Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps3.7

Text File | 1993-03-15 | 4KB | 76 lines

                           EXPOSITION.

        His only hope is in his God, but that is so strong a
confidence, that he feels the Lord hath but to _arise_ and he is
saved. It is enough for the Lord to stand up, and all is well. He
compares his enemies to wild beasts, and he declares that God
hath broken their jaws, so that they could not injure him; "_Thou
hast broken the teeth of the ungodly_." Or else he alludes to the
peculiar temptations to which he was then exposed. They had
spoken against him; God, therefore, has smitten them upon the
cheek bone. They seemed as if they would devour him with their
mouths; God hath broken their teeth, and let them say what they
will, their toothless jaws shall not be able to devour him.
Rejoice, O believer, thou hast to do with a dragon whose head is
broken, and with enemies whose teeth are dashed from their jaws!

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 7.--"_Arise, O Lord," Jehovah! This is a common
scriptural mode of calling upon God to manifest his presence and
his power, either in wrath or favour. By a natural
anthropomorphism, it describes the intervals of such
manifestation as periods of inaction or of slumber, out of which
he is besought to rouse himself. "_Save me_," even me, of whom
they say there is no help for him in God. "_Save me_, O my God_,"
mine by covenant and mutual engagement, to whom I therefore have
a right to look for deliverance and protection. This confidence
is warranted, moreover, by experience. "_For thou hast_," in
former exigencies, "_smitten all mine enemies_," without
exception "_(on the) cheek_" or _jaw_, an act at once violent and
insulting. --^J. A. Alexander, D.D.

        Verse 7.--"_Upon the cheek bone_."--The language seems to
be taken from a comparison of his enemies with wild beasts. The
cheek bone denotes the bone in which the teeth are placed, and to
break that is to disarm the animal.--^Albert Barnes, in loc.

        Verse 7.--When God takes vengeance upon the ungodly, he
will smite in such a manner as to make them feel his almightiness
in every stroke. All his power shall be exercised in punishing
and none in pitying. O that every obstinate sinner would think of
this, and consider his unmeasurable boldness in thinking himself
able to grapple with Omnipotence!--^Stephen Charnock.

          [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.]

        Verse 7.--"_For thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon
the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly_."
Hieronymus uses this metaphor of "_cheek bones_,"] and "_teeth_,"
to represent cutting words, detractions, calumnies, and other
injuries of the same kind, by which the innocent are oppressed:
according to that of #Pr 30:14|, "There is a generation whose
teeth are as swords, and their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the
poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men." It was by
these that Christ was devoured, when, before Pilate he was
condemned to the cross by the voices and accusations of his
enemies. And hence it is that the apostle saith (#Ga 5:15|), "But
if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not
consumed one of another."--^Martin Luther.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 7.--(1) Describe the Lord's past dealing with his
enemies; "thou hast." (2) Show that the Lord should be our
constant resort, "O Lord," "O my God." (3) Enlarge upon the fact
that the Lord is to be stirred up: "Arise." (4) Urge believers to
use the Lord's past victories as an argument with which to
prevail with him.

        Verse 7 (last clause).--Our enemies vanquished foes,
toothless lions.