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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>P S A L M S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>PSALM CXX.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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<P>
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This psalm is the first of those fifteen which are here put together
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under the title of "songs of degrees." It is well that it is not
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material what the meaning of that title should be, for nothing is
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offered towards the explication of it, no, not by the Jewish writers
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themselves, but what is conjectural. These psalms do not seem to be
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composed all by the same hand, much less all at the same time. Four of
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them are expressly ascribed to David, and one is said to be designed
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for Solomon, and perhaps penned by him; yet
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+126:1-6,129:1-8">cxxvi. and cxxix.</A>
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seem to be of a much later date. Some of them are calculated for the
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closet (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+120:1-7,130:1-8">cxx. and cxxx.</A>),
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some for the family (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+127:1-5,128:1-6">cxxvii. and cxxviii.</A>),
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some for the public assembly (as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+122:1-9,134:1-3">cxxii. and cxxxiv.</A>),
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and some occasional, as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+124:1-8,132:118">cxxiv., and cxxxii.</A>
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So that it should seem, they had not this title from the author, but
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from the publisher. Some conjecture that they are so called from their
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singular excellency (as the song of songs, so the song of degrees, is a
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most excellent song, in the highest degree), others from the tune they
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were set to, or the musical instruments they were sung to, or the
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raising of the voice in singing them. Some think they were sung on the
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fifteen steps or stairs, by which they went up from the outward court
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of the temple to the inner, others at so many stages of the people's
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journey, when they returned out of captivity. I shall only observe,
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1. That they are all short psalms, all but one very short (three of
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them have but three verses apiece), and that they are placed next to
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:1-176">Ps. cxix.</A>,
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which is by much the longest of all. Now as that was one psalm divided
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into many parts, so these were many psalms, which, being short, were
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sometimes sung all together, and made, as it were, one psalm, observing
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only a pause between each; as many steps make one pair of stairs.
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2. That, in the composition of them, we frequently meet with the
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figure they call climax, or an ascent, the preceding word repeated, and
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then rising to something further, as 120, "With him that hated peace. I
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peace." 121, "Whence cometh my help; my help cometh." "He that keepeth
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thee shall not slumber; he that keepeth Israel." 122, "Within thy
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gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded." 123, "Until that he have
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mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us." And the like in most of them, if
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not all. Perhaps for one of these reasons they are called songs of
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degrees.</P>
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<P>
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This psalm is supposed to have been penned by David upon occasion of
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Doeg's accusing him and the priests to Saul, because it is like 52,
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which was penned upon that occasion, and because the psalmist complains
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of his being driven out of the congregation of the Lord and his being
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forced among barbarous people.
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I. He prays to God to deliver him from the mischief designed him by
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false and malicious tongues,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+120:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. He threatens the judgments of God against such,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+120:3,4">ver. 3, 4</A>.
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III. He complains of his wicked neighbours that were quarrelsome and
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vexatious,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+120:5-7">ver. 5-7</A>.
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In singing this psalm we may comfort ourselves in reference to the
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scourge of the tongue, when at any time we fall unjustly under the lash
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of it, that better than we have smarted from it.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps120_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps120_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps120_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps120_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Confession and Complaints.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<CENTER>
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<P>A song of degrees.</P>
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</CENTER>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 In my distress I cried unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
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and he heard me.
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2 Deliver my soul, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, from lying lips, <I>and</I> from a
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deceitful tongue.
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3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto
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thee, thou false tongue?
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4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is,
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I. Deliverance from a false tongue obtained by prayer. David records
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his own experience of this.</P>
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<P>
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1. He was brought into distress, into great distress, by <I>lying lips
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and a deceitful tongue.</I> There were those that sought his ruin, and
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had almost effected it, by lying.
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(1.) By telling lies to him. They flattered him with professions and
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protestations of friendships, and promises of kindness and service to
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him, that they might the more securely and without suspicion carry on
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their designs against him, and might have an opportunity, by betraying
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his counsels, to do him a mischief. They smiled in his face and kissed
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him, even when they were aiming to smite him under the fifth rib. The
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most dangerous enemies, and those which it is most hard to guard
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against, are such as carry on their malicious designs under the colour
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of friendship. The Lord deliver every good man from such lying lips.
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(2.) By telling lies of him. They forged false accusations against him
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and <I>laid to his charge things that he knew not.</I> This has often
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been the lot not only of the innocent, but of the excellent ones, of
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the earth, who have been greatly distressed by lying lips, and have not
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only had their names blackened and made odious by calumnies in
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conversation, but their lives, and all that is dear to them in this
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world, endangered by false-witness-bearing in judgment. David was
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herein a type of Christ, who was distressed by lying lips and deceitful
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tongues.</P>
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<P>
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2. In this distress he had recourse to God by faithful and fervent
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prayer: <I>I cried unto the Lord.</I> Having no fence against false
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tongues, he appealed to him who has all men's hearts in his hand, who
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has power over the consciences of bad men, and can, when he pleases,
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bridle their tongues. His prayer was, "<I>Deliver my soul, O Lord! from
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lying lips,</I> that my enemies may not by these cursed methods work my
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ruin." He that had prayed so earnestly to be kept from lying
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:29">Ps. cxix. 29</A>)
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and hated it so heartily in himself
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+119:163"><I>v.</I> 163</A>)
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might with the more confidence pray to be kept from being belied by
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others, and from the ill consequences of it.</P>
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<P>
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3. He obtained a gracious answer to this prayer. God heard him; so that
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his enemies, though they carried their designs very far, were baffled
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at last, and could not prevail to do him the mischief they intended.
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The God of truth is, and will be, the protector of his people from
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lying lips,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+37:6">Ps. xxxvii. 6</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. The doom of a false tongue foretold by faith,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+120:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>.
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As God will preserve his people from this mischievous generation, so he
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will reckon with their enemies,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+12:3,7">Ps. xii. 3, 7</A>.
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The threatening is addressed to the sinner himself, for the awakening
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of his conscience, if he have any left: "Consider <I>what shall be
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given unto thee, and what shall be done unto thee,</I> by the righteous
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Judge of heaven and earth, <I>thou false tongue.</I>" Surely sinners
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durst not do as they do if they knew, and would be persuaded to think,
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what will be in the end thereof. Let liars consider what shall be given
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to them: <I>Sharp arrows of the Almighty, with coals of juniper,</I>
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that is, they will fall and lie for ever under the wrath of God, and
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will be made miserable by the tokens of his displeasure, which will fly
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swiftly like arrows, and will strike the sinner ere he is aware and
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when he sees not who hurts him. This is threatened against liars,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+64:7">Ps. lxiv. 7</A>.
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<I>God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be
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wounded.</I> They set God at a distance from them, but from afar his
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arrows can reach them. They are sharp arrows, and arrows of the mighty,
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the Almighty; for they will pierce through the strongest armour and
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strike deep into the hardest heart. The terrors of the Lord are his
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arrows
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+6:4">Job vi. 4</A>),
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and his wrath is compared to burning coals of juniper, which do not
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flame or crackle, like thorns under a pot, but have a vehement heat,
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and keep fire very long (some say, a year round) even when they seem to
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be gone out. This is the portion of the false tongue; for all that love
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and make a lie shall have their portion in the lake that burns
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eternally,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+22:15">Rev. xxii. 15</A>.</P>
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<A NAME="Ps120_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps120_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps120_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Mournful Complaints.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1> <! -- Date --> </FONT></TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, <I>that</I> I dwell in the
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tents of Kedar!
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6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
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7 I <I>am for</I> peace: but when I speak, they <I>are</I> for war.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The psalmist here complains of the bad neighbourhood into which he was
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driven; and some apply the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+120:3,4">two foregoing verses</A>
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to this: "What shall the deceitful tongue give, what shall it do to
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those that lie open to it? What shall a man get by living among such
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malicious deceitful men? Nothing but <I>sharp arrows</I> and <I>coals
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of juniper,</I>" all the mischiefs of a false and spiteful tongue,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+57:4">Ps. lvii. 4</A>.
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<I>Woe is me,</I> says David, that I am forced to dwell among such,
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<I>that I sojourn in Mesech and Kedar.</I> Not that David dwelt in the
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country of Mesech or Kedar; we never find him so far off from his own
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native country; but he dwelt among rude and barbarous people, like the
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inhabitants of Mesech and Kedar: as, when we would describe an ill
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neighbourhood, we say, We dwell among Turks and heathens. This made him
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cry out, <I>Woe is me!</I>
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1. He was forced to live at a distance from the ordinances of God.
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While he was in banishment, he looked upon himself as a sojourner,
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never at home but when he was near God's altars; and he cries out,
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"<I>Woe is me</I> that my sojourning is prolonged, that I cannot get
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home to my resting-place, but am still kept at a distance!" So some
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read it. Note, A good man cannot think himself at home while he is
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banished from God's ordinances and has not them within reach. And it is
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a great grief to all that love God to be without the means of grace and
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of communion with God: when they are under a force of that kind they
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cannot but cry out, as David here, <I>Woe to me!</I>
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2. He was forced to live among wicked people, who were, upon many
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accounts, troublesome to him. He <I>dwell in the tents of Kedar,</I>
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where the shepherds were probably in an ill name for being litigious,
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like the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot. It is a very grievous burden to a
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good man to be cast into, and kept in, the company of those whom he
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hopes to be for ever separated from (like Lot in Sodom;
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Pe+2:8">2 Pet. ii. 8</A>);
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to dwell long with such is grievous indeed, for they are thorns,
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vexing, and scratching, and tearing, and they will show the old enmity
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that is in the <I>seed of the serpent</I> against the <I>seed of the
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woman.</I> Those that David dwelt with were such as not only hated him,
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but hated peace, and proclaimed war with it, who might write on their
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weapons of war not <I>Sic sequimur pacem--Thus we aim at peace,</I> but
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<I>Sic persequimur--Thus we persecute.</I> Perhaps Saul's court was the
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Mesech and Kedar in which David dwelt, and Saul was the man he meant
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that hated peace, whom David studied to oblige and could not, but the
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more service he did him the more exasperated he was against him. See
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here,
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(1.) The character of a very good man in David, who could truly say,
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though he was a man of war, <I>I am for peace;</I> for living peaceably
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with all men and unpeaceably with none. <I>I peace</I> (so it is in the
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original); "I love peace and pursue peace; my disposition is to peace
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and my delight is in it. I pray for peace and strive for peace, will do
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any thing, submit to any thing, part with any thing, in reason, for
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peace. <I>I am for peace,</I> and have made it to appear that I am so."
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<I>The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable.</I>
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(2.) The character of the worst of bad men in David's enemies, who
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would pick quarrels with those that were most peaceably disposed:
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"<I>When I speak they are for war;</I> and the more forward for war the
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more they find me inclined to peace." He spoke with all the respect and
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kindness that could be, proposed methods of accommodation, spoke
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reason, spoke love; but they would not so much as hear him patiently,
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but cried out, "To arms! to arms!" so fierce and implacable were they,
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and so bent to mischief. Such were Christ's enemies: for his love they
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were his adversaries, and for his good words, and good works, they
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stoned him. If we meet with such enemies, we must not think it strange,
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nor love peace the less for our seeking it in vain. <I>Be not overcome
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of evil,</I> no, not of such evil as this, <I>but,</I> even when thus
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tried, still try to <I>overcome evil with good.</I></P>
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