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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms CXXIV].</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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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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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 CXXIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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David penned this psalm (we suppose) upon occasion of some great
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deliverance which God wrought for him and his people from some very
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threatening danger, which was likely to have involved them all in ruin,
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whether by foreign invasion, or intestine insurrection, is not certain;
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whatever it was he seems to have been himself much affected, and very
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desirous to affect others, with the goodness of God, in making a way
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for them to escape. To him he is careful to give all the glory, and
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takes none to himself as conquerors usually do.
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I. He here magnifies the greatness of the danger they were in, and of
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the ruin they were at the brink of,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. He gives God the glory of their escape,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:6,7,124:1,2">ver. 6, 7
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compared with ver. 1, 2</A>.
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III. He takes encouragement thence to trust in God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:8">ver. 8</A>.
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In singing this psalm, besides the application of it to any particular
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deliverance wrought for us and our people, in our days and the days of
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our fathers, we may have in our thoughts the great work of our
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redemption by Jesus Christ, by which we were rescued from the powers of
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darkness.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps124_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps124_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps124_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps124_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps124_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>The Security of God's People.</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>A song of degrees of David.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 If <I>it had not been</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
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who was on our side, now may Israel say;
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2 If <I>it had not been</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> who was on our side, when men
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rose up against us:
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3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was
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kindled against us:
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4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over
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our soul:
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5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The people of God, being here called upon to praise God for their
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deliverance, are to take notice,</P>
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<P>
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I. Of the malice of men, by which they were reduced to the very brink
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of ruin. Let Israel say that there was but a step between them and
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death: the more desperate the disease appears to have been the more
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does the skill of the Physician appear in the cure. Observe,
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1. Whence the threatening danger came: <I>Men rose up against us,</I>
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creatures of our own kind, and yet bent upon our ruin. <I>Homo homini
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lupus--Man is a wolf to man.</I> No marvel that the red dragon, the
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roaring lion, should seek to swallow us up; but that men should thirst
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after the blood of men, Absalom after the blood of his own father, that
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a woman should be drunk with the blood of saints, is what, with St.
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John, we may wonder at with great admiration. From men we may expect
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humanity, yet there are those whose <I>tender mercies are cruel.</I>
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But what was the matter with these men? Why <I>their wrath was kindled
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against us</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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something or other they were angry at, and then no less would serve
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than the destruction of those they had conceived a displeasure against.
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<I>Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous.</I> Their wrath was kindled
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as fire ready to consume us. They were proud; and <I>the wicked in his
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pride doth persecute the poor.</I> They were daring in their attempt;
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they <I>rose up against us,</I> rose in rebellion, with a resolution to
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<I>swallow us up</I> alive.
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2. How far it went, and how fatal it would have been if it had gone a
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little further: "We should have been devoured as a lamb by a lion, not
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only slain, but <I>swallowed up,</I> so that there would have been no
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relics of us remaining, swallowed up with so much haste, ere we were
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aware, that we should have gone down alive to the pit. We should have
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been deluged as the low grounds by a land-flood or the sands by a high
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spring-tide." This similitude he dwells upon, with the ascents which
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bespeak this a song of degrees, or risings, like the rest. <I>The
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waters had overwhelmed us.</I> What of us? Why <I>the stream had gone
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over our souls,</I> our lives, our comforts, all that is dear to us.
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What waters? Why <I>the proud waters.</I> God suffers the enemies of
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his people sometimes to prevail very far against them, that his own
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power may appear the more illustrious in their deliverance.</P>
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<P>
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II. Of the goodness of God, by which they were rescued from the very
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brink of ruin: "<I>The Lord was on our side;</I> and, <I>if he had not
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been so,</I> we should have been undone."
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1. "God was on our side; he took our part, espoused our cause, and
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appeared for us. He was our helper, and a very present help, a help on
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our side, nigh at hand. He was with us, not only for us, but among us,
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and commander-in-chief of our forces."
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2. That God was Jehovah; there the emphasis lies. "If it had not been
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Jehovah himself, a God of infinite power and perfection, that had
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undertaken our deliverance, our enemies would have overpowered us."
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Happy the people, therefore, whose God is Jehovah, a God
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all-sufficient. Let Israel say this, to his honour, and resolve never
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to forsake him.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps124_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps124_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps124_8"> </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 Security of God's People.</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 Blessed <I>be</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, who hath not given us <I>as</I> a prey to
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their teeth.
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7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the
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fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
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8 Our help <I>is</I> in the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, who made heaven and
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earth.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here the psalmist further magnifies the great deliverance God had
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lately wrought for them.</P>
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<P>
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I. That their hearts might be the more enlarged in thankfulness to him
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>Blessed be the Lord.</I> God is the author of all our deliverances,
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and therefore he must have the glory of them. We rob him of his due if
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we do not return thanks to him. And we are the more obliged to praise
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him because we had such a narrow escape. We were delivered,
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1. Like a lamb out of the very jaws of a beast of prey: God <I>has not
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given us as a prey to their teeth,</I> intimating that they had no
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power over God's people but what was given them from above. They could
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not be a prey to their teeth unless God gave them up, and
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<I>therefore</I> they were rescued, because God would not suffer them
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to be ruined.
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2. Like <I>a bird,</I> a little bird (the word signifies a sparrow),
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<I>out of the snare of the fowler.</I> The enemies are very subtle and
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spiteful; they lay snares for God's people, to bring them into sin and
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trouble, and to hold them there. Sometimes they seem to have prevailed
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so far as to gain their point. God's people are taken in the snare,
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and are as unable to help themselves out as any weak and silly bird is;
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and <I>then</I> is God's time to appear for their relief, when all
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other friends fail; then God breaks the snare, and turns the counsel of
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the enemies into foolishness: <I>The snare is broken and so we are
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delivered.</I> Isaac was saved when he lay ready to be sacrificed.
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<I>Jehovah-jireh--in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. That their hearts, and the hearts of others, might be the more
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encouraged to trust in God in the like dangers
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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<I>Our help is in the name of the Lord.</I> David had directed us
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+121:2">Ps. cxxi. 2</A>)
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to depend upon God for help as to our personal concerns--<I>My help is
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in the name of the Lord;</I> here as to the concerns of the public--Our
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<I>help is so.</I> It is a comfort to all that lay the interests of
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God's Israel near their hearts that Israel's God is the same that made
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the world, and therefore will have a church in the world, and can
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secure that church in times of the greatest danger and distress. In him
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therefore let the church's friends put their confidence, and they shall
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not be put to confusion.</P>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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