mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 28.xml

<div2 id="Ps.xxix" n="xxix" next="Ps.xxx" prev="Ps.xxviii" progress="30.57%" title="Chapter XXVIII">
<h2 id="Ps.xxix-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.xxix-p0.2">PSALM XXVIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.xxix-p1">The former part of this psalm is the prayer of a
saint militan and now in distress (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.1-Ps.28.3" parsed="|Ps|28|1|28|3" passage="Ps 28:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>), to which is added the doom of
God's implacable enemies, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.4-Ps.28.5" parsed="|Ps|28|4|28|5" passage="Ps 28:4,5">ver. 4,
5</scripRef>. The latter part of the psalm is the thanksgiving of a
saint triumphant, and delivered out of his distresses (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.6-Ps.28.8" parsed="|Ps|28|6|28|8" passage="Ps 28:6-8">ver. 6-8</scripRef>), to which is added a
prophetical prayer for all God's faithful loyal subjects, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.9" parsed="|Ps|28|9|0|0" passage="Ps 28:9">ver. 9</scripRef>. So that it is hard to say
which of these two conditions David was in when he penned it. Some
think he was now in trouble seeking God, but at the same time
preparing to praise him for his deliverance, and by faith giving
him thanks for it, before it was wrought. Others think he was now
in triumph, but remembered, and recorded for his own and others'
benefit, the prayers he made when he was in affliction, that the
mercy might relish the better, when it appeared to be an answer to
them.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.xxix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28" parsed="|Ps|28|0|0|0" passage="Ps 28" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.xxix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.1-Ps.28.5" parsed="|Ps|28|1|28|5" passage="Ps 28:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.28.1-Ps.28.5">
<h4 id="Ps.xxix-p1.7">Prayer for Deliverance.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.xxix-p1.8">
<p id="Ps.xxix-p2">A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xxix-p3">1 Unto thee will I cry, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxix-p3.1">O Lord</span> my rock; be not silent to me: lest,
<i>if</i> thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down
into the pit.   2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I
cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
  3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of
iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief
<i>is</i> in their hearts.   4 Give them according to their
deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give
them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
  5 Because they regard not the works of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxix-p3.2">Lord</span>, nor the operation of his hands, he shall
destroy them, and not build them up.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p4">In these verses David is very earnest in
prayer.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p5">I. He prays that God would graciously hear
and answer him, now that, in his distress, he called upon him,
<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.1-Ps.28.2" parsed="|Ps|28|1|28|2" passage="Ps 28:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1, 2</scripRef>. Observe
his faith in prayer: <i>O Lord, my rock,</i> denoting his belief of
God's power (he is a rock) and his dependence upon that power—"He
is <i>my rock,</i> on whom I build my hope." Observe his fervency
in prayer: "<i>To thee will I cry,</i> as one in earnest, being
ready to sink, unless thou come in with seasonable succour." And
observe how solicitous he is to obtain an answer: <i>"Be not silent
to me,</i> as one angry at my prayers, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.80.4" parsed="|Ps|80|4|0|0" passage="Ps 80:4">Ps. lxxx. 4</scripRef>. Lord, speak to me, answer me
<i>with good words and comfortable words</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.1.13" parsed="|Zech|1|13|0|0" passage="Zec 1:13">Zech. i. 13</scripRef>); though the thing I pray for has
not been given me, yet let God speak to me joy and gladness, and
make me to hear them. Lord, speak for me, in answer to my prayers,
plead my cause, command deliverances for me, and thus hear and
answer the voice of my supplications." Two things he pleads:—1.
The sad despair he should be in if God slighted him: "<i>If thou be
silent to me,</i> and I have not the tokens of thy favour, I am
<i>like those that go down into the pit</i> (that is, I am a dead
man, lost and undone); if God be not my friend, appear not to me
and appear not for me, my hope and my help will have perished."
Nothing can be so cutting, so killing, to a gracious soul, as the
want of God's favour and the sense of his displeasure. <i>I shall
be like those that go down to hell</i> (so some understand it); for
what is the misery of the damned but this, that God is ever silent
to them and deaf to their cry? Those are in some measure qualified
for God's favour, and may expect it, who are thus possessed with a
dread of his wrath, and to whom his frowns are worse than death. 2.
The good hopes he had that God would favour him: <i>I lift up my
hands towards thy holy oracle,</i> which denotes, not only an
earnest desire, but an earnest expectation, thence to receive an
answer of peace. The most holy place within the veil is here, as
elsewhere, called the <i>oracle;</i> there the ark and the
mercy-seat were, there God was said to <i>dwell between the
cherubim,</i> and thence he spoke to his people, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.7.89" parsed="|Num|7|89|0|0" passage="Nu 7:89">Num. vii. 89</scripRef>. That was a type of Christ, and
it is to him that we must lift up our eyes and hands, for through
him all good comes from God to us. It was also a figure of heaven
(<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.9.24" parsed="|Heb|9|24|0|0" passage="Heb 9:24">Heb. ix. 24</scripRef>); and from God
as our Father in heaven we are taught to expect an answer to our
prayers. The scriptures are called <i>the oracles of God,</i> and
to them we must have an eye in our prayers and expectations. There
is the word on which God hath caused and encouraged us to hope.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p6">II. He deprecates the doom of wicked
people, as before (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.26.9" parsed="|Ps|26|9|0|0" passage="Ps 26:9">Ps. xxvi.
9</scripRef>, "<i>Gather not my soul with sinners</i>): Lord, I
attend thy holy oracle, <i>draw me not away</i> from that <i>with
the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.3" parsed="|Ps|28|3|0|0" passage="Ps 28:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. 1. "Save me from being
entangled in the snares they have laid for me. They flatter and
cajole me, and speak peace to me; but they have a design upon me,
for <i>mischief is in their heart;</i> they aim to disturb me, nay,
to destroy me. Lord, suffer me not to be drawn away and ruined by
their cursed plots; for they have, can have, no power, no success,
against me, except it be given them from above." 2. "Save me from
being infected with their sins and from doing as they do. Let me
not be drawn away by their fallacious arguments, or their
allurements, from the holy oracle (where I desire to dwell all the
days of my life), to practise any wicked works;" see <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.114.4" parsed="|Ps|114|4|0|0" passage="Ps 114:4">Ps. cxli. 4</scripRef>. "Lord, never leave me to
myself, to use such arts of deceit and treachery for my safety as
they use to my ruin. Let no event of Providence be an invincible
temptation to me, to draw me either into the imitation or into the
interest of wicked people." Good men dread the way of sinners; the
best are sensible of the danger they are in of being drawn aside
into it; and therefore we should all pray earnestly to God for his
grace to keep us in our integrity. 3. "Save me from being involved
in their doom; let me not be led forth with the workers of
iniquity, for I am not one of those that speak peace while war is
in their hearts." Note, Those that are careful not to partake with
sinners in their sins have reason to hope that they shall not
partake with them in their plagues, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.18.4" parsed="|Rev|18|4|0|0" passage="Re 18:4">Rev. xviii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p7">III. He imprecates the just judgments of
God upon the workers of iniquity (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.4" parsed="|Ps|28|4|0|0" passage="Ps 28:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>Give them according to their
deeds.</i> This is not the language of passion or revenge, nor is
it inconsistent with the duty of praying for our enemies. But, 1.
Thus he would show how far he was from complying with the workers
of iniquity, and with what good reason he had begged not to be
drawn away with them, because he was convinced that they could not
be made more miserable then to be dealt with according to their
deeds. 2. Thus he would express his zeal for the honour of God's
justice in the governing world. "Lord, they think all well that
they do, and justify themselves in their wicked practices. Lord,
<i>give them after the work of their hands,</i> and so undeceive
those about them, who think there is no harm in what they do
because it goes unpunished," <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.94.1-Ps.94.2" parsed="|Ps|94|1|94|2" passage="Ps 94:1,2">Ps.
xciv. 1, 2</scripRef>. 3. This prayer is a prophecy that God will,
sooner or later, render to all impenitent sinners according to
their deserts. If what has been done amiss be not undone by
repentance, there will certainly come a reckoning day, when God
will render to every man who persists in his evil deeds according
to them. It is a prophecy particularly of the destruction of
destroyers: "<i>They speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief
is in their hearts;</i> Lord, <i>give them according to their
deeds,</i> let the spoilers be spoiled, and let those be
treacherously dealt with who have thus dealt treacherously;" see
<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.1 Bible:Rev.18.6 Bible:Rev.13.10" parsed="|Isa|33|1|0|0;|Rev|18|6|0|0;|Rev|13|10|0|0" passage="Isa 33:1,Re 18:6,Re 13:10">Isa. xxxiii. 1; Rev.
xviii. 6; xiii. 10</scripRef>. Observe, He foretels that God will
reward them, not only according to their deed, but <i>according to
the wickedness of their endeavours;</i> for sinners shall be
reckoned with, not only for the mischief they have done, but for
the mischief they would have done, which they designed, and did
what they could to effect. And, if God go by this rule in dealing
with the wicked, surely he will do so in dealing with the
righteous, and will reward them, not only for the good they have
done, but for the good they have endeavoured to do, though they
could not accomplish it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p8">IV. He foretels their destruction for their
contempt of God and his hand (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.5" parsed="|Ps|28|5|0|0" passage="Ps 28:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>): "<i>Because they regard not the works of the Lord
and the operations of his hands,</i> by which he manifests himself
and speaks to the children of men, <i>he will destroy them</i> in
this world and in the other, <i>and not build them up.</i>" Note, A
stupid regardlessness of the works of God is the cause of their
ruin. Why do men question the being or attributes of God, but
because they do not duly regard his handiworks, which declare his
glory, and in which the invisible things of him are clearly seen?
Why do men forget God, and live without him, nay, affront God, and
live in rebellion against him, but because they consider not the
instances of that wrath of his which is revealed <i>from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men?</i> Why do the
enemies of God's people hate and persecute them, and devise
mischief against them, but because they regard not the works God
has wrought for his church, by which he has made it appear how dear
it is to him? See <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.5.12" parsed="|Isa|5|12|0|0" passage="Isa 5:12">Isa. v.
12</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p9">In singing this we must arm ourselves
against all temptations to join with the workers of iniquity, and
animate ourselves against all the troubles we may be threatened
with by the workers of iniquity.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.xxix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.6-Ps.28.9" parsed="|Ps|28|6|28|9" passage="Ps 28:6-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.28.6-Ps.28.9">
<h4 id="Ps.xxix-p9.2">Devout Thanksgiving and
Praise.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.xxix-p10">6 Blessed <i>be</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxix-p10.1">Lord</span>, because he hath heard the voice of my
supplications.   7 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxix-p10.2">Lord</span>
<i>is</i> my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I
am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song
will I praise him.   8 The <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.xxix-p10.3">Lord</span>
<i>is</i> their strength, and he <i>is</i> the saving strength of
his anointed.   9 Save thy people, and bless thine
inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p11">In these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p12">I. David gives God thanks for the audience
of his prayers as affectionately as a few verses before he had
begged it: <i>Blessed be the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.6" parsed="|Ps|28|6|0|0" passage="Ps 28:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. How soon are the saints' sorrows
turned into songs and their prayers into praises! It was in faith
that David prayed (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.2" parsed="|Ps|28|2|0|0" passage="Ps 28:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>), <i>Hear the voice of my supplications;</i> and by
the same faith he gives thanks (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.6" parsed="|Ps|28|6|0|0" passage="Ps 28:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>) that <i>God has heard the voice
of his supplications.</i> Note, 1. Those that pray in faith may
rejoice in hope. "He hath heard me (graciously accepted me) and I
am as sure of a real answer as if I had it already." 2. What we win
by prayer we must wear by praise. Has God heard our supplications?
Let us then bless his name.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p13">II. He encourages himself to hope in God
for the perfecting of every thing that concerned him. Having given
to God the glory of his grace (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.6" parsed="|Ps|28|6|0|0" passage="Ps 28:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), he is humbly bold to take the
comfort of it, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.7" parsed="|Ps|28|7|0|0" passage="Ps 28:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.
This is the method of attaining peace: let us begin with praise
that is attainable. Let us first bless God and then bless
ourselves. Observe, 1. His dependence upon God: "<i>The Lord is my
strength,</i> to support me, and carry me on, through all my
services and sufferings. He is <i>my shield,</i> to protect me from
all the malicious designs of my enemies against me. I have chosen
him to be so, I have always found him so, and I expect he will
still be so." 2. His experience of the benefits of that dependence:
"<i>My heart trusted in him,</i> and in his power and promise; and
it has not been in vain to do so, for <i>I am helped,</i> I have
been often helped; not only God has given to me, in his due time,
the help I trusted to him for, but my very trusting in him has
helped me, in the mean time, and kept me from fainting." <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.13" parsed="|Ps|27|13|0|0" passage="Ps 27:13">Ps. xxvii. 13</scripRef>. The very actings of
faith are present aids to a dropping spirit, and often help it at a
dead lift. 3. His improvement of this experience. (1.) He had the
pleasure of it: <i>Therefore my heart greatly rejoices.</i> The joy
of a believer is seated in the heart, while, in the laughter of the
fool, the heart is sorrowful. It is great joy, <i>joy unspeakable
and full of glory.</i> The heart that truly believes shall in due
time greatly rejoice; it is <i>joy and peace in believing</i> that
we are to expect. (2.) God shall have the praise of it: when <i>my
heart greatly rejoices, with my song will I praise him.</i> This
must we express our gratitude; it is the least we can do; and
others will hereby be invited and encouraged to trust in him
too.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p14">III. He pleases himself with the interest
which all good people, through Christ, have in God (<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.8" parsed="|Ps|28|8|0|0" passage="Ps 28:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): "<i>The Lord is their
strength;</i> not mine only, but the strength of every believer."
Note, The saints rejoice in their friends' comforts as well as
their own; for, as we have not the less benefit from the light of
the sun, so neither from the light of Gods' countenance, for
others' sharing therein; for we are sure there is enough for all
and enough for each. This is our communion with all saints, that
God is their strength and ours, Christ their Lord and ours,
<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.2" parsed="|1Cor|1|2|0|0" passage="1Co 1:2">1 Cor. i. 2</scripRef>. He is their
strength, the strength of all Israel, because he is <i>the saving
strength of his anointed,</i> that is, 1. Of David in the type.
God, in strengthening him that was their king and fought their
battles, strengthened the whole kingdom. He calls himself God's
<i>anointed</i> because it was the unction he had received that
exposed him to the envy of his enemies, and therefore entitled him
to the divine protection. 2. Of Christ, his anointed, his Messiah,
in the anti-type. God was his saving strength, qualified him for
his undertaking and carried him through it; see <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.21 Bible:Isa.49.5 Bible:Isa.50.7 Bible:Isa.50.9" parsed="|Ps|89|21|0|0;|Isa|49|5|0|0;|Isa|50|7|0|0;|Isa|50|9|0|0" passage="Ps 89:21,Isa 49:5,50:7,9">Ps. lxxxix. 21; Isa. xlix. 5; l. 7,
9</scripRef>. And so he becomes their strength, the strength of all
the saints; he strengthened him that is the church's head, and from
him diffuses strength to all the members, has commanded his
strength, and so <i>strengthens what he has wrought for us;</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.28 Bible:Ps.68.80 Bible:Ps.68.17 Bible:Ps.68.18" parsed="|Ps|68|28|0|0;|Ps|68|80|0|0;|Ps|68|17|0|0;|Ps|68|18|0|0" passage="Ps 68:28,80,17,18">Ps. lxviii. 28; lxxx. 17,
18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.xxix-p15">IV. He concludes with a short but
comprehensive prayer for the church of God, <scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.28.9" parsed="|Ps|28|9|0|0" passage="Ps 28:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. He prays for Israel, not as his
people ("save my people, and bless my inheritance"), though they
were so, but, "<i>thine.</i>" God's interest in them lay nearer his
heart than his own. <i>We are thy people</i> is a good plea,
<scripRef id="Ps.xxix-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.64.9 Bible:Isa.63.19" parsed="|Isa|64|9|0|0;|Isa|63|19|0|0" passage="Isa 64:9,Isa 63:19">Isa. lxiv. 9; lxiii.
19</scripRef>. <i>I am thine, save me.</i> God's people are his
inheritance, dear to him, and precious in his eyes; what little
glory he has from this world he has from them. <i>The Lord's
portion is his people.</i> That which he begs of God for them is,
1. That he would save them from their enemies and the dangers they
were exposed to. 2. That he would bless them with all good, flowing
from his favour, in performance of his promise, and amounting to a
happiness for them. 3. That he would <i>feed them,</i> bless them
with plenty, and especially the plenty of his ordinances, which are
food to the soul. <i>Rule them;</i> so the margin. "Direct their
counsels and actions aright, and overrule their affairs for good.
Feed them, and rule them; sets pastors, set rulers, over them, that
shall do their office with wisdom and understanding." 4. That he
would <i>lift them up for ever,</i> lift them up out of their
troubles and distresses, and do this, not only for those of that
age, but for his people in every age to come, even to the end.
"Lift them up into thy glorious kingdom, lift them up as high as
heaven." There, and there only, will the saints be lifted up for
ever, never more to sink or be depressed. Observe, Those, and those
only, whom God feeds and rules, who are willing to be taught, and
guided, and governed, by him, shall be saved, and blessed, and
lifted up for ever.</p>
</div></div2>