there
the tongue always has the preference, but for exactness, elaboration,
deliberation, and skillfullness of expression. Seldom are the excited
utterances of the mouth equal in real weight and accuracy to the written words
of a thoughtful penman, but here the writer speaks as correctly as a practiced
writer; his utterances are no ephemeral sentences.
2. Thou.
As though the King himself had suddenly appeared before him, the psalmist turns
to address his Lord. A loving heart has the power to realize its object. The
eyes of a true heart see more than the eyes of the head. Moreover, Jesus
reveals himself when we are pouring forth our affections towards him. It is
usually the case that when we are ready Christ appears. If our heart is warm it
is an index that the sun is shining, and when we enjoy his heat we shall soon
behold his light. Thou art fairer than the children of men. In person,
but especially in mind and character, the King of saints is peerless in beauty.
The Hebrew word is doubled: “Beautiful, beautiful art thou.” Many people have
through grace been lovely in character, yet they have each had a flaw; but in
Jesus we behold every feature of a perfect character in harmonious proportion.
He is lovely everywhere, and from every point of view, but never more so than
when we view him in conjugal union with his church; then love gives a ravishing
flush of glory to his loveliness. Grace is poured into thy lips. Beauty
and eloquence make a person majestic when they are united; they both dwell in
perfection in Jesus. It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness
dwell, and now grace is in superabundance, poured forth from his lips to cheer
and enrich his people. The testimony, the promises, the invitations, the
consolations of our King pour forth from him in such volumes of meaning that we
cannot but contrast those cataracts of grace with the speech of Moses which did
but drop as the rain and distill as the dew. Whoever in personal communion with
the Well-beloved has listened to his voice will feel that “never man spake
like this man.” Often a sentence from his lips has turned our own midnight into
morning, our winter into spring. Therefore God hath blessed thee forever.
Calvin reads it, “Because God hath blessed thee forever.” Christ is blessed
of God, blessed forever, and this is to us one great reason for his beauty, and
the source of his gracious words. His rare endowments are given him that by
them his people may be blessed with all spiritual blessings in union with
himself. The Father has blessed the Mediator as a reward for all his gracious
labors; and right well does he deserve the recompense. Whom God blesses we
should bless, and the more so because all his blessedness is communicated to
us.
3. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh. Why should the sword of the Spirit lie still, like a weapon
hung up in an armory? It is sharp and strong. Oh that the divine power of Jesus
were put forth to use it against error. The words represent our great King as
urged to arm himself for battle, by placing his sword where it is ready for
use. Christ is the true champion of the church. There is at this moment an apparent
suspension of our Lord’s former power; we must by importunate prayer call him
to the conflict, for we are soon overcome by our enemies, and we are but dead
men if Jesus be not in our midst. O most mighty. A title well deserved,
and not given from empty courtesy like the serenities, excellencies and
highnesses of our titles which are but sops for vain glory. Jesus is the truest
of heroes. Hero worship in his case alone is commendable. With thy glory and
thy majesty. Let thy sword both win thee renown and dominion, or as it may
mean, gird on with thy sword thy robes which indicate thy royal splendor. Love
weeps as she sees him in the garments of humiliation; she rejoices to behold
him in the vestments of his exaltation. All the pomp that angels and archangels,
thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers can pour at his feet is too
little for him. Only his own essential glory is such as fully answers to the
desire of his people, who can never enough extol him.
4. And in thy majesty ride prosperously. The hero monarch armed and appareled is now intreated to
ascend his triumphal car. Would to God that our Immanuel would come forth in
the chariot of love to conquer our spiritual foes and seize by power the souls
whom he has bought with blood. Because of truth and meekness and
righteousness. These words may be rendered, “ride forth upon truth and
meekness and righteousness.” It is a most potent argument to urge with our
Lord that the cause of the true, the humble, and the good calls for his
advocacy. Truth will be ridiculed, meekness oppressed, and righteousness slain
unless the God, the Man in whom these precious things are incarnated, arises
for their vindication. Our earnest petition ought ever to be that Jesus lay his
almighty arm to the work of grace lest the good cause languish and wickedness
prevail. And thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. The
psalmist prophesies that the uplifted arm of Messiah will reveal to the King’s
own eyes the terrible overthrow of his foes. Jesus needs no guide but his own
right hand, no teacher but his own might; may he instruct us all in what he can
perform, by achieving it speedily before our gladdened eyes.
5. Thine arrows.
Our King is master of all weapons; he can strike those who are near and those
afar off with equal force. Are sharp. Nothing that Jesus does is ill
done; he uses no blunted shafts, no pointless darts. In the heart of the
King’s enemies. Our Captain aims at hearts rather than their heads, and he
hits them too. Whether for love or vengeance, Christ never misses aim, and his
arrows cause a wound which only he can heal. Jesus’ arrows of conviction are
sharp. May none of us ever fall under his judgment. Whereby the people fall
under thee. The slain of the Lord are many when Jesus leads on the war.
Nations tremble and turn to him when he shoots abroad his truth.
6. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. To whom can this be spoken but to our Lord? The psalmist
cannot restrain his adoration. His enlightened eye sees in the royal husband of
the church God to be adored, God reigning everlastingly. Blind are the eyes
that cannot see God in Christ Jesus! We never appreciate our King’s becoming
one flesh with his church, and placing her at his right hand, until we have
fully rejoiced in his essential glory and deity. What a glad tiring that he
reigns on a throne which will never pass away, for we need both sovereign grace
and eternal love to secure our happiness. Could Jesus cease to reign we should
cease to be blessed, and were he not God, and therefore eternal, this must be
the case. No throne can endure forever but that on which God himself sits. The
scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. He is the lawful monarch of all
things. His rule is founded in right, its law is right, its result is right.
Even when he breaks his enemies with a rod of iron, he will do no one wrong;
his vengeance and his grace are both in conformity with justice. Hence we trust
him without suspicion; he cannot err; no affliction is too severe, for he sends
it; no judgment too harsh, for he ordains it.
7. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness. Christ Jesus is not neutral in the great contest between
right and wrong. As warmly as he loves the one he abhors the other. The whole
of our Lord’s life on earth proved the truth of these words; his death sealed
the fact;his providence reveals the same; his final assize will proclaim it. We
should imitate him both in his love and hate. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Jesus as Mediator
owned God as his God, to whom, being found in fashion as a man, he became
obedient. On account of our Lord’s perfect life he is now rewarded with
superior joy. Others there are to whom grace has given a sacred fellowship with
him, but by their universal consent and his own merit he is prince among them,
the gladdest of all because of all their gladness. At oriental feasts oil was
poured on the heads of distinguished guests; God himself anoints the man Christ
Jesus with fuller joy than any else can know. Observe the indisputable
testimony to Messiah’s deity in verse 6, and to his manhood in the present
verse. Our Christ is our Elohim. Jesus is God with us.
8. All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. The divine anointing causes fragrance to distill from the
robes of the mighty Hero. He is delightful to every sense. The excellencies of
Jesus are all most precious, comparable to the rarest spices. The Father always
finds pleasure in him, and all regenerated spirits rejoice in him. Even his
garments are sweet; everything that he has to do with is perfumed by his
person. All his garments are thus fragrant; we delight in his purple of
dominion as much as in the white linen of his priesthood; his mantle as our
prophet is as dear to us as his seamless coat as our friend. To attempt to
spiritualize each spice here would be unprofitable; all sweetnesses meet in
Jesus, and are poured forth wherever he is present. Out of the ivory
palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. The abode of Jesus now is
imperial in splendor; there he is made glad in the presence of the Father, and
in the company of his saints. We poor exiles can sing in our banishment since
our King has come to his throne.
9. Kings’ daughters were among thy honorable women. The lowly and pure in heart are esteemed by the Lord Jesus
as his most familiar friends; their place in his palace is near the throne. The
day will come when those who are kings’ daughters literally will count
it their greatest honor to serve the church, and meanwhile every believing
sister is spiritually a King’s daughter. Upon thy right hand, in the
place of love, honor, and power, did stand the queen in gold of Ophir:
the church shares her Lord’s honor and happiness; he sets her in the place of
dignity, he clothes her with the best of the best. Ophir gold is the purest
known. Jesus bestows nothing inferior or of secondary value upon his beloved
church. In imparted and imputed righteousness the church is divinely arrayed.
Happy are those who are members; unhappy those who persecute the beloved
people, for as a husband will not endure that his wife should be insulted or
maltreated, so neither will the heavenly Husband.
10. Hearken, O daughter, and consider. Ever is this the great duty of the church. Faith comes by
hearing, and confirmation by consideration. And incline thine ear. Lean
forward that no syllable may be unheard. The whole faculties of the mind should
be bent upon receiving holy teaching. Forget also thine own people, and thy
father’s house. To renounce the world is not easy, but it must be done, for
a divided heart our King cannot endure; it would be misery to the beloved one
as well as dishonor to her Lord. Evil acquaintances, and even those who are but
neutral, must be forsaken; they can confer no benefit; they must inflict
injury. We must come out of the house of fallen nature, for it is built in the
City of Destruction. Not that natural ties are broken by grace, but ties of
sinful nature, bonds of graceless affinity. We have much to forget as well as to
learn. We part with folly for wisdom; with bubbles for eternal joys. But alas,
worldliness abounds; the church is defiled; the glory of the great King is
veiled. Only when the whole church leads the separated life will the full
splendor and power of Christianity shine on the world.
11. So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty. Wholehearted love is the duty and bliss of the marriage
state in every case, but especially so in this lofty mystic marriage. The
church must forsake all others and cleave to Jesus only, or she will not please
him nor enjoy the full manifestation of his love. Jesus sees a beauty in his
church which he delights in most when it is not marred by worldliness. He has
always been most near and precious to his saints when they have cheerfully
taken up his cross and followed him without the camp. His Spirit is grieved
when they mingle among the people and learn their ways. No great and lasting
revival of religion can be granted us till the professed lovers of Jesus prove
their affection by coming out from an ungodly world. For he is thy Lord; and
worship thou him. He has royal rights still; his condescending grace does
not lessen but rather enforces his authority. The husband is the head of the
wife; the love he bears her does not lessen but strengthens her obligation to
obey. The service of God perfectly carried out is heaven upon earth. Jesus,
teach us to be wholly thine. Bear with us, and work by thy Spirit in us till
thy will is done by us on earth as it is in heaven.
12. And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. When the church abounds in holiness, she will know no lack
of homage from the surrounding people. Her glory will then impress and attract
the heathen around, till they also unite in doing honor to her Lord. The power
of missions abroad lies at home: a holy church will be a powerful church. The
free gifts of a willing people will enable the workers for God to carry on
their sacred enterprises without stint. Even the rich among the people shall
intreat thy favor. By testifying against their sins shall the wealthy be
won to the faith of Jesus. They will come not to favor the church but to beg
for her favor. Many who should know better make compromises and become reticent
of unpopular truth to please the great ones of the earth; not so will the true
bride of Christ degrade herself, when her sanctification is more deep and more
visible.
13. The king’s daughter is all glorious within. Within her secret chambers her glory is great. Though
unseen of men, her Lord sees her, and commends her. Or the passage may be
understood as meaning that within herself—her beauty is not outward only or
mainly. Truth and wisdom in the hidden parts are what the Lord regards. The
church is a king’s daughter, and she has been purified and renewed in nature,
for she is glorious within. Note the word all. Christ’s church will be
presented without spot or wrinkle. Her clothing is of wrought gold. How
laboriously did our Lord work out the precious material of his righteousness
into a vesture for his people! Such clothing becomes one so honored by
relationship to the great King.
14. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of
needlework. The day comes when the celestial
marriage will be openly celebrated, and these words describe the nuptial
procession. This verse tells us of the ultimate rest of the church—the King’s
own bosom; of the way she comes to it—she is brought by the power of
sovereign grace; of the time when this is done—in the future, she shall be,
it does not yet appear; of the state in which she will come—clad in richest
array, and attended by brightest spirits. The virgins her companions that
follow her shall be brought unto thee. Those who love and serve the church
are a part of the church, but for the sake of the imagery they are represented
as maids of honor; and, though the figure may seem incongruous, they are
represented as brought to the King with the same loving familiarity as the
bride, because the true servants of the church are of the church, and partake
in all her happiness. Note that those who are admitted to everlasting communion
with Christ are pure in heart—virgins, pure in company—her companions,
pure in walk—that follow her. Let none hope to be brought into heaven at
last who are not purified now.
15. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought. What joy will be seen at the feasts of Paradise when all
the redeemed are brought home! They shall enter into the King’s palace.
Brought by grace, they will enter into glory. The glorified are not field
laborers in the plains of heaven, but sons who dwell at home, princes of the
blood, residents in the royal palace.
16. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children. The ancient saints who stood as fathers in the service of
the great King have all passed away, but spiritual descendants are found to
fill their places. As long as time lasts, the true apostolical succession will
be maintained. Whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. Servants
of Christ are kings. Where a man has preached successfully, and evangelized a
tribe or nation, he gets to himself more than regal honors.
17. I will make thy name to be remembered in all
generations. Jehovah promises to the Prince of
Peace eternal fame. His name is his fame, his character, his person; these are
dear to his people now, and it will be so as long as men exist. The fame of
Messiah is not left to human guardianship; the Eternal guarantees it. Therefore
shall the people praise thee forever and ever. Praise is due from every
heart to him who loved us, and redeemed us by his blood; this praise will never
be fully paid, but will be ever a standing and growing debt. His daily benefits
enlarge our obligations; let them increase the number of our songs.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
