mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 140.xml

<div2 id="Ps.cxli" n="cxli" next="Ps.cxlii" prev="Ps.cxl" progress="69.48%" title="Chapter CXL">
<h2 id="Ps.cxli-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.cxli-p0.2">PSALM CXL.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.cxli-p1">This and the four following psalms are much of a
piece, and the scope of them the same with many that we met with in
the beginning and middle of the book of Psalms, though with but few
of late. They were penned by David (as it should seem) when he was
persecuted by Saul; one of them is said to be his "prayer when he
was in the cave," and it is probable that all the rest were penned
about the same time. In this psalm, I. David complains of the
malice of his enemies, and prays to God to preserve him from them,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.1-Ps.140.5" parsed="|Ps|140|1|140|5" passage="Ps 140:1-5">ver. 1-5</scripRef>. II. He
encourages himself in God as his God, <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.6-Ps.140.7" parsed="|Ps|140|6|140|7" passage="Ps 140:6,7">ver. 6, 7</scripRef>. III. He prays for, and
prophesies, the destruction of his persecutors, <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.8-Ps.140.11" parsed="|Ps|140|8|140|11" passage="Ps 140:8-11">ver. 8-11</scripRef>. IV. He assures all God's
afflicted people that their troubles would in due time end well
(<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.12-Ps.140.13" parsed="|Ps|140|12|140|13" passage="Ps 140:12,13">ver. 12, 13</scripRef>), with
which assurance we must comfort ourselves, and one another, in
singing this psalm.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxli-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140" parsed="|Ps|140|0|0|0" passage="Ps 140" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.cxli-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.1-Ps.140.7" parsed="|Ps|140|1|140|7" passage="Ps 140:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.140.1-Ps.140.7">
<h4 id="Ps.cxli-p1.7">Complaints and Petitions.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.cxli-p1.8">
<p id="Ps.cxli-p2">To the chief musician. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxli-p3">1 Deliver me, O <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p3.1">Lord</span>, from the evil man: preserve me from the
violent man;   2 Which imagine mischiefs in <i>their</i>
heart; continually are they gathered together <i>for</i> war.
  3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders'
poison <i>is</i> under their lips. Selah.   4 Keep me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p3.2">O Lord</span>, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my
goings.   5 The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they
have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.
  6 I said unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p3.3">Lord</span>, Thou
<i>art</i> my God: hear the voice of my supplications, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p3.4">O Lord</span>.   7 <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p3.5">O
God</span> the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast
covered my head in the day of battle.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p4">In <i>this,</i> as in other things, David
was a type of Christ, that he suffered before he reigned, was
humbled before he was exalted, and that as there were many who
loved and valued him, and sought to do him honour, so there were
many who hated and envied him, and sought to do him mischief, as
appears by these verses, where,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p5">I. He gives a character of his enemies, and
paints them out in their own colours, as dangerous men, whom he had
reason to be afraid of, but wicked men, whom he had no reason to
think the righteous God would countenance. There was one that seems
to have been the ring-leader of them, whom he calls <i>the evil
man</i> and <i>the man of violences</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.1 Bible:Ps.140.4" parsed="|Ps|140|1|0|0;|Ps|140|4|0|0" passage="Ps 140:1,4"><i>v.</i> 1, 4</scripRef>), probably he means Saul.
The Chaldee paraphrast (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.9" parsed="|Ps|140|9|0|0" passage="Ps 140:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>) names both Doeg and Ahithophel; but between them
there was a great distance of time. Violent men are evil men. But
there were many besides this one who were confederate against
David, who are here represented as the genuine offspring and seed
of the serpent. For, 1. They are very subtle, crafty to do
mischief; they have imagined it (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.2" parsed="|Ps|140|2|0|0" passage="Ps 140:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), have laid the scheme with all
the art and cunning imaginable. They <i>have purposed</i> and
plotted <i>to overthrow the goings</i> of a good man (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.4" parsed="|Ps|140|4|0|0" passage="Ps 140:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), to draw him into sin
and trouble, to ruin him by blasting his reputation, crushing his
interest, and taking away his life. For this purpose <i>they
have,</i> like mighty hunters, <i>hidden a snare,</i> and <i>spread
a net,</i> and <i>set gins</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.5" parsed="|Ps|140|5|0|0" passage="Ps 140:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), that their designs against him,
being kept undiscovered, might be the more likely to take effect,
and he might fall into their hands ere he was aware. Great
persecutors have often been great politicians, which has indeed
made them the more formidable; but <i>the Lord preserves the
simple</i> without all those arts. 2. They are very spiteful, as
full of malice as Satan himself: <i>They have sharpened their
tongues like a serpent,</i> that infuses his venom with his tongue;
and there is so much malignity in all they say that one would think
there was nothing <i>under their lips</i> but <i>adders'
poison,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.3" parsed="|Ps|140|3|0|0" passage="Ps 140:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
With their calumnies, and with their counsels, they aimed to
destroy David, but secretly, as a man is stung with a serpent, or a
snake in the grass. And they endeavoured likewise to infuse their
malice into others, and to make them seven times more the children
of hell than themselves. A malignant tongue makes men like the old
serpent; and poison in the lips is a certain sign of poison in the
heart. 3. They are confederate; they are many of them; but they are
all <i>gathered together</i> against me <i>for war,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.2" parsed="|Ps|140|2|0|0" passage="Ps 140:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Those who can agree in
nothing else can agree to persecute a good man. Herod and Pilate
will unite in this, and in this they resemble Satan, who is not
divided against himself, all the devils agreeing in Beelzebub. 4.
They are <i>proud</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.5" parsed="|Ps|140|5|0|0" passage="Ps 140:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), conceited of themselves and confident of their
success; and herein also they resemble Satan, whose reigning
ruining sin was pride. The pride of persecutors, though at present
it be the terror, yet may be the encouragement, of the persecuted,
for the more haughty they are the faster are they ripening for
ruin. <i>Pride goes before destruction.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p6">II. He prays to God to keep him from them
and from being swallowed up by them: "Lord, <i>deliver me, preserve
me, keep me</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.1 Bible:Ps.140.4" parsed="|Ps|140|1|0|0;|Ps|140|4|0|0" passage="Ps 140:1,4"><i>v.</i> 1,
4</scripRef>); let them not prevail to take away my life, my
reputation, my interest, my comfort, and to prevent my coming to
the throne. <i>Keep me</i> from doing as they do, or as they would
have me do, or as they promise themselves I shall do." Note, The
more malice appears in our enemies against us the more earnest we
should be in prayer to God to take us under his protection. In him
believers may count upon a security, and may enjoy it and
themselves with a holy serenity. Those are safe whom God preserves.
If he be for us, who can be against us?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p7">III. He triumphs in God, and thereby, in
effect, he triumphs over his persecutors, <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.6-Ps.140.7" parsed="|Ps|140|6|140|7" passage="Ps 140:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>. When his enemies sharpened
their tongues against him, did he sharpen his against them? No;
<i>adders' poison</i> was <i>under their lips,</i> but grace was
poured into his lips, witness what he here said unto the Lord, for
to him he looked, to him he directed himself, when he saw himself
in so much danger, through the malice of his enemies: and it is
well for us that we have a God to go to. He comforted himself, 1.
In his interest in God: "<i>I said, Thou art my God;</i> and, if my
God, then my shield and mighty protector." In troublous dangerous
times it is good to claim relation to God, and by faith to keep
hold of him. 2. In his access to God. This comforted him, that he
was not only taken into covenant with God, but into communion with
him, that he had leave to speak to him, and might expect an answer
of peace from him, and could say, with a humble confidence, <i>Hear
the voice of my supplications, O Lord!</i> 3. In the assurance he
had of help from God and happiness in him: "<i>O God the
Lord</i>—<i>Jehovah Adonai!</i> as <i>Jehovah</i> thou art
self-existent and self-sufficient, an infinitely perfect being; as
<i>Adonai</i> thou art my stay and support, my ruler and governor,
and therefore <i>the strength of my salvation,</i> my strong
Saviour; nay, not only my Saviour, but my salvation itself, from
whom, in whom, my salvation is; not only a strong Saviour, but the
very strength of my salvation, on whom the stress of my hope is
laid; all in all, to make me happy, and to preserve me to my
happiness." 4. In the experience he had had formerly of God's care
of him: <i>Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.</i> As
he pleaded with Saul, that, for the service of his country, he many
a time jeoparded his life in the high places of the field, so he
pleads with God that, in those services, he had wonderfully
protected him, and provided him a better helmet for the securing of
his head than Goliath's was: "Lord, thou hast kept me <i>in the day
of battle</i> with the Philistines, suffer me not to fall by the
treacherous intrigues of false-hearted Israelites." God is as able
to preserve his people from secret fraud as from open force; and
the experience we have had of his power and care, in dangers of one
kind, may encourage us to trust in him and depend upon him in
dangers of another nature; for nothing can shorten the Lord's right
hand.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cxli-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.8-Ps.140.13" parsed="|Ps|140|8|140|13" passage="Ps 140:8-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.140.8-Ps.140.13">
<h4 id="Ps.cxli-p7.3">Shame and Confusion of
Persecutors.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxli-p8">8 Grant not, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p8.1">O
Lord</span>, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked
device; <i>lest</i> they exalt themselves. Selah.   9 <i>As
for</i> the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief
of their own lips cover them.   10 Let burning coals fall upon
them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they
rise not up again.   11 Let not an evil speaker be established
in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow
<i>him.</i>   12 I know that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxli-p8.2">Lord</span> will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
<i>and</i> the right of the poor.   13 Surely the righteous
shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy
presence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p9">Here is the believing foresight David
had,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p10">I. Of the shame and confusion of
persecutors.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p11">1. Their disappointment. This he prays for
(<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.8" parsed="|Ps|140|8|0|0" passage="Ps 140:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), that their
lusts might not be gratified, their lust of ambition, envy, and
revenge: "<i>Grant not, O Lord! the desires of the wicked,</i> but
frustrate them; let them not see the ruin of my interest, which
they so earnestly wish to see; but <i>hear the voice of my
supplications.</i>" He prays that their projects might not take
effect, but be blasted: "<i>O further not his wicked device;</i>
let not Providence favour any of his designs, but cross them;
suffer <i>not his wicked device</i> to proceed, but chain his
wheels, and stop him in the career of his pursuits." Thus we are to
pray against the enemies of God's people, that they may not succeed
in any of their enterprises. Such was David's prayer against
Ahithophel, that God would turn his counsels into foolishness. The
plea is, <i>lest they exalt themselves,</i> value themselves upon
their success as if it were an evidence that God favoured them.
Proud men, when they prosper, are made prouder, grow more impudent
against God and insolent against his people, and <i>therefore,</i>
"Lord, do not prosper them."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p12">2. Their destruction. This he prays for (as
we read it); but some choose to read it rather as a prophecy, and
the original will bear it. If we take it as a prayer, that proceeds
from a spirit of prophecy, which comes all to one. He foretels the
ruin,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p13">(1.) Of his own enemies: "<i>As for those
that compass me about,</i> and seek my ruin," [1.] "<i>The mischief
of their own lips</i> shall <i>cover</i> their heads (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.9" parsed="|Ps|140|9|0|0" passage="Ps 140:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); the evil they have
wished to me shall come upon themselves, their curses shall be
blown back into their own faces, and the very designs which they
have laid against me shall turn to their own ruin," <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.15-Ps.7.16" parsed="|Ps|7|15|7|16" passage="Ps 7:15,16">Ps. vii. 15, 16</scripRef>. Let those that
make mischief, by slandering, tale-bearing, misrepresenting their
neighbours, and spreading ill-natured characters and stories, dread
the consequence of it, and think how sad their condition will be
when all the mischief they have been accessory to shall be made to
return upon themselves. [2.] The judgments of God shall <i>fall
upon them,</i> compared here to <i>burning coals,</i> in allusion
to the destruction of Sodom; nay, as in the deluge the waters from
above, and those from beneath, met for the drowning of the world,
both the windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the
great deep were broken up, so here, to complete the ruin of the
enemies of Christ and his kingdom, they shall not only have
<i>burning coals</i> cast upon them from above (<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.23 Bible:Job.27.22" parsed="|Job|20|23|0|0;|Job|27|22|0|0" passage="Job 20:23,27:22">Job xx. 23; xxvii. 22</scripRef>), but they
themselves shall <i>be cast into the fire</i> beneath; both heaven
and hell, the wrath of God the Judge and the rage of Satan the
tormentor, shall concur to make them miserable. And the fire they
shall be cast into is not a furnace of fire, out of which perhaps
they might escape, but a <i>deep pit,</i> out of which they cannot
rise. Tophet is said to be <i>deep and large,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.33" parsed="|Isa|30|33|0|0" passage="Isa 30:33">Isa. xxx. 33</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p14">(2.) Of all others that are like them,
<scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.11" parsed="|Ps|140|11|0|0" passage="Ps 140:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. [1.] Evil
speakers must expect to be shaken, for they shall never <i>be
established in the earth.</i> What is got by fraud and falsehood,
by calumny and unjust accusation, will not prosper, will not last.
Wealth gotten by vanity will be diminished. Let not such men as
Doeg think to reign long, for his doom will be theirs, <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.5" parsed="|Ps|2|5|0|0" passage="Ps 2:5">Ps. ii. 5</scripRef>. A lying tongue is but for a
moment, but the <i>lip of truth shall be established for ever.</i>
[2.] Evil doers must expect to be destroyed: <i>Evil shall hunt the
violent man,</i> as the blood-hound hunts the murderer to discover
him, as the lion hunts his prey to tear it to pieces. Mischievous
men will be brought to light, and brought to ruin; the destruction
appointed shall run them down and overthrow them. <i>Evil pursues
sinners.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxli-p15">II. Here is his foresight of the
deliverance and comfort of the persecuted, <scripRef id="Ps.cxli-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.140.12-Ps.140.13" parsed="|Ps|140|12|140|13" passage="Ps 140:12,13"><i>v.</i> 12, 13</scripRef>. 1. God will do those
justice, in delivering them, who, being wronged, commit themselves
to him: "<i>I know that the Lord will maintain the</i> just and
injured <i>cause of</i> his <i>afflicted</i> people, and will not
suffer might always to prevail against right, though it be but
<i>the right of the poor,</i> who have but little that they can
pretend a right to." God is, and will be, the patron of oppressed
innocence, much more of persecuted piety; those that know him
cannot but know this. 2. They will do him justice (if I may so
speak), in ascribing the glory of their deliverance to him:
"<i>Surely the righteous</i> (who make conscience of rendering to
God his due, as well as to men theirs) <i>shall give thanks unto
thy name</i> when they find their cause pleaded with jealousy and
prosecuted with effect." The closing words, <i>The upright shall
dwell in thy presence,</i> denote both God's favour to them ("Thou
shalt admit them to dwell in thy presence in grace here, in glory
hereafter, and it shall be their safety and happiness") and their
duty to God: "They shall attend upon thee as servants that keep in
the presence of their masters, both to do them honour and to
receive their commands." This is true thanksgiving, even
thanksliving; and this use we should make of all our deliverance,
we should serve God the more closely and cheerfully.</p>
</div></div2>