mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 102.xml

<div2 id="Ps.ciii" n="ciii" next="Ps.civ" prev="Ps.cii" progress="56.53%" title="Chapter CII">
<h2 id="Ps.ciii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.ciii-p0.2">PSALM CII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.ciii-p1">Some think that David penned this psalm at the
time of Absalom's rebellion; others that Daniel, Nehemiah, or some
other prophet, penned it for the use of the church, when it was in
captivity in Babylon, because it seems to speak of the ruin of Zion
and of a time set for the rebuilding of it, which Daniel understood
by books, <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.2" parsed="|Dan|9|2|0|0" passage="Da 9:2">Dan. ix. 2</scripRef>. Or
perhaps the psalmist was himself in great affliction, which he
complains of in the beginning of the psalm, but (as in <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.77.1-Ps.77.20" parsed="|Ps|77|1|77|20" passage="Ps 77:1-20">Ps. lxxvii.</scripRef> and elsewhere) he
comforts himself under it with the consideration of God's eternity,
and the church's prosperity and perpetuity, how much soever it was
now distressed and threatened. But it is clear, from the
application of <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.25-Ps.102.26" parsed="|Ps|102|25|102|26" passage="Ps 102:25,26">ver. 25,
26</scripRef>, to Christ (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.10-Heb.1.12" parsed="|Heb|1|10|1|12" passage="Heb 1:10-12">Heb. i.
10-12</scripRef>), that the psalm has reference to the days of the
Messiah, and speaks either of his affliction or of the afflictions
of his church for his sake. In the psalm we have, I. A sorrowful
complaint which the psalmist makes, either for himself or in the
name of the church, of great afflictions, which were very pressing,
<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.1-Ps.102.11" parsed="|Ps|102|1|102|11" passage="Ps 102:1-11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>. II.
Seasonable comfort fetched in against these grievances, 1. From the
eternity of God, <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.12 Bible:Ps.102.24 Bible:Ps.102.27" parsed="|Ps|102|12|0|0;|Ps|102|24|0|0;|Ps|102|27|0|0" passage="Ps 102:12,24,27">ver. 12, 24,
27</scripRef>. 2. From a believing prospect of the deliverance
which God would, in due time, work for his afflicted church
(<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.13-Ps.102.22" parsed="|Ps|102|13|102|22" passage="Ps 102:13-22">ver. 13-22</scripRef>) and the
continuance of it in the world, <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.28" parsed="|Ps|102|28|0|0" passage="Ps 102:28">ver.
28</scripRef>. In singing this psalm, if we have not occasion to
make the same complaints, yet we may take occasion to sympathize
with those that have, and then the comfortable part of this psalm
will be the more comfortable to us in the singing of it.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.ciii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102" parsed="|Ps|102|0|0|0" passage="Ps 102" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.ciii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.1-Ps.102.11" parsed="|Ps|102|1|102|11" passage="Ps 102:1-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.102.1-Ps.102.11">
<h4 id="Ps.ciii-p1.11">Complaints in Affliction.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.ciii-p1.12">
<p id="Ps.ciii-p2">A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed,<br/>
and poureth out his complaint before the Lord.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.ciii-p3">1 Hear my prayer, O <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p3.1">Lord</span>, and let my cry come unto thee.   2
Hide not thy face from me in the day <i>when</i> I am in trouble;
incline thine ear unto me: in the day <i>when</i> I call answer me
speedily.   3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my
bones are burned as a hearth.   4 My heart is smitten, and
withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.   5 By
reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
  6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of
the desert.   7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the
house top.   8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day;
<i>and</i> they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
  9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink
with weeping,   10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath:
for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.   11 My days
<i>are</i> like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like
grass.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p4">The title of this psalm is very observable;
it is <i>a prayer of the afflicted.</i> It was composed by one that
was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church and for it; and on
those that are of a public spirit afflictions of that kind lie
heavier than any other. It is calculated for an afflicted state,
and is intended for the use of others that may be in the like
distress; for <i>whatsoever things were written aforetime were
written</i> designedly <i>for our use.</i> The whole word of God is
of use to direct us in prayer; but here, as often elsewhere, the
Holy Ghost has drawn up our petition for us, has put words into our
mouths. <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.14.2" parsed="|Hos|14|2|0|0" passage="Ho 14:2">Hos. xiv. 2</scripRef>, <i>Take
with you words.</i> Here is a prayer put into the hands of the
afflicted: let them set, not their hands, but their hearts to it,
and present it to God. Note, 1. It is often the lot of the best
saints in this world to be sorely affected. 2. Even good men may be
almost overwhelmed with their afflictions, and may be ready to
faint under them. 3. When our state is afflicted, and our spirits
are overwhelmed, it is our duty and interest to pray, and by prayer
to <i>pour out our complaints before the Lord,</i> which intimates
the leave God gives us to be free with him and the liberty of
speech we have before him, as well as liberty of access to him; it
intimates also what an ease it is to an afflicted spirit to
unburden itself by a humble representation of its grievances and
griefs. Such a representation we have here, in which,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p5">I. The psalmist humbly begs of God to take
notice of his affliction, and of his prayer in his affliction,
<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.1-Ps.102.2" parsed="|Ps|102|1|102|2" passage="Ps 102:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. When we
pray in our affliction, 1. It should be our care that God would
graciously hear us; for, if our prayers be not pleasing to God,
they will be to no purpose to ourselves. Let this therefore be in
our eye that our prayer may <i>come unto God,</i> even <i>to his
ears</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.18.6" parsed="|Ps|18|6|0|0" passage="Ps 18:6">Ps. xviii. 6</scripRef>);
and, in order to that, let us <i>lift up the prayer,</i> and our
souls with it. 2. It may be our hope that God will graciously hear
us, because he has appointed us to seek him and has promised we
shall not seek him in vain. If we put up a <i>prayer in faith,</i>
we may in faith say, <i>Hear my prayer, O Lord!</i> "Hear me," that
is, (1.) "Manifest thyself to me, <i>hide not thy face from me</i>
in displeasure, <i>when I am in trouble.</i> If thou dost not
quickly free me, yet let me know that thou favourest me; if I see
not the operations of thy hand for me, yet let me see the smiles of
thy face upon me." God's hiding his face is trouble enough to a
good man even in his prosperity (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.30.7" parsed="|Ps|30|7|0|0" passage="Ps 30:7">Ps.
xxx. 7</scripRef>, <i>Thou didst hide thy face, and I was
troubled</i>); but if, when we are in trouble, God hides his face,
the case is sad indeed. (2.) "Manifest thyself for me; not only
hear me, but answer me; grant me the deliverance I am in want of
and in pursuit of; answer me speedily, even <i>in the day when I
call.</i>" When troubles press hard upon us, God gives us leave to
be thus pressing in prayer, yet with humility and patience.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p6">II. He makes a lamentable complaint of the
low condition to which he was reduced by his afflictions. 1. His
body was macerated and emaciated, and he had become a perfect
skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. As prosperity and joy are
represented by <i>making fat the bones,</i> and the <i>bones
flourishing like a herb,</i> so great trouble and grief are here
represented by the contrary: <i>My bones are burnt as a hearth</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.3" parsed="|Ps|102|3|0|0" passage="Ps 102:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); they
<i>cleave to my skin</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.5" parsed="|Ps|102|5|0|0" passage="Ps 102:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>); nay, <i>my heart is smitten, and withered like
grass</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.4" parsed="|Ps|102|4|0|0" passage="Ps 102:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); it
touches the vitals, and there is a sensible decay there. <i>I am
withered like grass</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.11" parsed="|Ps|102|11|0|0" passage="Ps 102:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>), scorched with the burning heat of my troubles. If
we be thus brought low by bodily distempers, let us not think it
strange; the body is like grass, weak and of the earth, no wonder
then that it withers. 2. He was very melancholy and of a sorrowful
spirit. He was so taken up with the thoughts of his troubles that
he <i>forgot to eat his bread</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.4" parsed="|Ps|102|4|0|0" passage="Ps 102:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); he had no appetite to his
necessary food nor could he relish it. When God hides his face from
a soul the delights of sense will be sapless things. He was always
<i>sighing</i> and <i>groaning,</i> as one pressed above measure
(<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.5" parsed="|Ps|102|5|0|0" passage="Ps 102:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), and this
wasted him and exhausted his spirits. He affected solitude, as
melancholy people do. His friends deserted him and were shy of him,
and he cared as little for their company (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.6-Ps.102.7" parsed="|Ps|102|6|102|7" passage="Ps 102:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6, 7</scripRef>): "<i>I am like a pelican of
the wilderness,</i> or a <i>bittern</i> (so some) that make a
doleful noise; <i>I am like an owl,</i> that affects to lodge in
deserted ruined buildings; <i>I watch, and am as a sparrow upon the
house-top.</i> I live in a garret, and there spend my hours in
poring on my troubles and bemoaning myself." Those who do thus,
when they are in sorrow, humour themselves indeed; but they
prejudice themselves, and know not what they do, nor what advantage
they hereby give to the tempter. In affliction we should sit alone
to consider our ways (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Lam.3.28" parsed="|Lam|3|28|0|0" passage="La 3:28">Lam. iii.
28</scripRef>), but not sit alone to indulge an inordinate grief.
3. He was evil-spoken of by his enemies, and all manner of evil was
said against him. When his friends went off from him his foes set
themselves against him (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.8" parsed="|Ps|102|8|0|0" passage="Ps 102:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>): <i>My enemies reproach me all the day,</i> designing
thereby both to create vexation to him (for an ingenuous mind
regrets reproach) and to bring an odium upon him before men. When
they could not otherwise reach him they shot these arrows at him,
even <i>bitter words.</i> In this they were unwearied; they did it
<i>all the day;</i> it was a continual dropping. His enemies were
very outrageous: <i>They</i> are <i>mad against me,</i> and very
obstinate and implacable. <i>They</i> are <i>sworn against me;</i>
as the Jews that bound themselves with an oath that they would kill
Paul; or, <i>They have sworn against me</i> as accusers, to take
away my life. 4. He fasted and wept under the tokens of God's
displeasure (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.9-Ps.102.10" parsed="|Ps|102|9|102|10" passage="Ps 102:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9,
10</scripRef>): "<i>I have eaten ashes like bread;</i> instead of
eating my bread, I have lain down in dust and ashes, and <i>I have
mingled my drink with weeping;</i> when I should have refreshed
myself with drinking I have only eased myself with weeping." And
what is the matter? He tells us (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.10" parsed="|Ps|102|10|0|0" passage="Ps 102:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>Because of thy wrath.</i>
It was not so much the trouble itself that troubled him as the
wrath of God which he was under the apprehensions of as the cause
of the trouble. This, this was the <i>wormwood and the gall</i> in
the affliction and the misery: <i>Thou hast lifted me up and cast
me down,</i> as that which we cast to the ground with a design to
dash it to pieces; we lift up first, that we may throw it down with
the more violence; or, "Thou hast formerly lifted me up in honour,
and joy, and uncommon prosperity; but the remembrance of that
aggravates the present grief and makes it the more grievous." We
must eye the hand of God both in lifting us up and casting us down,
and say, "Blessed be the name of the Lord, who both gives and takes
away." 5. He looked upon himself as a dying man: <i>My days are
consumed like smoke</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.12" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.3" parsed="|Ps|102|3|0|0" passage="Ps 102:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>), which vanishes away quickly. Or, They are consumed
<i>in smoke,</i> of which nothing remains; they are <i>like a
shadow that declines</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p6.13" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.11" parsed="|Ps|102|11|0|0" passage="Ps 102:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>), like the evening-shadow, or a forerunner of
approaching night. Now all this, though it seems to speak the
psalmist's personal calamities, and therefore is properly a prayer
for a particular person afflicted, yet is supposed to be a
description of the afflictions of the church of God, with which the
psalmist sympathizes, making public grievances his own. The
mystical body of Christ is sometimes, like the psalmist's body
here, <i>withered</i> and <i>parched,</i> nay, like <i>dead and dry
bones.</i> The church sometimes is forced <i>into the
wilderness,</i> seems lost, and gives up herself for gone, under
the tokens of God's displeasure.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.ciii-p6.14" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.12-Ps.102.22" parsed="|Ps|102|12|102|22" passage="Ps 102:12-22" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.102.12-Ps.102.22">
<h4 id="Ps.ciii-p6.15">The Future Glory of Zion.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.ciii-p7">12 But thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.1">O
Lord</span>, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all
generations.   13 Thou shalt arise, <i>and</i> have mercy upon
Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
  14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour
the dust thereof.   15 So the heathen shall fear the name of
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.2">Lord</span>, and all the kings of the
earth thy glory.   16 When the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.3">Lord</span> shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his
glory.   17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and
not despise their prayer.   18 This shall be written for the
generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall
praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.4">Lord</span>.   19 For he
hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.5">Lord</span> behold the earth;   20
To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are
appointed to death;   21 To declare the name of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.6">Lord</span> in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
  22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms,
to serve the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.ciii-p7.7">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p8">Many exceedingly great and precious
comforts are here thought of, and mustered up, to balance the
foregoing complaints; for <i>unto the upright there arises light in
the darkness,</i> so that, though they are cast down, they are not
in despair. It is bad with the psalmist himself, bad with the
people of God; but he has many considerations to revive himself
with.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p9">I. We are dying creatures, and our
interests and comforts are dying, but God is an everliving
everlasting God (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.12" parsed="|Ps|102|12|0|0" passage="Ps 102:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): "<i>My days are like a shadow;</i> there is no
remedy; night is coming upon me; but, <i>thou, O Lord! shalt endure
for ever.</i> Our life is transient, but thine is permanent; our
friends die, but thou our God diest not; what threatened us cannot
touch thee; our names will be written in the dust and buried in
oblivion, but <i>thy remembrance shall be unto all generations;</i>
to the end of time, nay, to eternity, thou shalt be known and
honoured." A good man loves God better than himself, and therefore
can balance his own sorrow and death with the pleasing thought of
the unchangeable blessedness of the Eternal Mind. God <i>endures
forever,</i> his church's faithful patron and protector; and, his
honour and perpetual remembrance being very much bound up in her
interests, we may be confident that they shall not be
neglected.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p10">II. Poor Zion is now in distress, but there
will come a time for her relief and succour (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.13" parsed="|Ps|102|13|0|0" passage="Ps 102:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt arise and have
mercy upon Zion.</i> The hope of deliverance is built upon the
goodness of God—"Thou wilt <i>have mercy upon Zion,</i> for she
has become an object of thy pity;" and upon the power of God—"Thou
shalt arise and have mercy, shalt stir up thyself to do it, shalt
do it in contempt of all the opposition made by the church's
enemies." <i>The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.</i> That
which is very encouraging is that there is a time set for the
deliverance of the church, which not only will come some time, but
will come at the time appointed, the time which Infinite Wisdom has
appointed (and therefore it is the best time) and which Eternal
Truth has fixed it to, and therefore it is a certain time, and
shall not be forgotten nor further adjourned. At the end of seventy
years, the time to favour Zion, by delivering her from the daughter
of Babylon, was to come, and at length it did come. Zion was now in
ruins, that is, the temple that was built in the city of David: the
favouring of Zion is the building of the temple up again, as it is
explained, <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.16" parsed="|Ps|102|16|0|0" passage="Ps 102:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>.
This is expected from the favour of God; that will set all to
rights, and nothing but that, and therefore Daniel prays (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.9.17" parsed="|Dan|9|17|0|0" passage="Da 9:17">Dan. ix. 17</scripRef>), <i>Cause thy face to
shine upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate.</i> The building up of
Zion is as great a favour to any people as they can desire. No
blessing more desirable to a ruined state than the restoring and
re-establishing of their church-privileges. Now this is here wished
for and longed for, 1. Because it would be a great rejoicing to
Zion's friends (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.14" parsed="|Ps|102|14|0|0" passage="Ps 102:14"><i>v.</i>
14</scripRef>): <i>Thy servants take pleasure</i> even in <i>the
stones</i> of the temple, though they were thrown down and
scattered, and <i>favour the dust,</i> the very rubbish and ruins
of it. Observe here, When the temple was ruined, yet the stones of
it were to be had for a new building, and there were those who
encouraged themselves with that, for they had a favour even for the
dust of it. Those who truly love the church of God love it when it
is in affliction as well as when it is in prosperity; and it is a
good ground to hope that God will favour the ruins of Zion when he
puts it into the heart of his people to favour them, and to show
that they do so by their prayers and by their endeavours; as it is
also a good plea with God for mercy for Zion that there are those
who are so affectionately concerned for her, and are <i>waiting for
the salvation of the Lord.</i> 2. Because it would have a good
influence upon Zion's neighbours, <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.15" parsed="|Ps|102|15|0|0" passage="Ps 102:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. It will be a happy means
perhaps of their conversion, at least of their conviction; for
<i>so the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,</i> shall have
high thoughts of him and his people, and even the kings of the
earth shall be affected with his glory. They shall have better
thoughts of the church of God than they have had, when God by his
providence thus puts an honour upon it; they shall be afraid of
doing any thing against it when they see God taking its part; nay,
they shall say, We will go with you, for we have <i>seen that God
is with you,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" passage="Zec 8:23">Zech. viii.
23</scripRef>. Thus it is said (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Esth.8.17" parsed="|Esth|8|17|0|0" passage="Es 8:17">Esth.
viii. 17</scripRef>) that <i>many of the people of the land became
Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.</i> 3. Because it
would redound to the honour of Zion's God (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.16" parsed="|Ps|102|16|0|0" passage="Ps 102:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>When the Lord shall build
up Zion.</i> They take it for granted it will be done, for God
himself has undertaken it, and <i>he shall then appear in his
glory;</i> and for that reason all that have made his glory their
highest end desire it and pray for it. Note, The edifying of the
church will be the glorifying of God, and therefore we may be
assured it will be done in the set time. Those that pray in faith,
<i>Father, glorify thy name,</i> may receive the same answer to
that prayer which was given to Christ himself by a voice from
heaven, <i>I have both glorified it and I will glorify it yet
again,</i> though now for a time it may be eclipsed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p11">III. The prayers of God's people now seem
to be slighted and no notice taken of them, but they will be
reviewed and greatly encouraged (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.17" parsed="|Ps|102|17|0|0" passage="Ps 102:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): <i>He will regard the prayer
of the destitute.</i> It was said (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.16" parsed="|Ps|102|16|0|0" passage="Ps 102:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>) that God will <i>appear in his
glory,</i> such a glory as kings themselves shall <i>stand in awe
of,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.15" parsed="|Ps|102|15|0|0" passage="Ps 102:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>. When
great men <i>appear in their glory</i> they are apt to look with
disdain upon the poor that apply to them; but the great God will
not do so. Observe, 1. The meanness of the petitioners; they are
the <i>destitute.</i> It is an elegant word that is here used,
which signifies the heath in the wilderness, a low shrub, or bush,
like the hyssop of the wall. They are supposed to be in a low and
broken state, enriched with spiritual blessings, but destitute of
temporal good things—the poor, the weak, the desolate, the
stripped; thus variously is the word rendered; or it may signify
that low and broken spirit which God looks for in all that draw
nigh to him and which he will graciously look upon. This will bring
them to their knees. Destitute people should be praying people,
<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.5.5" parsed="|1Tim|5|5|0|0" passage="1Ti 5:5">1 Tim. v. 5</scripRef>. 2. The favour
of God to them, notwithstanding their meanness: <i>He will regard
their prayer,</i> and will look at it, will peruse their petition
(<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.6.40" parsed="|2Chr|6|40|0|0" passage="2Ch 6:40">2 Chron. vi. 40</scripRef>), and he
<i>will not despise their prayer.</i> More is implied than is
expressed: he will value it and be well pleased with it, and will
return an answer of peace to it, which is the greatest honour that
can be put upon it. But it is thus expressed because others despise
their praying, they themselves fear God will despise it, and he was
thought to despise it while their affliction was prolonged and
their prayers lay unanswered. When we consider our own meanness and
vileness, our darkness and deadness, and the manifold defects in
our prayers, we have cause to suspect that our prayers will be
received with disdain in heaven; but we are here assured of the
contrary, for we have an advocate with the Father, and are under
grace, not under the law. This instance of God's favour to his
praying people, though they are destitute, will be a lasting
encouragement to prayer (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.18" parsed="|Ps|102|18|0|0" passage="Ps 102:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>): <i>This shall be written for the generation to
come, that none may despair,</i> though they be destitute, nor
think their prayers forgotten because they have not an answer to
them immediately. The experiences of others should be our
encouragements to seek unto God and trust in him. And, if we have
the comfort of the experiences of others, it is fit that we should
give God the glory of them: <i>The people who shall be created
shall praise the Lord</i> for what he has done both for them and
for their predecessors. Many that are now unborn shall, by reading
the history of the church, be wrought upon to turn proselytes. The
people that shall be created anew by divine grace, that are a kind
of <i>first-fruits of his creatures,</i> shall praise the Lord for
his answers to their prayers when they were more destitute.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p12">IV. The prisoners under condemnation
unjustly seem as sheep appointed for the slaughter, but care shall
be taken for their discharge (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.19-Ps.102.20" parsed="|Ps|102|19|102|20" passage="Ps 102:19,20"><i>v.</i> 19, 20</scripRef>): God has <i>looked down
from the height of his sanctuary, from heaven,</i> where he has
prepared his throne, that high place, that holy place; thence did
<i>the Lord behold the earth,</i> for it is a place of prospect,
and nothing on this earth is or can be hidden from his all-seeing
eye; he looks down, not to take a view of the kingdoms of the world
and the glory of them, but to do acts of grace, <i>to hear the
groaning of the prisoners</i> (which we desire to be out of the
hearing of), and not only to hear them, but to help them, <i>to
loose those that are appointed to death,</i> then when there is but
a step between them and it. Some understand it of the release of
the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon. God heard their
groaning there as he did when they were in Egypt (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.7 Bible:Exod.3.9" parsed="|Exod|3|7|0|0;|Exod|3|9|0|0" passage="Ex 3:7,9">Exod. iii. 7, 9</scripRef>) and came down to
deliver them. God takes notice not only of the prayers of his
afflicted people, which are the language of grace, but even of
their groans, which are the language of nature. See the divine pity
in hearing the prisoner's groans, and the divine power in loosing
the prisoner's bonds, even when they are appointed to death and are
pinioned and double-shackled. We have an instance in Peter,
<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.12.6" parsed="|Acts|12|6|0|0" passage="Ac 12:6">Acts xii. 6</scripRef>. Such instances
as these of the divine condescension and compassion will help, 1.
<i>To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,</i> and to make it
appear that he answers to his name, which he himself proclaimed,
<i>The Lord God, gracious and merciful;</i> and this declaration of
his name in Zion shall be the matter of his praise in Jerusalem,
<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.21" parsed="|Ps|102|21|0|0" passage="Ps 102:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. If God by
his providences declare his name, we must by our acknowledgments of
them declare his praise, which ought to be the echo of his name.
God will discharge his people that were prisoners and captives in
Babylon, <i>that they may declare his name in Zion,</i> the place
he has chosen to put his name there, <i>and his praise in
Jerusalem,</i> at their return thither; in the land of their
captivity they could not sing the songs of Zion (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.137.3-Ps.137.4" parsed="|Ps|137|3|137|4" passage="Ps 137:3,4">Ps. cxxxvii. 3, 4</scripRef>), and God brought them
again to Jerusalem in order that they might sing them there. For
this end God gives liberty from bondage (<i>Bring my soul out of
prison, that I may praise thy name,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.142.7" parsed="|Ps|142|7|0|0" passage="Ps 142:7">Ps. cxlii. 7</scripRef>), and life from the dead. <i>Let
my soul live, and it shall praise thee,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.119.175" parsed="|Ps|119|175|0|0" passage="Ps 119:175">Ps. cxix. 175</scripRef>. 2. They will help to draw in
others to the worship of God (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.22" parsed="|Ps|102|22|0|0" passage="Ps 102:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>When the people of God are
gathered together</i> at Jerusalem (as they were after their return
out of Babylon) many out of the kingdoms joined with them <i>to
serve the Lord.</i> This was fulfilled <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.6.21" parsed="|Ezra|6|21|0|0" passage="Ezr 6:21">Ezra vi. 21</scripRef>, where we find that not only the
children of Israel that had come out of captivity, but many that
had <i>separated themselves from them among the heathen,</i> did
<i>keep the feast of unleavened bread with joy.</i> But it may look
further, at the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ
in the latter days. Christ has proclaimed <i>liberty to the
captives,</i> and <i>the opening of the prison to those that were
bound,</i> that they may declare the name of the Lord in the
gospel-church, in which Jews and Gentiles shall unite.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.ciii-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.23-Ps.102.28" parsed="|Ps|102|23|102|28" passage="Ps 102:23-28" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.102.23-Ps.102.28">
<h4 id="Ps.ciii-p12.11">Hoping in God's Compassion.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.ciii-p13">23 He weakened my strength in the way; he
shortened my days.   24 I said, O my God, take me not away in
the midst of my days: thy years <i>are</i> throughout all
generations.   25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the
earth: and the heavens <i>are</i> the work of thy hands.   26
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall
wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and
they shall be changed:   27 But thou <i>art</i> the same, and
thy years shall have no end.   28 The children of thy servants
shall continue, and their seed shall be established before
thee.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p14">We may here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p15">I. The imminent danger that the Jewish
church was in of being quite extirpated and cut off by the
captivity in Babylon (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.23" parsed="|Ps|102|23|0|0" passage="Ps 102:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>): <i>He weakened my strength in the way.</i> They
were for many ages in the way to the performance of the great
promise made to their fathers concerning the Messiah, longing as
much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journey's end. The
legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes
were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the
strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearance, its
day shortened; for they said, <i>Our hope is lost; we are cut off
for our parts,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.37.11" parsed="|Ezek|37|11|0|0" passage="Eze 37:11">Ezek. xxxvii.
11</scripRef>. And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh
should arise out of Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah
out of the family of David? If these fail, the promise fails. This
the psalmist speaks of as in his own person, and it is very
applicable to two of the common afflictions of this time:—1. To
be sickly. Bodily distempers soon <i>weaken our strength in the
way,</i> make the keepers of the house to tremble and the strong
men to bow themselves. 2. To be short-lived. Where the former is
felt, this is feared; when in the midst of our days, according to a
course of nature, our strength is weakened, what can we expect but
that the <i>number of our months should be cut off in the
midst?</i> and what should we do but provide accordingly? We must
own God's hand in it (for in his hand our strength and time are),
and must reconcile it to his love, for it has often been the lot of
those that have used their strength well to have it weakened, and
of those that could very ill be spared to have their days
shortened.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p16">II. A prayer for the continuance of it
(<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.24" parsed="|Ps|102|24|0|0" passage="Ps 102:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): "<i>O my
God! take me not away in the midst of my days;</i> let not this
poor church be cut off in the midst of the days assigned it by the
promise; let it not be cut off till the Messiah shall come.
<i>Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.65.8" parsed="|Isa|65|8|0|0" passage="Isa 65:8">Isa. lxv. 8</scripRef>. She is a criminal, but,
for the sake of that blessing which is in her, she pleads for a
reprieve. This is a prayer for the afflicted, and which, with
submission to the will of God, we may in faith put up, that God
would not <i>take us away in the midst of our days,</i> but that,
if it be his will, he would spare us to do him further service and
to be made riper for heaven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p17">III. A plea to enforce this prayer taken
from the eternity of the Messiah promised, <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.25-Ps.102.27" parsed="|Ps|102|25|102|27" passage="Ps 102:25-27"><i>v.</i> 25-27</scripRef>. The apostle quotes these
verses (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.1.10-Heb.1.12" parsed="|Heb|1|10|1|12" passage="Heb 1:10-12">Heb. i. 10-12</scripRef>)
and tells us, <i>He saith this to the Son,</i> and in that
exposition we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference
to all the changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers
it is in, that <i>Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever. Thy years are throughout all generations,</i> and cannot
be shortened. It is likewise comfortable in reference to the decay
and death of our own bodies, and the removal of our friends from
us, that God is an everliving God, and that therefore, if he be
ours, in him we may have everlasting consolation. In this plea
observe how, to illustrate the eternity of the Creator, he compares
it with the mutability of the creature; for it is God's sole
prerogative to be unchangeable. 1. God made the world, and
therefore had a being before it from eternity. The Son of God, the
eternal Word, made the world. It is expressly said, <i>All things
were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was
made;</i> and <i>therefore the same was in the beginning</i> from
eternity <i>with God, and was God,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:John.1.1-John.1.3 Bible:Col.1.16 Bible:Eph.3.9 Bible:Heb.1.2" parsed="|John|1|1|1|3;|Col|1|16|0|0;|Eph|3|9|0|0;|Heb|1|2|0|0" passage="Joh 1:1-3,Col 1:16,Eph 3:9,Heb 1:2">John i. 1-3; Col. i. 16; Eph.
iii. 9; Heb. i. 2</scripRef>. Earth and heaven, and the hosts of
both, include the universe and its fulness, and these derive their
being from God by his Son (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.25" parsed="|Ps|102|25|0|0" passage="Ps 102:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>): "<i>Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the
earth,</i> which is founded <i>on the seas</i> and <i>on the
floods</i> and yet <i>it abides;</i> much more shall the church,
which is <i>built upon a rock.</i> The <i>heavens are the work of
thy hands,</i> and by thee are all their motions and influences
directed;" God is therefore the fountain, not only of all being,
but of all power and dominion. See how fit the great Redeemer is to
be entrusted with all power, both in heaven and in earth, since he
himself, as Creator of both, perfectly knows both and is entitled
to both. 2. God will unmake the world again, and therefore shall
have a being to eternity (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.26-Ps.102.27" parsed="|Ps|102|26|102|27" passage="Ps 102:26,27"><i>v.</i> 26, 27</scripRef>): <i>They shall
perish,</i> for <i>thou shalt change them</i> by the same almighty
power that made them, and therefore, no doubt, <i>thou shalt
endure; thou art the same.</i> God and the world, Christ and the
creature, are rivals for the innermost and uppermost place in the
soul of man, the immortal soul; now what is here said, one would
think, were enough to decide the controversy immediately and to
determine us for God and Christ. For, (1.) A portion in the
creature is fading and dying: <i>They shall perish;</i> they will
not last so long as we shall last. The day is coming when <i>the
earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up;</i> and
then what will become of those that have laid up their treasure in
it? Heaven and earth shall <i>wax old as a garment,</i> not by a
gradual decay, but, when the set time comes, they shall be laid
aside like an old garment that we have no more occasion for: <i>As
a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed,</i>
not annihilated, but altered, it may be so that they shall not be
at all the same, but <i>new heavens and a new earth.</i> See God's
sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. He can change them as he
pleases and when he pleases; and the constant changes they are
subject to, in the revolutions of day and night, summer and winter,
are earnests of their last and final change, when <i>the
heavens</i> and <i>time</i> (which is measured by them) <i>shall be
no more.</i> (2.) A portion in God is perpetual and everlasting:
<i>Thou art the same,</i> subject to no change; and <i>thy years
have no end,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.27" parsed="|Ps|102|27|0|0" passage="Ps 102:27"><i>v.</i>
27</scripRef>. Christ will be the same in the performance that he
was in the promise, the same to his church in captivity that he was
to his church at liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of
her strength, or the shortening of her days, while Christ himself
is both her strength and her life; he is the same, and has said,
<i>Because I live you shall live also.</i> Christ came in the
fulness of time, and set up his kingdom in spite of the power of
the Old-Testament Babylon, and he will keep it up in spite of the
power of the New-Testament Babylon.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.ciii-p18">IV. A comfortable assurance of an answer to
this prayer (<scripRef id="Ps.ciii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.28" parsed="|Ps|102|28|0|0" passage="Ps 102:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>): <i>The children of thy servants shall continue;</i>
since Christ is the same, the church shall continue from one
generation to another; from the eternity of the head we may infer
the perpetuity of the body, though often weak and distempered, and
even at death's door. Those that hope to <i>wear out the saints of
the Most High</i> will be mistaken. Christ's servants shall have
children; those children shall have a seed, a succession, of
professing people; the church, as well as the world, is under the
influence of that blessing, <i>Be fruitful and multiply.</i> These
<i>children shall continue,</i> not in their own persons, by reason
of death, but in their seed, which shall be established before God
(that is, in his service, and by his grace); the entail of religion
shall not be cut off while the world stands, but, as one generation
of good people passes away, another shall come, and thus the throne
of Christ shall endure.</p>
</div></div2>