mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Ps.vi" n="vi" next="Ps.vii" prev="Ps.v" progress="23.31%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Ps.vi-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.vi-p0.2">PSALM V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.vi-p1">The psalm is a prayer, a solemn address to God, at
a time when the psalmist was brought into distress by the malice of
his enemies. Many such times passed over David, nay, there was
scarcely any time of his life to which this psalm may not be
accommodated, for in this he was a type of Christ, that he was
continually beset with enemies, and his powerful and prevalent
appeals to God, when he was so beset, pointed at Christ's
dependence on his Father and triumphs over the powers of darkness
in the midst of his sufferings. In this psalm, I. David settles a
correspondence between his soul and God, promising to pray, and
promising himself that God would certainly hear him, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.1-Ps.5.3" parsed="|Ps|5|1|5|3" passage="Ps 5:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. He gives to God the
glory, and takes to himself the comfort, of God's holiness,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.4-Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|4|5|6" passage="Ps 5:4-6">ver. 4-6</scripRef>. III. He declares
his resolution to keep close to the public worship of God,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.7" parsed="|Ps|5|7|0|0" passage="Ps 5:7">ver. 7</scripRef>. IV. He prayed, 1. For
himself, that God would guide him,, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.8" parsed="|Ps|5|8|0|0" passage="Ps 5:8">ver.
8</scripRef>. 2. Against his enemies, that God would destroy them,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.9-Ps.5.10" parsed="|Ps|5|9|5|10" passage="Ps 5:9,10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>. 3. For all the
people of God, that God would give them joy, and keep them safe,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.11-Ps.5.12" parsed="|Ps|5|11|5|12" passage="Ps 5:11,12">ver. 11, 12</scripRef>. And this is
all of great use to direct us in prayer.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.vi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5" parsed="|Ps|5|0|0|0" passage="Ps 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.vi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.1-Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|1|5|6" passage="Ps 5:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.5.1-Ps.5.6">
<h4 id="Ps.vi-p1.9">Prayer for Guidance and
Protection.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.vi-p1.10">
<p id="Ps.vi-p2">To the chief musician upon Nehiloth. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.vi-p3">1 Give ear to my words, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vi-p3.1">O Lord</span>, consider my meditation.   2 Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I
pray.   3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vi-p3.2">O Lord</span>; in the morning will I direct <i>my
prayer</i> unto thee, and will look up.   4 For thou
<i>art</i> not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither
shall evil dwell with thee.   5 The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.   6 Thou shalt
destroy them that speak leasing: the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vi-p3.3">Lord</span> will abhor the bloody and deceitful
man.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p4">The title of this psalm has nothing in it
peculiar but that it is said to be upon <i>Nehiloth,</i> a word
nowhere else used. It is conjectured (and it is but a conjecture)
that is signifies <i>wind</i>—instruments, with which this psalm
was sung, as <i>Neginoth</i> was supposed to signify the
<i>stringed</i>—instruments. In <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.1-Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|1|5|6" passage="Ps 5:1-6">these
verses</scripRef> David had an eye to God,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p5">I. As a prayer-hearing God; such he has
always been ever since men began to call upon the name of the Lord,
and yet is still as ready to hear prayer as ever. Observe how David
here styles him: <i>O Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.1 Bible:Ps.5.3" parsed="|Ps|5|1|0|0;|Ps|5|3|0|0" passage="Ps 5:1,3"><i>v.</i> 1, 3</scripRef>), <i>Jehovah,</i> a
self-existent, self-sufficient, Being, whom we are bound to adore,
and, "<i>my King and my God</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.2" parsed="|Ps|5|2|0|0" passage="Ps 5:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), whom I have avouched for my God,
to whom I have sworn allegiance, and under whose protection I have
put myself as my King." We believe that the God we pray to is a
King, and a God. King of kings and God of gods; but that is not
enough: the most commanding encouraging principle of prayer, and
the most powerful or prevailing plea in prayer, is to look upon him
as <i>our</i> King and <i>our</i> God, to whom we lie under
peculiar obligations and from whom we have peculiar expectations.
Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p6">1. What David here prays for, which may
encourage our faith and hopes in all our addresses to God. If we
pray fervently, and in faith, we have reason to hope, (1.) That God
will take cognizance of our case, the representation we make of it
and the requests we make upon it; for so he prays here: <i>Give ear
to my words, O Lord!</i> Though God is in heaven, he has an ear
open to his people's prayers, and it is not heavy, that he cannot
hear. Men perhaps will not or cannot hear us; our enemies are so
haughty that they will not, our friends at such a distance that
they cannot; but God, though high, though in heaven, can, and will.
(2.) That he will take it into his wise and compassionate
consideration, and will not slight it, or turn it off with a
cursory answer; for so he prays: <i>Consider my meditation.</i>
David's prayers were not his words only, but his meditations; as
meditation is the best preparative for prayer, so prayer is the
best issue of meditation. Meditation and prayer should go together,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.19.14" parsed="|Ps|19|14|0|0" passage="Ps 19:14">Ps. xix. 14</scripRef>. It is when we
thus consider our prayers, and then only, that we may expect that
God will consider them, and take that to his heart which comes from
ours. (3.) That he will, in due time, return a gracious answer of
peace; for so he prays (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.2" parsed="|Ps|5|2|0|0" passage="Ps 5:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>Hearken to the voice of my cry.</i> His prayer
was a <i>cry;</i> it was <i>the voice of his cry,</i> which denotes
fervency of affection and importunity of expression; and such
effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much and do
wonders.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p7">2. What David here promises, as the
condition on his part to be performed, fulfilled, and kept, that he
might obtain this gracious acceptance; this may guide and govern us
in our addresses to God, that we may present them aright, for we
ask, and have not, if we ask amiss. Four things David here
promises, and so must we:—(1.) That he will pray, that he will
make conscience of praying, and make a business of it: <i>Unto thee
will I pray.</i> "Others live without prayer, but I will pray."
Kings on their own thrones (so David was) must be beggars at God's
throne. "Others pray to strange gods, and expect relief from them,
but to thee, to thee only, will I pray." The assurances God has
given us of his readiness to hear prayer should confirm our
resolution to live and die praying. (2.) That he will pray <i>in
the morning.</i> His praying voice shall be heard then, and then
shall his prayer be directed; that shall be the date of his letters
to heaven, not that only ("Morning, and evening, and at noon, will
I pray, nay, seven times a day, will I praise thee"), but that
certainly. Morning prayer is our duty; we are the fittest for
prayer when we are in the most fresh, and lively, and composed
frame, got clear of the slumbers of the night, revived by them, and
not yet filled with the business of the day. We have then most need
of prayer, considering the dangers and temptations of the day to
which we are exposed, and against which we are concerned; by faith
and prayer, to fetch in fresh supplies of grace. (3.) That he will
have his eye single and his heart intent in the duty: <i>I will
direct my prayer,</i> as a marksman directs his arrow to the white;
with such a fixedness and steadiness of mind should we address
ourselves to God. Or as we direct a letter to a friend at such a
place so must we direct our prayers to God as our Father in heaven;
and let us always send them by the Lord Jesus, the great Mediator,
and then they will be sure not to miscarry. All our prayers must be
directed to God; his honour and glory must be aimed at as our
highest end in all our prayers. Let our first petition be,
<i>Hallowed,</i> glorified, <i>by thy name,</i> and then we may be
sure of the same gracious answer to it that was given to Christ
himself: <i>I have glorified it, and I will glorify it yet
again.</i> (4.) That he will patiently wait for an answer of peace:
"I <i>will look up,</i> will look after my prayers, and <i>hear
what God the Lord will speak</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.85.8 Bible:Hab.2.1" parsed="|Ps|85|8|0|0;|Hab|2|1|0|0" passage="Ps 85:8,Hab 2:1">Ps. lxxxv. 8; Hab. ii. 1</scripRef>), that, if he
grant what I asked, I may be thankful—if he deny, I may be
patient—if he defer, I may continue to pray and wait and may not
faint." We must look <i>up,</i> or look <i>out,</i> as he that has
shot an arrow looks to see how near it has come to the mark. We
lose much of the comfort of our prayers for want of observing the
returns of them. Thus praying, thus waiting, as the lame man looked
stedfastly on Peter and John (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.3.4" parsed="|Acts|3|4|0|0" passage="Ac 3:4">Acts iii.
4</scripRef>), we may expect that God will give ear to our words
and consider them, and to him we may refer ourselves, as David
here, who does not pray, "Lord, do this, or the other, for me;"
but, "Hearken to me, consider my case, and do in it as seemeth good
unto thee."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p8">II. As a sin-hating God, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.4-Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|4|5|6" passage="Ps 5:4-6"><i>v.</i> 4-6</scripRef>. David takes notice of this, 1.
As a warning to himself, and all other praying people, to remember
that, as the God with whom we have to do is gracious and merciful,
so he is pure and holy; though he is ready to hear prayer, yet, if
we regard iniquity in our heart, he /ill not hear our prayers,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" passage="Ps 66:18">Ps. lxvi. 18</scripRef>. 2. As an
encouragement to his prayers against his enemies; they were wicked
men, and therefore enemies to God, and such as he had not pleasure
in. See here. (1.) The holiness of God's nature. When he says,
<i>Thou art not a God that has pleasure in wickedness,</i> he
means, "Thou art a God that hates it, as directly contrary to thy
infinite purity and rectitude, and holy will." Though the workers
of iniquity prosper, let none thence infer that God has pleasure in
wickedness, no, not in that by which men pretend to honour him, as
those do that hate their brethren, and cast them out, and say,
<i>Let the Lord be glorified.</i> God has no pleasure in
wickedness, though covered with a cloak of religion. Let those
therefore who delight in sin know that God has no delight in them;
nor let any say, when he is tempted, <i>I am tempted of God,</i>
for God is not the author of sin, neither <i>shall evil dwell with
him,</i> that is, it shall not always be countenanced and suffered
to prosper. Dr. Hammond thinks this refers to that law of Moses
which would not permit strangers, who persisted in their idolatry,
to dwell in the land of Israel. (2.) The justice of his government.
The foolish <i>shall not stand in his sight,</i> that is, shall not
be smiled upon by him, nor admitted to attend upon him, nor shall
they be acquitted in the judgment of the great day. The workers of
iniquity are very foolish. Sin is folly, and sinners are the
greatest of all fools; not fools of God's making (those are to be
pitied), for he hates nothing that he has made, but fools of their
own making, and those he hates. Wicked people hate God; justly
therefore are they hated of him, and it will be their endless
misery and ruin. "Those whom thou hatest thou shalt destroy;"
particularly two sorts of sinners, who are here marked for
destruction:—[1.] Those that are fools, that speak leasing or
lying, and that are deceitful. There is a particular emphasis laid
on these sinners (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.8" parsed="|Rev|21|8|0|0" passage="Re 21:8">Rev. xxi.
8</scripRef>), <i>All liars,</i> and (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.15" parsed="|Ps|22|15|0|0" passage="Ps 22:15">Ps. xxii. 15</scripRef>), <i>Whosoever loves and makes a
lie;</i> nothing is more contrary than this, and therefore nothing
more hateful to the God of truth. [2.] Those that are cruel:
<i>Thou wilt abhor the bloody man;</i> for inhumanity is no less
contrary, no less hateful, to the God of mercy, whom mercy pleases.
Liars and murderers are in a particular manner said to resemble the
devil and to be his children, and therefore it may well be expected
that God should abhor them. These were the characters of David's
enemies; and such as these are still the enemies of Christ and his
church, men perfectly lost to all virtue and honour; and the worse
they are the surer we may be of their ruin in due time.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p9">In singing <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.1-Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|1|5|6" passage="Ps 5:1-6">these verses</scripRef>, and praying them over, we must
engage and stir up ourselves to the duty of prayer, and encourage
ourselves in it, because we shall not seek the Lord in vain; and
must express our detestation of sin, and our awful expectation of
that day of Christ's appearing which will be the day of the
perdition of ungodly men.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.vi-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.7-Ps.5.12" parsed="|Ps|5|7|5|12" passage="Ps 5:7-12" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.5.7-Ps.5.12">
<h4 id="Ps.vi-p9.3">Delight in Public Worship; Happiness of the
Righteous.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.vi-p10">7 But as for me, I will come <i>into</i> thy
house in the multitude of thy mercy: <i>and</i> in thy fear will I
worship toward thy holy temple.   8 Lead me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vi-p10.1">O Lord</span>, in thy righteousness because of mine
enemies; make thy way straight before my face.   9 For
<i>there is</i> no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part
<i>is</i> very wickedness; their throat <i>is</i> an open
sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue.   10 Destroy thou
them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in
the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled
against thee.   11 But let all those that put their trust in
thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest
them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.   12
For thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.vi-p10.2">Lord</span>, wilt bless the
righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as <i>with</i> a
shield.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p11">In <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7" parsed="|Ps|7|0|12|0" passage="Ps 7-12">these
verses</scripRef> David gives three characters—of himself, of his
enemies, and of all the people of God, and subjoins a prayer to
each of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p12">I. He gives an account of himself and prays
for himself, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.7-Ps.5.8" parsed="|Ps|5|7|5|8" passage="Ps 5:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7,
8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p13">1. He is stedfastly resolved to keep
closely to God and to his worship. Sinners go away from God, and so
make themselves odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his
justice: "<i>But, as for me,</i> that shall not keep me from thee."
God's holiness and justice are so far from being a terror to the
upright in heart, to drive them from God, that they are rather by
them invited to cleave to him. David resolves, (1.) To worship God,
to pay his homage to him, and give unto God the glory due unto his
name. (2.) To worship him publicly: "<i>I will come into thy
house,</i> the courts of thy house, to worship there with other
faithful worshippers." David was much in secret worship, prayed
often alone (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.2-Ps.5.3" parsed="|Ps|5|2|5|3" passage="Ps 5:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2,
3</scripRef>), and yet was very constant and devout in his
attendance on the sanctuary. The duties of the closet are designed
to prepare us for, not to excuse us from, public ordinances. (3.)
To worship him reverently and with a due sense of the infinite
distance there is between God and man: "<i>In thy fear will I
worship,</i> with a holy awe of God upon my spirit," <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.28" parsed="|Heb|12|28|0|0" passage="Heb 12:28">Heb. xii. 28</scripRef>. God is greatly to be
feared by all his worshippers. (4.) To take his encouragement, in
worship, from God himself only. [1.] From his infinite mercy. It is
in the multitude of God's mercy (the inexhaustible treasures of
mercy that are in God and the innumerable proofs and instances of
it which we receive from him) that David confides, and not in any
merit or righteousness of his own, in his approaches to God. The
mercy of God should ever be both the foundation of our hopes and
the fountain of our joy in every thing wherein we have to do with
him. [2.] From the instituted medium of worship, which was then the
temple, here called <i>the temple of his holiness,</i> as a type of
Christ, the great and only Mediator, who sanctifies the service as
the temple sanctified the gold, and to whom we must have an eye in
all our devotions as the worshippers then had to the temple.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p14">2. He earnestly prays that God, by his
grace, would guide and preserve him always in the way of his duty
(<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.8" parsed="|Ps|5|8|0|0" passage="Ps 5:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>Lead me in
thy righteousness, because of my enemies</i>—Heb. "<i>Because of
those who observe me,</i> who watch for my halting and seek
occasion against me." See here, (1.) The good use which David made
of the malice of his enemies against him. The more curious they
were in spying faults in him, that they might have whereof to
accuse him, the more cautious he was to avoid sin and all
appearances of it, and the more solicitous to be always found in
the good way of God and duty. Thus, by wisdom and grace, good may
come out of evil. (2.) The right course which David took for the
baffling of those who sought occasion against him. He committed
himself to a divine guidance, begged of God both by his providence
and by his grace to direct him in the right way, and keep him from
turning aside out of it, at any time, in any instance whatsoever,
that the most critical and captious of his enemies, like Daniel's,
might find no occasion against him. The way of our duty is here
called <i>God's way,</i> and <i>his righteousness,</i> because he
prescribes to us by his just and holy laws, which if we sincerely
set before us as our rule, we may in faith beg of God to direct us
in all particular cases. How this prayer of David's was answered to
him see <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.18.14-1Sam.18.15" parsed="|1Sam|18|14|18|15" passage="1Sa 18:14,15">1 Sam. xviii. 14,
15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p15">II. He gives an account of his enemies, and
prays against them, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.9-Ps.5.10" parsed="|Ps|5|9|5|10" passage="Ps 5:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9,
10</scripRef>. 1. If his account of them is true, as no doubt it
is, they have a very bad character; and, if they had not been bad
men indeed, they could not have been enemies to a man after God's
own heart. He had spoken (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|6|0|0" passage="Ps 5:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>) of God's hating the bloody and deceitful man. "Now,
Lord," says he, "that is the character of my enemies: they are
deceitful; there is no trusting them, for there is no faithfulness
in their mouth." They thought it was no sin to tell a deliberate
lie if it might but blemish David, and render him odious. "<i>Lord,
lead me,</i>" says he (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.8" parsed="|Ps|5|8|0|0" passage="Ps 5:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>), "for such as these are the men I have to do with,
against whose slanders innocency itself is no security. Do they
speak fair? Do they talk of peace and friendship? <i>They flatter
with their tongues;</i> it is designed to cover their malice, and
to gain their point the more securely. Whatever they pretend of
religion or friendship, two sacred things, they are true to
neither: <i>Their inward part is wickedness</i> itself; it is
<i>very wickedness.</i> They are likewise bloody; for <i>their
throat is an open sepulchre,</i> cruel as the grave, gaping to
devour and to swallow up, insatiable as the grave, which never
says, <i>It is enough,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.30.15-Prov.30.16" parsed="|Prov|30|15|30|16" passage="Pr 30:15,16">Prov.
xxx. 15, 16</scripRef>. This is quoted (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.13" parsed="|Rom|3|13|0|0" passage="Ro 3:13">Rom. iii. 13</scripRef>) to show the general corruption
of mankind; for they are all naturally prone to malice, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:Titus.3.3" parsed="|Titus|3|3|0|0" passage="Tit 3:3">Tit. iii. 3</scripRef>. The grave is opened for
them all, and yet they are as open graves to one another. 2. If his
prayer against them is heard, as no doubt it is, they are in a bad
condition. As men are, and do, so they must expect to fare. He
prays to God to destroy them (according to what he had said
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.6" parsed="|Ps|5|6|0|0" passage="Ps 5:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>, "Thou shalt
destroy men of this character," so <i>let them fall;</i> and
sinners would soon throw themselves into ruin if they were let
alone), to <i>cast them out</i> of his protection and favour, out
of the heritage of the Lord, out of the land of the living; and woe
to those whom God casts out. "They have by their sins deserved
destruction; there is enough to justify God in their utter
rejection: <i>Cast them out in the multitude of their
transgressions,</i> by which they have filled up the measure of
their iniquity and have become ripe for ruin." Persecuting God's
servants fills the measure as soon as any thing, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.8" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.15" parsed="|1Thess|2|15|0|0" passage="1Th 2:15">1 Thess. ii. 15, 16</scripRef>. Nay, they may be easily
made to <i>fall by their own counsels;</i> that which they do to
secure themselves, and do mischief to others, by the over-ruling
providence of God may be made a means of their destruction,
<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.15 Bible:Ps.9.15" parsed="|Ps|7|15|0|0;|Ps|9|15|0|0" passage="Ps 7:15,9:15">Ps. vii. 15; ix. 15</scripRef>. He
pleads, "<i>They have rebelled against thee.</i> Had they been only
my enemies, I could safely have forgiven them; but they are rebels
against God, his crown and dignity; they oppose his government, and
will not repent, to give him glory, and therefore I plainly foresee
their ruin." His prayer for their destruction comes not from a
spirit of revenge, but from a spirit of prophecy, by which he
foretold that all who rebel against God will certainly be destroyed
by their own counsels. If it is a righteous thing with God to
recompense tribulation to those that trouble his people, as we are
told it is (<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p15.10" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.6" parsed="|2Thess|1|6|0|0" passage="2Th 1:6">2 Thess. i. 6</scripRef>),
we pray that it may be done whenever we pray, <i>Father, thy will
be done.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p16">III. He gives an account of the people of
God, and prays for them, concluding with an assurance of their
bliss, which he doubted not of his own interest in. Observe, 1. The
description he gives of God's people. They are the righteous
(<scripRef id="Ps.vi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.12" parsed="|Ps|5|12|0|0" passage="Ps 5:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>); for they
<i>put their trust in God,</i> are well assured of his power and
all-sufficiency, venture their all upon his promise, and are
confident of his protection in the way of their duty; and they
<i>love his name,</i> are well pleased with all that by which God
has made himself known, and take delight in their acquaintance with
him. This is true and pure religion, to live a life of complacency
in God and dependence on him. 2. His prayer for them: "<i>Let them
rejoice;</i> let them have cause to rejoice and hearts to rejoice;
fill them with joy, with great joy and unspeakable; let them shout
for joy, with constant joy and perpetual; <i>let them ever shout
for joy,</i> with holy joy, and that which terminates in God;
<i>let them be joyful in thee,</i> in thy favour, in thy salvation,
not in any creature. Let them rejoice <i>because thou defendest
them,</i> coverest them, or overshadowest them, dwellest among
them." Perhaps here is an allusion to the pillar of cloud and fire,
which was to Israel a visible token of God's special presence with
them and the special protection they were under. Let us learn of
David to pray, not for ourselves only, but for others, for all good
people, for all that trust in God and love his name, though not in
every thing of our mind nor in our interest. Let all that are
entitled to God's promises have a share in our prayers; grace be
with all that love Christ in sincerity. This is to concur with God.
3. His comfort concerning them, <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.12" parsed="|Ps|5|12|0|0" passage="Ps 5:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. He takes them into his prayers
because they are God's peculiar people; therefore he doubts not but
his prayers shall be heard, and they shall always rejoice; for,
(1.) They are happy in the assurance of God's blessing: "<i>Thou,
Lord, wilt bless the righteous,</i> wilt command a blessing upon
them. Thou hast in thy word pronounced them blessed, and therefore
wilt make them truly so. <i>Those whom thou blessest are blessed
indeed.</i>" (2.) "They are safe under the protection of thy
favour; with that thou wilt <i>crown</i> him" (so some read it);
"it is his honour, will be to him a diadem of beauty, and make him
truly great: with that thou <i>wilt compass him,</i> wilt surround
him, on every side, <i>as with a shield.</i>" A shield, in war,
guards only one side, but the favour of God is to the saints a
defence on every side; like the hedge about Job, round about, so
that, while they keep themselves under the divine protection, they
are entirely safe and ought to be entirely satisfied.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.vi-p17">In singing <scripRef id="Ps.vi-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.5.7-Ps.5.12" parsed="|Ps|5|7|5|12" passage="Ps 5:7-12">these verses</scripRef>, and praying them over, we must
by faith put ourselves under God's guidance and care, and then
please ourselves with his mercy and grace and with the prospect of
God's triumphs at last over all his enemies and his people's
triumphs in him and in his salvation.</p>
</div></div2>