132 lines
10 KiB
XML
132 lines
10 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Ps.cxxiv" n="cxxiv" next="Ps.cxxv" prev="Ps.cxxiii" progress="66.58%" title="Chapter CXXIII">
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<h2 id="Ps.cxxiv-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
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<h3 id="Ps.cxxiv-p0.2">PSALM CXXIII.</h3>
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<p class="intro" id="Ps.cxxiv-p1">This psalm was penned at a time when the church of
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God was brought low and trampled upon; some think it was when the
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Jews were captives in Babylon, though that was not the only time
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that they were insulted over by the proud. The psalmist begins as
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if he spoke for himself only (<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.1" parsed="|Ps|123|1|0|0" passage="Ps 123:1">ver.
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1</scripRef>), but presently speaks in the name of the church. Here
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is, I. Their expectation of mercy from God, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.1-Ps.123.2" parsed="|Ps|123|1|123|2" passage="Ps 123:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. Their plea for mercy with
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God,, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.3-Ps.123.4" parsed="|Ps|123|3|123|4" passage="Ps 123:3,4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. In
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singing it we must have our eye up to God's favour with a holy
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concern, and then an eye down to men's reproach with a holy
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contempt.</p>
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<scripCom id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123" parsed="|Ps|123|0|0|0" passage="Ps 123" type="Commentary"/>
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<scripCom id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.1-Ps.123.4" parsed="|Ps|123|1|123|4" passage="Ps 123:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.123.1-Ps.123.4">
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<h4 id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.6">Grateful Acknowledgments.</h4>
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<div class="Center" id="Ps.cxxiv-p1.7">
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<p id="Ps.cxxiv-p2">A song of degrees.</p>
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</div>
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<p class="passage" id="Ps.cxxiv-p3">1 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that
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dwellest in the heavens. 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
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<i>look</i> unto the hand of their masters, <i>and</i> as the eyes
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of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes <i>wait</i>
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upon the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxxiv-p3.1">Lord</span> our God, until that he
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have mercy upon us. 3 Have mercy upon us, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cxxiv-p3.2">O Lord</span>, have mercy upon us: for we are
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exceedingly filled with contempt. 4 Our soul is exceedingly
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filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, <i>and</i> with
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the contempt of the proud.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxxiv-p4">We have here,</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxxiv-p5">I. The solemn profession which God's people
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make of faith and hope in God, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.1-Ps.123.2" parsed="|Ps|123|1|123|2" passage="Ps 123:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Observe, 1. The title here
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given to God: <i>O thou that dwellest in the heavens.</i> Our Lord
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Jesus has taught us, in prayer, to have an eye to God as <i>our
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Father in heaven;</i> not that he is confined there, but there
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especially he manifests his glory, as the King in his court. Heaven
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is a place of prospect and a place of power; he that dwells there
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beholds thence all the calamities of his people and thence can send
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to save them. Sometimes God seems to have forsaken the earth, and
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the enemies of God's people ask, <i>Where is now your God?</i> But
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then they can say with comfort, <i>Our God is in the heavens. O
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thou that sittest in the heavens</i> (so some), sittest as Judge
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there; for <i>the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens,</i>
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and to that throne injured innocency may appeal. 2. The regard here
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had to God. The psalmist himself <i>lifted up his eyes</i> to him.
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The eyes of a good man are <i>ever towards the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.15" parsed="|Ps|25|15|0|0" passage="Ps 25:15">Ps. xxv. 15</scripRef>. In every prayer we lift
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up our soul, the eye of our soul, to God, especially in trouble,
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which was the case here. The <i>eyes</i> of the people <i>waited on
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the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.2" parsed="|Ps|123|2|0|0" passage="Ps 123:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
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We find mercy coming towards a people <i>when the eyes of man, as
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of all the tribes of Israel, are towards the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Zech.9.1" parsed="|Zech|9|1|0|0" passage="Zec 9:1">Zech. ix. 1</scripRef>. The eyes of the body are
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heaven-ward. <i>Os homini sublime dedit—To man he gave an erect
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mien,</i> to teach us which way to direct the eyes of the mind.
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<i>Our eyes wait on the Lord,</i> the eye of desire and prayer, the
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begging eye, and the eye of dependence, hope, and expectation, the
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longing eye. Our eyes must wait upon God as <i>the Lord,</i> and
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<i>our God, until that he have mercy upon us.</i> We desire mercy
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from him, we hope he will show us mercy, and we will continue our
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attendance on him till the mercy come. This is illustrated
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(<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.2" parsed="|Ps|123|2|0|0" passage="Ps 123:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) by a
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similitude: Our eyes are to God <i>as the eyes of a servant,</i>
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and <i>handmaid, to the hand of their master and mistress.</i> The
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eyes of a servant are, (1.) To his master's directing hand,
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expecting that he will appoint him his work, and cut it out for
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him, and show him how he must do it. <i>Lord, what wilt thou have
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me to do?</i> (2.) To his supplying hand. Servants look to their
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master, or their mistress, for their portion of meat in due season,
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<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.15" parsed="|Prov|31|15|0|0" passage="Pr 31:15">Prov. xxxi. 15</scripRef>. And to God
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must we look for daily bread, for grace sufficient; from him we
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must receive it thankfully. (3.) To his assisting hand. If the
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servant cannot do his work himself, where must he look for help but
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to his master? And in the strength of the Lord God we must go forth
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and go on. (4.) To his protecting hand. If the servant meet with
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opposition in his work, if he be questioned for what he does, if he
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be wronged and injured, who should bear him out and right him, but
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his master that set him on work? The people of God, when they are
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persecuted, may appeal to their Master, <i>We are thine; save
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us.</i> (5.) To his correcting hand. If the servant has provoked
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his master to beat him, he does not call for help against his
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master, but looks at the hand that strikes him, till it shall say,
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"It is enough; I will not contend for ever." The people of God were
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now under his rebukes; and whither should they turn but to him that
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<i>smote them?</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.9.13" parsed="|Isa|9|13|0|0" passage="Isa 9:13">Isa. ix.
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13</scripRef>. To whom should they make supplication but to their
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Judge? They will not do as Hagar did, who ran away from her
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mistress when she put some hardships upon her (<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.16.6" parsed="|Gen|16|6|0|0" passage="Ge 16:6">Gen. xvi. 6</scripRef>), but they submit themselves to
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and humble themselves under God's mighty hand. (6.) To his
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rewarding hand. The servant expects his wages, his
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<i>well-done,</i> from his master. Hypocrites have their eye to the
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world's hand; thence <i>they have their reward</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p5.9" osisRef="Bible:Matt.6.2" parsed="|Matt|6|2|0|0" passage="Mt 6:2">Matt. vi. 2</scripRef>); but true Christians have
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their eye to God as their rewarder.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Ps.cxxiv-p6">II. The humble address which God's people
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present to him in their calamitous condition (<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.123.3-Ps.123.4" parsed="|Ps|123|3|123|4" passage="Ps 123:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>), wherein, 1. They sue for
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mercy, not prescribing to God what he shall do for them, nor
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pleading any merit of their own why he should do it for them, but,
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<i>Have mercy upon us, O Lord! have mercy upon us.</i> We find
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little mercy with men; their <i>tender mercies are cruel;</i> there
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are <i>cruel mockings.</i> But this is our comfort, that <i>with
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the Lord there is mercy</i> and we need desire no more to relieve
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us, and make us easy, than the mercy of God. Whatever the troubles
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of the church are, God's mercy is a sovereign remedy. 2. They set
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forth their grievances: <i>We are exceedingly filled with
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contempt.</i> Reproach is the wound, the burden, they complain of.
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Observe, (1.) Who were reproached: "We, who have our eyes up to
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thee." Those who are owned of God are often despised and trampled
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on by the world. Some translate the words which we render, <i>those
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that are at ease,</i> and <i>the proud,</i> so as to signify the
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persons that are scorned and contemned. "Our soul is troubled to
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see how those that are at peace, and the excellent ones, are
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scorned and despised." The saints are a peaceable people and yet
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are abused (<scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.35.20" parsed="|Ps|35|20|0|0" passage="Ps 35:20">Ps. xxxv. 20</scripRef>),
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the excellent ones of the earth and yet undervalued, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.1-Lam.4.2" parsed="|Lam|4|1|4|2" passage="La 4:1,2">Lam. iv. 1, 2</scripRef>. (2.) Who did reproach
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them. Taking the words as we read them, they were the epicures who
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lived at ease, carnal sensual people, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.12.5" parsed="|Job|12|5|0|0" passage="Job 12:5">Job xii. 5</scripRef>. The scoffers are such as walk
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after their own lusts and serve their own bellies, and the proud
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such as set God himself at defiance and had a high opinion of
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themselves; they trampled on God's people, thinking they magnified
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themselves by vilifying them. (3.) To what degree they were
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reproached: "<i>We are filled,</i> we are surfeited with it. <i>Our
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soul is exceedingly filled with it.</i>" The enemies thought they
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could never jeer them enough, nor say enough to make them
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despicable; and they could not but lay it to heart; it was a sword
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in their bones, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.42.10" parsed="|Ps|42|10|0|0" passage="Ps 42:10">Ps. xlii.
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10</scripRef>. Note, [1.] Scorning and contempt have been, and are,
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and are likely to be, the lot of God's people in this world.
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Ishmael mocked Isaac, which is called <i>persecuting</i> him; and
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so it is now, <scripRef id="Ps.cxxiv-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.29" parsed="|Gal|4|29|0|0" passage="Ga 4:29">Gal. iv. 29</scripRef>.
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[2.] In reference to the scorn and contempt of men it is matter of
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comfort that there is mercy with God, mercy to our good names when
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they are barbarously used. <i>Hear, O our God! for we are
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despised.</i></p>
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</div></div2>
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