1. Save me, O God.
“He saved others; himself he cannot save” (Mark 15:31; compare Hebrews
5:7). Thus David had prayed, and his Son and Lord utters the same cry. It is
remarkable that such a scene of woe should be presented to us immediately after
the jubilant ascension hymn of the last psalm, but this only shows how
interwoven are the glories and the sorrows of our ever-blessed Redeemer. For
the waters are come in unto my soul. Bodily anguish is not his first
complaint; he begins with the mighty griefs which broke into his heart. Our
Lord was doing business for us on the great waters, at his Father’s command;
the stormy wind was lifting up the waves, and he went down to the depths with
us, and is able to succor us when we, like Peter, beginning to sink, cry to
him, “Lord, save, or we perish.”
2. I sink in deep mire.
In water one might swim, but in mud all struggling is hopeless. Where there
is no standing. Everything gave way under the Sufferer; he could not get
foothold for support. Sin is as mire for its filthiness. Let our hearts feel
the emotions both of contrition and gratitude as we see in this simile the deep
humiliation of our Lord. I am come into deep waters, where the floods
overflow me. Our Lord was no faint-hearted sentimentalist; his were read
woes, and though he bore them heroically, yet they were terrible even to him.
His sufferings were unlike all others in degree; the waters were such as soaked
into the soul; the mire was the mire of the abyss itself, and the floods were
deep and overflowing. To us the promise is, “the rivers shall not overflow
thee,” but no such word of consolation was vouchsafed to him. My soul, the
Well-beloved endured all this for you. Many waters could not quench his love,
neither could the floods drown it; and, because of this, you have the rich
benefit of that covenant assurance, “as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth.”
3. I am weary of my crying. Not of it, but by it, with it. He had prayed till he sweat
great drops of blood, and well might physical weariness intervene. My throat
is dried, parched and inflamed. Long pleading with awful fervor had
scorched his throat as with flames of fire. We are, it is to be feared, more
likely to be hoarse with talking frivolities to people than by pleading with
God; yet our sinful nature demands more prayer than his perfect humanity might
seem to need. His prayers should shame us into fervor. Mine eyes fail while
I wait for my God. He wanted in his direst distress nothing more than his
God; that would be all in all to him. Many of us know what watching and waiting
mean; and we know something of the failing eye when hope is long deferred; but
in all this Jesus bears the palm; no eyes ever failed as his did or for so deep
a cause. He knew how both to pray and to watch, and he would have us learn the
like. There are times when we should pray till the throat is dry, and watch
till the eyes grow dim. Only thus can we have fellowship with him in his
sufferings.
4. They that hate me.
Surprising sin that people should hate the altogether lovely one; truly is it
added without a cause, for reason there was none for this senseless
enmity. He neither blasphemed God, nor injured man. Besides, he had not only
done us no evil, but he had bestowed countless and priceless benefits. Well
might he demand, “For which of these works do ye stone me?” Yet from his
cradle to his cross, beginning with Herod and not ending with Judas, he had
foes without number; and he justly said, they are more than the hairs of
mine head. The hosts of earth and hell, banded together, made up vast
legions of antagonists, none of whom had any just ground for hating him. They
that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty. It was
bad that they were many, but worse that they were mighty. All the
ecclesiastical and military powers of his country were arrayed against him.
David’s adversaries were on the throne when he was hiding in caverns, and our
Lord’s enemies were the great ones of the earth, while he of whom the world was
not worthy was reproached of men and despised of the people. Then I restored
that which I took not away. Though innocent, he was treated as guilty.
Though David had no share in plots against Saul, yet he was held accountable
for them. In reference to our Lord, it may be truly said that he restores what
he took not away, for he gives back to the injured honor of God a recompense,
and to man his lost happiness.
5. O God, thou knowest my foolishness. David might well say this, but not David’s Lord; unless it
be understood as an appeal to God as to his freedom from the folly which men
imputed to him when they said he was mad. That which was foolishness to men was
superlative wisdom before God. How often might we use these words in their
natural sense, and if we were not such fools as to be blind to our own folly,
this confession would be frequently on our lips. When we feel that we have been
foolish we are not, therefore, to cease from prayer, but rather to be more
eager and fervent in it. Fools have good need to consult with the infinitely
wise. And my sins are not hid from thee. They cannot be hid with any fig
leaves of mine; only the covering which thou wilt bring me can conceal their
nakedness and mine. It ought to render confession easy when we are assured that
all is known already. That prayer which has no confession in it may please a
Pharisee’s pride, but will never bring down justification. They who have never
seen their sins in the light of God’s omniscience are quite unable to appeal to
that omniscience in proof of their piety. He who can say, Thou knowest my
foolishness is the only man who can add, “But thou knowest that I love
thee.”
6. Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. If he were deserted, others who were walking in the same
path of faith would be discouraged and disappointed. Unbelievers are ready
enough to catch at anything which may turn humble faith into ridicule;
therefore, O God of all the armies of Israel, let not my case cause the enemy
to blaspheme—such is the spirit of this verse. Our blessed Lord ever had a
tender concern for his people, and would not have his own oppression of spirit
become a source of discouragement to them. Let not those that seek thee be
confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. He appealed to the Lord of hosts
by his power to help him, and now to the God of Israel by his covenant
faithfulness to come to the rescue. He was strengthened in the hour of peril,
and came off more than a conqueror, as we also shall do if we hold fast our
confidence even to the end.
7. Because for thy sake I have borne reproach. Because he undertook to do the Father’s will, and teach his
truth, the people were angry; because he declared himself to be the Son of God,
the priesthood raved. They could find no real fault in him, but were forced to
hatch up a lying accusation before they could commence their sham trial of him.
The bottom of the quarrel was that God was with him, and he with God, while the
Scribes and Pharisees sought only their own honor. Reproach is at all times
very cutting to a man of integrity, and it must have come with acute force upon
one of so unsullied a character as our Lord: yet see how he turns to his God,
and finds his consolation in the fact that he is enduring all for his Father’s
sake. The like comfort belongs to all misrepresented and persecuted saints. Shame
hath covered my face. Men condemned to die frequently had their faces
covered as they were dragged away from the judge’s seat; after this fashion
they first covered our Lord with a veil of opprobrious accusation, and then
hurried him away to be crucified. Moreover, they passed him through the trial
of cruel mockings. Blessed Lord, it was our shame which thou wast made to bear!
8. I am become a stranger to my brethren. The Jews, his brethren in race, rejected him; his family,
his brethren by blood, were offended at him; his disciples, his brethren in
spirit, forsook him and fled. And an alien unto my mother’s children.
These were the nearest of relatives: the children of a father with many wives
felt the tie of consanguinity only loosely, but children of the same mother
owned the band of love; yet our Lord found his nearest and dearest ones ashamed
to own him. May none of us ever act as if we were strangers to him; never may
we treat him as if he were an alien to us: rather let us resolve to be
crucified with him, and may grace turn the resolve into fact.
9. For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up. His burning ardor, like the flame of a candle, fed on his
strength and consumed it. Some men are eaten up with lechery, others with
covetousness, and a third class with pride, but the master-passion with our
great leader was the glory of God, jealousy for his name, and love to the
divine family. Zeal for God is so little understood by men of the world that it
always draws down opposition upon those who are inspired with it; they are sure
to be accused of sinister motives, or of hypocrisy, or of being out of their
senses. And the reproaches of them that reproached thee have fallen upon me.
Those who habitually blasphemed God now curse me instead. I have become the
butt for arrows intended for the Lord himself.
10. When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that
was to my reproach. Having resolved to hate him,
everything he did was made a fresh reason for reviling. If he ate and drank as
others, he was a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber; if he wept himself away and
wore himself out with fasting, then he had a devil and was mad. Our Saviour
wept much in secret for our sins, and no doubt his private soul-chastenings on
our behalf were very frequent.
11. I made sackcloth also my garment. This David did literally, but we have no reason to believe
that Jesus did. In a spiritual sense he, as one filled with grief, was always a
sackcloth wearer. And I became a proverb to them. He was ridiculed as
“the man of sorrows,” quoted as “the acquaintance of grief.” He might have
said, “Here I and sorrow sit.” This which should have won him pity only
earned him new and more general scorn. To interweave one’s name into a mocking
proverb is the highest stretch of malice, and to insult one’s acts of devotion
is to add profanity to cruelty.
12. They that sit in the gate speak against me. The ordinary gossips who meet at the city gates for idle
talk make me their theme, the businessmen who there resort for trade forget
their merchandise to slander me, and even the beggars who wait at people’s
doors for alms contribute their share of insult to the heap of infamy. And I
was the song of the drunkard. The ungodly know no merrier jest than that in
which the name of the holy is traduced. The flavor of slander is piquant, and
gives a relish to the revelers’ wine. The character of the man of Nazareth was
so far above the appreciation of the men of strength to mingle strong drink, it
was so much out of their way and above their thoughts, that it is no wonder it
seemed to them ridiculous. The saints are ever choice subjects for satire. What
a wonder is here that he who is the adoration of angels should stoop to be the
song of drunkards!
13. But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord.
He turned to Jehovah in prayer as being the most natural thing for the godly to
do in their distress. To whom should a child turn but his Father? He did not
answer them; like a sheep before her shearers he was dumb to them, but he
opened his mouth unto the Lord his God, for he would hear and deliver. Prayer
stands us in good stead in every evil day. In an acceptable time. It was
a time of rejection with man, but of acceptance with God. Sin ruled on earth,
but grace reigned in heaven. There is to each of us an accepted time, and woe
be to us if we let it slip away. God’s time must be our time, or we shall look
in vain for space for repentance. O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me.
Even the perfect one makes his appeal to the rich mercy of God; much more
should we. To misery no attribute is more sweet than mercy, and when sorrows
multiply, the multitude of mercy is much prized. When enemies are more than the
hairs of our head, they are yet to be numbered, but God’s mercies are
altogether innumerable, and let it never be forgotten that every one of them is
an available and powerful argument in the hand of faith. In the truth of thy
salvation. Jehovah’s faithfulness is a further mighty plea. His salvation
is no fiction, no mockery, no changeable thing; therefore he is asked to
manifest it, and make everyone see his fidelity to his promise. Our Lord
teaches us here the sacred art of wrestling in prayer, and ordering our cause
with arguments; and he also indicates to us that the nature of God is the great
treasury of strong reasons, which will be to us most prevalent in supplication.
14. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink. He turns into prayer the very words of his complaint; and
it is well if, when we complain, we neither feel nor say anything which we
should fear to utter before the Lord as a prayer. We are allowed to ask for
deliverance from trouble as well as for support under it; both petitions are
here combined. How strange it seems to hear such language from the Lord of
glory. Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep
waters. Both from his foes, and the griefs which they caused him, he seeks
a rescue. God can help us in all ways, and we may, therefore, put up a variety
of requests without fear of exceeding our liberty to ask, or his ability to
answer.
15. Let not the waterflood overflow me. He is willing to bear suffering, but intreats grace that it
may not get the victory over him. He was heard in that he feared. Neither
let the deep swallow me up. As Jonah came forth again, so let me also arise
from the abyss of woe: here also the Lord was heard, and so shall we be. Death
itself must disgorge us. Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. When a
great stone was rolled over the well, or pit, used as a dungeon, the prisoner
was altogether enclosed and forgotten; this is an apt picture of the state of
someone buried alive in grief and left without remedy; against this the great
sufferer pleaded and was heard. He was baptized in agony but not drowned in it;
the grave enclosed him, but he burst his prison. We deserve to be swept away as
with a flood, to be drowned in ours sins, to be shut up in hell; let us, then,
plead the merits of our Saviour.
16. Hear me, O God.
It is to the covenant God, the ever-living Jehovah, that he appeals with strong
cryings. For thy lovingkindness is good. By the greatness of thy love
have pity upon thine afflicted. It is always a stay to the soul to dwell upon
the preeminence and excellence of the Lord’s mercy. The word lovingkindness
is composed of two most sweet and fragrant things, fitted to inspire strength
into the fainting, and make desolate hearts sing for joy. Turn unto me
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. If the Lord do but turn
the eye of pity, and the hand of power, the mourner’s spirit revives. It is the
gall of bitterness to be without the comfortable smile of God; in our Lord’s
case his grief culminated in his bitterest cry in which he mourned an absent
God. Observe how he dwells anew upon divine tenderness.
17. And hide not thy face from thy servant. A good servant desires the light of his master’s
countenance; that Servant of servants, who was also the King of kings, could
not bear to lose the presence of his God. The more he loved his Father, the
more severely he felt the hiding of his face. For I am in trouble. Do
not add sorrow upon sorrow. If ever a man needs the comforting presence of God,
it is when he is in distress; and being in distress is a reason to be pleaded
with a merciful God why he should not desert us. We may pray that our flight be
not in the winter, and that God will not add spiritual desertion to all our
other tribulations. Hear me, speedily. The case was urgent, delay was
deadly. Our Lord was the perfection of patience, yet he cried urgently for
speedy mercy; and therein he gives us liberty to do the same, so long as we
add, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
18. Draw nigh unto my soul. The near approach of God is all the sufferer needs. And
redeem it. It will be redemption to me if thou wilt appear to comfort me.
This is a deeply spiritual prayer, and one very suitable for a deserted soul.
It is in renewed communion that we shall find redemption realized. Deliver
me because of mine enemies, lest they should, in their vaunting, blaspheme
thy name, and boast that thou art not able to rescue those who put their trust
in thee. Jesus, in condescending to use such supplications, fulfills the
request of his disciples: “Lord, teach us to pray.”
19–21. Here we
have a sad recapitulation of sorrows, with more especial reference to the
people concerned in their affliction.
19. Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my
dishonor. It is no novelty or secret, it has
been long continued: thou, O God, hast seen it; and for thee to see the
innocent suffer is an assurance of help. Here are three words piled up to
express the Redeemer’s keen sense of the contempt poured upon him. Mine
adversaries are all before thee. Judas and his treachery; Herod and his
cunning; Caiaphas and his counsel; Pilate and his vacillation; Jews, priests,
people, rulers, all, thou seest and wilt judge.
20. Reproach hath broken my heart. There is no hammer like it. Our Lord died of a broken
heart, and reproach had done the deed. Intense mental suffering arises from
slander. And I am full of heaviness. Calumny and insult bowed him to the
dust; he was sick at heart. The heaviness of our Lord in the garden is
expressed by many and forcible words in the four Gospels, and each term goes to
show that the agony was beyond measure great; he was filled with misery like a
vessel which is full to the brim. And I looked for some to take pity, but
there was none. Not one to say him a kindly word, or drop a sympathetic
tear. Amongst ten thousand foes there was not one who was touched by the
spectacle of his misery; not one with a heart capable of humane feeling towards
him. And for comforters, but I found none. His dearest ones had sought
their own safety, and left their Lord alone. A sick man needs comforters, and a
persecuted man needs sympathy; but our blessed Surety found neither on that
dark and doleful night when the powers of darkness had their hour. A spirit
like that of our Lord feels acutely desertion by beloved and trusted friends,
and yearns for real sympathy.
21. They gave me also gall for my meat. Others find pleasure in their food, but his taste was made
to be an additional path of pain to him. And in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink. A criminal’s draught was offered to our innocent Lord.
How often have our sins filled the gall-cup for our Redeemer? While we blame
the Jews, let us not excuse ourselves.
22–28. From this
point David and our Lord for a while part company, if we accept the rendering
of our version. The severe spirit of the law breathes out imprecations, while
the tender heart of Jesus offers prayers for his murderers. These verses,
however, may be viewed as predictions, and then they certainly refer to our
Lord, for we find portions of them quoted in that manner by the apostle in
Romans 11:9–10, and by Christ himself in Matthew 23:38.
22. Let their table become a snare before them. There they laid snares, and there they will find them. From
their feasts they would afford nothing but wormwood for their innocent victim,
and now their banquets will be their ruin. It is very easy for the daily
provisions of mercy to become temptations to sin. As birds and beasts are taken
in a trap by means of baits for the appetite, so are people snared often by
their meats and drinks. Those who despise the upper springs of grace will find
the springs of worldly comfort to be their poison. The table is used, however,
not alone for feeding, but for conversation, transacting business, counsel,
amusement, and religious observance; to those who are the enemies of the Lord
Jesus the table may, in all these respects, become a snare. This first plague
is terrible, and the second is like it. And that which should have been for
their welfare, let it become a trap. This, if we follow the original
closely, and the version of Paul in Romans, is a repetition of the former
phrase; but we shall not err if we say that, to the rejecters of Christ, even
those things which are calculated to work their spiritual and eternal good
become occasions for yet greater sin. They reject Christ, and are condemned for
not believing on him; they stumble on this stone and are broken by it. Wretched
are those who not only have a curse upon their common blessings, but also on
the spiritual opportunities of salvation.
23. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not. They will wander in a darkness that may be felt. They have
loved darkness rather than light, and in darkness they will abide. Judicial
blindness fell upon Israel after our Lord’s death and their persecution of his
apostles; they were blinded by the light which they would not accept. Eyes
which see no beauty in the Lord Jesus, but flash wrath upon him, may well grow
yet more dim, till death spiritual leads to death eternal. And make their
loins continually to shake. Their conscience will be so ill at ease that
they will continually quiver with fear; their backs will bend to the earth (so
some read it) with groveling avarice, and their strength will be utterly
paralyzed, so that they cannot walk firmly, but will totter at every step. See
the terrifying, degrading, and enfeebling influence of unbelief. See also the
retaliation of justice: those who do not want to see will not see; those who
would not walk in uprightness will be unable to do so.
24. Pour out thine indignation upon them. What can be too severe a penalty for those who reject God,
and refuse to obey the commands of his mercy? They deserve to be flooded with wrath,
and they will be (1 Thessalonians 2:16). God’s indignation is no trifle. And
let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Grasping them, arresting them,
abiding on them. If they flee, let it overtake and seize them; let it lay them
by the heels in the condemned cell, so that they cannot escape from execution.
It will indeed be so with all the finally impenitent, and it ought to be so.
God is not to be insulted with impunity; and his Son, our ever gracious
Saviour, the best gift of infinite love, is not to be scorned and scoffed at
for nothing. He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy, but what will be
the “sorer punishment” reserved for those who have trodden underfoot the Son
of God?
25. This may
signify that their posterity will be cut off, and the abode which they occupy
will be left a ruin; or, as our Lord quoted it, it refers to the temple, which
was left by its divine occupant and became a desolation. What occurs to
families and nations is often fulfilled in individuals, as was conspicuously
the case with Judas, to whom Peter referred this prophesy (Acts 1:20).
26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten. They are cruel where they should be pitiful. When a stroke
comes to any in the providence of God, their friends gather round them and
console, but these wretches hunt the wounded and vex the sick. Their merciless
hearts invent fresh blows for him who is “smitten of God and afflicted.” And
they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. They lay bare the
wounds with their rough tongues. If a godly man be a little down in estate, how
glad they are to push him over altogether, and meanwhile to talk everywhere
against him. God takes note of this, and will visit it upon the enemies of his
children; he may allow them to act as a rod to his saints, but he will yet
avenge his own elect.
27. Add iniquity to their iniquity. Unbelievers will add sin to sin, and so punishment to
punishment. This is the severest prophecy of all. And let them not come into
thy righteousness. If they refuse it, and resist thy Gospel, let them shut
themselves out of it. Those who choose evil shall have their choice. Those who
hate divine mercy will not have it forced on them, but (unless sovereign grace
interpose) will be left to themselves to aggravate their guilt, and ensure
their doom.
28. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living. Though in their conceit they wrote themselves among the
people of God, and induced others to regard them under that character, they
will be unmasked and their names removed from the register. Enrolled with
honor, they will be erased with shame. Death will obliterate all recollection
of them; they will be held no longer in esteem, even by those who paid them
homage. And not be written with the righteous. The inner meaning of
being blotted out from the book of life is to have it made evident that the
name was never written there at all. Man in his imperfect copy of God’s book of
life will have to make many emendations, both of insertion and erasure; but, as
before the Lord, the record is forever fixed and unalterable. Beware of
despising Christ and his people, lest your soul never partake in the
righteousness of God, without which people are condemned already.
29–36.
Imprecations, prophesies, and complaints are ended, and prayer of a milder sort
begins, intermingled with bursts of thankful song, and encouraging foresights
of coming good.
29. But I am poor and sorrowful. The psalmist was afflicted very much, but his faith was in
God. The poor in spirit and mourners are both blessed under the Gospel, so that
there is a double reason for the Lord to smile on his suppliant. Let thy
salvation, O God, set me up on high. How fully has this been answered in
our great Master’s case, for he not only escaped his foes personally, but he
had become the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him, and this
continues to glorify him more and more. O poor and sorrowful ones, lift up your
heads, for as with your Lord so will it be with you. You are trodden down
today, but you will ride upon the high places of the earth ere long, and even
now you are raised up together, and made to sit together in the heavenlies in
Christ Jesus.
30. I will praise the name of God with a song. He who sang after the Passover sings yet more joyously
after the resurrection and ascension. He leads the eternal melodies, and all
his saints join in the chorus. And will magnify him with thanksgiving.
How sure was our Redeemer of ultimate victory, since he vows a song even while
yet in the furnace. In us, also, faith foresees the happy issue of all
affliction, and makes us even now begin the music of gratitude which will go on
forever increasing in volume, world without end. What clear shining after the
rain we have in this and succeeding verses. The darkness is past, and the glory
shines forth as the sun. All the honor is rendered unto him to whom all the
prayer was presented; he alone could deliver and did deliver, and, therefore,
to him only be the praise.
31. This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs. No sacrifice is so acceptable to God, who is a Spirit, as
that which is spiritual. He puts dishonor upon mere outward offerings by
speaking of the horns and hoofs, the offal of the victim. “Offer unto God
thanksgiving” is the everlasting rubric of the true directory of worship. The
depths of grief into which the suppliant had been plunged gave him all the
richer an experience of divine power and grace in his salvation, and qualified
him to sing more sweetly “the song of loves.” Such music is most acceptable
to the infinite Jehovah.
32. The humble shall see this, and be glad. Grateful hearts are ever on the look-out for recruits, and
the rejoicing psalmist discerns with joy the fact that other oppressed and
lowly people, observing the Lord’s dealings with his servants, are encouraged
to look for a similar outcome of their own tribulations. And your heart
shall live that seek God. A similar assurance is given in Psalm 22. It
would have been useless to seek if Jesus’ victories had not cleared the way,
and opened a door of hope; but since the King is at the head of us, our hope is
a living one, our faith is living, our love is living, and our renewed nature
is full of a vitality which challenges the cold hand of death to dampen it.
33. For the Lord
heareth the poor. The examples of David and David’s
Lord, and tens of thousands of the saints, all go to prove this. Descend into
what depths we may, the prayer-hearing God can bring us up again. And
despiseth not his prisoners. Poor men have their liberty, but these are
bound; however, they are God’s prisoners, and therefore prisoners of hope. The
captive in the dungeon is the lowest of men, but the Lord proclaims a
jail-delivery for his afflicted. God despises no one, and no prayer that is
honest and sincere.
34. The
writer had fathomed the deeps, and ascended the heights, and therefore calls on
the whole range of creation to bless the Lord. God’s love to Christ argues good
to all forms of life; the exaltation of the Head brings good to the members. As
the creation itself also is by Christ’s work to be delivered from bondage, let
all that have life magnify the Lord. We see in Christ’s triumph the exaltation
of all poor and sorrowful ones, and our heart is glad.
35. For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of
Judah. Poor, fallen Israel will have a
portion in the mercy of the Lord; but above all the church, so dear to the
heart of her glorious bridegroom, will be revived and strengthened. It is the
subject of cheering hope that better days are coming for the chosen people of
God, and for this we would ever pray. That they may dwell them, and have it
in possession. Whatever captivities may occur, or desolations be caused,
the land of Canaan belongs to Israel by a covenant of salt, and they will
surely repossess it; and this will be a sign unto us, that through the
atonement of the Christ of God all the poor in spirit will enjoy the mercies
promised in the covenant of grace.
36. The seed also of his servant shall inherit it. Under this image, which we dare not regard as a mere
simile, we have the enrichment of the saints, consequent upon the sorrow of
their Lord. The termination of this psalm strongly recalls that of Psalm 22.
The seed lie near the Saviour’s heart, and their enjoyment of all
promised good is the great concern of his disinterested soul. Because they are
his Father’s servants, therefore he rejoices in their welfare. And they that
love his name shall dwell therein. He has an eye to the Father’s glory, for
it is to his praise that those who love him should attain, and forever enjoy,
the utmost happiness. Thus a psalm which began in deep waters ends in the city
which has foundations.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
