Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps8.1

Text File | 1993-03-18 | 17KB | 298 lines

        TITLE.--"_To the Chief Musician upon Gittith, a Psalm of
David_." We are not clear upon the meaning of the word Gittith.
Some think it refers to Gath, and may refer to a tune commonly
sung there, or an instrument of music there invented, or a song
of Obededom the Gittite, in whose house the ark rested, or,
better still, a song sung over Goliath of Gath. Others, tracing
the Hebrew to its root, conceive it to mean a song for the
winepress, a joyful hymn for the treaders of grapes. The term
Gittith is applied to two other Psalms (#Ps 81; 84|), both of
which, being of a joyous character, it may be concluded, that
where we find that word in the title, we may look for a hymn of
delight.

        We may style this Psalm the song of the Astronomer: let
us go abroad and sing it beneath the starry heavens at eventide,
for it is very probable that in such a position, it first
occurred to the poet's mind. Dr. Chalmars say's, "There is much
in the scenery of a nocturnal sky, to lift the soul to pious
contemplation. That moon, and these stars, what are they? They
are detached from the world, and they lift us above it. We feel
withdrawn from the earth, and rise in lofty abstraction from this
little theatre of human passions and human anxieties. The mind
abandons itself to reverie, and is transferred in the ecstasy of
its thought to distant and unexplored regions. It sees nature in
the simplicity of her great elements, and it sees the God of
nature invested with the high attributes of wisdom and majesty."

        DIVISION.--The first and last verses (#1,8|) are a sweet
song of admiration, in which the excellence of the name of God is
extolled. The intermediate verses are made up of holy wonder at
the Lord's greatness in creation, and at his condescension
towards man. Poole, in his annotation, has well said, "It is a
great question among interpreters, whether this Psalm speaks of
man in general, and of the honour which God puts upon him in his
creation; or only of the man Christ Jesus. Possibly both may be
reconciled and put together, and the controversy, if rightly
stated, may be ended, for the scope and business of this Psalm
seems plainly to be this: to display and celebrate the great love
and kindness of God to mankind, not only in his creation, but
especially in his redemption by Jesus Christ, whom, as he was
man, he advanced to the honour and dominion here mentioned, that
he might carry on his great and glorious work. So Christ is the
principal subject of this Psalm, and it is interpreted of him,
both by our Lord himself (#Mt 21:16|), and by his holy apostle
(#1Co 15:27; Heb 2:6,7|).

                           EXPOSITION.

        Unable to express the glory of God, the Psalmist utters a
note of exclamation. O Jehovah our Lord! We need not wonder at
this, for no heart can measure, no tongue can utter, the half of
the greatness of Jehovah. The whole creation is full of his glory
and radiant with the excellency of his power; his goodness and
his wisdom are manifested on every hand. The countless myriads of
terrestrial beings, from man the head, to the creeping worm at
the foot, are all supported and nourished by the Divine bounty.
The solid fabric of the universe leans upon his eternal arm.
Universally is he present, and everywhere is his name excellent.
God worketh ever and everywhere. There is no _place_ where God is
not. The miracles of his power await us on all sides. Traverse
the silent valleys where the rocks enclose you on either side,
rising like the battlements of heaven till you can see but a
strip of the blue sky far overhead; you may be the only traveller
who has passed through that glen; the bird may start up
affrighted, and the moss may tremble beneath the first tread of
human foot; but God is there in a thousand wonders, upholding yon
rocky barriers, filling the flowercups with their perfume, and
refreshing the lonely pines with the breath of his mouth.
Descend, if you will, into the lowest depths of the ocean, where
undisturbed the water sleeps, and the very sand is motionless in
unbroken quiet, but the glory of the Lord is there, revealing its
excellence in the silent palace of the sea. Borrow the wings of
the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, but God is
there. Mount to the highest heaven, or dive into the deepest
hell, and God is in both hymned in everlasting song, or justified
in terrible vengeance. Everywhere, and in every place, God dwells
and is manifestly at work. Nor on earth alone is Jehovah
extolled, for his brightness shines forth in the firmament above
the earth. His glory exceeds the glory of the starry heavens;
above the region of the stars he hath set fast his everlasting
throne, and there he dwells in light ineffable. Let us adore him
"who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves
of the sea; who maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the
chambers of the south." (#Job 9:8,9|.) We can scarcely find more
fitting words than those of Nehemiah, "Thou even thou, art Lord
alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
their hosts, the earth, and all things that are therein, the
seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and
the host of heaven worshippeth thee." Returning to the text we
are led to observe that this Psalm is addressed to God, because
none but the Lord himself can fully know his own glory. The
believing heart is ravished with what it sees, but God only knows
the glory of God. What a sweetness lies in the little word _our_,
how much is God's glory endeared to us when we consider our
interest in him as our Lord. _How excellent is thy name_! no
words can express that excellency; and therefore it is left as a
note of exclamation. The very name of Jehovah is excellent, what
must his person be. Note the fact that even the heavens cannot
contain his glory, it is set _above the heavens_, since it is and
ever must be too great for the creature to express. When
wandering amid the alps, we felt that the Lord was infinitely
greater than all his grandest works, and under that feeling we
roughly wrote these few lines:--

        Yet in all these how great soe'er they be,
        We see not Him. The glass is all too dense
        And dark, or else our earthborn eyes too dim.

        Yon Alps, that lift their heads above the clouds
        And hold familiar converse with the stars,
        Are dust, at which the balance trembleth not,
        Compared with His divine immensity.
        The snow-crown'd summits fail to set Him forth,
        Who dwelleth in Eternity, and bears
        Alone, the name of High and Lofty One.
        Depths unfathomed are too shallow to express
        The wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord,
        The mirror of the creatures has no space
        To bear the image of the Infinite.
        'Tis true the Lord hath fairly writ His name,
        And set His seal upon creation's brow.
        But as the skilful potter much excels
        The vessel which he fashions on the wheel,
        E'en so, but in proportion greater far,
        Jehovah's self transcends His noblest works.
        Earth's ponderous wheels would break, her axles snap,
        If freighted with the load of Deity.
        Space is too narrow for the Eternal's rest,
        And time too short a footstool for His throne.
        E'en avalanche and thunder lack a voice,
        To utter the full volume of His praise.
        How then can I declare Him! Where are words
        With which my glowing tongue may speak His name!
        Silent I bow, and humbly I adore.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Title.--"_Gittith_," was probably a musical instrument
used at their rejoicings after the vintage. The vintage closed
the civil year of the Jews, and this Psalm directs us to the
latter-day glory, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth,
having subdued all his enemies. It is very evident that the
vintage was adopted as a figurative representation of the final
destruction of all God's enemies. Isa 63:1-6; Re 19:18-20|. The
ancient Jewish interpreters so understood this Psalm, and apply
it to the mystic vintage. We may then consider this interesting
composition as a prophetic anticipation of the kingdom of Christ,
to be established in glory and honour in the "world to come," the
habitable world. #Heb 2:5|. We see not yet all things put under
his feet, but we are sure that the word of God shall be
fulfilled, and every enemy, Satan, death, and hell, shall be for
ever subdued and destroyed, and creation itself delivered from
the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. #Ro 8:17-23|. In the use of this Psalm, then, we
anticipate that victory, and in the praise we thus celebrate, we
go on from strength to strength till, with him who is our
glorious head, we appear in Zion before God.--^W. Wilson, D.D.,
in loc.

        Whole Psalm.--Now, consider but the scope of the Psalm,
as the apostle quoteth it to prove the world to come. #Heb 2|.
Any one that reads the Psalm would think that the Psalmist doth
but set forth old Adam in his kingdom, in his paradise, made a
little lower than the angels--for we have spirits wrapped up in
flesh and blood, whereas they are spirits simply--a degree lower,
as if they were dukes, and we marquises; one would think, I say,
that this were all his meaning, and that it is applied to Christ
but by way of allusion. But the truth is, the apostle bringeth it
in to prove and to convince these Hebrews, to whom he wrote, that
that Psalm was meant of Christ, of that man whom they expected to
be the Messiah, the man Christ Jesus. And that he doth it, I
prove by the sixth verse (#Heb 2:6|) --it is the observation that
Beza hath---"One in a certain place," quoting David,
_diamarturômai_ <1263>, hath testified; so we may translate it,
hath testified it, _etiam atque etiam_, testified most expressly;
he bringeth an express proof for it that it was meant of the Man
Christ Jesus; therefore it is not an allusion. And indeed it was
Beza that did first begin that interpretation that I read of, and
himself therefore doth excuse it and make an apology for it, that
he diverteth out of the common road, though since many others
have followed him.

        Now the scope of the Psalm is plainly this: in #Ro 5:14|,
you read that Adam was a type of him that was to come. Now in #Ps
8|, you find there Adam's world, the type of a world to come; he
was the first Adam, and had a world, so the second Adam hath a
world also appointed for him; there are his oxen and his sheep,
and the fowls of the air, whereby are meant other things, devils
perhaps, and wicked men, the prince of the air; as by the heavens
there, the angels, or the apostles rather--"the heavens declare
the glory of God;" that is applied to the apostles, that were
preachers of the gospel.

        To make this plain to you, that that Psalm where the
phrase is used, "All things under his feet," and quoted by the
apostle in #Eph 1:22| --therefore it is proper--was not meant of
man in innocency, but of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ; and
therefore, answerably, that the world there is not this world,
but a world on purpose made for this Messiah, as the other was
for Adam.

        First, it was not meant of man in innocency properly and
principally. Why? Because in the second verse (#2|) he saith,
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained
strength." There were no babes in the time of Adam's innocency,
he fell before there were any. Secondly, he addeth, "That thou
mightest still the enemy and the avenger;" the devil that is, for
he showed himself the enemy there, to be a manslayer from the
beginning. God would use man to still him; alas! he overcame Adam
presently. It must be meant of another therefore, one that is
able to still this enemy and avenger.

        Then he saith, "How excellent is thy name in all the
earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens." Adam had but
paradise, he never propagated God's name over all the earth; he
did not continue so long before he fell as to beget sons; much
less did he found it in the heavens.

        Again, verse #4|, "What is man, and the son of man?"
Adam, though he was man, yet he was not the son of man; he is
called indeed, "the son of God" (#Lu 3:38|), but he was not
_filius hominis_. I remember Ribera urgeth that.

        But take an argument the apostle himself useth to prove
it. This man, saith he, must have all subject to him; all but
God, saith he; he must have the angels subject to him, for he
hath put all principalities and powers under his feet, saith he.
This could not be Adam, it could not be the man that had this
world in a state of innocency; much less had Adam all under his
feet. No, my brethren, it was too great a vassalage for Adam to
have the creatures thus bow to him. But they are thus to Jesus
Christ, angels and all; they are all under his feet, he is far
above them.

        Secondly, it is not meant of man fallen, that is as
plain; the apostle himself saith so. "We see not," saith he,
"all things subject unto him." Some think that it is meant as an
objection that the apostle answereth; but it is indeed to prove
that man fallen cannot be meant in Psalm 8. Why? because, saith
he, we do not see anything, all things at least, subject unto
him; you have not any one man, or the whole race of man, to whom
all things have been subject; the creatures are sometimes
injurious to him. We do not see him, saith he; that is, the
nature of man in general considered. Take all the monarchs in the
world, they never conquered the whole world; there was never any
one man that was a sinner that had all subject to him. "But we
see," saith he--mark the opposition--"but we see Jesus," that
man, "crowned with glory and honour;" therefore, it is this man,
and no man else; the opposition implieth it " ... So now it
remaineth then, that it is only Christ, God-man, that is meant in
Psalm 8. And indeed, and in truth, Christ himself interpreteth
the Psalm of himself; you have two witnesses to confirm it,
Christ himself and the apostle. #Mt 21:16|. When they cried
hosanna to Christ, or "save now," and made him the Saviour of the
world, the Pharisees were angry, our Saviour confuteth them by
this very Psalm: "Have ye not read," saith he, "out of the mouths
of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?" He quoteth
this very Psalm which speaks of himself; and Paul, by his
warrant, and perhaps from that hint, doth thus argue out of it,
and convince the Jews by it.--^Thomas Goodwin.

        Verse 1.--"_How excellent is thy name in all the earth_!"
How illustrious is the name of Jesus throughout the world! His
incarnation, birth, humble, and obscure life, preaching,
miracles, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are
celebrated through the whole world. His religion, the gifts and
graces of his spirit, his people--Christians, his gospel, and the
preachers of it, are everywhere spoken of. No name is so
universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of
the Saviour of mankind. Amen.--^Adam Clarke.

        Verse 1.--"_Above the heavens_;" Not in the heavens, but
"_above the heavens_;" even greater, beyond, and higher than
they; "angels, principalities, and powers, being made subject
unto him." As Paul says, he hath "ascended up far above all
heavens." And with this his glory above the heaven is connected,
his sending forth his name upon earth through his Holy Spirit. As
the apostle adds in this passage, "He hath ascended up far above
all heavens; and he gave some apostles." And thus here: "thy name
excellent in all the world;" "Thy glory above the
heavens."--^Isaac Williams.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 1.--"_O Lord, our Lord_."--Personal appropriation
of the Lord as ours. The privilege of holding such a portion.
        "_How excellent_," etc. The excellence of the name and
nature of God in all places, and under all circumstances.
        Sermon or lecture upon the glory of God in creation and
providence.
          "_In all the earth_." The universal revelation of God
in nature and its excellency.
          "_Thy glory above the heavens_." The incomprehensible
and infinite glory of God.
          "_Above the heavens_." The glory of God outsoaring the
intellect of angels, and the splendour of heaven.