1. David
appears before God to plead with him against the Accuser, who had charged him
with treason and treachery. The case is here opened with an avowal of
confidence in God. Whatever may be the emergency of our condition we shall
never find it amiss to retain our reliance upon God. O Lord my God. Mine by a special
covenant, sealed by Jesus’ blood, and ratified in my own soul by a sense of
union to thee; in thee, and in thee only, do I put my trust, even
now in my sore distress. I shake, but my rock moves not. And now, with both
divine relationship and holy trust to strengthen him, David utters the burden
of his desire—save me from all that persecute me. His pursuers were very
many, and any one of them cruel enough to devour him; he cries, therefore, for
salvation from them all. We should never think our prayers complete
until we ask for preservation from all sin, and all enemies. And
deliver me. Acquit me of their accusations, give a just deliverance in this
trial of my injured character. His case is clearly stated: let us see to it
that we know what we want when we come to the throne of mercy. Pause a little
while before you pray, that you may not offer the sacrifice of fools. Get a
distinct idea of your need, and then you can pray with more fluency of fervency.
2. Lest he tear my soul.
Here is the plea of fear coworking with the plea of faith. There was one among
David’s foes mightier than the rest, who had both dignity, strength, and
ferocity, and was, therefore, like a lion. From this foe he urgently
seeks deliverance. Perhaps this was Saul, his royal enemy; but in our own case
there is one who goes about like a lion, seeking whom he may devour, concerning
whom we should ever cry, “Deliver us from the Evil One.” This is a picture
from the shepherd-life of David. When the fierce lion had pounced upon the
defenseless lamb, he would devour him, because no shepherd was near to protect
the lamb. This is a soul-moving portrait of a saint delivered over to the will
of Satan. This will make Jehovah yearn. A father cannot be silent when a child
is in such peril. No, he will not endure the thought of his darling in the jaws
of a lion; he will arise and deliver his persecuted one. It will be well for us
here to remember that this is a description of the danger to which the psalmist
was exposed from slanderous tongues. This is not an overdrawn picture, for
slander leaves a slur, even if it be wholly disproved. It is a meanness most
detestable to stab a good man in his reputation, but diabolical hatred observes
no nobility in its mode of warfare. We must be ready for this trial, for it
will surely come upon us.
3–5. The
second part of this wandering hymn contains a protestation of innocence, and an
invocation of wrath upon his own head, if he were not clear from the evil
imputed to him. So far from hiding treasonable intentions in his hands, or
ungratefully requiting the peaceful deeds of a friend, he had even suffered his
enemy to escape when he had him completely in his power. Twice he had spared
Saul’s life; once in the cave of Adullam, and again when he found him sleeping
in the midst of his slumbering camp; he could, therefore, with a clear
conscience, make his appeal to heaven. He needs not fear the curse whose soul
is clear of guilt. Yet the imprecation is a most solemn one, and only
justifiable through the extremity of the occasion, and the nature of the
dispensation under which the psalmist lived. We are commanded by our
Lord Jesus to let our yea be yea, and our nay, nay; if we cannot be believed on
our word, we are surely not to be trusted on our oath. Especially beware of
trifling with solemn imprecations. David enhances the solemnity of this appeal
to the dread tribunal of God by the use of the usual Selah.
From these verses we may learn that no innocence can shield
a man from the calumnies of the wicked. David had been scrupulously careful to
avoid any appearance of rebellion against Saul, whom he constantly styled “the
Lord’s anointed”; but all this could not protect him from lying tongues. As
the shadow follows the substance, so envy pursues goodness. It is only at the
tree laden with fruit that men throw stones. If we would live without being
slandered we must wait till we get to heaven. Let us be very heedful not to
believe the flying rumors which are always harassing gracious men.
6–7. We now
listen to a fresh prayer, based on the avowal he had just made.
6. Arise, O Lord,
in thine anger. His sorrow makes him view the Lord
as a judge who had left the judgment-seat and retired into his rest. Faith
would move the Lord to avenge the quarrel of his saints. Lift up thyself.
A still stronger figure to express his anxiety that the Lord would assume his
authority and mount the throne. Stand up, O God; rise above them all and let
thy justice tower above their villainies. Awake for me to the judgment that
thou hast commanded. This is a bolder utterance still, for it implies sleep
as well as inactivity, and can only be applied to God in a very limited sense.
He never slumbers, yet he often seems to do so; for the wicked prevail, and the
saints are trodden in the dust. God’s silence is the patience of longsuffering,
and if wearisome to the saints, they should bear it cheerfully in the hope that
sinners may thereby be led to repentance.
7. Thy
saints shall crowd to thy tribunal with their complaints, or shall surround it
with their solemn homage. As when a judge travels at the assizes, all men take
their cases to his court that they may be heard, so will the righteous gather
to their Lord. Here he fortifies himself in prayer by pleading that if the Lord
will mount the throne of judgment, multitudes of the saints would be blessed as
well as himself. If I be too base to be remembered, yet for their sakes
come forth from thy secret pavilion, and sit in the gate dispensing justice
among the people. When my suit includes the desires of all the righteous it
shall surely speed, for “shall not God avenge his own elect?”
8–9. David has
now seen the Lord ascending to his judgment-seat, where he draws near to him to
urge his suit anew. In the last two verses he besought Jehovah to arise, and
now that he is arisen, he prepares to mingle with “the congregation of the
people” who surround the Lord. The royal heralds proclaim the opening of the
court with the solemn words The Lord
shall judge the people. Our petitioner rises at once, and cries with
earnestness and humility, “Judge me, O Lord,
according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.”
His hand is on an honest heart, and his cry is to a righteous Judge. He sees a
smile on the face of the King, and in the name of all the assembled
congregation he cries aloud (verse 9). Is his cry not the universal longing of
the whole company of the elect? When shall we be delivered from the wickedness
of these men of Sodom?
9. Trieth.
How strict, how accurate, how intimate his search! The hearts and reins.
The secret thoughts and inward affections.
10–13. The judge
has heard the cause, has cleared the guiltless, and uttered his voice against
the persecutors. Let us draw near, and learn the results. The slandered one
with his harp in his hand is hymning the justice of his Lord, and rejoicing
aloud in his own deliverance.
10. The upright in heart.
How good to have a true and upright heart. Crooked sinners, with all their
craftiness, are foiled by the upright in heart. God defends the right. When God
tries our cause, our sun has arisen, and the sun of the wicked is set forever.
11. God judgeth the righteous. He has not given you up to be condemned by the lips of
persecutors. Your enemies cannot sit on God’s throne, nor blot your name out of
his book. Let them alone, then, for God will find time for his revenges. God
is angry with the wicked every day. He not only detests sin, but is angry
with those who continue to indulge in it. There is not an hour in which God’s
oven is not hot, and burning in readiness for the wicked.
12. If he turn not, he will whet his sword. God’s sword has been sharpening upon the revolving stone of
our daily wickedness, and if we will not repent, it will speedily cut us in
pieces. Turn or burn is the sinner’s only alternative.
13. Even now
the thirsty arrow longs to wet itself with the blood of the persecutor.
The bow is bent (verse 12), the aim is taken, the arrow is fitted to the
string, and what, O sinner, if the arrow should be let fly at you even now!
Remember, God’s arrows never miss the mark, and are, every one of them, instruments
of death. Judgment may tarry, but it will not come too late.
14–16. In three
graphic pictures we see the slanderer’s history.
14. A woman
in labor furnishes the first metaphor: he travailleth with iniquity. He
is full of it, pained until he can carry it out. He hath conceived mischief.
This is the original of his base design. The devil has had doings with him, and
the virus of evil is in him. And now the child is worthy of its father, “the
father of lies,” for he brought forth falsehood.
15. Another
figure is taken from the stratagems of the hunter. He was cunning in his plans,
and industrious in his labors. He was willing to work in a ditch if
others might fall in it. What mean things people will do to wreak revenge on
the godly. But he is fallen into the ditch which he made. Let us laugh
at his disappointment. He is himself the beast; he has hunted his own soul.
Give him no pity, for it will be wasted on such a wretch. How often men have
burned their own fingers when they were hoping to brand their neighbors. And if
this does not happen now, it will hereafter.
17. We
conclude with the joyful contrast. In this all these psalms are agreed: they
all exhibit the blessedness of the righteous, and make its colors the more
glowing by contrast with the miseries of the wicked. Praise is the occupation
of the godly, their eternal work, and their present pleasure. Singing is the
fitting embodiment for praise, and therefore do the saints make melody before
the Lord Most High. The slandered one is now a singer, and we leave him flying
to the third heaven of adoring praise.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
