David's confidence с A. M. 2944. of goodness: thou settest a crown of || through the mercy of the Most High A. M. 2944. pure gold on his head. he shall not be moved. B. C. 1060. 6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast 2 made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. B. C. 1060. 10 m Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, 7 For the king trusteth in the LORD, and and their seed from among the children of men. goodness than the Father was to give them, and his disposition is the same toward all his adopted sons. By the crown of pure gold, may be meant, in general, an illustrious crown, which is here represented as being set upon our Lord's head at his exaltation into heaven, in token of his being then advanced to this chief exercise of his regal authority. Thus he is said, Psa. viii. 5, to be crowned with glory and honour; and St. John says, with respect to his deified humanity, in which he was made King of kings, and Lord of lords, that on his head were many crowns, Rev. xix. 12, 16. Verse 4. He asked life of thee-Applied to David it means, He asked only the preservation of his short and mortal life, which was often exposed to the utmost perils. And thou gavest him length of days for ever and ever-Thou gavest him a long life and reign here, and after that didst translate him to live with thee for ever. But this was far more eminently fulfilled in Christ, who asked of his Father life, or to be saved from death, (Heb. v. 7,) though with submission to his will: but his Father, though he saw it necessary to take away his temporal life, yet instantly gave him another, and that far more noble, instead of it, even the perfect possession of an everlasting and most glorious life, both in his soul and body, at his right hand. 5 Psa. xvi. 8. h1 Sam. xxxi. 3. Mal. iv. 1. k Psa. Ivi. 1, 2. Psalm xviii. 8; Isaiah xxvi. 11.-1 Kings xiii. 34; Job xviii. 16, 17, 19; Psalm xxxvii. 28; cix. 13; Isaiah xiv. 20. Hebrew, Verse 7. For the king trusteth in the Lord-Confides in him, who never fails to perform his promises; and through the mercy of the Most High, &c.— Through his kindness who is superior to all other beings, and has all events in his hands and under his control; he shall not be moved-The throne of David, and of his seed the Messiah, shall stand fast, though all the powers on earth should combine to overturn it. The throne of Christ, as man," says Dr. Horne, "was erected and established by his trust and confidence in the Father during his humiliation and passion. Faith in God, therefore, is the way that leadeth to honour and stability." Verse 5. His glory-His fame or renown, is great Verses 8, 9. Thy hand shall find out all thine in thy salvation By reason of those great and glo- || enemies-When they seek to hide themselves, or rious deliverances which thou hast wrought both flee away from thee, thy hand shall discover, overtake, for him and by him. Honour and majesty hast and destroy them. Thou shalt make them as a thou laid upon him-Or, fitted to him, or upon him, fiery oven-Hebrew, N mund in`wn, teshithemo or made adequate to him, as the word men, teshav-|| chetannur esh, thou shalt put them, as it were, into veh, signifies. Thou hast given him honour and an oven of fire. The Lord shall swallow them up power suitable to his glorious person and high en--Destroy them. Thus, Psa. ii. 9, Thou shalt bruise dowments. "What tongue," says Dr. Horne, "can them with a rod of iron, &c., which prediction, and express the glory, honour, and majesty,' with which those contained in these verses, particularly relate the King of righteousness and peace was invested to the unbelieving Jews. Compare Mal. iv. 1; Psa. upon his ascension, when he took possession of the ii. 2–4, and cix. 13–15. throne prepared for him, and received the homage of heaven and earth! The sacred imagery in St. John's Revelation sets them before our eyes in such a manner, that no one can read the description whose heart will not burn within him, through impatient desire to behold them." See Revelation, chapters iv., vii., xix., xxi., xxii. Verse 6. Thou hast made him blessed for ever For Verses 10, 11. Their fruit shalt thou destroyTheir children. God will take away both root and branch; the parents and all that wicked race. they intended evil against thee-That is, against God; not directly, but by consequence, because it was against David, whom God had anointed, or against the Messiah, of whom he was a type, and against the Lord's people, injuries done to whom, David, in his distress, B. C. 1060. B. C. 1060. A. M. 2944. 11 For they intended evil against || arrows upon thy strings against the A. M. 2944. thee they "imagined a mischievous face of them. device, which they are not able to perform. 12 Therefore 3 shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine 4 n Psa. ii. 1. 13 Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power. 3 God takes to be done to himself, Zech. ii. 8. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform-This clause seems to be added to teach us this great and necessary lesson, that men are justly punished by God for their wicked intentions, although they be hindered from the execution of them, contrary to what some Jewish doctors, and others, have taught. Vengeance came upon the Jews to the uttermost, because of their intended malice against Christ. They, like Joseph's brethren, thought evil against him, but they were not able to perform it, for God meant it unto good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive, Gen. 1. 20. So let all the designs of ungodly men against thy church, O Lord, through thy power of bringing good out of evil, turn to her advantage; and let all men be convinced that no weapon formed against thee can prosper." Verse 12. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back-That is, flee away at the first sight of thee. Or, thou shalt set them as a butt to shoot at, as the like phrase is used Job vii. 20, and xvi. 12. When thou shalt make ready thine arrows, &c., against the face of them-Or, against them, the word face being often redundant. The judgments of God are called his arrows, being sharp, swift, sure, and deadly. What a dreadful situation, to be set as a mark and butt, at which these arrows are directed! View Jerusalem compassed by the Roman armies without, and torn to pieces by the animosity of desperate and bloody factions within. No further commentary is requisite upon this verse. Tremble and repent, is the inference to be drawn by every Christian community under heaven, in which appear the symptoms of degeneracy and apostacy." -Horne. PSALM XXII. It is confessed, that David was a type of Christ, and that many Psalms, or passages in the Psalms, though properly and literally understood of David, yet had a further and mystical reference to Christ, in whom also they were accomplished. But there are some other Psalms, or passages in the Psalms, which, either by the sacred penman of them, or, at least, by the Holy Ghost inspiring him, were directly and immediately intended for, and are properly and literally understood of, the Messiah; though withal there may likewise be in them some respect and allusion to the state of the penman himself, who, as being a type of Christ, must, of course, in many things resemble Christ. And this seems evidently to be the case with this Psalm, which was understood of the Messiah by the Hebrew doctors themselves, as it was also by Christ and by his apostles. And there are many passages in it which were most literally accomplished in him, and cannot, in a tolerable sense, be understood of any other. And therefore it cannot reasonably be doubted that David, though he had some reference to his own condition in some parts of it, yet was carried out by the Spirit of prophecy beyond himself unto Christ, to whom alone it truly and fully agrees, and to whose sufferings and the glory that should follow, it bears a clear and striking testimony. David speaks here of the humiliation of Christ, 1–21. Of his exaltation, 22-31. To the chief Musician upon ' Aijeleth Shahar, A || far 2 from helping me, and from the A. M. 2944. Psalm of David. NOTES ON PSALM XXII. Title. Aijeleth Shahar-That is, the hind of the morning. It may seem strange to the reader, on the first view of the subject, that such a title as this should be given to this solemn and mournful Psalm. And he may think that the forty-second Psalm might much better have borne such a title, because, as the hart panleth after the water-brook, so panted the | words of my roaring? B. C. 1060. soul of the penman of it after God: but there may appear to him no propriety in giving such a name to a Psalm on the sufferings and glory of the Messiah. And yet there are passages in this Psalm which seem to justify the appellation. For instance, Many bulls have compassed me, &c., have beset me round ; they gaped upon me as a ravening, roaring lion: especially verse 16, Dogs have compassed me; the as The psalmist, in distress, PSALM XXII. seeks refuge in God. A. M. 2944. 3 But thou art holy, O thou that || they trusted in thee, and were not A. M. 2944. inhabitest the praises of Israel. B. C. 1060. 4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. e B. C. 1060. confounded. 5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: ple. Deut. x. 21. 23; Rom. ix. 33.-e Job xxv. 6; Isa. xli. 14.-f Isa. liii. 3. d Psa. xxv. 2, 3; xxxi. 1; lxxi. 1; Isa. xlix. sembly of the wicked have enclosed me; words which evidently allude to the eastern method of hunting, namely, by assembling great numbers of people, and enclosing the creatures they hunt; and as the psalmist, in the forty-second Psalm, rather chose to compare himself to a hart than a hind, the present much Verse 2. I cry in the day-time, &c.—I continue better answers this title; in which he speaks of the praying night and day without intermission; but hunted soul of the Messiah in the feminine gender, thou hearest not-St. Paul says, Heb. v. 7, that Christ verse 20, Deliver my soul from the sword, my dar- was heard in that he feared. Christ therefore here ling from the power of the dog. Thus any one who says that his Father heard him not, only to intimate reflects on the circumstances of David, at the time that he did not exempt him from suffering the death to which the fifty-sixth Psalm refers, and considers of the cross, for which the Father, who heard him the oriental taste, will not wonder to see that Psalm || always, had wise reasons, taken from the end for entitled, The silent dove afar off, or, in distant which his Son became incarnate, John xii. 27. And places. Fenwick, however, thinks that the title of am not silent—Hebrew, I have no silence, no rest, this Psalm should be rendered, The strength of the or quietness, as the word 1917, dumijah, here used, morning; and that it relates to Christ, as being the is sometimes rendered. bright and morning-star, or day-spring from on high, as he is called, Luke i. 78; to Him, the dew of whose birth is of the womb of the morning. The title, therefore, says he, leads us to observe and contemplate, in this Psalm, the depth of that love and condescension which made the Son of God humble himself in the way here described, and even to the death of the cross, though he be the bright morning-star, and day-spring from on high. See Delaney and Dodd. Verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?-In these words Christ, when hanging on the cross, complained, that he was deprived, for a time, of the loving presence and comforting influence of his heavenly Father: and St. Matthew and St. Mark give us the very expressions which he used, Eli, Eli; or, as St. Mark has it, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. It is perhaps worthy of notice here, that sabachthani is not a Hebrew word; the Hebrew word being 1, gnazablani; and from hence it appears most likely that our Saviour used that dialect which was most commonly understood by the Jews in his time; and which, it is probable, was a mixed dialect, composed of Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac. Agreeably to this supposition, it may be further observed, that Eloi, Eloi, as St. Mark expresses our Saviour's words, were more nearly Chaldee. Christ, it must be well observed, "was not ignorant of the reason why he was afflicted. He knew that all the rigours and pains which he endured on the cross were only because the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and God laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isa. liii. 5, 6. The words then imply, that he had done nothing to merit the evils which he suffered. This is the meaning of the question here, Why hast thou forsaken me? as also of that in Psa. ii. 1, Why do the heathen rage?" &c. The repetition of the words, my God, my God, denotes the depth of his distress, which made him cry Verse 3. But thou art holy—“But notwithstanding thou dost not answer me at present, I am persuaded that thou wilt do so, for thou art holy, good, and gracious" O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel-That dwellest in the place where the praises of Israel have always been offered for mercies granted unto them: or, who receivest and rightly possessest the praises of Israel; whom thy people are perpetually praising for one mercy or another; and therefore, I trust I also shall have occasion to praise thee. Verses 4, 5. Our fathers, &c.-That is, my fathers, according to the flesh, the Israelites; trusted in thee, and were delivered-Were not disappointed of that for which they prayed and hoped: but whenever they cried unto thee in their distress, thou didst send them deliverance, as by Gideon, Samson, Samuel, &c. To trust in God is the way to obtain deliverance, and "the former instances of the divine favour are so many arguments why we should hope for the same; but it may not always be vouchsafed when we expect it. The patriarchs, and Israelites of old, were often saved from their enemies: but the holy Jesus was left to languish and expire under the malice of his. God knows what is proper for him to do and for us to suffer; we know neither. This consideration is an anchor for the afflicted soul, sure and steadfast."—Horne. Verse 6. But I am a worm, and no man-Neglected and despised, as a mean reptile; a reproach of men, and despised of the people-Not only of the great men, but also of the common people. This does not so truly agree to David (who, though he was hated and persecuted by Saul and his courtiers, was honoured and beloved by the body of the people) as to Christ: see Isa. liii. 2, 3. "Christ may be said to have been a worm, with respect to the mean and poor condition in which he lived; but David continues A. M. 2944. PSALM XXII. 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. 91 But thou art he that took me out of the womb thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. 10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly. 11 Be not far from me: for trouble is near; for there is none to help. 8 Matt. xxvii. 30; Mark xv. 29; Luke xxiii. 35.—Heb. open. Job xvi. 4; Psa. cix. 25. Matt. xxvii. 43. Heb. He rolled himself on the LORD.- * Psa. xci. 14.- 6 Or, if he || delight in him. Psa. lxxi. 6.-7 Or, keptest me in safety. Isa. xlvi. 3; xlix. 1.- Heb. not a helper.- - Deut. xxxii. especially to that kind of death which he suffered; for he was stripped of his clothes, and fixed upon the cross, naked as a worm of the earth."-Dodd. See Phil. ii. 7; Matt. xxvii. 39-43. n his complaint. B. C. 1060. 12 Many bulls have compassed A. M. 2944. me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. to Joseph and Mary to carry him into Egypt, as we read Matt. ii. 20, 21. I was cast upon thee from the womb-Thou didst take me at my birth, and in a particular manner didst charge thyself with the care of me. Verses 11-13. Be not far from me-As to affection and succour; for trouble is near-At hand, and ready to swallow me up; for there is none to help Verse 7. All they that see me laugh me to scorn— Instead of pitying, or helping, they deride and insult over me: such is their inhumanity; they shoot out the lip-They gape with their mouths, and put forth their tongues in mockery; they shake the head-Thy help therefore will be the more seasonable, beAnother custom of scoffers. This and the next verse are applied to Christ, (Matt. xxvii. 39, 43,) in whom they were literally fulfilled when he hung upon the cross; and the priests and elders used the very words that had been put into their mouths by the spirit of prophecy so long before. "O the wisdom and knowledge of God," exclaims Dr. Horne, "and the infatuation and blindness of man! The same are too often the sentiments of those who live in times when the church and her righteous cause, with their advocates, are under the clouds of persecution, and seem to sink beneath the displeasure of the powers of the world. But such do not believe, or do not consider, that in the Christian economy death is followed by a resurrection, when it will appear that God forsaketh not them that are his, but they are preserved for ever." cause it is most necessary, and thou wilt have the more glory by it, because it will appear that it is thy work alone. Many bulls have compassed meWicked, violent, and potent enemies, for such are so called, Ezek. xxxix. 18; Amos iv. 1. Strong bulls of Bashan-Fat and lusty, as the cattle there bred were, and therefore fierce and furious. "By these," says Dr. Dodd, "are represented the haughty senators, the chief priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the other great men of Judea; who, after having resolved upon his death, Psalm ii. 2, were so insolent as to make their appearance about his cross, and to insult him with their mockeries." They gaped upon me with their mouths-To tear and devour me, as the following metaphor explains it. Verses 14, 15. I am poured out like water-My spirits are spent and gone like water, which, once Verses 9, 10. Thou art he, &c.-This seems to spilt, can never be recovered; my very flesh is melt refer to the miraculous conception of Christ, who ed within me, and I am become as weak as water. was the Son of God, in a sense in which no other My bones are out of joint-I am as unable to help man ever was, being formed, as to his human nature, myself, and as full of pain, as if all my bones were by the power of God, in the womb of a pure virgin. disjointed. My heart is like war-Melted through Therefore he said, at his entrance into the world, fear and overwhelming grief. My strength is dried Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body—I have, in a manner, no more moisture left in me, hast thou prepared me. Thou didst make me hope -Or, trust, that is, Thou didst give me sufficient ground for hope and trust, if I had been capable of it, because of thy wonderful and watchful care over me in that weak and helpless state; when I was upon my mother's breasts-When I was a sucking child. This was eminently true of Christ, whom God so miraculously preserved and provided for in his infancy, giving, in a supernatural way, an order || than is in a dry potsherd. My tongue cleareth, &c. -Through excessive thirst and drought. Thou hast brought me to death-By thy providence delivering me into the power of mine enemies, and by thy terrors in my soul. Verse 16. Dogs have compassed me-So he calls his enemies, or rather the enemies of Christ, for their insatiable greediness, and implacable fierceness against him. The idea seems to be taken from a A. M. 2944. sembly of the wicked have enclosed B. C. 1060. feet. me: "they pierced my hands and my 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. prays for deliverance. B. C. 1060. 22 I will declare thy name unto A. M. 2944. my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear 18 They part my garments among them, him, all ye the seed of Israel. and cast lots upon my vesture. 24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, 20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my 11 he heard. darling 12 from the power of the dog. "Matt. xxvii. 35; Mark xv. 24; Luke xxiii. 33; John xix. 23, 37; xx. 25. — Luke xxiii. 27, 35.—y Luke xxiii. 34; John xix. 23, 24. Verse 11; Psalm x. 1.- La Psalm xxxv. 17. "Heb. my only one. 12 Heb. from the hand.- b Verse 16. number of dogs encompassing a distressed deer, which they have hunted down, as is intimated in the remarks on the title. Hereby, Dr. Dodd thinks, are represented the Roman soldiers and the other Gentiles who were with the Jews around the cross. But without such a particular application, it may be intepreted generally of Christ's enemies, either consulting and conspiring against him, or assaulting him with violence. They pierced my hands and my feel-These words cannot, with any probability, be applied to David, nor to the attempts of his enemies upon him; for their design was, not to torment his hands or feet, but to take away his life. And if it be pretended that it is to be understood of him in a metaphorical sense, it must be considered that it is so uncouth and unusual a metaphor that those who are of this opinion cannot produce any example of such a one, either in the Scriptures or in other authors; nor are they able to make any tolerable sense of the words thus understood. But what need is there of such forced interpretations, when this clause was most properly and literally verified in Christ, whose hands and feet were really pierced, and nailed to the cross, according to the manner of the Roman crucifixions? to whom therefore it is applied in the New Testament. Verses 17-21. I may tell all my bones-Theodoret observes, that when Christ was extended, and his limbs distorted, on the cross, it might be easy for a spectator literally to tell all his bones. They Namely, my enemies; look and stare at me-With delight and complacency, at my calamities, and I am a spectacle to earth and heaven. They part my garments among them-This also cannot be applied to David, without a strained and unprecedented metaphor, but was literally fulfilled in Christ, Matt. xxvii. 35; John xix. 24. Deliver my soul from the sword-That is, from the rage and violence of mine enemies, as the next clause explains it, and, as the sword is often to be taken in Scripture. My darling-Hebrew, my one, or only one, namely, his soul, as he now said, which he so terms, because it was very dear to him, or because it was left alone, and i h 25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. c2 Tim. iv. 17.- d Isa. xxxiv. 7; Acts iv. 27.—e e Heb. ii. 12; Psa. xl. 9.-f John xx. 17; Rom. viii. 29. - Psa. cxxxv. 19, 20.- h Heb. v. 7. Psalm xxxv. 18; xl. 9, 10; cxi. 1. * Psa. lxvi. 13; cxvi. 14; Eccles. v. 4. destitute of friends and helpers. From the power of the dog-"The ravening fury of the dog," says Dr. Horne, "the lion, and the unicorn, or oryx, (a fierce and untameable creature of the stag kind,) is made use of to describe the rage of the devil, and his instruments, whether spiritual or corporeal. From all these Christ supplicates the Father for deliverance. How great need have we to supplicate for the same through him!" Verse 22. I will declare thy name-"Nothing is more common in the Psalms than these sudden transitions, and nothing more beautiful. Our Saviour here passes from the mournful view of death to the comfortable prospect of his resurrection. He intimates that, after God shall have delivered him from the power of death, by a glorious resurrection, he would more fully publish his gospel, by which the adorable perfections of God, and especially his wisdom and mercy, would be more eminently displayed among his apostles, and among the rest of his disciples and followers, whom he is not ashamed to call his brethren, Heb. ii. 11. The following verses can certainly be applied to David only in a very restrained sense, but are literally true of Christ and his triumphant reign; when in the latter days, all the people upon earth, even in the most remote corners of the world, shall worship and adore him.”—Dodd. Verses 23-25. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him-Not only for my sake, (they are the words of the risen and exalted Saviour,) but chiefly for your own benefit, received through my deliverance from death, and exaltation to God's right hand, by which I am made head over all things, for the good of my church and people. All ye seed of Jacob, &c.-He first addresses himself to his ancient people, to whom the gospel was first to be preached. How long, O Lord, holy and true, shall thy once highly favoured nation continue deaf to this gracious call of thine? For he hath not despised thee, &c.-He hath not rejected, but graciously accepted, my humiliation and sufferings, as a propitiation and sacrifice for the sins of the world, which acceptance is testified by my resurrection from the dead: inasmuch as the discharge |