8 Because of those mine enemies, Do thou me lead; do thou thy way 9 For in their mouth there is no truth, Ver. 8. He pleads the LORD may lead him by his Spirit in his righte~ ousness, or according to his righteous laws, because of his enemies, who were ever ready to take advantage of every wrong step in his conduct, and to lay the blame on his religious profession. On this account he prays that God would make his way straight, plain or smooth before his face. Thus may our worst enemies become our best friends, by leading us to pray with greater fervency, and to watch and walk more circumspectly. Verse 9. Paul quotes part of this verse, Rom. iii. 13. and other texts from the Psalms and prophetic writings, to evince the moral depravity of the Jews and Gentiles, till renewed by the grace of the gospel, and justified by faith in its divine Author. Thus he teaches us to apply what is said of David's enemies to those of Messiah, and of his people, in every age. Language cannot furnish a more debasing picture of the state of unrenewed man than is here presented—no faithfulness or truth in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness; their throat an open unripe sepulchre, they flatter with their tongue, with view more effectually to deceive and destroy the unwary. Ver. 10. This verse, like many others in this Book, may be justly ren dered, as commentators observe, in the future time; Thou shalt destroy them, O God; they shall fall by their own counsels: thou shalt cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee. As many Christians scruple to sing such passages in the impreca tive form, none can justly object to our giving that turn to the metrical te:sion in such cases. They are not spoken of private and personal enemies; but of those who oppose Messiah, and refuse to be reclaimed. The fate of Ahitophel. Absalom, Judas, and the Jews, for their enmity to David, to CHRIST, and his church, should warn not to offend in a si-milar manne". Poole gives a different rendering worthy of being insertel Hold, or thou shalt hold them guilty, i. e. condemn and punish them ;make, or thou shalt make them to offend, viz. in their counsels, as it fol lows, so as to be given up to bad and foolish counsels; or fail in the ex-ecution of their wise or crafty ones; make their counsels not only unsuc cessful against him, but also destructive to themselves; make them fall B 11 But let all joy that trust in thee, For them thou sav'st: let all that love 12 For, LORD, unto the righteous man PSALM VI. 1 LORD, in thy wrath rebuke me not, Heal me, for my bones vexed be. from, or because of their counsels, fall short of their aims and designs in them, and because of them, as being unjust and ungodly, and so deserving destruction; cast, or thou shalt cast them out in, for, or because of their transgressions, as opposing God's authority and appointment, and that against their own consciences. Verse 11. But let all those that pet their trust in thee rejoice; &c. or it may be rendered in the future time, like the preceding clause. While the last verse foretold the destruction of DAVID's enemies, who prefigured those of MESSIAH; this describes the security and happiness of those that fear the Lord. Under his protection their triumphs shall be complete. They who love his name, while they enjoy the comforts of religion, and are blessed with the hopes of glory, his love fills their hearts with a joy with which strangers to the divine life cannot intermeddle. Without regard to party distinctions, we should pray that all who love his blessed name may be joyful in him as their King. Verse 12. For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; &c. This imports both his purpose and promise to do so. That JEHOVAH here intends our Lord, whose office it is, as the great high Priest of our profession, to bless his people. we have good reason to believe. AS DAVID, SOLOMON, and other pious kings in ISRAEL, blessed their subjects on solemn occasions, besides their daily prayers for them; so CHRIST blesses his people, and lives and reigns for ever to make prevalent intercession for them.Tappy they whom the Lord incircles with his favour as with a shield; for no real evil can befal them, no plague or danger can assail their dwelling; for their place of defence is the munition of rocks. LET the contents of this psalm be improved as a directory, to teach us Low to pray for ourselves and others; and if we be followers of those who through faith and patience now inherit the promised blessings, we shall in due time reign with them. 3 My soul is also vexed sore: But, LORD, how long stay wilt thou make? 4 Return, O LORD, my soul set free: O save me for thy mercy's sake. 5 Because those that deceased are, Give praises lying in the grave? Have caused for to swim; and I 7 Mine eye, consum'd with grief, grows old, 8 Hence from me, wicked workers all; Another of the same. THIS psalm is ascribed to David, and appears to have been written when he was under some grievous affliction of body, aggravated by distress of mind. It is the first of those psalms which are called penitential. He deprecates the wrath due to his sins, and pleads for pardon. His plea he inforces by the consideration of his sufferings, and of the divine mercy—because, if man were left to perish, God would not derive praise and glory from his death; he also urges his self-abasement and contrition for sin, as a plea for the exercise of mercy in his case. In the full belief that his prayer was heard, and would receive an answer of peace, he concludes in a strain of joy and triumph. 1 IN thy great indignation, . 2 LORD, I am weak, therefore on me Have mercy, and me spare: Heal me, O LORD, because thou know'st 3 My soul is vexed sore; but, LORD, 5 Because of thee in death there shall Verse 1. Anger, hot displeasure, wrath, fiery indignation, fury, and the like terms, as applied to Gon, import no passion or commotion in him, as they do in us; but only denote different degrees of severity in his paternal corrections. Here the Psalmist prays like the prophet; O Lord, correct me, but in judgment; not in thine anger; lest thou bring me to nothing-and both to Him to whom all correction is committed, Jer. x. 24. This plainly intimates, as expressed Isa. lvii. 16. that should he punish with vindictive wrath, as HE is reputed to do in regard of the wicked, the spirits would fail before him, and the souls that he hath made. Neither annihilation then, nor endless misery or destruction, can be the object or issue of divine punishments; as being both an imperfect end. Verse 2. Have mercy upon me, O LORD, &c. Here he pleads for mercy upon the ground of weakness and distress, which moves the compassion of an earthly parent to his child; and prays the LORD would heal him, seeing his bones were vexed, shaken, or made to tremble, under a deep sense of his sins, and the pressure of his affliction. What then might the MAN OF SORROWs exclaim, when he made his soul an offering for sin? Verse 3. My sout is also sore vered; but thou, O LORD, how long? Here he urges his distress and trouble of mind, and pleads for a spcedy answer of peace, as hope deferred maketh the heart sick. He leaves the sentence unfinished, how long? and this may remind us of our Lord's ories in Psalm xxii. in which respect his church and people are sometimes made to drink some drops of his bitter cup, and to cry in like manner for the delayed deliverance. Verse 4. Return, O LORD, &c. While he hides his face from the penitent, he is like the benighted traveller in the absence of the sun, and hence cries for his return; O that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness! Job xxix. 1, 2. A similar cry did our Lord utter on the cross; and are not his people, in this respect, to be conformed to him in their measure? In such cases free mercy is their only plea; O save me for thy mercy's sake! Verse 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee, &c. This argument whelly turns on this basis, that man is formed for his Maker's glory, and that if he finally perish, the end of his existence must fail. As the Of those that in the grave do ly, 7 By reason of my vexing grief, It waxeth old because of all 8 But now, depart from me, all ye For why, the LORD hath heard my voice, body cannot glorify GoD while in the grave; so neither can sinners while they remain under the dominion of the second death; whence we infer that neither state can be endless. Will not this plea prevail in Christ's mouth in behalf of all the members of his mystical body, down to the heel that treads in the mire, for all of whom he gave himself a ransom? The church and every Christian should urge it in their prayers; in the grave, in hell, who shall give thee thanks? Verse 6. I am weary with my groaning; &c. David farther urges his plea for mercy by a fifth argument, viz. the signs and fruits of a true repentance, which his affliction had produced. A sense of his sins, and of the wrath due to them, extorts sighs and groans incessantly. When sleep was necessary to recruit exhausted nature, this was his exercise, all the night make my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. Let those who exclaim against the king of ISRAEL for his sins, observe and copy his repentance, and those who are emboldened in transgression by bis example. Jesus, the man of sorrows, came not behind his type in this respect, though he had no sin properly his own. He wept over sinners, they read this, and yet continue to love and commit sin. Ix verse 7th, the prophet proceeds to describe his mournful case, Mine eye is consumed because of grief; or by reason of sorrow and weeping which caused a decay of his animal spirits. Was it not so also with our Lord? as we see, Isa. lii. 4. It, viz. his eye, waxeth old because of all mine enemies. Hearing the reproaches of many, and foreseeing the fatal use that would be made of his sins, his sorrow and grief were greatly increased. In the preceding psalm, at the 8th verse, he prays the LORD would lead him in his righteous ways because of his enemies, margin, those who observe me, who had their eyes fixed on him for evil. The rea son here is the same. Dr. H. here remarks, "How long, in these times, might youth and beauty last, were godly sorrow their only enomy?" |