mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 11.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xii" n="xii" next="Ps.xiii" prev="Ps.xi" progress="25.33%" title="Chapter XI">
<h2 id="Ps.xii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xii-p0.2">PSALM XI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xii-p1">In this psalm we have David's struggle with and
triumph over a strong temptation to distrust God and betake himself
to indirect means for his own safety in a time of danger. It is
supposed to have been penned when he began to feel the resentments
of Saul's envy, and had had the javelin thrown at him once and
again. He was then advised to run his country. "No," says he, "I
trust in God, and therefore will keep my ground." Observe, I. How
he represents the temptation, and perhaps parleys with it,
<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.1-Ps.11.3" parsed="|Ps|11|1|11|3" passage="Ps 11:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. How he
answers it, and puts it to silence with the consideration of God's
dominion and providence (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.4" parsed="|Ps|11|4|0|0" passage="Ps 11:4">ver.
4</scripRef>), his favour to the righteous, and the wrath which the
wicked are reserved for, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.5-Ps.11.7" parsed="|Ps|11|5|11|7" passage="Ps 11:5-7">ver.
5-7</scripRef>. In times of public fear, when the insults of the
church's enemies are daring and threatening, it will be profitable
to meditate on this psalm.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11" parsed="|Ps|11|0|0|0" passage="Ps 11" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.1-Ps.11.3" parsed="|Ps|11|1|11|3" passage="Ps 11:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.11.1-Ps.11.3">
<h4 id="Ps.xii-p1.6">Confidence in God.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.xii-p1.7">
<p id="Ps.xii-p2">To the chief musician. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xii-p3">1 In the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xii-p3.1">Lord</span> put
I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee <i>as</i> a bird to your
mountain?   2 For, lo, the wicked bend <i>their</i> bow, they
make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot
at the upright in heart.   3 If the foundations be destroyed,
what can the righteous do?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p4">Here is, I. David's fixed resolution to
make God his confidence: <i>In the Lord put I my trust,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.1" parsed="|Ps|11|1|0|0" passage="Ps 11:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Those that
truly fear God and serve him are welcome to put their trust in him,
and shall not be made ashamed of their doing so. And it is the
character of the saints, who have taken God for their God, that
they make him their hope. Even when they have other things to stay
themselves upon, yet they do not, they dare not, stay upon them,
but on God only. Gold is not their hope, nor are horses and
chariots their confidence, but God only; and therefore, when second
causes frown, yet their hopes do not fail them, because the first
cause is still the same, is ever so. The psalmist, before he gives
an account of the temptation he was in to distrust God, records his
resolution to trust in him, as that which he was resolved to live
and die by.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p5">II. His resentment of a temptation to the
contrary: "<i>How say you to my soul,</i> which has thus returned
to God as its rest and reposes in him, <i>Flee as a bird to your
mountain,</i> to be safe there out of the reach of the fowler?"
This may be taken either,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p6">1. As the serious advice of his timorous
friends; so many understand it, and with great probability. Some
that were hearty well-wishers to David, when they saw how much Saul
was exasperated against him and how maliciously he sought his life,
pressed him by all means to flee for the same to some place of
shelter, and not to depend too much upon the anointing he had
received, which, they thought, was more likely to occasion the loss
of his head than to save it. That which grieved him in this motion
was not that to flee now would savour of cowardice, and ill become
a soldier, but that it would savour of unbelief and would ill
become a saint who had so often said, <i>In the Lord put I my
trust.</i> Taking it thus, the <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.2-Ps.11.3" parsed="|Ps|11|2|11|3" passage="Ps 11:2,3">two
following verses</scripRef> contain the reason with which these
faint-hearted friends of David backed this advice. They would have
him flee, (1.) Because he could not be safe where he was, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.2" parsed="|Ps|11|2|0|0" passage="Ps 11:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. "Observe," say they, "how
<i>the wicked bend their bow;</i> Saul and his instruments aim at
thy life, and the uprightness of thy heart will not be thy
security." See what an enmity there is in the wicked against the
upright, in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman;
what pains they take, what preparations they make, to do them a
mischief: <i>They privily shoot</i> at them, or, <i>in
darkness,</i> that they may not see the evil designed, to avoid it,
nor others, to prevent it, no, nor God himself, to punish it. (2.)
Because he could be no longer useful where he was. "For," say they,
"<i>if the foundations be destroyed</i>" (as they were by Saul's
mal-administration), "if the civil state and government be unhinged
and all out of course" (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.75.3 Bible:Ps.82.5" parsed="|Ps|75|3|0|0;|Ps|82|5|0|0" passage="Ps 75:3,82:5">Ps. lxxv.
3, lxxxii. 5</scripRef>), "what canst thou do with thy
righteousness to redress the grievances? Alas! it is to no purpose
to attempt the saving of a kingdom so wretchedly shattered;
whatever the righteous can do signifies nothing." <i>Abi in cellam,
et dic, Miserere mei, Domine—Away to thy cell, and there cry, Pity
me, O Lord!</i> Many are hindered from doing the service they might
do to the public, in difficult times, by a despair of success.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p7">2. It may be taken as a taunt wherewith his
enemies bantered him, upbraiding him with the professions he used
to make of confidence in God, and scornfully bidding him try what
stead that would stand him in now. "You say, God is your mountain;
flee to him now, and see what the better you will be." Thus they
endeavoured to shame the counsel of the poor, saying, There is
<i>no help for them in God,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.14.6 Bible:Ps.3.2" parsed="|Ps|14|6|0|0;|Ps|3|2|0|0" passage="Ps 14:6,Ps 3:2">Ps. xiv. 6; iii. 2</scripRef>. The confidence and
comfort which the saints have in God, when all the hopes and joys
in the creature fail them, are a riddle to a carnal world and are
ridiculed accordingly. Taking it thus, the <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.2-Ps.11.3" parsed="|Ps|11|2|11|3" passage="Ps 11:2,3">two following verses</scripRef> are David's answer to
this sarcasm, in which, (1.) He complains of the malice of those
who did thus abuse him (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.2" parsed="|Ps|11|2|0|0" passage="Ps 11:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>They bend their bow and make ready their
arrows;</i> and we are told (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.64.3" parsed="|Ps|64|3|0|0" passage="Ps 64:3">Ps. lxiv.
3</scripRef>) what their arrows are, even bitter words, such words
as these, by which they endeavour to discourage hope in God, which
David felt as a sword in his bones. (2.) He resists the temptation
with a gracious abhorrence, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.3" parsed="|Ps|11|3|0|0" passage="Ps 11:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>. He looks upon this suggestion as striking at the
foundations which every Israelite builds upon: "If you destroy the
foundations, if you take good people off from their hope in God, if
you can persuade them that their religion is a cheat and a jest and
can banter them out of that, you ruin them, and break their hearts
indeed, and make them of all men the most miserable." The
principles of religion are the foundations on which the faith and
hope of the righteous are built. These we are concerned, in
interest as well as duty, to hold fast against all temptations to
infidelity; for, if these be destroyed, if we let these go, <i>What
can the righteous do?</i> Good people would be undone if they had
not a God to go to, a God to trust to, and a future bliss to hope
for.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.xii-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.4-Ps.11.7" parsed="|Ps|11|4|11|7" passage="Ps 11:4-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.11.4-Ps.11.7">
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xii-p8">4 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xii-p8.1">Lord</span>
<i>is</i> in his holy temple, the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xii-p8.2">Lord</span>'s throne <i>is</i> in heaven: his eyes
behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.   5 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xii-p8.3">Lord</span> trieth the righteous: but the wicked
and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.   6 Upon the
wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible
tempest: <i>this shall be</i> the portion of their cup.   7
For the righteous <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xii-p8.4">Lord</span> loveth
righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p9">The shaking of a tree (they say) makes it
take the deeper and faster root. The attempt of David's enemies to
discourage his confidence in God engages him to cleave so much the
more closely to his first principles, and to review them, which he
here does, abundantly to his own satisfaction and the silencing of
all temptations to infidelity. That which was shocking to his
faith, and has been so to the faith of many, was the prosperity of
wicked people in their wicked ways, and the straits and distresses
which the best men are sometimes reduced to: hence such an evil
thought as this was apt to arise, <i>Surely it is vain to serve
God,</i> and we may call the proud happy. But, in order to stifle
and shame all such thoughts, we are here called to consider,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p10">I. That there is a God in heaven: <i>The
Lord is in his holy temple</i> above, where, though he is out of
our sight, we are not out of his. Let not the enemies of the saints
insult over them, as if they were at a loss and at their wits' end:
no, they have a God, and they know where to find him and how to
direct their prayer unto him, as their Father in heaven. Or, He is
in his holy temple, that is, in his church; he is a God in covenant
and communion with his people, through a Mediator, of whom the
temple was a type. We need not say, "Who shall go up to heaven, to
fetch us thence a God to trust to?" No, the word is nigh us, and
God in the word; his Spirit is in his saints, those living temples,
and the Lord is that Spirit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p11">II. That this God governs the world. The
Lord has not only his residence, but his throne, in heaven, and he
has <i>set the dominion thereof in the earth</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.33" parsed="|Job|38|33|0|0" passage="Job 38:33">Job xxxviii. 33</scripRef>); for, having
<i>prepared his throne in the heavens, his kingdom ruleth over
all,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.19" parsed="|Ps|103|19|0|0" passage="Ps 103:19">Ps. ciii. 19</scripRef>.
Hence the heavens are said <i>to rule,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Dan.4.26" parsed="|Dan|4|26|0|0" passage="Da 4:26">Dan. iv. 26</scripRef>. Let us by faith see God on this
throne, on his throne of glory, infinitely transcending the
splendour and majesty of earthly princes—on his throne of
government, giving law, giving motion, and giving aim, to all the
creatures—on his throne of judgment, rendering to every man
according to his works—and on his throne of grace, to which his
people may come boldly for mercy and grace; we shall then see no
reason to be discouraged by the pride and power of oppressors, or
any of the afflictions that attend the righteous.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p12">III. That this God perfectly knows every
man's true character: <i>His eyes behold, his eye-lids try, the
children of men;</i> he not only sees them, but he sees through
them, not only knows all they say and do, but knows what they
think, what they design, and how they really stand affected,
whatever they pretend. We may know what men seem to be, but he
knows what they are, as the refiner knows what the value of the
gold is when he has tried it. God is said to try <i>with his
eyes,</i> and <i>his eye-lids,</i> because he knows men, not as
earthly princes know men, by report and representation, but by his
own strict inspection, which cannot err nor be imposed upon. This
may comfort us when we are deceived in men, even in men that we
think we have tried, that God's judgment of men, we are sure, is
according to truth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p13">IV. That, if he afflict good people, it is
for their trial and therefore for their good, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.5" parsed="|Ps|11|5|0|0" passage="Ps 11:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. The Lord tries all the children
of men that he may <i>do them good in their latter end,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.16" parsed="|Deut|8|16|0|0" passage="De 8:16">Deut. viii. 16</scripRef>. Let not that
therefore shake our foundations nor discourage our hope and trust
in God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p14">V. That, however persecutors and oppressors
may prosper and prevail awhile, they now lie under, and will for
ever perish under, the wrath of God. 1. He is a holy God, and
therefore hates them, and cannot endure to look upon them: <i>The
wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth;</i> for
nothing is more contrary to the rectitude and goodness of his
nature. Their prosperity is so far from being an evidence of God's
love that their abuse of it does certainly make them the objects of
his hatred. He that hates nothing that he has made, yet hates those
who have thus ill-made themselves. Dr. Hammond offers another
reading of <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.5" parsed="|Ps|11|5|0|0" passage="Ps 11:5">this verse</scripRef>:
<i>The Lord trieth the righteous and the wicked</i> (distinguishes
infallibly between them, which is more than we can do), and <i>he
that loveth violence hateth his own soul,</i> that is, persecutors
bring certain ruin upon themselves (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.36" parsed="|Prov|8|36|0|0" passage="Pr 8:36">Prov. viii. 36</scripRef>), as follows here. 2. He is a
righteous Judge, and therefore he will punish them, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.6" parsed="|Ps|11|6|0|0" passage="Ps 11:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Their punishment will be,
(1.) Inevitable: <i>Upon the wicked he shall rain snares.</i> Here
is a double metaphor, to denote the unavoidableness of the
punishment of wicked men. It shall be rained upon them from heaven
(<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.23" parsed="|Job|20|23|0|0" passage="Job 20:23">Job xx. 23</scripRef>), against
which there is no fence and from which there is no escape; see
<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.5" osisRef="Bible:Josh.10.11 Bible:1Sam.2.10" parsed="|Josh|10|11|0|0;|1Sam|2|10|0|0" passage="Jos 10:11,1Sa 2:10">Josh. x. 11; 1 Sam. ii.
10</scripRef>. It shall surprise them as a sudden shower sometimes
surprises the traveller in a summer's day. It shall be as snares
upon them, to hold them fast, and keep them prisoners, till the day
of reckoning comes. (2.) Very terrible. It is <i>fire, and
brimstone, and a horrible tempest,</i> which plainly alludes to the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and very fitly, for that
destruction was intended for a figure of <i>the vengeance of
eternal fire,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.6" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.7" parsed="|Jude|1|7|0|0" passage="Jude 1:7">Jude 7</scripRef>.
The fire of God's wrath, fastening upon the brimstone of their own
guilt, will burn certainly and furiously, will burn to the lowest
hell and the utmost line of eternity. What a horrible tempest are
the wicked hurried away in at death! What a lake of fire and
brimstone must they make their bed in for ever, in the congregation
of the dead and damned! It is this that is here meant; it is this
that shall be the portion of their cup, the heritage appointed them
by the Almighty and allotted to them, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.7" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.29" parsed="|Job|20|29|0|0" passage="Job 20:29">Job xx. 29</scripRef>. This is the cup of trembling
which shall be put into their hands, which they must <i>drink the
dregs</i> of, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.75.8" parsed="|Ps|75|8|0|0" passage="Ps 75:8">Ps. lxxv. 8</scripRef>.
Every man has the portion of his cup assigned him. Those who choose
the Lord for the portion of their cup shall have what they choose,
and be for ever happy in their choice (<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.5" parsed="|Ps|16|5|0|0" passage="Ps 16:5">Ps. xvi. 5</scripRef>); but those who reject his grace
shall be made to drink the cup of his fury, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p14.10" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.15 Bible:Isa.51.17 Bible:Hab.2.16" parsed="|Jer|25|15|0|0;|Isa|51|17|0|0;|Hab|2|16|0|0" passage="Jer 25:15,Isa 51:17,Hab 2:16">Jer. xxv. 15; Isa. li. 17; Hab. ii.
16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p15">VI. That, though honest good people may be
run down and trampled upon, yet God does and will own them, and
favour them, and smile upon them, and that is the reason why God
will severely reckon with persecutors and oppressors, because those
whom they oppress and persecute are dear to him; so that
<i>whosoever toucheth them toucheth the apple of his eye,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.11.7" parsed="|Ps|11|7|0|0" passage="Ps 11:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. 1. He loves
them and the work of his own grace in them. He is himself a
righteous God, and therefore loves righteousness wherever he finds
it and pleads the cause of the righteous that are injured and
oppressed; he delights to execute judgment for them, <scripRef id="Ps.xii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.103.6" parsed="|Ps|103|6|0|0" passage="Ps 103:6">Ps. ciii. 6</scripRef>. We must herein be
followers of God, must love righteousness as he does, that we may
keep ourselves always in his love. He looks graciously upon them:
<i>His countenance doth behold the upright;</i> he is not only at
peace with them, and puts gladness into their hearts, by letting
them know that he is so. He, like a tender father, looks upon them
with pleasure, and they, like dutiful children, are pleased and
abundantly satisfied with his smiles. They walk in the light of the
Lord.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xii-p16">In singing this psalm we must encourage and
engage ourselves to trust in God at all times, must depend upon him
to protect our innocence and make us happy, must dread his frowns
as worse than death and desire his favour as better than life.</p>
</div></div2>