1. Hear this, all ye people. All people are concerned in the subject; it is of them, and
therefore to them that the psalmist would speak. It is not a topic which people
delight to consider, and therefore one who wants to instruct them must press
them to give ear. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world. People
dwelling in all climes are equally concerned in the subject, for the laws of
Providence are the same in all lands. We must all appear before the judgment
seat, and therefore we all should give earnest heed to holy admonition which
may help us to prepare for that.
2. Both low and high, rich and poor, together. Those of large estate and those who pine in poverty, all
are bidden to hear. The low will be encouraged, the high will be warned. Our
preaching ought to have a voice for all classes; rich and poor must soon meet
together in the grace, and may well be content to meet together now.
3. My mouth shall speak of wisdom. Inspired and therefore lifted beyond himself, the prophet
is not praising his own attainments, but extolling the divine Spirit which
spoke in him. And the medication of my hurt shall be of understanding.
The help of the Holy Spirit first leads us to consider and reflect, and then
gives us the tongue of fire to speak with power.
4. I will incline mine ear to a parable. He who would have others hear begins by hearing himself.
The truth came to the psalmist as a parable, and he endeavored to unriddle it
for popular use; he would not leave the truth in obscurity, but he listened to
its voice till he so well understood it as to be able to interpret and
translate it into the common language. Still of necessity it would remain a
problem, and a dark saying to the unenlightened many, but this would not be the
psalmist’s fault, for he says, I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
To win attention he cast his proverbial philosophy into the form of song.
5. The man
of God looks calmly forward to dark times when those evils which have dogged
his heels will gain a temporary advantage over him. The iniquity of [our]
heels is that evil which aims to trip us up or impede us. In some dreary
part of our road it may be that evil will wax stronger, and gaining upon us
will openly assail us. We will not even fear, for there can be no real ground
of alarm to the faithful. Their enemies are too insignificant to be worthy of
one thrill of fear. Does not the Lord say to us, “I, even I, am he that
comforteth thee: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that
shall die?”
Scholars have given other renderings of this verse, but we
prefer to keep to the Authorized Version when we can, and in this case we find
in it precisely the same meaning which those would give to it who translate my
heels by the words “my supplanters.”
6. What if
the good man’s foes be among the great ones of the earth! Yet he need not fear
them. They that trust in their wealth. Poor fools, to be content with
such a rotten confidence. When we set our rock in contrast with theirs, it
would be folly to be afraid of them. What if they glory and boast themselves
in the multitude of their riches? We are not dismayed. Great strength,
position, and estate make wicked men very lofty in their own esteem, but the
heir of heaven is not overawed. He sees the small value of riches, and the
helplessness of their owners in the hour of death.
7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother. Let them weigh their gold in the scales of death, and see
how much they can buy from the worm and the grave. The poor are their equals in
this respect; let them love their friend ever so dearly, they cannot give to
God a ransom for him.
8. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it
ceaseth forever. Death comes, and wealth cannot
bribe him; hell follows, and no golden key can unlock its dungeons.
9. No price
could secure for any man That he should still live forever, and not see
corruption. Mad are men now after gold; what would they be if it could buy
the elixir of immortality? Gold is lavished to cheat the worm of the poor body
by embalming it, or enshrining it in a coffin of lead, but as for the soul, it
is too subtle a thing to be detained.
10. For he seeth that wise men die. The proud rich man cannot shut his eyes to the fact that
wiser men than he are dying, and that he also must die. Likewise the fool
and the brutish person perish. Folly has no immunity from death. Jollity
cannot laugh off the dying hour. And leave their wealth to others.
Friends may quarrel over their property, or strangers divide it, and they
cannot interfere.
11. Their inward thought is, that their houses shall
continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. Deep down in their hearts, though they dare not say so,
they fancy that earthly goods are real and enduring. They cannot tell the
mirage from the true streams of water. They call their lands after their own
names. Men have even called countries after their own names, but what are
they the better for the idle compliment?
12. Nevertheless man being in honor abideth not. He is but a lodger for the hour, and does not stay a night:
even when he dwells in marble halls his notice to quit is written out. He is
like the beasts that perish. Like the hunted beast which is doomed to
perish, he lives a brutish life and dies a brutish death. He is fatted for the
slaughter, and dies like the ox at the butcher’s. What room is there, then, for
fear to the godly when such natural brute beasts assail them?
We make a break here, because this stanza appears to be the
refrain of the song, and as such is repeated in verse 20.
13. Their
vain confidences are not casual aberrations from the path of wisdom, but their
way, their usual and regular course. Their life-path is essential folly.
Yet their posterity approve their sayings. Grace is not hereditary, but
sordid worldliness goes from generation to generation. No need of missionaries
to teach men to be earthworms, they crawl naturally to the dust. Selah.
Pause and muse upon the deep-seated madness of humanity. Reflect on your own.
14. Like sheep they are laid in the grave. They are penned in within the gates of destruction. As
sheep that follow their leader without thought, so those who have chosen to
make this world their all are urged on by their passions, till they find
themselves at their journey’s end, the depths of Hades. Or if we keep to our
own translation, we have the idea of their dying peaceably, and being buried in
quiet, only that they may wake up to be ashamed at the last great day. Death
shall feed on them. The righteous are led by the Good Shepherd, but the
ungodly have death for their shepherd, and he drives them onward to hell. As
the power of death rules them in this world, for they have not passed from
death to life, so the terrors of death shall devour them in the world to come. The
upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Sinners rule till
nightfall; in the morning they find their position utterly reversed. The
morning here intended begins an endless, changeless day. What a vexation of
spirit to the proud worldling, when the Judge of all the earth holds his
morning session, to see the man whom he despised exalted high in heaven, while
he himself is cast away! And their beauty shall consume in the grave from
their dwelling. Whatever of glory the ungodly had shall disappear in the
tomb. Their bodies will dissolve. The beauty of the righteous is not yet
revealed, but all the beauty the wicked will ever have is in full bloom in this
life; it will utterly pass away. Who then would envy or fear the proud sinner?
15. But God will redeem my soul from the lower of the
grave. Forth from that temporary
resting-place we shall come in due time, quickened by divine energy. Like our
risen Head we cannot be holden by the bands of the grave; redemption has
emancipated us from the slavery of death. No redemption could man find in
riches, but God has found it in the blood of his dear Son. Because of this
redemption we shall assuredly be redeemed out of the hand of the last enemy. For
he shall receive me. He will take me out of the tomb, up to heaven. My
spirit God will receive, and my body will sleep in Jesus till, being raised in
his image, it will also be received into glory. Here is something which will
bear meditation, and therefore again let us pause at the Selah.
16. In these
last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives lessons which he has
himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich.
Let it not give you any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions
as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud your mind. Temporal
prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about. When the glory
of his house is increased. Though the sinner and his family are in great
esteem, never mind. Only those whose judgment is worthless will esteem men the
more because their lands are broader.
17. For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away. Not a rag of all his raiment, not a coin of all his
treasure, not a jot of all his honor can the dying worldling carry with him.
Why then fret ourselves about so fleeting a prosperity? His glory shall not
descend after him. As he goes down forever, none of his honors or
possessions will follow him.
18. Though while he lived he blessed his soul. He pronounced himself happy. He had his good things in this
life. His chief end and aim were to bless himself. Men will praise thee,
when thou doest well to thyself. The generality of men worship success,
however it may be gained. Get money, and you will be “respectable,” and your
business will be “an eminent firm in the city.” To do good wins fame in
heaven, but to do good to yourself is the prudent thing among men of the
world. Yet not a whisper of worldly congratulation can follow the departing
millionaire; they say he died worth a mint of money, but what charm has that
fact to the dull cold ear of death?
19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers. As our ancestors have departed, so must we. They shall
never see light. Among the dead, the worldling must lie in the thick
darkness, where no joy or hope can come to him. The blaze of his glory is out
forever, and not a spark remains to cheer him.
20.
Understanding differentiates men from animals, but if they will not follow the
highest wisdom, and like beasts find their all in this life, then their end
shall be as mean and dishonorable as that of beasts slain in the chase, or
killed by the butcher. Saddest of all is the reflection that though men are
like beasts in the degradation of perishing, yet not in the rest which animal
perishing secures, for alas it is written, “These shall go away into
everlasting punishment.”
Comforting as this is to the righteous, it is full of
warning to the worldly.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
