Thanksgiving B. C. 1017. PSALM XXVIII. B. C. 1017. and praise. A. M. 2987. 4 Give them according to their 7 The LORD is i my strength, and A. M. 2987. deeds, and according to the wicked- my shield; my heart trusted in ness of their endeavours: give them after the him, and I am helped therefore my heart work of their hands; render to them their de- greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. sert. doers, to execution and destruction. Let me not die the death of the wicked. This seems best to suit with the following context, wherein he foretels that destruction to be coming upon his enemies which he deprecates for himself. Mischief is in their heart -They are hypocritical and perfidious persons: while I, through thy grace, am sincere and upright before thee. Seeing, then, I am unlike them in disposition and practice, let me not be made like them in their ruin. Verse 4. Give them according to their deeds, &c. -It is fit that they should suffer as they have acted, and reap the fruit of their manifold wickedness. Give them after the work of their hands, &c.-Dispense a reward to them according to their works, and deal with them as they have dealt with others. This verse would be better translated in the future; Thou wilt give, &c. For this prayer is evidently a prophecy, that God will, sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners according to their deserts: see the next verse, and note on Psa. v. 10. Verse 5. Because they regard not the works of the Lord-The providential works of God, both for and toward his church and people, by which works he manifests himself, declares his mind and will, and speaks to the children of men; and a serious observation of which would have made them afraid of opposing God's people, or of attempting to obstruct God's designs in their favour. It is justly observed by Henry here, that "a stupid regardlessness of the works of God is the cause of the sin of sinners, and so becomes the cause of their ruin." Why do men question the being and attributes of God, but because they do not duly regard the operations of his hands, which declare his glory, and in which the invisible things of him are clearly seen? Why do men forget him, and live without him; nay, affront him, and live in rebellion against him, but because they consider not the instances of that wrath of his which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men? Why do the enemies of God's people hate and persecute them, and devise mischief against them, but because they regard not ( 47 ) VOL. II. || the works God has wrought for his church, by which he has made it appear how dear it is to him? See Isa. v. 12. Verses 6, 7. Blessed be the Lord, &c.-How soon are the sorrows of the saints turned into joy, and their prayers into praises! It was in faith David prayed, verse 2, Hear the voice of my supplication, and by the same faith he now gives thanks that God had heard his voice-They that pray in faith may rejoice in hope. My heart trusteth in him, and I am helped -God had in part heard and answered him already; and, it seems, had assured him by his Spirit that he would more fully answer and grant his requests. Verse 8. The Lord is their strength-That is, the strength of his people, mentioned in the next verse. He is the saving strength-Heb. ¡wyn niyi, the strength of the preservations, deliverances, or salvations; of his anointed-Of me, whom he hath anointed to be king, and whom therefore he will defend. He signifies that it was by God's strength alone that his victories, deliverances, and preservations were wrought. Verse 9. Bless thine inheritance-Israel, for whom he prays, not as his people, but as God's. Save thy people, thine inheritance. God's interest in them lay nearer his heart than his own. Feed them also-As a shepherd does his flock, as Oy, regnem, signifies. Bless them with all things needful for life and for godliness. Or, rule them, as the margin renders it. Direct their counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good. Set pastors over them that shall feed and rule them with wisdom and understanding, Jer. iii. 15. And lift them up for ever-Raise them out of their low and afflicted condition, and advance them to a state of safety and honour, and that not for a season only, but with constancy and perpetuity. Lift them up to thy glorious and heavenly kingdom. There, and there only, will the saints be lifted up for ever, never more to sink or be depressed. Observe well, reader, only those whom God feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, guided, and governed by him, shall be saved, and blessed, and lifted up for ever 737 2 An exhortation PSALM XXIX. PSALM XXIX. to praise God. It is probable this Psalm was composed after some terrible storm of thunder, lightning, and rain; whereby God had discomfiled David's enemies, and put them into such disorder that he easily got the victory over them, 2 Sam. viii. Hence he takes occasion to admonish them, and the potentates of the earth, especially those that ruled in the neighbouring countries, to submit themselves, and give glory to that glorious Majesty from whom the thunder came; and who can, with the greatest ease, strike a sudden terror into the hearts of his stoutest and most resolute opposers. David calls on the great to give glory to God, 1, 2. Shows how he manifests his power in thunder and lightning, 3-9. Speaks of his dominion over the world, and care over the church, 10, 11. 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. NOTES ON PSALM XXIX. Verse 1, 2. Give unto the Lord, ye mightyHebrew, 17, benee celim, ye sons of the mighty, or of gods: ye potentates and rulers of the earth. To these he addresses his speech, 1st, Because they are very apt to forget and contemn God, and insolently to assume a kind of deity to themselves: and, 2d, Because their conviction and conversion were likely to have a great and powerful influence upon their people, and therefore it was much for the honour of God that they should acknowledge his divine majesty, and do homage to him. Give unto the Lord-By an humble and thankful acknowledgment; for in any other way we can give nothing to God; glory and strength-That is, the glory of his strength or power, which is the attribute set forth in this Psalm; or, his glorious strength. Give unto the Lord—It is repeated a third time, perhaps to intimate that great men are very backward to this duty, and are hardly persuaded to practise it; and, on account of its great consequence to the interest of the kingdom of God among men, that they should comply with it; the glory due to his name— That is, the honour which he deserves and claims, namely, to prefer him before all other gods, and to forsake all others, and to own him as the Almighty, and only true God. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness-In worshipping the Lord we ought to have an eye to his beauty; to adore him, not only as infinitely awful, and therefore to be feared above all beings, but as infinitely amiable, and therefore to be loved and delighted in above all; especially we must have an eye to the beauty of his holiness, which the angels particularly celebrate in their praises, Rev. iv. 8. Some, however, prefer rendering the words, the beauty of the sanctuary, kodesh, is often put for the sanctuary, or holy place, as wp, kodesh kodeshim, is for the holy of holies, or most holy. Thus the temple is termed, Isa. Ixiv. 11, God's holy and beautiful house. The chief beauty of the sanctuary was the b2 Chron. xx. 21.- Job xxxvii. 4, 5.C Or, great waters. Heb, in power. Heb. in majesty.- ―d Isa. ii. 13.- Psa. cxiv. 4. f Deut. iii. 9. exact agreement of the worship there performed with the divine appointment, the pattern shown in the mount. Now, in this holy place, says the psalmist, worship Jehovah; here, and only here, will he accept your prayers, praises, and oblations. So he exhorts them to turn proselytes to the Jewish religion; which was their duty and interest. Or he speaks of the manner of worship. We must be holy in all our religious performances, that is, devoted to God, and to his will and glory. There is a beauty in holiness, and it is that which puts an acceptable beauty upon all the acts of worship. Verse 3. The voice of the Lord-That is, thunder, frequently so called; is upon the waters-Upon the seas, where its noise spreads far and wide, and is very terrible; or rather above the clouds, which are sometimes called waters, as Gen. i. 7; Psa. xviii. 11, because they are of a watery substance, and frequently much water is contained in them. And this circumstance is noticed here as being of considerable importance to magnify the divine power, which displays itself in these superior regions, which are far above the reach of all earthly potentates, and from whence he can easily and unavoidably smite all that dwell upon the earth, and will not submit to him. The Lord is upon many waters--Upon the clouds, in which there are sometimes vast treasures of water, and upon which God is said to sit and ride, Psalm xviii. 10, 11, and civ. 3. Verses 4-6. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty-Is a very awful and evident proof of God's glorious majesty. Breaketh the cedars-By lightning, vulgarly called thunderbolts; which have torn asunder and destroyed trees and towers. The cedars of Lebanon-A place famous for strong and lofty cedars. He maketh them also-The cedars last mentioned; to skip like a calf-For, being broken by the lightning, the fragments of them are suddenly and violently hurled about hither and thither; Lebanon also, and Sirion-A high mountain beyond Jordan, joining to Lebanon: and these 9 in the church and world. A. M. 2987. 7 The voice of the LORD' divideth || temple doth every one speak of his A. M. 2987 the flames of fire. B. C. 1017. 8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 8 glory. B. C. 1017. 10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever. 11 9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds || people; to calve, and discovereth the forest: and in his peace. mountains may here be understood, either, 1st, Properly, and so they are said to skip and leap, both here and Psa. cxiv. 4, by a poetical hyberbole, very usual both in Scripture and other authors; or, 2d, Metonymically, being put for the trees or people of them, as the wilderness is to be understood, verse 8; and as the earth, by the same figure, is frequently put for the inhabitants of it; like a young unicornHebrew reem: see Num. xxiii. 22; Psa. xxii. 21. Verses 7, 8. Divideth the flames of fire-That is, casteth out many flashes of lightning. The Hebrew, 23, chatzeb, signifies hews, or cuts up, divides, or distributes. "So the thunder, or voice of the Lord, is said to send forth the lightning; which is, indeed, the precursor of the thunder; the cause, and not the effect of it. The thunder, however, or voice of the Lord, is here, with great beauty and propriety, considered as that which commands and distributes the lightning." Shaketh the wilderness-That is, either the trees, or rather, the beasts of the wilderness, by a metonymy, as before. Compare this with the next verse; the wilderness of Kadesh-Which he mentions as an eminent wilderness, vast and terrible, || and well known to the Israelites, Num. xx. 1, 16, wherein, possibly, they had seen some such effects of thunder as are here mentioned. Verse 9. Maketh the hinds to calve-Through the terror which it causeth, which hastens parturition in these and some other creatures. But he names hinds, because they usually bring forth their young with difficulty. See note on Job xxxix. 1. And discovereth the forests-Hebrew, jechesoph, maketh bare, &c., either of their trees, which it breaks and strips of their leaves; or of the beasts, which it forces to run into their dens. And, or but, in his temple doth every one speak, &c.-Having shown the terrible effects of God's power in other places, he now shows the blessed privilege of God's people, that are praising and glorifying God, and receiving the comfortable influences of his grace in his temple, when the world are trembling under the tokens of his displeasure. By this he secretly invites and persuades the Gentiles, for their own safety and comfort, to own the true God, and to worship him in his sanctuary, as he exhorted, verse 2. Or, therefore in his temple, that is, because of these, and such like discoveries of God's excellent 2 The LORD will give strength unto his the LORD will bless his people with majesty and power, his people fear, praise, and adore him in his temple. Verse 10. The Lord sitteth upon the flood-He moderates and rules the most abundant and violent effusions of waters which are sometimes poured from the clouds, and fall upon the earth, where they cause inundations which would do much mischief if God did not prevent it. And this may be mentioned as another reason why God's people praised and worshipped him in his temple; because, as he sendeth terrible tempests, thunders, lightnings, and floods, so he restrains and overrules them. But most interpreters refer this to Noah's flood, to which the word in, mabbul, here used, is elsewhere appropriated. And so the words may be rendered, The Lord sat upon the deluge; namely, in Noah's time, when, it is probable, those vehement and unceasing rains were accompanied with terrible thunders. Bishop Hare thus paraphrases the verse, "This is the same God who, in Noah's flood, sat as judge, and sent that destruction upon the earth." And so the psalmist, having spoken of the manifestation of God's power in storms and tempests in general, takes an occasion to go back to that ancient and most dreadful example of that kind, in which the divine power was most eminently seen. And, having mentioned that instance, he adds, that as God had showed himself to be the King and the Judge of the world at that time, so he doth still sit, and will sit as King for ever, sending such tempests as it pleases him to send. And therefore his people have great reason to worship and serve him. Verse 11. The Lord will give strength unto his people-To support and preserve them in the most dreadful storms and commotions, whether of the earth or its inhabitants; and, consequently, in all other dangers, and against all their enemies. He will strengthen and fortify them against every evil work, and furnish them for every good work: out of weakness they shall be made strong; nay, he will perfect strength in their weakness. He will bless his people with peace-Though now he sees fit to exercise them with some troubles. He will encourage them in his service, and give them to find by experience that the work of righteousness is peace, and that great peace have they that love his law, and walk according to it. 739 David praises God PSALM XXX. for his deliverance. PSALM XXX. This is a Psalm of thanksgiving for the great deliverances which God had wrought for David, composed and sung, no doubt, upon the occasion of his dedicating his house of cedar, mentioned 2 Sam. v. 11. It is penned with great strength and elegance of diction, and the sentiments of piety in it are truly noble and instructive. The manner in which he describes the interpositions of God in his favour, and the gratitude of his own heart, is warm, sententious, and affecting; the periods being short, and answering to the events which crowded fast upon one another, and the various affections that inspired him. He praises God for delivering him, and exhorts others to praise him, 1–5. Recollects his former security and his prayer when in trouble, 6-10. And stirs himself up to thankfulness, 11, 12. The Psalm is well suited to the occasion on which it was penned, for nothing could be more proper than the recollection of the past conduct of Providence amidst the various changes of condition which had attended him, the numerous and dangerous distresses that had befallen him, and the deliverances which God had seasonably wrought out for him; till at length he was brought to the height of prosperity, when he saw Jerusalem well fortified, and her numerous buildings rising up under his hand, and his own palace magnificently finished for the residence of himself and family. A Psalm and Song,' at the dedication of the house A. M. 2962. of David. I WILL extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast a lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me. e B. C. 1042. 3 O LORD, thou hast brought up my A. M. 2962. soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. 4 f Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his 2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and holiness. thou hast healed me. 1 Deut. xx. 5; 2 Samuel v. bPsa. xxv. 2; xxxv. 19, 24.— lxxxvi. 13. 11; vi. 20. Psalm xxviii. 9. 3 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; e Psa. xxviii. 1.- 1 Chron. xvi. 4; Psa. xcvii. 12.—Or, to the memorial. - Psa. ciii. 9; Isa. xxvi. 20; liv. 7, 8; 2 Cor. iv. 17.- -3 Heb. there is but a moment in his anger. former phrase, which was ambiguous. That I should not go down to the pit-That is, into the grave, which is often called the pit. NOTES ON PSALM XXX. Verses 2, 3. Thou hast healed me―That is, deTitle. At the dedication, &c.—Hebrew, л, livered me from the fears and troubles of my mind, shir-chanucath, a song of initiation of the house of (which are often compared to diseases,) and from David. The word signifies, the first use that is very dangerous distempers of my body. For the made of any thing. It was common among the original word is used, either of the healing of bodily Jews, when any person had finished a house and disorders, Psa. ciii. 3, or to denote the happy alteraentered into it, to celebrate the event with great re- tion of a person's affairs, either in public or private joicings, and keep a festival, to which his friends life, by the removal of any kind of distress, personal were invited. And these dedications were perform- or national, Psa. cvii. 20; Isa. xix. 22. Thou hast ed in a very solemn manner, with divers rites, brought up my soul from the grave-My deliverprayers, and praises to God, as the nature of the ance is a kind of resurrection from the grave, on business required. And it seems probable from the the very brink of which I was. Under Saul he was matter of this Psalm, compared with the title, that frequently in the most imminent danger of his life, David had about this time been delivered from some out of which God wonderfully brought him. Thou eminent distresses, and particularly from some dan-hast kept me alive-This he adds, to explain the gerous sickness, for which he here gives thanks to God, taking advantage of this public and solemn occasion. Verse 1. Thou hast lifted me up-Hebrew, , dillitani, evexisti me, Buxtorff. Dr. Waterland renders it, Thou hast drawn me up, namely, out of the deep pit, or waters, to which great dangers and afflictions are frequently compared. "The verb is used, in its original meaning, to denote the reciprocating motion of the buckets of a well; one descending as the other rises, and vice versa; and it is here applied with admirable propriety to point out the various reciprocations and changes of David's fortunes, as described in this Psalm, as to prosperity and adversity; and particularly that gracious reverse of his afflicted condition, which he now celebrates, God having raised him up to great honour and prosperity: for, having built his palace, he perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom, for his people Israel's sake, 2 Sam. v. 21."—Chandler. || Verse 4. Give thanks at the remembrance-Or, at the mention, of his holiness-When you call to mind, or when others celebrate, as I do this day, the holiness of God's nature; which he manifests by his works, by his mercy and truth, his care and kindness toward his holy ones. Of the holiness of God, or of the rectitude and sanctity of his nature, demonstrated by his faithfulness to his promises, David had the highest and most comfortable assurance, "God having, at last, brought him to the throne and settled him in the possession of it, notwithstanding he was often reduced to the greatest hazard of his life, and his advancement to the kingdom seemed, according to all human probability, almost impossible."-Chandler. Verse 5. His anger endureth for a moment, &c. Hebrew, 111, regang beap po, chaiim birzono, a moment in his anger; lives in his favour. The duration of his anger is but he had taken refuge in an inaccessible mountain, short; comparatively, but for a moment, but the ef- that he had made his prosperity firm, and no more fects of his favour substantial and durable. Com- subject to alteration than a mountain is liable to be monly the afflictions which he sends on his people removed out of its place. By thy favour thou hast are of short continuance; and last but a small part made my mountain to stand strong-Thou hast of their lives: but he heaps his favours upon them firmly settled me in my kingdom, which he calls for the greatest part of their present lives, and in his mountain, 1st, Because kingdoms are usually the next life which endures for ever; of which the called mountains in the prophetical writings, a Chaldee paraphrast expounds this passage. And, mountain, by its height, being a very natural repreindeed, without the consideration of eternal life, the sentation of a superior condition. 2d, With alludifference between the duration of the afflictions sion to mount Zion, the fortress of which he had and of the prosperous and comfortable condition of || lately taken, which was properly his mountain, as God's people, is neither so evident nor so consider- he had fixed upon it for his dwelling, and had there able as David here represents it. Weeping may en- built his royal palace. All this he regarded as the dure for a night-Hebrew, In the evening weeping effect of God's favour to him, and promised himself will lodge with us. Its stay will be short, like that that his peace and happiness, for the future, would of a guest who only lodges with us for a night: but be as undisturbed and unshaken as mount Zion itjoy cometh in the morning-p, laboker rin- self. Thou didst hide thy face-Displeased with nah, for the morning there is singing: joy comes my presumption, and the security I had fondly prospeedily, and in due season. Thus the Lord says to mised myself, thou didst withdraw thy favour, prohis church by his prophet, For a small moment have||tection, and help; and I was troubled-My dream I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather of uninterrupted tranquillity vanished; I was quickly thee: In a little wrath I hid myself from thee, for || brought into fresh troubles, difficulties, and dangers, a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I and saw the vanity of all my carnal confidences. Dr. have mercy on thee, Isa: liv. 7, 8. If weeping con- Chandler thinks he refers to the two invasions of the tinue for a night, and it be a wearisome night; yet, Philistines, which happened soon after they found as sure as the light of the morning returns, after the he had been anointed king over Israel, 2 Sam. v. 17. darkness of the night, so sure will joy and comfort But, perhaps, he speaks chiefly, if not only, of disreturn in a short time, and in due time, to the people tress of mind arising from a sense of God's withof God; for the covenant of grace is as firm as the drawing the light of his countenance, and showing covenant of the day. This word has often been exthat he was displeased with him. In this unexpectactly fulfilled to us: the grievance has soon vanish-ed distress he cried unto the Lord, and in his suped, and the grief has passed away. The tokens of his displeasure have been removed; he has lifted up the light of his countenance upon us, and the return of his favour has been as life from the dead. In this sense also, in his favour is life; it is the life, or lives of the soul, spiritual life here and eternal life hereafter. These poetical descriptions of the shortness of God's anger, and the permanent effects of his favour, are further illustrated in the following verses by the psalmist's own example. Verses 6, 7. In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved-I thought myself past all danger of further changes. The word, shalvi, rendered prosperity, denotes peace and tranquillity, arising from an affluent, prosperous condition. When God had settled him quietly on the throne, he thought his troubles were over, and that he should enjoy uninterrupted happiness; that God had placed him secure from all dangers, as though || plication expressed himself as in the following verses. Verse 9. What profit is there in my blood-In my violent, or immature death? What advantage will it be to thee, or thy cause and people, or to any of mankind? When I go down to the pit-When I die, and my body is laid in the grave; shall the dust praise thee?-The words, thus pointed, have a propriety and force which do not immediately appear in the common version. "The psalmist expostulates with God, that the suffering him to fall by the sword of the enemy," or to be cut off in any other way in the beginning of his reign," would be of no benefit to his people, nor to the cause of religion; as he would hereby be prevented from publicly celebrating the praises of God, and making those regulations in the solemnities of his worship, which he purposed to make, if God should spare his life and give him the victory."--Chandler and Dodd. |