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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Psalms CXXIII].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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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 CXXIII.</FONT>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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This psalm was penned at a time then the church of God was brought low
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and trampled upon; some think it was when the Jews were captives in
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Babylon, though that was not the only time that they were insulted over
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by the proud. The psalmist begins as if he spoke for himself only
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:1">ver. 1</A>),
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but presently speaks in the name of the church. Here is,
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I. Their expectation of mercy from God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. Their plea for mercy with God,,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:3,4">ver. 3, 4</A>.
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In singing it we must have our eye up to God's favour with a holy
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concern, and then an eye down to men's reproach with a holy
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contempt.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ps123_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps123_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps123_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ps123_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>Grateful Acknowledgments.</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 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou
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that dwellest in the heavens.
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2 Behold, as the eyes of servants <I>look</I> unto the hand of their
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masters, <I>and</I> as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her
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mistress; so our eyes <I>wait</I> upon the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> our God, until that he
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have mercy upon us.
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3 Have mercy upon us, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, have mercy upon us: for we are
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exceedingly filled with contempt.
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4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those
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that are at ease, <I>and</I> with the contempt of the proud.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here,</P>
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<P>
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I. The solemn profession which God's people make of faith and hope in
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God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>.
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Observe,
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1. The title here given to God: <I>O thou that dwellest in the
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heavens.</I> Our Lord Jesus has taught us, in prayer, to have an eye to
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God as <I>our Father in heaven;</I> not that he is confined there, but
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there especially he manifests his glory, as the King in his court.
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Heaven is a place of prospect and a place of power; he that dwells
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there beholds thence all the calamities of his people and thence can
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send to save them. Sometimes God seems to have forsaken the earth, and
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the enemies of God's people ask, <I>Where is now your God?</I> But then
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they can say with comfort, <I>Our God is in the heavens. O thou that
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sittest in the heavens</I> (so some), sittest as Judge there; for
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<I>the Lord has prepared his throne in the heavens,</I> and to that
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throne injured innocency may appeal.
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2. The regard here had to God. The psalmist himself <I>lifted up his
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eyes</I> to him. The eyes of a good man are <I>ever towards the
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Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+25:15">Ps. xxv. 15</A>.
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In every prayer we lift up our soul, the eye of our soul, to God,
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especially in trouble, which was the case here. The <I>eyes</I> of the
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people <I>waited on the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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We find mercy coming towards a people <I>when the eyes of man, as of
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all the tribes of Israel, are towards the Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+9:1">Zech. ix. 1</A>.
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The eyes of the body are heaven-ward. <I>Os homini sublime dedit--To
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man he gave an erect mien,</I> to teach us which way to direct the eyes
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of the mind. <I>Our eyes wait on the Lord,</I> the eye of desire and
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prayer, the begging eye, and the eye of dependence, hope, and
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expectation, the longing eye. Our eyes must wait upon God as <I>the
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Lord,</I> and <I>our God, until that he have mercy upon us.</I> We
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desire mercy from him, we hope he will show us mercy, and we will
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continue our attendance on him till the mercy come. This is illustrated
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
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by a similitude: Our eyes are to God <I>as the eyes of a servant,</I>
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and <I>handmaid, to the hand of their master and mistress.</I> The eyes
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of a servant are,
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(1.) To his master's directing hand, expecting that he will appoint him
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his work, and cut it out for him, and show him how he must do it.
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<I>Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?</I>
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(2.) To his supplying hand. Servants look to their master, or their
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mistress, for their portion of meat in due season,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:15">Prov. xxxi. 15</A>.
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And to God must we look for daily bread, for grace sufficient; from him
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we must receive it thankfully.
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(3.) To his assisting hand. If the servant cannot do his work himself,
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where must he look for help but to his master? And in the strength of
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the Lord God we must go forth and go on.
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(4.) To his protecting hand. If the servant meet with opposition in
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his work, if he be questioned for what he does, if he be wronged and
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injured, who should bear him out and right him, but his master that set
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him on work? The people of God, when they are persecuted, may appeal to
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their Master, <I>We are thine; save us.</I>
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(5.) To his correcting hand. If the servant has provoked his master to
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beat him, he does not call for help against his master, but looks at
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the hand that strikes him, till it shall say, "It is enough; I will not
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contend for ever." The people of God were now under his rebukes; and
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whither should they turn but to him that <I>smote them?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+9:13">Isa. ix. 13</A>.
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To whom should they make supplication but to their Judge? They will not
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do as Hagar did, who ran away from her mistress when she put some
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hardships upon her
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+16:6">Gen. xvi. 6</A>),
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but they submit themselves to and humble themselves under God's mighty
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hand.
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(6.) To his rewarding hand. The servant expects his wages, his
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<I>well-done,</I> from his master. Hypocrites have their eye to the
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world's hand; thence <I>they have their reward</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+6:2">Matt. vi. 2</A>);
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but true Christians have their eye to God as their rewarder.</P>
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<P>
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II. The humble address which God's people present to him in their
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calamitous condition
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+123:3,4"><I>v.</I> 3, 4</A>),
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wherein,
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1. They sue for mercy, not prescribing to God what he shall do for
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them, nor pleading any merit of their own why he should do it for them,
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but, <I>Have mercy upon us, O Lord! have mercy upon us.</I> We find
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little mercy with men; their <I>tender mercies are cruel;</I> there are
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<I>cruel mockings.</I> But this is our comfort, that <I>with the Lord
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there is mercy</I> and we need desire no more to relieve us, and make
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us easy, than the mercy of God. Whatever the troubles of the church
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are, God's mercy is a sovereign remedy.
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2. They set forth their grievances: <I>We are exceedingly filled with
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contempt.</I> Reproach is the wound, the burden, they complain of.
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Observe,
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(1.) Who were reproached: "We, who have our eyes up to thee." Those who
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are owned of God are often despised and trampled on by the world. Some
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translate the words which we render, <I>those that are at ease,</I> and
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<I>the proud,</I> so as to signify the persons that are scorned and
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contemned. "Our soul is troubled to see how those that are at peace,
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and the excellent ones, are scorned and despised." The saints are a
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peaceable people and yet are abused
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+35:20">Ps. xxxv. 20</A>),
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the excellent ones of the earth and yet undervalued,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+4:1,2">Lam. iv. 1, 2</A>.
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(2.) Who did reproach them. Taking the words as we read them, they were
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the epicures who lived at ease, carnal sensual people,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+12:5">Job xii. 5</A>.
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The scoffers are such as walk after their own lusts and serve their own
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bellies, and the proud such as set God himself at defiance and had a
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high opinion of themselves; they trampled on God's people, thinking
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they magnified themselves by vilifying them.
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(3.) To what degree they were reproached: "<I>We are filled,</I> we are
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surfeited with it. <I>Our soul is exceedingly filled with it.</I>" The
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enemies thought they could never jeer them enough, nor say enough to
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make them despicable; and they could not but lay it to heart; it was a
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sword in their bones,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+42:10">Ps. xlii. 10</A>.
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Note,
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[1.] Scorning and contempt have been, and are, and are likely to be,
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the lot of God's people in this world. Ishmael mocked Isaac, which is
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called <I>persecuting</I> him; and so it is now,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+4:29">Gal. iv. 29</A>.
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[2.] In reference to the scorn and contempt of men it is matter of
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comfort that there is mercy with God, mercy to our good names when they
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are barbarously used. <I>Hear, O our God! for we are despised.</I></P>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1710)
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