mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 12.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xiii" n="xiii" next="Ps.xiv" prev="Ps.xii" progress="25.55%" title="Chapter XII">
<h2 id="Ps.xiii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xiii-p0.2">PSALM XII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xiii-p1">It is supposed that David penned this psalm in
Saul's reign, when there was a general decay of honesty and piety
both in court and country, which he here complains of to God, and
very feelingly, for he himself suffered by the treachery of his
false friends and the insolence of his sworn enemies. I. He begs
help of God, because there were none among men whom he durst trust,
<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.1-Ps.12.2" parsed="|Ps|12|1|12|2" passage="Ps 12:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II. He foretels
the destruction of his proud and threatening enemies, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.3-Ps.12.4" parsed="|Ps|12|3|12|4" passage="Ps 12:3,4">ver. 3, 4</scripRef>. III. He assures himself
and others that, how ill soever things went now (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.8" parsed="|Ps|12|8|0|0" passage="Ps 12:8">ver. 8</scripRef>), God would preserve and secure to
himself his own people (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.5 Bible:Ps.12.7" parsed="|Ps|12|5|0|0;|Ps|12|7|0|0" passage="Ps 12:5,7">ver. 5,
7</scripRef>), and would certainly make good his promises to them,
<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.6" parsed="|Ps|12|6|0|0" passage="Ps 12:6">ver. 6</scripRef>. Whether this psalm
was penned in Saul's reign or no, it is certainly calculated for a
bad reign; and perhaps David, in spirit foresaw that some of his
successors would bring things to as bad a pass as is here
described, and treasured up this psalm for the use of the church
then. "O tempora, O mores!—Oh the times! Oh the manners!"</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xiii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12" parsed="|Ps|12|0|0|0" passage="Ps 12" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xiii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.1-Ps.12.8" parsed="|Ps|12|1|12|8" passage="Ps 12:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.12.1-Ps.12.8">
<h4 id="Ps.xiii-p1.8">Complaints of the Times.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.xiii-p1.9">
<p id="Ps.xiii-p2">To the chief musician upon Sheminith. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xiii-p3">1 Help, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xiii-p3.1">Lord</span>; for
the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the
children of men.   2 They speak vanity every one with his
neighbour: <i>with</i> flattering lips <i>and</i> with a double
heart do they speak.   3 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xiii-p3.2">Lord</span> shall cut off all flattering lips,
<i>and</i> the tongue that speaketh proud things:   4 Who have
said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips <i>are</i> our own:
who <i>is</i> lord over us?   5 For the oppression of the
poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xiii-p3.3">Lord</span>; I will set <i>him</i> in
safety <i>from him that</i> puffeth at him.   6 The words of
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xiii-p3.4">Lord</span> <i>are</i> pure words:
<i>as</i> silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
  7 Thou shalt keep them, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xiii-p3.5">O
Lord</span>, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for
ever.   8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men
are exalted.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p4">This psalm furnishes us with good thoughts
for bad times, in which, though the prudent will keep silent
(<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.5.13" parsed="|Amos|5|13|0|0" passage="Am 5:13">Amos v. 13</scripRef>) because a man
may then be made an offender for a word, yet we may comfort
ourselves with such suitable meditations and prayers as are here
got ready to our hand.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p5">I. Let us see here what it is that makes
the times bad, and when they may be said to be so. Ask the children
of this world what it is in their account that makes the times bad,
and they will tell you, Scarcity of money, decay of trade, and the
desolations of war, make the times bad. But the scripture lays the
badness of the times upon causes of another nature. <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.3.1" parsed="|2Tim|3|1|0|0" passage="2Ti 3:1">2 Tim. iii. 1</scripRef>, <i>Perilous times shall
come,</i> for iniquity shall abound; and that is the thing David
here complains of.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p6">1. When there is a general decay of piety
and honesty among men the times are then truly bad (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.1" parsed="|Ps|12|1|0|0" passage="Ps 12:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>When the godly man
ceases and the faithful fail.</i> Observe how these two characters
are here put together, the godly and the faithful. As there is no
true policy, so there is no true piety, without honesty. Godly men
are faithful men, <i>fast</i> men, so they have sometimes been
called; their word is as confirming as their oath, as binding as
their bond; they make conscience of being true both to God and man.
They are here said to cease and fail, either by death or by
desertion, or by both. Those that were godly and faithful were
taken away, and those that were left had sadly degenerated and were
not what they had been; so that there were few or no good people
that were Israelites indeed to be met with. Perhaps he meant that
there were no godly faithful men among Saul's courtiers; if he
meant there were few or none in Israel, we hope he was under the
same mistake that Elijah was, who thought he only was left alone,
when God had 7000 who kept their integrity (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.3" parsed="|Rom|11|3|0|0" passage="Ro 11:3">Rom. xi. 3</scripRef>); or he meant that there were few
in comparison; there was a general decay of religion and virtue
(and the times are bad, very bad, when it is so), not a man to be
found that executes judgment, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.5.1" parsed="|Jer|5|1|0|0" passage="Jer 5:1">Jer. v.
1</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p7">2. When dissimulation and flattery have
corrupted and debauched all conversation, then the times are very
bad (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.2" parsed="|Ps|12|2|0|0" passage="Ps 12:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), when men
are generally so profligate that they make no conscience of a lie,
are so spiteful as to design against their neighbours the worst of
mischiefs, and yet so base as to cover the design with the most
specious and plausible pretences and professions of friendship.
Thus <i>they speak vanity</i> (that is, falsehood and a lie)
<i>every one to his neighbour, with flattering lips and a double
heart.</i> They will kiss and kill (as Joab did Abner and Amasa in
David's own time), will smile in your face and cut your throat.
This is the devil's image complete, a complication of malice and
falsehood. The times are bad indeed when there is no such thing as
sincerity to be met with, when an honest man knows not whom to
believe nor whom to trust, nor dares put confidence in a friend, in
a guide, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Mic.7.5-Mic.7.6 Bible:Jer.9.4-Jer.9.5" parsed="|Mic|7|5|7|6;|Jer|9|4|9|5" passage="Mic 7:5,6,Jer 9:4,5">Mic. vii. 5, 6;
Jer. ix. 4, 5</scripRef>. Woe to those who help to make the times
thus perilous.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p8">3. When the enemies of God, and religion,
and religious people, are impudent and daring, and threaten to run
down all that is just and sacred, then the times are very bad, when
proud sinners have arrived at such a pitch of impiety as to say,
"<i>With our tongue will we prevail</i> against the cause of
virtue; <i>our lips are our own</i> and we may say what we will;
<i>who is lord over us,</i> either to restrain us or to call us to
an account?" <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.4" parsed="|Ps|12|4|0|0" passage="Ps 12:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
This bespeaks, (1.) A proud conceit of themselves and confidence in
themselves, as if the point were indeed gained by eating forbidden
fruit, and they were as gods, independent and self-sufficient,
infallible in their knowledge of good and evil and therefore fit to
be oracles, irresistible in their power and therefore fit to be
lawgivers, that could prevail with their tongues, and, like God
himself, speak and it is done. (2.) An insolent contempt of God's
dominion as if he had no propriety in them—<i>Our lips are our
own</i> (an unjust pretension, for who made man's mouth, in whose
hand is his breath, and whose is the air he breathes in?) and as if
he had no authority either to command them or to judge them: <i>Who
is Lord over us?</i> Like Pharaoh, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.1" parsed="|Exod|5|1|0|0" passage="Ex 5:1">Exod.
v. 1</scripRef>. This is as absurd and unreasonable as the former;
for he in whom we live, and move, and have our being, must needs
be, by an indisputable title, Lord over us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p9">4. When the poor and needy are oppressed,
and abused, and puffed at, then the times are very bad. This is
implied (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.5" parsed="|Ps|12|5|0|0" passage="Ps 12:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) where
God himself takes notice of <i>the oppression of the poor</i> and
<i>the sighing of the needy;</i> they are oppressed because they
are poor, have all manner of wrong done them merely because they
are not in a capacity to right themselves. Being thus oppressed,
they dare not speak for themselves, lest their defence should be
made their offence; but they sigh, secretly bemoaning their
calamities, and pouring out their souls in sighs before God. If
their oppressors be spoken to on their behalf, they puff at them,
make light of their own sin and the misery of the poor, and lay
neither to heart; see <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.10.5" parsed="|Ps|10|5|0|0" passage="Ps 10:5">Ps. x.
5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p10">5. When wickedness abounds, and goes
barefaced, under the protection and countenance of those in
authority, then the times are very bad, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.8" parsed="|Ps|12|8|0|0" passage="Ps 12:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. <i>When the vilest men are
exalted</i> to places of trust and power (who, instead of putting
the laws in execution against vice and injustice and punishing the
wicked according to their merits, patronise and protect them, give
them countenance, and support their reputation by their own
example), then <i>the wicked walk on every side;</i> they swarm in
all places, and go up and down seeking to deceive, debauch, and
destroy others; they are neither afraid nor ashamed to discover
themselves; they declare their sin as Sodom and there is none to
check or control them. Bad men are base men, the vilest of men, and
they are so though they are ever so highly exalted in this world.
Antiochus the illustrious the scripture calls <i>a vile person,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.11.21" parsed="|Dan|11|21|0|0" passage="Da 11:21">Dan. xi. 21</scripRef>. But it is bad
with a kingdom when such are preferred; no marvel if wickedness
then grows impudent and insolent. <i>When the wicked bear rule the
people mourn.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p11">II. Let us now see what good thoughts we
are here furnished with for such bad times; and what times we may
yet be reserved for we cannot tell. When times are thus bad it is
comfortable to think,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p12">1. That we have a God to go to, from whom
we may ask and expect the redress of all our grievances. This he
begins with (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.1" parsed="|Ps|12|1|0|0" passage="Ps 12:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>):
"<i>Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth.</i> All other helps and
helpers fail; even the godly and faithful, who should lend a
helping hand to support the dying cause of religion, are gone, and
therefore whither shall we seek but to thee?" Note, When godly
faithful people cease and fail it is time to cry, <i>Help,
Lord!</i> The abounding of iniquity threatens a deluge. "Help,
Lord, help the virtuous; few seek to hold fast their integrity, and
to stand in the gap; help to save thy own interest in the world
from sinking. <i>It is time for thee, Lord, to work.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p13">2. That God will certainly reckon with
false and proud men, and will punish and restrain their insolence.
They are above the control of men and set them at defiance. Men
cannot discover the falsehood of flatterers, nor humble the
haughtiness of those that speak proud things; but the righteous God
will <i>cut off all flattering lips,</i> that give the traitor's
kiss and speak words softer then oil when war is in the heart; he
will pluck out <i>the tongue that speaks proud things</i> against
God and religion, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.3" parsed="|Ps|12|3|0|0" passage="Ps 12:3"><i>v.</i>
3</scripRef>. Some translate it as a prayer, "May God cut off those
false and spiteful lips." <i>Let lying lips be put to
silence.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p14">3. That God will, in due time, work
deliverance for his oppressed people, and shelter them from the
malicious designs of their persecutors (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.5" parsed="|Ps|12|5|0|0" passage="Ps 12:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): <i>Now, will I arise, saith the
Lord.</i> This promise of God, which David here delivered by the
spirit of prophecy, is an answer to that petition which he put up
to God by the spirit of prayer. "Help, Lord," says he; "I will,"
says God; "here I am, with seasonable and effectual help." (1.) It
is seasonable, in the fittest time. [1.] When the oppressors are in
the height of their pride and insolence—when they say, <i>Who is
lord over us?</i>—then is God's time to let them know, to their
cost, that he is above them. [2.] When the oppressed are in the
depth of their distress and despondency, when they are sighing like
Israel in Egypt by reason of the cruel bondage, then is God's time
to appear for them, as for Israel when they were most dejected and
Pharaoh was most elevated. <i>Now will I arise.</i> Note, There is
a time fixed for the rescue of oppressed innocency; that time will
come, and we may be sure it is the fittest time, <scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.13" parsed="|Ps|102|13|0|0" passage="Ps 102:13">Ps. cii. 13</scripRef>. (2.) It is effectual: <i>I will
set him in safety,</i> or in salvation, not only protect him, but
restore him to his former prosperity, will <i>bring him out into a
wealthy place</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.12" parsed="|Ps|66|12|0|0" passage="Ps 66:12">Ps. lxvi.
12</scripRef>), so that, upon the whole, he shall lose nothing by
his sufferings.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p15">4. That, though men are false, God is
faithful; though they are not to be trusted, God is. They speak
vanity and flattery, but <i>the words of the Lord are pure
words</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.6" parsed="|Ps|12|6|0|0" passage="Ps 12:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), not
only all true, but all pure, like silver tried in a furnace of
earth or a crucible. It denotes, (1.) The sincerity of God's word,
every thing is really as it is there represented and not otherwise;
it does not jest with us, not impose upon us, nor has it any other
design towards us than our own good. (2.) The preciousness of God's
word; it is of great and intrinsic value, like silver refined to
the highest degree; it has nothing in it to depreciate it. (3.) The
many proofs that have been given of its power and truth; it has
been often tried, all the saints in all ages have trusted it and so
tried it, and it never deceived them nor frustrated their
expectation, but they have all set to their seal that God's word is
true, with an <i>Experto crede—Trust one that has made trial;</i>
they have found it so. Probably this refers especially to these
promises of succouring and relieving the poor and oppressed. Their
friends put them in hopes that they will do something for them, and
yet prove a broken reed; but the words of God are what we may rely
upon; and the less confidence is to be put in men's words let us
with the more assurance trust in God's word.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p16">5. That God will secure his chosen remnant
to himself, how bad soever the times are (<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.12.7" parsed="|Ps|12|7|0|0" passage="Ps 12:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Thou shalt preserve them from
this generation for ever.</i> This intimates that, as long as the
world stands, there will be a generation of proud and wicked men in
it, more or less, who will threaten by their wretched arts to ruin
religion, by <i>wearing out the saints of the Most High,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xiii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.7.25" parsed="|Dan|7|25|0|0" passage="Da 7:25">Dan. vii. 25</scripRef>. But let God
alone to maintain his own interest and to preserve his own people.
He will keep them from this generation, (1.) From being debauched
by them and drawn away from God, from mingling with them and
learning their works. In times of general apostasy the Lord knows
those that are his, and they shall be enabled to keep their
integrity. (2.) From being destroyed and rooted out by them. The
church is built upon a rock, and so well fortified that the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. In the worst of times God has
his remnant, and in every age will reserve to himself a holy seed
and preserve that to his heavenly kingdom.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xiii-p17">In singing this psalm, and praying it over,
we must bewail the general corruption of manners, thank God that
things are not worse than they are, but pray and hope that they
will be better in God's due time.</p>
</div></div2>