boose_magoose/mh_parser
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity
9753f095f8
mh_parser/matthew_henry/MHC19108.HTM

373 lines
16 KiB
Plaintext
Raw Normal View History

init
2023-11-30 02:23:35 +00:00
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms CVIII].</TITLE>
<meta name="aesop" content="information">
<meta name="description" content=
"This site is for those friends and family members who may or may not know Our Lord Jesus Christ, and if not, they may come to know Our Lord through His Prophets."> <meta name="author" content="Brian Duncalfe">
<meta name="keywords" content=
"Prophecy, Rapture,hope,bible map,bible maps, God, tribulation,Second Coming,Christ,large print bible,commentary,complete">
</HEAD>
<body background="../sueback.jpg" bgproperties="fixed" >
<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible</h1>
<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
</h3>
</center>
<HR>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
<TR>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
[<A HREF="MHC19107.HTM">Previous</A>]
[<A HREF="MHC19109.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<HR>
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CVIII.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
This psalm begins with praise and concludes with prayer, and faith is
at work in both.
I. David here gives thanks to God for mercies to himself,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
II. He prays to God for mercies for the land, pleading the promises of
God and putting them in suit,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:6-13">ver. 6-13</A>.
The former part it taken out of
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+57:7-11,108:1-5">Ps. lvii. 7</A>,
&c., the latter out of
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+60:5-12,108:6-13">Ps. lx. 5</A>,
&c., and both with very little variation, to teach us that we may in
prayer use the same words that we have formerly used, provided it be
with new affections. It intimates likewise that it is not only
allowable, but sometimes convenient, to gather some verses out of one
psalm and some out of another, and to put them together, to be sung to
the glory of God. In singing this psalm we must give glory to God and
take comfort to ourselves.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ps108_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Directions for Praising God.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<CENTER>
<P>A song or psalm of David.</P>
</CENTER>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 O God, my heart is fixed; I
will sing and give praise, even with my glory.
&nbsp; 2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I <I>myself</I> will awake early.
&nbsp; 3 I will praise thee, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, among the people: and I will sing
praises unto thee among the nations.
&nbsp; 4 For thy mercy <I>is</I> great above the heavens: and thy truth
<I>reacheth</I> unto the clouds.
&nbsp; 5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory
above all the earth;
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We may here learn how to praise God from the example of one who was
master of the art.
1. We must praise God with fixedness of heart. Our heart must be
employed in the duty (else we make nothing of it) and engaged to the
duty
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
<I>O God! my heart is fixed,</I> and then <I>I will sing and give
praise.</I> Wandering straggling thoughts must be gathered in, and kept
close to the business; for they must be told that here is work enough
for them all.
2. We must praise God with freeness of expression: I will praise him
<I>with my glory,</I> that is, with my tongue. Our tongue is our glory,
and never more so than when it is employed in praising God. When the
<I>heart is inditing</I> this <I>good matter</I> our <I>tongue</I> must
be as <I>the pen of a ready writer,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+45:1">Ps. xlv. 1</A>.
David's skill in music was his glory, it made him famous, and this
should be consecrated to the praise of God; and therefore it follows,
<I>Awake</I> my <I>psaltery and harp.</I> Whatever gift we excel in we
must praise God with.
3. We must praise God with fervency of affection, and must stir up
ourselves to do it, that it may be done in a lively manner and not
carelessly
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
<I>Awake, psaltery and harp;</I> let it not be done with a dull and
sleepy tune, but let the airs be all lively. <I>I myself will awake
early</I> to do it, with all that is within me, and all little enough.
Warm devotions honour God.
4. We must praise God publicly, as those that are not ashamed to own
our obligations to him and our thankful sense of his favours, but
desire that others also may be in like manner affected with the divine
goodness
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
<I>I will praise thee among the people</I> of the Jews; nay, <I>I will
sing to thee among the nations</I> of the earth. Whatever company we
are in we must take all occasions to speak well of God; and we must not
be shy of singing psalms, though our neighbours hear us, for it looks
like being ashamed of our Master.
5. We must, in our praises, magnify the mercy and truth of God in a
special manner
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
mercy in promising, truth in performing. The heavens are vast, but the
mercy of God is more capacious; the skies are high and bright, but the
truth of God is more eminent, more illustrious. We cannot see further
than the heavens and clouds; whatever we see of God's mercy and truth
there is still more to be seen, more reserved to be seen, in the other
world.
6. Since we find ourselves so, defective in glorifying God, we must
beg of him to glorify himself, to do all, to dispose all, to his own
glory, to get himself honour and make himself a name
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
<I>Be thou exalted, O God! above the heavens,</I> higher than the
angels themselves can exalt thee with their praises, <I>and</I> let
<I>thy glory</I> be spread over <I>all the earth. Father, glorify thy
own name. Thou hast glorified it; glorify it again.</I> It is to be our
first petition, <I>Hallowed be thy name.</I></P>
<A NAME="Ps108_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps108_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Directions for Praising God.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save <I>with</I> thy right
hand, and answer me.
&nbsp; 7 God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will
divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.
&nbsp; 8 Gilead <I>is</I> mine; Manasseh <I>is</I> mine; Ephraim also <I>is</I> the
strength of mine head; Judah <I>is</I> my lawgiver;
&nbsp; 9 Moab <I>is</I> my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over
Philistia will I triumph.
&nbsp; 10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me
into Edom?
&nbsp; 11 <I>Wilt</I> not <I>thou,</I> O God, <I>who</I> hast cast us off? and wilt
not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?
&nbsp; 12 Give us help from trouble: for vain <I>is</I> the help of man.
&nbsp; 13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he <I>it is that</I> shall
tread down our enemies.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We may here learn how to pray as well as praise.
1. We must be public-spirited in prayer, and bear upon our hearts, at
the throne of grace, the concerns of the church of God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
It is God's <I>beloved,</I> and therefore must be ours; and therefore
we must pray for its deliverance, and reckon that we are answered if
God grant what we ask for his church, though he delay to give us what
we ask for ourselves. "<I>Save</I> thy church, <I>and</I> thou
<I>answerest me;</I> I have what I would have." <I>Let the earth be
filled with God's glory, and the prayers of David are ended</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+72:19,20">Ps. lxxii. 19, 20</A>);
he desires no more.
2. We must, in prayer, act faith upon the power and promise of
God--upon his power (<I>Save with thy right hand,</I> which is mighty
to save), and upon his promise: <I>God has spoken in his holiness,</I>
in his holy word, to which he has sworn by his holiness, and therefore
<I>I will rejoice,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
What he has promised he will perform, for it is the word both of his
truth and of his power. An active faith can rejoice in what God has
said, though it be not yet done; for with him saying and doing are not
two things, whatever they are with us.
3. We must, in prayer, take the comfort of what God has secured to us
and settled upon us, though we are not yet put in possession of it. God
had promised David to give him,
(1.) The hearts of his subjects; and therefore he surveys the several
parts of the country as his own already: "<I>Shechem</I> and
<I>Succoth, Gilead</I> and <I>Manasseh, Ephraim</I> and <I>Judah,</I>
are all my own,"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
With such assurance as this we may speak of the performance of what God
has promised to the Son of David; he will, without fail, give him the
heathen for his <I>inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for
his possession,</I> for so has he <I>spoken in his holiness;</I> nay,
of all the particular persons that were given him he will <I>lose
none;</I> he also, as David, shall have the hearts of his subjects,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+6:37">John vi. 37</A>.
And,
(2.) The <I>necks of his enemies.</I> These are promised, and therefore
David looks upon <I>Moab,</I> and <I>Edom,</I> and <I>Philistia,</I> as
his own already
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
<I>Over Philistia will I triumph,</I> which explains
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+60:8">Ps. lx. 8</A>,
<I>Philistia, triumph thou because of me,</I> which some think should
be read, <I>O my soul! triumph thou over Philistia.</I> Thus the
exalted Redeemer is set down at God's right hand, in a full assurance
that all his enemies shall in due time <I>be made his footstool, though
all things are not yet put under him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+2:8">Heb. ii. 8</A>.
4. We must take encouragement from the beginnings of mercy to pray and
hope for the perfecting of it
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>):
"<I>Who will bring me into the strong cities</I> that are yet
unconquered? Who will make me master of the country of <I>Edom,</I>
which is yet unsubdued?" The question was probably to be debated in his
privy council, or a council of war, what methods they should take to
subdue the Edomites and to reduce that country; but he brings it into
his prayers, and leaves it in God's hands: <I>Wilt not thou, O God?</I>
Certainly thou wilt. It is probable that he spoke with the more
assurance concerning the conquest of Edom because of the ancient oracle
concerning Jacob and Esau, that <I>the elder should serve the
younger,</I> and the blessing of Jacob, by which he was made Esau's
lord,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+27:37">Gen. xxvii. 37</A>.
5. We must not be discouraged in prayer, nor beaten off from our hold
of God, though Providence has in some instances frowned upon us:
"Though thou hast <I>cast us off,</I> yet thou wilt now <I>go forth
with our hosts,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
Thou wilt <I>comfort us again</I> after the time that thou <I>hast
afflicted us.</I>" Adverse events are sometimes intended for the trial
of the constancy of our faith and prayer, which we ought to persevere
in whatever difficulties we meet with, and not to <I>faint.</I>
6. We must seek help from God, renouncing all confidence in the
creature
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
"<I>Lord, give us help from trouble,</I> prosper our designs, and
defeat the designs of our enemies against us." It is not unseasonable
to talk of trouble at the same time that we talk of triumphs,
especially when it is to quicken prayer for help from heaven; and it is
a good plea, <I>Vain is the help of man.</I> "It is really so, and
therefore we are undone if thou do not help us; we apprehend it to be
so, and therefore depend upon thee for help and have the more reason to
expect it."
7. We must depend entirely upon the favour and grace of God, both for
strength and success in our work and warfare,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+108:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
(1.) We must do our part, but we can do nothing of ourselves; it is
only <I>through God that we shall do valiantly.</I> Blessed Paul will
own that even he can <I>do nothing,</I> nothing to purpose, <I>but
through Christ strengthening him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+4:13">Phil. iv. 13</A>.
(2.) When we have acquitted ourselves ever so well, yet we cannot speed
by any merit or might of our own; it is God himself that <I>treads down
our enemies,</I> else we with all our valour cannot do it. Whatever we
do, whatever we gain, God must have all the glory.</P>
<!-- (End Body) -->
<HR>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
<TR>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
[<A HREF="MHC19107.HTM">Previous</A>]
[<A HREF="MHC19109.HTM">Next</A>]<BR>
<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
</TABLE>
<HR>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
<TR>
<TD ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="BOTTOM">
<!--Matthew_Henry's_Commentary_on_the_Whole_Bible:_Psalms_CVIII.--><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank"><b>Back to Bibles Net . Com - Online Christian Library </b></a><br>
<a href="http://biblesnet.com/download.html" target="_blank"><br>
<b>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Free Download</b></a><br>
<br>
<A HREF="http://biblesnet.com/contactus.html" target="_blank"><strong>Contact Us </strong></A><br>
</TD></TR></TABLE>
<HR>
</BODY>
</HTML>
Reference in New Issue Copy Permalink