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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms XXI].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM XXI.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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As the foregoing psalm was a prayer for the king that God would protect
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and prosper him, so this is a thanksgiving for the success God had
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blessed him with. Those whom we have prayed for we ought to give thanks
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for, and particularly for kings, in whose prosperity we share. They are
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here taught,
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I. To congratulate him on his victories, and the honour he had achieved,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:1-6">ver. 1-6</A>.
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II. To confide in the power of God for the completing of the ruin of
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the enemies of his kingdom,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:7-13">ver. 7-13</A>.
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In this there is an eye to Messiah the Prince, and the glory of his
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kingdom; for to him divers passages in this psalm are more applicable
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than to David himself.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps21_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Subject's Thanksgiving.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>To the chief musician. A psalm of David.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>;
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and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
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2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not
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withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
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3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou
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settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
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4 He asked life of thee, <I>and</I> thou gavest <I>it</I> him, <I>even</I>
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length of days for ever and ever.
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5 His glory <I>is</I> great in thy salvation: honour and majesty
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hast thou laid upon him.
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6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made
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him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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David here speaks for himself in the first place, professing that his
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joy was in God's strength and in his salvation, and not in the strength
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or success of his armies. He also directs his subjects herein to
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rejoice with him, and to give God all the glory of the victories he had
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obtained; and all with an eye to Christ, of whose triumphs over the
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powers of darkness David's victories were but shadows.
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1. They here congratulate the king on his joys and concur with him in
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them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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"<I>The king rejoices,</I> he uses to rejoice <I>in thy strength,</I>
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and so do we; what pleases the king pleases us,"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Sa+3:36">2 Sam. iii. 36</A>.
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Happy the people the character of whose king it is that he makes God's
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strength his confidence and God's salvation his joy, that is pleased
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with all the advancements of God's kingdom and trusts God to bear him
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out in all he does for the service of it. Our Lord Jesus, in his great
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undertaking, relied upon help from heaven, and pleased himself with the
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prospect of that great salvation which he was thereby to work out.
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2. They gave God all the praise of those things which were the matter
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of their king's rejoicing.
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(1.) That God had heard his prayers
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>Thou hast given him his heart's desire</I> (and there is no prayer
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accepted but what is the heart's desire), the very thing they begged of
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God for him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+20:4">Ps. xx. 4</A>.
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Note, God's gracious returns of prayer do, in a special manner, require
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our humble returns of praise. When God gives to Christ the heathen for
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his inheritance, gives him to see his seed, and accepts his
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intercession for all believers, he give him his heart's desire.
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(2.) That God had surprised him with favours, and much outdone his
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expectations
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness.</I> All our
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blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not at all to any
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merit of ours, but purely and only to God's goodness. But the psalmist
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here reckons it in a special manner obliging that these blessings were
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given in a preventing way; this fixed his eye, enlarged his soul, and
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endeared his God, as one expresses it. When God's blessings come sooner
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and prove richer than we imagine, when they are given before we prayed
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for them, before we were ready for them, nay, when we feared the
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contrary, then it may be truly said that he prevented us with them.
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Nothing indeed prevented Christ, but to mankind never was any favour
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more preventing than our redemption by Christ and all the blessed
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fruits of his mediation.
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(3.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and the most
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extensive power: "<I>Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his
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head</I> and kept it there, when his enemies attempted to throw it
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off." Note, Crowns are at God's disposal; no head wears them but God
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sets them there, whether in judgment to his land or for mercy the event
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will show. On the head of Christ God never set a crown of gold, but of
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thorns first, and then of glory.
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(4.) That God had assured him of the perpetuity of his kingdom, and
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therein had done more for him than he was able either to ask or think
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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"When he went forth upon a perilous expedition <I>he asked</I> his
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<I>life of thee,</I> which he then put into his hand, <I>and thou</I>
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not only <I>gavest him that,</I> but withal gavest him <I>length of
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days for ever and ever,</I> didst not only prolong his life far beyond
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his expectation, but didst assure him of a blessed immortality in a
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future state and of the continuance of his kingdom in the Messiah that
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should come of his loins." See how God's grants often exceed our
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petitions and hopes, and infer thence how rich he is in mercy to those
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that call upon him. See also and rejoice in the length of the days of
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Christ's kingdom. He was dead, indeed, that we might live through him;
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but he is alive, and lives for evermore, and <I>of the increase of his
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government and peace there shall be no end;</I> and because he thus
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lives we shall thus live also.
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(5.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and dignity
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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"<I>His glory is great,</I> far transcending that of all the
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neighbouring princes, in the salvation thou hast wrought for him and by
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him." The glory which every good man is ambitious of is to see the
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salvation of the Lord. <I>Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon
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him,</I> as a burden which he must bear, as a charge which he must
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account for. Jesus Christ <I>received from God the Father honour and
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glory</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+1:17">2 Pet. i. 17</A>),
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the glory which he had with him before the worlds were,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+17:5">John xvii. 5</A>.
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And on him is laid the charge of universal government and to him all
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power in heaven and earth is committed.
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(6.) That God had given him the satisfaction of being the channel of
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all bliss to mankind
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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"<I>Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever</I>" (so the margin
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reads it), "thou hast made him to be a universal blessing to the world,
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in whom the families of the earth are, and shall be blessed; and so
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thou hast made him exceedingly glad with the countenance thou hast
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given to his undertaking and to him in the prosecution of it." See how
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the spirit of prophecy gradually rises here to that which is peculiar
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to Christ, for none besides is blessed for ever, much less a blessing
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for ever to that eminency that the expression denotes: and of him it is
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said that God made him full of joy with his countenance.</P>
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<P>
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In singing this we should rejoice in his joy and triumph in his
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exaltation.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps21_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps21_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Subject's Hope.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>7 For the king trusteth in the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and through the mercy of
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the most High he shall not be moved.
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8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
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shall find out those that hate thee.
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9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
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anger: the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire
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shall devour them.
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10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their
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seed from among the children of men.
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11 For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a
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mischievous device, <I>which</I> they are not able <I>to perform.</I>
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12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, <I>when</I> thou
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shalt make ready <I>thine arrows</I> upon thy strings against the face
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of them.
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13 Be thou exalted, L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, in thine own strength: <I>so</I> will we
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sing and praise thy power.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The psalmist, having taught his people to look back with joy and praise
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on what God had done for him and them, here teaches them to look
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forward with faith, and hope, and prayer, upon what God would further
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do for them: <I>The king rejoices in God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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and therefore we will be thankful; <I>the king trusteth in God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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therefore will we be encouraged. The joy and confidence of Christ our
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King is the ground of all our joy and confidence.</P>
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<P>
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I. They are confident of the stability of David's kingdom. <I>Through
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the mercy of the Most High,</I> and not through his own merit or
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strength, <I>he shall not be moved.</I> His prosperous state shall not
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be disturbed; his faith and hope in God, which are the stay of his
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spirit, shall not be shaken. The mercy of the Most High (the divine
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goodness, power, and dominion) is enough to secure our happiness, and
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therefore our trust in that mercy should be enough to silence all our
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fears. God being at Christ's right hand in his sufferings
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:8">Ps. xvi. 8</A>)
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and he being at God's right hand in his glory, we may be sure he shall
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not, he cannot, be moved, but continues ever.</P>
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<P>
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II. They are confident of the destruction of all the impenitent
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implacable enemies of David's kingdom. The success with which God had
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blessed David's arms hitherto was an earnest of the rest which God
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would give him from all his enemies round about, and a type of the
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total overthrow of all Christ's enemies who would not have him to reign
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over them. Observe,
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1. The description of his enemies. They are such as hate him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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They hated David because God had set him apart for himself, hated
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Christ because they hated the light; but both were hated without any
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just cause, and in both God was hated,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:23,25">John xv. 23, 25</A>.
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2. The designs of his enemies
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
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<I>They intended evil against thee, and imagined a mischievous
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device;</I> they pretended to fight against David only, but their
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enmity was against God himself. Those that aimed to un-king David
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aimed, in effect, to un-God Jehovah. What is devised and designed
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against religion, and against the instruments God raises up to support
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and advance it, is very evil and mischievous, and God takes it as
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devised and designed against himself and will so reckon for it.
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(3.) The disappointment of them: "They devise what they are <I>not able
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to perform,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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Their malice is impotent, and they <I>imagine a vain thing,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+2:1">Ps. ii. 1</A>.
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(4.) The discovery of them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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"<I>Thy hand shall find them out.</I> Though ever so artfully disguised
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by the pretences and professions of friendship, though mingled with the
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faithful subjects of this kingdom and hardly to be distinguished from
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them, though flying from justice and absconding in their close places,
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yet thy hand shall find them out wherever they are." There is no
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escaping God's avenging eye, no going out of the reach of his hand;
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rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last than fig-leaves
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were at first.
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(5.) The destruction of them; it will be an utter destruction
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+19:27">Luke xix. 27</A>);
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they shall be swallowed up and devoured,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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Hell, the portion of all Christ's enemies, is the complete misery both
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of body and soul. <I>Their fruit and their seed shall be
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destroyed,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
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The enemies of God's kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same
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doom, and the whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and
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all opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down. The
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arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to flight, being
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levelled at the face of them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
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That will be the lot of daring enemies that face God. The fire of God's
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wrath will consume them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>);
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they shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+13:42">Matt. xiii. 42</A>),
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but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they
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shall be their own tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own
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consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to
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rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find
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that even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to
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eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies not.</P>
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<P>
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III. In this confidence they beg of God that he would still appear for
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his anointed
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+21:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
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that he would act for him in his own strength, by the immediate
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operations of his power as Lord of hosts and Father of spirits, making
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little use of means and instruments. And,
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1. Hereby he would exalt himself and glorify his own name. "We have but
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little strength, and are not so active for thee as we should be, which
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is our shame; Lord, take the work into thy own hands, do it, without
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us, and it will be thy glory."
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2. Hereupon they would exalt him: "<I>So will we sing, and praise thy
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power,</I> the more triumphantly." The less God has of our service when
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a deliverance is in the working the more he must have of our praises
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when it is wrought without us.</P>
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<!-- (End Body) -->
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<HR>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%">
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<TR>
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<TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP">
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC19020.HTM">Previous</A>]
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