Psalms (Vol. 1) E-Book

Charles H. Spurgeon

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: Crossway Classic Commentaries
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 1993

Seitenzahl: 1057

Beschreibung

For hundreds of years Christendom has been blessed with Bible commentaries written by great men of God highly respected for their godly walk and their insight into spiritual truth. The Crossway Classic Commentaries present the very best work on individual Bible books, carefully adapted for maximum understanding and usefulness for today's believers. This book and its companion volume share the practical encouragement from a favorite Bible book. Charles H. Spurgeon spent twenty years compiling his seven-volume exposition of Psalms, which Crossway has carefully edited for the modern reader. In the words of Spurgeon in his Preface: "None but the Holy Spirit can give a man the key to the Treasury of David; and even he gives it rather to experience than to study. Happy he who for himself knows the secret of the Psalms.... In these busy days, it would be greatly to the spiritual profit of Christians if they were more familiar with the Book of Psalms, in which they would find a complete armory for life's battles, and a perfect supply for life's needs."

Leseprobe

Psalms Volume I

Psalms Volume I

Copyright © 1993 Watermark

Published by Crossway                      1300 Crescent Street                      Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.

Art Direction: Mark Schramm

First printing, 1993

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Spurgeon, C. H. (Charles Haddon) , 1834-1892.

Psalms / by Charters H. Spurgeon.

        p.     cm. — (Crossway classic commentaries)

ISBN 13: 978-0-89107-739-8

ISBN 10: 0-89107-739-1 (v. 1). — ISBN 0-89107-740-5 (v. 2).

1. Bible. O.T. Psalms—Commentaries . I.Bible . O.T. Psalms. English.

Authorized. 1993. II. Title. III. Series.

BS1430.3.S685    1993        223'.207-dc20                93-25952

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Contents

Volume 1Series Preface ixIntroduction xiPrefacexiiExpositions: Psalm 1 1Psalm 24Psalm 38Psalm 411Psalm 514Psalm 617Psalm 720Psalm 823Psalm 925Psalm 1028Psalm 1131Psalm 1233Psalm 1335Psalm 1437Psalm 1541Psalm 1643Psalm 1748Psalm 1853Psalm 1965Psalm 2071Psalm 2174Psalm 2278Psalm 2388Psalm 2491Psalm 2595Psalm 26101Psalm 27104Psalm 28108Psalm 29111Psalm 30113Psalm 31116Psalm 32123Psalm 33127Psalm 34131Psalm 35135Psalm 36141Psalm 37144Psalm 38153Psalm 39158Psalm 40162Psalm 41168Psalm 42173Psalm 43178Psalm 44180Psalm 45186Psalm 46192Psalm 47195Psalm 48197Psalm 49201Psalm 50205Psalm 51210Psalm 52215Psalm 53217Psalm 54219Psalm 55221Psalm 56227Psalm 57231Psalm 58234Psalm 59237Psalm 60242Psalm 61247Psalm 62250Psalm 63255Psalm 64258Psalm 65261Psalm 66266Psalm 67271Psalm 68273Psalm 69283Psalm 70293Psalm 71295Psalm 72300Psalm 73305Psalm 74312Psalm 75319Psalm 76321Psalm 77323Psalm 78328Psalm 79344Psalm 80347Psalm 81351Psalm 82355Psalm 83356Psalm 84359Psalm 85363

Series Preface

The purpose of the Crossway Classic Commentaries is to make some of the most valuable commentaries on the books of the Bible, by some of the greatest Bible teachers and theologians in the last five hundred years, available to a new generation. These books will help today's readers learn truth, wisdom, and devotion from such authors as J. C. Ryle, Martin Luther, John Calvin, J. B. Lightfoot, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Hodge, and Matthew Henry.

We do not apologize for the age of some of the items chosen. In the realm of practical exposition promoting godliness, the old is often better than the new. Spiritual vision and authority, based on an accurate handling of the biblical text, are the qualities that have been primarily sought in deciding what to include.

So far as is possible, everything is tailored to the needs and enrichment of thoughtful readers - lay Christians, students, and those in the ministry. Thr originals, some of which were written at a high technical level, have been abridged as needed, simplified stylistically, and unburdened of foreign words. However, the intention of this series is never to change any thoughts of the original authors, but to faithfully convey them in an understandable fashion.

The publishers are grateful to Dr. Alister McGrath of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, Dr. J. I. Packer of Regent College, Vancouver, and Watermark of Norfolk, England, for the work of selecting and editing that now brings this project to fruition.

The Publishers Crossway Books Wheaton, Illinois

Introduction

As Billy Graham might be described as a giant-size Southern Baptist of today's type, so Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) can be described as a giant-size English Baptist of Victorian type. The Victorian way was to cloak great inner toughness in expansive, egoistic, sententious and often sentimental forms of roundabout expression, while the common way nowadays is to act tougher than we are by using clipped and hard-boiled styles of speech. This cultural flip-flop makes it hard for moderns to appreciate Victorians at their true worth. Spurgeon, however, the greatest preacher of his time, is more accessible than most of them.

"The Guv'nor," as his colleagues called him, was a fascinating human being. A perky countryman, a witty depressive, and a self-educated theologian, he was hugely intelligent, massively commonsensical, and totally masterful in utterance. He was a deep, sharp, well-read, high-powered thinker whose easy eloquence, compounded as it was of clarity, simplicity, vividness, and humor, riveted everyone who ever listened to him. And he was a robust saint of the Augustinian and Puritan type, who with unflagging freshness projected the many-sided relationship between God the Creator and the sinners whom he loves and saves through Jesus Christ as the most wonderful and important thing in the world.

Spurgeon's thirty-eight-year London ministry was one of staggering achievement. As a pastoral evangelist he built and sustained a congregation of over 5,000, bringing more than 14,000 new members into it and sponsoring many church-plants from it in various parts of the city. He was in truth a superb theologian of the older reformed sort. During his lifetime 2,241 of his sermons were published on a weekly basis, and more than a thousand in addition during the next quarter-century, bringing the total sermon circulation up to over 100,000,000 worldwide, including translations into twenty-three different languages. The firm of Passmore and Alabaster (what names they had in those days!) was formed to print his works, and was kept so busy with them that for half a century it published hardly anything else. Altogether, counting in the annual bound volumes of each year's sermons, Spurgeon wrote 135 books and edited twenty-eight more; so the firm had much to cope with. Spurgeon's supreme literary contribution was his seven-volume, 3,000-page exposition of the Psalms, titled The Treasury of David, put together over twenty-one years and published between 1869 and 1883. It has been constantly in print from Spurgeon's day to our own, and is here abridged into two volumes to give it a new lease on life.

"Every emotion of the renewed heart Godwards finds adequate expression in the Book of Psalms. It has been called the Book of Divine Erotics." So declared Spurgeon's contemporary, the Scottish sage "Rabbi" Duncan, and his statement shows at once what qualities an expositor needs for adequate exposition of these lyrics of praise, celebration, proclamation, and petition. Spurgeon's exposition reflects these qualities; it is enormously rich in devotional content, and as such is a most distinguished addition to the Crossway Classic Commentaries.

J. I. PACKER

Preface

byC.H. Spurgeon

The delightful study of the Psalms has yielded me boundless profit and evergrowing pleasure; common gratitude constrains me to communicate to others a portion of the benefit, with the prayer that it may induce them to search further for themselves. That I have nothing better of my own to offer upon this peerless book is to me matter of deepest regret; that I have anything whatever to present is subject for devout gratitude to the Lord of grace. I have done my best, but, conscious of many defects, I heartily wish I could have done better.

The exposition here given is my own. I consulted a few authors before penning it, to aid me in interpretation and arouse my thoughts; but, still I can claim originality for my comments, at least so I honestly think. Whether they are better or worse for that, I know not; at least I know I have sought heavenly guidance while writing them, and therefore I look for a blessing on the printing of them.

In commenting upon some of them, I have been overwhelmed with awe, and said with Jacob, "How dreadful is this place, it is none other than the house of God." Especially was this the case with Psalm 51; I postponed expounding it week after week, feeling more and more my inability for the work. Often I sat down to it, and rose up again without having penned a line. It is a bush burning with fire yet not consumed, and out of it a voice seemed to cry to me, "Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet." The psalm is very human, its cries and sobs are of one born of woman; but it is freighted with an inspiration all divine, as if the great Father were putting words into his child's mouth. Such a psalm may be wept over, absorbed into the soul, and exhaled again in devotion; but, commented on - ah! where is he who having attempted it can do other than blush at his defeat?

More and more is the conviction forced upon my heart that every man must traverse the territory of the Psalms himself if he would know what a goodly land they are. They flow with milk and honey, but not to strangers; they are only fertile to lovers of their hills and vales. None but the Holy Spirit can give a man the key to the Treasury of David; and even he gives it rather to experience than to study. Happy he who for himself knows the secret of the Psalms.

Some of them are specially notable, and have, therefore, been expounded and preached upon on all hands, but others remain almost untrodden ground in sacred literature. Where one author writes upon a portion of Scripture, all write, while other passages remain almost untouched. When I have found one sermon upon a passage, it has generally been easy to collect a score upon the same; preachers evidently run so much in ruts that they leave a large portion of the Scriptures without exposition. As most of the commentators upon the Psalms proceed in their work they become slovenly, and appear to write hurriedly and think superficially, either because they grow weary of their huge enterprise, or else because they have said their best things already. The lazy practice of referring to a parallel passage in a former psalm is continually carried out by commentators; or, what is rather worse, the writers fall into the habit of repeating, with scarce a variation of language, that which they have said before.

Our greatest trouble is occasioned by the fact that the expounders are not impartial, but spend all their love, or at least their energies, upon favorite portions of the sacred volume, passing by other passages with scarcely a remark, as if all Scripture were not equally inspired. Why should so much be written upon Psalm 116 and so little upon 118 ? Here and there is a passage everybody seems to have written or spoken upon, but having passed through these few frequented places we have had to travel along an untrodden road. Of many a text we have had to sigh, "Few there be that find it." We are writing of the Psalms, the best read portion of the Old Testament, and therefore the fact is the more singular. We have thousands of writers, of one kind or another, but they go in flocks, like sheep, traversing only the same texts and passages. For want of a conscientious effort to expound the whole of Scripture, much of it lies as little considered as if it had never been written for our instruction.

I have been bewildered in the expanse of Psalm 119. Its dimensions and its depth alike overcame me. It spread itself out before me like a vast, rolling prairie, to which I could see no bound, and this alone created a feeling of dismay. It expanse was unbroken by a bluff or headland, and hence it threatened a monotonous task, although the fear has not been realized. This marvelous poem seemed to me a great sea of holy teaching, moving, in its many verses, wave upon wave; altogether without an island of special and remarkable statement to break it up. I confess I hesitated much to launch upon it. Other psalms have been mere lakes, but this is the main ocean. It is a continent of sacred thought, every inch of which is fertile as the garden of the Lord: it is an amazing level of abundance, a mighty stretch of harvest fields. I have now crossed the great plain for myself, but not without persevering, and, I will add, pleasurable, toil. Several great authors have traversed this region and left their tracks behind them, and so far the journey has been all the easier for me; but yet to me and to my helpers it has been no mean feat of patient authorship and research. This great psalm is a book in itself: instead of being one among many psalms, it is worthy to be set forth by itself as a poem of surpassing excellence. Those who have never studied it may pronounce it commonplace, and complain of its repetitions; but to the thoughtful student it is like the great deep, full, so as never to be measured; and varied, so as never to weary the eye. Its depth is as great as its length; it is mystery, not set forth as mystery, but concealed beneath the simplest statements; may I say that it is experience allowed to prattle, to preach, to praise, and to pray like a child-prophet in his own father's house?

We have desired to complete this work at our best, and not to allow the close of it to exhibit signs of fatigue and decline. We have often sat down to write our comment upon a psalm, and have risen from the task because we did not feel at home at it. It is of no use compelling the mind; its productions in such a case are like forced fruits, disappointing and devoid of flavor. We like to write after the manner of John Bunyan, who said, "As I pulled, it came," and we prefer that the pulling should be as gende as possible. So it has happened that we have lingered for months over a psalm, feeling quite unfit to enter upon it. The grand cosmos of Psalm 104 was not to be dismissed in a few days; even now, after laying our best efforts at its feet, we feel dissatisfied with the poor result. However, we have done our best, and have grappled honestly with all hard places. It must be more useful to give hints for the interpretation of passages which have been neglected than merely to present our readers with what they could easily have found for themselves. Reflecting upon this, we thank God and take courage.

We cannot but express our sense of the superficiality of the best and most laborious of comments when compared with the bottomless depths of the sacred Word, nor can we refrain from uttering our growing conviction that the Scriptures possess a verbal as well as a plenary inspiration; indeed, we are quite unable to see how they could have the one without the other. So much of the meaning dwells in the turn of an expression, the tense of a verb, or the number of a noun that we believe in the inspiration of the words themselves; certainly the words are the things written, and the only things that can be written - for the refined spirit of a passage is not the creature of pen and ink. "It is written* must of necessity apply to words, for only words are written. Those words which the Holy Spirit teaches are, however, by no means to be regarded as mere words, for besides their office of conserving the inner meaning, as the shell preserves the mystic germ within the egg, they are themselves spirit and life. From all of them we gather quickening, and they breathe fire into our souls.

May the enlightening Spirit rest upon all students of the Psalms, and grant them to see far more deeply into the hidden meaning of these sacred hymns than we have been enabled to do. We rise from our perusal of each holy passage abashed at our own short-sightedness, and almost overwhelmed at our temerity in having desired to undertake such a work. May he who accep-teth us according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not, bless our unworthy labors to his own glory, for Christ's sake.

I trust that the Holy Spirit has been with me in writing these expositions, and therefore I expect that he will bless them both to the conversion of the unrenewed and to the edification of believers. The writing of this book has been a means of grace to my own heart; I have enjoyed for myself what I have prepared for my readers. The Book of Psalms has been a royal banquet to me, and in feasting upon its contents I have seemed to eat angels' food. It is no wonder that old writers should call it the school of patience, the soul's soliloquies, the little Bible, the anatomy of conscience, the rose garden, the pearl island, and the like. It is the Paradise of devotion, the Holy Land of poesy, the heart of Scripture, the map of experience, and the tongue of saints. Does it not say just what we wished to say? Are not its prayers and praises exactly such as our hearts delight in?

It is to be feared that the Psalms are by no means so prized as in earlier ages of the Church. Even Councils of the Church have decreed that none should hold ecclesiastical office unless they knew the whole psalter by heart. These sacred hymns express all modes of holy feeling; they are fit both for childhood and old age: they furnish maxims for the entrance of life, and serve as watchwords at the gates of death. The Book of Psalms instructs us in the use of wings as well as words: it sets us both mounting and singing. Often have I ceased my commenting upon the text, that I might rise with the psalm, and gaze upon visions of God. If I may only hope that these volumes will be as useful to other hearts in the readings as to mine in the writing, I shall be well rewarded by the prospect.

In these busy days, it would be greatly to the spiritual profit of Christians if they were more familiar with the Book of Psalms, in which they would find a complete armory for life's battles, and a perfect supply for life's needs. Here we have both delight and usefulness, consolation and instruction. For every condition there is a psalm, suitable and elevating. The Book supplies the babe in grace with penitent cries, and the perfected saint with triumphant songs. Its breadth of experience stretches from the jaws of hell to the gate of heaven.

We hope that when the author sleeps with his fathers, the libraries of his brethren will remain enriched, and other minds will be assisted in setting forth the infinite fullness of this incomparable portion of the Word of God.

C.H. SPURGEON

(1834-1892)

Expositions

Psalm 1

1. Blessed. See how this Book of Psalms opens with a benediction, as did the famous Sermon of our Lord on the Mount! The word translated blessed is plural, and it is a controverted matter whether it is an adjective or a substantive. Hence we may learn the multiplicity of the blessings which will rest on those whom God has justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness they will enjoy. We might read it, "Oh, the blessednesses!" and we may well regard it (as Ainsworth does) as a joyful acclamation of the gracious man's felicity. May the like benediction rest on us!

Here the gracious man is described both negatively (verse 1) and positively (verse 2). He is a man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He takes wiser counsel, and walks in the commandments of the Lord his God. To him the ways of piety are paths of peace and pleasantness. His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God, and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men. It is a rich sign of inward grace when the outward walk is changed, and when ungodliness is put far from our actions. Note next, he standeth not in the way of sinners. His company is of a choicer sort than it was. Although a sinner himself, he is now a blood-washed sinner, quickened by the Holy Spirit, and renewed in heart. Standing by the rich grace of God in the congregation of the righteous, he dares not herd with the multitude who do evil. Again it is said, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. He finds no rest in the atheist's scoffings. Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God; this man has learnt better philosophy than that of the infidel, and has too much sense of God's presence to endure to hear his name blasphemed. The seat of the scorner may be very lofty, but it is very near to the gate of hell; let us flee from it, for it will soon be empty, and destruction will swallow up the man who sits therein. Mark the gradation in the first verse:

      He   walketh not in the co unsel of the ungodly,

      Nor standeth       in the way of          sinners,

      Nor sitteth          in the seat of the   scornful.

When people are living in sin they go from bad to wrose. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God - the evil is rather practical than habitual - but after that they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who willfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and as true Doctors of Damnation they are installed, and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial. But the blessed man, the man to whom all the blessings of God belong, can hold no communion with such characters as these. He keeps himself pure from these lepers; he puts away evil things from him as garments spotted by the flesh; he comes out from among the wicked, and goes outside the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ. O for grace to be thus separate from sinners.

2. And now mark his positive character. His delight is the the law of the Lord. He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation, but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life; he delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night-watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he muses upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book. The law of the Lord is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything save the first five books of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses! But, alas, what ill-treatment is given to this angel from heaven! We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim to the benediction of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you - Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's Word? Do you make it the man of your right hand - your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing does not belong to you.

3. And he shall be like a tree planted. Not a wild tree, but one planted, chosen, considered as property, cultivated and secured from the last terrible uprooting (see Matthew 15:13). By the rivers of water. Even if one river should fail, he has another. The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of the promise and the rivers of communion with Christ, are never-failing sources of supply. That bringeth forth his fruit in his season. Not unseasonable graces, like untimely figs, which are never full-flavored. But the man who delights in God's Word, being taught by it, brings forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and holy joy in the hour of prosperity. Fruit-fulness is an essential quality of a gracious man, and that fruitfulness should be seasonable. His leaf also shall not wither. His faintest word will be everlasting; his little deeds of love will be remembered. Not only will his fruit be preserved, but his leaf also. He will neither lose his beauty nor his fruitfulness, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Blessed is the man who has such a promise as this. But we must not always estimate the fulfillment of a promise by our own eye-sight. How often, my brethren, if we judge by feeble sense, may we come to the mournful conclusion of Jacob, "All these things are against me!" For though we know our interest in the promise, yet are we so tried and troubled that sight sees the very reverse of what that promise foretells. But to the eye of faith this word is sure, and by it we perceive that our works are prospered, even when everything seems to go against us. It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values; it is soul prosperity which he longs for. We often, like Jehoshaphat, make ships go to Tarshish for gold, but they are broken at Ezion-geber; but even here there is a true prospering, for it is often for the soul's health that we should be poor, bereaved, and persecuted. Our worst things are often our best things. As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man's mercies, so there is a blessing concealed in the righteous man's crosses, losses, and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a divine husbandry, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.

4. We have now come to the second head of the psalm. In this verse the contrast of the bad state of the wicked is employed to heighten the coloring of that fair and pleasant picture which precedes it. The more forcible translation of the Latin and Greek versions is, "Not so the ungodly, not so." And we are hereby to understand that whatever good thing is said of the righteous is not true in the case of the ungodly. Oh, how terrible it is to have a double negative put upon the promises! And yet this is just the condition of the ungodly. Mark the use of the term ungodly, for, as we have seen in the opening of the psalm, these are the beginners in evil, and are the least offensive of sinners. Oh, if such is the sad state of those who quietly continue in their morality, and neglect their God, what must be the condition of open sinners and shameless unbelievers? The first sentence is a negative description of the ungodly, and the second is the positive picture. Here is their character- they are like chaff, intrinsically worthless, dead, unserviceable, without substance, and easily carried away. Here, also, mark their doom — the wind driveth away; death will hurry them with its terrible blast into the fire in which they will be utterly consumed.

5. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. They will stand there to be judged, but not to be acquitted. Fear will lay hold upon them there; they will not stand their ground; they will flee away; they will not stand there in their own defense; for they will bush and be covered with eternal contempt.

Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men will dwell there, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. All our congregations on earth are mixed. Every church has one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat. There is no floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff. Sinners mix with saints, as dross mingles with gold. God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with pebbles. Righteous Lots are this side of heaven continually vexed by the men of Sodom. Let us rejoice, then, that in "the general assembly and church of the firstborn" above, there shall by no means be admitted a single unrenewed soul. Sinners cannot live in heaven. They would be out of their element. Sooner could a fish live upon a tree than the wicked in Paradise. Heaven would be an intolerable hell to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter; but such a privilege will never be granted to the man who perseveres in his iniquities. May God grant that we may have a name and a place in his courts above!

6. The Hebrew puts this verse yet more fully: "The Lord is knowing the way of the righteous." He is constantly looking on their way, and though it may be often in mist and darkness, yet the Lord knows it. If it be in the clouds and tempest of affliction, he understands it. He numbers the hairs of our head; he will not let any evil come to us (see Job 23:10). But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Not only will they perish themselves, but their way will perish too. The righteous carves his name upon the rock, but the wicked writes his remembrance in the sand. The righteous man plows the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest here which will never be fully reaped till he enters the enjoyments of eternity; but as for the wicked, he plows the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail beghind his keel, yet the waves will pass over it, and the place that knew him will know him no more forever. The very way of the ungodly will perish. If it exist in remembrance, it will be in the remembrance of the bad; for the Lord will cause the name of the wicked to rot, to become a stench in the nostrils of the good, and to be only known to the wicked themselves by its putridity.

May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous!

Psalm 2

1-3. We have in these verses a description of the hatred of human nature against the Christ of God. No better comment is needed upon it than the apostolic song in Acts 4:27-28.

1. The psalm begins abruptly with an angry interrogation; and well it may: it is surely little to be wondered at that the sight of creatures in arms against their God should amaze the psalmist's mind. We see the heathen rage, roaring like the sea, tossed to and fro with restless waves, as the ocean in a storm; and then we mark the people in their hearts imagine a vain thing against God. Where there is much rage there is generally some folly, and in this case there is an excess of it. Note that the commotion is not caused by the people only, but their leaders foment the rebellion.

2. The kings of the earth set themselves. In determined malice they arrayed themselves in opposition against God. It was not temporary rage, but deep-seated hate, for they set themselves resolutely to withstand the Prince of Peace. And the rulers take counsel together. They go about their warfare craftily, not with foolish haste but deliberately. They use all the skill which artifice can give. Like Pharaoh, they cry, "Let us deal wisely with them." O that men were half as careful in God's service to serve him wisely, as his enemies are to attack his kingdom craftily. Sinners have their wits about them, and yet saints are dull. But what say they? What is the meaning of this commotion?

3. Let us break their bands asunder. "Let us be free to commit all manner of abominations. Let us be our own gods. Let us rid ourselves of all restraint." Gathering impudence by the traitorous proposition of rebellion, they add let us cast away as if it were an easy matter - "let us fling off their cords from us." What! O ye kings, do ye think think yourselves Samsons? Are the bands of Omnipotence like green twigs before you? Do you dream that you will snap to pieces and destroy the mandates of God - the decrees of the Most High -as if they were but threads? And do you say, "Let us cast away their cords from us"? Yes! There are monarchs who have spoken thus, and there are still rebels on thrones. However mad the resolution to revolt from God, it is one in which man has persevered ever since his creation, and he continues in it to this very day. The glorious reign of Jesus in the latter day will not be consummated until a terrible struggle has convulsed the nations. His coming will be as a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and the day thereof shall burn as an oven. Earth loves not her rightful monarch, but clings to the usurper's sway: the terrible conflicts of the last days will illustrate both the world's love of sin and Jehovah's power to give the kingdom to his only begotten. To a graceless neck the yoke of Christ is intolerable, but to the saved sinner it is easy and light. We may judge ourselves by this: do we love that yoke, or do we wish to cast it off?

4. Let us now turn our eyes from the wicked council-chamber and raging tumult of man, to the secret place of the majesty of the Most High. What does God say? What will the King do to those who reject his only-begotten Son, the Heir of all things?

Mark the quiet dignity of the Omnipotent, and the contempt which he pours on the princes an i their raging people. He has not taken the trouble to rise up and do battle wit l them - he despises them, and therefore laughs at them.

5. After he has laughed he will speak; he does not need to smite; the breath of his lips is enough. At the moment when their power is at its height, and their fury most violent, then shall his Word go forth against them. And what is it that he says? It is a very galling sentence.

6. Yet Despite your malice, despite your tumultuous gatherings, despite the wisdom of your counsels, despite the craft of your lawgivers, I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Is not that a grand exclamation! He has already done that which the enemy seeks to prevent. While they are proposing, he has disposed the matter. Jehovah's will is done, and man's will frets and raves in vain. God's Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed. Look back through all the ages of infidelity, hearken to the high and hard things which people have spoken against the Most High, listen to the rolling thunder of earth's volleys against the Majesty of heaven, and then think that God is saying all the while, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Yet Jesus reigns, yet he sees of the travail of his soul, and "his suffering kingdom shall yet come" when he takes to himself his great power, and reigns from the river to the ends of the earth. Even now he reigns in Zion, and our glad lips sound the praises of the Prince of Peace. Greater conflicts may be here foretold, but we may be confident that victory will be given to our Lord and King. Glorious triumphs are yet to come; hasten them, we pray thee, O Lord! It is Zion's glory and her joy that her King is in her, guarding her from foes and filling her with good things. Jesus sits upon the throne of grace, and the throne of power in the midst of his church. In him is Zion's best safeguard; let her citizens be glad in him.

7-9. This psalm wears something of a dramatic form, for now another person is introduced as speaking. We have looked into the council-chamber of the wicked, and to the throne of God, and now we behold the Anointed declaring his rights of sovereignty, and warning the traitors of their doom.

7. God has laughed at the counsel and ravings of the wicked, and now Christ the Anointed himself comes forward, as the Risen Redeemer, "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:4). Looking into the angry faces of the rebellious kings, Christ as the Anointed One seems to say, "If this is not enough to make you silent, I will declare the decree." Now this decree is directly in conflict with the device of man, for its tenor is the establishment of the very dominion against which the nations are raving. Thou art my Son. Here is a noble proof of the glorious divinity of our Immanuel. "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?" What a mercy to have a divine Redeemer in whom to rest our confidence! This day have I begotten thee. If this refers to the Godhead of our Lord, let us not attempt to fathom it, for it is a great truth, a truth reverently to be received, but not irreverently to be scanned. It may be added that if this relates to the Begotten One in his human nature, we must here also rejoice in the mystery, but not attempt to violate its sanctity by intrusive prying into the secrets of the Eternal God. The things which are revealed are enough, without venturing into vain speculations. In attempting to define the Trinity, or unveil the essence of Divinity, many have lost themselves: here great ships have foundered. What have we to do in such a sea with our frail skiffs?

8. Ask of me. It was a custom among great kings to give favored ones whatever they might ask (see Esther 5:6; Matthew 14:7). So Jesus only has to ask, and he will have. Here he declares that his very enemies are his inheritance. To their face he declares this decree, and "Lo! here," cries the Anointed One, as he holds aloft in that once pierced hand the scepter of his power, "He has given me this, not only the right to be a king, but the power to conquer." Yes! Jehovah has given to his Anointed a rod of iron with which he will break rebellious nations in pieces, and, despite their imperial strength, they will be but as potters' vessels, esaily dashed into shivers, when the rod of iron is in the hand of the omnipotent Son of God. Those who will not bend must break. Potters' vessels are not to be restored if dashed in pieces, and the ruin of sinners will be hopeless if Jesus smites them.

10-12. The scene again changes, and counsel is given to those who have taken counsel to rebel. They are exhorted to obey, and give the kiss of homage and affection to him whom they have hated.

10. Be wise. It is always wise to be willing to be instructed, especially when such instruction tends to the salvation of the soul. Now therefore. Delay no longer, but let good reason weigh with you. Your warfare cannot succeed; therefore desist and yield cheerfully to him who will make you bow if you refuse his yoke. How infinitely wise is obedience to Jesus, and how dreadful is the folly of those who continue to be his enemies!

11. Serve the Lord with fear. Let reverence and humility be mingled with your service. He is a great God, and you are but puny creatures; bend, therefore, in lowly worship, and let a filial fear mingle with all your obedience to the great Father of the ages. Rejoice with trembling. There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian's joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a sweet smell, and we must see to it that we burn no other upon the altar. Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear, would be presumption. Mark the solemn argument for reconciliation and obedience.

12. It is an awful thing to perish in the midst of sin, in the very way of rebellion ; and yet how easily could his wrath destroy us suddenly. His anger does not need to be heated seven times hotter; let the fuel kindle but a little, and we are consumed. O sinner! Take heed of the terrors of the Lord, for "our God is a consuming fire." Note the doxology with which the psalm closes: Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Have we a share in this blessedness? Do we trust in him? Our faith may be slender as a spider's thread; but if it be real, we are in our measure blessed. The more we trust, the more fully will we know this blessedness. We may therefore close the psalm with the prayer of the apostles: "Lord, increase our faith."

The first psalm was a contrast between the righteous man and the sinner; the second psalm is a contrast between the tumultuous disobedience of the ungodly world and the sure exaltation of the righteous Son of God. In the first psalm, we saw the wicked driven away like chaff; in the second psalm, we see them broken in pieces like a potter's vessel. In the first psalm, we beheld the righteous like a tree planted by the rivers of water; and here, we contemplate Christ, the Covenant Head of the righteous, made better than a tree planted by the rivers of water, for he is made king of all the islands, and all the heathen bow before him and kiss the dust; while he himself gives a blessing to all those who put their trust in him. The two psalms are worthy of the very deepest attention; they are, in fact, the preface to the entire Book of Psalms, and were by some of the ancients joined into one. They are, however, two psalms; for Paul speaks of this as the second psalm (Acts 13:33). The first shows us the character and lot of the righteous; and the next teaches us that the psalms are Messianic, and speak of Christ the Messiah - the Prince who will reign from the river unto the ends of the earth. That they both have a far-reaching prophetic outlook we are well assured, but we do not feel competent to open up that matter, and must leave it to abler hands.

Psalm 3

1-2. The poor broken-hearted father complains of the multitude of his enemies; and if you turn to 2 Samuel 15:12, you will find it written that "the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased continually with Absalom," while the troops of David constantly diminished!

1. Lord, how are they increased that trouble mel. Here is a note of exclamation to express the wonder of woe which amazed and perplexed the fugitive father. Alas, I see no limit to my misery, for my troubles are enlarged! There was enough at first to sink me very low; but lo, my enemies multiply! When Absalom, my darling, is in rebellion against me, it is enough to break my heart; but, lo, Ahithophel has forsaken me, my faithful counselors have turned their backsonme!Lo, my generals and soldiers have deserted my standard! How are they increased that trouble me. Troubles always come in flocks. Sorrow has a numerous family. Many are they that rise up against me. Their hosts are far superior to mine! Their numbers are too great for me to count!

Let us here recall to our memory the innumerable hosts which beset our divine Redeemer. The legions of our sins, the armies of fiends, the crowd of bodily pains, the host of spiritual sorrows, and all the allies of death and hell set themselves in battle against the Son of Man. O how precious to know and believe that he has routed their hosts, and trodden them down in his anger! Those who would have troubled us he has removed into captivity, and those who would have risen up against us he has laid low. The dragon lost his sting when he dashed it into the soul of Jesus.

2. David complains before his loving God of the worst weapon of his enemies' attacks, and the bitterest drop of his distresses. Some of his distrustful friends said this sorrowfully, but his enemies exultingly boasted of it, and longed to see their words proved by his total destruction. This was the unkind-est cut of all, when they declared that his God had forsaken him. Yet David knew in his own conscience that he had given them some ground for this exclamation, for he had committed sin against God in the very light of day. Then they flung his crime with Bathsheba into his face, and they said, "Go up, thou bloody man; God hath forsaken thee and left thee." Shimei cursed him, and swore at him to his very face, for he was bold because of his backers, since multitudes of the men of Belial thought of David in like fashion. Doubtless, David felt this infernal suggestion to be staggering to his faith. If all the trials which come from heaven, all the temptations which ascend from hell, and all the crosses which arise from earth, could be mixed and pressed together, they would not make a trial so terrible as that which is contained in this verse. It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear that there is no help for us in God. And yet remember our most blessed Saviour had to endure this in the deepest degree when he cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He knew full well what it was to walk in darkness and to see no light. This was the wormwood mixed with the gall. To be deserted by his Father was worse than to be the despised of men. Surely we should love him who suffered this bitterest of temptations and trials for our sake. It will be a delightful and instructive exercise for the loving heart to mark the Lord in his agonies as here portrayed, for there is here, and in very many other psalms, far more of David's Lord than of David himself. Selah. The precise meaning is not known. Some think it simply a rest, a pause in the music; others say it means " Lift up the strain - sing more loudly," "Pitch the tune in a higher key - there is nobler matter to come, therefore retune your harps." Harp-strings soon get out of order and need to be screwed up again to their proper tightness, and certainly our heartstrings are evermore getting out of tune. At least, we may learn that wherever we see "Selah," we should look upon it as a note of observation. Let us read the passage which precedes and succeeds it with greater earnestness, for surely there is always something excellent where we are required to rest and pause and meditate, or when we are required to lift up our hearts in grateful song.

3-4. Here David avows his confidence in God.

3. Shield. The word in the original means more than a shield; it means a buckler round about, a protection which surrounds a man entirely, a shield above, beneath, around, without and within. What a shield God is for his people! He wards off the fiery darts of Satan from beneath, and the storms of trials from above, while at the same instant he speaks peace to the tempest within. My glory. David knew that though he was driven from his capital in contempt and scorn, he would yet return in triumph, and by faith he looks upon God as honoring and glorifying him. O for grace to see our future glory amid present shame! Indeed, there is a present glory in our afflictions, if we could but discern it; for it is no mean thing to have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. David was honored when he made the ascent of Olivet, weeping, with his head covered; for he was in all this made like his Lord. May we learn, in this respect, to glory in tribulation also! And the lifter up of mine head. Thou shalt yet exalt me. Though I hang my head in sorrow, I shall very soon lift it up in joy and thanksgiving.

What a divine trio of mercies is contained in this verse! Defense for the defenseless, glory for the despised, and joy for the comfortless. Truly we may well say, "There is none like the God of Jeshurun."

4. I cried unot the Lord with my voice. Why does he say with my voice?

Surely, silent prayers are heard? Yes, but good men often find that, even in secret, they pray better aloud than they do when they utter no vocal sound. Perhaps, moreover, David would think thus: "My cruel enemies clamor against me; they lift up their voices, and behold, I lift up mine, and my cry out-soars them all. They clamor, but the cry of my voice in great distress pierces the very skies, and is louder and stronger than all their tumult; for there is one in the sanctuary who hears me from the seventh heaven, and he has heard me out of his holy hill." Answers to prayers are sweet cordials for the soul. We need not fear a frowning world while we rejoice in a prayer-hearing God.

Here is another Selah. Rest awhile, tried believer, and change the strain to a softer air.

5. Laid me down. David's faith enabled him to lie down; anxiety would certainly have kept him on tiptoe, watching for an enemy. And slept. Yes, he was able to sleep, in the midst of trouble, surrounded by foes. "So he giveth his beloved sleep." There is a sleep of presumption; God deliver us from it! There is a sleep of holy confidence; God help us so to close our eyes! But David says he awaked also. Some sleep the sleep of death; but he, though exposed to many enemies, reclined his head on the bosom of his God, slept happily beneath the wing of Providence in sweet security, and then awoke in safety, for the Lord sustained me. The sweet influence of the Pleiades of promise shone upon the sleeper, and he awoke conscious that the Lord had preserved him. An excellent divine has well remarked, "This quietude of a man's heart by faith in God is a higher sort of work than the natural resolution of manly courage, for it is the gracious operation of God's Holy Spirit upholding a man above nature, and therefore the Lord must have all the glory of it."

6. Buckling on his harness for the day's battle, our hero sings. Note that he does not attempt to underestimate the number or wisdom of his enemies. He reckons them at tens of thousands, and he views them as cunning huntsmen chasing him with cruel skill. Yet he trembles not, but looking his foe in the face he is ready for battle. There may be no way of escape; they may hem me in as the deer are surrounded by a circle of hunters; they may surround me on every side, but in the name of God I will dash through them; or, if I remain in the midst of them, they will not hurt me; I shall be free in my very prison.

But David is too wise to venture to the battle without prayer; he therefore betakes himself to his knees, and cries aloud to Jehovah.

7. His only hope is in his God, but that is so strong a confidence that he feels the Lord has but to arise and he is saved. It is enough for the Lord to stand up, and all is well. He compares his enemies to wild beasts, and he declares that God has broken their jaws, so that they could not injure him: thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Or else he alludes to the special temptations to which he was then exposed. They had spoken against him; God, therefore, has smitten them upon the cheek bone. They seemed as if they would devour him with their mouths; God has broken their teeth, and let them say what they will, their toothless jaws will not be able to devour him. Rejoice, O believer: you have to do with a dragon whose head is broken, and with enemies whose teeth are dashed from their jaws!

8. This verse contains the sum and substance of Calvinistic doctrine. Search Scripture through, and you must, if you read it with a candid mind, be persuaded that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of the Word of God: Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. This is a point concerning which we are daily fighting. Our opponents say,"Salvation belongs to the free will of man; if not to man's merit, yet at least to man's will." But we hold and teach that salvation from first to last, in every iota of it, belongs to the Most High God. It is God that chooses his people. He calls them by his grace; he brings them life by his Spirit, and keeps them by his power. It is not of man, neither by man (Romans 9:16). May we all learn this truth in our own experience, for our proud flesh and blood will never permit us to learn it in any other way. In the last sentence the peculiarity and speciality of salvation are plainly stated: thy blessing is upon thy people. Neither upon Egypt, nor upon Tyre, nor upon Nineveh; thy blessing is upon thy chosen, thy blood-bought, thine everlastingly-beloved people. Selah: lift up your hearts, and pause, and meditate upon this doctrine. "Thy blessing is upon thy people." Divine, discriminating, distinguishing, eternal, infinite, immutable love is a subject for constant adoration. Pause, my soul, at this Selah, and consider your own interest in the salvation of God; and if by humble faith you are enabled to see Jesus as yours by his own free gift of himself to you, if this greatest of all blessings is upon you, rise and sing "Hallelujah!"

Psalm 4

1. This is another instance of David's common habit of pleading past mercies as a ground for present favor. Here he reviews his Ebenezers and takes comfort from them. God does nothing by halves, and he will never cease to help us until we cease to need. Observe that David speaks first to God and then to men. Surely we would all speak the more boldly to men if we had more constant converse with God. God of my righteousness. This name by which the Lord is addressed is not used in any other part of Scripture. It means, "You are the author, the witness, the maintainer, the judge, and the rewarder of my righteousness; to you I appeal from the calumnies and harsh judgments of men." Here is wisdom; let us imitate it and always take our case, not to the petty courts of human opinion, but into the superior court of heaven. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. A figure taken from an army hard pressed by the surrounding enemy. God has broken the barriers and set me in a large place. Or we may understand it thus:" God has enlarged my heart with joy and comfort when I was like a man imprisoned by grief and sorrow." God is a never-failing comforter. Have mercy upon me. Though you may justly permit my enemies to destroy me, on account of my many and great sins, yet I flee to your mercy, and I beseech you to hear my prayer, and bring your servant out of his troubles. The best of men need mercy as truly as the worst of men.

2. In this second part of the psalm we are led from the closet of prayer into the field of conflict. Note the undaunted courage of the man of God. He admits that his enemies are great men (for such is the import of the Hebrew words translated sons of men), but still he believes them to be foolish men, and therefore chides them, as though they were but children. He tells them that they love vanity, and seek after leasing, that is, lying, empty fancies, vain conceits, wicked fabrications. He asks them how long they mean to make his honor a jest, and his fame a mockery. Had not repeated disappointments convinced them that the Lord's anointed was not to be overcome by all their calumnies? Did they mean to jest their souls into hell? In the contemplation of their perverse continuance in their vain and lying pursuits, the psalmist solemnly pauses and inserts a Selah. Surely we too may stop awhile, and meditate upon the deep-seated folly of the wicked, their continuance in evil, and their sure destruction; and we may learn to admire that grace which has made us to differ, and taught us to love truth, and seek after righteousness.

3. But know. Fools will not learn, and therefore must again and again be told the same thing, especially when it is such a bitter truth, namely, the fact that the godly are the chosen of God and are, by distinguishing grace, set apart from men. Election is a doctrine which unrenewed people cannot endure, but nevertheless, it is a glorious and well-attested truth, and one which should comfort the tempted believer - the guarantee of complete salvation, and an argument for success at the throne of grace. He who chose us for himself will surely hear our prayers. The Lord's elect will not be condemned, nor shall their cry be unheard. David was king by divine decree, and we are the Lord's people in the same manner; let us tell our enemies that they fight against God and destiny when they strive to overthrow our souls. When you are on your knees, the fact of your being set apart as God's own particular treasure should give you courage and inspire you with fervency and faith (see Luke 18:7). Since he chose to love us, he cannot but choose to hear us.

4. Stand in awe, and sin not.