2 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML
2 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML
|
<p>David is supposed to have penned this psalm; and he was himself a prince, a mighty prince; as such, it might be thought, 1. That he should be exempted from the service of praising God, that it was enough for him to see that his priests and people did it, but that he needed not to do it himself in his own person. Michal thought it a disparagement to him to <i>dance before the ark</i>; but he was so far from being of this mind that he would himself be first and foremost in the work, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.1,Ps.146.2" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.1,Ps.146.2"><span class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.1">Ps. 146:1</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.2">2</span></a>. He considered his dignity as so far from excusing him from it that it rather obliged him to lead in it, and he thought it so far from lessening him that it really magnified him; therefore he stirred up himself to it and to make a business of it: <i>Praise the Lord, O my soul</i>! and he resolved to abide by it: “I will praise him with my heart, <i>I will sing praises</i> to him with my mouth. Herein I will have an eye to him as <i>the Lord</i>, infinitely blessed and glorious in himself, and as <i>my God</i>, in covenant with me.” Praise is most pleasant when, in praising God, we have an eye to him as ours, whom we have an interest in and stand in relation to. “This I will do constantly while I live, every day of my life, and to my life’s end; nay, I will do it <i>while I have any being</i>, for when I have no being on earth I hope to have a being in heaven, a better being, to be doing it better.” That which is the great end of our being ought to be our great employment and delight while we have any being. “In thee must our time and powers be spent.” 2. It might be thought that he himself, having been so great a blessing to his country, should be adored, according to the usage of the heathen nations, who deified their heroes, that they should all come and <i>trust in his shadow</i> and make him their <i>stay</i> and <i>strong-hold</i>. “No,” says David, “<i>Put not your trust in princes</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.3" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.3">Ps. 146:3</a>), not in me, not in any other; do not repose your confidence in them; do not raise your expectations from them. Be not too sure of their sincerity; some have thought they knew better how to reign by knowing how to dissemble. Be not too sure of their constancy and fidelity; it is possible they may both change their minds and break their words.” But, though we suppose them very wise and as good as David himself, yet we must not be too sure of their ability and continuance, for they are sons of Adam, weak and mortal. There is indeed a Son of man in whom there is help, in whom there is salvation, and who will not fail those that trust in him. But all other sons of men are like the man they are sprung of, who, being in honour, did not abide. (1.) We cannot be sure of their ability. Even the power of kings may be so straitened, cramped, and weakened, that they may not be in a capacity to do that for us which we expect. David himself owned (<a class="bibleref" title="2Sam.3.39" href="/passage/?search=2Sam.3.39">2 Sam. 3:39</a>), <i>I am this day weak, though anointed king</i>. So that <i>in the son of man there is</i> often <i>no help</i>, no salvation; he is at a loss, at his wits’ end, as <i>a man astonished</i>, and then, though <i>a mighty man</i>, he <i>cannot save</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.14.9" href="/passage/?search=Jer.14.9">Jer. 14:9</a>. (2.) We cannot be sure of their continuance. Suppose he has it in his power to help us while he lives, yet he may be suddenly taken off when we expect most from him (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.146.4" href="/passage/?search=Ps.146.4">Ps. 146:4</a>): <i>His breath goes forth</i>, so it does every moment, and comes back again, but that is an intimation that it will shortly go for good and all, and then <i>he returns to his earth</i>. The earth is his, in respect of his original as a man, the earth out of
|