1. O Lord God,
to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself: or, “God of retributions, Jehovah, God of retributions,
shine forth!” A very natural prayer when innocence is trampled down, and
wickedness exalted on high. If the execution of justice be a right thing—and
who can deny the fact?—then it must be a very proper thing to desire it; not
out of private revenge, in which case one would hardly clare to appeal to God,
but out of sympathy with right, and pity for those who are made wrongfully to
suffer. Who can see a nation enslaved, or even an individual downtrodden,
without crying to the Lord to arise and vindicate the righteous cause? The
toleration of injustice is here attributed to the Lord’s being hidden, and it
is implied that the bare sight of him will suffice to alarm the tyrants into
ceasing their oppressions. God has but to show himself, and the good cause wins
the day. He comes, he sees, he conquers! In these evil days we need a
display of his power, for the ancient enemies of God and man are again
struggling for the mastery, and if they gain it, woe unto the saints of God.
2. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth. Ascend thy judgment-seat and be acknowledged as the ruler
of people: and, moreover, raise thyself as men do who are about to strike with
all their might; for the abounding sin of mankind requires a heavy blow from
thy hand. Render a reward to the proud; give them measure for measure,
blow for blow. Let them know that thou art far more above them than they can be
above the meanest of their fellow-men.
3. Lord, how
long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? Shall wrong forever rule? Are slavery, robbery, tyranny
never to cease? Since there is certainly a just God in heaven, armed with
almighty power, surely there must be sooner or later an end to the ascendancy
of evil, innocence must one day find a defender. This how long? of the
text is the bitter plaint of all the righteous in all ages, and expresses
wonder caused by that great enigma of providence, the existence and
predominance of evil. In due time God will publish his reply, but the full end
is not yet.
4. How long shall they utter and speak hard things? The ungodly are not content with deeds of injustice, but
they add hard speeches, boasting, threatening, and insulting over the saints.
Will the Lord forever endure this? Will he leave his own children much longer
to be the prey of their enemies? Words often wound more than swords; they are
as hard to the heart as stones to the flesh; and these are poured forth by the
ungodly in redundance, for such is the force of the word translated utter;
and they use them so commonly that they become their common speech (they utter
and speak them)—will this always be endured? And all the workers of
iniquity boast themselves? They even talk to themselves, and of themselves,
in arrogance of spirit, as if they were doing some good deed when they crush
the poor and needy, and spit their spite on gracious men. It is the nature of
workers of iniquity to boast, just as it is a characteristic of good men to be
humble.
5. They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, grinding
them with oppression, crushing them with contempt. Yet the people they break in
pieces are God’s own people, and they are persecuted because they are so; this
is a strong plea for the divine interposition. And afflict thine heritage,
causing them sorrowful humiliation and deep depression of heart. The term thine
heritage marks out the election of the saints, God’s peculiar interest and
delight in them, his covenant relation, of long standing, to them and their
fathers; this also is a storehouse of arguments with their faithful God. Will
he not defend his own?
6. They deal
most arrogantly with those who are the most evident objects of compassion. The
law of God especially commends these poor ones to the kindness of good people,
and it is particular wickedness which singles them out to be the victims not
only of fraud but of murder. As surely as there is a God in heaven, he will
visit those who perpetrate such crimes; though he bear long with them, he will
yet take vengeance, and that speedily.
7. Yet they say, the Lord
shall not see. When people believe that the eyes
of God are dim, there is no reason to wonder that they give full license to
their brutal passions. Neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. How
dare the ungodly assert that he will not notice the wrongs done to God’s
people? There is no limit to the proud profanity of the proud; reason itself
cannot restrain them; they have broken through the bounds of common sense.
Jacob’s God heard him at the brookJabbok; Jacob’s God led him and kept him all
his life long, and said concerning him and his family, “Touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm”; and yet these brutish ones profess to
believe that he neither sees nor regards the injuries wrought upon the elect
people! Surely in such unbelievers is fulfilled the saying of the wise, that
those whom the Lord means to destroy he leaves to the madness of their corrupt
hearts.
8. Understand, ye brutish among the people. They said that God did not note, and now, using the
same word in the original, the psalmist calls on the wicked to note, and
have regard to the truth. They thought themselves to be wise, and indeed the
only people of wit in the world, but he calls them “boars among the people.”
When a man has done with God, he has done with his manhood, and has fallen to
the level of the ox and the ass, indeed beneath them, for “the ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master’s crib.” Instead of being humbled in the
presence of scientific infidels, we ought to pity them. And ye fools, when
will ye be wise? Have you no relics of reason left? No shreds of sense?
9. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He made you hear; can he not himself hear? Unanswerable
question! It overwhelms the skeptic, and covers him with confusion. He that
formed the eye, shall he not see? He gives us vision; is it conceivable
that he has no sight himself? If there be a God, he must be a personal
intelligent being, and no limit can be set to his knowledge.
10. He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He reproves whole nations; can he not reprove individuals?
The question which follows is equally full of force, and is asked with a degree
of warmth which checks the speaker, and causes the inquiry to remain
incomplete. It begins, He that teacheth man knowledge, and then it comes
to a pause, which the translators have supplied with the word, shall not he
know? But no such words are in the original, where the sentence comes to an
abrupt end, as if the inference were too natural to need to be stated, and the
writer had lost patience with the brutish men with whom he had argued. The
earnest believer often feels as if he could say, “Go to, you are not worth
arguing with!” Human knowledge comes from God. Science in its first principles
was taught to our progenitor Adam, and all after advances have been due to
divine aid; does not the author and revealer of all knowledge himself know?
11. Whether
people admit or deny that God knows, one thing is here declared, namely, that The
Lord knoweth the thoughts of man,
that they are vanity. Not their words alone are heard, and their works
seen, but he reads the secret motions of their minds, for men themselves are
not hard to be discerned of him; before his glance they themselves are but
vanity. It is in the Lord’s esteem no great matter to know the thoughts of such
transparent pieces of vanity as mankind are; he sums them up in a moment as
poor vain things. This is the sense of the original, but that given in the
Authorized Version is also true—the thoughts, the best part, the most spiritual
portion of human nature, even these are vanity itself, and nothing better. And
yet such a creature as this boasts, plays at monarch, tyrannizes over his
fellow worms, and defies his God! Madness is mingled with human vanity, like
smoke with the fog, to make it fouler but not more substantial than it would
have been alone.
How foolish are those who think God does not know their
actions, when the truth is that their vain thoughts are all perceived by him!
How absurd to make nothing of God when in fact we ourselves are as nothing in
his sight.
12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord.
The psalmist’s mind is growing quiet. He no longer complains to God or argues
with people, for his faith perceives that with the most afflicted believer all
is well. Though he may not feel blessed while smarting under the rod of
chastisement, yet blessed he is; he is precious in God’s sight, or the Lord
would not take the trouble to correct him. The psalmist calls the chastened one
a man in the best sense, using the Hebrew word which implies strength.
He is a man, indeed, who is under the teaching and training of the Lord. And
teacheth him out of thy law. The book and the rod, the law and the
chastening, go together, and are made doubly useful by being found in
connection. The blessing of God belongs far rather to those who suffer under
the divine hand than to those who make others suffer. The afflicted believer is
under tuition, he is in training for something higher and better, and all that
he meets with is working out his highest good.
13. The
chastening hand and instructive book are sanctified to us, so that we learn to
rest in the Lord. We see that his end is our everlasting benefit, and therefore
abide quiet under all trying providences and bitter persecutions, waiting our
time. The Mighty Hunter is preparing the pit for the brutish ones; they are prowling
about at this time, and tearing the sheep, but they will soon be captured and
destroyed; therefore the people of the Lord learn to rest in days of adversity,
and tarry the leisure of their God.
14. For the Lord
will not cast off his people.
He may cast them down, but he never can cast them off. The Lord will not
withdraw his love, neither will he forsake his inheritance. For a time
he may leave his own with the design of benefiting them, yet never can he
utterly destroy them.
15. But judgment shall return unto righteousness. The great Judge will come, the reign of righteousness will
commence, the course of affairs will yet be turned into the right channel, and
then all the godly will rejoice. The chariot of right will be drawn in triumph
through our streets, and all the upright in heart shall follow it, as in
gladsome procession. The government of the world has been for a while in the
hands of those who have used it for the basest and most vicious ends; but the
cry of prayer will bring back righteousness to the throne, and then every
upright heart will have its portion of joy.
16.
Notwithstanding the psalmist’s persuasion that all would be well eventually he
could not at the time perceive anyone who would stand side by side with him in
opposing evil. This also is a bitter trial, and a sore evil under the sun; yet
it has its purpose, for it drives the heart still more completely to the Lord,
compelling it to rest alone in him. If we could find friends elsewhere, it may
be our God would not be so dear to us; but when, after calling upon heaven and
earth to help, we meet with no succor but such as comes from the eternal arm,
we are led to prize our God, and rest upon him with undivided trust. Never is
the soul safer or more at rest than when, all other helpers failing, she leans
upon the Lord alone. The verse before us is an appropriate cry, now that the
church sees error invading her on all sides, while faithful ministers are few,
and fewer still are bold enough to stand up and defy the enemies of
truth. A false charity has enfeebled most of the valiant men of Israel. Our
grand consolation is that the God of Knox and Luther is yet with us, and in due
time will call out his chosen champions.
17. Without
Jehovah’s help the psalmist declares that he would have died outright, and gone
into the silent land, where no more testimonies can be borne for the living
God. Or he may mean that he would not have had a word to speak against his
enemies, but would have been wrapped in speechless shame. Blessed be God, we are
not left to that condition yet, for the Almighty Lord is still the helper of
those who look to him. Our inmost soul is bowed down when we see the victories
of the Lord’s enemies—we cannot brook it, we cover our mouths in confusion; but
he will yet arise and avenge his own cause, therefore have we hope.
18. When I said, My foot slippeth—is slipping even now: I perceived my danger, and cried out
in horror, and then, at the very moment of my extremity, came the needed help. Thy
mercy, O Lord, held me up. Often
enough is this the case: we feel our weakness, and see our danger, and in fear
and trembling we cry out. At such times nothing can help us but mercy;
we can make no appeal to any fancied merit, for we feel that it is our inbred
sin which makes our feet so ready to fail us; our joy is that mercy endures
forever, and is always at hand to pluck us out of the danger, and hold us up.
19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me. When I am tossed to and fro with various reasonings,
distractions, questionings, and forebodings, I will fly to my true rest, for thy
comforts delight my soul. From my sinful thoughts, my vain thoughts, my
sorrowful thoughts, my griefs, my cares, my conflicts, I will hasten to the
Lord; he has divine comforts, and these will not only console but
actually delight me. How sweet are the comforts of the Spirit! Who can
muse upon eternal love, immutable purposes, covenant promises, finished
redemption, the risen Saviour, his union with his people, the coming glory, and
such like themes, without feeling his heart leaping with joy? The little world
within is, like the great world without, full of confusion and strife; but when
Jesus enters it, and whispers, “Peace be unto you,” there is a calm.
20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? God enters into no alliance with unjust authority; he gives
no sanction to unrighteous legislation. Which frameth mischief by a law?
They legalize robbery and violence, and then plead that it is the law of the
land; and so indeed it may be, but it is a wickedness for all that. No
injustice can be permanent, for God will not set his seal upon it, nor have any
fellowship with it, and therefore down it must come, and happy will be the day
which sees it fall.
21. They gather themselves together against the soul of the
righteous. So many are there of them that they
crowd their assemblies, and carry their hard measures with enthusiasm; they are
the popular party, and are eager to put down the saints. And condemn the
innocent blood. They are great at slander and false accusation, nor do they
stick at murder; no crime is too great for them, if only they can trample on
the servants of the Lord. This description is historically true in reference to
persecuting times. The dominant sect has the law on its side, and boasts that
it is the national church; but the law which establishes and endows one
religion rather than another is radically an injustice.
22. Let the
wicked gather as they may, the psalmist is not afraid, but sweetly sings. Firm
as a rock is Jehovah’s love, and there do we go for shelter.
23. The
natural result of oppression is the destruction of the despot; his own
iniquities crush him ere long. He shall bring upon them their own iniquity,
and shall cut them off in their own wickedness. While the stolen bread is
in their mouths wrath slays them. God himself conspicuously visits them, and
reveals his own power in their overthrow. Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.
Here, then, the matter ends; faith reads the present in the
light of the future, and ends her song without a trembling note.
Excerpt from:
The Treasury of David
By Charles H Spurgeon
