mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 21.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xxii" n="xxii" next="Ps.xxiii" prev="Ps.xxi" progress="28.08%" title="Chapter XXI">
<h2 id="Ps.xxii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xxii-p0.2">PSALM XXI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xxii-p1">As the foregoing psalm was a prayer for the king
that God would protect and prosper him, so this is a thanksgiving
for the success God had blessed him with. Those whom we have prayed
for we ought to give thanks for, and particularly for kings, in
whose prosperity we share. They are here taught, I. To congratulate
him on his victories, and the honour he had achieved, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.1-Ps.21.6" parsed="|Ps|21|1|21|6" passage="Ps 21:1-6">ver. 1-6</scripRef>. II. To confide in the
power of God for the completing of the ruin of the enemies of his
kingdom, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.7-Ps.21.13" parsed="|Ps|21|7|21|13" passage="Ps 21:7-13">ver. 7-13</scripRef>. In
this there is an eye to Messiah the Prince, and the glory of his
kingdom; for to him divers passages in this psalm are more
applicable than to David himself.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xxii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21" parsed="|Ps|21|0|0|0" passage="Ps 21" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xxii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.1-Ps.21.6" parsed="|Ps|21|1|21|6" passage="Ps 21:1-6" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.21.1-Ps.21.6">
<h4 id="Ps.xxii-p1.5">The Subject's Thanksgiving.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.xxii-p1.6">
<p id="Ps.xxii-p2">To the chief musician. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xxii-p3">1 The king shall joy in thy strength, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxii-p3.1">O Lord</span>; and in thy salvation how greatly
shall he rejoice!   2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire,
and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.   3
For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou
settest a crown of pure gold on his head.   4 He asked life of
thee, <i>and</i> thou gavest <i>it</i> him, <i>even</i> length of
days for ever and ever.   5 His glory <i>is</i> great in thy
salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.   6 For
thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him
exceeding glad with thy countenance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxii-p4">David here speaks for himself in the first
place, professing that his joy was in God's strength and in his
salvation, and not in the strength or success of his armies. He
also directs his subjects herein to rejoice with him, and to give
God all the glory of the victories he had obtained; and all with an
eye to Christ, of whose triumphs over the powers of darkness
David's victories were but shadows. 1. They here congratulate the
king on his joys and concur with him in them (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.1" parsed="|Ps|21|1|0|0" passage="Ps 21:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>The king rejoices,</i> he
uses to rejoice <i>in thy strength,</i> and so do we; what pleases
the king pleases us," <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.3.36" parsed="|2Sam|3|36|0|0" passage="2Sa 3:36">2 Sam. iii.
36</scripRef>. Happy the people the character of whose king it is
that he makes God's strength his confidence and God's salvation his
joy, that is pleased with all the advancements of God's kingdom and
trusts God to bear him out in all he does for the service of it.
Our Lord Jesus, in his great undertaking, relied upon help from
heaven, and pleased himself with the prospect of that great
salvation which he was thereby to work out. 2. They gave God all
the praise of those things which were the matter of their king's
rejoicing. (1.) That God had heard his prayers (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.2" parsed="|Ps|21|2|0|0" passage="Ps 21:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast given him his
heart's desire</i> (and there is no prayer accepted but what is the
heart's desire), the very thing they begged of God for him,
<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.20.4" parsed="|Ps|20|4|0|0" passage="Ps 20:4">Ps. xx. 4</scripRef>. Note, God's
gracious returns of prayer do, in a special manner, require our
humble returns of praise. When God gives to Christ the heathen for
his inheritance, gives him to see his seed, and accepts his
intercession for all believers, he give him his heart's desire.
(2.) That God had surprised him with favours, and much outdone his
expectations (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.3" parsed="|Ps|21|3|0|0" passage="Ps 21:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
<i>Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness.</i> All our
blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not at all to
any merit of ours, but purely and only to God's goodness. But the
psalmist here reckons it in a special manner obliging that these
blessings were given in a preventing way; this fixed his eye,
enlarged his soul, and endeared his God, as one expresses it. When
God's blessings come sooner and prove richer than we imagine, when
they are given before we prayed for them, before we were ready for
them, nay, when we feared the contrary, then it may be truly said
that he prevented us with them. Nothing indeed prevented Christ,
but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our
redemption by Christ and all the blessed fruits of his mediation.
(3.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and the most
extensive power: "<i>Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his
head</i> and kept it there, when his enemies attempted to throw it
off." Note, Crowns are at God's disposal; no head wears them but
God sets them there, whether in judgment to his land or for mercy
the event will show. On the head of Christ God never set a crown of
gold, but of thorns first, and then of glory. (4.) That God had
assured him of the perpetuity of his kingdom, and therein had done
more for him than he was able either to ask or think (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.4" parsed="|Ps|21|4|0|0" passage="Ps 21:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): "When he went forth upon
a perilous expedition <i>he asked</i> his <i>life of thee,</i>
which he then put into his hand, <i>and thou</i> not only <i>gavest
him that,</i> but withal gavest him <i>length of days for ever and
ever,</i> didst not only prolong his life far beyond his
expectation, but didst assure him of a blessed immortality in a
future state and of the continuance of his kingdom in the Messiah
that should come of his loins." See how God's grants often exceed
our petitions and hopes, and infer thence how rich he is in mercy
to those that call upon him. See also and rejoice in the length of
the days of Christ's kingdom. He was dead, indeed, that we might
live through him; but he is alive, and lives for evermore, and
<i>of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no
end;</i> and because he thus lives we shall thus live also. (5.)
That God had advanced him to the highest honour and dignity
(<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.5" parsed="|Ps|21|5|0|0" passage="Ps 21:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>His glory
is great,</i> far transcending that of all the neighbouring
princes, in the salvation thou hast wrought for him and by him."
The glory which every good man is ambitious of is to see the
salvation of the Lord. <i>Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon
him,</i> as a burden which he must bear, as a charge which he must
account for. Jesus Christ <i>received from God the Father honour
and glory</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.8" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.1.17" parsed="|2Pet|1|17|0|0" passage="2Pe 1:17">2 Pet. i.
17</scripRef>), the glory which he had with him before the worlds
were, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.9" osisRef="Bible:John.17.5" parsed="|John|17|5|0|0" passage="Joh 17:5">John xvii. 5</scripRef>. And on
him is laid the charge of universal government and to him all power
in heaven and earth is committed. (6.) That God had given him the
satisfaction of being the channel of all bliss to mankind
(<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p4.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.6" parsed="|Ps|21|6|0|0" passage="Ps 21:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>Thou hast
set him to be blessings for ever</i>" (so the margin reads it),
"thou hast made him to be a universal blessing to the world, in
whom the families of the earth are, and shall be blessed; and so
thou hast made him exceedingly glad with the countenance thou hast
given to his undertaking and to him in the prosecution of it." See
how the spirit of prophecy gradually rises here to that which is
peculiar to Christ, for none besides is blessed for ever, much less
a blessing for ever to that eminency that the expression denotes:
and of him it is said that God made him full of joy with his
countenance.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxii-p5">In singing this we should rejoice in his
joy and triumph in his exaltation.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.xxii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.7-Ps.21.13" parsed="|Ps|21|7|21|13" passage="Ps 21:7-13" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.21.7-Ps.21.13">
<h4 id="Ps.xxii-p5.2">The Subject's Hope.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xxii-p6">7 For the king trusteth in the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxii-p6.1">Lord</span>, and through the mercy of the most High he
shall not be moved.   8 Thine hand shall find out all thine
enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.  
9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger:
the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxii-p6.2">Lord</span> shall swallow them up in
his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.   10 Their fruit
shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the
children of men.   11 For they intended evil against thee:
they imagined a mischievous device, <i>which</i> they are not able
<i>to perform.</i>   12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn
their back, <i>when</i> thou shalt make ready <i>thine arrows</i>
upon thy strings against the face of them.   13 Be thou
exalted, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxii-p6.3">Lord</span>, in thine own
strength: <i>so</i> will we sing and praise thy power.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxii-p7">The psalmist, having taught his people to
look back with joy and praise on what God had done for him and
them, here teaches them to look forward with faith, and hope, and
prayer, upon what God would further do for them: <i>The king
rejoices in God</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.1" parsed="|Ps|21|1|0|0" passage="Ps 21:1"><i>v.</i>
1</scripRef>), and therefore we will be thankful; <i>the king
trusteth in God</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.7" parsed="|Ps|21|7|0|0" passage="Ps 21:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>), therefore will we be encouraged. The joy and
confidence of Christ our King is the ground of all our joy and
confidence.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxii-p8">I. They are confident of the stability of
David's kingdom. <i>Through the mercy of the Most High,</i> and not
through his own merit or strength, <i>he shall not be moved.</i>
His prosperous state shall not be disturbed; his faith and hope in
God, which are the stay of his spirit, shall not be shaken. The
mercy of the Most High (the divine goodness, power, and dominion)
is enough to secure our happiness, and therefore our trust in that
mercy should be enough to silence all our fears. God being at
Christ's right hand in his sufferings (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.8" parsed="|Ps|16|8|0|0" passage="Ps 16:8">Ps. xvi. 8</scripRef>) and he being at God's right hand
in his glory, we may be sure he shall not, he cannot, be moved, but
continues ever.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxii-p9">II. They are confident of the destruction
of all the impenitent implacable enemies of David's kingdom. The
success with which God had blessed David's arms hitherto was an
earnest of the rest which God would give him from all his enemies
round about, and a type of the total overthrow of all Christ's
enemies who would not have him to reign over them. Observe, 1. The
description of his enemies. They are such as hate him, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.8" parsed="|Ps|21|8|0|0" passage="Ps 21:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. They hated David because
God had set him apart for himself, hated Christ because they hated
the light; but both were hated without any just cause, and in both
God was hated, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:John.15.23 Bible:John.15.25" parsed="|John|15|23|0|0;|John|15|25|0|0" passage="Joh 15:23,25">John xv. 23,
25</scripRef>. 2. The designs of his enemies (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.11" parsed="|Ps|21|11|0|0" passage="Ps 21:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>They intended evil against
thee, and imagined a mischievous device;</i> they pretended to
fight against David only, but their enmity was against God himself.
Those that aimed to un-king David aimed, in effect, to un-God
Jehovah. What is devised and designed against religion, and against
the instruments God raises up to support and advance it, is very
evil and mischievous, and God takes it as devised and designed
against himself and will so reckon for it. (3.) The disappointment
of them: "They devise what they are <i>not able to perform,</i>"
<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.11" parsed="|Ps|21|11|0|0" passage="Ps 21:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. Their malice
is impotent, and they <i>imagine a vain thing,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.1" parsed="|Ps|2|1|0|0" passage="Ps 2:1">Ps. ii. 1</scripRef>. (4.) The discovery of them
(<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.8" parsed="|Ps|21|8|0|0" passage="Ps 21:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>Thy hand
shall find them out.</i> Though ever so artfully disguised by the
pretences and professions of friendship, though mingled with the
faithful subjects of this kingdom and hardly to be distinguished
from them, though flying from justice and absconding in their close
places, yet thy hand shall find them out wherever they are." There
is no escaping God's avenging eye, no going out of the reach of his
hand; rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last than
fig-leaves were at first. (5.) The destruction of them; it will be
an utter destruction (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Luke.19.27" parsed="|Luke|19|27|0|0" passage="Lu 19:27">Luke xix.
27</scripRef>); they shall be swallowed up and devoured, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.9" parsed="|Ps|21|9|0|0" passage="Ps 21:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Hell, the portion of all
Christ's enemies, is the complete misery both of body and soul.
<i>Their fruit and their seed shall be destroyed,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.10" parsed="|Ps|21|10|0|0" passage="Ps 21:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. The enemies of God's
kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same doom, and the
whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and all
opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down. The
arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to flight,
being levelled at the face of them, <scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.12" parsed="|Ps|21|12|0|0" passage="Ps 21:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. That will be the lot of daring
enemies that face God. The fire of God's wrath will consume them
(<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.11" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.9" parsed="|Ps|21|9|0|0" passage="Ps 21:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>); they shall
not only be cast into a furnace of fire (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p9.12" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.42" parsed="|Matt|13|42|0|0" passage="Mt 13:42">Matt. xiii. 42</scripRef>), but he shall make them
themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they shall be their own
tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own consciences
will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule and
save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find that
even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to
eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies
not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxii-p10">III. In this confidence they beg of God
that he would still appear for his anointed (<scripRef id="Ps.xxii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.21.13" parsed="|Ps|21|13|0|0" passage="Ps 21:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), that he would act for him in
his own strength, by the immediate operations of his power as Lord
of hosts and Father of spirits, making little use of means and
instruments. And, 1. Hereby he would exalt himself and glorify his
own name. "We have but little strength, and are not so active for
thee as we should be, which is our shame; Lord, take the work into
thy own hands, do it, without us, and it will be thy glory." 2.
Hereupon they would exalt him: "<i>So will we sing, and praise thy
power,</i> the more triumphantly." The less God has of our service
when a deliverance is in the working the more he must have of our
praises when it is wrought without us.</p>
</div></div2>