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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms CII].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<HR>
<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CII.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Some think that David penned this psalm at the time of Absalom's
rebellion; others that Daniel, Nehemiah, or some other prophet, penned
it for the use of the church, when it was in captivity in Babylon,
because it seems to speak of the ruin of Zion and of a time set for the
rebuilding of it, which Daniel understood by books,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:2">Dan. ix. 2</A>.
Or perhaps the psalmist was himself in great affliction, which he
complains of in the beginning of the psalm, but (as in
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+77:1-20">
Ps. lxxvii.</A>
and elsewhere) he comforts himself under it with the consideration of
God's eternity, and the church's prosperity and perpetuity, how much
soever it was now distressed and threatened. But it is clear, from the
application of
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:25,26">ver. 25, 26</A>,
to Christ
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+1:10-12">Heb. i. 10-12</A>),
that the psalm has reference to the days of the Messiah, and speaks
either of his affliction or of the afflictions of his church for his
sake. In the psalm we have,
I. A sorrowful complaint which the psalmist makes, either for himself
or in the name of the church, of great afflictions, which were very
pressing,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:1-11">ver. 1-11</A>.
II. Seasonable comfort fetched in against these grievances,
1. From the eternity of God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:12,24,27">ver. 12, 24, 27</A>.
2. From a believing prospect of the deliverance which God would, in due
time, work for his afflicted church
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:13-22">ver. 13-22</A>)
and the continuance of it in the world,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:28">ver. 28</A>.
In singing this psalm, if we have not occasion to make the same
complaints, yet we may take occasion to sympathize with those that
have, and then the comfortable part of this psalm will be the more
comfortable to us in the singing of it.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Ps102_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_4"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_5"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_6"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_7"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_8"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_9"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_10"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_11"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Complaints in Affliction.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<CENTER>
<P>A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed,
<BR>and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. </P>
</CENTER>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Hear my prayer, O
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and let my cry come unto thee.
&nbsp; 2 Hide not thy face from me in the day <I>when</I> I am in trouble;
incline thine ear unto me: in the day <I>when</I> I call answer me
speedily.
&nbsp; 3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned
as a hearth.
&nbsp; 4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I
forget to eat my bread.
&nbsp; 5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my
skin.
&nbsp; 6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of
the desert.
&nbsp; 7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
&nbsp; 8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; <I>and</I> they that are mad
against me are sworn against me.
&nbsp; 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with
weeping,
&nbsp; 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast
lifted me up, and cast me down.
&nbsp; 11 My days <I>are</I> like a shadow that declineth; and I am
withered like grass.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The title of this psalm is very observable; it is <I>a prayer of the
afflicted.</I> It was composed by one that was himself afflicted,
afflicted with the church and for it; and on those that are of a public
spirit afflictions of that kind lie heavier than any other. It is
calculated for an afflicted state, and is intended for the use of
others that may be in the like distress; for <I>whatsoever things were
written aforetime were written</I> designedly <I>for our use.</I> The
whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, as often
elsewhere, the Holy Ghost has drawn up our petition for us, has put
words into our mouths.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+14:2">
Hos. xiv. 2</A>,
<I>Take with you words.</I> Here is a prayer put into the hands of the
afflicted: let them set, not their hands, but their hearts to it, and
present it to God. Note,
1. It is often the lot of the best saints in this world to be sorely
affected.
2. Even good men may be almost overwhelmed with their afflictions, and
may be ready to faint under them.
3. When our state is afflicted, and our spirits are overwhelmed, it is
our duty and interest to pray, and by prayer to <I>pour out our
complaints before the Lord,</I> which intimates the leave God gives us
to be free with him and the liberty of speech we have before him, as
well as liberty of access to him; it intimates also what an ease it is
to an afflicted spirit to unburden itself by a humble representation of
its grievances and griefs. Such a representation we have here, in
which,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The psalmist humbly begs of God to take notice of his affliction,
and of his prayer in his affliction,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
When we pray in our affliction,
1. It should be our care that God would graciously hear us; for, if our
prayers be not pleasing to God, they will be to no purpose to
ourselves. Let this therefore be in our eye that our prayer may <I>come
unto God,</I> even <I>to his ears</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+18:6">Ps. xviii. 6</A>);
and, in order to that, let us <I>lift up the prayer,</I> and our souls
with it.
2. It may be our hope that God will graciously hear us, because he has
appointed us to seek him and has promised we shall not seek him in
vain. If we put up a <I>prayer in faith,</I> we may in faith say,
<I>Hear my prayer, O Lord!</I> "Hear me," that is,
(1.) "Manifest thyself to me, <I>hide not thy face from me</I> in
displeasure, <I>when I am in trouble.</I> If thou dost not quickly free
me, yet let me know that thou favourest me; if I see not the operations
of thy hand for me, yet let me see the smiles of thy face upon me."
God's hiding his face is trouble enough to a good man even in his
prosperity
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+30:7">Ps. xxx. 7</A>,
<I>Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled</I>); but if, when we
are in trouble, God hides his face, the case is sad indeed.
(2.) "Manifest thyself for me; not only hear me, but answer me; grant
me the deliverance I am in want of and in pursuit of; answer me
speedily, even <I>in the day when I call.</I>" When troubles press hard
upon us, God gives us leave to be thus pressing in prayer, yet with
humility and patience.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. He makes a lamentable complaint of the low condition to which he
was reduced by his afflictions.
1. His body was macerated and emaciated, and he had become a perfect
skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. As prosperity and joy are
represented by <I>making fat the bones,</I> and the <I>bones
flourishing like a herb,</I> so great trouble and grief are here
represented by the contrary: <I>My bones are burnt as a hearth</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
they <I>cleave to my skin</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>);
nay, <I>my heart is smitten, and withered like grass</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
it touches the vitals, and there is a sensible decay there. <I>I am
withered like grass</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
scorched with the burning heat of my troubles. If we be thus brought
low by bodily distempers, let us not think it strange; the body is like
grass, weak and of the earth, no wonder then that it withers.
2. He was very melancholy and of a sorrowful spirit. He was so taken up
with the thoughts of his troubles that he <I>forgot to eat his
bread</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>);
he had no appetite to his necessary food nor could he relish it. When
God hides his face from a soul the delights of sense will be sapless
things. He was always <I>sighing</I> and <I>groaning,</I> as one
pressed above measure
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
and this wasted him and exhausted his spirits. He affected solitude, as
melancholy people do. His friends deserted him and were shy of him, and
he cared as little for their company
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:6,7"><I>v.</I> 6, 7</A>):
"<I>I am like a pelican of the wilderness,</I> or a <I>bittern</I> (so
some) that make a doleful noise; <I>I am like an owl,</I> that affects
to lodge in deserted ruined buildings; <I>I watch, and am as a sparrow
upon the house-top.</I> I live in a garret, and there spend my hours in
poring on my troubles and bemoaning myself." Those who do thus, when
they are in sorrow, humour themselves indeed; but they prejudice
themselves, and know not what they do, nor what advantage they hereby
give to the tempter. In affliction we should sit alone to consider our
ways
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+3:28">Lam. iii. 28</A>),
but not sit alone to indulge an inordinate grief.
3. He was evil-spoken of by his enemies, and all manner of evil was
said against him. When his friends went off from him his foes set
themselves against him
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
<I>My enemies reproach me all the day,</I> designing thereby both to
create vexation to him (for an ingenuous mind regrets reproach) and to
bring an odium upon him before men. When they could not otherwise reach
him they shot these arrows at him, even <I>bitter words.</I> In this
they were unwearied; they did it <I>all the day;</I> it was a continual
dropping. His enemies were very outrageous: <I>They</I> are <I>mad
against me,</I> and very obstinate and implacable. <I>They</I> are
<I>sworn against me;</I> as the Jews that bound themselves with an oath
that they would kill Paul; or, <I>They have sworn against me</I> as
accusers, to take away my life.
4. He fasted and wept under the tokens of God's displeasure
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>):
"<I>I have eaten ashes like bread;</I> instead of eating my bread, I
have lain down in dust and ashes, and <I>I have mingled my drink with
weeping;</I> when I should have refreshed myself with drinking I have
only eased myself with weeping." And what is the matter? He tells us
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
<I>Because of thy wrath.</I> It was not so much the trouble itself that
troubled him as the wrath of God which he was under the apprehensions
of as the cause of the trouble. This, this was the <I>wormwood and the
gall</I> in the affliction and the misery: <I>Thou hast lifted me up
and cast me down,</I> as that which we cast to the ground with a design
to dash it to pieces; we lift up first, that we may throw it down with
the more violence; or, "Thou hast formerly lifted me up in honour, and
joy, and uncommon prosperity; but the remembrance of that aggravates
the present grief and makes it the more grievous." We must eye the hand
of God both in lifting us up and casting us down, and say, "Blessed be
the name of the Lord, who both gives and takes away."
5. He looked upon himself as a dying man: <I>My days are consumed like
smoke</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
which vanishes away quickly. Or, They are consumed <I>in smoke,</I> of
which nothing remains; they are <I>like a shadow that declines</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>),
like the evening-shadow, or a forerunner of approaching night. Now all
this, though it seems to speak the psalmist's personal calamities, and
therefore is properly a prayer for a particular person afflicted, yet
is supposed to be a description of the afflictions of the church of
God, with which the psalmist sympathizes, making public grievances his
own. The mystical body of Christ is sometimes, like the psalmist's body
here, <I>withered</I> and <I>parched,</I> nay, like <I>dead and dry
bones.</I> The church sometimes is forced <I>into the wilderness,</I>
seems lost, and gives up herself for gone, under the tokens of God's
displeasure.</P>
<A NAME="Ps102_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_17"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_18"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_19"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_20"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_21"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_22"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Future Glory of Zion.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 But thou, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance
unto all generations.
&nbsp; 13 Thou shalt arise, <I>and</I> have mercy upon Zion: for the time
to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
&nbsp; 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the
dust thereof.
&nbsp; 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and all the
kings of the earth thy glory.
&nbsp; 16 When the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his
glory.
&nbsp; 17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise
their prayer.
&nbsp; 18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the
people which shall be created shall praise the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary;
from heaven did the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> behold the earth;
&nbsp; 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that
are appointed to death;
&nbsp; 21 To declare the name of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> in Zion, and his praise in
Jerusalem;
&nbsp; 22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to
serve the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Many exceedingly great and precious comforts are here thought of, and
mustered up, to balance the foregoing complaints; for <I>unto the
upright there arises light in the darkness,</I> so that, though they
are cast down, they are not in despair. It is bad with the psalmist
himself, bad with the people of God; but he has many considerations to
revive himself with.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. We are dying creatures, and our interests and comforts are dying,
but God is an everliving everlasting God
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
"<I>My days are like a shadow;</I> there is no remedy; night is coming
upon me; but, <I>thou, O Lord! shalt endure for ever.</I> Our life is
transient, but thine is permanent; our friends die, but thou our God
diest not; what threatened us cannot touch thee; our names will be
written in the dust and buried in oblivion, but <I>thy remembrance
shall be unto all generations;</I> to the end of time, nay, to
eternity, thou shalt be known and honoured." A good man loves God
better than himself, and therefore can balance his own sorrow and death
with the pleasing thought of the unchangeable blessedness of the
Eternal Mind. God <I>endures forever,</I> his church's faithful patron
and protector; and, his honour and perpetual remembrance being very
much bound up in her interests, we may be confident that they shall not
be neglected.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. Poor Zion is now in distress, but there will come a time for her
relief and succour
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
<I>Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion.</I> The hope of
deliverance is built upon the goodness of God--"Thou wilt <I>have mercy
upon Zion,</I> for she has become an object of thy pity;" and upon the
power of God--"Thou shalt arise and have mercy, shalt stir up thyself
to do it, shalt do it in contempt of all the opposition made by the
church's enemies." <I>The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.</I>
That which is very encouraging is that there is a time set for the
deliverance of the church, which not only will come some time, but will
come at the time appointed, the time which Infinite Wisdom has
appointed (and therefore it is the best time) and which Eternal Truth
has fixed it to, and therefore it is a certain time, and shall not be
forgotten nor further adjourned. At the end of seventy years, the time
to favour Zion, by delivering her from the daughter of Babylon, was to
come, and at length it did come. Zion was now in ruins, that is, the
temple that was built in the city of David: the favouring of Zion is
the building of the temple up again, as it is explained,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
This is expected from the favour of God; that will set all to rights,
and nothing but that, and therefore Daniel prays
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+9:17">Dan. ix. 17</A>),
<I>Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate.</I>
The building up of Zion is as great a favour to any people as they can
desire. No blessing more desirable to a ruined state than the restoring
and re-establishing of their church-privileges. Now this is here wished
for and longed for,
1. Because it would be a great rejoicing to Zion's friends
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
<I>Thy servants take pleasure</I> even in <I>the stones</I> of the
temple, though they were thrown down and scattered, and <I>favour the
dust,</I> the very rubbish and ruins of it. Observe here, When the
temple was ruined, yet the stones of it were to be had for a new
building, and there were those who encouraged themselves with that, for
they had a favour even for the dust of it. Those who truly love the
church of God love it when it is in affliction as well as when it is in
prosperity; and it is a good ground to hope that God will favour the
ruins of Zion when he puts it into the heart of his people to favour
them, and to show that they do so by their prayers and by their
endeavours; as it is also a good plea with God for mercy for Zion that
there are those who are so affectionately concerned for her, and are
<I>waiting for the salvation of the Lord.</I>
2. Because it would have a good influence upon Zion's neighbours,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
It will be a happy means perhaps of their conversion, at least of their
conviction; for <I>so the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,</I>
shall have high thoughts of him and his people, and even the kings of
the earth shall be affected with his glory. They shall have better
thoughts of the church of God than they have had, when God by his
providence thus puts an honour upon it; they shall be afraid of doing
any thing against it when they see God taking its part; nay, they shall
say, We will go with you, for we have <I>seen that God is with you,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+8:23">Zech. viii. 23</A>.
Thus it is said
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Es+8:17">Esth. viii. 17</A>)
that <I>many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the
Jews fell upon them.</I>
3. Because it would redound to the honour of Zion's God
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
<I>When the Lord shall build up Zion.</I> They take it for granted it
will be done, for God himself has undertaken it, and <I>he shall then
appear in his glory;</I> and for that reason all that have made his
glory their highest end desire it and pray for it. Note, The edifying
of the church will be the glorifying of God, and therefore we may be
assured it will be done in the set time. Those that pray in faith,
<I>Father, glorify thy name,</I> may receive the same answer to that
prayer which was given to Christ himself by a voice from heaven, <I>I
have both glorified it and I will glorify it yet again,</I> though now
for a time it may be eclipsed.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. The prayers of God's people now seem to be slighted and no notice
taken of them, but they will be reviewed and greatly encouraged
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
<I>He will regard the prayer of the destitute.</I> It was said
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>)
that God will <I>appear in his glory,</I> such a glory as kings
themselves shall <I>stand in awe of,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
When great men <I>appear in their glory</I> they are apt to look with
disdain upon the poor that apply to them; but the great God will not do
so. Observe,
1. The meanness of the petitioners; they are the <I>destitute.</I> It
is an elegant word that is here used, which signifies the heath in the
wilderness, a low shrub, or bush, like the hyssop of the wall. They are
supposed to be in a low and broken state, enriched with spiritual
blessings, but destitute of temporal good things--the poor, the weak,
the desolate, the stripped; thus variously is the word rendered; or it
may signify that low and broken spirit which God looks for in all that
draw nigh to him and which he will graciously look upon. This will
bring them to their knees. Destitute people should be praying people,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+5:5">1 Tim. v. 5</A>.
2. The favour of God to them, notwithstanding their meanness: <I>He
will regard their prayer,</I> and will look at it, will peruse their
petition
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Ch+6:40">2 Chron. vi. 40</A>),
and he <I>will not despise their prayer.</I> More is implied than is
expressed: he will value it and be well pleased with it, and will
return an answer of peace to it, which is the greatest honour that can
be put upon it. But it is thus expressed because others despise their
praying, they themselves fear God will despise it, and he was thought
to despise it while their affliction was prolonged and their prayers
lay unanswered. When we consider our own meanness and vileness, our
darkness and deadness, and the manifold defects in our prayers, we have
cause to suspect that our prayers will be received with disdain in
heaven; but we are here assured of the contrary, for we have an
advocate with the Father, and are under grace, not under the law. This
instance of God's favour to his praying people, though they are
destitute, will be a lasting encouragement to prayer
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>):
<I>This shall be written for the generation to come, that none may
despair,</I> though they be destitute, nor think their prayers
forgotten because they have not an answer to them immediately. The
experiences of others should be our encouragements to seek unto God and
trust in him. And, if we have the comfort of the experiences of others,
it is fit that we should give God the glory of them: <I>The people who
shall be created shall praise the Lord</I> for what he has done both
for them and for their predecessors. Many that are now unborn shall,
by reading the history of the church, be wrought upon to turn
proselytes. The people that shall be created anew by divine grace, that
are a kind of <I>first-fruits of his creatures,</I> shall praise the
Lord for his answers to their prayers when they were more
destitute.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. The prisoners under condemnation unjustly seem as sheep appointed
for the slaughter, but care shall be taken for their discharge
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>):
God has <I>looked down from the height of his sanctuary, from
heaven,</I> where he has prepared his throne, that high place, that
holy place; thence did <I>the Lord behold the earth,</I> for it is a
place of prospect, and nothing on this earth is or can be hidden from
his all-seeing eye; he looks down, not to take a view of the kingdoms
of the world and the glory of them, but to do acts of grace, <I>to hear
the groaning of the prisoners</I> (which we desire to be out of the
hearing of), and not only to hear them, but to help them, <I>to loose
those that are appointed to death,</I> then when there is but a step
between them and it. Some understand it of the release of the Jews out
of their captivity in Babylon. God heard their groaning there as he did
when they were in Egypt
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+3:7,9">Exod. iii. 7, 9</A>)
and came down to deliver them. God takes notice not only of the prayers
of his afflicted people, which are the language of grace, but even of
their groans, which are the language of nature. See the divine pity in
hearing the prisoner's groans, and the divine power in loosing the
prisoner's bonds, even when they are appointed to death and are
pinioned and double-shackled. We have an instance in Peter,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+12:6">Acts xii. 6</A>.
Such instances as these of the divine condescension and compassion will
help,
1. <I>To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,</I> and to make it
appear that he answers to his name, which he himself proclaimed, <I>The
Lord God, gracious and merciful;</I> and this declaration of his name
in Zion shall be the matter of his praise in Jerusalem,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
If God by his providences declare his name, we must by our
acknowledgments of them declare his praise, which ought to be the echo
of his name. God will discharge his people that were prisoners and
captives in Babylon, <I>that they may declare his name in Zion,</I> the
place he has chosen to put his name there, <I>and his praise in
Jerusalem,</I> at their return thither; in the land of their captivity
they could not sing the songs of Zion
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+137:3,4">Ps. cxxxvii. 3, 4</A>),
and God brought them again to Jerusalem in order that they might sing
them there. For this end God gives liberty from bondage (<I>Bring my
soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+142:7">Ps. cxlii. 7</A>),
and life from the dead. <I>Let my soul live, and it shall praise
thee,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:175">Ps. cxix. 175</A>.
2. They will help to draw in others to the worship of God
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
<I>When the people of God are gathered together</I> at Jerusalem (as
they were after their return out of Babylon) many out of the kingdoms
joined with them <I>to serve the Lord.</I> This was fulfilled
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ezr+6:21">Ezra vi. 21</A>,
where we find that not only the children of Israel that had come out of
captivity, but many that had <I>separated themselves from them among
the heathen,</I> did <I>keep the feast of unleavened bread with
joy.</I> But it may look further, at the conversion of the Gentiles to
the faith of Christ in the latter days. Christ has proclaimed
<I>liberty to the captives,</I> and <I>the opening of the prison to
those that were bound,</I> that they may declare the name of the Lord
in the gospel-church, in which Jews and Gentiles shall unite.</P>
<A NAME="Ps102_23"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_24"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_25"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_26"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_27"> </A>
<A NAME="Ps102_28"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hoping in God's Compassion.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
&nbsp; 24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days:
thy years <I>are</I> throughout all generations.
&nbsp; 25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the
heavens <I>are</I> the work of thy hands.
&nbsp; 26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them
shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change
them, and they shall be changed:
&nbsp; 27 But thou <I>art</I> the same, and thy years shall have no end.
&nbsp; 28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed
shall be established before thee.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
We may here observe,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. The imminent danger that the Jewish church was in of being quite
extirpated and cut off by the captivity in Babylon
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>):
<I>He weakened my strength in the way.</I> They were for many ages in
the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers
concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did
to be at his journey's end. The legal institutions led them in the way;
but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost
in Babylon, the strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all
appearance, its day shortened; for they said, <I>Our hope is lost; we
are cut off for our parts,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+37:11">Ezek. xxxvii. 11</A>.
And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh should arise out of
Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah out of the family of
David? If these fail, the promise fails. This the psalmist speaks of as
in his own person, and it is very applicable to two of the common
afflictions of this time:--
1. To be sickly. Bodily distempers soon <I>weaken our strength in the
way,</I> make the keepers of the house to tremble and the strong men to
bow themselves.
2. To be short-lived. Where the former is felt, this is feared; when
in the midst of our days, according to a course of nature, our strength
is weakened, what can we expect but that the <I>number of our months
should be cut off in the midst?</I> and what should we do but provide
accordingly? We must own God's hand in it (for in his hand our strength
and time are), and must reconcile it to his love, for it has often been
the lot of those that have used their strength well to have it
weakened, and of those that could very ill be spared to have their days
shortened.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. A prayer for the continuance of it
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>):
"<I>O my God! take me not away in the midst of my days;</I> let not
this poor church be cut off in the midst of the days assigned it by the
promise; let it not be cut off till the Messiah shall come. <I>Destroy
it not, for that blessing is in it,</I>"
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+65:8">Isa. lxv. 8</A>.
She is a criminal, but, for the sake of that blessing which is in her,
she pleads for a reprieve. This is a prayer for the afflicted, and
which, with submission to the will of God, we may in faith put up, that
God would not <I>take us away in the midst of our days,</I> but that,
if it be his will, he would spare us to do him further service and to
be made riper for heaven.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. A plea to enforce this prayer taken from the eternity of the
Messiah promised,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:25-27"><I>v.</I> 25-27</A>.
The apostle quotes these verses
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+1:10-12">Heb. i. 10-12</A>)
and tells us, <I>He saith this to the Son,</I> and in that exposition
we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference to all the
changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers it is in, that
<I>Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Thy years
are throughout all generations,</I> and cannot be shortened. It is
likewise comfortable in reference to the decay and death of our own
bodies, and the removal of our friends from us, that God is an
everliving God, and that therefore, if he be ours, in him we may have
everlasting consolation. In this plea observe how, to illustrate the
eternity of the Creator, he compares it with the mutability of the
creature; for it is God's sole prerogative to be unchangeable.
1. God made the world, and therefore had a being before it from
eternity. The Son of God, the eternal Word, made the world. It is
expressly said, <I>All things were made by him, and without him was not
any thing made that was made;</I> and <I>therefore the same was in the
beginning</I> from eternity <I>with God, and was God,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+1:1-3,Col+1:16,Eph+3:9,Heb+1:2">John i. 1-3;
Col. i. 16; Eph. iii. 9; Heb. i. 2</A>.
Earth and heaven, and the hosts of both, include the universe and its
fulness, and these derive their being from God by his Son
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
"<I>Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth,</I> which is
founded <I>on the seas</I> and <I>on the floods</I> and yet <I>it
abides;</I> much more shall the church, which is <I>built upon a
rock.</I> The <I>heavens are the work of thy hands,</I> and by thee are
all their motions and influences directed;" God is therefore the
fountain, not only of all being, but of all power and dominion. See how
fit the great Redeemer is to be entrusted with all power, both in
heaven and in earth, since he himself, as Creator of both, perfectly
knows both and is entitled to both.
2. God will unmake the world again, and therefore shall have a being to
eternity
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:26,27"><I>v.</I> 26, 27</A>):
<I>They shall perish,</I> for <I>thou shalt change them</I> by the same
almighty power that made them, and therefore, no doubt, <I>thou shalt
endure; thou art the same.</I> God and the world, Christ and the
creature, are rivals for the innermost and uppermost place in the soul
of man, the immortal soul; now what is here said, one would think, were
enough to decide the controversy immediately and to determine us for
God and Christ. For,
(1.) A portion in the creature is fading and dying: <I>They shall
perish;</I> they will not last so long as we shall last. The day is
coming when <I>the earth and all the works that are therein shall be
burnt up;</I> and then what will become of those that have laid up
their treasure in it? Heaven and earth shall <I>wax old as a
garment,</I> not by a gradual decay, but, when the set time comes, they
shall be laid aside like an old garment that we have no more occasion
for: <I>As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be
changed,</I> not annihilated, but altered, it may be so that they shall
not be at all the same, but <I>new heavens and a new earth.</I> See
God's sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. He can change them as
he pleases and when he pleases; and the constant changes they are
subject to, in the revolutions of day and night, summer and winter, are
earnests of their last and final change, when <I>the heavens</I> and
<I>time</I> (which is measured by them) <I>shall be no more.</I>
(2.) A portion in God is perpetual and everlasting: <I>Thou art the
same,</I> subject to no change; and <I>thy years have no end,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:27"><I>v.</I> 27</A>.
Christ will be the same in the performance that he was in the promise,
the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church at
liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of her strength, or the
shortening of her days, while Christ himself is both her strength and
her life; he is the same, and has said, <I>Because I live you shall
live also.</I> Christ came in the fulness of time, and set up his
kingdom in spite of the power of the Old-Testament Babylon, and he will
keep it up in spite of the power of the New-Testament Babylon.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. A comfortable assurance of an answer to this prayer
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+102:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>):
<I>The children of thy servants shall continue;</I> since Christ is the
same, the church shall continue from one generation to another; from
the eternity of the head we may infer the perpetuity of the body,
though often weak and distempered, and even at death's door. Those that
hope to <I>wear out the saints of the Most High</I> will be mistaken.
Christ's servants shall have children; those children shall have a
seed, a succession, of professing people; the church, as well as the
world, is under the influence of that blessing, <I>Be fruitful and
multiply.</I> These <I>children shall continue,</I> not in their own
persons, by reason of death, but in their seed, which shall be
established before God (that is, in his service, and by his grace); the
entail of religion shall not be cut off while the world stands, but, as
one generation of good people passes away, another shall come, and thus
the throne of Christ shall endure.</P>
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