mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 6.xml

<div2 id="Ps.vii" n="vii" next="Ps.viii" prev="Ps.vi" progress="23.65%" title="Chapter VI">
<h2 id="Ps.vii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.vii-p0.2">PSALM VI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.vii-p1">David was a weeping prophet as well as Jeremiah,
and this psalm is one of his lamentations: either it was penned in
a time, or at least calculated for a time, of great trouble, both
outward and inward. Is any afflicted? Is any sick? Let him sing
this psalm. The method of this psalm is very observable, and what
we shall often meet with. He begins with doleful complaints, but
ends with joyful praises; like Hannah, who went to prayer with a
sorrowful spirit, but, when she had prayed, went her way, and her
countenance was no more sad. Three things the psalmist is here
complaining of:—1. Sickness of body. 2. Trouble of mind, arising
from the sense of sin, the meritorious cause of pain and sickness.
3. The insults of his enemies upon occasion of both. Now here, I.
He pours out his complaints before God, deprecates his wrath, and
begs earnestly for the return of his favour, <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.1-Ps.6.7" parsed="|Ps|6|1|6|7" passage="Ps 6:1-7">ver. 1-7</scripRef>. II. He assures himself of an answer
of peace, shortly, to his full satisfaction, <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.8-Ps.6.10" parsed="|Ps|6|8|6|10" passage="Ps 6:8-10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>. This psalm is like the book of
Job.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.vii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6" parsed="|Ps|6|0|0|0" passage="Ps 6" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.vii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.1-Ps.6.7" parsed="|Ps|6|1|6|7" passage="Ps 6:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.6.1-Ps.6.7">
<h4 id="Ps.vii-p1.5">David's Complaints.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.vii-p1.6">
<p id="Ps.vii-p2">To the chief musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith. A psalm of
David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.vii-p3">1 <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p3.1">O Lord</span>, rebuke
me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
  2 Have mercy upon me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p3.2">O Lord</span>;
for I <i>am</i> weak: <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p3.3">O Lord</span>, heal
me; for my bones are vexed.   3 My soul is also sore vexed:
but thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p3.4">O Lord</span>, how long?   4
Return, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p3.5">O Lord</span>, deliver my soul: oh
save me for thy mercies' sake.   5 For in death <i>there
is</i> no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee
thanks?   6 I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I
my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.   7 Mine eye
is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine
enemies.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p4">These verses speak the language of a heart
truly humbled under humbling providences, of a broken and contrite
spirit under great afflictions, sent on purpose to awaken
conscience and mortify corruption. Those heap up wrath who cry not
when God binds them; but those are getting ready for mercy who,
under God's rebukes, sow in tears, as David does here. Let us
observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p5">I. The representation he makes to God of
his grievances. He pours out his complaint before him. Whither else
should a child go with his complaints, but to his father? 1. He
complains of bodily pain and sickness (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.2" parsed="|Ps|6|2|0|0" passage="Ps 6:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>My bones are vexed.</i> His
bones and his flesh, like Job's, were touched. Though David was a
king, yet he was sick and pained; his imperial crown could not keep
his head from aching. Great men are men, and subject to the common
calamities of human life. Though David was a stout man, a man of
war from his youth, yet this could not secure him from distempers,
which will soon make even the strong men to bow themselves. Though
David was a good man, yet neither could his goodness keep him in
health. <i>Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.</i> Let this
help to reconcile us to pain and sickness, that it has been the lot
of some of the best saints, and that we are directed and encouraged
by their example to show before God our trouble in that case, who
<i>is for the body,</i> and takes cognizance of its ailments. 2. He
complains of inward trouble: <i>My soul is also sorely vexed;</i>
and that is much more grievous than the vexation of the bones.
<i>The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity,</i> if that be
in good plight; but, if that be wounded, the grievance is
intolerable. David's sickness brought his sin to his remembrance,
and he looked upon it as a token of God's displeasure against him;
that was the vexation of his soul; that made him cry, <i>I am weak,
heal me.</i> It is a sad thing for a man to have his bones and his
soul vexed at the same time; but this has been sometimes the lot of
God's own people: nay, and this completed his complicated trouble,
that it was continued upon him a great while, which is here
intimated in that expostulation (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.3" parsed="|Ps|6|3|0|0" passage="Ps 6:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), <i>Thou, O Lord! how long?</i> To
the living God we must, at such a time, address ourselves, who is
the only physician both of body and mind, and not to the Assyrians,
not to the god of Ekron.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p6">II. The impression which his troubles made
upon him. They lay very heavily; he <i>groaned till he was
weary,</i> wept till he <i>made his bed to swim,</i> and <i>watered
his couch</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.6" parsed="|Ps|6|6|0|0" passage="Ps 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
wept till he had almost wept his eyes out (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.7" parsed="|Ps|6|7|0|0" passage="Ps 6:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>My eye is consumed because of
grief.</i> David had more courage and consideration than to mourn
thus for any outward affliction; but, when sin sat heavily upon his
conscience and he was made to possess his iniquities, when his soul
was wounded with the sense of God's wrath and his withdrawings from
him, then he thus grieves and mourns in secret, and even his soul
refuses to be comforted. This not only kept his eyes waking, but
kept his eyes weeping. Note, 1. It has often been the lot of the
best of men to be men of sorrows; our Lord Jesus himself was so.
Our way lies through a vale of tears, and we must accommodate
ourselves to the temper of the climate. 2. It well becomes the
greatest spirits to be tender, and to relent, under the tokens of
God's displeasure. David, who could face Goliath himself and many
another threatening enemy with an undaunted bravery, yet melts into
tears at the remembrance of sin and under the apprehensions of
divine wrath; and it was no diminution at all to his character to
do so. 3. True penitents weep in their retirements. The Pharisees
disguised their faces, that they might <i>appear unto men to
mourn;</i> but David mourned in the night upon the bed where he lay
communing with his own heart, and no eye was a witness to his
grief, but the eye of him who is all eye. Peter went out, covered
his face, and wept. 4. Sorrow for sin ought to be great sorrow; so
David's was; he wept so bitterly, so abundantly, that he watered
his couch. 5. The triumphs of wicked men in the sorrows of the
saints add very much to their grief. David's eye waxed old because
of his enemies, who rejoiced in his afflictions and put bad
constructions upon his tears. In this great sorrow David was a type
of Christ, who often wept, and who cried out, <i>My soul is
exceedingly sorrowful,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.7" parsed="|Heb|5|7|0|0" passage="Heb 5:7">Heb. v.
7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p7">III. The petitions which he offers up to
God in this sorrowful and distressed state. 1. That which he dreads
as the greatest evil is the anger of God. This was the wormwood and
the gall in the affliction and the misery; it was the infusion of
this that made it indeed a bitter cup; and therefore he prays
(<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.1" parsed="|Ps|6|1|0|0" passage="Ps 6:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), <i>O Lord!
rebuke me not in thy anger,</i> though I have deserved it,
<i>neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.</i> He does not pray,
"Lord, rebuke me not; Lord, chasten me not;" for, <i>as many as God
loves he rebukes and chastens, as a father the son in whom he
delights.</i> He can bear the rebuke and chastening well enough if
God, at the same time, lift up the light of his countenance upon
him and by his Spirit make him to hear the joy and gladness of his
loving-kindness; the affliction of his body will be tolerable if he
have but comfort in his soul. No matter though sickness make his
bones ache, if God's wrath do not make his heart ache; therefore
his prayer is, "<i>Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath;</i> let me not
lie under the impressions of that, for that will sink me." Herein
David was a type of Christ, whose sorest complaint, in his
sufferings, was of the trouble of his soul and of the suspension of
his Father's smiles. He never so much as whispered a complaint of
the rage of his enemies—"Why do they crucify me?" or the
unkindness of his friends—"Why do they desert me?" But he <i>cried
with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?</i>
Let us thus deprecate the wrath of God more than any outward
trouble whatsoever and always beware of treasuring up wrath against
a day of affliction. 2. That which he desires as the greatest good,
and which would be to him the restoration of all good, is the
favour and friendship of God. He prays, (1.) That God would pity
him and look upon him with compassion. He thinks himself very
miserable, and misery is the proper object of mercy. Hence he
prays, "<i>Have mercy upon me, O Lord!</i> in wrath remember mercy,
and deal not with me in strict justice." (2.) That God would pardon
his sins; for that is the proper act of mercy, and is often chiefly
intended in that petition, <i>Have mercy upon me.</i> (3.) That God
would put forth his power for his relief: "<i>Lord, heal me</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.2" parsed="|Ps|6|2|0|0" passage="Ps 6:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>save me</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.4" parsed="|Ps|6|4|0|0" passage="Ps 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), speak the
word, and I shall be whole, and all will be well." (4.) That he
would be at peace with him: "<i>Return, O Lord!</i> receive me into
thy favour again, and be reconciled to me. Thou hast seemed to
depart from me and neglect me, nay, to set thyself at a distance,
as one angry; but now, Lord, return and show thyself nigh to me."
(5.) That he would especially preserve the inward man and the
interests of that, whatever might become of the body: "<i>O Lord!
deliver my soul</i> from sinning, from sinking, from perishing for
ever." It is an unspeakable privilege that we have a God to go to
in our afflictions, and it is our duty to go to him, and thus to
wrestle with him, and we shall not seek in vain.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p8">IV. The pleas with which he enforces his
petitions, not to move God (he knows our cause and the true merits
of it better than we can state them), but to move himself. 1. He
pleads God's mercy; and thence we take some of our best
encouragements in prayer: <i>Save me, for thy mercies' sake.</i> 3.
He pleads God's glory (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.5" parsed="|Ps|6|5|0|0" passage="Ps 6:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>): "<i>For in death there is no remembrance of
thee.</i> Lord, if thou deliver me and comfort me, I will not only
give thee thanks for my deliverance, and stir up others to join
with me in these thanksgivings, but I will spend the new life thou
shalt entrust me with in thy service and to thy glory, and all the
remainder of my days I will preserve a grateful remembrance of thy
favours to me, and be quickened thereby in all instances of service
to thee; but, if I die, I shall be cut short of that opportunity of
honouring thee and doing good to others, for <i>in the grave who
will give the thanks?</i>" Not but that separate souls live and
act, and the souls of the faithful joyfully remember God and give
thanks to him. But, (1.) In the second death (which perhaps David,
being now troubled in soul under the wrath of God, had some
dreadful apprehensions of) there is no pleasing remembrance of God;
devils and damned spirits blaspheme him and do not praise him.
"Lord, let me not lie always under this wrath, for that is
<i>sheol,</i> it is <i>hell</i> itself, and lays me under an
everlasting disability to praise thee." Those that sincerely seek
God's glory, and desire and delight to praise him, may pray in
faith, "Lord, send me not to that dreadful place, where there is no
devout remembrance of thee, nor are any thanks given to thee." (2.)
Even the death of the body puts an end to our opportunity and
capacity of glorifying God in this world, and serving the interests
of his kingdom among men by opposing the powers of darkness and
bringing many on this earth to know God and devote themselves to
him. Some have maintained that the joys of the saints in heaven are
more desirable, infinitely more so, than the comforts of saints on
earth; yet the services of saints on earth, especially such eminent
ones as David was, are more laudable, and redound more to the glory
of the divine grace, than the services of the saints in heaven, who
are not employed in maintaining the war against sin and Satan, nor
in edifying the body of Christ. Courtiers in the royal presence are
most happy, but soldiers in the field are more useful; and
therefore we may, with good reason, pray that if it be the will of
God, and he has any further work for us or our friends to do in
this world, he will yet spare us, or them, to serve him. To depart
and be with Christ is most happy for the saints themselves; but for
them to abide in the flesh is more profitable for the church. This
David had an eye to when he pleaded this, <i>In the grave who shall
give thee thanks?</i> <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.30.9 Bible:Ps.88.10 Bible:Ps.115.17 Bible:Isa.38.18" parsed="|Ps|30|9|0|0;|Ps|88|10|0|0;|Ps|115|17|0|0;|Isa|38|18|0|0" passage="Ps 30:9,88:10,115:17,Isa 38:18">Ps. xxx. 9; lxxxviii. 10; cxv. 17;
Isa. xxxviii. 18</scripRef>. And this Christ had an eye to when he
said, <i>I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the
world.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p9">We should sing <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.1-Ps.6.7" parsed="|Ps|6|1|6|7" passage="Ps 6:1-7">these verses</scripRef> with a deep sense of the terrors
of God's wrath, which we should therefore dread and deprecate above
any thing; and with thankfulness if this be not our condition, and
compassion to those who are thus afflicted: if we be thus troubled,
let it comfort us that our case is not without precedent, nor, if
we humble ourselves and pray, as David did, shall it be long
without redress.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.vii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.8-Ps.6.10" parsed="|Ps|6|8|6|10" passage="Ps 6:8-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.6.8-Ps.6.10">
<h4 id="Ps.vii-p9.3">Confidence in God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.vii-p10">8 Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity;
for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p10.1">Lord</span> hath heard the voice of
my weeping.   9 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p10.2">Lord</span> hath
heard my supplication; the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vii-p10.3">Lord</span> will
receive my prayer.   10 Let all mine enemies be ashamed and
sore vexed: let them return <i>and</i> be ashamed suddenly.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p11">What a sudden change is here for the
better! He that was groaning, and weeping, and giving up all for
gone (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.6-Ps.6.7" parsed="|Ps|6|6|6|7" passage="Ps 6:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>), here
looks and speaks very pleasantly. Having made his requests known to
God, and lodged his case with him, he is very confident the issue
will be good and his sorrow is turned into joy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p12">I. He distinguishes himself from the wicked
and ungodly, and fortifies himself against their insults (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.8" parsed="|Ps|6|8|0|0" passage="Ps 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Depart from me, all
you workers of iniquity.</i> When he was in the depth of his
distress, 1. He was afraid that God's wrath against him would give
him his portion with the workers of iniquity; but now that this
cloud of melancholy had blown over he was assured that his soul
would not be gathered with sinners, for they are not his people. He
began to suspect himself to be one of them because of the heavy
pressures of God's wrath upon him; but now that all his fears were
silenced he bade them depart, knowing that his lot was among the
chosen. 2. The workers of iniquity had teased him, and taunted him,
and asked him, "Where is thy God?" triumphing in his despondency
and despair; but now he had wherewith to answer those that
reproached him, for God, who was about to return in mercy to him,
had now comforted his spirit and would shortly complete his
deliverance. 3. Perhaps they had tempted him to do as they did, to
quit his religion and betake himself for ease to the pleasures of
sin. But now, "<i>depart from me;</i> I will never lend an ear to
your counsel; you would have had me to curse God and die, but I
will bless him and live." This good use we should make of God's
mercies to us, we should thereby have our resolution strengthened
never to have any thing more to do with sin and sinners. David was
a king, and he takes this occasion to renew his purpose of using
his power for the suppression of sin and the reformation of
manners, <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.75.4 Bible:Ps.101.3" parsed="|Ps|75|4|0|0;|Ps|101|3|0|0" passage="Ps 75:4,101:3">Ps. lxxv. 4; ci.
3</scripRef>. When God has done great things for us, this should
put us upon studying what we shall do for him. Our Lord Jesus seems
to borrow these words from the mouth of his father David, when,
having all judgment committed to him, he shall say, <i>Depart from
me, all you workers of iniquity</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.13.27" parsed="|Luke|13|27|0|0" passage="Lu 13:27">Luke xiii. 27</scripRef>), and so teaches us to say so
now, <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.115" parsed="|Ps|119|115|0|0" passage="Ps 119:115">Ps. cxix. 115</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p13">II. He assures himself that God was, and
would be, propitious to him, notwithstanding the present
intimations of wrath which he was under. 1. He is confident of a
gracious answer to this prayer which he is now making. While he is
yet speaking, he is aware that God hears (as <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.24 Bible:Dan.9.20" parsed="|Isa|65|24|0|0;|Dan|9|20|0|0" passage="Isa 65:24,Da 9:20">Isa. lxv. 24, Dan. ix. 20</scripRef>), and
therefore speaks of it as a thing done, and repeats it with an air
of triumph, "<i>The Lord hath heard</i>" (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.8" parsed="|Ps|6|8|0|0" passage="Ps 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>), and again (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.9" parsed="|Ps|6|9|0|0" passage="Ps 6:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), "<i>The Lord hath heard.</i>" By
the workings of God's grace upon his heart he knew his prayer was
graciously accepted, and therefore did not doubt but it would in
due time be effectually answered. His tears had a voice, a loud
voice, in the ears of the God of mercy: <i>The Lord has heard the
voice of my weeping.</i> Silent tears are not speechless ones. His
prayers were cries to God: "<i>The Lord has heard the voice of my
supplication,</i> has put his <i>Fiat—Let it be done,</i> to my
petitions, and so it will appear shortly." 2. Thence he infers the
like favourable audience of all his other prayers: "He <i>has heard
the voice of my supplication,</i> and therefore he <i>will receive
my prayer;</i> for he gives, and does not upbraid with former
grants."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p14">III. He either prays for the conversion or
predicts the destruction of his enemies and persecutors, <scripRef id="Ps.vii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.10" parsed="|Ps|6|10|0|0" passage="Ps 6:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. 1. It may very well be
taken as a prayer for their conversion: "Let them all be ashamed of
the opposition they have given me and the censures they have passed
upon me. Let them be (as all true penitents are) vexed at
themselves for their own folly; let them return to a better temper
and disposition of mind, and let them be ashamed of what they have
done against me and take shame to themselves." 2. If they be not
converted, it is a prediction of their confusion and ruin. <i>They
shall be ashamed and sorely vexed</i> (so it maybe read), and that
justly. They rejoiced that David was vexed (<scripRef id="Ps.vii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.6.2-Ps.6.3" parsed="|Ps|6|2|6|3" passage="Ps 6:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>), and therefore, as usually
happens, the evil returns upon themselves; they also shall be
sorely vexed. Those that will not give glory to God shall have
their faces filled with everlasting shame.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vii-p15">In singing this, and praying over it, we
must give glory to God, as a God ready to hear prayer, must own his
goodness to us in hearing our prayers, and must encourage ourselves
to wait upon him and to trust in him in the greatest straits and
difficulties.</p>
</div></div2>