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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 CIX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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Whether David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul, or when
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his son Absalom rebelled against him, or upon occasion of some other
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trouble that was given him, is uncertain; and whether the particular
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enemy he prays against was Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or some other
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not mentioned in the story, we cannot determine; but it is certain that
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in penning it he had an eye to Christ, his sufferings and his
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persecutors, for that imprecation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:8">ver. 8</A>)
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is applied to Judas,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:20">Acts i. 20</A>.
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The rest of the prayers here against his enemies were the expressions,
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not of passion, but of the Spirit of prophecy.
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I. He lodges a complaint in the court of heaven of the malice and base
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ingratitude of his enemies and with it an appeal to the righteous God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. He prays against his enemies, and devotes them to destruction,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:6-20">ver. 6-20</A>.
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III. He prays for himself, that God would help and succour him in his
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low condition,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:21-29">ver. 21-29</A>.
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IV. He concludes with a joyful expectation that God would appear for
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him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:30,31">ver. 30, 31</A>.
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In singing this psalm we must comfort ourselves with the believing
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foresight of the certain destruction of all the enemies of Christ and
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his church, and the certain salvation of all those that trust in God
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and keep close to him.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps109_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_5"> </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>Appeal to God Against Enemies.</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 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
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2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
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are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying
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tongue.
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3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought
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against me without a cause.
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4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I <I>give myself unto</I>
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prayer.
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5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my
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love.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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It is the unspeakable comfort of all good people that, whoever is
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against them, God is for them, and to him they may apply as to one that
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is pleased to concern himself for them. Thus David here.</P>
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<P>
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I. He refers himself to God's judgment
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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"<I>Hold not thy peace,</I> but <I>let my sentence come forth from thy
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presence,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+17:2">Ps. xvii. 2</A>.
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Delay not to give judgment upon the appeal made to thee." God saw what
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his enemies did against him, but seemed to connive at it, and to keep
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silence: "Lord," says he, "do not always do so." The title he gives to
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God is observable: "<I>O God of my praise!</I> the God in whom <I>I
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glory,</I> and not in any wisdom or strength of my own, from whom I
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have every thing that is my praise, or the God whom I have praised, and
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will praise, and hope to be for ever praising." He had before called
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God the <I>God of his mercy</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+59:10">Ps. lix. 10</A>),
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here he calls him <I>the God of his praise.</I> Forasmuch as God is the
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<I>God of our mercies</I> we must make him the <I>God of our
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praises;</I> if all is of him and from him, all must be to him and for
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him.</P>
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<P>
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II. He complains of his enemies, showing that they were such as it was
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fit for the righteous God to appear against.
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1. They were very spiteful and malicious: They are <I>wicked;</I> they
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delight in doing mischief
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>);
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their words are <I>words of hatred,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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They had an implacable enmity to a good man because of his goodness.
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"They open their mouths against me to swallow me up, and <I>fight
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against me</I> to cut me off if they could."
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2. They were notorious liars; and lying comprehends two of the seven
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things which the Lord hates. "They are <I>deceitful</I> in their
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protestations and professions of kindness, while at the same time they
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speak against me behind my back, <I>with a lying tongue.</I>" They were
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equally false in their flatteries and in their calumnies.
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3. They were both public and restless in their designs; "They
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<I>compassed me about</I> on all sides, so that, which way soever I
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looked, I could see nothing but what made against me."
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4. They were unjust; their accusations of him, and sentence against
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him, were all groundless: "<I>They have fought against me without a
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cause;</I> I never gave them any provocation." Nay, which was worst of
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all,
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5. They were very ungrateful, and <I>rewarded him evil for good,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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Many a kindness he had done them, and was upon all occasions ready to
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do them, and yet he could not work upon them to abate their malice
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against him, but, on the contrary, they were the more exasperated
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because they could not provoke him to give them some occasion against
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him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>For my love they are my adversaries.</I> The more he endeavoured to
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gratify them the more they hated him. We may wonder that it is possible
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that any should be so wicked; and yet, since there have been so many
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instances of it, we should not wonder if any be so wicked against
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us.</P>
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<P>
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III. He resolves to keep close to his duty and take the comfort of
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that: <I>But I give myself unto prayer</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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<I>I prayer</I> (so it is in the original); "I am for prayer, I am a
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man of prayer, I love prayer, and prize prayer, and practise prayer,
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and make a business of prayer, and am in my element when I am at
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prayer." A good man is made up of prayer, <I>gives himself to
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prayer,</I> as the apostles,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+6:4">Acts vi. 4</A>.
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When David's enemies falsely accused him, and misrepresented him, he
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applied to God and by prayer committed his cause to him. Though they
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were his adversaries for his love, yet he continued to pray for them;
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if others are abusive and injurious to us, yet let not us fail to do
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our duty to them, nor <I>sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for
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them,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+12:23">1 Sam. xii. 23</A>.
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Though they hated and persecuted him for his religion, yet he kept
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close to it; they laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not
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laugh him out of it. "Let them say what they will, <I>I give myself
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unto prayer.</I>" Now herein David was a type of Christ, who was
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compassed about with <I>words of hatred</I> and lying words, whose
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enemies not only persecuted him without cause, but for his love and his
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<I>good works</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+10:32">John x. 32</A>);
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and yet he <I>gave himself to prayer,</I> to pray for them. <I>Father,
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forgive them.</I></P>
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<A NAME="Ps109_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps109_20"> </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>Prophetic Imprecations.</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>6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his
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right hand.
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7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his
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prayer become sin.
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8 Let his days be few; <I>and</I> let another take his office.
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9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
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10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them
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seek <I>their bread</I> also out of their desolate places.
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11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the
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strangers spoil his labour.
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12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let
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there be any to favour his fatherless children.
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13 Let his posterity be cut off; <I>and</I> in the generation
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following let their name be blotted out.
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14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>;
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and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
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15 Let them be before the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> continually, that he may cut off
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the memory of them from the earth.
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16 Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted
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the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in
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heart.
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17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he
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delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
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18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,
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so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his
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bones.
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19 Let it be unto him as the garment <I>which</I> covereth him, and
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for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
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20 <I>Let</I> this <I>be</I> the reward of mine adversaries from the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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David here fastens upon some one particular person that was worse than
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the rest of his enemies, and the ringleader of them, and in a devout
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and pious manner, not from a principle of malice and revenge, but in a
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holy zeal for God and against sin and with an eye to the enemies of
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Christ, particularly Judas who betrayed him, whose sin was greater than
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Pilate's that condemned him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+19:11">John xix. 11</A>),
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he imprecates and predicts his destruction, foresees and pronounces him
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completely miserable, and such a one as our Saviour calls him, <I>A son
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of perdition.</I> Calvin speaks of it as a detestable piece of
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sacrilege, common in his time among Franciscan friars and other monks,
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that if any one had malice against a neighbour he might hire some of
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them to curse him every day, which he would do in the words of these
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verses; and particularly he tells of a lady in France who, being at
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variance with her own and only son, hired a parcel of friars to curse
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him in these words. Greater impiety can scarcely be imagined than to
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vent a devilish passion in the language of sacred writ, to kindle
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strife with coals snatched from God's altar, and to call for fire from
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heaven with a tongue set on fire of hell.</P>
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<P>
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I. The imprecations here are very terrible--woe, and a thousand woes, to
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that man against whom God says <I>Amen</I> to them; and they are all in
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full force against the implacable enemies and persecutors of God's
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church and people, that <I>will not repent, to give him glory.</I> It
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is here foretold concerning this bad man,</P>
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<P>
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1. That he should be cast and sentenced as a criminal, with all the
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dreadful pomp of a trial, conviction, and condemnation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>):
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<I>Set thou a wicked man over him,</I> to be as cruel and oppressive to
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him as he has been to others; for God often makes one wicked man a
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scourge to another, to spoil the spoilers and to deal treacherously
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with those that have dealt treacherously. <I>Set the wicked one over
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him</I> (so some), that is, Satan, as it follows; and then it was
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fulfilled in Judas, into whom Satan entered, to hurry him into sin
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first and then into despair. Set his own wicked heart over him, set his
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own conscience against him; let that fly in his face. <I>Let Satan
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stand on his right hand,</I> and be let loose against him to deceive
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him, as he did Ahab to his destruction, and then to accuse him and
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resist him, and then he is certainly cast, having no interest in that
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advocate who alone can say, <I>The Lord rebuke thee, Satan</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+3:1,2">Zech. iii. 1, 2</A>);
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when he shall be judged at men's bar let not his usual arts to evade
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justice do him any service, but let his sin find him out and <I>let him
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be condemned;</I> nor shall he escape before God's tribunal, but be
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condemned there when the day of inquisition and recompence shall come.
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<I>Let his prayer become sin,</I> as the clamours of a condemned
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malefactor not only find no acceptance, but are looked upon as an
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affront to the court. The prayers of the wicked now become sin, because
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soured with the leaven of hypocrisy and malice; and so they will in the
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great day, because then it will be too late to cry, <I>Lord, Lord, open
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to us.</I> Let every thing be turned against him and improved to his
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disadvantage, even his prayers.</P>
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<P>
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2. That, being condemned, he should be executed as a most notorious
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malefactor.
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(1.) That he should lose his life, and the number of his months be cut
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off in the midst, by the sword of justice: <I>Let his days be few,</I>
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or shortened, as a condemned criminal has but a few days to live
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>);
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such bloody and <I>deceitful men shall not live out half their
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days.</I>
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(2.) That consequently all his places should be disposed of to others,
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and they should enjoy his preferments and employments: <I>Let another
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take his office.</I> This Peter applies to the filling up of Judas's
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place in the truly sacred college of the apostles, by the choice of
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Matthias,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+1:20">Acts i. 20</A>.
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Those that mismanage their trusts will justly have their office taken
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from them and given to those that will approve themselves faithful.
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(3.) That his family should be beheaded and beggared, that <I>his
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wife</I> should be made <I>a widow</I> and <I>his children
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fatherless,</I> by his untimely death,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
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Wicked men, by their wicked courses, bring ruin upon their wives and
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children, whom they ought to take care of and provide for. Yet his
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children, if, when they lost their father, they had a competency to
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live upon, might still subsist in comfort; but they shall be
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<I>vagabonds and shall beg;</I> they shall not have a house of their
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own to live in, nor any certain dwelling-place, nor know where to have
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a meal's-meat, but shall creep <I>out of their desolate places</I> with
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fear and trembling, like beasts out of their dens, to <I>seek their
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bread</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
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because they are conscious to themselves that all mankind have reason
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to hate them for their father's sake.
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(4.) That his estate should be ruined, as the estates of malefactors
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are confiscated
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Let the extortioner,</I> the officer, seize <I>all that he has and
|
|
let the stranger,</I> who was nothing akin to his estate, <I>spoil his
|
|
labour,</I> either for his crimes or for his debts,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:4,5">Job v. 4, 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
(5.) That his posterity should be miserable. Fatherless children,
|
|
though they have nothing of their own, yet sometimes are well provided
|
|
for by the kindness of those whom God inclines to pity them; but this
|
|
wicked man having never shown mercy there shall <I>be none to extend
|
|
mercy to him,</I> by <I>favouring his fatherless children</I> when he
|
|
is gone,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
The children of wicked parents often fare the worse for their parents'
|
|
wickedness in this way that the bowels of men's compassion are shut up
|
|
from them, which yet ought not to be, for why should children suffer
|
|
for that which was not their fault, but their infelicity?
|
|
|
|
(6.) That his memory should be infamous, and buried in oblivion and
|
|
disgrace
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Let his posterity be cut off; let his end be to destruction</I> (so
|
|
Dr. Hammond); <I>and in the</I> next <I>generation let their name be
|
|
blotted out,</I> or remembered with contempt and indignation, and
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>)
|
|
|
|
let an indelible mark of disgrace be left upon it. See here what
|
|
hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the families and estates of
|
|
others to ruin, makes them and their despicable and odious, and entails
|
|
poverty, and shame, and misery, upon their posterity; it is sin, that
|
|
mischievous destructive thing. The learned Dr. Hammond applies this to
|
|
the final dispersion and desolation of the Jewish nation for their
|
|
crucifying Christ; their princes and people were cut off, their country
|
|
was laid waste, and their posterity were made fugitives and
|
|
vagabonds.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The ground of these imprecations bespeaks them very just, though
|
|
they sound very severe.
|
|
|
|
1. To justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the sinner's
|
|
posterity, the sin of his ancestors is here brought into the account
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:14,15"><I>v.</I> 14, 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>the iniquity of his fathers</I> and <I>the sin of his mother.</I>
|
|
These God often visits even upon the children's children, and is not
|
|
unrighteous therein: when wickedness has long run in the blood justly
|
|
does the curse run along with it. Thus all the innocent blood that had
|
|
been shed upon the earth, from that of righteous Abel, was required
|
|
from that persecuting generation, who, by putting Christ to death,
|
|
<I>filled up the measure of their fathers,</I> and left as long a train
|
|
of vengeance to follow them as the train of guilt was that went before
|
|
them, which they themselves agreed to by saying, <I>His blood be upon
|
|
us and on our children.</I>
|
|
|
|
2. To justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the sinner himself,
|
|
his own sin is here charged upon him, which called aloud for it.
|
|
|
|
(1.) He had loved cruelty, and therefore give him blood to drink
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He remembered not to show mercy,</I> remembered not those
|
|
considerations which should have induced him to show mercy, remembered
|
|
not the objects of compassion that had been presented to him, but
|
|
persecuted the poor, whom he should have protected and relieved, and
|
|
<I>slew the broken in heart,</I> whom he should have comforted and
|
|
healed. Here is a barbarous man indeed, not it to live.
|
|
|
|
(2.) He had loved cursing, and therefore let the curse come upon his
|
|
head,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:17-19"><I>v.</I> 17-19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those that were out of the reach of his cruelty he let fly
|
|
at with his curses, which were impotent and ridiculous; but they shall
|
|
return upon him. <I>He delighted not in blessing;</I> he took no
|
|
pleasure in wishing well to others, nor in seeing others do well; he
|
|
would give nobody a good word or a good wish, much less would he do any
|
|
body a good turn; and <I>so let</I> all good <I>be far from him. He
|
|
clothed himself with cursing;</I> he was proud of it as an ornament
|
|
that he could frighten all about him with the curses he was liberal of;
|
|
he confided in it as armour, which would secure him from the insults of
|
|
those he feared. And let him have enough of it. Was he fond of cursing?
|
|
<I>Let</I> God's curse <I>come into his bowels like water</I> and swell
|
|
him as with a dropsy, <I>and</I> let it soak <I>like oil into his
|
|
bones.</I> The word of the curse <I>is quick and powerful, and divides
|
|
between the joints and the marrow;</I> it works powerfully and
|
|
effectually; it fastens on the soul; it is a piercing thing, and there
|
|
is no antidote against it. Let is compass him on every side <I>as a
|
|
garment,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let God's cursing him be his shame, as his cursing his neighbour was
|
|
his pride; let it cleave to him as <I>a girdle,</I> and let him never
|
|
be able to get clear of it. Let it be to him like the waters of
|
|
jealousy, which caused the <I>belly to swell</I> and the <I>thigh to
|
|
rot.</I> This points at the utter ruin of Judas, and the spiritual
|
|
judgments which fell on the Jews for crucifying Christ. The psalmist
|
|
concludes his imprecations with a terrible <I>Amen,</I> which signifies
|
|
not only, "I wish it may be so," but "I know it shall be so." <I>Let
|
|
this be the reward of my adversaries from the Lord,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>.
|
|
|
|
And this will be the reward of all the adversaries of the Lord Jesus;
|
|
his enemies that will not have him to reign over them shall be
|
|
<I>brought forth and slain before him.</I> And he will one day
|
|
recompense tribulation to those that trouble his people.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_26"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ps109_31"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Humble Petitions; Triumphing in 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>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>21 But do thou for me, O G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> the Lord, for thy name's sake:
|
|
because thy mercy <I>is</I> good, deliver thou me.
|
|
22 For I <I>am</I> poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within
|
|
me.
|
|
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up
|
|
and down as the locust.
|
|
24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of
|
|
fatness.
|
|
25 I became also a reproach unto them: <I>when</I> they looked upon
|
|
me they shaked their heads.
|
|
26 Help me, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> my God: O save me according to thy mercy:
|
|
27 That they may know that this <I>is</I> thy hand; <I>that</I> thou,
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, hast done it.
|
|
28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be
|
|
ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.
|
|
29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them
|
|
cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
|
|
30 I will greatly praise the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> with my mouth; yea, I will
|
|
praise him among the multitude.
|
|
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save
|
|
<I>him</I> from those that condemn his soul.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
David, having denounced God's wrath against his enemies, here takes
|
|
God's comforts to himself, but in a very humble manner, and without
|
|
boasting.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. He pours out his complaint before God concerning the low condition
|
|
he was in, which, probably, gave advantage to his enemies to insult
|
|
over him: "<I>I am poor and needy,</I> and therefore a proper object of
|
|
pity, and one that needs and craves thy help."
|
|
|
|
1. He was troubled in mind
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>My heart is wounded within me,</I> not only broken with outward
|
|
troubles, which sometimes prostrate and sink the spirits, but wounded
|
|
with a sense of guilt; and <I>a wounded spirit who can bear?</I> who
|
|
can heal?
|
|
|
|
2. He apprehended himself drawing near to his end: <I>I am gone like
|
|
the shadow when it declines,</I> as good as gone already. Man's life,
|
|
at best, is like a shadow; sometimes it is like the evening shadow, the
|
|
presage of night approaching, <I>like the shadow when it declines.</I>
|
|
|
|
3. He was unsettled, <I>tossed up and down like the locust,</I> his
|
|
mind fluctuating and unsteady, still putting him upon new counsels, his
|
|
outward condition far from any fixation, but still upon the remove,
|
|
hunted like a partridge on the mountains.
|
|
|
|
4. His body was wasted, and almost worn away
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>My knees are weak through fasting,</I> either forced fasting (for
|
|
want of food when he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he
|
|
was sick) or voluntary fasting, when he chastened his soul either for
|
|
sin or affliction, his own or other's,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:13,69:10">Ps. xxxv. 13; lxix. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
"<I>My flesh fails of fatness;</I> that is, it has lost the fatness it
|
|
had, so that I have become a skeleton, nothing but skin and bones." But
|
|
it is better to have this leanness in the body, while the soul prospers
|
|
and is in health, than, like Israel, to have leanness sent into the
|
|
soul, while the body is feasted.
|
|
|
|
5. He was ridiculed and reproached by his enemies
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>);
|
|
|
|
his devotions and his afflictions they made the matter of their
|
|
laughter, and, upon both those accounts, God's people have been
|
|
exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that were at ease. In all
|
|
this David was a type of Christ, who in his humiliation was thus
|
|
wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached; he was also a type of the
|
|
church, which is often <I>afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not
|
|
comforted.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. He prays for mercy for himself. In general
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Do thou for me, O God the Lord!</I> appear for me, act for me." If
|
|
God be for us, he will do for us, will do <I>more abundantly for us
|
|
than we are able either to ask or think.</I> He does not prescribe to
|
|
God what he should do for him, but refers himself to his wisdom: "Lord,
|
|
do for me what seems good in thy eyes. Do that which thou knowest will
|
|
be for me, really for me, in the issue for me, though for the present
|
|
it may seem to make against me." More particularly, he prays
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Help me, O Lord my God! O save me!</I> Help me under my trouble,
|
|
save me out of my trouble; save me from sin, help me to do my duty." He
|
|
prays
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
Though they <I>curse, bless thou.</I> Here
|
|
|
|
(1.) He despises the causeless curses of his enemies: <I>Let them
|
|
curse.</I> He said of Shimei, <I>So let him curse.</I> They can but
|
|
show their malice; they can do him no more mischief than <I>the bird by
|
|
wandering</I> or <I>the swallow by flying,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+26:2">Prov. xxvi. 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
He values the blessing of God as sufficient to counterbalance their
|
|
curses: <I>Bless thou,</I> and then it is no matter though they
|
|
<I>curse.</I> If God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for
|
|
<I>how can they curse those whom God has not cursed,</I> nay, whom he
|
|
has blessed?
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+23:8">Num. xxiii. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Men's curses are impotent; God's blessings are omnipotent; and those
|
|
whom we unjustly curse may in faith expect and pray for God's blessing,
|
|
his special blessing. When the Pharisees cast out the poor man for his
|
|
confessing Christ, Christ <I>found him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+9:35">John ix. 35</A>.
|
|
|
|
When men without cause say all the ill they can of us, and wish all the
|
|
ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift up our heart to God in
|
|
this petition: <I>Let them curse, but bless thou.</I> He prays
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Let thy servant rejoice.</I> Those that know how to value God's
|
|
blessing, let them but be sure of it, and they will be glad of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. He prays that his enemies might <I>be ashamed</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>clothed with shame</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:29"><I>v.</I> 29</A>),
|
|
|
|
that they might <I>cover themselves with their own confusion,</I> that
|
|
they might be left to themselves, to do that which would expose them
|
|
and <I>manifest their folly before all men,</I> or rather that they
|
|
might be disappointed in their designs and enterprises against David,
|
|
and thereby might be <I>filled with shame,</I> as the adversaries of
|
|
the Jews were,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+6:16">Neh. vi. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
Nay, in this he prays that they might be brought to repentance, which
|
|
is the chief thing we should beg of God for our enemies. Sinners indeed
|
|
bring shame upon themselves, but they are true penitents that take
|
|
shame to themselves and <I>cover themselves with their own
|
|
confusion.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. He pleads God's glory, the honour of his name:--<I>Do for me, for
|
|
thy name's sake</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
especially the honour of his goodness, by which he has proclaimed his
|
|
name: "<I>Deliver me, because thy mercy is good;</I> it is what thou
|
|
thyself dost delight in, and it is what I do depend upon. Save me, not
|
|
according to my merit, for I have none to pretend to, but <I>according
|
|
to thy mercy;</I> let that be the fountain, the reason, the measure, of
|
|
my salvation."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
<I>Lastly,</I> He concludes the psalm with joy, the joy of faith, joy
|
|
in assurance that his present conflicts would end in triumphs.
|
|
|
|
1. He promises God that he will praise him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:30"><I>v.</I> 30</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>I will greatly praise the Lord,</I> not only with my heart, but
|
|
<I>with my mouth; I will praise him,</I> not in secret only, but
|
|
<I>among the multitude.</I>"
|
|
|
|
2. He promises himself that he shall have cause to praise God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+109:31"><I>v.</I> 31</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,</I> night to him, a
|
|
present help; he shall stand at his right hand as his patron and
|
|
advocate to plead his cause against his accusers and to bring him off,
|
|
<I>to save him from those that condemn his soul</I> and would execute
|
|
their sentence if they could. God was David's protector in his
|
|
sufferings, and was present also with the Lord Jesus in his, <I>stood
|
|
at his right hand,</I> so that he was <I>not moved</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+16:8">Ps. xvi. 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
saved his soul from those that pretended to be the judges of it, and
|
|
received it into his own hands. Let all those that <I>suffer according
|
|
to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
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