mh_parser/vol_split/19 - Psalms/Chapter 67.xml

<div2 id="Ps.lxviii" n="lxviii" next="Ps.lxix" prev="Ps.lxvii" progress="44.13%" title="Chapter LXVII">
<h2 id="Ps.lxviii-p0.1">P S A L M S</h2>
<h3 id="Ps.lxviii-p0.2">PSALM LXVII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ps.lxviii-p1">This psalm relates to the church and is calculated
for the public. Here is, I. A prayer for the prosperity of the
church of Israel, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.1" parsed="|Ps|67|1|0|0" passage="Ps 67:1">ver. 1</scripRef>.
II. A prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles and the bringing of
them into the church, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.2-Ps.67.5" parsed="|Ps|67|2|67|5" passage="Ps 67:2-5">ver.
2-5</scripRef>. III. A prospect of happy and glorious times when
God shall do this, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.6-Ps.67.7" parsed="|Ps|67|6|67|7" passage="Ps 67:6,7">ver. 6,
7</scripRef>. Thus was the psalmist carried out by the spirit of
prophecy to foretel the glorious estate of the Christian church, in
which Jews and Gentiles should unite in one flock, the beginning of
which blessed work ought to be the matter of our joy and praise,
and the completing of it of our prayer and hope, in singing this
psalm.</p>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxviii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67" parsed="|Ps|67|0|0|0" passage="Ps 67" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ps.lxviii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.1-Ps.67.7" parsed="|Ps|67|1|67|7" passage="Ps 67:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Ps.67.1-Ps.67.7">
<h4 id="Ps.lxviii-p1.6">Prayer for the Prosperity and Extension of
the Church; Conversion of the Gentiles.</h4>
<div class="Center" id="Ps.lxviii-p1.7">
<p id="Ps.lxviii-p2">To the chief musician on Neginoth. A psalm <i>or</i> song.</p>
</div>
<p class="passage" id="Ps.lxviii-p3">1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us;
<i>and</i> cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.   2 That
thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all
nations.   3 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the
people praise thee.   4 O let the nations be glad and sing for
joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the
nations upon earth. Selah.   5 Let the people praise thee, O
God; let all the people praise thee.   6 <i>Then</i> shall the
earth yield her increase; <i>and</i> God, <i>even</i> our own God,
shall bless us.   7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of
the earth shall fear him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p4">The composition of this psalm is such as
denotes the penman's affections to have been very warm and lively,
by which spirit of devotion he was elevated to receive the spirit
of prophecy concerning the enlargement of God's kingdom.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p5">I. He begins with a prayer for the welfare
and prosperity of the church then in being, in the happiness of
which he should share, and think himself happy, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.1" parsed="|Ps|67|1|0|0" passage="Ps 67:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Our Saviour, in teaching us to
say, <i>Our Father,</i> has intimated that we ought to pray with
and for others; so the psalmist here prays not, <i>God be merciful
to me, and bless me,</i> but to <i>us,</i> and bless <i>us;</i> for
we must make supplication for all saints, and be willing and glad
to take our lot with them. We are here taught, 1. That all our
happiness comes from God's mercy and takes rise in that; and
therefore the first thing prayed for is, <i>God be merciful to
us,</i> to us sinners, and pardon our sins (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.18.13" parsed="|Luke|18|13|0|0" passage="Lu 18:13">Luke xviii. 13</scripRef>), to us miserable sinners, and
help us out of our miseries. 2. That it is conveyed by God's
blessing, and secured in that: <i>God bless us;</i> that is, give
us an interest in his promises, and confer upon us all the good
contained in them. God's speaking well to us amounts to his doing
well for us. <i>God bless us</i> is a comprehensive prayer; it is a
pity such excellent words should ever be used slightly and
carelessly, and as a byword. 3. That it is completed in the light
of his countenance: <i>God cause his face to shine upon us;</i>
that is, God by his grace qualify us for his favour and then give
us the tokens of his favour. We need desire no more to make us
happy than to have God's face shine upon us, to have God love us,
and let us know that he loves us: <i>To shine with us</i> (so the
margin reads it); <i>with us</i> doing our endeavour, and let it
crown that endeavour with success. If we by faith walk with God, we
may hope that his face will shine with us.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p6">II. He passes from this to a prayer for the
conversion of the Gentiles (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.2" parsed="|Ps|67|2|0|0" passage="Ps 67:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): <i>That thy way may be known upon earth.</i> "Lord,
I pray not only that thou wilt be merciful to us and bless us, but
that thou wilt be merciful to all mankind, <i>that thy way may be
known upon earth.</i>" Thus public-spirited must we be in our
prayers. <i>Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom
come.</i> We shall have never the less of God's mercy, and
blessing, and favour, for others coming in to share with us. Or it
may be taken thus: "<i>God be merciful to us Jews, and bless us,
that</i> thereby thy way may be known upon earth, that by the
peculiar distinguishing tokens of thy favour to us others may be
allured to come and join themselves to us, saying, <i>We will go
with you, for we have heard that God is with you,</i>" <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.8.23" parsed="|Zech|8|23|0|0" passage="Zec 8:23">Zech. viii. 23</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p7">1. These verses, which point at the
conversion of the Gentiles, may be taken, (1.) As a prayer; and so
it speaks the desire of the Old-Testament saints; so far were they
from wishing to monopolize the privileges of the church that they
desired nothing more than the throwing down of the enclosure and
the laying open of the advantages. See then how the spirit of the
Jews, in the days of Christ and his apostles, differed from the
spirit of their fathers. The Israelites indeed that were of old
desired that God's name might be known among the Gentiles; those
counterfeit Jews were enraged at the preaching of the gospel to the
Gentiles; nothing in Christianity exasperated them so much as that
did. (2.) As a prophecy that it shall be as he here prays. Many
scripture-prophecies and promises are wrapped up in prayers, to
intimate that the answer of the church's prayer is as sure as the
performance of God's promises.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p8">2. Three things are here prayed for, with
reference to the Gentiles:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p9">(1.) That divine revelation might be sent
among them, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.2" parsed="|Ps|67|2|0|0" passage="Ps 67:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Two
things he desires might be know upon earth, even among all nations,
and not to the nation of the Jews only:—[1.] God's way, the rule
of duty: "Let them all know, as well as we do, <i>what is good and
what the Lord our God requires of them;</i> let them be blessed and
honoured with the same righteous statutes and judgments which are
so much the praise of our nation and the envy of all its
neighbours," <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.8" parsed="|Deut|4|8|0|0" passage="De 4:8">Deut. iv. 8</scripRef>.
[2.] His saving health, or his salvation. The former is wrapped up
in his law, this in his gospel. If God make known his way to us,
and we walk in it, he will show us his saving health, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.23" parsed="|Ps|50|23|0|0" passage="Ps 50:23">Ps. l. 23</scripRef>. Those that have themselves
experimentally known the pleasantness of God's ways, and the
comforts of his salvation, cannot but desire and pray that they may
be known to others, even among all nations. All upon earth are
bound to walk in God's way, all need his salvation, and there is in
it enough for all; and therefore we should pray that both the one
and the other may be made known to all.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p10">(2.) That divine worship may be set up
among them, as it will be where divine revelation is received and
embraced (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.3" parsed="|Ps|67|3|0|0" passage="Ps 67:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>):
"<i>Let the people praise thee, O God!</i> let them have matter for
praise, let them have hearts for praise; yea, let not only some,
but <i>all the people, praise thee,</i>" all nations in their
national capacity, some of all nations. It is again repeated
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.5" parsed="|Ps|67|5|0|0" passage="Ps 67:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>) as that which
the psalmist's heart was very much upon. Those that delight in
praising God themselves cannot but desire that others also may be
brought to praise him, that he may have the honour of it and they
may have the benefit of it. It is a prayer, [1.] That the gospel
might be preached to them, and then they would have cause enough to
praise God, as for the day-spring after a long and dark night.
<i>Ortus est sol—The sun has risen.</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.8.8" parsed="|Acts|8|8|0|0" passage="Ac 8:8">Acts viii. 8</scripRef>. [2.] That they might be converted
and brought into the church, and then they would have a disposition
to praise God, the living and true God, and not the dumb and
dunghill deities they had worshipped, <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.4" parsed="|Dan|5|4|0|0" passage="Da 5:4">Dan. v. 4</scripRef>. Then their hard thoughts of God
would be silenced, and they would see him, in the gospel glass, to
be love itself, and the proper object of praise. [3.] That they
might be incorporated into solemn assemblies, and might praise God
in a body, that they might all together praise him with one mind
and one mouth. Thus a face of religion appears upon a land when God
is publicly owned and the ordinances of religious worship are duly
celebrated in religious assemblies.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p11">(3.) That the divine government may be
acknowledged and cheerfully submitted to (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.4" parsed="|Ps|67|4|0|0" passage="Ps 67:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>): <i>O let the nations be glad,
and sing for joy!</i> Holy joy, joy in God and in his name, is the
heart and soul of thankful praise. That <i>all the people</i> may
<i>praise thee, let the nations be glad.</i> Those that <i>rejoice
in the Lord always will in every thing give thanks.</i> The joy he
wishes to the nations is holy joy; for it is joy in God's dominion,
joy that <i>God has taken to himself his great power and has
reigned,</i> which the unconverted <i>nations are angry at,</i>
<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.11.17-Rev.11.18" parsed="|Rev|11|17|11|18" passage="Re 11:17,18">Rev. xi. 17, 18</scripRef>. Let
them be glad, [1.] That <i>the kingdom is the Lord's</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.22.28" parsed="|Ps|22|28|0|0" passage="Ps 22:28">Ps. xxii. 28</scripRef>), that he, as an
absolute sovereign, shall govern the nations upon earth, that by
the kingdom of his providence he shall overrule the affairs of
kingdoms according to the counsel of his will, though they neither
know him nor own him, and that in due time he shall disciple all
nations by the preaching of his gospel (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.28.19" parsed="|Matt|28|19|0|0" passage="Mt 28:19">Matt. xxviii. 19</scripRef>) and set up the kingdom of
his grace among them upon the ruin of the devil's kingdom—that he
shall make them a willing people in the day of his power, and even
<i>the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord
and of his Christ.</i> [2.] That <i>every man's judgment proceeds
from the Lord.</i> "Let them be glad that <i>thou shalt judge the
people righteously,</i> that thou shalt give a law and gospel which
shall be a righteous rule of judgment, and shalt pass an unerring
sentence, according to that rule, upon all the children of men,
against which there will lie no exception." Let us all be glad that
we are not to be one another's judges, but that he that judges us
is the Lord, whose judgment we are sure is according to truth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p12">III. He concludes with a joyful prospect of
all good when God shall do this, when the nations shall be
converted and brought to praise God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p13">1. The lower world shall smile upon them,
and they shall have the fruits of that (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.6" parsed="|Ps|67|6|0|0" passage="Ps 67:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>Then shall the earth yield
her increase.</i> Not but that God gave rain from heaven and
fruitful seasons to the nations when they <i>sat in darkness</i>
(<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.14.17" parsed="|Acts|14|17|0|0" passage="Ac 14:17">Acts xiv. 17</scripRef>); but when
they were converted the earth yielded its increase to God; the meat
and the drink then became a <i>meat-offering and a drink-offering
to the Lord our God</i> (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.14" parsed="|Joel|2|14|0|0" passage="Joe 2:14">Joel ii.
14</scripRef>); and then it was fruitful to some good purpose. Then
it yielded its increase more than before to the comfort of men, who
through Christ acquired a covenant-title to the fruits of it and
had a sanctified use of it. Note, The success of the gospel
sometimes brings outward mercies along with it; righteousness
exalts a nation. See <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.2 Bible:Isa.62.9" parsed="|Isa|4|2|0|0;|Isa|62|9|0|0" passage="Isa 4:2,62:9">Isa. iv. 2;
lxii. 9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p14">2. The upper world shall smile upon them,
and they shall have the favours of that, which is much better:
<i>God, even our own God, shall bless us,</i> <scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.6" parsed="|Ps|67|6|0|0" passage="Ps 67:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. And again (<scripRef id="Ps.lxviii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.67.7" parsed="|Ps|67|7|0|0" passage="Ps 67:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), <i>God shall bless us.</i> Note,
(1.) There are a people in the world that can, upon good grounds,
call God their God. (2.) Believers have reason to glory in their
relation to God and the interest they have in him. It is here
spoken with an air of triumph. <i>God, even our own God.</i> (3.)
Those who through grace call God their own may with a humble
confidence expect a blessing from him. If he be our God, he will
bless us with special blessings. (4.) The blessing of God, as ours
in covenant, is that which sweetens all our creature-comforts to
us, and makes them comforts indeed; then we receive the increase of
the earth as a mercy indeed when with it God, even our own God,
gives us his blessing.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ps.lxviii-p15">3. All the world shall hereby be brought to
do like them: <i>The ends of the earth shall fear him,</i> that is,
worship him, which is to be done with a godly fear. The blessings
God bestows upon us call upon us not only to love him, but to fear
him, to keep up high thoughts of him and to be afraid of offending
him. When the gospel begins to spread it shall get ground more and
more, till it reach to the ends of the earth. The leaven hidden in
the meal shall diffuse itself, till the whole be leavened. And the
many blessings which those will own themselves to have received
that are brought into the church invite others to join themselves
to them. It is good to cast in our lot with those that are the
blessed of the Lord.</p>
</div></div2>