Psalm 39
The.second Penitential Psalm.
1 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile,
3 Because I was silent, my bones grew old; whilst I cried out all the day long.
4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: [ am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened. —
5 I have acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord; and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin. ;
6 For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee, in a seasonable time. And yet ina flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him.
7 Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my joy, deliver me from them that surround me.
8 I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee.
9 Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.
10 Many are the seourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord,
_ 11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice ye just, and glory all ye right of heart,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 * Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
2 “ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”
No one can, fairly appreciate the value of health. until they have had to deplore the loss of it. It was only when David tasted of the bitterness of sin that he first began to feel the sweetness of innocence. Hence, this Penitential Psalm starts in the. praise of pardon and innocence ; for they heal the soul, and are opposed to that sickness that is brought on by sin. He begins with pardon, as well for the sake of advancing from the inferior to the superior, as also, because it was only very lately his health had been restored. “ Blessed are they whose imiquities: are forgiven.” How happy are they, who, notwithstanding their fall, are, still, mot despised by God ; but, roused by his grace, are converted to penance, and thus obtain pardon. “ And whose sins are covered;” the same idea in different language ; for sivs, when forgiven, are covered and hidden, so as to appear no more; on which we shall presently have more to say. “ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin.” A transition front pardon, which applies to the many, to innocence, which belongs to the few, exclaiming, O truly bappy and lucky he, who has done nothing that can be ~ counted sin; and to whom, therefore, the Lord, who is most just in his judgments, ‘hath not imputed stn.” And not only has been free from actual sin, but even “in whose spirit there is no guile;” never committed sin in thought or word; for the word “* spirit” embraces both ; thatis, thought and words, in the former sense, being called the heart or the mind ; and, in the latter sense, the spirit of the mouth or lips. Of the former, the apostle speaks, 1 Cor. ii, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man, that ts inhim?” Of the latter, 1 Cor. xiv., “ will pray in the spirit, I will pray also with the understanding : I will sing with the spirit, I will also sing with the understanding.” By innocence, we are to understand here, not the natural innocence, without the intervention of divine grace, whichis of no effect; but, that innocence which God, by a gift of singular grace, has given to a few; through which the sin committed by others, namely, original sin, is so condoned, as not to suffer them, voluntarily, to commit any mortal sin; and this is the highest order of forgiveness. All manner of innocence, then, has a certain amount of remission of sin, in connexion with it; and of all, with the exception of Christ, it may be said, ** They all sinned, and need the grace of God.” St. Paul, therefore, quotes this passage to prove that nobody could be justificd by any works, but those springing from grace; and says, Rom. iv., “ But to him that worketh not, yet belicveth in him wha justifieth the impious, his faith
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
ts reputed to justice, according to the purpose of the grace of God.” As David also termeth the blessedness of a man, to whom God reputeth justice without works; ‘ Blessed are they whose iniquities are JSorgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin.” From which it would appear that the Apostle understands the prophet to say, that they are not blessed who, by their own strength, work out justice; but they, who, through God’s grace, have been pardoned ; and thus acquired justice. The prophet seems to have particular individuals in view here. Job, for instance, who says, in chap. xxvii., ‘¢ Zul] I die I will not depart from my innocence. My justifications which I have begun to hold, I will not forsake : for my heart doth not reprehend mein all my life.” Abel, Henoch, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who are said in the Scriptures to have been free from sin, come under this head; and, perhaps, in spirit, he foresaw Jeremias.’ Both John the Baptist, sanctified'in the womb, and the Virgin Mother, by a higher privilege, preserved not only from actual, but even from original sin. Heretics of the present day seek to prove three false dogmas from these verses. The Psalm has the title of understanding ; the Holy Ghost, perhaps, having foreseen it would be so misunderstood. They assert that justification consists solely in the remission of sin, and not in the infusion of justice ; from David having absolutely said, “* Blessed are they whose sins are forgiven.” They say also, that this remission of sins is not a real, but an apparent remission, which does not actually remove the sing, but covers them, hides them, and renders them not imputable. They furthermore assert, from this passage, that once the sin is forgiven, no satisfaction need follow; for, if God exact even temporal punishment of the person justified, how can he be said not to impute sin? How can he be said not to impute while he punishes ?
The holy prophet, however, who chose for a title to the Psalm that of understanding, clearly understood that God remitted no sin whatever without an infusion of his justice, and understood that thereby men from being wicked became, not only not wicked, but truly just; for, as the sun cannot expel the darkness without pouring in his light, so the sun of justice, and the Father of Men does not forgive sin but through the grace or justice which he pours into them; and therefore St. Paul, quoting this very passage, says, ‘As David also termeth the blessedness of a man to whom God reputeth justice without works,” from which words of the Apostle may be clearly inferred, that justice is really and truly included in the remission or non-imputation of sin. Both errors are easily refuted by an explanation of the words, ‘‘ covered,” and ‘not imputed.” Sins are said here to be “‘covered,” not that they exist though covered and hidden from us, but because they are entirely destroyed, and grace has taken their place, and thus they are
truly covered, so that even God, from whom nothing ean be hidden, cannot see them; and thus the prophet uses various metaphors, to signify the remission of sins, so that the deficiency of explanation in one, may be supplied by another. The most remarkable occurs inPsalm1., where he says, “ Zhou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed : thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.” Ifere the forgiveness of sins is said not merely to cover the stain and to hide it, but really to wash it, and to wash it in such a way as even to make it white—even whiter than snow. What means, then, the removal of a stain, and the increasing its whiteness, but the removal of sin, and the infusion of grace? What means the substitution of light for darkness, but the removal of sin, and substitution of justice? We have the same in Isaias, chap. i., “ 7 your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and if they be as red as crimson, they shall be white as wool.” All the holy fathers so understand this passage, for they say the sins are covered, not that they remain, though they don’t appear; but that they are entirely removed, and do not appear, because they are not there; just as a plaster not only hides the wound, but even removes it. As to the word “ ¢mputed,” our adversaries are quite mistaken. In the Scripture, it means, that we will not be held accountable, as we read in Wisdom xii., “ Or who shall accuse thee, (impute to thee,) ifthe nations perish which thou hast made;” that is, who can bring you to an account, if all mankind be lost ? who wiil bring you in guilty? In Ezechiel, chap. xxxiii., God says of the penitent sinner, “ None of his sins which he had committed, shall be imputed to him,” that he shall not be brought to an account for them; and in 2 Paralip. xxx., “ The Lord, who is good, will shew mercy to all them who with their whole heart seek the Lord God of their fathers, and will not impute it to them that they are not sanctified ;” meaning that he will easily pardon, will not be over strict in settling with them, by reason of their being more or less unprepared, Job xlii. has “ That folly may not be imputed to you;” and in 2 Tim, iv., “ But all forsook me; may it not be laid to their charge;” that is, imputed to them; and in his Hpistle to Philemon, “ And tf he hath wronged thee in any thing, or is in thy debt, put it to my account, (impute it to me,) I will repay tt;” that is, charge me with it, I wish to be your debtor thereon. Now, sin can be said to be not imputed in two ways. First, when one has committed no sin, in reality owes nothing, and in such sense we understand that passage of the Book of Wisdom, already quoted, ‘ Who shall impute it to thee tf the nations perish which thou hast made.” For though all mankind were to perish, God would not have been the cause, and therefore it could not be imputed to him. In a similar sense we have exp'ained this expression of David, ‘ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin;” that is, who
has wilfully done no evil to make him a debtor and a culprit before God. Secondly, if the sin have been condoned and forgiven, so that there now remains nothing to be imputed, in which sense many interpret this passage, as if the prophet were to say, Blessed is the man whom God will not call to account for his sins, because they have been already condoned and forgiven; which exposition we do not reject, though we prefer the first, becanse it agrees better with the following words, “ And in whose spurit there is no guile.’ The third mode of imputation devised by the heretics is, that though the sin remains in the soul of the sinner, still it is not considered or looked upon as sin by God, a notion having nothing in Scripture to support it, but even totally disproved by the Scripture ; for when it says in various places, especially in Psalm v., “‘Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity, thou wilt destroy all that speak a le; and if he hears and wishes to destroy all the wicked, he certainly must impute sin to them, so long as they remain in that state. Who can imagine that God, the just judge, who has no regard of persons, will not impute sin but justice, at the very time the unfortunate is wallowing in the mire of siu ; so that whatever he may do, according to the Lutherans, is a sin. St. Justin, Martyr, in his dialogue with Tripto, in refuting an error, similar to that of the Lutherans, says, “ Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin;” that is, to the penitent, whose sins God hath forgiven; and not in the sense that you erroneously preach up, that is, that the meve knowledgeof God will get forgiveness fur you, however numerous your sins may be. What we have stated of the nonimputation of sin, may be applied also to the imputation of justice. Four, in the Scripture, the imputation of justice does not mean the reputing one to be just, when he really is not just, but it means the being reputed just by God, who is infallible. That expression in Genesis, “ Abraham believed in God, and it was reputed to him unto justice,” quoted by St. Paul, Rom, iv., aud St. James, chap. ii., signifies nothing more than the act of faith by Abraham was a just work, and considered as such by God. That passage in Psalm ey., *¢ Then Phinees stood up and pacified him, and the slaughter ceased. And it was reputed to him unto justice to generation and generation for evermore.” What does it mean, but that the zeal of Phinees, in destroying certain sinners, was a most meritorious act, was considered as such by God, so much so, that the priesthood was secured to him, to his sons, and posterity for a number of years after in consequence. Of the same import is that expression in Rom. iv., ‘Now, to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt.” What does that mean, but that the reward is justly due to him that does a work worthy of reward. And what the Apostle frequently repeats in the same chapter, that “faith was reputed unto justice,’ does not mean that faith
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
was not actually, but was merely reputed justice ; but it means, that faith working by charity was the very purest justice ; not acquired by works previous to grace, but the gift and the infusion of God, and therefore reputed and accepted by God as true justice. The non-imputation of sin, then, does not mean that sin remains though not punished, but it signifies that there is nothing in the justified that can be accounted sin. Hence it can be seen how easily solved are the objections of the Lutherans on satisfaction; for if sin be not imputed by reason of the innocence of one’s life, no wonder thatsno satisfaction should be required of him that has done nething to deserve it: but if the sin be not imputed by reason of pardon through grace, then the eternal punishment will not follow, but the temporal will, as we see happened David, towhom the prophet said, ‘* The Lord also hath taken away thy sin; thou shalt not die: nevertheless, because thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, for this thing, the child that is born to thee shall surely die.” Here we see that the sin was not imputed to his own death, but to the death of his on; that David was justified, and yet he had to suffer much in the death of his son, as a punishment for the sin he had committed.
3 ‘‘ Because I was silent, my bones grew old ; whilst I cried out all the day long.”
Having thus put the happiness of the just before us, he deplores his own wretchedness thus, Happy they, but wretched me, who have not only lost my innocence, but put off, for an indefinite time, the asking pardon of my sins, and when I did at length avow them, began to cry out so constantly, that my bones were ground and weakened, my whole strength consumed aud wasted. “ Because I was silent ;” and a long time he was silent; for he not ouly did not avow his crime of adultery, but he sought by all means to stifle all knowledge of it. He first used all endeavours to induce Urias to cohabit with his wife, that the child begot by himself may be looked upon as the child of Urias; failing in that, he committed murder, in the hope that. by marrying Urias’s widow at once, any issue there might be should be considered as begotten after, and not previous to, the death of Urias. And, even after his marriage, he did not repent of his sin, he waited for the birth of the child ; and even then shewed no symptoms of repentance until the prophet Nathan aroused him. Thus, for nearly a year, or longer, did he wallow in the mire of sin, and put off his conversion. He, therefore, says, ‘* Because I was silent.” Did not coufess my sin at once, sought to hide and conceal it; therefore, “ My bones grew old whilst I cried out all the day long.” When I did avow my sin, | cried out so long and so bitterly, that my very bones got weak and old.
4 “* For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: Lamturned in my anguish, whilst the thorn ts fastened.”
David suffered many misfortuaes in pusishment
COMMENTARY ON Tilk PSALMS.
of his sins. The child born in adultery died an infaut: his daughter Thamar was deflowered by her own brother, Amon: the same Amon was slain by his brother Absalom ; and Absalom himself, in rebellion against his father, was slain, all matters of deep sorrow and grief to David; and it is to those scourges he alludes, when he says, “ For day and night thy hand was heavy on me;” constantly, without ceasing, you laid on me. “ J am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened.” The scourge has been so severe, the thorn of tribulation has stuck so deep in me, that I bave been brought to reflect on the enormity of my sins.
5 “Ihave acknowledged my sin to thee, and my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord; and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.” .
His conversion brought him to a true knowledge of his sins, which he seeks no longer to conceal, but to proclaim before God and man. “‘ J have acknowledyed,” does not imply that God did not know them previously. ‘The judge, who has seen the accused committing the crime, knows he did the act, still he does not know it judicially until the culprit shall have pleaded guilty, or it shall have been proved by evidence. Thus, God saw David, saw him sinning, but wanting him to plead guilty, he applied the scourge, and then David did plead guilty, and said, not only, “I have sinned before the Lord,’ which, previous to those scourges, he said to Nathan in private; but now, in public. he makes it known to the whole world, throngh this Psalm; and, therefore, most justly adds, ‘* And my injustice I have not concealed. I said I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.” To the comfort and consolation of all penitents, he enters into the unspeakable dealings of God in his mercy with himself. For, though God, “ Who is light, and in whom there ts no darkness,” has the most intense horror of the darkness of sinners, and is ready to cast the sinner into “external darkness” and everlasting punishment if he do not repent, is yet so ready to forgive when the penitent is sincere, that by his mercy and his clemency, he goes before or anticipates the confession or acknowledgment of our sins. He appears to refer to the time when Nathan, with God’s authority, upbraided him with his sins, and he at once, in a spirit of compunction, replied, “ J have sinned ;” and Nathan said, “* Zhe Lord also hath taken away thy sin, thou shalt not die.” Seeing the pardon so quickly granted, he considered, as was the fact, that the sin must have been forgiven before he confessed at all, but not before he had become internally contrite, which contrition embraced hatred of sin, love of God, and a desire of confessing, and making satisfaction. ‘I said I will confess.” In the bitterness of my heart I said, I will at once confess * against myself my tinjustice;” declae myself a culprit and a
criminal, which you hardly waited for, as at once, with the clemency and the kindness of a father, “ Thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin;” as Nathan announced when he said, “ Zhe Lord also hath taken away thy sin.” -
6 ‘ For this shall every one that is holy pray to thee, in a seasonable time. And yet in a flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him.”
The prophet now asserts that many will follow his example, and from it learn to have recourse to God, to ask pard n for their sins, and thus to be delivered from the great evils consequent on sin. The meaning is, As you so mercifully pardon those who do penance, “every one that is holy,” every pious person that is truly holy, traly penitent, and, having hegun to hate sin, seeks to enter into the love of yeu, ‘ shall pray to thee,” and will bave confidence in their prayers, and that ‘im a seasonadble time,” before the time of mercy shall have passed away; while we are here below, while God invites us to penance. “ Seek the Lord while he can be found; invoke him whale he ts near,” says Isaias. The second pert of the verse has a double meaning; one is, Every one that is holy shall pray to thee in a seasonable time, that “in the flood of many waters, they shall not come nigh unto him;” that is, that on the day of judgment, when all manner of punishments shall pour down upon the wicked like a deluge, and the opportune season of prayer and penance shall have ; assed, that ‘hen they may be saved from such punishments, This appears very clear in the Hebrew. The second meaning is, “ Hvery one that ts holy shall pray to thee in a seasonable time,” and will act well and wisely in doing so; because, ‘in the flood of many waters,” when the wicked shall be inundated with calamities, as the earth was with water in the time of Noe, then the wicked ‘ shall not come nigh unto him;” that is, to God, having let their opportunity pass.
7 “ Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me: my joy, deliver me from them that surround me.”
Having obtained remission of the sin, he now asks for remission of the punishment cue to it; namely, his deliverance from the tribula'ion brought on him by the sin. He seems to allude to the persecution he was suffering from his son Absalom, of which he had said so much in the previous Psalm. He alludes also, perhaps, to the temptations of the evil spirits, that perpetually surround and harass us. “ Thou art my refuge from the trouble which hath encompassed me.” My friends have deserted me, my enemies hem me in and surround me on all sides, and I, therefore, have no certain refuge but in thy mercy, O God ; you alone, then, are “ my joy,” tae cause of it, and deliver me, therefore, from them.
8 ‘TI will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way, in which thou shalt go: I will fix my eyes upon thee.”
The Lord answers his prayer, and promises him the help he sought. He promises him three things. First, interior prudence, to enable him to guard against the snares of his enemies, and to distinguish them from his friends; that is conveyed in the words, “TI will give thee understanding ;” I will make thee intelligent and prudent. Secondly, the outward assistance of the singular providence of God, without which even the most prudent get into the greatest difficulties, and that is conveyed in the words, * [ will instruct thee in this way in which thou shalt go.’ Thirdly, perseverance in grace, which is the greatest favour of all, and peculiarly belongs to the elect. “ L will fiz my eyes upon thee;” I will not take them off you, but I will steadily and constantly look upon you with an eye of benignity, so that you shall never need the internal aid of prudence, or the external protection of providence.
9 ** Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.”
The prophet now exhorts all, both good and bad, to learn from his example the evils consequent on sin, and the blessings to be derived from penance and virtue, he having tasted of both. Turning to the wicked first, he says, ‘‘ Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding.” Endowed with reason, be not guided by your animal propensities ; be not like the horse and the mule in your licentious desires, as I was; be not like the horse and the mule, in tearing and lashing at your fellow-creatures, as I have been in regard of Urias. “With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee.” He foretells the calamities in store for those who will act the part of the horse and the mule towards their neighbour. They will be forced by tribulations either to return to God, or will be prevented from injuring their neighbours to the extent they intended ; but, as usnal, this prophetic warning is expressed as if it were an imprecation. You will force those wicked men to obey you, as you would subdue.a horse or a mule, witha bit and bridle, and make them obedient to you. The words bit and bridle are used in a metaphorical sense, to signify the crosses and trials that God has sometimes recourseto, as he explains inthe following verse.
10 “* Many are the scourges of the sinner, but mercy shall encompass hum that hopeth in the Lord.”
An explanation of the bit and bridle. The impenitent sinner, still attached to sin, will be flayed with many a lash, both in this world and in the next. For, though sinners sometimes prosper, their sinful state is, in reality, a most grievous punishment, bringing with it punishments ianumerable, solicitudes, anxieties, fears, dangers, remorse of conscience, and the like ; nay, more; God, being a just judge, adds many other scourges; and, unless the sinner repent, and pray to God in the fitting season, he will undoubtedly come under the lash of the scourge
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
that is everlasting. On the other hand, the just man, who confides in the Lord, and not in human vanity, is so surrounded on all sides by the divine mercy, that the scourge cannot touch him on any side. Now, the divine mercy is the fountain of all good, and, therefore, when he says, “ Mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord,” he means to give us some idea of the immense amount of blessings that those who attach themselves to God alone shall abundantly enjoy.
11 “ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice ye just, and glory all ye right of heart.” :
Having pronounced the just to be happy, m the beginning of the Psalm, he now in the end of it exhorts them to be glad, being a sort of indirect ex~- hortation to persevere in justice, that their joy may be continuous also. “ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and glory all ye right of heart.” You just have great reason for rejoicing and gladness ; but let it be “in the Lord,” who is the source of all the blessings you enjoy. Be not dejected by the losses or the rubs of this world, because in the world to come you will be amply repaid for them, in “a good measure, and pressed down, and shaken together, and running over ;” while, in the meantime, you will not be left without spiritual consolation here below. ‘And glory all ye right of heart,” is a repetition of the same, for ‘‘ glory” does not mean to be proud or puffed up, but to celebrate and sing God’s glory with joy; and the word is very generally used in the Scripture in such sense, as when the Apostle says, “ We glory in tribulations.” The word glory, meaning pride and vanity, is to be found in Psalm li., where he says, “ Why do you glory in wickedness 2” Here it has quite a different meaning, that of joy and gladness. By the “rzght of heart,” we understand the just; because, from righteousness of heart comes righteousness in word and in deed; and they are the just, whose hearts, words, and actions are conformable to that most righteous rule, the law of God, from which righteousness it comes that God becomes pleasing to man, and man to God; and whatever happens man, through God’s will or permission, is cheerfully received ; and thus the heart becomes filled, not only with justice, but even “ with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,’ which means the kingdom of God, as St. Paul, Rom. xiy., explains it. With the greatest justice, then, David, having commenced with the expression, ‘‘ Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,’ now concludes with, ‘ be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just;’ for the just alone are happy, and are in possession of true and solid joy.
PSALM XXXII.
An exhortation to praise God, and to trust in him.
1 Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright.
_ 2 Give praise to the Lord on the harp; sing to him with the psaltery,-the instrument of ten strings.
3 Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.
4 For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done with faithfulness.
- He loveth mercy and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.
6 By the word of the Lord, the heavens were established: and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth:
7 Gathering together the waters of the sea, as in a vessel; laying up the depths in store-houses:
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be im awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and they were made: he commanded, and they were created.
10 The Lord bringeth to nought the counsels of nations; and he rejecteth the devices of people, and casteth away the counsels of princes, —
11 But the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever: the thoughts of his heart to all generations,
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance.
13 The Lord hath looked from heaven: he hath beheld all the sons of men.
14 From his habitation which he hath prepared, he hath looked upon all that dwell on the earth. .
15 He who hath made the hearts of every ene of them: who understandeth all their works. ;
16 The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength.
17 Vain is the horse for safety: neither shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength.
18 Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him: and on them that hope in his mercy.
19 To deliver their souls from death: and feed them in famine.
20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord; for he is our helper and protector.
21 For in him our heart shall rejoice: and in his holy name we have trusted.
22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in thee.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1“ Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just: praise becometh the upright.”
The rejoicing askéd for here, includes the praising of God in joy; that is, praise him in rejoicing, not against your will, or in a sad or negligent manner, but with great affection, rejoicing and exulting in your hearts; and praise him not only internally but externally ; because, “prazse becometh the upright;” in other words, I specially invite you, ye just, to praise God, because it is the special duty of the just, who are called here the upright, as naturally they are; and with whom God, as being all righteousness, is always pleased. God is never pleased with the crooked or distorted ; because his judgments and his actions are always straight and direct, and by no means square with the crookedness of the wicked ; and hence, instead of freely praising God, they rather offend and blaspheme him.
2 ‘* Give praise to the Lord on the. harp; sing to him with the psaltery, the instrument of ten strings.”
He again exhorts the just to give God his tribute of praise, not only with their Yoice, but also with the musical instruments then used by the Jews; in which there is a mystical meaning, that we should praise God, not only by our words, but by our conduct; and, especially by the strict observance of the decalogue, signified by the instrument of ten strings ; “* That men, seeing our good works, may glorify our father who is in heaven.” Matt. vi.
3 ‘Sing to him a new canticle, sing well unto him with a loud noise.”
By way of epilogue he joins the substance of the two preceding verses in this one. He had said that we should praise him with our voice, and sing to him with our instruments, and reminded us that we should do everything accurately and carefully. “ Sing to him a new canticle;” that is a repetition of “rejoice in the Lord, O ye just;’ and we are ordered to sing to him, notin one of the old chants, but in “a@ new canticle;’ composed expressly for the occasion. ‘Sing well unto him with a loud noise,” is a repetition of “ Give praise to the Lord on the harp;” and he orders it to be done, not in the ordinary way, not carelessly, or coldly, but with great music and effect, to. shew the importance of the occasion; thus, the word, loud voice, does not refer to the human voice, but to the noise of the instrument. The holy fathers justly direct our attention to the difference between the old and the new chant of praise. The old canticle was the one sung bythe old man, “who born of the flesh, is flesh,” has a taste for things of the world, and is delighted with them; he praises God when fortune smiles on him; but the new man, who, renewed in the spirit of his mind, longs after the things of the other world, and takes pleasure in those things alone that apper-
tain to heaven; he, too, praises God, praises him always, eveu in his persecutions, knowing as he does that they tend to his good. We are also warned by the words, “Sing well to him with a loud voice,” that when we do sing to him,-we must do it with great care, attentively, devoutly, and with great affection, and interior joy. St. Benedict, in his Rule, lays down that Psalmody is a divine work, and should be preferred to any other work. St. Bernard has :—“ My dearly beloved, I advise you to assist at the Divine Offi:e, with a pure intention and an active mind; I say active, because I wish you to be active, as well as reverent ; neither lazy, nor drowsy, nor nodding ; not sparing your voice, or clipping the words, not skipping sentences, nor in a weak and tremulous voice, full of sloth and effeminacy, but in an open and manly tone, vigorous, as well as affectionate, give out the language of the Holy Spirit.
4 * For the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are done with faithfulness.”
He now assigns the reasons why God should be praised with so much affection, taken from his goodness, his power, and his wisdom, Of his goodness he says, “ For the word of the Lord ts light ;” that is, both words and acts of the Lord are most just, most faithful, and most holy, as he expresses in different language, in Psalm extliv., ‘ Zhe Lord is Saithful in all his words; and holy in all his works.” By the “ word of the Lord,” is meant what he commands, prohibits, promises, or threatens; and all these are most “right and done with faithfulness.” For, he commands nothing but what is good, prohibits nothing but what is bad; and, whatever he promises or threatens, he will most faithfully carry out. Therefore, “‘ The word of the Lord ts right,’ and he is “ /uthful in all his words.” And his acts agree with his words; aud, therefore, are said to be done in fai hfulness ; that is, they are faithful, just, and holy; and God is said to be holy in all his works.
5 “* He loveth mercy and judgment ; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.”
The sanctity of the Lord in respect of words and actions, arises from his sanetity of will or of purpose, for “ He loveth mercy and judgment; that means, he wishes first to give us the gifts of his grace, and then, according to the use we have made of them, to reward, or to punish us; and thus, all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth. In the first purt of this verse we are informed of the goodness of God, arising from his mercy and justice; in the second, we are told that his merey exceeds his justice, and is, as we have it in Psalm cxviii., “above all his works,” for to his mercy belongs the removal of every defect and misery ; and, as there are no created things that do not suffer some defect, there is nothing that does not need the mercy of God. Corruptible things of this world, however, suffer more and greater defects thau the incorruptible things, that do not belong to
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
this world; so that, when compared to them, they seem to have no defects ; therefore, the prophet says, ““ The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord; for by the earth he means, all corrup ible things, for the earth is the dwe'ling-place, not only of all mankind, all animals and plants, but also of birds and fishes ; for though the former fly through the air, and the latter ‘ perambulate the paths of the sea,” yet, both one and the other, rest on the earth. Now all corruptib'e things need the manifold mercy of God, to create, uphold, move, nourish, and repair them; but man, in addition, needs his mercy to go before him, to accompany him, to follow him, to forgive his sins, to arm, direct, and protect him, against the devil; and, therefore, he most justly says, “ Lhe earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” We are to consider here also, that the perfect mercy that can remove all defects, belongs to God alone, for no one, haying any defect whatever, can remove those of others, and thus, God is a pure, everlasting, all-powerful, impersonation of infinite perfection ; with justice, then, doth the Church sing, “ O God, whose province it is to have mercy.”
6 ‘ By the word of the Lord, the heavens were established: and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth.”
From praising his goodness, he comes now to praise his power, the principal and most conspicuous effect of which is the creation of heaven; the magnitude of which is increased by the reflection of its having been made by God without labour, in no time, without men or maciinery, by his single word, and for ever, He evidently alludes to the creation of the world, in Genesis i., where “ God said: Let the firmament be, and the firmament was made, and - he called the firmament heaven.” The second part of the verse, ‘* and all the power of them by the spirit of his mouth,” would seem to be a mere repetition of the first part. For “ the word,” and “ the spirit of his mouth,” seem to be much the same, By ‘ The power of them,” is meant the stars, which, like a heavenly host, or celestial army, ornament the heavens to a wonderful degree, and shed their influence on things below. And though, by the “ Word of the Lord,” and ‘the spirit of his mouth,” God’s orders are clearly understood, such is the meaning of both; there is no doubt but the Holy Ghost meant to glance at the mystery of the Holy Trinity to be revealed in the New Testament. We are not to notice the objection, that the prophet attributes the creation of heaven to the Word, and the creation of the stars to the Holy Ghost, as if God the Father made the heavens through the Son, and the stars through the Holy Ghost; because the acts of the Trinity cannot be separated. by reason of the unity of essence, which is the working power ; and, therefore, when God the Father is said to have made the heavens through the Son, the Holy Ghost is not excluded ; and when the power, or the celestial host, is
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
said to have proceeded from the spirit of the mouth of the Lord, they are understood also to bave proceeded from the Word, who proceeded from the mouth of the same Father, and from which Word the Spirit himself proceeded,
7 “ Gathering together the waters of the sea, as in a vessel ; laying up the depths in store-houses.”
He goes on explaining God’s power, who not only created the heavens and the stars by one word, but collected all the waters that, at the creation, covered the whole globe, and shut them up in the deepest caverns and recesses of the earth; just as easy as one would fill a vessel with water, or shut up his money in a chest. “ Laying up the depths in store- houses.” Shutting up the immense depths of waters that were on the earth and reached to the very heavens, with as much ease as one would shut up a sum of money in a safe. That the “ depths” mean the mass of water that covered the earth is clear from Genesis i., where it is said, ‘‘ Darkness was over the depths.” By “treasures” is sometimes meant an abundance of gold, silver, or precious stones, as, “* The kingdom of heaven ts like a treasure hidden in a field.” Sometimes it means the place in which such things are kept, as, “ Hvery learned Scribe produces from his treasure the new and the old; and we read of the Magi, that “ They opened their treasures, and offered unto him gold, frankincense, and myrrh,” in which latter sense the word “‘ treasure” is to be understood here,
8 “ Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be in awe of him.”
From what he has said of God’s power, he takes the occasion of exhorting all men to fear him, and have a horror of breaking his commandments.
9 “ For he spoke, and they were made : he commanded, and they were created.”
The very best reason that could be offered for fearing God alone; because anything but God cannot harm us without God’s permission ; and, on the other hand, there is nothing outside God that can defend us from his anger; because all things depend upon him for existence. God made every thing by one word ; for this reason, that his word is all-powerful, full of authority, and cannot be resisted ; and he, therefore, adds, ‘He commanded, and they were created.”
10 “* The Lord bringeth to nought the counsels of nations ; and he rejecteth the devices of people, and casteth away the counsels of princes.” ,
The prophet now comes to wisdom, to shew that God deserves our praise in every respect. “ He brings to nought the counsels of nations.” The wisdom of God is so far beyond and above the wisdom of mankind that God, in one moment, blasts, blights, renders null and void all the plans and plots of men, however wisely and deliberately they may seem to have been laid. He repeats that in the words, ‘ He rejecteth the devices of people;” he rejects all their
devices as if they were so many fvols, and deals in like manner with their princes, whose counsels, however wise they may seem to be, and framed by counsellors abounding in wisdom and learning, are still “cast away” as of no value or importance. Truly wonderful is the wisdom of God, that catches the wise in their own cunning, and by some inexplicable dealing, so infatuates them, that what they judge will be of the highest importance and value to them, turns out to be the readiest road to their injury and destruction.
11 “ But the counsel of the Lord standeth for ever: the thoughts of his heart to all generations.”
By an inscrutable wisdom, God mars the counsels of man, and does not allow them to accomplish what they purpose. Whereas, on the contrary, the wisdom of man is quite powerless against that of God ; for, once he has decreed anything it is fixed to eternity. “* Every counsel of mine will stand, and every will of mine shall be done, saith the Lord,” Isaias xliii. Now, by ‘‘ counsel,” as regards God, we are not to understand a consultation previous to election, for God has not to think a matter over, but, by one most simple act of his will, he decreed from eternity all he should ever do or carry out. The Scripture merely accommodates itself to our weakness and our usual manner of speaking, when it says, ‘* The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever ;” that means, that what God in his wisdom has once decreed, cannot be disturbed nor be prevented being put into executiin. He repeats that, when he says, “ Zhe thoughts of his heart to all generations; that means, that whatever God once thought of doing can never be prevented, but will certainly be carried out, and in tle way he intended, The Scripture, however, does not go so far in accommodating itself to our weakness as to exclude truth altogether, for, though there is no counsel with God previous to election, there is in his counsel what is most perfect, that is, the knowledge of all the means necessary to accomplish the most useful end ; aud though there may be in God one only, and that a most simple thought, that one, however, is equivalent to numberless ones.
12 ‘* Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance.”
From what he had said of the power, wisdom, and goodness of God, the prophet concludes that blessed must the people be, whose God is not an empty idol, but ero most powerful, most wise, and most benevolent, on whose praises he had just been descanting ; and then are we truly and perfectly happy, and blessed, when we have that great Lord for our God, and he has us for his peculiar people ; the prophet then unites both when he says, ‘* Blessed as the nation whose God is the Lord;” that is, blessed are they who acknowledge no God but the one Lord, ‘by whose word the heavens were established ;” and in like manner, ‘blessed are the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance ;” that means, blessed are
they whom the same great Lord hath chosen to be his own peculiar people, and as it were his own property and inheritance. These two things are so united that they cannot be separated, for they alone have the true God for their God, Cae worship him through faith, hope, and charity ; and they only, whom he has chosen for bis inheritance, whom he has pre-ordained by his grace, called, and justified, and who worshiphim through faith, hope, and charity, are his people: a thing we should never lose sight of, for, whatever man may have, even though he may gain the entire world, he is still poor and wretched if he want God, who alone can fill up the bosom of his soul; and, on the other hand, he who possesses God, however poor he may be, is still happy and rich, because, with God he.has every thing. Besides, man is God’s image ; now, the beauty and great perfection of an image is to be like the original as possible; and then we will be really like to God, and therefore most happy, ‘‘ when we shall see him as he is,” John ili. ; for God’s happiness consists in seeing himself as-he,is; and thus, those who will never see him will be always most unlike him, and, therefore, truly miserable. Finally, anything beneath God is either meaner than man, as all corporal things, or equal to man, as the Angels are, for in the resurrection we will be equal to them. Now, nothing can make us more perfect, blessed, or happy, but something better and more perfect than ourselves; they, then, alone who cling to God, who become one spirit with ‘him, are the only really hapeys s thati is, they who love God, and are loved by him; who are happy here in hope, and are, in point of fact, happy when they cling to God by so happy, a tie that can never be br oken.
13 ‘$ The Lord:hath looked from heaven : he hath beheld all the. sons of men.
14 “ From his habitation which he hath prepared, he hath looked upon all that’ dwell on the earth.”
He proves what he said, namely, that, blessed is that people that have for their God the ‘Lord, who made the heavens ; because” when God, looking down from heaven, as he would from an observatory, and seeing man, and knowing that no man, howeyer brave or powertul he may appear to be, could be saved by his own merits; he looks upon his own people with the eye of a father, helps him and saves him, so that the just were deservedly called upon in the beginning of the Psalm to ‘* Rejoice in the Lord, O ye just.” He, therefore, says, “ Zhe Lord hath looked
down from heaven; he hath beheld all the sons of
men;” that means, the Lord in heaven, from whom nothing can be concealed, sees not only his own people, but all mankind, and their various eapabilities. The following verse has the same meaning.
15 “He who hath made the hearts of every one of them: who understandeth all their works,”
He tells us now, that when God saw the * sons of men? from heaven, it was not in the dim, confused,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
and uncertain way that we see objects placed at a great distance, but that he saw most distinctly and minutely all their actions; that is, what they were doing, or might do, in, thind or body ; ; and thus, he saw all the thoughts, desires, words, acts, past, present, and future, of all men in general, and of each in particular; and he proves God’s power to see them thus, because “he made the heart of every one of them;” that is, he created their souls, and, therefore, their hearts ; that is, their minds and will, from which all human actions spring; for be that could make the heart, could certainly search it, “ Of every one of them;” that is, of every one of them separately, and, therefore, he ought to understand all their works.
16“ The king is not saved by a great army: nor shall the giant be saved by his own great strength.”
He explains what the all-seeing eye really saw, and that was, that no one, by his own merits or exertions, could be delivered.from the evils that surround us on all sides;. and that we all need the mercy of God. He gives as an instance, that of the ove most likely to boast of and confide in his own strength, the king. God saw that.‘‘the king is not saved by a great army; great powei, a great army, a great deal of money will not save or protect the king. ‘Nor shall.the giant be saved by his own great strength ; ” his own strength will be as unserviceable to the strong, brave man, as is the great army to the king.
17 “ Vain is the horse for safety : neither shall .he be saved by the abundance of his strength.”
There are three things to rescue one from imminent danger; the strength of others, such as guards of soldiers; one’s own strength ; a swift horse ; the two former to meet the danger, the latter to fly. from it. The psalmist had already said that the two former were insufficient, he says now that the third is equally so; and we have sspunee of all in the Book of Kings. An immense military force was— unable to protect Saul ; Goliath, the great giant, was slain by,the youth. David ; Joram, the son ‘of Achab, flying away in a swift chariot, was killed by a swifter arrow. “ Vaints the hor se for safety.” The man who depends on the velocity of his horses is greatly deceived ; because such velocity may be impeded or overcome ‘in a variety of ways, and is, therefore, very deceitful. ‘‘ Nezther shall he be saved by the abundance of his strength.” The horse, whose power is principally in his swiftness, will not save himself and his rider by means of it.
18 ‘‘ Behold, the eyes of the Lord are on them that fear him: and.on them that hope in his mercy,
19 “ To deliver their souls from death : and | feed them in famine.”
The conclusion of the argument, whereby the prophet undertook to prove the happiness of. the nation who bad God for their Lord. For God sees all men, aud sees what little they can do of themselyes, |
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
withont his assistance. He has, however, peculiar regard to the just, to help them, to deliver them from the danger of death, and to find fair support for them in this world. ‘* Behold, the eyes of the ‘Lord are on them that fear him.” The truly just and the friends of God are beautifully described, as those who fear him and trust in bim. For fear, without hope, is servile fear ; hope, without fear, is presumption. Fear, combined with hope, is the mark of real love; that is, the generous love whereby God is loved, as a friend, a father, a spouse; such love, while it greatly fears doing anything that may possibly offend the beloved, still securely hopes and trusts that the mercy of the beloved will never be wanting. ‘ To deliver their souls from death, and feed them in famine.” God’s reason for regarding with the eye of a father those who so fear lim, while they trust in him, is to confer those two blessings on them, viz., to free them from the fear of death, and to support them while they live. As the just are afraid to offend God, he delivers them from the fear of being offended, that is, of their lives being endangered, which is a great blessing. To those who trust in his mercy, he shews perpetual mercy, ‘* while he feeds them in famine;” and those two blessings can be understood of our corporal and temporal salvation, as well as of our spiritual and everlasting happiness. * He delivers their souls from death.” Our corporal salvation is looked after, since God, by a singular providence, delivers us from the various dangers of death, we could never escape of ourselves, or through any human agency, And after thus delivering us, he provides us with all the necessaries of life, especially in time of famine, when so many others are iu extremes. In a spiritual sense, he “ delivers their souls from death,” when he either prevents their falling into sin, which is a spiritual death, or, if they have sinned, brings them back by wholesome penance to grace, which is the spiritual life of the soul; and thus, in both ways, he delivers their souls from everlasting death, And those who are living to God, by means of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, “he feeds in famine;” while, in this desert, ‘a desert barren and without water,” on our journey to the land of promise, he feeds us with manna raining from heayen, and with water bursting from the rock; that is, while he supports and refreshes us by his heavenly consolations, he feeds, without satiating ; he cools, without quenching, our thirst; because the one and the other are reserved for the day when the glory of the Lord shall appear, when “ we shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.”
20 '* Our soul waiteth for the Lord: for he ts our helper and protector.”
Hitherto he had addressed the just, the servants of God, exhorting them to “ gwult in the Lord,” and
to praise God as a most indulgent and most merciful father. He now gives the reply of the just, who say, “ Our soulwaiteth for the Lord.” The just understand what the Holy Spirit wants when he invites them to exult and praise ; that he wants them to do so, that they may thereby be encouraged to persevere in justice; to cling to God Almighty, not to turn from him through any amount of persecution ; and, finally, to praise God more through their actions than with their lips ; and they reply that, marked as they have been by so many of God’s signal favours, they will most steadily remain in his fear and his love. “ Our soul (say they) waiteth for the Lord.” Whatever may happen, it will not separate us from the love of God, nor will we look for any other to console us; but will patiently expect consolation from heaven, knowing it has been written, Habac. ii., “ Zf ut make any delay, wait for it: for wt shall surely come, and tt shall not be slack.” The soul is said to wait, by a Hebraism, by which the soul is used for the entire man, especially in spiritual matters. Thus, in Isaias xxvi., “ Thy name and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul. My soul hath desired thee an the night;” and, Samuel iii., * Zhe Lord is good to them that hope in him, to the soul that seeketh him;” and the most Blessed Virgin says, ‘* AZy soul doth magnify the Lord.” The just herein assign a reason for their having determined to wait for the Lord so long; because they know, from experience, that he always helped them in their prosperity, and protected them most faithfully and effectually in their adversity.
21 “* For in him our heart shall rejoice: and in his holy name we have trusted.
The just having responded to the first desire of the Holy Spirit, they now respond to the second, viz., that they should “ rejoice in the Lord,” as has been explained in the first verse of the Psalm. They say they will do so most willingly. “ In him our heart shall rejoice ;” having hoped in the Lord, they have been assisted and protected by him, and, therefore, having learned from experience, how good and how powerful he is, they “ rejozce in him,” and * trustin his name.”
22 ‘ Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped wn thee.”
The Psalm, as is frequently the case, concludes with a prayer, one quite apposite to the last verses, and to the entire Psalm, because it having been repeated that God has mercy on those that confide in him, and the just assert they did confide in him, and by reason of continuous danger, always need continuous mercy, they therefore conclude by, “ Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us;” let it not cease, but continue; nay, even let new mercies be poured upon us, “ as we have hoped in thee,” as your gooduess led us to expect, and we promised to ourselves,
PSALM XXXIII.
An exhortation to the praise and service of God.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.
2 In the Lord shall my soul be praised ; let the meek hear.and rejoice.
3 O magnify the Lord with me; and let us extol his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all my troubles.
5 Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded.
6 This poor man cried; and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The Angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him, and shall deliver them.
8 O taste, and see that the Lord is sweet: blessed is the man that hopeth in him. «
9 Fear the Lord, all ye his saints: for there
is no want to them that fear him.
10 The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good.
11 Come, children, hearken to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man that desireth life; who loveth to see good days?
13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips fram speaking guile.
14 Turn away from evil, and do good: seek after peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto their prayers.
16 But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things; to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth,
17 The just cried; and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of all their troubles.
18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.
20 The Lord keepeth all their bones: not one of them shall be broken.
21 The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.
22 The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants; and none of them that trust in him
shall offend,
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “* F will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.”
This is called an alphabetical Psalm, by reason of the first verse beginning with the first letter of the alphabet, the s: coud, with the second letter, and se ou—done, possibly, that it may be easier conmmitted to memory, and be often chanted by the faithful. He commences by returning thanks with great affection. I will never forget God’s daily kinduess, I will rather * bless him at all times,” as long as I live, and he repeats it, saying, ‘* his praise shall be always in my mouth.” The word always does not mean every moment, every day, every night, as if one had nothing else to do; but it means that he will do so in the preper time and place, to the end of his life ; nay, more, as those Psalms will be sung to the end of time, David will thus, through others, “ bless the Lord at all times.” This passage may be taken also. in a spiritual sense, inasmuch as the just always praise God, when they are in the receipt of his favours as well as when they are aftlicted by his trials, as Job did, when he said, “ The Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
2 ‘* In the Lord shall my soul be praised ; let the meek hear and rejoice.”
I will not be alone in blessing God for his kindness to me at all times, but others too will bless him ; for, whosoever shall hear of it will praise me for having: bafiled that wicked king ; and will, at the same time, praise and bless God, who enabled me by such cleverness to save myself from him. ‘“* Zn the Lord shall my soul be praised; 1 will be praised by all who shall hear of it; but “2 the Lord,” for he, who by his signal providence, inspired me with the true counsels, and helped me to carry them out, so as to pro-= duce the desired effect, deserves the principal praise. The Hebrew implies, that the soul, that is, the entire person, is to be praised by itself; and the meaning then is, I will glory to a great extent for this fact, not in myself, but in the Lord, through whose protection and assistance I have escaped the danger. We learn from this passage that it is not always a sin to glory, or to speak in terms of praise of our own actions, and that it is then only sinful when we praise what deserves no praise, or when we do not acknowledge God to be the primary source of all good. ** But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord; for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but he whom God commendeth.” The next sentence, “ Let the meck hear and rejoice,” implies, that the announcement of such joy is specially made to those to whom such dangers are familiar; such as the patient and - the meek, such as are often oppressed by those in power, and find a most willing helper in God. “ Leg the meek,” the humble, the servants of God, like me,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
hear what happened me, “ and rejotce,” bless God for it,
3“ O magnify the Lord with me ; and let us extol his name together.”
He directs his discourse to the meek he had just told to hear and to rejoice, and he exhorts them not only to praise God individually, but to join and unite with him in praising God. ‘* O magnify the Lord with me.” Let us acknowledge the Lord, who alone is truly great to be really so, and he who alone is supreme, let us with our voices proclaim to be supreme, ‘‘ and extol his name; speak loudly of his knowledge and fame, of his power and majesty. God is much pleased that the faithful, not only in private, but also in public prayer in our churches, should praise and glorify him, ‘ that with one mouth you may unanimously glorify God,” Rom. xv.
4 “T sought the Lord, and he heard me ; and he delivered me from all my troubles.”
He now assigns a reason for wishing to bless Gud at all times, and that is, because he found him the best and most powerful of liberators, “ J sought the Lord” when I was grievously harassed ; I fled to the Lord,implored his assistance, approached him with confidence, *‘ and he heard me” with his usual kindness and mercy ; and the consequence was, that “ he delivered me from all my troubles.” Szaul, the king, with his own hand, and through his satellites, sought to kill me, but through God’s protection I escaped ; in the hurry of my flight I could bring neither arms nor provisions with me, yet the mercy of God at once raised up Achimelech the priest, to supply me with both; soon after, by my own imprudence, I fell into the hands of Achis, king of the Philisiines, but through the inspiration, help, and protection of the same God, by wonderful and unheard-of stratagems, I escaped the danger. Thus God, my most kind Lord and leving Father, “ has delivered me from all the troubles” that have hitherto befallen me.
5 ** Come ye to him and be enlightened: and your faces shall not be confounded.”
He now commences a most beautiful and effective exhortation to love and fear God, and to east all our solicitude on him. ** Come ye to him,” or as it is in the Hebrew, “look on him.” Behold, the light of consolation and gladness, when you remove the cloud of sadness that was darkening you up ; for light signifies gladness, according to Psalm xevi., “ Light is risen to the just, and joy to the right of heart.” The passage may also be explained in a higher and a mystical sense ; ‘come ye to him,” through conversion, ‘and be enlightened,” by the grace of justification; for divine enlightenment confers spiritual life ; hence, the apostle, Ephes. v,, says, “‘ Rise thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten thee;” and Christ himself says, “ LHe that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life;” and in Psalm xxxv., “ For with thee ts the fountain of life; and in thy light we
shall see light ;” where life and light are used synonymously. Besides, Baptism was formerly called, ‘* illumination ;” because, through it, men dead in sin, were regenerated, and from the darkness of sin, come to the light of life; ‘come,’ therefore, ‘ to him,” by conversion and penance, and he will be converted to you; and by the brightness of his countenance, that imparts so much vitality, coming as it does, from the increate Son and source of life, le will ‘* enlighten” and vivify you. ‘ And your faces shall not be confounded ;’ come with confidence, fear no repulse, he will hear you, receive you, and will not cause theslightest blush on yourcountenance. The face is said to be ‘* confounded,” when the petitioner is refused, and goes away with a blush, Thus, Bethsabee said to king Solomon, ‘* Z desire one small petition of thee, do not put me to confuston.”
6 ‘* This poor man cried ; and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
He proves the necessity of having recourse to God when in trouble, by his own example. Zhis poor man,” himself, in so destitute a state, that he had to beg some food of a priest, “cried,” in faith and
’ confidence ; knocked by ardent prayer at the gate of
divine mercy, and ‘‘ the Lord” at once * heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
7 “* The Angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him, and shall deliver them.”
He already proved by example, he now proves by reason, that we should approach God m all confidence; because the. Angel of the Lord, to whom [Psalm xe.] he has given the just in charge, the moment he sees the soul in danger, is at once on tlie spot, aud, as if with an encampment, so surrounds and protects it, that it can suffer no harm, Wonderful power of the Angels! One of them, equal to an army, whence it follows that those who fear God and have such a guard in waiting on them, should feel the greatest internal peace and security,
8 “ O taste and see that the Lord is sweet; blessed is the man that hopeth in him.”
He goes on with his exhortation. Having said, “ Come ye to him,” and having proved by his own experience, as well as by reason, that we should come to him in time of trouble, he now exhorts us to make a trial, and to prove by experience, that the factis so. ‘* O taste and see that the Lord is sweet.” Try it, look at it, judge for yourselves, and see; begin to reject all other consolations, and put all your trust in God alone; and “ see,” that is, know, learn, ** that the Lord is sweet” to those that depend on him. And, in fact, what sweeter can be imagined than a soul full of love, with a good conscience, a pure heart, aud a candid faith, reposing in the bosom of the Supreme Good. Truly “‘ blessed ts the man that hopeth in him;” that is, in peace with God, and, in a certain hope, reposes in him. We stated that in the expression, “ Come to him, and be enlightened,” another meaning may be found, referring
to those who are enlightened by justificaticn ; and, in like manner, the expression, “ O taste and see,” may be taken as referring to those who are more advanced ; who, after being spiritually regenerated, begin: to grow, and to require nourishment ; aceording to 1 St. Peter, ii, ‘As new born infants desire the rational milk, without guile; that thereby you may grow unto salvation. If yet you have tasted that the Lord is sweet,” where St. Peter quotes this passage of the Psalm in the same sense that we have explained it. Even St. Paul, Heb. vi., identifies enlightening with tasting, “ Mor ¢t ts impossible for those, who were once enlightened, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.”
9 ‘+ Fear-the Lord, all ye his. saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.”
After exhorting them to try how sweet is the Lord, he now encourages them to fear him, that is, to observe his commandments; or, which amounts to the same,, to persevere in the justice and love of God, that being the foundation of the confidence by which we approach to God, and taste of the sweetness of his benefits. This verse is most properly connected with the preceding, even in the more elevated sense, because, as it is by approaching we begin, and by tasting we advance, so it is by fear we are made perfect, not by servile fear, but by the pure and filial fear that is the characteristic of the saints and of the perfect. “ Hear the Lord all ye his saints,” for that fear supposes perfect love, for the perfect lover fears vehemently lest he may offend his beloved in any way ; and he, therefore, most diligently conforms himself to the will of God, and®observes his word in every thing; and he that thus keeps his word, “ in this is the perfect love of God,” as 1 St. Jchn ii. has it, Speaking of this fear, Job xxviii, says, ‘* Behold, the Sear of the Lord is wisdom itself,” Hecli. i, ‘ The Sulness of wisdom is to fear God,” and chap. xxiii., “ There ts nothing better than the fear of God;’ and Isaias ii., speaking of Christ, says, ‘* The spirit of the fear of the Lord will fill him,” and finally, Ecclesiastes, in the last chapter, says, “‘ Year God and keep his commandments, for this ts all man,” asif he said: The whole perfection of man, and all the good he may have in life consists. in this, through fear of God to observe all his commandments, and the following words, “ for there 1s no want to them that fear him,” convey the same in the higher meaning, for the essence of perfection is to feel no want. And, what want can the friend of God, who owns every thing, feel, when the property of friends is common ; and if the just appearsometimes to be in want, they really are not so, because they get patience, better than any riches, to bear it; nor can they be said to want riches, who do not desire or covet them, for the soul, and not the money-box, ought to abound in riches, Still the same prophet, or rather the same Holy Spirit, who by his words instructs the learned by the very
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
same words, but understood in an humbler sense, ins structs the ignorant also, and exhorts them to fear God, ‘for there is no want to them that fear God;” that is, that God will supply his servants. with the temporal things of the world, and will not desert them.in time of necessity. And we have, both in the Scriptures, and in the lives of the saints, numberless examples of the wonderful providence of God in supplying his servants with the necessaries of life.
10 “ The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good,”
He proves the. preceding by instituting a comparison between the wicked with those that fear tie Lord. The latter will not. only feel no want, but the former will, however rich they may have previously been, and by the repeated scourges of God will be reduced to extreme poverty. “ The rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger ;” that is, those whe had been rich began to hunger and to need, because riches are fallacious and uncertain, and exposed to. many and various dangers; ‘‘but they that scek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good;” they
- who put their hope, not in riches, but in God, as
those do who fear God, they, however poor they may be, ‘shall not be deprived of any good;” that is, shall want no good. ‘These words have a higher meaning. also, namely, that those who are attached to the temporalities of this world always hunger and need,. for they are always covetous and desirous of having moie; but ‘they that seek the Lord,” as they seek a thing of infinite value, a thing greater than their desires, for, according to St. John, * God is greater than: our heart,” they ‘‘ shall not be deprived of any good,” because, as they cling to the Supreme Good, they possess all that is good.
11 ‘* Come, children, hearken to me : Iwill teach you the fear of the Lord.”
The prophet having exhorted all to fear God, shews now the advantage of this fear, and in what it consists. ‘¢ Come to me,” to the school of the Holy Spirit, the best school you can frequent ; ‘‘ hearken to mé,” or rather to the Spirit of the Lord speaking through me, for so David himself says, in 2 Kings xxiii, “ Lhe Spirit of the Lord hath spoken by me, and his word by my tongue,” and when you do, * 7 will teach you to fear the Lord;” that is, in what it consists, and how useful is the fear of the Lord, to, which I have so often and so earnestly invited you, as being the essence and the acmé of all good and of all perfection.
12 ‘* Who is the man that desireth life : who loveth to, see good days 2”
He now explains the advantages and the end of the fear of the Lord, for it brings us long life and *‘ good days,” that is, that life of bliss of which the just have a foretaste in this world, while they have in their hearts the “kingdom of God, which. is justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ;” and will have
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
complete possession of it in the world to come, “ when death shall be absorbed in victory.” “Who is the man that desireth life?’ I promised to teach you the fear of the Lord, and I now fulfil my promise, and f tell you, that the end of the fear of the Lord is, what all covet, but few secure, that is, a true and a happy life. Now, those who wish to secure it must adopt the means I am going to point out; they, then, who say they wish for a happy life, and will not take the road that leads to it, they seem to be anything but serious in what they say, when they pursue the shadow and the image, instead of the reality. I therefore ask, who is he that really and truly wishes for true life, that truly loves to sce good days, happy, blessed days ?
13“ Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.
14 ** Turn away from evil, and do good: seek after peace, and pursue it.”
The holy prophet now teaches how the fear of the Lord leads men to life, “‘ and to see good days,” and lays down that the perfect observance of the commandments of God, or, in other words, the abstaining from all sins, of thought, word, or deed, is the true path to life, according to the words of our Saviour, “Lf thou wilt enter into life, keep the command - ments ;” now, such observance of the law, and such abandonment of sin, springs from the fear of the Lord, and, therefore, it is the fear of the Lord that, through the observance of his law, makes us come to true life and ‘ good days.” “Keep thy tongue from evi.” Beware of offending God through your tongue, by lies, by perjury, by detraction, by opprobrious language, &c. He commences with the tongue, because the sins committed by it are of more frequent occurrence, and guarded against with more difficulty, for which reason St. James says, chap. iii., “* Ifa man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.” “* And thy lips from speaking guile.” Having prohibited in general all manver of sing of the tongue, he makes special mention of the sin of lying, as being much more grievous itself, aud productive of various other sins. ‘ Zurn away from evil.” From sins of word, he passes to sins of deed, and first admonishes us to avoid sins of commission, such as murder, adultery, &c.; and then he adds, “‘ and do good;” to beware of sins of omission, such as neglecting to honour our parents; giving due worship to God at the proper time; neglect of prayer, alms, fasting, &c., and similar good works. ‘‘ Seek afler peace, and pursue tt.” He finally warns us to avoid sins of thought, such as anger, hatred, envy, and other minor affections of the soul; that thus we may have and retain true peace and tranquillity in every thing we are concerned with. With great propriety, the prophet says, “‘ seek after peace;” because the duty ofa good man is not so much to be actually at peace with all, as to wish for it, and to be anxious for it; because, very often, others will not suffer us to be at peace
with them; and, therefore, the apostle, Rom. xii., says, “ [fit be possible, as much as isin you, have peace with all men;” and David himself, in Psalm exix., says, ‘ With them that hated peace I was peaceable ;” which peace we are unable to maintain, not only with others, but even with ourselves; for we cannot maintain perfect peace whilst we are in this vale of misery. Hence the apostle says, Rom. vil., *-But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind.” However, though perfect peace with ourselves is impossible, we must seek for it, we must try to acquire it, by subduing the members, by fasts; by subjecting the flesh to tie gpirit, that it may learn not to rebel at all, or, at least, to rebel less than it does against the sway of the mind. Finally, we must, with all the powers of our soul, seek for the peace that awaits us in the heavenly Jerusalem ; fer they who long as they ought for that peace, readily despise all temporal good and evil; and thus, even in this world, possess that peace with God, the one thing prineipally established by filial fear.
15 “ The eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and his ears unto ther prayers.”
He proves the assertion he made, viz., that they who avoid sin, and observe the commandments -of God, have ‘‘ life and good days;” and the reason is, hecause God constavtly regards the just, and always hears their prayers ; and how can they avoid having * good days,” who spend their lives under an allpowerful guardian? or if the just have any intimation of evils impending on them, and they cry to God, they find his ears open and attentive to them ; if they do not know or expect the said evils, God watches for them, and saves them from many dangers themselves neither saw nor understood ; for it is for such purpose “ the eyes of the Lord are upon the just,” to guard them from the evils not reach by their own eyes. Wonderful goodness of Goa! Who should not be delighted at loving so good a God with his whole heart, and fearing him with the affection of a child ? Who, on reflecting on‘these things, would not exclaim with the prophet, ‘“Prerce thou my flesh with thy fear ?” and, in another Psalm, lxxxv., “ Let my heart rejoice, that it may fear thy name.” But the just are not always heard by God—yes, they are heard; and if God does not do for them what they ask, it is becau-e it would not be expedient for themselves to have it done. He is like the physician, who hears the request of the patient praying to escape the bitter dose, and still does not hear him, in order that he may cure him.
16 ‘+ But the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil things ; to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.”
By contrasting God’s dealings with the wicked, the prophet greatly enhances his dealings with the just; for, “as the eyes of the Lord are upon the just,” to protect them, so he watches over “those
that do evil things;” that is, over the wicked, not to protect them, but “‘to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth;” that is, that they may be utterly rnived and perish, and, not only themselves, but their children and all their posterity, until their memory be completely abolished. This does not always happen, either because the wicked themselves repent before the day of vengeance, or because their children and posterity do not follow their example, or because God’s vengeance is stayed by some other wise and sufficient reason; and the psalmist states here only what generally takes place, and which is laid down in the very beginning of the Decalogue, “I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the miquity of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.”
17 ‘ The just cried ; and the Lord heard them, and delivered them out of all their troubles.”
He proves the assertion, that ‘the eyes of the Lord are upon the just,” by the examples of the fathers in sacred history, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Josue, Gideon, and others; and, perhaps, in spirit, foresaw and proclaimed the delivery of Daniel from the den of the lions; of the three children from the fiery furnace; of Susanna, condemned to death through false witnesses. Perhaps, too, he had before him the example of the Machabees, who did not escape death and torments ; as well as the apostles and wartyrs, and Christ himself, who most unjustly suffered the most grievous torments at the hands of their enemies and persecutors. For they, in the truest sense, are delivered from all tribulation, who, as the Church celebrates them, “by a brief and holy death, possess a happy life.” They can most truly be said to have been leard when they cried, because they got what was £0 much superior to delivery from a temporal calamity. He gave them the precious gift of patience, and in reward of such patience a crown of eyverlasting glory.
18 “ The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart: and he will save the humble of spirit.”
He explains how God delivers the just from tribulation, and seems to enlarge on what he briefly threw out in Psalm xe., ‘*Z am with him in tribulation; I will deliver him, and I will glorify him;” that is, through patience I am with him in this life. “I will deliver him,” by the sleep of death; ‘‘ and glorify him,” by a glorious resurrection. So he now says: * The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart;” that is, God never deserts the just when they are afflicted and troubled in heart by in juries and persecutions, but is always at hand, ministering patience, mingling with it his heavenly consolations, to enable them to bear up against their trials, which will not be of long duration, for, presently, he will “save the humble of spirit;’ those identical humble and afflicted in heart and spirit, and rescue them from all their troubles.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
19 ‘+ Many are the afflictions of the just; but out of them all will the Lord deliver them.”
This verse properly belongs to the last part of the preceding verse: ‘‘ He will save the humble of spirit.” He will save them, however numerous their troubles may be, and will save them from all their troubles. For ‘“ God will wipe away all tears from their eyes.” Here we are reminded that the faithful in this life are not promised an exemption from want, disease, ignominy, persecution, calumny, oppression, but are only promised spiritual consolation here, and full and perfect delivery hereafter.
20 “ The Lord keepeth all their bones : not one of them shall be broken.”
This seems to apply to the glory of their resurrection, to which, undoubtedly, the expression of our Saviour, ‘A hair from your head shall not be lost,” also applies. For that cannot be called broken, which, at once, becomes stronger and more beautiful than it was before it was broken. And, therefore, though the bones and all the members of the just may be scattered, or devoured by wild beasts, or cast into the sea, or consumed in the fire, God, however, preserves them all in the bosom of his providence ; not one of them will be lost, but will all be renewed entire and glorified, at the resurrection.
21 *‘ The death of the wicked is very evil: and they that hate the just shall be guilty.”
For fear the wicked may suppose their pain and torments would be ended by death, as the atheists, or those who disbelieve the providence of God or the immortality of the soul, falsely persuade themselves of, the prophet adds, “* The death of the wicked is very evil,” because it is the beginning of eternal torments; just as ‘ the death of the saints is precious,” because it is the beginning of eternal rest and glory. * And they that hate the just shall be guilty;” that means, they who harass and hate the just, who persecute them, who look upon themselves as having accomplished a good work, and as conquerors, when they depress, despoil, and destroy the just, in the long run, ‘they shall be quilty;” that is, will stray from the paths of true happiness, and will speak in the language of Wisdom v., ‘‘ Therefore we have erred from the way of truth; and the light of justice hath not shined unto us; and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways: but the way of the Lord we have not known. What hath pride profited us; or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow.”
22 ‘+ The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants ; and none of them that trust in him shall offend.”
The Psalm concludes by predicting a lot to the just very different from that predicted for the wicked, “ The Lord will redeem” from all slavery, consequently from all evil, “ the souls of his servants,” so soon as he shall have brought them out of the prison
ef the body, and thus the death of the just will be the best, as Balaam rightly said, “‘ May my soul die the death of the just, and may my last moments be like unto their's,’ Num. xxiii. “ And none of them that trust in him shall offend,” will not miss their aim, fail in their course, but will arrive at the goal of eternal happiness ; ‘‘ all those” who confide not in their own strength, but in God.
We have here to remark, that hope of any sort, no more than faith of any sort, or faith that is dead, will not suffice to obtain eternal life; but here it is said, that hope will procure eternal life, because he supposes it to be the hope of the just, of those who fear and love God, which the Apostle Peter calls “‘ lively (or living) hope.” Such hope and confidence as springs from patience, good works, and the testimony of a good censcience, according to St. Paul, Rom. v., ‘‘ Patience worketh trial, and trial hope;” and again, 1 Timothy iii., “ For they that have ministered well, shall purchase to themselves a good degree, and much confidence in the faith which is in Christ Jesus ;” and again, 1 John iii., “ If our heart do not reprehend us we have confidence towards God.” This living and perfect hope brings us at once to what we want, to everlasting glory, so that we ultimately got possession of the o\ject of our hope,
PSALM XXXIV.
David, in the person of Christ, prayeth against has persecutors ; prophetically foreshewing the punishments that shall fall upon them.”
1 Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me:
2 Take hold of arms and shield; and rise up to help me.
3 Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul; I am thy salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and ashamed that seek after my soul. Let them be turned back, and be confounded that devise evil against me.
5 Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the Angel of the Lord straiten them.
6 Let their way become dark and slippery; and let the Angel of the Lord pursue them.
7 For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction: without cause they have upbraided my soul.
8 Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him: and let the net which he hath hidden catch him: and into that very snare let him fall.
9 But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord; and shall be delighted in his salvation. _
10 All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? Who deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he; the needy and the poor from them that strip him.
11 Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.
12 They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.
13 But as for me when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with hair-cloth. I humbled my soul with fasting: and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.
14 As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one mourning and sorrowful, so was I humbled.
15 But they rejoiced against me, and came together: scourges were gathered together upon me, and I knew not.
16 They were separated, and repented not: they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn: they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue thou my soul from their malice; my only one from the lions:
18 I will give thanks to thee in a great church; I will praise thee in a strong people.
19 Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes.
20 For they spoke indeed peaceably to me: and speaking in the anger of the earth they devised guile.
21 And they opened their mouth wide against me; they said: Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it.
22 Thou hast seen, O Lord, be not thou silent: O Lord, depart not from me.
23 Arise, and be attentive to my judgment; to my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy justice; and let them not rejoice over me.
- 25 Let them not say in their hearts: It is well, it is well, to our mind: neither let them say: We have swallowed them up,
26 Let them blush, and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils, Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things against me,
27 Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice; and let them
say always: The Lord be magnified, who delight in the peace of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall meditate thy justice, thy praise all the day long.
COMMENTARY
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against me :”
A petition for help against persecutors in general. To understand this verse properly we should understand Hebrew, from which it clearly appears that the verse means; ‘‘ Judge them that judge me.” By a just judgment condemn them that unjustly condemned me, such as the chiefs of the Jews, Annas and Caiaphas, and the chiefs of the gentiles, Pilate and Herod, who judged Christ most unjustly ; and many kings and princes who, by most unjust judgments, condemned so many holy martyrs. And because the enemies of Christ and of his Church. would have it appear that in their persecutions they were influenced only by a desire of upholding the law, and of acting agreeably to it; while they were, at the very time, acting as professed enemies, instead of impartial judges; and, with an assumption of piety, were only standing by their false superstitions, the Psalm adds: ‘< Overthrow them that fight against me;” take up my cause, fight my battle; that when my enemies “ are overthrown” by you, I may escape them, and depart the conqueror.
2 Take hold of arms and shield; and rise up to help me.”
An explanation of the words, ‘‘ Overthrow them that fight against me;” and as a warrior ought to be well armed with weapons defensive and offensive, he mentions the former in this verse, and the latter in the next; in the Hebrew the expression is, the shield and buckler, and to avoid a repetition of what appears to be much the same weapon, the Greeks and Latins translate it arms and the shield, that is, arms of protection and defence. The shield and buckler of God signify his good-will, according to Psalm y., “* O Lord, thou hast crowned us as with a shield of thy good-will.” They likewise signify justice and equity, as in Wisdom y., ‘‘ He will take equity for an invincible shield ;” and, indeed, the benevolence with which God protects us is a real shield, for, any one loved by God is perfectly secure ; and of him can be said, ** Thou hast crowned him with a shield of thy good-will.” The justice of God, called ‘‘ equity” in the Scriptures, is the shield wherewith he protects from the judgments and the calumnies of the wicked; for, however severely and bitterly God may punish the wicked, he does so in justice, and, therefore, he regards not, and fears not, the sharpness or the bitterness of their tongues, or of their opinions, according to Psalm 1., ‘* That thou mayest be justificd in thy words, and mayest overcome when thou urt judged ;” and of it is said, ** He will
© Say to my soul: I am thy salvation.”
ON THE PSALMS.
take equity for an invincible shield;” that is, when he shall come to the last judgment, and take up his arms to avenge himself on his enemies. There was, therefore, much significance in the repetition of the shield and buckler, since God takes up both, to protect us in his mercy and defend himself in his justice.
3 “ Bring out the sword, and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul ; Iam thy salvation.”
He now speaks of offensive arms, and says, unsheath your sword, and draw it against my persecutors. The word “bring out,’ in the Hebrew, signifies a prompt and ready pull, the sword being sharp and in good order, and, therefore, easily drawn, as having no rust on it; ‘and shut up the way against them that persecute me;’ put so many obstacles before them, that they will not be able to come near. The sword signifies the vindictive justice of God, that prompts him to punish the wicked, as we read in Deut, xxxii., “lf J shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me;” and in Wisdom v., “ He will sharpen his severe wrath for a spear ;” for the sword and the spear are arms of offence. Wonderful reflection for a faithful soul, to feel that God stands there armed with sword, shield, and lance, for its protection and hears him speaking to the heart ‘‘ J am thy salvation.” For, though the assurance of the apostle, “‘ Jf God be for us, who is against us,” ought to give us the greatest security, however, the Holy Ghost, to provide more effectually for our weakness, describes God in arms for us; and, in all description of arms, fighting against both the visible and invisible enemies, not only of the Church in general, but of each of the faithful in particular. God’s defence of us will not make our mind easy unless we be aware of such defence; and, therefore, Christ asks for his Church and his faithful, that they may be apprised of such defence; and thereby have tha more confidence. And though the term physician may seem to be more applicable to God here than “salvation,” still it is, in reality, more appropriate, because physicians and medicine do not always cure, and do no“ ~-watrate the substance of what they mean to du-¥¥ But God always does; he enters into the very recesses of our souls; and as a man in perfect health cannot but feel so, however destitute he may be in other respects, so it is impossible for the soul, when God is present by his grace, and wishes to heal it, cannot but be healed, however destitute it may be otherwise.
4 ‘* Let them be confounded and ashamed that seck after my soul. Let them be turned back, and be con- Sounded that devise evil against me.”
He tells us what is to happen those against whom God takes up arms, saying, ** Let them be con- Sounded and ashamed.” Let those who thought te
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
slay me be ashamed of losing the victory ; for.the two words, confounded and ashamed, have the same meaning, as here there is not question of reverential shame, but of the shame suffered by one that has been beaten; “that seek after my soul” is an ambiguous expression, sometimes taken in a good sense. “Flight hath failed me, and there is no one that hath regard to my soul,’ Psalm exli.; that is, I have no refuge ; there is no one to know me, to “ seek after” me, to defend me. Sometimes it is taken ina badsense, as in this passage, and in various others, and means, to endeavour to take away one’s soul, that _is, his life. “* Let them be turned back, and be con- Sounded.” Let them be not only confounded and overwhelmed with shame, but ‘‘ Jet them be turned back ;” retire in confusion, and conquered, “ that destre evil against me;” they who planned my destruction.
5 “ Let them become as dust before the wind: and let the Angel of the Lord straiten them.”
He asks, in the third place, that they should not only be covered with confusion, and retire in confusion, but that the thing may be done quickly, and that they may be scattered in various places. Dust is carried by the wind with great force and with great speed to various places; and both force and speed are increased here by the terms used to designate them. For the term used for dust signifies the minutest, finest, lightest dust ; and, therefore, the easier impelled ; and it is not an ordinary wind that is to drive it, but “the Angel of the Lord, straitening them.”
6 “ Let their way become dark and slippery ; and let the Angel of the Lord pursue them.”
He ultimately asks that they should not only be scattered and compelled to fly, but that they should be irremediably burried on to destruction. Fugitives are favoured by a knowledge of the way, by a safe and firm road ; or, if the way be slippery, by moving slowly on it. He prays they may have no one of those things in their favour, but, on the contrary, that they may be obliged to fly in ‘the dark,” and on a “slippery” road, when both eyes and feet will be powerless ; with the Angel of the Lord pressing on them so urgently that they must, of necessity, be utterly ruined. This has been all falfilled in regard of the Jews and the other persecutors of Christ and of his Church, who founda. just judgment of God, are enveloped in the darkness of ignorance, and in the slippery ways of concupiscence; and by the “ pursuing” anger of God are daily falling into greater sins, and thus hasten in full speed to everlasting misery. This will be more fully developed on the day of judgment, for then the wicked will be confounded and made ashamed in so unspeakable a manner, that they will rush headlong into the infernal pit, under pressure of Ged’s vengeance; and for ever, and as irremediably as the man who, in the dark,’ is burled down a slippery precipice, from which he can never recover,
7 “ For without cause they have hidden their net for me unto destruction : without cause they have upbraided my soul.
8 “Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him: and let the net which he hath hidden catch him: and into that very snare let him fall.”
In the first six verses the prophet spoke in the person of Christ and of all the just, on persecutions in general; he now details three sorts of persecutions, generally inflicted on the just by sinners. First, they harass them by frauds and conspiracies, Secondly, by false witnesses. Thirdly, by open force, and that not confined to mere words. Of the first he says, ‘‘ Yor without cause they have hidden their net for me, to destruction.” As, without any provocation on my part, they have been incessantly laying snares for me, I pray God that he may, in his providence, turn those snares to their own destruction. Which imprecation, as we before remarked, is not to be looked upon as an imprecation, but rather a prophecy. God’s providence often brings about such conspiracies to be of more harm to the conspirators themselves, sometimes. to harm themselves, alone; like a torch which, set to burn a house, is burned itself before the house ; sometimes is burned itself without burning the house at all; thus, the malice of the conspirators at once harms themselves ; others, perhaps, not at all; certainly, less than it does the plotters; because injuries suffered are not at all as grievous as the injuries devised. “* They have hidden their net for me, to destruction.” They determined to hang me, to destroy me; they set a net to catch me for the purpose; “ wthowt cause,” when I did them no harm whatever; “they have upbracded,” offended, abused me; laying snares for me, as if I were a wild beast. ‘‘ Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him.” May some unknown, unforseen calamity, come on himself; may he fall into the same calamity he intended for me.
9 ‘* But my soul shall rejoice in the Lord ; and shall be delighted in his salvation.
10 ‘+ All my bones shall say: Lord, who is like to thee? Who deliverest the poor from the hand of them that are stronger than he ; the needy and the poor from them that strip him.”
In these two verses the prophet describes the unspeakable joy of the just man when he finds himself delivered from those that lay in wait for him. The language is most poetic, metaphorical, and beautiful. The meaning is, When I shall have obtained my prayer, ‘‘ my soul,” through which I live and move, through joy, “ shall rejoice in the Lord,” in praise and thanksgiving, and will also ‘‘ be delighted in his salvation,” which it sees now secure; or rather, will be delighted in God’s salvation, or its Saviour; and not only my soul, but my body and all its members, even the lowest and most abject, such as the bones ; and not only my bones, but ‘‘ ald my bones;”’ even the very smallest of them will rejoice, and, if they could speak, would exclaim, Lord, who is like to thee ? for
there is nothing on earth or in heaven more powerful, more kind, more wise, or more amiable than you, who so powerfully and so mercifully rescue the poor from the grip of a much more powerful enemy, who sought, by violence, to take away not only his property, but his life. ‘ Al my bones shall say” is similar to the expression in Psalm cii., “ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name;” signifying the perfect joy that fills up the entire man. For sometimes the sonl is in joy while the body is in pain, ard then the joy is not complete and perfect; but when “ God shall heal all our languors,” and fill up all our desires in good things,” then, at length, shall the entire man, inspired by an unspeakable pleasure, diffused through all his members, even through his insensible bones, say to the Lord, ‘ Who is like thee 2” As insensible things are said to thirst when they need their necessary support, according to Psalm Ixii., ‘ Mor thee my soul hath thirsted, for thee my flesh, O how many ways;” thus, the same insensible things, when their wants are supplied, may be said to rejoice and be glad. “ Who is like to thee ?” who is equally disposed or powerful to“ deliver the poor from the hand of them that are stronger 2”
11 “ Unjust witnesses rising up have asked me things I knew not.
12 “t They repaid me evil for good: to the depriving me of my soul.”
The prophet now comes to the second sort of persecutions, through which the wicked, by means of false witnesses, not privately, but openly persecute the just, and gives a highly-wrought account of the wickedness of such witnesses. He says, “ they rose up.” They did not wait to be summoned, they volunteered, accusing me of things “J knew not;” things I not only did not do, but even did not think of. For, we are said to “ know not” what we do not approve, nor never did, as if we did not know how to do them. ‘Thus, the Apostle says of Christ, 2 Cor. ili., “Zim who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us.” Then he says, “ Z'hey have asked me,” to shew the forwardness and impudence of the said witnesses, who, not content with falsely accusing him before the judge, had the impudence to staud up and crossexamine the accused themselves. Again, he says, “ They repaid me evil for good.” These false witnesses, so far from having been injured by me, had been heaped with favours, and from pure malice thus calumniated me. He finally adds, “to the depriving me of my soul;” to shew that it was no trifling injury they sought to inflict on him, but the greatest of all injuries. “ The depriving him of his soul,” may have two meanings ; first, by taking it as a general destruction and devastation, such as befel Job, who, in one day, lost his wealth, his children, his health : and even applies to the very destruction of his memory and of his name. It, secondly, may be taken as applying to one’s character, which, by the
deyil’s agency, or by that of his ministers, gets so damaged, that the just man is all but deprived of his soul.
13 ‘‘ But as for me, when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed with hair-cloth. I humbled my soul with fasting: and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.”
Before he begins to speak of the third class of persecutions, he tells us how he dealt with the second, and says that he neither did evil for evil, nor thought of revenge, but betook himself in great humility to pray to God. ** When they were troublesome to me.” I have not proudly insulted them, but, clothed in sackcloth, I began to fast, to make my prayers more acceptable to God. Sack-cloth and fasting are the wings of prayer. The king of the Ninivites, when he turned to prayer in fasting and sack-cloth, was heard, Jonas iii. We read the same of King Achab, where the wise man says, ‘‘ Zhe prayer of him that humbleth himself shall penetrate the clouds.” And he adds, ‘* And my prayer shall be turned into my bosom;” to shew he had no doubt of his prayers producing the desired effect. Prayers put up in such humility, will not come to me back in vain, but will fill my bosom with heavenly consolation.
14 ‘ As a neighbour and as an own brother, so did I please: as one mourning and sorrowful, so was I humbled.”
This verse is much more clearly expressed in the Hebrew, andthe meaning of it is, in my affliction I not only abstained from doing evil for evil, but leven did good for evil, for U felt towards my enemies, as a friend would for his friend, as a brother for a brother, or rather as a mother for her ailing and languishing child. For, as a mother, when she sees her child ailing, in sorrow and sadness bends over it to raise it up, so did I in regard of my enemies. He could not give a more eloquent ora more touching account of his feelings to them. David actually carried out what he expresses here in the person of Christ, in his own person, and in that of all the perfect. He loved Saul as a brother, while he lived, and deplored him as a child when he died. Christ did the same in a higher degree, for, when he saw the city, he wept over it, and he compares his affection to that of the hen seeking to gather her little ones under her wings.
15 ‘' But they rejoiced against me, and came toges ther: scourges were gathereRs Joner upon me, and E knew not.”
He tells us now how his persecutors did evil for good» and at the same time passes on to the third sort of persecutions ; for the wicked, not content with harassing the just, by frauds and calumnies, seek also to injure them by doing them personal harm. ‘“ Bué they rejoiced against me.” I was grieving for their: troubles, they were rejoicing at mine; and, not content with such impiety, they “‘ came together,” armed with scowrges, to destroy me if they could ; “and I knew not,” was quite ignorant of their designs ; so that I could not take any means to protect myself ;.
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or [bore them with such patience as to make: one think I was quite ignorant of what they were intending.
-16 “* They were separated, and repented not: they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn : they gnashed upon me with their teeth.”
He goes on to relate the malice of his enemies, and says they were not able to accomplish their designs, divine providence having undertaken the protection of his own to save them from harm. That still did not quiet them. What they could not effect by the infliction of personal injury, theysought to effect by foul language, derision, and insults. ‘* They were separated.” The conventicle of those who came together to injure, to scourge me, “ was separated,” scattered by the breath of God’s will, but still “‘they repented not,” as they should have done; on the contrary, ‘they tempted me, they scoffed at me with scorn, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.”
17 ‘‘ Lord, when wilt thou look upon me? rescue.thou my soul from their malice; my only one from the lions.”
Having thus exposed all his persecutors, he now, in the person of all the just who suffer persecution, returns to prayer, aud thereby connects the end with the beginning of the Psalm. And as God, when he neglects to punish the wicked, would seem to overlook them entirely, he says, ‘‘ Lord, when wilt thou look upon me?” when will you prove to us that you see their wickedness, by punishing it? ‘‘ Rescue thou my soul from their malice.” Take my life out of the danger it is in, while I am in their power, and make me as secure as I was before; which he repeats and expresses more clearly, when he says, ‘my only one from the lions.” I have one life only, and, therefore, very dear to me; save that by taking it out of the power of my enemies, who, like so many lions, seek to devour me, ‘‘ gnashing upon me with their teeth.” St. Augustine would apply the expression, “my only one,” to the Church which Christ prays may be delivered from its persecutors. That is true enough, but I think the word should be taken literally here, and that it means his soul, or his life, in the same sense in which we read it in Psalm xxi., “Deliver, O God, my soul fromthe sword, my only one from the hand of the dog.” The soul is very properly called the ‘only one,” as if it were the only object of ourlove. This temporal life is the foundation of all temporal good, while life everlasting is that of all good, and, therefore, the Lord says in the gospel, ‘ What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” and yet, such is the folly of many, that for a nothing they freely lose that soul that should have been the only object of their love.
18 “1 will give thanks to thee in a great church; I will praise thee in a strong people.”
Should he be delivered from his enemies, he promises he will not be ungrateful. “ J will give thanks to thee in a great church.” J will not be silent as
to your favours, but in public, before the whole congregation, I will proclaim them, which he repeats when he says, ‘* J will prazse thee in a strong people ;” for giving thanks and praising are synonymous terms, so are the expressions, “‘great church’’ and “strong people.” The Church is called great by reason of its numbers, so are the people called strong by reason of their number; for a people may be called strong when its numbers are such that they need have no fear of the enemy. The prophet would seem to have the Christian Church in view, in which God is daily praised for the delivery of the faithful. The Church of Christ is truly great, spread as it is all over the world, and truly strong, since ‘‘ the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Church triumphant also will be a great Church, consisting, as it will, ‘‘ of @ great crowd, which nobody could count,” and of a strong people ; for the same passage tells us they will all ‘ have palms in their hands.”
19 ‘' Let. not them that are my enenviies wrongfully rejoice over me; who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes.”
Returning to the prayer he had commenced, he begs to be delivered from his persecutors, especially from the hypocrites, who pretended to be his friends, while they were quite the reverse. ‘‘ Let not them that are my enemies wrongfully,” they who, under the garb of friendship, still persecute me; which is the height of malice, to pretend to be one’s friend while they are plotting for his ruin. “‘ Rejoice over me;” let them not glory in my downfall. “ Who have hated me without cause, and wink with the eyes;” who hate me without any reason, when I did them no harm, yet pretend to be my friends, saluting me, nodding at me, winking in approbation of every: thing I say. St. Augustine asks, What is the meaning of “winking with the eyes 2” Expressing, through their eyes, something very different from what they have in their heart.
20 “ For they spoke indeed peaceably to me: and speaking in the anger of the earth they devised guile.”
He now explains the term “winking with the eyes.” They addressed me in terms of friendship, while they were bursting with anger within, and “ devised guile” to destroy me.
21 ** And they opened their mouth wide against me ; they said: Well done, well done, our eyes have seen Mee
The prophet now shews how faithfully he described his enemies, and their fictitious friendship, when the very set who, a little before, were caressing, and winking with their eyes on him, the moment they found he had fallen into the trap they had laid for him, at once “ they opened their mouth,” and began openly to insult him, and to congratulate each other, ‘6 Well done, well done, our eyes have seen it;” his downfa!! we were so long and so anxiously looking for. ‘This was all fulfilled in Christ ; sometimes his enemies addressed him in the most flattering manner, “ We know that thou art truthful, and that thow
teachest the way of God in truth;” at the very time they were planning to take a hold of his language ; and when they saw him nailed to the cross, “‘ they opened their mouths wide,” insulting him, and exclaiming, “ Vah, you that destroy the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild tt; save thy own self.”
22 ‘* Thou hast seen, O Lord, be not thou silent: O Lord, depart not from me.
23 ‘* Arise, and be attentive to my judgment ; to my cause, my God and my Lord.
24 “+ Judge me, O Lord my G'od, according to thy justice ; and let them not rejoice over me.”
The prophet resumes his prayer, repeating it over and over, with a view to move God’s affections. “* Thou hast seen, O Lord,” the extent of the oppression suffered by your poor servant; ‘be not thou silent,” as if you either did not see, or were not able, or were not willing, to defend those that hope in thee. “¢ Depart not from me.” Do not desert me in my troubles; nay more, ‘‘ arise,” and like a just and powerful judge, “be attentive to my judgment,” to the quarrel between me and my persecutors, and “Judge me, OLord, according to my justice ;” that is, if thy justice, which is supreme and infallible, decide that I am unjustly oppressed by my enemies, deliver me from their hands, that they may no longer “ rejoice over me.” ‘
25 ‘* Let them not say in their hearts: It is well, it is well, to our mind: neither let them say: We have swallowed them up.
26 ** Let them blush, and be ashamed together, who rejoice at my evils. Let them be clothed with confusion and shame, who speak great things agaist me.”
He here explains the meaning of a former expression, * Let not my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me;” for here he asks that they may not be able to “say in their hearts ;” that is, to exult over me as if I were extinguished. Nor “ let them say: we have swallowed him up;”? as if I had been devoured by lions ; but, on the contrary, having lost all hope of victory, “‘ Let them blush and be ashamed,” every one of them, and that in no slight degree; but, ‘* det them be clothed with confusion and shame;” these people who ‘speak great things against me;” who boasted of the power they had over me.
27 ‘* Let them rejoice and be glad, who are well pleased with my justice: and let them say always: The Lord be magnified, who delight in the peace of his servant,
28 “ And my tongue shall meditate thy justice, thy praise all the day long.”
As well as the prophet prayed for the confusion of the wicked, he now prays that the just, the men of good will, who wish to keep their innocence, and desire their justice should appear openly, should exult and rejoice. He also exhorts those who are desirous of their own peace, such as will follow from their being delivered from their evils, to praise God. He finishes the Psalm in thanksgiving to God for all his favours. “‘ My tongue shall meditate thy jus-
tice;” will be employed in declaring it; which he again repeats, by sayivg he will spend the ‘* whole day” in doing so ; that means frequently, repeatedly. St. Augustine remarks on this passage, that he is always praising God, who is always doing what is right.
PSALM XXXvV. The malice of sinners, and the goodness of God.
1 The unjust hath said within himself, that he would sin: there is no fear of God before his eyes.
2 For in his sight he hath done deceitfully, that his iniquity may be found unto hatred.
83 The words of his mouth are iniquity and guile: he would not understand that he might do well.
4 He hath devised iniquity on his bed: he hath set himself on every way that is not good; but evil he hath not hated.
5 O Lord, thy mercy is in heaven: and thy truth reacheth even to the clouds.
6 Thy justice is as the mountains of God: thy judgments are a great deep. Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord:
7 O, how hast thou multiplied thy mercy, O God: but the children of men shall put their trust under the covert of thy wings.
8 They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.
9 For with thee is the fountain of life: and in thy light we shall see light.
10 Extend thy mercy to them that know thee, and thy justice to them that are right in heart.
11 Let not the foot of pride come to me: and let not the hand of the sinner move me.
12 There the workers of iniquity are fallen: they are cast out, and could not stand.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1“ The unjust hath said within himself, that he would sin: there is no fear of God before his eyes.”
The prophet tells us the two primary roots of sin, one of which is in the will, whereby we determine on committing sin; the other is in the understanding, that does not consider the fear of the Lord forbidding — sin. ‘ The unjust hath said within himself,” that is, with himself, in his heart he determined to sin ; that is, consented in his heart to sin. “ The fear of God is not before his eyes.” He so consented, because in his heart he did not think of the fear of the Lord, who sees every thing. Fear is used here .
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
for the object of it; that is, he did not think that God was just, powerful, and all-seeing ; for if he did he would be more afraid of one so powerful. When we fear any one, we are afraid to do anything bad in his presence; and thus, he who fears God, dares not to sin interiorly, for God searches even our hearts. _ 2 “ For in his sight he hath done deceitfully, that his tntquity may be found unto hatred,”
In this verse he proves his assertion, that the unjust man does not possess the fear of the Lord. For in
-his sight he hath done deceitfully with God himself,
and with all men, “ so that his iniquity may be found under hatred,” and not for pardon, a thing he certainly would not have done had he feared God. For who would dare to transgress in the presence of a judge for whom he entertained the slightest fear ?
3 “ The words of his mouth are iniquity and guile : he would not understand that he might do well.”
He said the wicked man acted deceitfully ; he now says he speaks deceitfully, and will presently add that he even thinks deceitfully, to shew how remarkable is the perversity of him that feareth not God. The words of his mouth are in accordance with his acts; unjust, nay even so unjust that they are nothing but “iniquity and guile; whatever he says tends to openinjury or to deceit. ‘““He would not understend that he might do well.” He cannot offer ignorance as an excuse, because it was voluntary ; for he took no trouble to ascertain the law of justice, by sclf-investigation, or by inquiring of others ; having determined to lead a bad life, he despised the science
’ of living well, that he may live badly.
4 * He hath devised iniquity on his bed: he hath set himself on every way that rs not good ; but evil he hath
In a retrograde order, he describes unjust acts, then sinful words, and now evil thoughts and affections ; for though it is from the heart, as we read in the Gospel, that bad words and actions spring, still it is from the bad acts and words that we see and hear that we know the bad thoughts and desires that
- we can neither see nor hear. ‘* He hath devised int-
quity in his bed;” the bad actions and words were not produced or given utterance to suddenly, without premeditation, but devised long before in the privacy of his chamber. “ He hath set himself on every way that is not good, but evil he hath not hated.” While he was thinking in his heart, and devising various plans of operation, he approved of every bad counsel, and thus began to set himself, to enter on “ every way that is not good ;” and, his will being corrupted, instead of hating malice, he rather loved it, not because of its badness, but because of its utility. “ Every way that is not good,” means every way that is bad; as if he said, No good counsel pleased him ; on the contrary, he chose to follow every bad counsel; and thus stood in every way not good; that is, in every bad way.
5 “ OLord, thy mercy is in heaven: and thy truth veacheth even to the clouds,
6 “ Thy justice is as the mountains of God: thy judgments are a great deep. Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord :”
He now passes to another part of the Psalm, and shews that, however great the malice of some, still the goodness of God, which consists of his justice and his mercy, is greater. Of his mercy he says, “ Thy mercy is in heaven.” So great is it that it reaches from the earth to the heavens, and fills all things, as is more clearly set forth in Psalm cvii., ‘“* For thy mercy is great, above the heavens.” To mercy he unites truth; that is, faithfulness, by virtue of which he carries out whatsoever he promises in his mercy, and of which he says, in Psalm exliy., “ The Lord is faithful in all his words”—“ and thy truth even to the clouds.” Mercy reaches even to the heavens with its attendant truth, which, too, reacheth to the clouds, that is, to heaven, where the clouds are. Nor is his justice, by virtue of which he gives to every one according to his works, less in God. For “thy justice is as the mountains of God;” great, like lofty mountains that sometimes out-top the very clouds. Great things are often called ‘things of God;” as, “like the cedars of God.” To his justice he unites his judgments, being acts of justice, and says, ‘‘thy judgments are a great deep;” profound and inscrutable, like the deepest gulf, that is called an abyss, impenetrable to human eye. By all these similes of the height and the depth of the divine mercy and justice, as well as of his truth and judgments, we are given to understand that, as our corporeal eyes cannot scan those things above the clouds or below the earth, no more can we understand tha greatness of the justice and of the mercy of God. “ Men and beasts thou wilt preserve, O Lord.” The prophet now shews how boundless is God’s mercy, extending as it does to man and beasts ; preserving, nourishing, filling with the gifts of this world, not only men, rational beings, but even beasts ; that is, men who, like beasts, are led by their appetites and sensuality only—whose malice he had already explained. Truly infinite and stupendous is the mercy and goodness of God, who, when he could, with the greatest justice, destroy and reduce to nothing the wicked and the blasphemer; yet, at the very time that they are blaspheming, railing at, and breaking through all his commandments, is actually supporting, nourishing, feeding them, filling them with his delights, making his sun to shine on them, and watering their fields and their gardens with his rain from heaven.
7 “0, how hast thou multiplied thy mercy, O God: but the children of men shall put their trust under the covert of thy wings.”
The first part of the verse is a burst of admiration, Having spoken of God’s mercy to the wicked and the carnal, whom he designates as beasts, he now speaks of his mercy towards the pious and the spiritual, called by him ‘‘ the children of men,” which may be
called justice, in regard of the wicked too, who, he justly decreed, should have no share in such blessings. “ The children of men shall put their trust under the covert of thy wings.” The beasts ought to be contented with the safety of their bodies; it was the only thing they knew, sought, or cared for. But the children of men will be, like the chickens under the wings of the hen, O most loving God, gathered together in quiet, expecting all happiness from you alone. Such words tend to give us some idea of the special providence, and the singular benevolence of God towards the pious; and, on the other hand, of the perfect and unbounded confidence they have in God, like the solicitude of the hen in regard of her chickens, and their confidence when under her wings. . Nothing can be more to the purpose than the same simile, and it is frequently used by the Psalmist, as in Psalm Ixii., ‘Zn the cover of thy wings will I hope, my soul adhered to thee;” and in Psalm xe., “ He will overshadow thee with his shoulders, and under his wings shalt thow trust.” How delightful is it not, and how preferable to all earthly delights, to be fostered under Gods wings; to experience the love that exceeds that of a father or a mother, is a thing that no one knows, until they shall have experienced it.
8 ‘ They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house : and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.”
Protection under the wings of God is had in this world, when there is danger from birds or beasts of prey; but he now speaks of the future rewards, and gives the best description he can of those unspeakable rewards, by similes drawn from corporeal objects ; the first is taken from the recipient, the second from the thing received. The recipient of anything is then content when he is so full and laden, that he can desire no more. ‘That plenty, satisfying the entire appetite, is most happily described here as inebriation. He that is fond of drink is never fully satis. fied until he shall have got inebriated, for, instead of coveting more drink, he then falls asleep. So it is with us; we are never satisfied in this life, we never rest, no matter what the amount of our prosperity may be; then only do we become full, saturated, content, and therefore happy, when we ‘ get enebriated with the plenty of God’s house; for then, our appetite being thoroughly satisfied, we sink into the sleep of eternal rest. Observe, he says, shall “ be tnebriated by the plenty,” not by the wine, to give us to understand that the word is not to be taken in its literal sense or meaning. The next simile is drawn from the thing received: “ Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure.” Three things are to be observed in a torrent. A great body of water, rolling down from the mountains ; a sudden inundation, a great river, all of a sudden, appears where a drop of water was notto be seen a few moments before ; the force of the rolling water, carrying every-
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
thing before it. Such will be the happiness of heaven! A great body of wisdom and knowledge will come down from the mountain, of which Kcclesiasticus writes, “ Zhe word of God is high in the fountain of wisdom;” that means, in the high mountain of the Deity is the word of God, the fountain of wisdom, from which mountain and fountain the blessed are suddenly inundated; for we who, through great labour, and after a long time in this world, imbibed wisdom in the minutest drops, will then, on a sudden, all at once, in one moment, after a clear vision of God, so abound in all knowledge, not only of things created, but of the very attributes of the Creator, that by the abundance of such wisdom and knowledge the soul will be hurried on to the love and the enjoyment of the supreme good. For in our heavenly home, we will not be free to love, or not to love, to enjoy, or not to enjoy, a blessing so great, but, through a most felicitous necessity, we will be driven to adhere to our supreme good, and, by a most intimate attachment, to revel in its sweetness.
9 “* For with thee is the fountain of life: and in thy light we shall see light.”
He assigns a reason for the great inundation of wisdom and knowledge that will pour m upon the blessed from the vision of the Deity. Simply because ** he ts the fountain of life,” which is the same as the fountain of wisdom. God then, from the fact of his being the fountain of wisdom, is the fountain of life, for wisdom is life to the wise ; and being the fountain of life he is the fountain of existence, because life is existence to those that do exist. God, then, is called the fountain of wisdom, of life, of existence, because he derives his wisdom, his life, his essence, from no one, but is himself wisdom, life, existence ; and all other things, whatever wisdom, life, existence they have, derive it from him. David uses the word fountain here to keep up the metaphor, asifhe - said, “‘ Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure, for with thee is the fountain” from which it rises. He calls it “the fountain of life,” when one would think he should have called it the fountain of wisdom, because he wanted to shew that the eternal life promised to the just, and desired by all as the supreme good, consisted entirely in this supreme wisdom, according to the Lord himself, John xvii., ‘‘ This ts life everlasting, that they may know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” He then adds, ‘‘ and in thy light we shall see light,” to explain, in plainer language, what he had metaphorically expressed ; for it means, through you, who are the light and the source of light, we shall see you the inaccessible and never-failing light. We see God now, but reflected through his creatures; we see him in our mind, but by reasoning, by inference from his works ; finally, we see him in faith, but not in form; but then we will see God in himself, and, as the Apostle has it, face to face, or as St. John hasit, ‘ we will see him as he is,” and,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
not in a picture. And, as the same St. John has it, “ God is light, and there is no darkness in him.” He therefore, most properly says here, “in thy light,” that is, in thy divinity, which is light, and not in types and figures, ‘‘ shall we see light,” that is, yourself who. art the true light that ‘ enlighteneth every man coming into the world.” From this passage theologians properly infer, that there is a light of glory necessary to see God. For, though God is light, according to St. Paul, he is an ‘“‘ znaccessible light ;’ and, therefore, unless the mind get a certain elevation, and be strengthened by a certain gift of God, called the light of glory, it cannot fix its gaze on that uncreated light. We shall, therefore, see the light which is God, but it will be “in his light ;” that is, assisted by the light of his glory which he bestows on those he condescends to admit to the beatific vision. The first explanation, however, is more literal.
10 ‘' Extend thy mercy to them that know thee, and thy justice to them that are right in heart.”
He now tells us that these great favours, of which he had been speaking, belong to the just alone, designated by him as the *‘ children of men,” to distinguish them from the wicked, whom he called ‘ beasts.” He uses the imperative for the indicative mood, a thing not unfrequent with the prophets. “ Hatend thy mercy to them that know thee;” that is, those alone who are familiarly and intimately acquainted with you, who live with you, who invoke you, who hear you in your commandments, and whom you hear in their prayers, in which style of language we have in the gospel, ‘‘ Amen, I say unto you, I know you not’—‘ and thy justice to them that are right in heart,” and hold out or extend the same mercy which is also a crown of justice “ to them that are right in heart,” to the just and the pious, whose heart is right and agreeable to thy righteousness, and are, theréfore, delighted with thy commandments and thy judgments ; for the prophet, as usual, puts up the same prayer in different terms.
11 ‘‘ Let not the foot of pride come to me: and let not the hand of the sinner move me.”
Solicitous for himself, fearful of missing such blessings, he now prays for the gift of perseverance, especially against a vice to which persons of his rank are very much exposed. * Let not the foot of pride come to me.” Do not, I pray thee, let the proud come near me, for fear they may, by words, or by example, or through any other channel, draw me from the state of grace into the mire of sin. By the proud and the sinner, whose hand and foot, that is, whose approach and power he fears, is meant, principally, the devil; who is the king of all the children of pride; and after him, his servants and ministers. St. Augustine’s explanation also will suit ; which is: “* Let not the foot of pride come to me.” Let me not have the gait, the affectation of pride ; ‘‘ and let not the hand of the sinner move me;” let not the sinner
have any influence over me that may bring me to sin; and thus, through my own fauit, or through the temptation of others, be brought down from my position, and miserably fall.
12 “ There the workers of iniquity are fallen: they are cast out, and could not stand.”
He assigns a reason for his fear of pride ; because, as Tobias says, chap. iv., “ Hrom pride all perdition took its beginning;’ for the Angels and our first parents fell through pride, and through them sin entered into the world; and, after having so fallen from justice to iniquity, were banished from eternal happiness, and consigned to everlasting misery’; for, “ God resists the proud, and to the humble he gtves his grace.” ‘ And could not stand,” in that place of happiness where they had-been put by God, with a view of promoting them to better, should they persevere in virtue.
PSALM XXXVI.
An exhortation to despise this world, and ihe short prosperity of the wicked ; and to trust in Providence.
1 Be not emulous of evil doers; nor envy them that work iniquity.
2 For they shall shortly wither away as grass: and as the green herbs shall quickly fall.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwell in the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches.
4 Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the requests of thy heart.
5 Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.
6 And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day.
7 Be subject to the Lord, and pray to him. Envy not the man who prospereth in his way : the man who doeth unjust things.
8 Cease from anger, and leave rage; have no emulation to do evil.
9 For evil dpers shall be cut off: but they that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land.
10 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.
11 But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace.
12 The sinner shall watch the just man; and shall gnash upon him with his teeth.
13 But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day shall come.
14 The wicked have drawn out the sword:
they have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
15 Let their sword enter into their own hearts; and let their bow be broken.
16 Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces; but the Lord strengtheneth the just.
18 The Lord knoweth the days of the undefiled; and their inheritance shall be for ever.
19 They shall not be confounded in the evil time; and in the days of famine they shall be filled:
20 Because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing, and vanish like smoke.
21 The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again: but the just sheweth mercy, and shall
lve. . 22 For such as bless him shall inherit the land: but such as curse him shall perish.
23 With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way.
24 When he shall fall, he shall not be bruised; for the Lord putteth his hand under him.
25 I have been young, and now am old: and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
26 He sheweth mercy, and lendeth all the day long: and his seed shall be in blessing.
27 Decline from evil, and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.
28 For the Lord loveth judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever. The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.
29 But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therein for evermore.
30 The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom; and his tongue shalt speak judgment.
31 The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.
32 The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death.
33 But the Lord will not leave him in his hands; nor condemn him when he shall be judged.
34 Expect the Lord, and keep his way: and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.
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- I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.
36 And I passed by, and lo, he was not, and I sought him, and his place was not found.
37 Keep innocence, and behold justice; for there are remnants for the peaceable man.
38 But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall
erish.
39 But the salvation of the just is from the Lord: and he is their protector in the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Be not emulous of evil doers ; nor envy them that work iniquity.
2 ‘ For they shall shortly wither away as grass : and as the green herbs shall quickly fall.”
The prophet, in the character of a spiritual physician, admonishes the faithful, when they see the wicked prospering, not to be tempted to imitate them, or to be indignant or angry with God, as if he were treating them unjustly; because the prosperity of the evil doer will not be of long duration ; nay, it will even have but a very brief existence ; and then will God’s justice and providence, in not allowing them to exult and rejoice for any length of time, be made manifest to all.
** Be not emulous of evil-doers.” Do not imitate them; do not seek to do as they do. If they do wrong, do not the same. “ Nor envy them that work iniquity.” When you see the wicked prosper, be not troubled, nor be angry with God for allowing them so to thrive in the world, as it is more clearly expressed in Psalm Ixxii., “ How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart! But my feet were almost moved; my steps had well nigh slipt, because I had a zeal on occasion of the wicked seeing the prosperity of sinners;” that means, God seems: good to those who know and love him; but, poor creature as I am, I fell into doubt and misgiving, burning with zeal, as I thought, for justice sake, and with anger at seeing the prosperity of the wicked, who, while more deserving of torments and punishment, abound in all the temporal blessings of this world. ‘ For they shall shortly wither away as grass.’ A most appropriate idea for shewing how short will be their prosperity. Grass and green herbs do not send their roots very deep into the earth, like the cedar and the palm tree, to which the just are usually compared. ‘“ The just shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow up like the cedar of:
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Libanus.” Hence, the grass and green herbs wither and rot in a short time; the cedar and the palmtree come to an immense age. And the prophet does not confine himself to their prosperity, which, he says, will be very brief in this world; but, he goes further, and says, themselves will be very quickly destroyed; and when they are gone, their happiness and prosperity is gone with them. And though they may enjoy many and prosperous years here, they are nothing compared to the lengthened, the everlasting happiness of the just. For “ the just shall live for ever,’ Wisdom v. ; and “ the just shall be in everlasting remembrance.” Any one that wishes to see the brevity and the velocity of all things temporal, painted to the life, let him refer to Wisdom, chap. v., ‘* All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on, and as a ship that passeth through the waves; whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters: or as when a bird flieth through the air; of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it*by the force of her flight; she moved her wings, and hath flown through; and there ts no mark found afterwards of her way: or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air presently cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known: so we also being born, forthwith ceased to be; and have been able to shew no mark of virtue; but are consumed in our wickedness.”
3 “ Trust in the Lord, and do good, and dwellin the land, and thou shalt be fed with its riches.
4 “ Delight in the Lord, and he wili give thee the requests of thy heart.”
After seeking to frighten us out of our evil ways, David now tries to encourage us to do good. If you wish to be happy and blessed, understand who is the author of all happiness, look to him for it, and to no one else. ‘‘ Zrust in the Lord,” he, being master of all things, can alone give us what we want ; but that our hope may be certain, and that we may not be confounded, ‘‘ do good;” do what God’s commandments direct you ; for he cannot put his trust in him he knows to be incensed against him ? and then in perfect security you will ‘* dwell in the land,” for who can turn you out when you are known to be the friend of him to whom the earth, and “ the fulness thereof” belongs? nay, more, ‘‘ you will be fed with tts riches,” for it will throw up its fruits in abundance to feed you. But to work, to be in God’s peace, so that one may securely confide in him, they must have love ; and, therefore, he says, “ Delight in the Lord;” love God from your heart, let him be your delight, and then you will be safe, because, ‘‘he will give thee the requests of thy heart,” whatever your heart shall desire. An objection—We know many who “trusted in the Lord,” who “ did good,” and who “ delighted in the Lord,” and still were not allowed “‘ to dwell in the land,” nor “ to be fed with its riches,” nor to get
“* the requests of their heart :” to say nothing of the countless multitudes of holy souls who are in extreme want. Certaivly St. Paul “ trusted in the Lord,” and “did good; and yet, according to himself, 1 Cor. iv., ‘He was hungry and thirsty, and was naked, and was cast out as the refuse and the off-scouring of this world :” and though ‘‘ he delighted in the Lord,” the Lord did not grant him “the request of his heart ;” for, though he asked three times to ‘‘bedelivered from the sting of lis flesh,” yet he was not heard. The answer is: the greater part of those who are in extreme want do not “‘ trust in the Lord” as they ought, do not observe his commandments as he requires, much less are they ‘ delighted in the Lord;” for, to say nothing of the promises contained in this Psalm, Christ himself most clearly says to us, ‘ Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? Seek ye, therefore, first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all those things shall be added unto you.” ‘There can be no doubt, then, but that God will provide all necessaries for his own, if they really put their trust in him, and keep his commandments. If the contrary sometimes happens, as was the case with St, Paul, the reason is, because God chose to give them something better, with which they are more contented, and that is the great merit of patience; for the very same Paul, who so described his want and his other tribulations, wrote in another place, ‘‘ J am filled with comfort, I exceedingly abound with joy in all our tribulation;? and thus, though God did not grant “ the requests of his heart,” by removing “the sting of his flesh,” he gave him an abundance of grace to convert that sting into a powerful source of triumph. He, therefore, withheld a thing of trifling value, that he may confer one of immense value, which he knew was the real ‘7equest of his heart.”
5 “* Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.
6 “And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day.”
The prophet, in the capacity of a skilful physician, had prescribed a remedy for the internal disease of hunger, thirst, and the like; he now prescribes for the external disease of persecutions and calumnies, When such things happen, we are not forbidden to defend ourselves, and to repel the calumnies; but prayer to God, confidence in God, should be our principal resource and remedy, as was the case with Susanna, who, when condemned to death, through swearing of false witnesses, with tears in her eyes looked up to heaven, “for her heart had confidence in the Lord.” “ Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.” In prayer before God disclose all your actions to him, confide in him, commit your whole case to him, * and he will do it.” He will do justice to you. He will find out a
means of detecting the falsehood of the witnesses who swore against you, so as to establish your innocence. That is more clearly expressed in the following, “and he will bring forth thy justice as a light.” God, in his wonderful providence, will cause your justice that was, as it were, buried in darkness, by the calumnies of your persecutors, to emerge and be refulgent in great brightness, as light is seen when enkindled, or brought out from a closed and darkened lantern. He repeats it, saying, ‘‘ and thy judgment as the noon-day.” He willestablish your innocence as clearly, and make it to be seen as conspicuously as the sun is seen at noon. A thing literally carried out in the case of Susanna. At first fier justice and her innocence were in darkness, she was convicted on the testimony not only of two witnesses, but even of two who professed to be together when they saw the thing, and whose character put them beyond suspicion ; however, God at once raised up the spirit of Daniel, who, from the very lips of the same witnesses, so clearly establishes their own infamy, and the innocence of Susanna, that she was at once set at liberty, and they were consigned to an ignominious death.
7 ‘* Be subject to the Lord, and pray to him. Envy not the man who prospereth in his way: the man who doeth unjust things.”
The meaning of this passage, which may be considered as the fourth general spiritual rule, is, Take care, and be always obedient to God; pray to him constantly, for fear the idea of seeing an unjust man successful in the world may tempt you and lead you to injustice. In fact, the success of the bad is a great temptation ; but easily overcome by having God constantly before us, and clinging to him through prayer and obedience. Whoever will so unite himself to God stands, as it were, on an eminence; and, seeing the happiness of the sinner to be transient and temporary, has no difficulty in spurning and despising it. He therefore, says, ‘‘ Be subject to the Lord, and pray to him.” Be obedient to God in all simplicity and honesty, and through prayer frequently converse and commune with him. ‘“Hnvynot the man who prospereth in his way.” Do not seek to rival the man who is prosperous in life; that is, the man who is dishonestly so.
8 ‘ Cease from anger, and leave rage ; have no emalation to do evil.
9 “* For evil doers shall be cut off ; but they that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the land.”
This verse is a repetition and explanation of the first verse. Throughout the whole Psalm the same idea is frequently repeated and inculcated, to explain it more clearly, and thereby to fix itmore firmly onthe memory. Inthe first verse he said, “Be not emulous of evil-doers.” He now repeats, in clearer language, “cease from anger, and leave rage;” that is, when you see a bad man thriving, don’t get vexed or angry, don’t say, Why does this villain so prosper?’ Where is God’s
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
justice ?. Where his providence? In the eighth verse he said, ‘‘ have no emulation to do evil.” Do not seek to rival the wicked in their evil ways; do not imitate the enormities of those whose happiness you so envy, and adds, “for the evil-doers shall be cut off,” to confirm what he had said before, ‘‘ for they shall wither away as grass.” We then adds, ‘‘ but they that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the land,” to repeat and confirm what he had said before, ¢ trust in the Lord, and dwell in the land.”’ They wait on the Lord who patiently expect his promises, and expect them confidently, knowing the Lord, who made the promise, being both able and sure to carry it out ; and thus, there is no doubt that the evil-doers, though they may seem to flourish for a while, will not long flourish, but will be “cut off” from the Jand, and shoved into hell for eternal punishment ; while those whe keep themselves from sin, and expect their re~ ward from God, “ they shall inhabit the land,” for they shall get permanent hold of the land, of which they will never be deprived. In truth, when holy souls go to God, instead of losing possession of the land, they acquire both it and heaven along with it, when it is said of them, ‘f that he will put them over all his property.”
10 “ For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: and thou shalt seek his place, and shalt not find it.
11 ‘+ But the meek shall inherit the land, and shalt delight m abundance of peace.”
Having said, that “‘ the evil-doers shall be cut off,” he now adds, that it will soon happen. “ or yet a little while” and that ‘‘wicked” man, who seemed so happy, “‘ shall not be,” cannot be found; “ and thou shalt seek his place and shalt not find it.” There will be no trace of him, like a barren tree torn up from the roots. “* But the meek,” they who are neither indignant nor angry with God when they see the wicked prosper ; but, on the contrary, patiently bear and take from God’s hand what it may please him to - send, they will “ inherit the land,” not only this land of exile, but that land that only deserves the name, that fixed and firm land, of which the Lord speaks in Mat. v., ‘ Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land;” and as that land is.called the Jerusalem, which means, the vision of peace, and whereas all its enemies are far removed from it, therefore “they shall delight in the multitude of peace ;” they shall have great peace, because the number of inhabitants will be great to enjoy it; and the peace will be of long duration, or rather for ever; and thus they shall enjoy the pleasure that peace always brings with it.
12 “* The sinner shall watch the just man ; and shalt gnash upon him with his teeth.
13 “But the Lord shall laugh at him: for he foreseeth that his day shall come.” j
The just man is here advised to be in no great fear of the wicked, as God is guarding him. “ The sinner shall watch the justman;” shall attentively look after’
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every thing he does, to see could he find any open for destroying him ; “* and shall gnash upon them with his teeth ;” like a dog, shall howl for his destruction, and through anger and fury expose his teeth, like a dog. “* But the Lord shall laugh at him.” God, who beholds every thing, in whose hand are all things, so that even a leaf does noft*fall to the ground without his order or permission, ‘‘ shall laugh at him, for he Soreseeth that his day shall come ;” he will laugh at him, because he sees the end of the wicked man is just at hand ; and that he will be taken off before he can put any of his designs against the just man into execution. Though God may sometimes allow the wicked to slay the just, the wicked, however, kills himself first, for he kills his own soul; and since the death of the just is precious in the sight of the Lord, his death, instead of being a loss, is to him a gain; on the other hand, the death of the sinner is the very reverse—is the commencement of his eternal punishment; and thus the sinner is always hurried off before he can injure the just. “to be laughed at,’ who, while he lies in wait for another, sees not his own impending destruction.
14 “*The wicked have drawn out the sword: they have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill the upright of heart.
15 ‘ Let their sword enter into their own hearts ; and let their bow be broken.”
The prophet explains here, what he had more obscurely expressed in the twelfth verse. He said there, “ The sinner shall watch the just man,” which he explains here, by saying, ‘* The wicked have drawn out the sword, they have bent their bow.” The wicked stand with drawn swords, and bended bow, biding their time to shoot with the arrow, and slay with the sword the just man, ‘‘ who is poor and needy,” but “upright of heart.” But God, who from on high beholds every thing, causes their “‘ swords to enter into their own hearts,” and ‘their bows to be broken,” and to injure themselves alone; and thus, ‘he will laugh at them.” What is said here of the real sword and quiver, may be also applied to the sword and quiver of the tongue, that sinners, perhaps oftener, make use of against the just. The just man is here designated as “the upright of heart,” because his
‘heart is most conformable to the law of God, which is most upright; and as that law is the right way in which we must needs walk, the ‘‘ upright of heart” is said to be right in his way, because he never departs from the right path, which is the law of the Lord. Observe also that the just man is called ‘‘ the poor and needy,’ because all the just are poor in spirit, and though they sometimes possess the riches of this world, they understand them not to be their own, since they have to render an account of them to God; or certainly David does not speak of all the just, but only of the poor and the needy, who are oppressed by the rich. Between the “poor” and ‘ needy,” there is this difference, that the former signifies the
He is, therefore, justly
humbler, the afflicted, the meek; while “needy” signifies, properly speaking, the one. in want, who wishes for every thing, because he is thoroughly destitute. Finally, the expression, ‘‘ Let their sword enter into their own hearts, and let their bow be broken,” is more a prophecy than an imprecation. The sword of the sinner, drawn against the just, then enters into his own heart; when, while seeking to destroy the just, he really destroys himself. While he despoils the just man perhaps of his clothes, he robs himself of faith and charity ; and while he deprives the just of his life, he deprives himself of the grace of God, which is the life of the soul ; and while, by calumny, he shuts the just man up in prison, he precipitates himself into hell.
16 “‘ Better is a little to-the just, than the great riches of the wicked,
17 “ For the arms of the wicked shall be broken in pieces ; but the Lord strengtheneth the just.”
For fear the just should envy the rich wicked, and should, therefore, forsake justice to do evil, David encourages them in these two verses. ‘* Better is a little to the just, than the great riches of the wicked;? that means, a trifling income will be of more value to the just man than an immense fortune to the sinner; and, therefore, the just man, with small means, is much happier than the sinner with a large revenue; and, therefore, justice, with little wealth, is more to be sought after than much wealth with justice. The reason is, because the just man, being guided by God, knows how to turn his riches to proper account ; he is not avaricious, nor is he prodigal, and he is, therefore, neither needy, nor is he in want; he is not in debt, neither is he burdened with useless riches, to stimulate his pride or excite his passions. On the other hand, the sinner is both proud and prodigal, and knows not the use of money ; hence he is always in want, always in debt, and cannot hold his position long, as appears from what follows, ‘‘ or the arms of the wicked shall be broken into pieces ; but the Lord strengtheneth the just; that means, the power and strength of the sinner will easily fail, because he depends on the arm of the flesh, and his riches can afford him no help ; but the strength and power of the just cannot fail, because he depends on the arm of God, who, being the friend of the just, confirms and supports him. Finally, the sinner, in spite of all his riches, will not escape everlasting death; because, when he shall die, he will carry nothing with him,
-nor will his glory descend with him ; while the just
man, who, instead of trusting in the riches of this world, trusted in God, shall live for ever.
18 “The Lord knoweth the days of the undefiled ; ani their inheritance shall be for ever.
19 ‘* They shall not be confounded in the evil time ; and in the days of famine they shall be filled :”
The prophet now confirms what he said a while ago, as to the happiness of the just, however scanty their. fortune may be. ‘ The Lord knoweth the days .
of the undefiled.” God approves of their life, favours and blesses them; and, therefore, their days will be prolonged, and their inheritance shall be protected for along time. ‘ They shall not be confounded in the evil time.” In the time of want and penury they will not be in confusion, because they will not be forced to beg; “and in the days of famine they shall be filled.” So far from there being any fear of their dying of hunger in time of famine, they will be so supplied that they may eat to satiety; things that cften happen in this life, but most certainly will in the next. For, after this life, a most unheard-of season of sterility will set in, when no one can either sow or reap ; and the rich man in hell will thirst for one drop of water even, without getting it. Then, indeed, the immaculate, who stored nothing on earth, but put up every thing in heaven, shall find their everlasting inheritance, and will not be confounded with the begging of the foolish virgins, ‘ give us of your oil,” but will be fully satiated when the glory of the Lord shall have appeared.
20 ‘* Because the wicked shall perish. And the enemies of the Lord, presently after they shall be honoured and exalted, shall come to nothing, and vanish like smoke.”
A reason why “ the inheritance of the just should be for ever ;” and why “ they shall be filled in the days of famine.” That will be the case, ‘ because the wicked,” who were wont to harass them, and deprive them of their property, ‘shall perish.” The remainder of the verse corresponds with the two last verses, and the meaning is, Holy souls, as being friends of God, shall have the “ eternal inheritance,” and in the “evil day will not be confounded; but the enemies of the Lord, as all sinners are, on the contrary, shall enjoy a very brief felicity; for, so soon as ever they come to be exalted, they will vanish like smoke, which the more it is exalted, the more it is scattered, leaving not even a track of itself behind.
21 “ The sinner shall borrow, and not pay again: but the just sheweth mercy, and shall give.
22 ‘* For such as bless him shall inherit the land : but such as curse him shall perish.”
He confirms what he had stated in verse 16., viz., “ Better is a little to the just than the great riches of the wicked.’ It frequently happens that the sinner, however rich, may borrow money without returning it, because they want to live, to be dressed, or to have finer houses than they can afford; hence, they are always in debt; while the just man, however limited in his fortune, knows how to make use of that little; and hence, can afford to ‘‘ have mercy on the poor,” and “ shall give without expecting to get tt back.” “ For such as bless him,” that is God, ‘ shall inherit the land;” and thus will always have something to give—“but such as curse him;” the ungrateful, the blasphemer, “ shall perish,” so that even if they wished to give, they won't be able to do so.
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23 With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed, and he shall like well his way.
24 “* When he shall fall, he shall not be bruised ; for the Lord putteth his hand under him.”
He now begins to relate God’s singular providence in regard of the just, in order to confirm them, for fear the prosperity of the Wicked may induce them to commit sin. He states, then, that the life of the just is guided and guarded by God. “ With the Lord shall the steps of a man be directed.” The Lord, who made the just man, will direct his words and actions. “ And he shall like well his way;” that is, either the just man shall like well and follow God’s way, or God shall like his, that is, the path he is pursuing. “ When he shall fall, he shall not be bruised.” This may be referred to the disasters of the body as well as of the soul. For, should the just man meet any corporeal affliction or trouble, such as the falling down a precipice or into a pit, “he shall not be bruised;” he will not be entirely destroyed; for the “ Lord putteth his hand under him,” assists him through his providence. Should he fall into the temptation of sin, “he shall not be bruised ;” that is, he will not give full consent to mortal sin, nor will he lose his patience, his faith, or any other virtue, because God, by the assistance of his grace, will “ put his hand under him.”
25 I have been young, and now am old: and Ihave not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread.
26 ** He sheweth mercy and lendeth all the day long: and his seed shall be in blessing.”
He proves, from his own experience, that the just “ shall not be confounded in the evil time ;” and also, that “in the days of famine they shall be filled.” “ have been young, and now am old ;” and in all that space of time ‘‘ J have not seen the just forsaken ;” so as to be pinched by want; nor have I seen ‘his seed seeking bread;” that is, his children begging or seeking bread. On the contrary, I have seen the. just man “ shewing mercy and lending ;’ so abounding in the riches of the world as to be able either to. bestow altogether, or certainly to lend to his neighbours in their necessities ; and, therefore, “ hés seed,” his descendants, not only shall feel no want, but they “ shall be in blessing ;” that is, blessed by God, they will abound in the goods of this world, or they will be blessed by all, as the children of the best of parents. Observe that the mendicant religious do not come under the sentence so pronounced here, because
‘their mendicancy is voluntary, done through a love
of poverty ; nor can they be said to be forsaken by God, when he supports them by a wonderful providence. Other mendicants, generally speaking, are not the children of those who were wont “to shew mercy and to lend ;” to whom the promise was specially made. Very often they are neither just themselves, nor the children of the just. Lastly, as we have already said, the truly just, and they who trust in God, though they may seem to be deserted by God,
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secking a morsel of bread, like Lazarus, they have got something better than the goods of this world; nor would they give the virtue of patience they have got in exchange for all the riches of this world.
27 “ Decline from evil, and do good, and dwell for ever and ever.
28 “ For the Lord loveth, judgment, and will not forsake his saints: they shall be preserved for ever. ‘The unjust shall be punished, and the seed of the wicked shall perish.”
From what he had said of his experience from his youth to his old age, he concludes by an exhortation to ** decline from evil and do good,” which are the two primary precepts of justice—“ and dwell for ever and ever;” be just, and you will, in security, “* dwell in the land” for ever. He assigns a reason why. Because “ the Lord loveth judgment ;” his just and holy servants; and IJ, therefore, assert that “they shall be preserved for ever.” This promise, to acertain extent, applies to this world, where the just, through various successions, are wont to “ dwell in the land” for a long time; but, properly and absolutely speaking, it applies to the future life, which, in the land of the living, will be everlasting.
29 “ But the just shall inherit the land, and shall dwell therem for evermore.”
This verse, as well as the latter part of the preceding verse, are so clear as to need no explanation.
30 “* The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom ; and his tongue shall speak judgment.
31 “ The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted.”
Having previously said that divine Providence was on the watch to see that the just should not be oppressed by the wicked, he now adds, that the just themselves, by their own wisdom, which, too, is a gift of God, would enable them to save themselves from “ their steps being supplanted” by the wicked. “* The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom.” The just man will speak with so much wisdom, that he will not be caught in his language. To “‘ meditate wisdom” means to be discreet in our conversation, as we have explained before; which he repeats when he adds, “ and his tongue shall speak judgment,” that is, the tongue of the jast man will not scatter words at random, but will speak what is right, and at the
right time, which is the essence of speaking with wis-
dom ; and he assigns a reason for it, saying, ‘‘ the law of God is in his heart.” versation is naturally seasoned with wisdom, because he has “ the law of God in his heart;” and, therefore, while he is speaking he has the commandments of God before him, that he may not offend by his tongue; and, besides, ‘‘ the law is a light,” Prov. vi.; and, as the same David says, Psalm xviii., ‘* The law of the Lord enlighteneth the heart, giving wisdom to little ones;” and it is, therefore, no wonder if the just man, who has it in his heart, who loves to think on it, should speak with wisdom—“ and his steps shall
not be supplanted.” To supplant means to tumble another by tripping him, and that more by cunning and dexterity than by strength ; but, as the just man always thinks wisely and acts wisely, he is always on his guard, and, therefore, his ‘‘ steps shall not be supplanted.”
32 “* The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death.
383 “ But the Lord will not leave him in his hands ; nor condemn him when he shall be judged.”
These two verses are an explanation of the two preceding. ‘‘ The wicked watcheth the just man, and seeketh to put him to death,” carefully observes what he says and what he does, in order “to supplant him,” “and seeketh to put him to death ;” first to trip him up, then to killhim, a thing that very often happens in unjust prosecutions, when the judge or a false accuser seeks first to entrap an innocent person, and then to put him to death. ‘‘ But the Lord will not leave him in his hands.” The Lord will not allow the sinner so to keep the just man in his power, but will inspire him with wisdom, to detect the machinations of his enemies, and to speak with such wisdom as will enable him to elade them ; “ nor condemn him when he shall be judged.” The judge will not condemn the just man, when he shall come before him, for God will not permit justice to be so perverted.
34 “ Expect the Lord, and keep his way : and he will exalt thee to inherit the land: when the sinners shall perish thou shalt see.”
An exhortation to the just to hope in God, and persevere in justice. ‘ Hpect the Lord.’ Hope in God, even though he may seem to be tardy in his promise ; “‘ and keep his way,” observe bis law, and turn not from the path of holiness and justice in which you have set out; ‘‘and he will exalt thee to inherit the land,” when his promises shall be fulfilled, that you may obtaio the land of the living as your inheritance of right; “‘ when the sinners shall perish, thou shalt see.” When all sinners, condemned by the judgment of God, shall have perished you will see what you now hope for.
35 ‘ I have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus.
36 ‘* And I passed by, and lo, he was not: and I sought him, and his place was not found.”
Having said that, “ when the sinners shall perish, thow shalt sec;” the just man may naturally ask, when that will happen? and he therefore now says it will be immediately, for ‘‘ J have seen the wicked highly exalted, and lifted up like the cedars of Libanus,” and placed in the highest degree of dignity and power, so abounding in wealth, subjects, friends, and the like, that one would say his happiness must needs be everlasting; nevertheless, scarcely “ J passed by, and lo, he was not;” that is, in my way, I saw that man raised and rooted like the cedars of Libanus ; I had scarcely passed him, when I looked back, and he had disappeared. “J sought him,”
asked where he was, looked for some traces of his greatness, “and his place was not found,” as if he had never been there. These things are now of daily experience. To say nothing of petty kings and princes, where are those most powerful monarchs of the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans? Had history not recorded them, we would be in ignorance of their very existence. ‘Thus, while the merest traces of such powers have disappeared, yet such is human pride, and so does it blind men up, that they cannot see what they actually touch; and will not acknowledge what they must, in spite of them, feel and experience.
37 “‘ Keep innocence, and behold justice ; for there are remnants for the peaceable man.
38 ‘‘ But the unjust shall be destroyed together: the remnants of the wicked shall perish.”
A continuation of the exhortation. ‘* Keep innocence,” by keeping yourself so, and * behold justice,” judge what is right towards your neighbour ; “‘for there are remnants for the peaceable man,” because God will reward him, so that he will leave children after him. Or, in a higher meaning, because many good things are in store for the just after death, “ Hor their good works follow those who die in the Lord,” Apoc. xiv. ; on the contrary, ‘ the unjust shall be destroyed together,’ without any exception, and ** the remnants of the wicked shall perish,” they will neither leave any property nor children to enjoy it, when they shall have consumed every thing in their crimes and concupiscence. _
39 “ But the salvation of the just is from the Lord: and he is their protector in the tume of trouble.
40 ‘* And the Lord will help them and deliver them: and he will rescue them from the wicked, and save them, because they have hoped in him.”
A recapitulation of the whole Psalm sufficiently clear and perspicuous.
PSALM XXXVII.
A prayer of a penitent for the remission of his sins. The third penitential psalin.
1 Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation; nor chastise me in thy wrath.
2 For thy arrows are fastened in me: and thy hand hath been strong upon me.
3 There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath: there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins.
4 For my iniquities are gone over my head; and as a heavy burden are become heayy upon me.
5 My sores are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness.
6 Iam become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I walked sorrowful all the day long. °
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7 For my loins are filled with illusions; and there is no health in my flesh.
8 Iam afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I roared with the groaning of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before thee: and my groaning is not hidden from thee.
10 My heart is troubled, my strength hath left me: and the light of my eyes itself is not with me.
11 My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off:
12 And they that sought my soul used. violence. And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.
13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not: and as a dumb man, not opening his mouth.
14 And I became as a man that heareth not, and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.
15 For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped: thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God. ;
16 For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me; and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.
17 For lam ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before me.
18 For I will declare my iniquity: and E will think for my sin.
19 But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
20 They that render evil for good have detracted me, because I followed goodness.
21 Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me.
22 Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation.
uy “Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation ; nor chastise me in thy wrath.”
The penitent David prays to God not to punish him in his anger and his wrath, as the judge deals with the culprit; but in his mercy, as the physician See the beginning of Psalm vi., on the difference between indignation and wrath, where we make them to be synonymous; but if we will make a difference, we would say with St. Augustine, that they who are condemned to hell “are rebuked. in indignation ;” whilst they who are consigned to purgatory “ are chastised in wrath ;” but David prays to God to punish him for his sing neither in hell nor in purgatory, but here in this world. St. Augustine warns us not to make little of the fire of purgatory, as the fire there is more severe than anything one
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can suffer in this world. Another observation is, that though God’s justice is taken here in the retributive sense, as well as in Psalm ii., verse 38, and Psalm vi., verse 1, still, in other places, it is used to signify the zeal of a father angry with his children, not with a view to destroy, but to protect them.
2 “ For thy arrows are fastened in me: and thy hand hath been strong upon me.”
Knowing that nothing is of greater use in obtaining pardon of sin than a full knowledge of the evil of it, and the deploring our misfortune before God ; in this and the few following verses he mourns over the unbappiness that mortal sin brings with it. He says, then, ‘‘ Rebuke me not in thy indignation;” for I know, from experience, how severe it is; for *‘ thy arrows are fastened in me.” I have been scourged with many calamities by you for my sins; “ and thy hand hath been strong upon me;” yes, “ your arrows are fastened in me;” and not lightly, for “ your hand hath been strong upon me,” to send them home, to drive them in deeper. By such punishments and troubles, he seems to allude to the death of his son by Bethsabee, the dishonour of his daughter, the murder of his son, his expulsion from his kingdom, and other troubles, which God, in his vengeance, poured upon him. Perhaps, by those ‘‘ arrows,” he also had in view those fearful rebukes he got from the prophet Nathan, 2 Kings xii., “ Thus sazth the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee from the hand of Saul, and gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and Juda. Why, therefore, hast thou despised the word of the Lord, to do evil in my sight? Thou hast killed Urias the Hethite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife. Therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house.” Such a reproof for benefits conferred, and such threats, must have deeply affected David, and overwhelmed him with shame, fear, and sorrow.
3 “ There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath: there is no peace for my bones because of my sins.”
He describes the effect of God’s arrows, and says he is terribly confused, and cannot rest, while he brings to mind God’s anger, and his own sins that provoked it. “ There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath;” your angry looks, that are always present to my mind, make my flesh to grieve and pine away ; for interior trouble has its effect on the body, makes it to waste, languish, and decay. “There is no peace for my bones, because of my sins ;” the deformity and hideousness of my sin so confuse me, that I cannot rest, my very bones tremble.
4 ‘ For my iniquities are gone over my head ; and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me.”
He gives a reason for being so dreadfully confused when he reflects upon his sins, and says it 1s because they are so numerous and so great. As to
their number, he states, “for they have gone over my head.” Uave grown into such a heap, that they all but crush me, as one who goes into a deep river, so as to allow the water to rise over his head, is overwhelmed by them. In regard of their magnitude, “and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me;” my sins, like an insupportable burden, weigh down the powers of my soul, it being beyond my strength to satisfy so great. a debt. David’s sin was that of adultery, coupled with murder ; and now, truly penitent, he sees the many aggravations of both. He had injured a faithful servant, in depriving him of his wife, as well as of his life; he had offended Bethsabee, whom he solicited to sin, and thus spiritually killed her; he had offended his own wives, by not remaining faithful to them; he had offended the whole kingdom, nay, even the very infidels, by his bad example, for which Nathan said to him, ** Thou hast caused the enemy to blaspheme the name of the Lord; he had, lastly, offended God himself, whose laws he had openly transgressed. Counting up, therefore, the number of crimes and offences he had committed, and the number of persons he had injured by his sins, he could justly exclaim, ‘ 7y iniquities have gone over my head.” ‘The grievousness of the sin can be estimated from the circumstances. David put Urias to death; first, an innocent man ; secondly, a most faithful man; thirdly, one actually in arms for him ; fourthly, after committing adultery with his wife, he seeks to add to the disgrace ; fifthly, because he sought to make the man his own executioner; sixthly, when he wrote to Joab to procure Urias’s death, he gave him to understand that Urias was guilty of some grievous crime, and thus he injured the man’s character. His ingratitude to God, however, was the blackest feature in the whole transaction. God had bestowed on him all manner of temporal and spiritual favours in the greatest abundance, made him a great king, an accomplished prophet, a brave general, endowed him with prudence, strength, beauty, riches, every thing that the heart of man could desire; all of which contributed to aggravate the heinousness of his sins, and which he must have acutely felt when he exclaimed, “ My inequities, as a heavy burden, are become heavy on me;” and the reason why so few conceive the sorrow they ought for their sins is, that few look back upon them, and weigh them with the reflection that David did.
5 ‘* My sores are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness.”
This applies to the time between the commission of the sin of adultery and the admonition of Nathan the prophet, more than nine months. It was after the birth of the child that Nathan reproved David, and, therefore, during the nine months, David put off healing the wound through penance. Meanwhile, a sort of veil of forgetfulness had been drawn over the wound, which prevented its being seen while it never healed it; the wounds, however, remained, began,
to “ putrefy and corrupt,” and to become more incurable, which he now deplores, saying, “ JZy sores,” not by the fault of the physician, but through carelessness and forgetfulness, “are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness.” My folly was the cause of not perceiving them, and the same folly caused me to allow them to putrefy, and thus spread the foul stench of the scandal in all quarters.
6 “* Tam become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I walked sorrowful all the day long.”
From the corruption and putrefaction of his sores he became “ miserable and bowed down,” which can be understood in two senses, as regards the sin, or as regards the punishment. or he who sins grievously, especially against the sixth commandment, by the very fact becomes miserable, because he thereby abandons God, our supreme good; ‘bows himself down” to the earth, becomes like the beasts, and, therefore, miserable, very miserable, which is conveyed in the phrase, “even to the end;” namely, he is so miserable that he could not possibly be more so, or more ‘‘ bowed down ;” having given up the delights of the angels for the sensuality of the beasts. ‘The expression, ‘to the end,” does not mean the end of life, or the world, or for ever; but it means that he was so bowed down, that he could not be bowed down farther, as appears from the Hebrew. As regards the punishment, the passage may apply to that
‘also ; for the man guilty of sins of this class becomes “‘ miserable, and is bowed down” very much, by remorse of conscience, by fear of God’s anger, and by the shame that so humbles and confounds him, that he has not the courage to raise his eyes to heaven. Both constructions of it can be united in this way. I am become miserable by reason of my sin, and the punishment consequent on it, and very much bowed down, because I have turned to carnal and grovelling pleasure the face of that soul I should have fixed upon God; through shame, I dare not look up to heaven, and, thus humble and abject, I am forced to look upon the ground, and for all these reasons “ J walked sorrowful all the day long,” my conscience always reproving and accusing me; for what pleasure can the wretch feel once he becomes cognizant of his own wretchedness.
7 ‘* For my loins are filled with illusions ; and there
is no health in my flesh. 8 “Tam afflicted and humbled exceedingly : I roared
with the groaning of my heart.”
He passes now from his own sins to the general corruption consequent on the sin of our first parents, which was the original source of his sin in particular; and from such corruption he says that he is afflicted and humbled, is continually roaring and groaning. “For my loins,’ the seat of sensuality, having shaken off the yoke of original justice, are constantly bringing forth sinful and dangerous desires, and are thus “‘ filled with ulusions” of the evil spirits, * and there is no health inmy flesh,” because nothing good is
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to be found therein, but, on thecontrary, a nest of evil passions that weaken it; therefore, ‘J am afflicted and humbled exceedingly,” because I am ashamed to have to say that I, a rational being, should not keep myself beyond the reach of such low concupiscence ; and, therefore, ‘‘ Troared,” through grief, “ with the groaning of my heart,” which provoked me so to cry out and bemoan.
9 ‘ Lord, all my desire is before thee : and my groaning is not hidden from thee.”
Having said that the groanings of his heart caused hin to roar; he now tells us to whom those groans were directed, viz., to him who “ searcheth the heart,” and knows “* what the spirit desireth.” ‘* Lord, all my desire ts before thee;” you, O Lord alone, see the whole extent of my desires, which turn entirely on the being delivered from my evil concupiscence, that I may, at length, arrive at the sabbath of perfect rest ; and, on this subject “‘ my groaning is not hidden from thee,” similar to what the Apostle writes, Rom. viii., “Even-we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body.”
10 ‘* My heart is troubled, my strer.gth hath left me : and the light of my eyes itself is not with me.”
He goes on describing the corruption of human natnre, and says, ‘‘ My heart is troubled,” meaning, the intestinal war between his inferior and superior parts; and adds, ‘‘my strength hath left me;” for such is the weakness caused by the rebellion, that man must, whether he will or not, be subject to evil desires, and exclaim with the Apostle, Rom. vii., “ For, ta will good is present with me, but to accomplish that which is good I find not.” Finally, he adds, ‘* and the light of my eyes itself ts not with me.” The same rebellion has not only caused infirmity of. purpose, but also blindness of intellect. We often judge of things not as they are, but as they appear to us; however badly disposed we may be, as those labouring under fever think what is sweet is bitter, and what is bitter is sweet; and, therefore, he does not say, the light of my eyes is extinct, but, ‘is. not with me;” for the light of prayer and of understanding is in the soul, but being oppressed by our: corruptible body and our carnal desires, we cannot make use of it; and, therefore, he says, the ‘ light of my eyes,” meaning interior light, “is not with me,” to guide me, though it is really within me. It is there in reality, but not practically.
11“ My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off.”
Having described the internal war that is constantly going on within man, he now speaks of the external war, the persecutions and sufferings that: are consequent on sin. He first complains of his friends and neighbours rising up against him ; particularly in Absalom’s rebellion, in which he wag
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joined’ by a great number of David’s friends and neighbours. “And they that were near me stood afar off,” while some of his friends, such as Absalom and his companions, pressed in upon him to put bim to death; his own servants and soldiers ‘ who were near him,” stood aloof and did not protect him.
12 ‘ And they that sought my soul used violence. And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied decetts all the day long.
13 “ But I, as a deafman, heard not: and asa dumb man not opening his mouth.
14 “ And I became as a man that heareth not, and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.”
All these are true to the letter, as may be seen in the Second Book of Kings, where,when Semei railed at David, called him the son of Belial, the invader of the kingdom, he bore it with the most incredible patience, and would not allow one of his followers to harm or even reprove him ; and thus, it was literally true of him that “‘ he became as a deaf man, that heareth not; and as a dumb man, that hath no reproofs in his mouth.”
15 “‘ For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped: thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God.”
He assigns three reasons for having been so deaf and so silent ; the first is, because he considered it would be of more service to him to put his trust in God, than in any defence he could set up for himself, I was silent, “for in thee, O Lord, have I hoped.” I paid no attention to all the false and idle abuse so heaped upon me ; because I was conscious that you, who are the just judge, giving to every one according to their works, and in whom Ihave always hoped, was looking at, and hearing every thing ; and as I did put my trust in thee, ‘ thow wilt hear me, O Lord, my God,” and deliver me from their “ unjust lips, and deceitful tongue.”
16 ‘ For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me ; and whalst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.” 5
Another reason why he chose to be silent and deaf. It is better for me to have patience, and trust in God’s assistance, for fear, by getting into impatience, and returning malediction for malediction, God may desert me, and thus, ‘‘ my enemies may rejoice over me;” may glory in my fall: ‘‘ and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me ;” that is, Ihave much reason to fear my enemies would greatly rejoice at my downfall; for, ‘‘ whilst my feet are moved,” when they begin to totter, and I appear
inclined to fall, (as was the case in his son’s re-
bellion,) my “enemies spoke great things against me,” threatening me, and predicting the speedy loss of my kingdom.
17 ‘‘ For Iam ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before me.”
A third reason for being silent and deaf before his
enemies. My sins make me “ ready for scourges,” not only of the tongue, but also of the lash; because
“my sorrow,” Which I richly deserved, “ is continu= ally before me.” Or, if you will, because “my sorrow,” that is, my sin, which is the cause of continual sorrow to me, never left my heart.
18 ‘ For I will declare my iniquity: and I will think Sor my sin.” ;
He assigns a reason for being prepared for the scourge, because I acknowledge and confess that I sinned, and thereby deserved it ; “and I will think Jor my sin,” how I may make sufficient atonement for it. A salutary lesson to the sinner to use all efforts to make satisfaction, and gladly to seize on every opportunity of exercising their patience, when God is good enough to give them the opportunity.
19 “* But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.”
Having explained the reasons why he thought proper to remain silent and deaf before his enemies, that by his patience he may propitiate the Almighty, he contrasts that patience with the malice of his enemies. He did not return evil for evil; they, on the contrary, returned evil for good; and yet they enjoyed life, they exulted and were strengthened, which are noted here by David, with a view of moying God to deal more mercifully with himself. “dy enemies live, and are stronger than me;” I am humbled and afflicted, and yet bear everything as patiently as if I were deaf and dumb ; in the meantime, “my enemies live; are quite alive, and active, and exulting, ‘‘ and are stronger than me;” have grown stronger and braver, and ‘‘ are multiplied;” have increased in number ‘‘ who hate me wrongfully,” without any just cause or provocation. He, probably, refers to Absalom’s conspiracy, who falsely persuaded the people that the king would appoint no judges but unjust ones, which he would remedy were he appointed king. Hence the people rebelled, and ‘‘ with their whole heart followed Absalom.”
20 ‘ They that render evil for good have detracted me, because I followed goodness.”
He proves his assertion as to his enemies hating him without any just cause, “* 7hey that render evil for good have detracted me without cause, because I followed goodness.” Most truly have my enemies hated me without cause, for the very people that most detracted me were those that “returned evil for good;” for instance, his son Absalom, and his minister Achitophel. Absalom had received many favours from his father. A short time before, his life, which he had forfeited by the murder of his brother, had been spared; and still he denounced his father as unjust and careless, telling those who came to the king for justice, “* Your case seems to be fair and just, but the king will appoint no one to hear you.” 2 Kings xv. Achitophel, also, who was raised to the greatest honours by David, to be even his prime minister, forgot all and revolted to Absalom, and gave him most pernicious advice against his father. ‘“And
they that render evil for good have detracted me;” but they did so, ‘‘ because I followed goodness ;” beeause I acted sincerely and honestly in every thing, in striking contrast to their unjust and impious thoughts and desires.
21 * Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me.
22 “ Attend unto my help, QO Lord, the God of my salvation.”
From what he said he infers that God will protect him, and prays he may, and nearly repeats the first verses of the Psalm. God punishes, in his indignation and in his wrath, when he deprives man of his grace, departs from him as from an eneny, and leaves him among his enemies, without giving him the slightest assistance. Having said in the beginning of the Psalm, ‘‘Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation,” so he now says again in the end, ** forsake mz not, O Lord my God.” Let not your grace desert me, for you are the Lord that made me, and the God that created me for yourself, the supreme happiness—“ Do not depart from me,” as from an enemy; but rather, as a father, “attend unto my help; look with care to my assistance; you, ‘‘ O Lord, the God of my salvation,” you who are the source of my salvation, from whom alone I expect it, and in whom alone F trust. Such seems to be the literal meaning of this Psalm. . However, as many of the holy fathers apply the Psalm to Christ, and it is possible that the whole Psalm was intended for Christ, we now give an explanation of it in that sense.
COMMENTARY
eee
ANOTHER EXPLANATION OF PSALM XXXVIL.
1 “ Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation ; nor ‘chastise me in thy wrath.”
Christ speaks for his body, the Church, and prays it may be freed.
2 “* For thy arrows are fastened in me : and thy hand hath been strong upon me.”
He says, he asks in justice for it, because he had taken upon himself the arrows of God’s anger that were upon it.
3‘ There is no health in my flesh, because of thy wrath : there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins.
He describes his passion generally, by reason of which, ‘‘ from the sole of his foot to the top of his head there was no health in him;? and when he says, ‘“because of my sins,” we are not to understand his own
sins, hut those he made his own, that he might atone for them,
4 “ For my iniquities are gone over my head jand as
a heavy burden.are become heavy upon me.” He says, the reason there was no health in him, “from the sole of his foot to the top of his head, was,
ON THE PSALMS,
that the sins he undertook to atone for were so nu-. merous and so grievous, that they rose over his head, and weighed him down.
5 ‘* My sores are putrefied and corrupted ; because of my foolishness.
6 ‘‘ I am become miserable, and am bowed down ever to the end: I walked sorrowful all the day long.
7 “* For my loins are filled with illusions ; and there is no health in my flesh.’ .
He says those things for his body, deploring the corruption of the human race, as if one would say: I am sick in my feet, my hands, and my stomach ; the heart is speaking meanwhile, but does not speak of the pain itself suffers, but of what the members suffer.
8 “ Iam afflicted and humbled exceedingly ; Lroared with the groaning of my heart.”
He now begins to enter into the details of his passion, alluding here to the prayer in the garden.
9 “ Lord, allmy desire is before thee : and my groan= ing ws not hidden from thee.
10 ‘‘ My heart is troubled, my strength hath left me : and the light of my eyes itself is not with me.”
The prayer in the garden, still alluded to, in which he asked ‘to have the chalice pass from him;” and he began to ‘‘be confused, to fear, to despond, and to be sad,” and to feel the full force of his approaching passion ; he would not have the strength and light of the divine consolation, so that an Angel from heaven had to come and strengthen him.
11 “* My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me. And they that were near me stood afar off :”
Fulfilled to the letter in Judas his friend, and the Jews his neighbours, when they laid hands on him. The latter was fulfilled in Peter, who followed him at a distance, and the Apostles who fled altogether.
12 ‘* And they that sought my soul used violence. And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.” A
Alluding to the council of the chief priests, anxiously seeking false witnesses to destroy him.
13 ‘* But I, as a deaf man, heard not : and as a dumb man, not opening his mouth.
14 “* And I became as a man that heareth not, and that hath no reproofs in his mouth.”
Literally applying to Christ, who first before Caiphas, then before Pilate and Herod, set up no defence, but “lke a lamb in the hands of the shearer, was silent,” Isaias liii,
15 ‘‘ For in thee, O Lord, have I hoped: thou wilt hear me, O Lord my God.”
An allusion to the same silence. He was silent before man, because he would not be silent before God, from whom he expected his reward, the salvation of his people.
16 ‘For Isaid: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice
over me ; and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.” 4
COMMENTARY
Christ displayed the most unconquerable patience, for fear his enemies should rejoice at his want of it. “While his feel were moved;” while he appeared for a while to be weak and infirm, “‘ they spoke great things against him, saying, “If he were not an evil doer, we would not have delivered him up to you.” “We found this man perverting our nation.”
17 “ For Iam ready for scourges ; and my sorrow is continually before me.”
And so he was scourged, slapped on the face, and crowned with thorns.
18 “ For Iwill declare my iniquity: and I will think for my sin.”
He will declare a sin he did not commit, but which he assumed to atone for; and “he will think,” yes, and anxiously, how to destroy it thoroughly, which
he did, “when he bore our sins in his body upon the |
19 “ But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrong fully are multiplied.”
Accomplished when the chief priests, thinking they had succeeded, exulted, and insulted him as he hung upon the cross.
20 “ They that render evil for good have detracted me, because I follow goodness.”
Namely, when they said to him on the cross, “Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God; and also, “let him now come down from the cross.”
21 “ Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me.”
The very words our Saviour made use of when he said, ‘* My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” ,
22 “ Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation.”
** Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wiltthou give thy Holy One to see corruption ; but help me, shew me the ways of life, and fill me with joy with thy countenance,” Psalm xy.
PSALM XXXVIII.
A just man’s peace and patience in his sufferings: considering the vanity of the world, and the providence of God.”
1 I said: I will take heed to my ways, ghat I sin not with my tongue. I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me
2 I was dumb and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.
3 My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.
4 I spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end, and what is the number
ON
of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days maasurable: and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity, every man living.
6 Surely man passeth as an Image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.
7 And now whatis my hope? is it not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.
8 Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.
9 Iwas dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.
10 Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes:
11 Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider: surely in vain is any man disquieted.
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent; for lam astranger with thee, andasojourner as all my fathers were.
13 O forgive me, that I may be refreshed, before I go hence, and be no more.
THE PSALMS.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “TL said: 1 will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. Ihave seta guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.”
David, in his solicitude not to lose true happiness, deliberated and firmly resolved to use great circumspection in all his acts, so that, if possible, he should not sin, even by word, as if he heard the Apostle saying, Walk with caution ;” or another Apostle, “* He that does not offend in word, he is a perfect man.” Te commences, thea, ‘ Z said.” I resolved with myself, made it a law, determined, ‘‘Z will take heed to my ways;” that I will most cautiously walk in the way that leads to life, that I will take great care where I put my steps, for fear of falling into a pit, or knocking against a stone, or choosing the slobbery instead of the clean path, or the crooked instead of the straight road; in one word, I resolved and determined to consider and reflect upon all my actions. And, as nothing is easier or more dangerous than to fall into sin through our tongue; for, from the inconsiderate use of it, arise ‘‘strife, contentions, quarrels,” and other evils, so numerous, that St. James said, “Tne tongue is a world of iniquity ;” the prophet, therefore, emphatically says, “ That I sin not with my tongue;” that is to say, in this respect especially,
- T will take heed to my ways,” “ that I may not sin with my tongue,” for thus I will escape incalculable evils. ‘I have set a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me.” There is no time we are in greater danger of transgressing through our tongue than when we are provoked by detraction or by insult; and, therefore, the prophet says, ‘‘ I have sel a guard to my mouth, when the sinner stood against me ;” that means, when any ill-conditioned person should irritate me by detraction, reproaches, or injurious language of any sort, then, especially, “ I set a guard on my mouth,” for fear of giving expression to anything I may afterwards regret.
2 “Iwas dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things: and my sorrow was renewed.”
He tells us what guard he put on his mouth. “ J was dumb,” I was as silent as if I had been dumb, “and was humbled ;” kept my patience in the greatest humility, “ and kept silence from good things,” forebore even my just defence, and equally just reproof of those who offended me ; ‘‘ and my sorrow was renewed,” because I did not defend myself. Such is the explanation of St. Augustine.
3‘ My heart grew hot within me: and in my meditation a fire shall flame out.”
He tells us the effect of the sorrow so renewed. “ My heart grew hot within me;” from the sorrow so conceived, my heart began to warm into love; and then I began to meditate on the misery of man, the mercy of God, man’s ingratitude, and the overflowing love of God towards all classes, even towards the ungrateful and the wicked. ** And in my meditation a fire shall flame out,” sucha fire as that of which the two disciples said, ‘* Was not our heart burning within us whilst he was speaking in the way, and opened to us the Scriptures?” Careful and attentive meditation on spiritual matters is the ordinary way to light up within us the fire of the love of God.
4 “TI spoke with my tongue: O Lord, make me know my end; and what is the number of my days: that I may know what is wanting to me.”
In consequence of that internal heat, “ J spoke with my tongue,” not with the tongue, as we understand it, but in the tongue known to myself. ‘ O Lord, make me know my end, and what is the number of my days;” we are not to imagine, for a moment, that he asked to know how long he had to live ; that would have been a sinfu! and an idle curiosity ; and, therefore, he prefaced it by saying, ‘J spoke with my tongue,” in language of my own, with a meaning of my own. He meant then to convey that the life of man is extremely short, and next to nothing. But as very few seem to know such truth, however clear and confirmed by experience, he prays to God not to let him fall into the error so many have fallen into, of looking upon that to be lasting that was so very transitory. For why are the greater part of mankind so intent on amassing riches? Why do
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
they fight and contend for them so fiercely ? Why do they neglect and despise the future so entirely, but because they either do not think, or do not believe that the present life will fly away like a shadow ? He says, therefore, “ O Lord, make me know my end.” By thy grace enlighten me, that I may know. the end of my life cannot be far away ; “ and what is the number of my days,” that by deep reflection I may see how few they are, and how short is my term here below. ‘The following verses will prove this to be the true explanation. For though he was heard by the Lord, he does not say how long he had got to live ; but be endeavours to prove, in various ways, that the term of human life is very short, especially when compared to eternity.
5 ‘+ Behold, thou hast made my days measurable : and my substance is as nothing before thee. And indeed all things are vanity, every man living.”
Having got the knowledge he asked from God, he states “his days are measurable,” so short that they can be easily measured ; and, not satisfied with telling that so plainly, he adds, “and my substance isas nothing before thee.” What signifies the shortness of my days, when “ my substance,” my very essence, my existence, is nothing in thy presence. It may be something in the sight of man, who sees the present only, but ‘ before thee,” who beholdest the future, who seest eternity that hath no bounds, it is absolutely nothing. For, what are a few years, that glide away so quickly, compared to boundless eternity? “And, indeed, all things are vanity.” He explains more fully, and endeavours to persuade us of the truth he saw himself so clearly, not only is our life extremely short, but even “every man living,’ be he king or monarch, whom all admire, and to whom all look up, he too, is all vanity, for, whatever health, strength, beauty, riches, dignity, or power he may be possessed of, is all frail, fragile, and passing.
6 “+ Surely man passeth as an image: yea, and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up: and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things.”
The prophet, seeing mankind buried in such a profound sleep, in spite of the forcible language he had hitherto used, has now recourse to more forcible language, in the hope of rousing them. As it may be objected to him that man’s life, after all, cannot be said to be nothing, when we see so many abounding in wealth, honours, health, strength, and the like; the prophet now asserts that such things are not real blessings, but the image and the shadow of true blessings ; and, therefore, that men are fools in being troubled at not having them, orin losing them when they have them; just as a king who would fret and grieve for the loss of a toy kingdom, while hehad his real kingdom. ‘ Surely man passeth as an image.” Man walks and passes through life in the image, not in the reality of things, having before him on his journey, not the realities, but the images and the shadows. ‘This life is but an image
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
of the happy life that alone is the true one; the health of this life is only an image of the immortality that alone deserves the name of health; the beauty of this world is only the shadow of the beauty with which we will be clothed when “the just shail shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The riches of this world are no riches, they are merely the image of the riches we shall have when we shall need nothing ; for then God willbe all unto all. The same may be said of wisdom, glory, grandeur, and every thing else we call blessings. ‘And he is disquieted in vain.” Man, in his anxiety for Keeping what he has, or for acquiring more, is troubled. In vain does he rejoice when he gains, and deplore when he loses, as if all those things were valuable, solid, and permanent; while they are but ‘imaginary, frail, and perishable. ‘“ He storeth up, and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather those things.” By one argument, he proves how idle men are in labouring to acquire, increase, and protect the wealth of this world. People think they are storing up for their children and grandchildren, who will greatly revere the memory of their parents ; while it not unfrequently happens that those children die in early life, and the inheritance passes to a stranger or to an enemy. Often these very heirs, in a few years, squander and dissipate the savings and gatherings of the long life of the parents. Often an ungrateful ‘heir comes in, who, instead of revering the memory of his parents, never ceases to damage and vilify it ; and had all those things been foreseen, the owners would have sought to lodge their treasures in heaven, and certainly would have had a happier life of it here. ‘See Ecclesiasticus, chap. ii., 4. 5. and 6. _ 7 “And now whatis my hope? is a not the Lord? and my substance is with thee.”
Looking at the shortness and the vanity of this life, so clearly demonstrated, the prophet determines on putting his hope in God alone. ‘ And now,” in this state of things, ‘‘ what is my hope?” what do I hope for, ask for, wish for? ‘‘2s a not the Lord ?” is he not my hope, my desire. Turning to the Lord, ‘then, he says, “ and my substance is with thee.” My life, my riches, are with you; I hold all things created _as nothing, I desire you alone beyond every thing, because in you alone is every thing.
8 ‘ Deliver thou me from all my iniquities : thou hast made me a reproach to the fool.”
As he said he despised all things earthly, looked to God alone, and “ put all his hope in him;” he, in consequence, adds, that his only trouble is for his sins, and not for the reproaches of men. ‘“‘ Deliver thou me from all my iniquities.” They are the only things that can come in the way, and keep me from you; and, therefore, I earnestly pray you deliver me from them, from all of them; the past as well as the ‘future, by blotting out the one, and preventing the ‘other. Here we must remark, that the most perfect, ‘though they despise the world, and seek God with
LaT
their whole heart, have always something to ask forgiveness for; and, theefore, that they should be always sure to pray to God daily for pardon of their daily sins. ‘‘ Thou hast made me a reproach to the Jool.” This part of the verse has reference to the following verse, and is thus connected with it. Thou hast made me a reproach to the fool, and I was dumb, and opened not my mouth. He means to convey, that by reason of his having said that all things earthly were vain and despicable, and that we should put our bope in God alone, he was derided by the fools, who did not understand the things that pertain to God. As the Gospel says of Christ our Lord, ‘‘ The Pharisees, who were all avaricious, heard those things, and scoffed at hum.”
9 “ Twas dumb, and I opened not my mouth, because thou hast done it.”
When I heard the fool reproach me, I neither answered nor defended myself ; ‘* J was dumb ;” as if I had lost the use of my speech, nay, more, ‘* J opened not my mouth.” I behaved as if I were deaf, and heard none of their reproaches, for those who are dumb, without being deaf, open their mouth, and at-
tempt an answer; but those who are deaf and dumb, neither speak nor make at attempt at it; and he assigns the reason why he did so, ‘‘ because thou hast done tt;” it was you caused those reproaches to be cast upon me; it was you held me up for derision. He assigns the very same reason for bearing the railing of Semei with so much patience, 2 Kings xv. ; Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bid him curse David; and who is he that shall dare say, why hath he done so ?” It must, however, be noted that God did not command Semei to rail at David, so as to make his obedience therein a meritorious act; for we know tbat Semei grievously sinned by so persecuting David, and that he was severely punished by Solomon for it afterwards ; but God is said to have commanded Semei therein, because he saw his bad and evil dispositions, and made use of them to punish and correct David.
10 ‘‘ Remove thy scourges from me. The strength of thy hand hath made me faint in rebukes :
11 “ Thou hast corrected man for iniquity. And thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider : surely in vain is any man disquieted.”
“© Remove thy scourges from me.” I willingly submit to the scoffs and reproaches of the fool, knowing them to proceed from your fatherly correction, for my humiliation; but I cannot stand your scourges, and I beseech of you dispense with them. By his “ scowrges’” he means the racks and torments which God, in his anger, has recourse to; not as a father or a physician, but as a judge, in the spirit in which David already said, * Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger.” Such scourges are blindness of intellect, hardness of heart, a reprobate sense, and damnation itself, to everlasting fire. ‘* The strength of thy hand hath made me faint with rebukes.” ‘The
reason he is so extremely anxious to escape the scourges of God is, because he has had experience, both in himself and in others, of their severity. As to himself—I have felt the force and “ the strength of thy hand,” blighting and withering me, so ‘‘ that I fainted” in thy rebukes, when you cruelly and fearfully “rebuked me in your anger.” That he did when Te suffered him, for his sin of adultery, to fall into the greater sin of murder; and into such blindness, that he did not come to himself for many months; nor know his state, that is, the loss of his soul: for no punishment is more grievous than when one sin is punished by the commission of another. The Apostle, Rom. i., teaches us that sin is sometimes the punishment of sin ; and a dreadful punishment ; more to be feared than any other known punishment. “ Because that when they had known God, they have not glorified him as God. Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, to dishonour their own bodies ;” and again, ‘‘ for this cause God delivered them up to shameful affections ;” and again, “and as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient.” The prophet then says, that in addition to such cruel punishment, ‘ thow hast corrected man for iniquity ; and thou hast made his soul to waste away like a spider.” For the sins just named you have corrected the sinner in your wrath, and wasted away his soul like a spider, whose whole time is taken up in weaving webs to catch flies, and is, in the meantime, itself dried up and perishes. Thus the souls of the carnal, by the just judgment of God, are perpetually labouring in acquiring the things of this world, and in such labour waste all their understanding and intellect, whence the soul becomes so dried up and exhausted of the moisture of divine grace, as never to think of its salvation, or to be moved by the slightest desire of eternal happiness ; as an antidote against which aridity the prophet asks, in Psalm Ixii., “ Let my soul be filled as with marrow and fatness.” He concludes by saying, surely in vain is any man disquieted. Any man whose soul wastes away like a spider, is disgusted without cause, labours in vain, is needlessly troubled, for “ what doth it profit a man of he gain the whole world, and lose his soul 2”
12 “ Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: gwe ear to my tears. Be not silent ; for 1 am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were.”
He concludes the Psalm by praying to God with great affection. The matter of his prayer will be explained presently; but we have to remark here, that by the word ‘prayer’ is meant the simple petition ; and by “‘ supplication,” earnest, vehement, loud petition; by “tears” are meant the affections, that have more effect with God than any words. “ Be not silent.” He again demands to be heard, without telling what he wants; but he speaks to him who knows what the spirit desires. ‘ Be not
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
silent.” Answer your petitioner, despise not his intreaties ; for he who is silent on hearing a petition, is supposed thereby to refuse to grantit. He assigns a reason why he should be heard, “for J am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” For you know that I do not belong to this world, that Lam “a stranger and a sojourner” in it, and, therefore, a citizen of Jerusalem, the city above, though I may wander here for a while. You have, then, a right to hear one of your own citizens, in his exile, crying to you from his wanderings. St. John Chrysostom remarks how great and spiritual a man. David must have-been, when, at the head of a kingdom, and abounding in riches, he so truly avows he is nothing more than a stranger and an exile.
13 ‘O, forgive me, that I may be refreshed, befare I go hence, and be no more.”
He now explains what his prayer is, that ef which he says in Psalm xxxi., ‘‘ Lor this shall every one that ts holy pray to thee in a seasonable time.” He asks, then, ‘‘ with a strong cry and tears,” for pardon of his sins, that, his conscience being at ease, he may return in joy from his wanderings to his country; and, in fine, he asks for grace and glory ; a petition put up to God, by those alone who seek him with all their heart, and despise the world and its vanities. “ O, forgive me;” be not a harsh creditor; press me not for payment of the debt ; seek not to recover what I have foolishly squandered; “that I may be re- Sreshed befure I go hence;” before I leave the world ; for, if you do not forgive me here, I will not go to rest, but to prison ; therefore, “say to my soul, £ am thy salvation,” before you order it to leave my body, “and be no more” ‘a stranger or a foreigner,” but “ fellow-citizen with the saints, and a domesti of God.” :
PSALM XXXIX. Christ's coming, and redeeming mankind,
1 With expectation I have waited for the Lord; and he was attentive to me.
2 And he heard my prayers, and brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.
3 And he put a new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Manyshall see,and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.
4 Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.
5 Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. I have declared, and I have spoken: they are multiplied aboye number pa .
6 Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire; but thou hast pierced ears for me. Burnt-offering and sin-offering thou didst not require:
7 Then said I: Behold, I come. head of the book it is written of me _ 8 That I should do thy will: O my God, Ihave desired 2, and thy law in the midst of my heart.
2 Ihave declared thy justice in a great church: lo, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.
10 I have not hid my justice within my heart: I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.
11, Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.
12 For evils without number have surrounded me: my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are muitiplied above the hairs of my head: and my heart hath forsaken me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: look down, O Lord, to help me.
14 Let them be confounded and ashamed together that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward, and be ashamed that desire evils to me.
15 Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me: “Tis well, ’tis well.
16 Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say always: The Lord be magnified.
17 But I am a beggar and poor; the Lord is careful for me. ‘Thou art my helper and my protector; O my God, be not slack.
In the
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 ‘¢ With expectation I have waited for the Lord; and he was attentive to me.”
Christ, in the person of his people, declares how long the redemption was expected. It was looked for during four thousand years; while, in the meantime, mankind was promised deliverance from the miseries into which they had fallen by the sin of our first parents, sometimes through the prophets and patriarchs, sometimes through figures and oracles. “* With expectation I have waited for the Lord,” for along time, without any intermission. [have been expecting the Lord to have mercy, to visit and to free his people, “and he was attentive to me.” I have not been disappointed, for he has heard me.
2 And he heard my prayers, and brought me out
119 | of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs. Anil he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.”
He now explains the expression in the last verse, “ he was attentive to me,” for “he heard my prayers ;” and the consequence was, that “he brought me out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs.” The Hebrew for “ pit of misery,” conveys the idea of a deep dark place, full of the “ mzre of dregs,” into which many have fallen, from whose groans and lamentations the greatest disorder and confusion ensue. Such is the state of the wicked, who have not known God and his commandments; and are stuck in the mud of their carnal desires, that renders them not only incapable of arriving at eternal happiness, but causes them to quarrel and wrangle perpetually with each other. The grace of the Redeemer brings us out of this pit, so scon as we begin, through faith, to know the true God, the real and eternal happiness; and, liberated through hope and charity from our carnal desires, we have peace with God and with ourselves. “ And he set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps.” He that had fallen into the “pit of misery,” fell from the path in which God had originally placed him, and made it a safe and easy path to the kingdom of heaven; and, therefore, he who afterwards rescued him “ from the pit of misery and the mire of dregs,” put him back on a path solid and firm, and quite as straight and level; which is the meaning of, ‘‘he set my feet upon a rock,” the feet he rescued from a deep and miry pit he has put upon a high and firm rock, “ and the rock was Christ ;” for he says of himself, ‘J am the way, the truth, and the life.” He, therefore, put the feet of the just on the faith, the doctrine, andthe example of Christ, that they may follow his footsteps ; “‘ and directed my steps.” He not only put me on the solid, but also on the straight road, and thus “ directed my steps in the way of peace.” :
3 “ And he puta new canticle into my mouth, a song to our God. Many shall see, and shall fear: and they shall hope in the Lord.”
The moment God put me onthe straight and firm road I began to “sing a new canticle.” Theretofore, while I was the ‘* old man,” I sung nothing but what turned upon the world and its pleasures ; but once I became “renewed in the spirit of my mind,” I began to sing ‘‘a new canticle’ on the love of God, one that God himself “‘ put into my mouth,” which, therefore, is one most agreeable to him. “ Many shall see and shall fear, and they shall hope in the Lord.” God’s people now delivered from the pit of misery, or Christ himself, in the person of his people, so delivered, foretells that many will be likewise delivered. “ Many shall see” the pit of misery, and those that have been saved from it, “and will fear and will hope tn the Lord;” will fear the pit, and put their trust in the deliverer, for the first step to salvation is, when God, by his grace, begins to open the eyes of the sinner, to see his miserable state, and to feel
through whom he can be delivered, and thence begins “to fear and to hope in the Lord.”
4 * Blessed is the man whose trust ts in the name of the Lord; and who hath not had regard to vanities, and lying follies.”
He invites, exhorts, and encourages all to imitate those who have been delivered. “ Blessed is the man whose trust ts in the name of the Lord.” Truly happy is he who has really placed all his hope in the Lord, who alone is all-powerful and merciful; and, therefore, is both willing and able to deliver from every trouble, all those that put their trust in him. To make the matter clearer, he adds, ‘‘ and who hath not regard to vanities, and lying follies ;? who looked for help from no one, especially from vain, empty things, that can save no one; “ and lying follies.” Such fallacious helps as have just been alluded to, including astrology, incantations, witchcraft, &., in which many believe and confide, but which may be justly designated as “lying follies.”
5 ‘ Thou hast multiplied thy wonderful works, O Lord my God: and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee. JI have declared, and I have spoken: they are multiplied above number.”
He now proceeds to explain that most profound mystery of man’s redemption, through which many have been, and many more will be, brought out of “the pit of misery and the mire of dregs;’ and he first. states, in general, that the works of God are wonderful. ‘¢ Thow hast multiphed thy wonderful works, O Lord my God, and in thy thoughts there is no one like to thee.” There is no one like thee in thy thoughts, or the forecastings of thy wisdom, not one to be compared to thee. ‘I have declared, and I have spoken; they are multiplied above number.” A reason assigned, why noone can be compared to God in regard of his wonderful works and profound thoughts ; and he says, ‘I have declared, and I have spoken;” I have made known some of his wonderful works, through the prophets, through the wise, through the very elements of the world; for, ‘‘ the heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the works of his hands.” ‘ They are multiplied above number ;” they are so numerous that they are past counting, and, therefore, cannot be properly announced or explained.
6 “' Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire ; but thou hast pierced ears forme. Burnt-offering and sinoffering thou didst not require :”
Truly “ wonderful are all God’s works ;” in all of them “the depth of his thoughts” most splendidly appear, but far and away, and beyond, and above all, in his work of the redemption: what can be imagined more marvellous than for God to stoop to the form of a servant, to become a beggar and a pauper, to rescue man from the “ pit of misery,” and raise him to the enjoyment of heaven? To have the same God, in the form of a servant, scourged with rods, and crucified between robbers, that he may place his
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servants in the choir of Angels? and to carry out all these things with the greatest wisdom, the greatest justice, without offering the slightest injury to the Divinity, nay, even thereby augmenting his glory ? ! Christ bimself, using the pen and the language of David, explains this mystery in the following verses. “* Sacrifice and oblation thou didst not desire;” you would not be* appeased by the sacrifice of cattle, nor by the oblation of bread and incense, but by a victim of infinite price ; you, therefore, wished me to assume a mortal body, that by my ‘‘ obedience even unto death,” I may atone for the disobedience of the first man; and since you refused “ sacrifice” of cattle and ‘‘oblation” for sin, “‘ then said I: Behold, I come,” that I may be the priest and the sacrifice ; and thus satisfy for the human race, and ‘ bring them out of the pit of misery and the mire of dregs.” Observe here, that by “ sacrifice and oblations” we are rather to understand the victim or matter offered, than the rite or ceremony. Observe also, that though the prophet says, “‘ sacrifice and oblations thou didst not desire,’ we are not thence to infer the sacrifices of the old law were of no value; what he conveys is, that they were of no value in regard of making satisfaction for sin, as the Apostle says to the Hebrews, ‘“‘ For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats, sins should be taken away.” ‘* But thou hast pierced ears for me.” There are a variety of versions of this sentence, some conveying the idea of Christ having his ears ready for his father’s command to save man; the present reading conveying the idea, that he was in the hands of his father, like a slave who had his ears pierced, ready, at a moment’s notice, to do his master’s bidding. “7 “ Then said I: Behold, I come. In the head of the
book it is written of me.
8 “ That I should do thy will: O my God, I have desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart.”
He said, ‘‘ Behold, I come;” he now tells us why, “ that I should do thy will ;” and the will of God was, that he should sanctify us by the oblation of his body, by his passion and death; so the Apostle explains this passage in Hebrews x., where he quotes it, and adds, “by the which will we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.” ‘ In the head of the book it is written of me.” What book ? Some will have it, Genesis; some, the First Psalm ; some, the Prophets; others, the Gospel of St. Johns others, the Book of Life; all defensible ; but I look upon the most simple and most literal interpretation to be, the summary, or the whole of the Holy Scriptures. The Hebrew favours this interpretation ; instead of “the head of the book,” it is in the Hebrew, “in the volume of the book,” that is to say, in the whole volume, because the whole Scripture has reference to Christ. Hence, the Lord himself says, ‘what is written in the law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled ;” and in the same gospel
-we read, ‘‘ He interpreted to the two disciples all that
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was written of him-in the Scriptures, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets.” And our Lord, speaking of the Scriptures in general, said, ‘‘ Search the Scriptures, for they bear testimony of me;” ‘ In the head of the book,” then, does not mean the first chapter or title-page of the book; but the substance and the true meaning is, All the Scriptures testify that I came into the world “that I should do thy will,” by obedience to you in the most trifling matters. Turning, then, to the Father, he adds, “ O my God, I have desired tt,” I have most cheerfully accepted ) our decree; ‘‘ and thy law in the midst of my heart;” I have put thy law in the midst of my heart ; there is nothing I have been more desirous, more anxious for, than to obey your law. Speaking of the just, David says, ‘ God’s law ts in his heart ;” but, speaking of Christ, the head of the just, he says, ‘‘ hes law ts in the midst of his heart,” and those who belong to Christ should have his Spirit, so that they may prefer bis law to everything, so as to have it constantly before their memory, their will, and their understanding.
9 “I have declared thy justice in a great church : lo, Z will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou knowest it.”
Though God’s principal object in the death of Christ was, that he should atone for mankind, he willed also that Christ should previously announce the Gospel; that his preaching may be the path to his passion; and that he may be not only a Redeemer, but also a teacher and a preacher to man; and he, therefore, says now, ‘‘ I have declared thy justice ;” I have announced thy most just law, and the works it requires, and that publicly, before countless crowds of people, of which yourself are witness. And, in fact, Christ never ceased preaching. From his infancy he preached, by example, contempt of the things of this world, modesty, temperance, humility. From bis baptism, from the time that the Father said, ‘ Hear ye him,” be began to preach, and never ceased to the day of his death, which he continued through his Apostles, and will continue, through their successors, to the end of the world.
10 ‘* Thave not hid thy justice within my heart : I have declared thy truth and thy salvation. JI have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.”
Many preach while they expect any benefit thereby, or fear no injury in consequence ; but when they cease to hope, or fear presses, they keep their preaching to themselves, and will not let it out. Not so with Christ; and, by his example, he tells us what to do thereon, and he, therefore. says, ‘ Z have declared thy justice,” and “ have not hidden it in my heart,” through negligence, fear, or any unworthy motive. His remarks on the justice that God requires from us, that is, that he announced it, and did not ‘ hide tt,” are now applied, in like manner, to God’s justice and mercy, for he calls justice truth; that is, the fidelity with which he gives to every one according to his works; and he calls mercy salvation,
which he mercifully holds ont to those who hope in him. He says, then, “ Z have declared thy truth and thy salvation ;” that is to say, [have announced “ the truth” that is in you, declaring to all how faithfully and how inexplicably you reward the good, and terribly punish the wicked; and I have, at the same time, announced “ thy salvation;” that is, with what mercy you save all those that trust in thee. ‘ J have not concealed thy mercy and thy truth from a great council.” What he called ‘ salvation,” in the preceding sentence, he now expressly calls “ mercy,” and connects it with truth, meaning justice. “J have not concealed,” through any fear whatever, “ from a great council,” from any number however great, “thy mercy and thy truth,” but have publicly and boldly announced them. A fact easily proved from the Gospels,
11 ‘ Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me: thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.
He (Christ) passes now from his preaching to his passion; and, as well as he made known the justice and the mercy of the Father to mankind, he now prays tothe Father not to defer the same mercy and justice towards himself, but by a speedy resurrection to deliver him from his death and passion. ‘** Withhold not thou, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me.” Father, you see how bitter are my sufferings for having made known your justice and mercy to man; do you, therefore, ‘ withhold not your mercies from me,” by immediately raising me up, as hitherto ‘“ thy mercy and thy truth have always upheld me.”
12 “ For evils without number have surrounded me: my iniquities have overtaken me, and I was not able to see. They are multiplied above the hairs of my head ; and my heart hath forsaken me.”
A reason for having said, “ withhold not, O Lord, thy tender mercies from me,” because “ evils without number have surrounded me.” Christ’s sufferings were truly without number, and seemed to crowd in upon him designedly. And they were thus innu-— merable, because our sins, for which he undertook to make satisfaction, were so. ‘* My iniquities,” the iniquities of mankind, “‘ which the Father placed upon him,” Isaias liii., and which he, therefore, looked upon as mine, “ that I may bear them in my body upon the tree;” all those evils “‘ have overtaken me, and I was not able to see.” They were so numerous that they blinded me up. For “ they are mullplied above the hairs of my head;” exceed my hairs in number; and thus, overwhelmed by their number, I fainted, ‘and my heart hath forsaken me;” my strength, my very life, forsook me. This. expression of Christ’s, “* J was unable to see,” is not to be takén literally, as if the Lord could not see the number of the sins, by reason of their being so extremely numerous ; for he certainly had a most accurate knowledge of all the sins, past, present, and future; but he uses the expressions in ordinary use, to signify
122 how numerous were the sins he undertook to satisfy for. We have a similar expression in St. Mark vi., “* And he could not do any mighty work there, and he wondered because of their unbelief.” He could have done any works he pleased there, but he is said not to have been able to do them, to give us an idea of the incredulity of the people that prevented him from doing them.
13 “ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: look down, O Lord, to help me.”
He now returns to the prayer he commenced in verse 11, and prays to be delivered, by a speedy resurrection, from such evils. ‘ Be pleased, O Lord,” Father, whom I must, by reason of the form of a servant I have assumed, call Lord, be pleased ‘‘to deliver me” from the many troubles that have surrounded me. ‘ Look down, O Lord, to help me ;” you seem as if you had for some time abandoned me, “and turned your face away from me,” leaving me to go through the sufferings of the cross without * the slightest consolation; but now “‘look down to help me,” that you may at once replenish me in the joy of a glorious resurrection.
14 “* Let them be confounded and ashamed together, that seek after my soul to take it away. Let them be turned backward, and be ashamed that desire evils to me.”
Christ’s enemies, who thought him entirely destroyed, were terribly confused at his resurrection. That he now prophesies in the form of an imprecation, a thing usual with the prophets. ‘* Let them be confounded and ashamed together.” Let them be overwhelmed with confusion ‘ that seek after my soul to take it away;” who seck to take away my life by putting me to death, and totally extinguishing me. Such was the intention of the Jews, a thing they thought they had accomplished when they nailed him to the cross. But immediately after, when they heard of his resurrection, saw it confirmed by signs and wonders, and believed by the mass of the people, “they were confounded and ashamed;” and will be infinitely more so on the last day, when they shall see him whom they impiously presumed to judge, and against whom they suborned false witnesses, judging the whole world with the greatest justice. ‘ Let them be turned backward and be ashamed that desire evils to me.” A repetition of the preceding sentence, as if to strengthen it. ‘* Let them be turned back,” retire in confusion, ‘and be ashamed,” blush with shame, “ that desire evils to me; not only those who seek to kill me, but all who seek for my disgrace or confusion.
15 “ Let them immediately bear their confusion, that say to me: Tis well, *tis well.”
He repeats the same thing a third time, saying, “ Let them immediately bear their confusion that say to me: ’Tis well, ’tis well.” Let not their confusion be deferred, but after three short days let them be confounded, as they were, “ who say to me, Tis well,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
tis well;” that is, those who gloried in having triumphed over me, and congratulated each other thereon.
16 “‘ Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say always : The Lord be magnified.” ;
As he prophesied confusion to his persecutors in the form of an imprecation, so he now predicts joy to his subjects in the same form. ‘‘ Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.” All those who seek the glory of God, who love him and put their trust in him, “ well rejoice and be glad” in God ; that is, with divine and unspeakable joy, “ and say always, the Lord be magnified.” Let them not attribute any good they may have to themselves, but say, May “the Lord be magnified” by all ** who love thy sal~ vation; who loye the Saviour you sent them, Christ Jesus; or who love and desire the true and everlasting salvation that you alone can confer.
17 ‘* But Iam a beggar and poor ; the Lord is care- Sul for me. Thou art my helper and protector ; O my God, be not slack.”
He now returns to the state he was in at the time of his passion, (Christ,) and says, “‘ but I am a beggar and poor ;” needy and destitute of all human help. In the Hebrew, the first conveys the idea of poverty; the second of affliction; quite applicable to Christ, especially when he hung naked on the cross ; but, however poor and afilicted he may have appeared to man, be was rich in the protection of his Father ; and, therefore, he adds, “the Lord is care- Jul for me.” The Lord is concerned for me. He cal's his Father “‘ the Lord,” because he speaks in the person of a servant ; that is, as the Son of Man, in which nature he hung upon the cross. ‘* Thow art my helper and my protector: O my God, be not slack.” What he had briefly expressed when he said, “the Lord is careful for me,” he now explains at greater length, saying, “ Thou art my helper and my protector.” For God the Father was “ careful” for his Son, by helping and protecting him, helping him in overcoming past dangers, protecting him by removing future ones. ‘* O my God, be not slack;” namely, to deliver me from all trouble by a speedy resurrection.
Chapter 33 of 123