mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 109.xml

<div2 id="Ps.cx" n="cx" next="Ps.cxi" prev="Ps.cix" progress="59.85%" title="Chapter CIX">
<h2 id="Ps.cx-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.cx-p0.2">PSALM CIX.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.cx-p1">Whether David penned this psalm when he was
persecuted by Saul, or when his son Absalom rebelled against him,
or upon occasion of some other trouble that was given him, is
uncertain; and whether the particular enemy he prays against was
Saul, or Doeg, or Ahithophel, or some other not mentioned in the
story, we cannot determine; but it is certain that in penning it he
had an eye to Christ, his sufferings and his persecutors, for that
imprecation (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.8" parsed="|Ps|109|8|0|0" passage="Ps 109:8">ver. 8</scripRef>) is
applied to Judas, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.20" parsed="|Acts|1|20|0|0" passage="Ac 1:20">Acts i.
20</scripRef>. The rest of the prayers here against his enemies
were the expressions, not of passion, but of the Spirit of
prophecy. I. He lodges a complaint in the court of heaven of the
malice and base ingratitude of his enemies and with it an appeal to
the righteous God, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.1-Ps.109.5" parsed="|Ps|109|1|109|5" passage="Ps 109:1-5">ver.
1-5</scripRef>. II. He prays against his enemies, and devotes them
to destruction, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.6-Ps.109.20" parsed="|Ps|109|6|109|20" passage="Ps 109:6-20">ver.
6-20</scripRef>. III. He prays for himself, that God would help and
succour him in his low condition, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.21-Ps.109.29" parsed="|Ps|109|21|109|29" passage="Ps 109:21-29">ver. 21-29</scripRef>. IV. He concludes with a
joyful expectation that God would appear for him, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.30-Ps.109.31" parsed="|Ps|109|30|109|31" passage="Ps 109:30,31">ver. 30, 31</scripRef>. In singing this
psalm we must comfort ourselves with the believing foresight of the
certain destruction of all the enemies of Christ and his church,
and the certain salvation of all those that trust in God and keep
close to him.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.cx-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109" parsed="|Ps|109|0|0|0" passage="Ps 109" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.cx-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.1-Ps.109.5" parsed="|Ps|109|1|109|5" passage="Ps 109:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.109.1-Ps.109.5">
<h4 id="Ps.cx-p1.9">Appeal to God Against
Enemies.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.cx-p1.10">
<p id="Ps.cx-p2">To the chief Musician. A psalm of David.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cx-p3">1 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;  
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are
opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
  3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and
fought against me without a cause.   4 For my love they are my
adversaries: but I <i>give myself unto</i> prayer.   5 And
they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p4">It is the unspeakable comfort of all good
people that, whoever is against them, God is for them, and to him
they may apply as to one that is pleased to concern himself for
them. Thus David here.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p5">I. He refers himself to God's judgment
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.1" parsed="|Ps|109|1|0|0" passage="Ps 109:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): "<i>Hold not
thy peace,</i> but <i>let my sentence come forth from thy
presence,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.17.2" parsed="|Ps|17|2|0|0" passage="Ps 17:2">Ps. xvii. 2</scripRef>.
Delay not to give judgment upon the appeal made to thee." God saw
what his enemies did against him, but seemed to connive at it, and
to keep silence: "Lord," says he, "do not always do so." The title
he gives to God is observable: "<i>O God of my praise!</i> the God
in whom <i>I glory,</i> and not in any wisdom or strength of my
own, from whom I have every thing that is my praise, or the God
whom I have praised, and will praise, and hope to be for ever
praising." He had before called God the <i>God of his mercy</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.59.10" parsed="|Ps|59|10|0|0" passage="Ps 59:10">Ps. lix. 10</scripRef>), here he
calls him <i>the God of his praise.</i> Forasmuch as God is the
<i>God of our mercies</i> we must make him the <i>God of our
praises;</i> if all is of him and from him, all must be to him and
for him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p6">II. He complains of his enemies, showing
that they were such as it was fit for the righteous God to appear
against. 1. They were very spiteful and malicious: They are
<i>wicked;</i> they delight in doing mischief (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.2" parsed="|Ps|109|2|0|0" passage="Ps 109:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>); their words are <i>words of
hatred,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.3" parsed="|Ps|109|3|0|0" passage="Ps 109:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>.
They had an implacable enmity to a good man because of his
goodness. "They open their mouths against me to swallow me up, and
<i>fight against me</i> to cut me off if they could." 2. They were
notorious liars; and lying comprehends two of the seven things
which the Lord hates. "They are <i>deceitful</i> in their
protestations and professions of kindness, while at the same time
they speak against me behind my back, <i>with a lying tongue.</i>"
They were equally false in their flatteries and in their calumnies.
3. They were both public and restless in their designs; "They
<i>compassed me about</i> on all sides, so that, which way soever I
looked, I could see nothing but what made against me." 4. They were
unjust; their accusations of him, and sentence against him, were
all groundless: "<i>They have fought against me without a
cause;</i> I never gave them any provocation." Nay, which was worst
of all, 5. They were very ungrateful, and <i>rewarded him evil for
good,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.5" parsed="|Ps|109|5|0|0" passage="Ps 109:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Many
a kindness he had done them, and was upon all occasions ready to do
them, and yet he could not work upon them to abate their malice
against him, but, on the contrary, they were the more exasperated
because they could not provoke him to give them some occasion
against him (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.4" parsed="|Ps|109|4|0|0" passage="Ps 109:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
<i>For my love they are my adversaries.</i> The more he endeavoured
to gratify them the more they hated him. We may wonder that it is
possible that any should be so wicked; and yet, since there have
been so many instances of it, we should not wonder if any be so
wicked against us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p7">III. He resolves to keep close to his duty
and take the comfort of that: <i>But I give myself unto prayer</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.4" parsed="|Ps|109|4|0|0" passage="Ps 109:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), <i>I
prayer</i> (so it is in the original); "I am for prayer, I am a man
of prayer, I love prayer, and prize prayer, and practise prayer,
and make a business of prayer, and am in my element when I am at
prayer." A good man is made up of prayer, <i>gives himself to
prayer,</i> as the apostles, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.6.4" parsed="|Acts|6|4|0|0" passage="Ac 6:4">Acts vi.
4</scripRef>. When David's enemies falsely accused him, and
misrepresented him, he applied to God and by prayer committed his
cause to him. Though they were his adversaries for his love, yet he
continued to pray for them; if others are abusive and injurious to
us, yet let not us fail to do our duty to them, nor <i>sin against
the Lord in ceasing to pray for them,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:1Sam.12.23" parsed="|1Sam|12|23|0|0" passage="1Sa 12:23">1 Sam. xii. 23</scripRef>. Though they hated and
persecuted him for his religion, yet he kept close to it; they
laughed at him for his devotion, but they could not laugh him out
of it. "Let them say what they will, <i>I give myself unto
prayer.</i>" Now herein David was a type of Christ, who was
compassed about with <i>words of hatred</i> and lying words, whose
enemies not only persecuted him without cause, but for his love and
his <i>good works</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:John.10.32" parsed="|John|10|32|0|0" passage="Joh 10:32">John x.
32</scripRef>); and yet he <i>gave himself to prayer,</i> to pray
for them. <i>Father, forgive them.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cx-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.6-Ps.109.20" parsed="|Ps|109|6|109|20" passage="Ps 109:6-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.109.6-Ps.109.20">
<h4 id="Ps.cx-p7.6">Prophetic Imprecations.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cx-p8">6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan
stand at his right hand.   7 When he shall be judged, let him
be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.   8 Let his days
be few; <i>and</i> let another take his office.   9 Let his
children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.   10 Let his
children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek <i>their
bread</i> also out of their desolate places.   11 Let the
extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his
labour.   12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him:
neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.  
13 Let his posterity be cut off; <i>and</i> in the generation
following let their name be blotted out.   14 Let the iniquity
of his fathers be remembered with the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p8.1">Lord</span>; and let not the sin of his mother be
blotted out.   15 Let them be before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p8.2">Lord</span> continually, that he may cut off the memory
of them from the earth.   16 Because that he remembered not to
show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might
even slay the broken in heart.   17 As he loved cursing, so
let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be
far from him.   18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as
with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and
like oil into his bones.   19 Let it be unto him as the
garment <i>which</i> covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is
girded continually.   20 <i>Let</i> this <i>be</i> the reward
of mine adversaries from the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p8.3">Lord</span>,
and of them that speak evil against my soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p9">David here fastens upon some one particular
person that was worse than the rest of his enemies, and the
ringleader of them, and in a devout and pious manner, not from a
principle of malice and revenge, but in a holy zeal for God and
against sin and with an eye to the enemies of Christ, particularly
Judas who betrayed him, whose sin was greater than Pilate's that
condemned him (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:John.19.11" parsed="|John|19|11|0|0" passage="Joh 19:11">John xix.
11</scripRef>), he imprecates and predicts his destruction,
foresees and pronounces him completely miserable, and such a one as
our Saviour calls him, <i>A son of perdition.</i> Calvin speaks of
it as a detestable piece of sacrilege, common in his time among
Franciscan friars and other monks, that if any one had malice
against a neighbour he might hire some of them to curse him every
day, which he would do in the words of these verses; and
particularly he tells of a lady in France who, being at variance
with her own and only son, hired a parcel of friars to curse him in
these words. Greater impiety can scarcely be imagined than to vent
a devilish passion in the language of sacred writ, to kindle strife
with coals snatched from God's altar, and to call for fire from
heaven with a tongue set on fire of hell.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p10">I. The imprecations here are very
terrible—woe, and a thousand woes, to that man against whom God
says <i>Amen</i> to them; and they are all in full force against
the implacable enemies and persecutors of God's church and people,
that <i>will not repent, to give him glory.</i> It is here foretold
concerning this bad man,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p11">1. That he should be cast and sentenced as
a criminal, with all the dreadful pomp of a trial, conviction, and
condemnation (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.6-Ps.109.7" parsed="|Ps|109|6|109|7" passage="Ps 109:6,7"><i>v.</i> 6,
7</scripRef>): <i>Set thou a wicked man over him,</i> to be as
cruel and oppressive to him as he has been to others; for God often
makes one wicked man a scourge to another, to spoil the spoilers
and to deal treacherously with those that have dealt treacherously.
<i>Set the wicked one over him</i> (so some), that is, Satan, as it
follows; and then it was fulfilled in Judas, into whom Satan
entered, to hurry him into sin first and then into despair. Set his
own wicked heart over him, set his own conscience against him; let
that fly in his face. <i>Let Satan stand on his right hand,</i> and
be let loose against him to deceive him, as he did Ahab to his
destruction, and then to accuse him and resist him, and then he is
certainly cast, having no interest in that advocate who alone can
say, <i>The Lord rebuke thee, Satan</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.3.1-Zech.3.2" parsed="|Zech|3|1|3|2" passage="Zec 3:1,2">Zech. iii. 1, 2</scripRef>); when he shall be judged at
men's bar let not his usual arts to evade justice do him any
service, but let his sin find him out and <i>let him be
condemned;</i> nor shall he escape before God's tribunal, but be
condemned there when the day of inquisition and recompence shall
come. <i>Let his prayer become sin,</i> as the clamours of a
condemned malefactor not only find no acceptance, but are looked
upon as an affront to the court. The prayers of the wicked now
become sin, because soured with the leaven of hypocrisy and malice;
and so they will in the great day, because then it will be too late
to cry, <i>Lord, Lord, open to us.</i> Let every thing be turned
against him and improved to his disadvantage, even his prayers.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p12">2. That, being condemned, he should be
executed as a most notorious malefactor. (1.) That he should lose
his life, and the number of his months be cut off in the midst, by
the sword of justice: <i>Let his days be few,</i> or shortened, as
a condemned criminal has but a few days to live (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.8" parsed="|Ps|109|8|0|0" passage="Ps 109:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>); such bloody and <i>deceitful
men shall not live out half their days.</i> (2.) That consequently
all his places should be disposed of to others, and they should
enjoy his preferments and employments: <i>Let another take his
office.</i> This Peter applies to the filling up of Judas's place
in the truly sacred college of the apostles, by the choice of
Matthias, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.1.20" parsed="|Acts|1|20|0|0" passage="Ac 1:20">Acts i. 20</scripRef>. Those
that mismanage their trusts will justly have their office taken
from them and given to those that will approve themselves faithful.
(3.) That his family should be beheaded and beggared, that <i>his
wife</i> should be made <i>a widow</i> and <i>his children
fatherless,</i> by his untimely death, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.9" parsed="|Ps|109|9|0|0" passage="Ps 109:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. Wicked men, by their wicked
courses, bring ruin upon their wives and children, whom they ought
to take care of and provide for. Yet his children, if, when they
lost their father, they had a competency to live upon, might still
subsist in comfort; but they shall be <i>vagabonds and shall
beg;</i> they shall not have a house of their own to live in, nor
any certain dwelling-place, nor know where to have a meal's-meat,
but shall creep <i>out of their desolate places</i> with fear and
trembling, like beasts out of their dens, to <i>seek their
bread</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.10" parsed="|Ps|109|10|0|0" passage="Ps 109:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>),
because they are conscious to themselves that all mankind have
reason to hate them for their father's sake. (4.) That his estate
should be ruined, as the estates of malefactors are confiscated
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.11" parsed="|Ps|109|11|0|0" passage="Ps 109:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Let the
extortioner,</i> the officer, seize <i>all that he has and let the
stranger,</i> who was nothing akin to his estate, <i>spoil his
labour,</i> either for his crimes or for his debts, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.4-Job.5.5" parsed="|Job|5|4|5|5" passage="Job 5:4,5">Job v. 4, 5</scripRef>. (5.) That his posterity
should be miserable. Fatherless children, though they have nothing
of their own, yet sometimes are well provided for by the kindness
of those whom God inclines to pity them; but this wicked man having
never shown mercy there shall <i>be none to extend mercy to
him,</i> by <i>favouring his fatherless children</i> when he is
gone, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.12" parsed="|Ps|109|12|0|0" passage="Ps 109:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. The
children of wicked parents often fare the worse for their parents'
wickedness in this way that the bowels of men's compassion are shut
up from them, which yet ought not to be, for why should children
suffer for that which was not their fault, but their infelicity?
(6.) That his memory should be infamous, and buried in oblivion and
disgrace (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.13" parsed="|Ps|109|13|0|0" passage="Ps 109:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>):
<i>Let his posterity be cut off; let his end be to destruction</i>
(so Dr. Hammond); <i>and in the</i> next <i>generation let their
name be blotted out,</i> or remembered with contempt and
indignation, and (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.15" parsed="|Ps|109|15|0|0" passage="Ps 109:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>) let an indelible mark of disgrace be left upon it.
See here what hurries some to shameful deaths, and brings the
families and estates of others to ruin, makes them and their
despicable and odious, and entails poverty, and shame, and misery,
upon their posterity; it is sin, that mischievous destructive
thing. The learned Dr. Hammond applies this to the final dispersion
and desolation of the Jewish nation for their crucifying Christ;
their princes and people were cut off, their country was laid
waste, and their posterity were made fugitives and vagabonds.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p13">II. The ground of these imprecations
bespeaks them very just, though they sound very severe. 1. To
justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the sinner's posterity,
the sin of his ancestors is here brought into the account
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.14-Ps.109.15" parsed="|Ps|109|14|109|15" passage="Ps 109:14,15"><i>v.</i> 14, 15</scripRef>),
<i>the iniquity of his fathers</i> and <i>the sin of his
mother.</i> These God often visits even upon the children's
children, and is not unrighteous therein: when wickedness has long
run in the blood justly does the curse run along with it. Thus all
the innocent blood that had been shed upon the earth, from that of
righteous Abel, was required from that persecuting generation, who,
by putting Christ to death, <i>filled up the measure of their
fathers,</i> and left as long a train of vengeance to follow them
as the train of guilt was that went before them, which they
themselves agreed to by saying, <i>His blood be upon us and on our
children.</i> 2. To justify the imprecations of vengeance upon the
sinner himself, his own sin is here charged upon him, which called
aloud for it. (1.) He had loved cruelty, and therefore give him
blood to drink (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.16" parsed="|Ps|109|16|0|0" passage="Ps 109:16"><i>v.</i>
16</scripRef>): <i>He remembered not to show mercy,</i> remembered
not those considerations which should have induced him to show
mercy, remembered not the objects of compassion that had been
presented to him, but persecuted the poor, whom he should have
protected and relieved, and <i>slew the broken in heart,</i> whom
he should have comforted and healed. Here is a barbarous man
indeed, not fit to live. (2.) He had loved cursing, and therefore
let the curse come upon his head, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.17-Ps.109.19" parsed="|Ps|109|17|109|19" passage="Ps 109:17-19"><i>v.</i> 17-19</scripRef>. Those that were out of
the reach of his cruelty he let fly at with his curses, which were
impotent and ridiculous; but they shall return upon him. <i>He
delighted not in blessing;</i> he took no pleasure in wishing well
to others, nor in seeing others do well; he would give nobody a
good word or a good wish, much less would he do any body a good
turn; and <i>so let</i> all good <i>be far from him. He clothed
himself with cursing;</i> he was proud of it as an ornament that he
could frighten all about him with the curses he was liberal of; he
confided in it as armour, which would secure him from the insults
of those he feared. And let him have enough of it. Was he fond of
cursing? <i>Let</i> God's curse <i>come into his bowels like
water</i> and swell him as with a dropsy, <i>and</i> let it soak
<i>like oil into his bones.</i> The word of the curse <i>is quick
and powerful, and divides between the joints and the marrow;</i> it
works powerfully and effectually; it fastens on the soul; it is a
piercing thing, and there is no antidote against it. Let is compass
him on every side <i>as a garment,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.19" parsed="|Ps|109|19|0|0" passage="Ps 109:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Let God's cursing him be his
shame, as his cursing his neighbour was his pride; let it cleave to
him as <i>a girdle,</i> and let him never be able to get clear of
it. Let it be to him like the waters of jealousy, which caused the
<i>belly to swell</i> and the <i>thigh to rot.</i> This points at
the utter ruin of Judas, and the spiritual judgments which fell on
the Jews for crucifying Christ. The psalmist concludes his
imprecations with a terrible <i>Amen,</i> which signifies not only,
"I wish it may be so," but "I know it shall be so." <i>Let this be
the reward of my adversaries from the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.20" parsed="|Ps|109|20|0|0" passage="Ps 109:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. And this will be the reward of
all the adversaries of the Lord Jesus; his enemies that will not
have him to reign over them shall be <i>brought forth and slain
before him.</i> And he will one day recompense tribulation to those
that trouble his people.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ps.cx-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.21-Ps.109.31" parsed="|Ps|109|21|109|31" passage="Ps 109:21-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.109.21-Ps.109.31">
<h4 id="Ps.cx-p13.7">Humble Petitions; Triumphing in
God.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.cx-p14">21 But do thou for me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p14.1">O
God</span> the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy
<i>is</i> good, deliver thou me.   22 For I <i>am</i> poor and
needy, and my heart is wounded within me.   23 I am gone like
the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the
locust.   24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh
faileth of fatness.   25 I became also a reproach unto them:
<i>when</i> they looked upon me they shaked their heads.   26
Help me, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p14.2">O Lord</span> my God: O save me
according to thy mercy:   27 That they may know that this
<i>is</i> thy hand; <i>that</i> thou, <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p14.3">Lord</span>, hast done it.   28 Let them curse,
but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy
servant rejoice.   29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with
shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as
with a mantle.   30 I will greatly praise the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ps.cx-p14.4">Lord</span> with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among
the multitude.   31 For he shall stand at the right hand of
the poor, to save <i>him</i> from those that condemn his soul.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p15">David, having denounced God's wrath against
his enemies, here takes God's comforts to himself, but in a very
humble manner, and without boasting.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p16">I. He pours out his complaint before God
concerning the low condition he was in, which, probably, gave
advantage to his enemies to insult over him: "<i>I am poor and
needy,</i> and therefore a proper object of pity, and one that
needs and craves thy help." 1. He was troubled in mind (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.22" parsed="|Ps|109|22|0|0" passage="Ps 109:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>My heart is
wounded within me,</i> not only broken with outward troubles, which
sometimes prostrate and sink the spirits, but wounded with a sense
of guilt; and <i>a wounded spirit who can bear?</i> who can heal?
2. He apprehended himself drawing near to his end: <i>I am gone
like the shadow when it declines,</i> as good as gone already.
Man's life, at best, is like a shadow; sometimes it is like the
evening shadow, the presage of night approaching, <i>like the
shadow when it declines.</i> 3. He was unsettled, <i>tossed up and
down like the locust,</i> his mind fluctuating and unsteady, still
putting him upon new counsels, his outward condition far from any
fixation, but still upon the remove, hunted like a partridge on the
mountains. 4. His body was wasted, and almost worn away (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.24" parsed="|Ps|109|24|0|0" passage="Ps 109:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>): <i>My knees are weak
through fasting,</i> either forced fasting (for want of food when
he was persecuted, or for want of appetite when he was sick) or
voluntary fasting, when he chastened his soul either for sin or
affliction, his own or other's, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.35.13 Bible:Ps.69.10" parsed="|Ps|35|13|0|0;|Ps|69|10|0|0" passage="Ps 35:13,69:10">Ps. xxxv. 13; lxix. 10</scripRef>. "<i>My flesh
fails of fatness;</i> that is, it has lost the fatness it had, so
that I have become a skeleton, nothing but skin and bones." But it
is better to have this leanness in the body, while the soul
prospers and is in health, than, like Israel, to have leanness sent
into the soul, while the body is feasted. 5. He was ridiculed and
reproached by his enemies (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.25" parsed="|Ps|109|25|0|0" passage="Ps 109:25"><i>v.</i>
25</scripRef>); his devotions and his afflictions they made the
matter of their laughter, and, upon both those accounts, God's
people have been exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that
were at ease. In all this David was a type of Christ, who in his
humiliation was thus wounded, thus weakened, thus reproached; he
was also a type of the church, which is often <i>afflicted, tossed
with tempests, and not comforted.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p17">II. He prays for mercy for himself. In
general (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.21" parsed="|Ps|109|21|0|0" passage="Ps 109:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>):
"<i>Do thou for me, O God the Lord!</i> appear for me, act for me."
If God be for us, he will do for us, will do <i>more abundantly for
us than we are able either to ask or think.</i> He does not
prescribe to God what he should do for him, but refers himself to
his wisdom: "Lord, do for me what seems good in thy eyes. Do that
which thou knowest will be for me, really for me, in the issue for
me, though for the present it may seem to make against me." More
particularly, he prays (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.26" parsed="|Ps|109|26|0|0" passage="Ps 109:26"><i>v.</i>
26</scripRef>): "<i>Help me, O Lord my God! O save me!</i> Help me
under my trouble, save me out of my trouble; save me from sin, help
me to do my duty." He prays (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.28" parsed="|Ps|109|28|0|0" passage="Ps 109:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>), Though they <i>curse, bless
thou.</i> Here (1.) He despises the causeless curses of his
enemies: <i>Let them curse.</i> He said of Shimei, <i>So let him
curse.</i> They can but show their malice; they can do him no more
mischief than <i>the bird by wandering</i> or <i>the swallow by
flying,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.26.2" parsed="|Prov|26|2|0|0" passage="Pr 26:2">Prov. xxvi. 2</scripRef>.
He values the blessing of God as sufficient to counterbalance their
curses: <i>Bless thou,</i> and then it is no matter though they
<i>curse.</i> If God bless us, we need not care who curses us; for
<i>how can they curse those whom God has not cursed,</i> nay, whom
he has blessed? <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.5" osisRef="Bible:Num.23.8" parsed="|Num|23|8|0|0" passage="Nu 23:8">Num. xxiii.
8</scripRef>. Men's curses are impotent; God's blessings are
omnipotent; and those whom we unjustly curse may in faith expect
and pray for God's blessing, his special blessing. When the
Pharisees cast out the poor man for his confessing Christ, Christ
<i>found him,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.6" osisRef="Bible:John.9.35" parsed="|John|9|35|0|0" passage="Joh 9:35">John ix.
35</scripRef>. When men without cause say all the ill they can of
us, and wish all the ills they can to us, we may with comfort lift
up our heart to God in this petition: <i>Let them curse, but bless
thou.</i> He prays (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p17.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.28" parsed="|Ps|109|28|0|0" passage="Ps 109:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>), <i>Let thy servant rejoice.</i> Those that know how
to value God's blessing, let them but be sure of it, and they will
be glad of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p18">III. He prays that his enemies might <i>be
ashamed</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.28" parsed="|Ps|109|28|0|0" passage="Ps 109:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>), <i>clothed with shame</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.29" parsed="|Ps|109|29|0|0" passage="Ps 109:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>), that they might <i>cover
themselves with their own confusion,</i> that they might be left to
themselves, to do that which would expose them and <i>manifest
their folly before all men,</i> or rather that they might be
disappointed in their designs and enterprises against David, and
thereby might be <i>filled with shame,</i> as the adversaries of
the Jews were, <scripRef id="Ps.cx-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Neh.6.16" parsed="|Neh|6|16|0|0" passage="Ne 6:16">Neh. vi. 16</scripRef>.
Nay, in this he prays that they might be brought to repentance,
which is the chief thing we should beg of God for our enemies.
Sinners indeed bring shame upon themselves, but they are true
penitents that take shame to themselves and <i>cover themselves
with their own confusion.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p19">IV. He pleads God's glory, the honour of
his name:—<i>Do for me, for thy name's sake</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.21" parsed="|Ps|109|21|0|0" passage="Ps 109:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), especially the honour
of his goodness, by which he has proclaimed his name: "<i>Deliver
me, because thy mercy is good;</i> it is what thou thyself dost
delight in, and it is what I do depend upon. Save me, not according
to my merit, for I have none to pretend to, but <i>according to thy
mercy;</i> let that be the fountain, the reason, the measure, of my
salvation."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.cx-p20"><i>Lastly,</i> He concludes the psalm with
joy, the joy of faith, joy in assurance that his present conflicts
would end in triumphs. 1. He promises God that he will praise him
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.30" parsed="|Ps|109|30|0|0" passage="Ps 109:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>): "<i>I will
greatly praise the Lord,</i> not only with my heart, but <i>with my
mouth; I will praise him,</i> not in secret only, but <i>among the
multitude.</i>" 2. He promises himself that he shall have cause to
praise God (<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.31" parsed="|Ps|109|31|0|0" passage="Ps 109:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>):
<i>He shall stand at the right hand of the poor,</i> night to him,
a present help; he shall stand at his right hand as his patron and
advocate to plead his cause against his accusers and to bring him
off, <i>to save him from those that condemn his soul</i> and would
execute their sentence if they could. God was David's protector in
his sufferings, and was present also with the Lord Jesus in his,
<i>stood at his right hand,</i> so that he was <i>not moved</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.cx-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.16.8" parsed="|Ps|16|8|0|0" passage="Ps 16:8">Ps. xvi. 8</scripRef>), saved his soul
from those that pretended to be the judges of it, and received it
into his own hands. Let all those that <i>suffer according to the
will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him.</i></p>
</div></div2>