mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 108.xml

<div2 id="Ps.cix" n="cix" next="Ps.cx" prev="Ps.cviii" progress="59.70%" title="Chapter CVIII">
<h2 id="Ps.cix-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.cix-p0.2">PSALM CVIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.cix-p1">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, <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.1-Ps.108.5" parsed="|Ps|108|1|108|5" passage="Ps 108:1-5">ver.
1-5</scripRef>. II. He prays to God for mercies for the land,
pleading the promises of God and putting them in suit, <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.6-Ps.108.13" parsed="|Ps|108|6|108|13" passage="Ps 108:6-13">ver. 6-13</scripRef>. The former part it
taken out of <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.57.7-Ps.57.11 Bible:Ps.108.1-Ps.108.5" parsed="|Ps|57|7|57|11;|Ps|108|1|108|5" passage="Ps 57:7-11,108:1-5">Ps. lvii.
7</scripRef>, &amp;c., the latter out of <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.5-Ps.60.12 Bible:Ps.108.6-Ps.108.13" parsed="|Ps|60|5|60|12;|Ps|108|6|108|13" passage="Ps 60:5-12,108:6-13">Ps. lx. 5</scripRef>, &amp;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>
<scripCom id="Ps.cix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108" parsed="|Ps|108|0|0|0" passage="Ps 108" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.cix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.1-Ps.108.5" parsed="|Ps|108|1|108|5" passage="Ps 108:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.108.1-Ps.108.5">
<h4 id="Ps.cix-p1.7">Directions for Praising God.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.cix-p1.8">
<p id="Ps.cix-p2">A song or psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cix-p3">1 O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give
praise, even with my glory.   2 Awake, psaltery and harp: I
<i>myself</i> will awake early.   3 I will praise thee, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cix-p3.1">O Lord</span>, among the people: and I will sing
praises unto thee among the nations.   4 For thy mercy
<i>is</i> great above the heavens: and thy truth <i>reacheth</i>
unto the clouds.   5 Be thou exalted, O God, above the
heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cix-p4">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 (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.1" parsed="|Ps|108|1|0|0" passage="Ps 108:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <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> <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.45.1" parsed="|Ps|45|1|0|0" passage="Ps 45:1">Ps. xlv. 1</scripRef>.
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 (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.2" parsed="|Ps|108|2|0|0" passage="Ps 108:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.3" parsed="|Ps|108|3|0|0" passage="Ps 108:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>): <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 (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.4" parsed="|Ps|108|4|0|0" passage="Ps 108:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>), 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.5" parsed="|Ps|108|5|0|0" passage="Ps 108:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <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>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cix-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.6-Ps.108.13" parsed="|Ps|108|6|108|13" passage="Ps 108:6-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.108.6-Ps.108.13">
<h4 id="Ps.cix-p4.8">Directions for Praising God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cix-p5">6 That thy beloved may be delivered: save
<i>with</i> thy right hand, and answer me.   7 God hath spoken
in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete
out the valley of Succoth.   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;   9 Moab <i>is</i> my washpot;
over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.
  10 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me
into Edom?   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?   12 Give us help from trouble: for vain <i>is</i> the
help of man.   13 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he
<i>it is that</i> shall tread down our enemies.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cix-p6">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,
<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.6" parsed="|Ps|108|6|0|0" passage="Ps 108:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. 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>
(<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.72.19-Ps.72.20" parsed="|Ps|72|19|72|20" passage="Ps 72:19,20">Ps. lxxii. 19, 20</scripRef>); 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>
<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.7" parsed="|Ps|108|7|0|0" passage="Ps 108:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. 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," <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.8" parsed="|Ps|108|8|0|0" passage="Ps 108:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. 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,
<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:John.6.37" parsed="|John|6|37|0|0" passage="Joh 6:37">John vi. 37</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.9" parsed="|Ps|108|9|0|0" passage="Ps 108:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Over Philistia will I
triumph,</i> which explains <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.60.8" parsed="|Ps|60|8|0|0" passage="Ps 60:8">Ps. lx.
8</scripRef>, <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> <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.8" parsed="|Heb|2|8|0|0" passage="Heb 2:8">Heb. ii. 8</scripRef>. 4. We
must take encouragement from the beginnings of mercy to pray and
hope for the perfecting of it (<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.10-Ps.108.11" parsed="|Ps|108|10|108|11" passage="Ps 108:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>): "<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, <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.10" osisRef="Bible:Gen.27.37" parsed="|Gen|27|37|0|0" passage="Ge 27:37">Gen. xxvii.
37</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.11" parsed="|Ps|108|11|0|0" passage="Ps 108:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. 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
(<scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.12" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.12" parsed="|Ps|108|12|0|0" passage="Ps 108:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): "<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, <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.108.13" parsed="|Ps|108|13|0|0" passage="Ps 108:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>.
(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> <scripRef id="Ps.cix-p6.14" osisRef="Bible:Phil.4.13" parsed="|Phil|4|13|0|0" passage="Php 4:13">Phil. iv. 13</scripRef>. (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>
</div></div2>