1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. Whatever we may observe about us or experience in our own
persons, we ought still to praise God for his mercies, since they most
certainly remain the same, whether we can perceive them or not. We are not only
to believe the Lord’s goodness, but to rejoice in it evermore. We have not one,
but many mercies to rejoice in, and should therefore multiply the
expressions of our thankfulness. It is Jehovah who deigns to deal out to
us our daily benefits; he blesses it with eternal mercies—let us sing unto him forever.
With my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. The
mouth has a warmer manner than the pen, but the pen’s speech lives longest, and
is heard farther and wider. Note that in this second sentence he speaks of faithfulness.
The grace of an unfaithful God would be a poor subject for music, but
unchangeable love and immutable promises demand everlasting songs. In times of
trouble it is the divine faithfulness which the soul hangs upon. It will also
be always desirable to make it known, for people are too apt to forget it, or
to doubt it, when hard times press upon them. Skeptics are so ready to repeat
old doubts and invent new ones that believers should be equally prompt to bring
forth evidences both old and new.
2. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever. He was certain that upon a sure foundation the Lord
intended to pile up a glorious palace of goodness—a house of refuge for all
people, wherein the Son of David should forever be glorified as the dispenser
of heavenly grace. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very
heavens. God’s faithfulness is no thing of earth, for here nothing is firm;
come what will, mercy and faithfulness are built up by “the eternal Builder,”
and his own nature is the guarantee for their perpetuity. This is to be called
to mind whenever the church is in trouble, or our spirits bowed.
3. I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto
David my servant. This was the ground of the
psalmist’s confidence in God’s mercy and truth (2 Samuel 7). David was the
Lord’s elect, and with him a covenant was made which ran along in his seed
until it received fulfillment in “the Son of David.” In Christ there is a
covenant established with all the Lord’s chosen, and they are by grace
led to be the Lord’s “servants,” and then are ordained kings and priests by
Christ Jesus.
4. Thy seed will I esbtablish forever. David must always have a seed, and truly in Jesus this is
fulfilled beyond his hopes. And build up thy throne to all generations.
David’s dynasty never decays. Jesus is a king as well as a progenitor, and his
throne is ever being built up—his kingdom comes—his power extends.
Thus runs the covenant; and when the church declines, it is
ours to plead it before the ever-faithful God. The more gracious Christians
are, the more will they be moved to jealousy by the sad estate of the
Redeemer’s cause, and the more will they argue the case with the great
Covenant-maker. Selah. Let each syllable of the covenant ring in your
ears; and then lift up the heart and proceed with the sacred poet to tell forth
the praises of the Lord.
5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord.
Looking down upon what God had done, and was about to do, in connection with
his covenant of grace, all heaven would be filled with adoring wonder. Thy
faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. By which is probably
intended the holy ones on earth. Saints above see most clearly into the heights
and depths of divine love, therefore they praise its wonders; and saints below,
being conscious of their many sins and multiplied provocations of the Lord,
admire his faithfulness.
6. For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord?
Therefore all heaven worships him, seeing none can equal him. Who among the
sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?
Therefore the assemblies of the saints on earth adore him, seeing none rival
him.
7. God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his
saints. The holiest tremble in the presence
of the thrice Holy One. Perfect love casts out the fear which has torment, and
works that other fear which is akin to joy unutterable. How reverent should our
worship be! Sin is akin to presumptuous boldness, but holiness is sister to
holy fear. And to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
The nearer they are the more they adore. God’s children are those who most
earnestly pray, “hallowed be thy name.” Irreverence is rebellion. Thoughts of
the covenant of grace tend to create a deeper awe of God, and the more his
glories are seen by us, the more humbly we prostrate ourselves before his
majesty.
8. O Lord God
of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? Or, “Jehovah, God of Hosts, who is like thee, Mighty
Jah?” Here we have the name which displays his self-existence, the title which
denotes his dominion over all his creatures, and an adjective which sets forth
the power with which he exercises his sovereignty. Yet this great and terrible
God has entered into covenant with men! Who would not reverence him with
deepest love? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee. He dwells in
faithfulness; it is said to be the girdle of the loins of his only-begotten
Son, who is the express image of his person. People often fail in truth because
their power is limited, and then they find it easier to break their word than
to keep it; but the strong Jehovah is equal to all his engagements, and will
assuredly keep them. Unrivaled might and unparalleled truth are wedded in the
character of Jehovah.
9. Thou rulest the raging of the sea. Always, even in the hour of ocean’s maddest fury, the Lord
controls it. When the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them. So did
the Lord’s Anointed calm the storms of Galilee, for he is Lord of all; so also
does the great Ruler of Providence evermore govern the fickle wills of people,
and quiet their tumults. As a mother stills her babe to sleep, so that Lord
calms the fury of the sea, the anger of people, the tempest of adversity, the
despair of the soul, and the rage of hell.
10. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. Egypt was Israel’s ancient foe, and its overthrow was a
theme to which devout minds constantly reverted. We, too, have seen our Rahab
broken, our sins o’erthrown, and we cannot but unite in praise to the Lord. Thou
hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. Thy strength has strewn
thy foes dead upon the plain, or compelled them to flee. Proud Rahab was
utterly broken and scattered.
11. The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. All things are alike God’s—rebellious earth as well as
adoring heaven. Let us not despair of the kingdom of truth; the Lord has not
abdicated the throne of earth or handed it over to the sway of Satan. As for
the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. The habitable
and cultivated earth, with all its produce, owns the Lord to be both its
Creator and Sustainer, builder and upholder.
12. The north and the south thou hast created them. Opposite poles agree that Jehovah fashioned them. Tabor
and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name—that is, east and west are equally
formed by thee, and therefore give thee praise.
13. Thou hast a mighty arm. Omnipotence is thine in smiting or uplifting; strong is
thy hand—thy power to create and grasp is beyond conception great; and
high is thy right hand—thy skill is incomparable, thy favor ennobling, thy
working glorious.
14. Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne. They are the basis of the divine government, the sphere
within which his sovereignty moves. God as a sovereign is never unjust or unwise.
He is too holy to be unrighteous, too wise to be mistaken; this is constant
matter for joy to the upright in heart. Mercy and truth shall go before thy
face. They are the harbingers and heralds of the Lord; he calls these to
the front to deal with guilty and doubting people; he makes them, in the person
of the Lord Jesus, to be his ambassadors, and so poor, guilty people are
enabled to endure the presence of their righteous Lord.
15. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They are a blessed people who partake of God’s bounty, and
know how to exult in his favor. The covenant promises have also a sound beyond
measure precious, and they are highly favored who understand their meaning and
recognize their own personal interest in them. They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.
For them it is joy enough that Jehovah is favorable to them. If we give God our
ear and hear the joyful sound, he will show us his face and make us glad. When
the Lord smiles on us we live without grief as to our souls.
16. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day. To the soul which, in Christ Jesus, has entered into
covenant with God, every attribute is a fountain of delight. We can rejoice
without physical comforts; the Lord is an all-sufficient source of joy. And
in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. By the Lord’s righteous
dealings the saints are uplifted in due time, however great the oppression and
the depression from which they may have suffered. If God were unjust, or
regarded us as being without righteousness, we must be filled with misery; but
as neither of these things are so, we are exalted indeed.
17. For thou art the glory of their strength. He is our beauty and glory when we are strong in him, as
well as our comfort and sustenance when we tremble because of conscious
weakness in ourselves. No one whom the Lord makes strong may dare to glory in
themselves, but must ascribe all honor to the Lord alone. And in thy favor
our horn shall be exalted. By the use of the word our the psalmist identifies
himself with the blessed people, and this indicates how much sweeter it is to
sing in the first person than concerning others. The horn was an eastern
ornament, worn by men and women, and by the uplifting of this the wearer showed
himself to be in good spirits, and in a confident frame of mind: we wear no
such outward vanities, but our inward soul is adorned and made bravely
triumphant when the favor of God is felt by us. Worldly people need outward
prosperity to make them lift up their heads, but the saints find more than
enough encouragement in the secret love of God.
18. For the Lord
is our defense. He is our ultimate Defender and
Shield. And the Holy One of Israel is our king. Kings are called the
shields of nations, and the God of Israel is both our Ruler and our Defense.
Another sense may be that Israel’s defender and king was of the Lord, belonging
to him and sent by him. The title the Holy One of Israel is especially
delightful to the renewed heart. God is holiness itself, the only being who can
be called the Holy One. He who is holy cannot break his promises, or act
unjustly concerning his oath and covenant. Moreover, he is the Holy One of
Israel, ours forever and ever.
19. Then thou spokest in vision to thy holy one. The holy one here meant may be either David or Nathan the
prophet, but most probably the latter, for it was to him that the word of the
Lord came by night (2 Samuel 7:4–5). God condescends to employ his gracious
ministers to be the means of communication between himself and his favored
ones. I have lain help upon one that is mighty. The Lord has made David
a mighty man of valor, and now he covenants to make him the helper and defender
of the Jewish state. In a far fuller sense the Lord Jesus is essentially and
immeasurably mighty, and on him the salvation of his people rests by divine
appointment. I have exalted one chosen out of the people. David was
God’s elect, elect out of the people, as one of themselves, and elect to the
highest position in the state. In his extraction, election, and exaltation, he
was a type of the Lord Jesus. Whom God exalts let us exalt.
20. I have found David my servant. David was discovered by the Lord among the sheepfolds and
recognized as a man of gracious spirit, full of faith and courage, and
therefore fit to be leader in Israel. With my holy oil have I anointed him.
By the hand of Samuel, David was anointed to be king long before he ascended
the throne. The verse must also be expounded of the Prince Emmanuel; he became
the servant of the Lord for our sakes; upon him rested the Spirit without
measure. Jesus is also the Lord’s Christ, or anointed. The oil with which he is
anointed is the Spirit of holiness.
21. With whom my hand shall be established, or, “with whom my hand shall ever be present.” The
almightiness of God abides permanently with Jesus as Redeemer and Ruler of his
people. Mine arm also shall strengthen him. The fullness of divine power
will attend him. This promise ought to be urged in prayer before the Lord, for
the great lack of the church at this time is power.
22. The enemy shall not exact upon him. He will not be vexed and persecuted as a helpless debtor by
an extortionate creditor. Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
Graceless people will no longer make his life a burden. David had striven to
act justly towards Saul, because he was the Lord’s anointed, yet Saul
persecuted him relentlessly. The covenant, therefore, engaged that his life of
hardship and oppression should come to an end forever; it did so in David’s own
person, and more remarkably still in the life of Solomon, his son. Who does not
in all this see a type of the Lord Jesus, who though he was once seized for our
debts, and also evilly treated by the ungodly, is now so exalted that he can
never be exacted upon any more.
23. And I will beat down his foes before his face—crushing them and their plans. God himself thus fights the
battles of his Son, and effectually overturns his foes. And plague them that
hate him, or “smite his haters.” May none of us learn the terror of this
threatening, which is surely being fulfilled upon all those unbelievers who
have rejected the Son of God, and died in the hardness of their hearts. The
prophecy is also having another fulfilment in the overthrow of systems of
error, and the vexation caused to their promoters.
24. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him. To David and his descendants, God was gracious and
faithful, and though through their sin the literal kingdom lost all its glory
and the dynasty became obscure, yet the line remained unbroken and more than
all its former glory was restored in Jesus. And in my name shall his horn be
exalted. The fullest exaltation of the horn of Jesus is yet to come in that
millennial period which is hastening on.
25. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand
in the rivers. He shall reach far beyond the
little rivers which stand for boundaries in Palestine. His power is to be given
him of the Lord, and is to be abiding; so we understand the words I will
set. The verse has in it a voice of good cheer concerning sailors, and all
dwellers on the waters; the hand of Jesus is over them.
26. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father. David’s descendants would be a praying race, and so in the
main they were, and when they were not they smarted for it. The Lord Jesus was
preeminent in prayer, and his favorite mode of address was “Father.” My
God—so our Lord called his Father when upon the cross. And the rock of
my salvation. It was to his Father that he turned in Gethsemane, and to him
he committed his spirit in death. To say to God Thou art my father is
more than learning and talent can teach us; the new birth is essential to this.
27. Also I will make him my firstborn. Among the kings the descendants of David were to be most
favored, but in Jesus we see this in the highest degree verified, for he has
preeminence in all things, and is higher than the kings of the earth.
Kings are honored when they honor him, and those who honor him are kings! In
the millennial glory it will be seen what the covenant stores up for the once
despised Son of David, but even now faith sees him exalted as King of kings and
Lord of lords. Jesus is no servant of princes, nor would he have his bride, the
church, degrade herself by bowing before kings.
28. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore. The kings of David’s line needed mercy, and mercy prevented
their house from utterly perishing until the Son of Mary came. He needs no
mercy for himself, but he is a representative man, and the mercy of God is
required for those who are in him. And my covenant shall stand fast with
him. With Jesus the covenant is ratified by blood of sacrifice and by oath
of God; it cannot be canceled or altered. The covenant of grace is sure
to all the descendants, because it stands fast with him with whom we are
indissolubly united.
29. His seed also will I make to endure forever. David’s seed lives on in the Lord Jesus, and the seed of
Jesus in believers. Saints are a race that neither death nor hell can kill. And
his throne as the days of heaven. Jesus reigns on, and will reign till the
skies shall fall; when the heavens pass away, and the elements melt with
fervent heat, his throne will stand. Some commentators talk of conditions, but
we fail to see any; the promises are as absolute as they can possibly be, and
if any conditions as to the conduct of the favored individuals can be
conceived, they are disposed of in the succeeding verses.
30. It was
possible, terribly possible, that David’s posterity might wander from the Lord;
indeed they did so, but what then? Was the mercy of God to pass away from
David’s descendants? Far from it. So, too, the descendants of the Son of David
are apt to start aside, but are they therefore cast away? Not a single word
gives liberty for such an idea, but the very reverse.
31. If they break my statutes, and keep not my
commandments. The dreadful if is suggested again,
and the sad case is stated in other forms. But if it should be so, what then?
Death and rejection? Ah, no. Blessed be God, no! Legalism will import its ifs,
but the Lord slays the ifs as fast as they rise. Eternal shalls and wills make
glorious havoc among the ifs and buts.
32. Then will I visit their transgression with the rod. Not with the sword, not with death and destruction, but
still with a painful rod. Saints must smart if they sin; God will see to that.
He hates sin too much and he loves his saints too well not to chasten their
iniquity with stripes, which are either many or few in proportion as the
heart is properly affected by them.
33. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take
from him. O glorious fear-killing sentence!
This crowns the covenant with exceeding glory. Mercy may seem to depart from
the Lord’s chosen, but it will never altogether do so. Jesus still enjoys the
divine favor, and therefore under the most trying circumstances the Lord’s
lovingkindness to each one of his chosen will endure the strain. If the
covenant be made void by our sins it would have been void long ere this. God
may leave his people, and they may thereby suffer much, but utterly and
altogether he never can remove his love from them; for that would be to cast a
reflection upon his own truth, and this he will never allow, for he adds nor
suffer my faithfulness to fail. Humankind fails in all points, but God in
none. To be faithful is one of the eternal characteristics of God.
34. My covenant will I not break. It is his own covenant. He devised it, drew up the draft of
it, and voluntarily entered into it; he therefore thinks much of it. Nor
alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Alterations and afterthoughts
belong to short-sighted human beings who meet with unexpected events which
operate upon them to change their minds, but the Lord who sees everything from
the beginning has no such reason for shifting his ground. He is besides
immutable in his nature and designs, and cannot change in heart, and therefore
not in promise. It is evident he takes pleasure in that most ancient and solemn
contract. If it were conceivable that he had repented ot it, he would not be
found dwelling upon it, and repeating it with renewed emphasis.
35. Because
he could swear by no greater he swore by himself, and by that especial
attribute which is his highest glory. God here pledges the essence of his
nature. He does as good as say that if ceases to be true to his covenant he
will have forfeited his holy character.
36. His seed shall endure forever. David’s line in the person of Jesus is an endless one, and
the race of Jesus, as represented in successive generations of believers, shows
no sign of failure. No power, human or Satanic, can break the Christian
succession; as saints die others will rise up to fill their places, so that
till the last day, the day of doom, Jesus will have a seed to serve him. And
his throne as the sun before me. In our Lord Jesus the dynasty of David
remains upon the throne. Jesus has never abdicated, nor gone into banishment.
He reigns, and must reign so long as the sun continues to shine upon the earth.
We are the seed who must endure forever, and we are protected and ennobled by
that King whose royalties are to last forever.
37. It shall be established for ever as the moon. The kingdom may wax and wane to mortal eyes, but it will
still abide as long as the moon walks in her silver beauty. And as a
faithful witness in heaven. The most stable part of the universe is
selected as a type of Messiah’s kingdom, and both sun and moon are made to be
symbols of its long endurance. Whatever else there is in the sky which
faithfully witnesses to the unbending course of nature is also called upon to
be a sign of the Lord’s truth. When heaven and earth witness, and the Lord
himself swears, there remains no excuse for doubting, and faith joyfully
reposes in confident expectation.
38. But thou hast east off and abhorred. The Lord had promised not to cast off the seed of David,
and yet it looked as if he had done so, and that too in the most angry manner,
as if he loathed the person of the king. God’s actions may appear to us to be
the reverse of his promises, and then our best course is to come before him in
prayer and put the matter before him just as it strikes our apprehension. We
are allowed to do this, for this holy and inspired man did so unrebuked, but we
must do it humbly and in faith. Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.
He deserved the wrath, doubtless, but the psalmist’s point is that this
appeared to him to conflict with the gracious covenant. He puts the matter
plainly, and makes bold with the Lord, and the Lord loves to have his servants
so do; it shows that they believe his engagements to be matters of fact.
39. Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant. The dispensations of providence looked as if there had been
a disannulling of the sacred compact, though indeed it was not so. Thou hast
profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. The king had been subject
to such sorrow and shame that his diadem had been as it were taken from his
head, dashed on the earth, and rolled in the mire. He was a theocratic monarch,
and the Lord, who gave him his crown, took it from him and treated it with
contempt—at least so it seemed. In these sad days also we may utter the same
plaint, for Jesus is not acknowledged in many of the churches.
40. Thou hast broken clown all his hedges. He was no longer sheltered from the slanderous assaults of
contemptuous tongues; the awe which should guard the royal name had ceased to
separate him from his fellows. The royal family had been like a vine within an
enclosure, but the wall was now laid low, and the vine was unprotected. It is
sorrowfully true that in many places the enclosures of the church have been
destroyed, the line of demarcation between the church and the world has almost
vanished, and godless people fill the sacred offices. Thou hast brought his
strongholds to ruin. The forts of the kingdom were in the possession of the
enemy and were dismantled; the defenses of the kingdom were overthrown. Thus
has it happened that precious truths which were the bulwarks of the church have
been assailed by heresy, and the citadels of sound doctrine have been abandoned
to the foe.
41. All that pass by the way spoil him. Woe is the day when every petty reasoner has an argument
against religion, and men in their cups are fluent with objections against the
Gospel of Jesus. Although Jesus on the cross is nothing to them, and they pass
him by without inquiring into what he has done for them, they can loiter as
long as you will, if there be but the hope of driving another nail into his
hands. He is a reproach to his neighbors. David’s successors had
neighbors who were a reproach to good fellowship, because they were so ready to
reproach their neighbor. The people of God, who follow the Lord fully, are
subject to a thousand reproaches, and some of them of the most bitter kind.
These reproaches are really the reproach of Christ, and at bottom are meant for
him.
42. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries. Thou hast done it, thou, who hast sworn to give him
help and victory; thou hast, instead thereof, sided by his enemies, and lent
them thy strength, so that they have gained the supremacy. Thou hast made
all his enemies to rejoice. They are boasting over him, and are glorying in
his defeat, and this is done by thyself. O God, how is this? Where is the
covenant? Hast thou forgotten thine own pledges and promises?
43. Also turned the edge of his sword. When he goes to war he is as unsuccessful as though his
sword refused to cut, and gave way like a sword of lead. His weapons fail him. And
hast not made him to stand in the battle. His heart fails him as well as
his sword—he wavers, he falls. At this present the church has few swords of
true Jerusalem metal; her sons are pliable, her ministers yield to pressure. We
need men whose edge cannot be turned, firm for truth, keen against error, sharp
towards sin. Charity towards heresy is the fashionable vice, and indifference
to all truth, under the name of liberal-mindedness, is the crowning virtue of
the age.
44. Thou hast made his glory to cease. The brightness of his reign and the prosperity of his house
are gone, his tame is tarnished, his honor disgraced. And cast his throne down
to the ground. He has lost his power to govern at home or to conquer
abroad. This happened to kings of David’s line, and, more grievous to tell, it
is happening in these days to the visible kingdom of the Lord Jesus. The glory
has departed, and the Gospel throne of Jesus is hidden from our eyes!
45. The days of his youth hast thou shortened. The time of the king’s energy was brief; he grew feeble
before his time. Thou hast covered him with shame. Shame was heaped upon
him because of his premature decay and his failure in arms. In this our day we
have to bemoan the lack of vigor in religion. Let us plead with the righteous
Judge of all the earth to fulfill his word wherein he has promised that those
who wait upon him shall renew their strength, Selah. The interceding
poet takes breath amid his lament, and then turns from describing the sorrows
of the kingdom to pleading with the Lord.
46. How long, Lord?
The appeal is to Jehovah, and the argument is the length of the affliction
endured. Chastisement with a rod is not a lengthened matter; therefore he
appeals to God to cut short the time of tribulation. Wilt thou hide thyself
forever? Hast thou not promised to appear for thy servant—wilt thou then
forever forsake him? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Wilt thou burn up
the throne which thou hast sworn to perpetuate? Thus would we intreat the Lord
to remember the cause of Christ in these days. Will truth die out, and saints
exist no more? Surely he must interpose soon, for, if he do not, true religion
will be utterly consumed, as it were, with fire.
47. Remember how short my time is. If thine anger burn on it will outlast this mortal life,
and then there will be no time for thy mercy to restore me. Some expositors
ascribe these words, and all the preceding verses, to the state of the Lord
Jesus in the days of his humiliation, and this gives an instructive meaning;
but we prefer to continue our reference all through to the church, which is the
seed of the Lord Jesus, as the succeeding kings were the seed of David. We,
having transgressed, are made to feel the rod, but we pray the Lord not to
continue his stripes lest our whole life be passed in misery. Wherefore hast
thou made all men in vain? If the Lord do not shine upon his work we live
for nothing—we count it no longer life if his cause does not prosper. Creation
is a blot, providence an error, and our own existence a hell, if the
faithfulness of God can fail and his covenant of grace can be dissolved. If the
Gospel system can be disproved, nothing remains for us which can render
existence worth the having.
48. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? All must die. None of our race can answer to the question
here propounded except in the negative; there is none that can claim to elude
the arrows of death. Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?
Since we must all die, do not make this life all wretchedness, O Lord. Let us
not be so deserted of thee in this brief span that we are unable to testify to
thy faithfulness. Selah. Here we rest again, and proceed to further
pleadings.
49. We may
remind the Lord of his former love to his church, his former favor to
ourselves. Then may we plead his oath, and beg him to remember that he has
sworn to bless his chosen; and we may wrestle hard also, by urging upon him his
own character, and laying hold upon his inviolable truth.
50. Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants. By their great troubles they were made a mock of by ungodly
people, and hence the Lord’s pity is intreated. How I do bear in my bosom
the reproach of all the mighty people. The psalmist felt as if all the
reproaches which vexed his nation were centered in himself; reproach upon the
saints and their cause ought to burden us. Our grief at the griefs of the
Lord’s people may be pleaded in prayer.
There is one interpretation of this verse which must not be
passed over; the original is, “Remember my bearing in my bosom all the many
nations,” and this may be understood as a pleading of the church that the Lord
would remember her because she was yet to be the mother of many nations,
according to the prophecy of Psalm 77. She was as it were ready to give birth
to nations, but how could they be born if she herself died in the meanwhile?
The church is the hope of the world; should she expire, the nations would never
come to the birth of regeneration.
51. Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord.
Here is another forcible point; the scoffers are the Lord’s enemies as well as
ours, and their reproach falls upon him as well as upon us. Wherefore they
have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. Not only watching his
words and actions, but even his harmless steps. Neither Christ nor his church
can please the world; whichever way we turn scoffers will rail. Does this verse
refer to the delays of the Messiah, those long-expected footfalls which as yet
are unheard?
52. Blessed be the Lord
for evermore. He ends where he began. Let us
bless God before we pray, and while we pray, and when we have done praying, for
he always deserves it of us. If we cannot understand him, we will not distrust
him. When his ways are beyond our judgment we will not be so foolish as to
judge; yet we shall do so if we consider his dealings to be unkind or
unfaithful. He is, he must be, he shall be forever our blessed God. Amen,
and Amen. So be it, Lord; we wish it over and over again. Be thou blessed
evermore.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
