Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps4.1

Text File | 1993-03-16 | 8KB | 144 lines

        TITLE.--This Psalm is apparently intended to accompany
the third, and make a pair with it. If the last may be entitled
_THE MORNING PSALM_, this from its matter is equally deserving of
the title of _THE EVENING HYMN_. May the choice words of verse
#8| be our sweet song of rest as we retire to our repose!

        "Thus with my thoughts composed to peace,
                I'll give mine eyes to sleep;
        Thy hand in safety keeps my days,
                And will my slumbers keep."

        The Inspired title runs thus: "_To the chief Musician on
Neginoth, a Psalm of David_." The chief musician was the master
or director of the sacred music of the sanctuary. Concerning this
person carefully read #1Ch 6:31,32; 15:16-22; 25:1,7|. In these
passages will be found much that is interesting to the lover of
sacred song, and very much that will throw a light upon the mode
of praising God in the temple. Some of the titles of the Psalms
are, we doubt not, derived from the names of certain renowned
singers, who composed the music to which they were set.

        _On Neginoth_, that is, on stringed instruments, or hand
instruments, which were played on with the hand alone, as harps
and cymbals. The joy of the Jewish church was so great that they
needed music to set forth the delightful feelings of their souls,
our holy mirth is none the less overflowing because we prefer to
express it in a more spiritual manner, as becometh a more
spiritual dispensation. In allusion to these instruments to be
played on with the hand, Nazianzen says. "Lord I am an instrument
for thee to touch." Let us lay ourselves open to the Spirit's
touch, so shall we make melody. May we be full of faith and love,
and we shall be living instruments of music.

        Hawker says "The Septuagint read the word which we have
rendered in our translation chief musician _Lamenetz_, instead of
_Lamenetzoth_, the meaning of which is _unto the end_." From
whence the Greek and Latin fathers imagined, that all psalms
which bear this inscription refer to the Messiah the great end.
If so, this Psalm is addressed to Christ; and well it may, for it
is all of Christ, and spoken by Christ, and hath respect only to
his people as being one with Christ. The Lord the Spirit give the
reader to see this, and he will find it most blessed.

        DIVISION.--In the first verse David pleads with God for
help. In 2 he expostulates with his enemies, and continues to
address them to the end of verse 5. Then from verse #6-8| he
delightfully contrasts his own satisfaction and safety with the
disquietude of the ungodly in their best estate. The Psalm was
most probably written upon the same occasion as the preceding,
and is another choice flower from the garden of affliction. Happy
is it for us that David was tried, or probably we should never
have heard these sweet sonnets of faith.

                           EXPOSITION.

        This is another instance of David's common habit of
pleading past mercies as a ground for present favour. Here he
reviews his Ebenezers and takes comfort from them. It is not to
be imagined that he who has helped us in six troubles will leave
us in the seventh. God does nothing by halves, and he will never
cease to help us until we cease to need. The manna shall fall
every morning until we cross the Jordan.

        Observe, that David speaks first to God and then to men.
Surely we should all speak the more boldly to men if we had more
constant converse with God. He who dares to face his Maker will
not tremble before the sons of men.

        The name by which the Lord is here addressed, "_God of my
righteousness_," deserves notice, since it is not used in any
other part of scripture. It means, Thou art the author, the
witness, the maintainer, the judge, and the rewarder of my
righteousness; to thee I appeal from the calumnies and harsh
judgments of men. Herein is wisdom, let us imitate it and always
take our suit, not to the petty courts of human opinion, but into
the superior court, the King's Bench of heaven.

        "_Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress_." A
figure taken from an army enclosed in a defile, and hardly
pressed by the surrounding enemy. God hath dashed down the rocks
and given me room; he hath broken the barriers and set me in a
large place. Or, we may understand it thus:--"God hath enlarged
my heart with joy and comfort when I was like a man imprisoned by
grief and sorrow." God is a never-failing comforter.

        "_Have mercy upon me_." Though thou mayest justly permit
my enemies to destroy me, on account of my many and great sins,
yet I flee to thy mercy, and I beseech thee _hear my prayer_, and
bring thy servant out of his troubles. The best of men need mercy
as truly as the worst of men. All the deliverances of saints, as
well as the pardons of sinners, are the free gifts of heavenly
grace.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 1.--"_Hear me when I call," etc. Faith is a good
orator and a noble disputer in a strait; it can reason from God's
readiness to hear: "_Hear me when I call, O God_." And from the
everlasting righteousness given to the man in the justification
of his person: "_O God of my righteousness_." And from God's
constant justice in defending the righteousness of his servant's
cause: "_O God of my righteousness_." And from both present
distresses and those that are by-past, wherein he hath been, and
from by-gone mercies received: "_Thou hast enlarged me when I was
in distress_." And from God's grace, which is able to answer all
objections from the man's unworthiness or ill-deserving: "_Have
mercy upon me, and hear my prayer_."--^David Dickson, 1653.

        Verse 1.--"_Hear me_." The great Author of nature and of
all things does nothing in vain. He instituted not this law, and,
if I may so express it, art of praying, as a vain and
insufficient thing, but endows it with wonderful efficacy for
producing the greatest and happiest consequences. He would have
it to be the key by which all the treasures of heaven should be
opened. He has constructed it as a powerful machine, by which we
may, with easy and pleasant labour, remove from us the most dire
and unhappy machinations of our enemy, and may with equal ease
draw to ourselves what is most propitious and advantageous.
Heaven and earth, and all the elements, obey and minister to the
hands which are often lifted up to heaven in earnest prayer. Yea,
all works, and, which is yet more and greater, all the words of
God obey it. Well known in the sacred Scriptures are the examples
of Moses and Joshua, and that which James (#Jas 5:17|)
particularly mentions of Elijah, whom he expressly calls
_hômôiôpathês_ <3663>, _a man subject to like infirmities_ with
ourselves, that he might illustrate the admirable force of
prayer, by the common and human weakness of the person by whom it
was offered. And that Christian legion under Antoninus is well
known and justly celebrated, which, for the singular ardour and
efficacy of its prayers, obtained the name of _kêraunôbôlôs_,
_the thundering legion_.--^Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of
Glasgow, 1611--1684.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 1.--Is full of matter for a sermon upon, _past
mercies a plea for present help_. The first sentence shows that
believers desire, expect, and believe in a God that heareth
prayer. The title--_God of my righteousness_, may furnish a text
(see exposition), and the last sentence may suggest a sermon
upon, "The best of saints must still appeal to God's mercy and
sovereign grace."