Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps3.1

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        TITLE.--"A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his
Son." You will remember the sad story of David's flight from his
own palace, when, in the dead of the night, he forded the brook
Kedron, and went with a few faithful followers to hide himself
for awhile from the fury of his rebellious son. Remember that
David in this was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, too, fled;
he, too, passed over the brook Kedron when his own people were in
rebellion against him, and with a feeble band of followers he
went to the garden of Gethsemane. He, too, drank of the brook by
the way, and therefore doth he lift up the head. By very many
expositors this is entitled _THE MORNING HYMN_. May we ever wake
with holy confidence in our hearts, and a song upon our lips!

        DIVISION.--This Psalm may be divided into four parts of
two verses each. Indeed, many of the Psalms cannot be well
understood unless we attentively regard the parts into which they
are to be divided. They are not continuous descriptions of one
scene, but a set of pictures of many kindred subjects. As in our
modern sermons, we divide our discourse into different heads, so
it is in these Psalms. There is always unity, but it is the unity
of a bundle of arrows, and not of a single solitary shaft. Let us
now look at the Psalm before us. In the first two verses you have
David making a complaint to God concerning his enemies; he then
declares his confidence in the Lord (#3,4|), sings of his safety
in sleep (#5,6|), and strengthens himself for future conflict
(#7,8|).

                           EXPOSITION.

        The poor broken-hearted father complains of the multitude
of his enemies, and if you turn to #2Sa 15:12|, you will find it
written that "the conspiracy was strong; for the people increased
continually with Absalom," while the troops of David constantly
diminished! "_Lord how are they increased that trouble me!" Here
is a note of exclamation to express the wonder of woe which
amazed and perplexed the fugitive father. Alas! I see no limit to
my misery, for my troubles are enlarged! There was enough at
first to sink me very low; but lo! my enemies multiply. When
Absalom, my darling, is in rebellion against me, it is enough to
break my heart; but lo! Ahithophel hath forsaken me, my faithful
counsellors have turned their backs on me; lo! my generals and
soldiers have deserted my standard. "How are they increased that
trouble me!" Troubles always come in flocks. Sorrow hath a
numerous family.

        "_Many are they that rise up against me_." Their hosts
are far superior to mine! Their numbers are too great for my
reckoning!

        Let us here recall to our memory the innumerable hosts
which beset our Divine Redeemer. The legions of our sins, the
armies of fiends, the crowd of bodily pains, the host of
spiritual sorrows, and all the allies of death and hell, set
themselves in battle against the Son of Man. O how precious to
know and believe that he has routed their hosts, and trodden them
down in his anger! They who would have troubled us he has removed
into captivity, and those who would have risen up against us he
has laid low. The dragon lost his sting when he dashed it into
the soul of Jesus.

        David complains before his loving God of the worst weapon
of his enemies' attacks, and the bitterest drop of his
distresses. "Oh!" saith David, "_many there be that say of my
soul, There is no help for him in God_." Some of his distrustful
friends said this sorrowfully, but his enemies exultingly boasted
of it, and longed to see their words proved by his total
destruction. This was the unkindest cut of all, when they
declared that his God had forsaken him. Yet David knew in his own
conscience that he had given them some ground for this
exclamation, for he had committed sin against God in the very
light of day. Then they flung his crime with Bathsheba into his
face, and they said, "Go up, thou bloody man; God hath forsaken
thee and left thee." Shimei cursed him and swore at him to his
very face, for he was bold because of his backers, since
multitudes of the men of Belial thought of David in like fashion.
Doubtless, David felt this infernal suggestion to be staggering
to his faith. If all the trials which come from heaven, all the
temptations which ascend from hell, and all the crosses which
arise from earth, could be mixed and pressed together, they would
not make a trial so terrible as that which is contained in this
verse. It is the most bitter of all afflictions to be led to fear
that there is no help for us in God. And yet remember our most
blessed Saviour had to endure this in the deepest degree when he
cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He knew full
well what it was to walk in darkness and to see no light. This
was the curse of the curse. This was the wormwood mingled with
the gall. To be deserted of his Father was worse than to be the
despised of men. Surely we should love him who suffered this
bitterest of temptations and trials for our sake. It will be a
delightful and instructive exercise for the loving heart to mark
the Lord in his agonies as here portrayed, for there is here, and
in very many other Psalms, far more of David's Lord than of David
himself.

        "_Selah_." This is a musical pause; the precise meaning
of which is not known. Some think it simply a rest, a pause in
the music; others say it means, "Lift up the strain--sing more
loudly--pitch the tune upon a higher key--there is nobler matter
to come, therefore retune your harps." Harp-strings soon get out
of order and need to be screwed up again to their proper
tightness, and certainly our heart-strings are evermore getting
out of tune. Let "Selah" teach us to pray

        "O may my heart in tune be found
        Like David's harp of solemn sound."

At least, we may learn that wherever we see "Selah," we should
look upon it as a note of observation. Let us read the passage
which precedes and succeeds it with greater earnestness, for
surely there is always something excellent where we are required
to rest and pause and meditate, or when we are required to lift
up our hearts in grateful song. "SELAH."

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Title.-- With regard to the authority of the TITLES, it
becomes us to speak with diffidence, considering the very
opposite opinions which have been offered upon this subject by
scholars of equal excellence. In the present day, it is too much
the custom to slight or omit them altogether, as though added,
nobody knows when or by whom, and as, in many instances,
inconsistent with the subject-matter of the Psalm itself: while
Augustine, Theodoret, and various other early writers of the
Christian church, regard them as a part of the inspired text; and
the Jews still continue to make them a part of their chant, and
their rabbins to comment upon them.

        It is certainly unknown who invented or placed them where
they are: but it is unquestionable that they have been so placed
from time immemorial; they occur in the Septuagint, which
contains also in a few instances titles to Psalms that are
without any in the Hebrew; and they have been copied after the
Septuagint by Jerome. So far as the present writer has been able
to penetrate the obscurity that occasionally hangs over them,
they are a direct and most valuable key to the general history or
subject of the Psalms to which they are prefixed; and, excepting
where they have been evidently misunderstood or misinterpreted,
he has never met with a single instance in which the drift of the
title and its respective Psalm do not exactly coincide. Many of
them were, doubtless, composed by Ezra at the time of editing his
own collection, at which period some critics suppose the whole to
have been written; but the rest appear rather to be coeval, or
nearly so, with the respective Psalms themselves, and to have
been written about the period of their production. --^John Mason
Good, M.D., F.R.S., 1854.

        _See title_. Here we have the first use of the word
_Psalm_. In Hebrew, _Mizmor_, which hath the signification of
pruning, or cutting off superfluous twigs, and is applied to
songs made of short sentences, where many superfluous words are
put away.--^Henry Ainsworth.

        Upon this note an old writer remarks, "Let us learn from
this, that in times of sore trouble men will not fetch a compass
and use fine words in prayer, but will offer prayer which is
pruned of all luxuriance of wordy speeches."

        Whole Psalm.--Thus you may plainly see how God hath
wrought in his church in old time, and therefore should not
discourage yourselves for any sudden change; but with David,
acknowledge your sins to God, declare unto him how many there be
that vex you and rise up against you, naming you Huguenots,
Lutherans, Heretics, Puritans, and the children of Belial, as
they named David. Let the wicked idolators brag that they will
prevail against you and overcome you, and that God hath given you
over, and will be no more your God. Let them put their trust in
Absalom, with his large golden locks; and in the wisdom of
Ahithophel, the wise counsellor; yet say you, with David, "_Thou,
O Lord, art my defender, and the lifter up of my head_." Persuade
yourselves, with David, that the Lord is your defender, who hath
compassed you round about, and is, as it were, a "_shield_" that
doth cover you on every side. It is he only that may and will
compass you about with glory and honour. It is he that will
thrust down those proud hypocrites from their seat, and exalt the
lowly and meek. It is he which will "_smite_" your "enemies on
_the cheek bone_," and burst all their teeth in sunder. He will
hang up Absalom by his own long hairs; and Ahithophel through
desperation shall hang himself. The bands shall be broken and you
delivered; for this belongeth unto the Lord, to save his from
their enemies, and to bless his people, that they may safely
proceed in their pilgrimage to heaven without fear.--^Thomas
Tymme's "Silver Watch Bell," 1634.

        Verse 1.--Absalom's faction, like a snowball, strangely
gathered in its motion. David speaks of it as one amazed; and
well he might, that a people he had so many ways obliged, should
almost generally revolt from him, and rebel against him, and
choose for their head such a silly, giddy young fellow as Absalom
was. How slippery and deceitful are the many! And how little
fidelity and constancy is to be found among men! David had had
the hearts of his subjects as much as ever any king had, and yet
now of a sudden he had lost them! As people must not trust too
much to princes (#Ps 146:3|), so princes must not build too much
upon their interest in the people. Christ the Son of David had
many enemies, when a great multitude came to seize him, when the
crowd cried, "Crucify him, crucify him," how were they then
increased that troubled him! Even good people must not think it
strange if the stream be against them, and the powers that
threaten them grow more and more formidable.--^Matthew Henry.

        Verse 2.--When the believer questions the power of God,
or his interest in it, his joy gusheth out as blood out of a
broken vein. This verse is a sore stab indeed.--^William Gurnall.

        Verse 2.--A child of God startles at the very thought of
despairing of help in God; you cannot vex him with anything so
much as if you offer to persuade him, "_There is no help for him
in God_." David comes to God, and tells him what his enemies said
of him, as Hezekiah spread Rabshakeh's blasphemous letter before
the Lord; they say, "_There is no help for me in thee;_" but,
Lord, if it be so, I am undone. They say to my soul, "_There is
no salvation_" (for so the word is) "_for him in God_;" but,
Lord, do thou say unto my soul, "_I am thy salvation_" (#Ps
35:3|), and that shall satisfy me, and in due time silence
them.--^Matthew Henry.

        Verses 2,4,8.--"_Selah_" (celâh <05542>). Much has been
written on this word, and still its meaning does not appear to be
wholly determined. It is rendered in the Targum or Chaldee
paraphrase, _lealmin_, for ever, or to eternity. In the Latin
Vulgate, it is omitted, as if it were no part of the text. In the
Septuagint it is rendered _Diapsalma_, supposed to refer to some
variation or modulation of the voice in singing. Schleusner,
_Lex_. The word occurs seventy-three times in the Psalms, and
three times in the book of Habakkuk (#Hab 3:3,9,13|). It is never
translated in our version, but in all these places the original
word _Selah_ is retained. It occurs only in poetry, and is
supposed to have had some reference to the singing or
cantillation of poetry, and to be probably a musical term. In
general, also, it indicates a pause in the sense, as well as in
the musical performance. Gesenius (_Lex_.) supposes that the most
probable meaning of this musical term or note is _silence_ or
_pause_, and that its use was, in chanting the words of the
Psalm, to direct the singer _to be silent, to pause a little_,
while the instruments played an interlude or harmony. Perhaps
this is all that can now be known of the meaning of the word, and
this is enough to satisfy every reasonable enquiry. It is
probable, if this was the use of the term, that it would commonly
correspond with the sense of the passage, and be inserted where
the sense made a pause suitable; and this will doubtless be found
usually to be the fact. But any one acquainted at all with the
character of musical notation will perceive at once that we are
not to suppose that this would be invariably or necessarily the
fact, for the musical pauses by no means always correspond with
pauses in the sense. This word, therefore, can furnish very
little assistance in determining the meaning of the passages
where it is found. Ewald supposes, differing from this view, that
it rather indicates that in the places where it occurs the voice
is to be raised, and that it is synonymous with _up, higher,
loud_, or _distinct_, from _sal_, (_cal_ <05536>), _salal_,
(_câlal_ <05549>), _to ascend_). Those who are disposed to
enquire further respecting its meaning, and the uses of musical
pauses in general, may be referred to Ugolin, "_Thesau. Antiq.
Sacr._," tom. xxii.--^Albert Barnes, 1868.

        Verses 2,4,8.--_Selah_, (_celâh_, <05542>), is found
seventy-three times in the Psalms, generally at the end of a
sentence or paragraph; but in #Ps 55:19; 57:3|, it stands in the
middle of the verse. While most authors have agreed in
considering this word as somehow relating to the music, their
conjectures about its precise meaning have varied greatly. But at
present these two opinions chiefly obtain. Some, including
Herder, De Wette, Ewald (_Poet Bucher_, i. 179), and Delitzsch,
derive it from _celâh_ <05542>, or __câlal_ <05549>, _to raise_
and understand an _elevation_ of the voice or music; others,
after Gesenius, in _Thesaurus_, derive it from _celâh_ <05542>,
_to be still or silent, and understand a pause in the singing. So
Rosenmuller, Hengstenberg, and Tholuck. Probably _selah_ was used
to direct the singer to be silent, or to pause a little, while
the instruments played an interlude (so Sept., _diapsalma_) or
symphony. In #Ps 9:16|, it occurs in the expression _higgaion
selah_, which Gesenius, with much probability, renders
_instrumental, pause_; i.e., let the instruments strike up a
symphony, and let the singer pause. By Tholuck and Hengstenberg,
however, the two words are rendered _meditation, pause_; i.e.,
let the singer meditate while the music stops.--^Benjamin Davis,
Ph.D., LL.D., article Psalms, in Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Biblical
Literature.

          [As a curious instance of Luther's dogmatical
  interpretations, we  give very considerable extracts from his
  rendering of this Psalm without in any degree endorsing them.
                             C.H.S.]

        Whole Psalm.--That the meaning of this Psalm is not
historical, is manifest from many particulars, which militate
against its being so understood. And first of all, there is this
which the blessed Augustine has remarked; that the words, "I laid
me down to sleep and took my rest," seem to be the words of
Christ rising from the dead. And then that there is at the end
the blessing of God pronounced upon the people, which manifestly
belongs to the whole church. Hence, the blessed Augustine
interprets the Psalm in a threefold way: first, concerning Christ
the head; secondly concerning the whole of Christ, that is,
Christ and his church, the head and the body; and thirdly,
figuratively, concerning any private Christian. Let each have his
own interpretation. I, in the meantime, will interpret it
concerning Christ; being moved so to do by the same argument that
moved Augustine --that the fifth verse does not seem
appropriately to apply to any other but Christ. First, because,
"lying down" and "sleeping," signify in this place altogether a
natural death, not a natural sleep. Which may be collected from
this--because it then follows, "and rose again." Whereas if David
had spoken concerning the sleep of the body, he would have said,
"and awoke;" though this does not make so forcibly for the
interpretation of which we are speaking, if the Hebrew word be
closely examined. But again, what new thing would he advance by
declaring that he laid him down and slept? Why did he not say
also that he walked, ate, drank, laboured, or was in necessity,
or mention particularly some other work of the body? And
moreover, it seems an absurdity under so great a tribulation, to
boast of nothing else but the sleep of the body; for that
tribulation would rather force him to a privation from sleep, and
to be in peril and distress; especially since those two
expressions, "I laid me down," and "I slept," signify the quiet
repose of one lying down in his place, which is not the state of
one who falls asleep from exhausture through sorrow. But this
consideration makes the more forcibly for us--that he therefore
glories in his rising up again because it was the Lord that
sustained him, who raised him up while sleeping, and did not
leave him in sleep. How can such a glorying agree, and what new
kind of religion can make it agree, with any particular sleep of
the body? (for in that case, would it not apply to the daily
sleep also?) and especially, when this sustaining of God
indicates at the same time an utterly forsaken state in the
person sleeping, which is not the case in corporal sleep; for
there the person sleeping may be protected even by men being his
guards; but this sustaining being altogether of God, implies, not
a sleep, but a heavy conflict. And lastly, the word _hekizothi_
itself favours such an interpretation; which, being here put
absolutely and transitively, signifies, "I caused to arise or
awake." As if he had said, "I caused myself to awake, I roused
myself." Which certainly more aptly agrees with the resurrection
of Christ than with the sleep of the body; both because those who
are asleep are accustomed to be roused and awaked, and because it
is no wonderful matter, nor a matter worthy of so important a
declaration, for any one to awake of himself, seeing that it is
what takes place every day. But this matter being introduced by
the Spirit as a something new and singular, is certainly
different from all that which attends common sleeping and
waking.--^Martin Luther.

        Verse 2.--"_There is no help for him in his God_." In the
Hebrew the expression is simply, "in God," without the pronoun "
_his_," which seems to me to give clearness and force to the
expression. As if he had said, They say of me that I am not only
deserted and oppressed by all creatures, but that even God, who
is present with all things, and preserves all things, and
protects all things, forsakes me as the only thing out of the
whole universe that he does not preserve. Which kind of
temptation Job seems also to have tasted where he says, "Why hast
thou set me as a mark against thee?" #Job 7:20|. For there is no
temptation, no, not of the whole world together, nor of all hell
combined in one, equal unto that wherein God stands contrary to a
man, which temptation Jeremiah prays against (#Jer 17:17|), "Be
not a terror unto me; thou art my hope in the day of evil;" and
concerning which also the sixth Psalm following saith, "O Lord,
rebuke me not in thine anger;" and we find the same petitions
throughout the psaltery. This temptation is wholly unsupportable,
and is truly hell itself; as it is said in the same sixth Psalm,
"for in death there is no remembrance of thee," etc. In a word,
if you have never experienced it, you can never form any idea of
it whatever.--^Martin Luther.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 1.--"_The saint telling his griefs to his God_. (1)
His right to do so. (2) The proper manner of telling them. (3)
The fair results of such holy communications with the Lord.

        When may we expect increased troubles? Why are they sent?
What is our wisdom in reference to them?

        Verse 2.--The lie against the saint and the libel upon
his God.