Print Page - Psalms - From The Treasury of David By Charles Spurgeon

Psalms 23
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Verse 1. "The Lord is my shepherd." What condescension is this, that the infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a Shepherd! It should be the subject of grateful admiration that the great God allows himself to be compared to anything which will set forth his great love and care for his own people. David had himself been a keeper of sheep, and understood both the needs of the sheep and the many cares of a shepherd. He compares himself to a weak, defenseless, and foolish creature, and he takes God to be his Provider, Preserver, Director, and, indeed, his everything. No man has a right to consider himself the Lord's sheep unless his nature has been renewed; for the scriptural description of unconverted men does not picture them as sheep, but as wolves or goats. A sheep is an object of property, not a wild animal; its owner sets great store by it, and frequently it is bought with a great price. It is well to know, as certainly David did, that we belong to the Lord. There is a noble tone of confidence about this sentence. There is no "if" nor "but," nor even "I hope so;" but he says, "The Lord is my shepherd." We must cultivate the spirit of assured dependence upon our heavenly Father.

The sweetest word of the whole verse, is that monosyllable, "My." He does not say, "The Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, and leads forth the multitude as his flock," but "The Lord is my shepherd;" if he be a Shepherd to no one else, he is a Shepherd to me; he cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me. The words are in the present tense. Whatever be the believer's position, he is even now under the pastoral care of Jehovah.

The next words are a sort of inference from the first statement - they are weighty and positive - "I shall not lack." I might lack otherwise, but when the Lord is my Shepherd he is able to supply my needs, and he is certainly willing to do so--for his heart is full of love, and therefore "I shall not lack." I shall not lack for TEMPORAL things. Does he not feed the ravens, and cause the lilies to grow? How, then, can he leave his children to starve? I shall not lack my SPIRITUAL needs, I know that his grace will be sufficient for me. Resting in him he will say to me, "As your day so shall your strength be." I may not possess all that I wish for, but I shall not lack any truly good thing. Others, far wealthier and wiser than I, may lack, but "I shall not." "The young lions lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing." It is not only "I do not lack," but "I shall not lack." Come what may, if famine should devastate the land, or calamity destroy the city, "I shall not lack." Old age with its feebleness shall not bring me any lack, and even death with its gloom shall not find me destitute. I have all things and abound; not because I have a good store of money in the bank, not because I have skill and wit with which to earn my bread, but because "The Lord is my shepherd." The wicked always lack, but the righteous never. A lost sinner's heart is far from satisfaction, but a gracious spirit dwells in the palace of contentment.

Verse 2. "He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside the still waters." The Christian life has two elements in it, the contemplative and the active, and both of these are richly provided for. First, the CONTEMPLATIVE. "He makes me to lie down in green pastures." What are these "green pastures" but the Scriptures of truth - always fresh, always rich, and never exhausted? There is no fear of biting the bare ground--where the grass is long enough for the flock to lie down in it. Sweet and full are the doctrines of the gospel; fit food for souls, as tender grass is natural nutriment for sheep. When by faith we are enabled to find rest in the promises, we are like the sheep that lie down in the midst of the pasture; we find at the same moment both provisions and peace, rest and refreshment, serenity and satisfaction.

But observe, "He makes me to lie down." It is the Lord who graciously enables us to perceive the preciousness of his truth, and to feed upon it. How grateful ought we to be for the power to appropriate the promises! There are some distracted souls who would give worlds if they could but do this. They know the blessedness of it, but they cannot say that this blessedness is theirs. They know the "green pastures," but they are not made to "lie down" in them. Those believers who have for years enjoyed a "full assurance of faith" should greatly bless their gracious God.

The second part of a vigorous Christian's life consists in GRACIOUS ACTIVITY. We not only think, but we act. We are not always lying down to feed, but are journeying onward toward perfection; hence we read, "he leads me beside the still waters." What are these "still waters" but the influences and graces of his blessed Spirit? His Spirit attends us in various operations, like waters - in the plural - to cleanse, to refresh, to fertilize, to cherish. They are "still waters," for the Holy Spirit loves peace, and sounds no 'trumpet of ostentation' in his operations. He may flow into our soul, but not into our neighbor's; and therefore our neighbor may not perceive the divine presence; and though the blessed Spirit may be pouring his floods into one heart, yet he who sits next to the favored one may know nothing of it.

Still waters run deep. Nothing more noisy than an empty drum. That silence is golden indeed, in which the Holy Spirit meets with the souls of his saints. Not to raging waves of strife, but to peaceful streams of holy love does the Spirit of God conduct the chosen sheep. He is a dove, not an eagle. He is the dew, not the hurricane. Our Lord leads us beside these "still waters"--we could not go there of ourselves, we need his guidance, therefore it is said, "he leads me." He does not drive us. Moses drives us by the law, but Jesus leads us by his example, and the gentle drawing of his love.

Verse 3. "He restores my soul." When the soul grows sorrowful, our Shepherd revives it. When the soul is sinful, he sanctifies it. When the soul is weak, he strengthens it. "He" does it. His ministers could not do it--if our Shepherd did not. His Word would not avail by itself. "He restores my soul." Are any of us low in grace? Do we feel that our spirituality is at its lowest ebb? He who turns the ebb into the flood can soon restore our soul. Pray to him, then, for the blessing - "Restore me, O Shepherd of my soul!"

"He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." The Christian delights to be obedient, but it is the obedience of love, to which he is constrained by the example of his Master. "He leads me." The Christian is not obedient to some commandments and neglectful of others. He does not pick and choose--but yields to all. Observe, that the plural is used - "the paths of righteousness." Whatever God may give us to do--we would do it, led by his love. Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain impenitent sinners--we would not be saved as we desire. For we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness. All this is done out of pure free grace--"for his name's sake." It is to the honor of our great Shepherd that we should be a holy people, walking in the narrow way of righteousness. If we be so led and guided we must not fail to adore our heavenly Shepherd's care.

Psalms 23
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Verse 4. "Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me." This unspeakably delightful verse has been sung on many a dying bed, and has helped to make the dark valley bright. Every word in it has a wealth of meaning. "Yes, though I walk," as if the believer did not quicken his pace when he came to die, but still calmly walked with God. To walk indicates the steady advance of a soul which knows its road, knows its end, resolves to follow the path, feels quite safe, and is therefore perfectly calm and composed. The dying saint is not in a flurry, he does not run as though he were alarmed, nor stand still as though he would go no further. He is not confounded nor ashamed, and therefore keeps to his old pace. Observe that it is not walking in the valley, but through the valley. We go through the dark tunnel of death and emerge into the light of immortality! We do not die, we do but sleep--to wake in glory! Death is not the house--but the porch! Death is not our final resting place--but the passage to it.

The dying place is called a valley. The storm breaks on the mountain, but the valley is the place of quietude, and thus full often the last days of the Christian are the most peaceful of his whole life. The mountain is bleak and bare, but the valley is rich with golden sheaves, and many a saint has reaped more joy and knowledge when he came to die, than he ever knew while he lived.

And, then, it is not "the valley of death," but "the valley of the shadow of death," for death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains. Someone has said that when there is a shadow there must be light somewhere, and so there is. Death stands by the side of the highway in which we have to travel, and the light of heaven shining upon him throws a shadow across our path; let us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a man's pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a dog cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us. Let us not, therefore, be afraid.

"I will fear no evil." He does not say there shall not be any evil; he had got beyond even that high assurance, and knew that Jesus had put all evil away; but "I will fear no evil;" as if even his fears, those shadows of evil, were gone for ever. The worst evils of life are those which do not exist--except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we would not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the psalmist was cured of the disease of fearing. "I will fear no evil," not even the Evil One himself! I will not dread the last enemy--death! I will look upon him as a conquered foe, an enemy to be destroyed.

"For you are with me." This is the joy of the Christian! "You are with me." The little child out at sea in the storm is not frightened like all the other passengers on board the vessel, it sleeps in its mother's bosom; it is enough for it that its mother is with it. And it should be enough for the believer to know that Christ is with him. "You are with me! I have, in having you, all that I can need and desire. I have perfect comfort and absolute security--for you are with me!"

"Your rod and your staff," by which you govern and rule your flock, the emblems of your sovereignty and of your gracious care - "they comfort me." I will believe that you reign still. The rod of Jesse shall still be over me as the sovereign support of my soul.

Many people profess to receive much comfort from the hope that they shall not die. Certainly there will be some who will be "alive and remain" at the coming of the Lord. But is there so very much of advantage in such an 'escape from death' as to make it the object of Christian desire? A wise man might prefer of the two--to die; for those who shall not die, but who "shall be caught up together with the Lord in the air," will be losers rather than gainers. They will lose that actual fellowship with Christ in the tomb which dying saints will have, and we are expressly told that they shall have no preference beyond those who are asleep. Let us be of Paul's mind when he said that "To die is gain," and think of "departing to be with Christ, which is far better." This twenty-third psalm is not worn out--it is as sweet in a believer's ear now as it was in David's time, let novelty-hunters say what they will.

Verse 5. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." The godly man has his enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for the friendship of the world is enmity to God. Yet see the quietude of the godly man in spite of, and in the sight of, his enemies. How refreshing is his calm bravery! "You prepare a table before me." When a soldier is in the presence of his enemies, if he eats at all--he snatches a hasty meal, and away he hastens to the fight. But observe, "You prepare a table," just as a servant does when she unfolds the fancy tablecloth and displays the ornaments of the feast on a festive occasion. Nothing is hurried, there is no confusion, no disturbance, the enemy is at the door, and yet God prepares a table, and the Christian sits down and eats as if everything were in perfect peace. Oh! the peace which Jehovah gives to his people, even in the midst of the most trying circumstances!

"Let earth be all in arms abroad,
They dwell in perfect peace."

"You anoint my head with OIL." May we live in the daily enjoyment of this blessing, receiving a fresh anointing for every day's duties. Every Christian is a priest, but he cannot execute the priestly office without unction, and hence we must go day by day to God the Holy Spirit, that we may have our heads anointed with oil. A priest without the anointing oil misses the chief qualification for his office; and the Christian priest lacks his chief fitness for service when he is devoid of new grace from on high.

"My cup runs over." He had not only enough--a cup full; but more than enough--a cup which overflowed. A poor believer may say this as well as those in richer circumstances. "What, all this--and Jesus Christ too!" said a poor cottager as she broke a piece of bread and filled a glass with cold water. Whereas a man may be ever so wealthy, but if he is discontented--his cup cannot run over--it is cracked and leaks. 'Contentment' is the philosopher's magic stone--which turns all it touches into gold! Happy is he who has found it. Contentment is more than a kingdom--it is another word for happiness!

Verse 6. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life." This is a fact as indisputable as it is encouraging; and therefore a heavenly "surely" is set as a seal upon it. This sentence may be read, "only goodness and mercy," for there shall be unmingled mercy in our life history. These twin guardian angels--goodness and mercy--will always be with me at my back and my beck. Just as when great princes go abroad they must not go unattended, so it is with the believer. Goodness and mercy follow him always - "all the days of his life" - the black days as well as the bright days; the days of fasting as well as the days of feasting; the dreary days of winter as well as the bright days of summer. GOODNESS supplies our needs; and MERCY blots out our sins!

"And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." "A servant abides not in the house for ever; but the son abides forever." While I am here on this earth, I will be a child at home with my God. The whole world shall be his house to me! And when I ascend into the 'upper chamber', I shall not change my company, nor even change the house; I shall only go to dwell in the upper storey of the house of the Lord forever!

May God grant us grace to dwell in the serene atmosphere of this most blessed Psalm!

Psalms 46
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in every trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High God dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah.

Verse 1. "God is our refuge and strength." Not our armies, or our fortresses. Israel's boast is in Jehovah, the only living and true God. Others vaunt their impregnable castles, placed on inaccessible rocks, and secured with gates of iron - but God is a far better refuge from distress than all these! And when the time comes to carry the war into the enemy's territories, the Lord stands his people in better stead than all the valor of legions or the boasted strength of chariot and horse. Soldiers of the Cross, remember this, and count yourselves safe, and make yourselves strong in God. Forget not the personal possessive word "our;" make sure, each one, of your portion in God, that you may say, "He is my refuge and strength!" Neither forget the fact that God is our refuge just now, in the immediate present, as truly as when David penned the word. God alone is our all in all. All other refuges are refuges of lies, all other strength is weakness - for power belongs unto God! And as God is all-sufficient, our defense and might are equal to all emergencies!

"A very present help in every trouble," or in 'every distress'. He has so been found, he has been tried and proved by his people. He never withdraws himself from his afflicted ones. He is their help, truly, effectually, constantly; he is present or near them, close at their side and ready for their succor, and this is emphasized by the word "every" in our version. He is more present than friend or relative can be, yes, more nearly present than even the trouble itself. To all this comfortable truth, is added the consideration that his assistance comes at the needed time. He is not as the swallows that leave us in the winter; he is a friend in need and a friend indeed. When it is very dark with us, let brave spirits say, "Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm!"

"A fortress firm, and steadfast rock,
Is God in time of danger;
A shield and sword in every shock,
From foe well-known or stranger".

Verse 2. "Therefore." How fond the psalmist is of 'therefores'! his poetry is no poetic rapture without reason, it is as logical as a mathematical demonstration. The next words are a necessary inference from these.

"Will not we fear." With God on our side - how irrational would fear be! Where he is - all power is, and all love - why therefore should we quail?

"Though the earth be removed," though the basis of all visible things should be so convulsed as to be entirely changed.

"And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;" though the firmest of created objects should fall to headlong ruin, and be submerged in utter destruction. The two phrases set forth the most terrible commotions within the range of imagination, and include the overthrow of dynasties, the destruction of nations, the ruin of families, the persecutions of the church, the reign of heresy - and whatever else may at any time try the faith of believers. Let the worst come to the worst, the child of God should never give way to mistrust; since God remains faithful there can be no danger to his cause or people. When the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the heavens and the earth shall pass away in the last general conflagration, we shall serenely behold "the wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds," for even then our refuge shall preserve us from all evil, our strength shall prepare us for all good.

Verse 3. "Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled." When all things are excited to fury, and reveal their utmost power to disturb - faith smiles serenely. She is not afraid of noise, nor even of real force, she knows that the Lord stills the raging of the sea, and holds the waves in the hollow of his hand.

Psalms 46
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

"Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Alps and Andes may tremble - but faith rests on a firmer basis, and is not to be moved by swelling seas. Evil may ferment, wrath may boil, and pride may foam - but the brave heart of holy confidence trembles not. Great men who are like mountains, may quake for fear in times of great calamity - but the man whose trust is in God needs never be dismayed.

"Selah." In the midst of such a hurly-burly, the music may well come to a pause, both to give the singers breath, and ourselves time for meditation.

We are in no hurry - but can sit us down and wait while earth dissolves, and mountains rock, and oceans roar. Ours is not the headlong rashness which passes for courage - we can calmly confront the danger, and meditate upon terror, dwelling on its separate items and united forces. The pause is not an exclamation of dismay - but merely a rest in music; we do not suspend our song in alarm - but retune our harps with deliberation amidst the tumult of the storm. It were well if all of us could say, "Selah," under tempestuous trials - but alas! too often we speak in our haste, lay our trembling hands bewildered among the strings, strike the lyre with a crude crash, and mar the melody of our life-song.

Verse 4. "There is a river." Divine grace like a smoothly flowing, fertilizing, full, and never-failing river, yields refreshment and consolation to believers.

This is the river of the water of life, of which the church above as well as the church below partakes evermore. It is no boisterous ocean - but a placid stream, it is not stopped in its course by earthquakes or crumbling mountains, it follows its serene course without disturbance. Happy are those who know from their own experience, that there is such a river of God.

"The streams whereof" in their various influences, for they are many, "shall make glad the city of God," by assuring the citizens that Zion's Lord will unfailingly supply all their needs. The streams are not transient like Cherith, nor muddy like the Nile, nor furious like Kishon, nor treacherous like Job's deceitful brooks, neither are their waters shallow like those of Jericho - they are clear, cool, fresh, abundant, and gladdening.

The great fear of an Eastern city in time of war, was lest the water supply should be cut off during a siege; if that were secured the city could hold out against attacks for an indefinite period.

In this verse, Jerusalem, which represents the church of God, is described as well supplied with water, to set forth the fact, that in seasons of trial - all-sufficient grace will be given to enable us to endure unto the end. The church is like a well-ordered city, surrounded with mighty walls of truth and justice, garrisoned by omnipotence, strongly built and adorned by infinite wisdom. Its inhabitants enjoy high privileges; they trade with far off lands, they live in the smile of the King; and as a great river is the very making and mainstay of a town - so is the broad river of everlasting love and grace is their joy and bliss. The church is peculiarly the "City of God," of his designing, building, election, purchasing and indwelling. It is dedicated to his praise, and glorified by his presence.

"The holy place where the Most High God wells." This was the peculiar glory of Jerusalem, that the Lord within her walls had a place where he peculiarly revealed himself, and this is the choice privilege of the saints, concerning which we may cry with wonder, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us - and not unto the world!" To be a temple for the Holy Spirit is the delightful portion of each saint, to be the living temple for the Lord our God is also the high honor of the church in her corporate capacity.

Our God is here called by a worthy title, indicating his power, majesty, sublimity, and excellency; and it is worthy of note that under this character, he dwells in the church. We have not a great God in nature, and a little God in grace. No! the church contains as clear and convincing a revelation of God as the works of nature, and even more amazing in the excellent glory which shines between the cherubim overshadowing that mercy seat which is the center and gathering place of the people of the living God. To have the Most High dwelling within her members, is to make the church on earth - like the church in heaven.

Verse 5. "God is in the midst of her." His help is therefore sure and near. Is she besieged - then he is himself besieged within her, and we may be certain that he will break forth upon his adversaries. How near is the Lord to the distresses of his saints, since he sojourns in their midst! Let us take heed that we do not grieve him; let us have such respect to him as Moses had when he felt the sand of Horeb's desert to be holy, and took off his shoes from off his feet, when the Lord spoke from the burning bush.

Psalms 46
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

"She shall not be moved." How can she be moved - unless her enemies move her Lord also? His presence renders all hope of capturing and demolishing the city, to be utterly ridiculous. The Lord is in the vessel, and she cannot, therefore, be wrecked.

"God shall help her." Within her - he will furnish rich supplies, and outside her walls - he will lay her foes in heaps like the armies of Sennacherib, when the angel went forth and smote them.

"And that right early." As soon as the first ray of light proclaims the coming day, at the turning of the morning God's right arm shall be outstretched for his people. The Lord is up early. We are slow to meet him - but he is never tardy in helping us. Impatience complains of divine delays - but truly, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise.

Man's haste is often folly - but God's apparent delays are ever wise; and, when rightly viewed, are no delays at all. Today the bands of evil may environ the church of God, and threaten her with destruction; but before long they shall pass away like the foam on the waters, and the noise of their tumult shall be silent in the grave. The darkest hour of the night is just before the turning of the morning; and then, even then, shall the Lord appear as the great ally of his church.

Verse 6. "The heathen raged." The nations were in a furious uproar, they gathered against the city of the Lord like wolves ravenous for their prey; they foamed, and roared, and swelled like a tempestuous sea.

"The kingdoms were moved." A general confusion seized upon society; the fierce invaders convulsed their own dominions by draining the population to urge on the war, and they desolated other territories by their devastating march to Jerusalem. Crowns fell from royal heads, ancient thrones rocked like trees driven by the tempest, powerful empires fell like pines uprooted by the blast; everything was in disorder, and dismay seized on all who knew not the Lord.

"He uttered his voice - and the earth melts." With no other instrumentality than a word - the Lord ruled the storm. He gave forth a voice and stout hearts were dissolved, proud armies were annihilated, conquering powers were enfeebled. At first the confusion appeared to be worse confounded, when the element of divine power came into view; the very earth seemed turned to wax, the most solid and substantial of human things melted like the fat of rams upon the altar; but shortly, peace followed, the rage of man subsided, hearts capable of repentance relented, and the implacable were silenced. How mighty is a word from God! How mighty the Incarnate Word. O that such a word would come from the excellent glory even now to melt all hearts in love to Jesus, and to end forever all the persecutions, wars, and rebellions of men!

Verse 7. "The Lord Almighty is with us." This is the reason for all Zion's security, and for the overthrow of her foes. The Lord rules the angels, the stars, the elements, and all the hosts of heaven; and the heaven of heavens are under his sway. The armies of men though they know it not - are made to subserve his will. This General of the forces of the land, and the Lord High Admiral of the seas, is on our side - our dreadful ally! Woe unto those who fight against him, for they shall fly like smoke before the wind when he gives the word to scatter them.

"The God of Jacob is our refuge." Immanuel is Jehovah Almighty, and Jacob's God is our high place of defense. When this glad verse is sung to music worthy of such a jubilate, well may the singers pause and the players wait awhile to retune their instruments; here, therefore, fitly stands that solemn, stately, peaceful note of rest. SELAH.

Verse 8. "Come, behold the works of the Lord!" The joyful citizens of Jerusalem are invited to go forth and view the remains of their enemies, that they may mark the prowess of Jehovah and the spoil which his right hand has won for his people. It were well if we also carefully noted the providential dealings of our covenant God, and were quick to perceive his hand in the battles of his church. Whenever we read history, it should be with this verse sounding in our ears. We should read the newspaper in the same spirit, to see how the Head of the Church rules the nations for his people's good, as Joseph governed Egypt for the sake of Israel.

"What desolations he has made in the earth." He destroys the destroyers! He desolates the desolators! How forcible is the verse at this date! The ruined cities of Assyria, Babylon, Petra, Bashan, Canaan, are our instructors, and tables of stone record the doings of the Lord. In every place where his cause and crown have been disregarded, ruin has surely followed! Sin has been a blight on nations, and left their palaces to lie in heaps. In the days of the writer of this Psalm, there had probably occurred some memorable interposition of God against his Israel's foes; and as he saw their overthrow, he called on his fellow citizens to come forth and attentively consider the dreadful things in righteousness which God had been wrought on their behalf. Dismantled castles and ruined abbeys in our own land stand, as memorials of the Lord's victories over oppression and superstition. May there soon be more of such desolations.

Verse 9. "He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth." His voice quiets the tumult of war, and calls for the silence of peace. However powerful and barbarous the nation - he awes the people into rest. He crushes the great powers until they cannot provoke strife again; he gives his people profound repose.

Psalms 46
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

"He breaks the bow." He renders useless - the sender of swift-winged death.

"And shatters the spear." He shatters the lance of the mighty man.

"He burns the chariot in the fire." He commits to the flames - the proud war-chariot with its death-dealing scythes. All sorts of weapons he piles heaps on heaps, and utterly destroys them. So was it in Judea in the days of yore, so shall it be in all lands in eras yet to come. Blessed deed of the Prince of Peace! when shall it be literally performed? Already the spiritual foes of his people are despoiled of their power to destroy; but when shall the universal victory of peace be celebrated, and instruments of wholesale murder be consigned to ignominious destruction? How glorious will the ultimate victory of Jesus be in the day of his appearing, when every enemy shall lick the dust!

Verse 10. "Be still, and know that I am God." Hold off your hands, you enemies! Sit down and wait in patience, you believers! Acknowledge that Jehovah is God - you who feel the terrors of his wrath! Adore him, and him alone - you who partake in the protections of his grace. Since none can worthily proclaim his nature, let "expressive silence muse his praise." The boasts of the ungodly and the timorous forebodings of the saints should certainly be hushed - by a sight of what the Lord has done in past ages.

"I will be exalted among the heathen." They forget God, they worship idols - but Jehovah will yet be honored by them. Reader, the prospect of missions are bright - as bright as the promises of God. Let no man's heart fail him; the solemn declarations of this verse must be fulfilled.

"I will be exalted in the earth," among all people, whatever may have been their wickedness or their degradation. Either by terror or love - God will subdue all hearts to himself. The whole round earth shall yet reflect the light of his majesty. All the more because of the sin, and obstinacy, and pride of man - shall God be glorified when grace reigns unto eternal life in all corners of the world.

Verse 11. "The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." It was fit to sing this twice over. It is a truth of which no believer wearies, it is a fact too often forgotten, it is a precious privilege which cannot be too often considered. Reader, is the Lord on your side? Is Emmanuel, God with us, your Redeemer? Is there a covenant between you and God as between God and Jacob? If so - thrice happy are you. Show your joy in holy song, and in times of trouble play the man - by still making music for your God.

SELAH. Here as before, lift up the heart. Rest in contemplation after praise.

Still keep the soul in tune. It is easier to sing a hymn of praise, than to continue in the spirit of praise - but let it be our aim to maintain the uprising devotion of our grateful hearts, and so end our song as if we intended it to be continued.

SELAH bids the music to rest,
Pause in silence soft and blessed;
SELAH bids uplift the strain,
Harps and voices tune again;
SELAH ends the vocal praise,
Still your hearts to God upraise!

Psalms 100
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know that the Lord he is God: it is he who has made us - and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him - and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endures to all generations!"

Verse 1. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands." The original word signifies a glad shout, such as loyal subjects give when their king appears among them. Our happy God should be worshiped by a happy people; a cheerful spirit is in keeping with his nature, his acts, and the gratitude which we should cherish for his mercies. In every land Jehovah's goodness is seen, therefore in every land should he be praised. Never will the world be in its proper condition, until with one unanimous shout it adores the only God. O you nations, how long will you blindly reject him? Your golden age will never arrive until you with all your hearts revere him.

Verse 2. "Serve the Lord with gladness." "Glad homage pay with solemn mirth." He is our Lord, and therefore he is to be served; he is our gracious Lord, and therefore to be served with joy. The invitation to worship here given is not a melancholy one, as though adoration were a funeral solemnity - but a cheery gladsome exhortation, as though we were bidden to a marriage feast.

"Come before his presence with singing." We ought in worship to realize the presence of God, and by an effort of the mind to approach him. This is an act which must to every rightly instructed heart be one of great solemnity - but at the same time it must not be performed in the servility of fear, and therefore we come before him, not with weepings and wailings - but with psalms and hymns. Singing, as it is a joyful, and at the same time a devout, exercise, should be a constant form of approach to God. The measured, harmonious, hearty utterance of praise by a congregation of really devout people is not merely decorous but delightful, and is a fit anticipation of the worship of heaven, where praise has absorbed prayer, and become the sole mode of adoration. How a certain society of brethren can find it in their hearts to forbid singing in public worship, is a riddle which we cannot solve. We feel inclined to say with Dr. Watts,

"Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God;
But favorites of the heavenly King
Must speak his praise abroad!"

Verse 3. "Know that Lord he is God." Our worship must be intelligent. We ought to know whom we worship and why. "Man, know yourself," is a wise aphorism - yet to know our God is truer wisdom; and it is very questionable whether a man can know himself until he knows his God. Jehovah is God in the fullest, most absolute, and most exclusive sense. He is God alone; to know him in that character and prove our knowledge by obedience, trust, submission, zeal and love - is an attainment which only grace can bestow.

Only those who practically recognize his Godhead are at all likely to offer acceptable praise.

"It is he who has made us - and not we ourselves." Shall not the creature reverence its Maker? Some men live as if they made themselves; they call themselves "self-made men," and they adore the supposed creators! But Christians recognize the origin of their being and their well-being, and take no honor to themselves either for being, or for being what they are. Neither in our first or second creation - dare we put so much as a finger upon the glory, for it is the sole right and property of the Almighty. To disclaim honor for ourselves is as necessary a part of true reverence - as to ascribe glory to the Lord. "To YOU be the glory!" will forever remain the true believer's confession.

Of late philosophy has labored hard to prove that all things have been developed from atoms; or have, in other words, made themselves. For our part, we find it far more easy to believe that the Lord made us - than that we were developed by a long chain of natural selections from floating atoms which fashioned themselves!

"We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." It is our honor to have been chosen from out of all the world, to be his own special people! It is our great privilege to be therefore guided by his wisdom, tended by his care, and fed by his bounty. Sheep gather around the shepherd and look up to him; in the same manner let us gather around our great Shepherd. The avowal of our relation to God is in itself praise; when we recount his goodness we are rendering to him the best adoration; our songs require none of the inventions of fictions, the bare facts are enough; the simple narration of the mercies of the Lord is more astonishing that the productions of imagination. That we are the sheep of his pasture is a plain truth, and at the same time the very essence of poetry.

Verse 4. "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving." In all our public service, the rendering of thanks must abound; it is like the incense of the temple, which filled the whole house with smoke. Expiatory sacrifices are ended - but those of gratitude will never be out of date. So long as we are receivers of mercy - we must be givers of thanks. Mercy permits us to enter his gates; let us praise that mercy. What better subject for our thoughts in God's own house - than the Lord of the house.

"And into his courts with praise." Into whatever court of the Lord you may enter, let your admission be the subject of praise! Thanks be to God, the innermost court is now open to believers, and we enter into that which is within the veil; it is incumbent upon us that we acknowledge the high privilege by our songs.

"Be thankful unto him." Let the praise be in your heart - as well as on your tongue, and let it all be for him to whom it all belongs.

"And bless his name." He blessed you, bless him in return; bless his name, his character, his person. Whatever he does, be sure that you bless him for it. Bless him when he takes away - as well as when he gives; bless him as long as you live, under all circumstances; bless him in all his attributes, from whatever point of view you consider him.

Verse 5. "For the Lord is good." This sums up his character and contains a mass of reasons for praise. He is good, gracious, kind, bountiful, loving; yes, God is love! He who does not praise our good God - is not good himself. The kind of praise inculcated in the psalm, namely, that of joy and gladness, is most fitly urged upon us by an argument from the goodness of God.

"His mercy is everlasting." God is not mere justice, stern and cold; he has affections of compassion, and wills not the sinner's death. Towards his own people, his mercy is still more conspicuously displayed; it has been theirs from all eternity, and shall be theirs world without end. Everlasting mercy is a glorious theme for sacred song.

"And his truth endures to all generations." No fickle being is he, promising and forgetting. He has entered into covenant with his people, and will never revoke it, nor alter anything which has gone out of his lips. As our fathers found him faithful, so will our sons, and their seed forever. A changeable God would be a terror to the righteous, they would have no sure anchorage; and amid a changing world they would be driven to and fro in perpetual fear of shipwreck. It were well if the truth of divine faithfulness were more fully remembered by some theologians; it would overturn their belief in the final fall of believers, and teach them a more consolatory system. Our heart leaps for joy as we bow before One who has never broken his word or changed his purpose.

Resting on his sure word, we feel that joy which is here commanded, and in the strength of it we come into his presence even now, and speak good of his name!

Psalms 121
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

"I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help. My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved: he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper: the LORD is your shade upon your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil: he shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore!"

Verse 1. "I will lift up my eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help." It is wise to look to the strong for strength. Dwellers in the valleys are subject to many disorders for which there is no cure but a sojourn in the uplands, and it is well when they shake off their lethargy and resolve upon a climb. Down below they are the prey of marauders, and to escape from them the surest method is to fly to the strongholds upon the mountains.

Often before the actual ascent, the sick and plundered people looked towards the hills and longed to be upon their summits. The holy man who here sings a choice sonnet looked away from the slanderers by whom he was tormented, to the Lord who saw all from his high places, and was ready to pour down succor for his injured servant.

Help comes to saints only from above, they look elsewhere in vain! Let us lift up our eyes with hope, expectancy, desire, and confidence. Satan will endeavor to keep our eyes upon our sorrows - that we may be disquieted and discouraged; be it ours firmly to resolve that we will look out and look up, for there is good cheer for the eyes, and they that lift up their eyes to the eternal hills shall soon have their hearts lifted up also. The purposes of God; the divine attributes; the immutable promises; the covenant, ordered in all things and sure; the providence, predestination, and proven faithfulness of the Lord - these are the hills to which we must lift up our eyes, for from these our help must come. It is our resolve that we will not be blindfolded - but will lift up our eyes.

He inquires, "Whence comes my help?" The next verse answers the question, and shows whence all help must come.

Verse 2. "My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." What we need is help: powerful, efficient and constant help! We need a very present help in trouble. What a mercy that we have it in our God. Our hope is in Jehovah, for our help comes from him. Help is on the road, and will not fail to reach us in due time, for he who sends it to us was never known to be too late. Jehovah who created all things is equal to every emergency; heaven and earth are at the disposal of him who made them, therefore let us be very joyful in our infinite helper. He will sooner destroy heaven and earth - than permit his people to be destroyed; and the perpetual hills themselves shall dissolve - rather than he shall fail, whose ways are everlasting.

We are bound to look beyond heaven and earth to him who made them both! It is vain to trust the creatures - it is wise to trust the Creator.

Verse 3. "He will not allow your foot to be moved." Though the paths of life are dangerous and difficult - yet we shall stand fast, for Jehovah will not permit our feet to slide; and if He will not allow it - we shall not be moved! If our foot will is thus kept - we may be sure that our head and heart will be preserved also! Those who have God for their keeper - shall be safe from all the perils of the way.

Among the hills and ravines of Palestine, the literal keeping of the feet is a great mercy; but in the slippery paths of a tempted, tried and afflicted life, the blessing of upholding is of priceless value - for a single false step might cause us a fall fraught with awful danger! To stand 'steadfast' and pursue our holy way - is a blessing which only God can give. It is worthy of His divine hand, and worthy also of our perennial gratitude. Our feet shall move in heavenly progress - and we shall never be overthrown!

"He who keeps you will not slumber." We could not stand a moment - if our Divine Keeper were to sleep! We need him by day and by night; not a single step can be safely taken - except under His guardian eye. This is a choice stanza in a pilgrim song. God is the convoy and body-guard of his people. When dangers are all around us - we are safe, for our Preserver is awake also, and will not permit us to be moved. No fatigue of exhaustion can cast our God into sleep - His watchful eyes are never closed!

Verse 4. "Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." The consoling truth must be repeated: it is too rich to be dismissed in a single line. It were well if we always imitated the sweet singer, and would dwell a little upon a choice doctrine, sucking the honey from it. What a glorious title is in the Hebrew "The keeper of Israel," and how delightful to think that no form of unconsciousness ever steals over him, neither the deep slumber nor the lighter sleep. He will never allow the house to be broken into by the silent thief; he is ever on the watch, and speedily perceives every intruder.

This is a subject of wonder, a theme for attentive consideration, therefore the word "Behold" is set up as a waymark. Israel fell asleep - but his God was awake. Jacob had neither walls, nor curtains, nor body-guard around him; but the Lord was in that place - though Jacob knew it not, and therefore the defenseless man was as safe as in a castle. In after days he mentioned God under this enchanting name, "The God who led me all my life long;" perhaps David alludes to that passage in this expression.

Psalms 121
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

The word "keeps" is also full of meaning. God keeps us as a rich man keeps his treasures, as a captain keeps a city with a garrison, as a royal guard keeps his monarch's head. If the former verse is in strict accuracy a prayer, this is the answer to it - it affirms the matter thus, "Lo, he shall not slumber nor sleep - the Keeper of Israel." It may also be worthy of mention that in verse three the Lord is spoken of as the personal keeper of one individual, and here of all those who are in his chosen nation, described as Israel. Mercy to one saint is the pledge of blessing to them all. Happy are the pilgrims to whom this psalm is a safe conduct; they may journey all the way to the celestial city without fear.

Verse 5. "The Lord is your keeper." Here the preserving One, who had been spoken of by pronouns in the two previous verses, is distinctly named - JEHOVAH is your keeper! What a mint of meaning lies here! The sentence is a mass of gold bullion, and when coined and stamped with the king's name it will bear all our expenses between our birthplace on earth and our rest in heaven. Here is a glorious person Jehovah, assuming a gracious office and fulfilling it in person - Jehovah is your keeper, in behalf of a favored individual - YOUR. This is a firm assurance of revelation that it is even so at this hour - Jehovah is your keeper. Can we appropriate the divine declaration? If so, we may journey onward to Jerusalem and know no fear; yes, we may journey through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.

"The Lord is your shade upon your right hand." A shade gives protection from burning heat and glaring light. We cannot bear too much blessing; even divine goodness, which is a right-hand dispensation, must be toned down and shaded to suit our infirmity, and this the Lord will do for us. He will bear a shield before us, and guard the right arm with which we fight the foe. That member which has the most of labor shall have the most of protection. When a blazing sun pours down its burning beams upon our heads the Lord Jehovah himself will interpose to shade us, and that in the most honorable manner, acting as our right-hand attendant, and placing us in comfort and safety. "The Lord at your right hand shall smite through kings." How different this from the portion of the ungodly, who have Satan standing at their right hand, and of those of whom Moses said, "their defense has departed from them." God is as near us as our shadow, and we are as safe as angels.

Verse 6. "The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night." None but the Lord could shelter us from these tremendous forces. These two great lights rule the day and the night, and under the lordship of both we shall labor or rest in equal safety. Doubtless there are dangers of the light and of the dark - but in both and from both we shall be preserved - literally from excessive heat and from baneful chills; mystically from any injurious effects which might follow from doctrine bright or dim; spiritually from the evils of prosperity and adversity; eternally from the strain of overpowering glory and from the pressure of terrible events, such as judgment and the burning of the world.

Day and night make up all time: thus the ever-present protection never ceases. All evil may be ranked as under the sun or the moon, and if neither of these can smite us - we are indeed secure. God has not made a new sun or a fresh moon for his chosen, they exist under the same outward circumstances as others - but the power to smite is in their case removed from temporal agencies; saints are enriched, and not injured, by the powers which govern the earth's condition; to them has the Lord given "the precious things brought forth by the sun, and the precious things put forth by the moon," while at the same moment he has removed from them all curse of heat or damp, of glare or chill.

Verse 7. "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil," or keep you from all evil. It is a great pity that our admirable translation did not keep to the word "keep" all through the psalm, for all along it is one. God not only keeps his own in all evil times - but from all evil influences and operations, yes, from evils themselves. This is a far-reaching word of covering - it includes everything, and excludes nothing. The wings of Jehovah amply guard his own from evils great and small, temporary and eternal. There is a most delightful double personality in this verse: Jehovah keeps the believer, not by agents - but by himself; and the person protected is definitely pointed out by the word "you" - it is not our estate or name which is shielded - but the believer himself.

To make this even more intensely real and personal another sentence is added, "The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; he shall preserve your soul," - or Jehovah will keep your soul. Soul-keeping is the soul of keeping. If the soul is kept - all is kept. The preservation of the greater, includes that of the less, so far as it is essential to the main design. The kernel shall be preserved, and in order thereto the shell shall be preserved also. God is the sole keeper of the soul. Our soul is kept from the dominion of sin, the infection of error, the crush of despondency, the puffing up of pride; kept from the world, the flesh, and the devil; kept for holier and greater things; kept in the love of God; kept unto the eternal kingdom and glory. What can harm a soul that is kept of the Lord?

Verse 8. "The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." When we go out in the morning to labor, and come home at eventide to rest - Jehovah shall keep us. When we go out in youth to begin life, and come in at the end to die - we shall experience the same keeping. Our exits and our entrances are under one protection. Three times have we the phrase, "Jehovah shall keep," as if the sacred Trinity thus sealed the word to make it sure! Ought not all our fears to be slain by such a threefold flight of arrows? What anxiety can survive this triple promise?

This keeping is ETERNAL - continuing from this time forth, even for evermore. The whole church is thus assured of everlasting security. The final perseverance of the saints is thus ensured, and the glorious immortality of believers is guaranteed. Under the protection of such a promise, we may go on pilgrimage without trembling, and venture into battle without dread. None are so safe as those whom God keeps; none so much in danger as the self-secure. To goings out and comings in belong peculiar dangers, since every change of position turns a fresh quarter to the foe, and it is for these weak points that an especial security is provided. Jehovah will keep the door when it opens and closes, and this he will perseveringly continue to do so long as there is left a single person who trusts in him, as long as a danger survives, and, in fact, as long as time endures! Glory be unto the Keeper of Israel, who is endeared to us under that title, since our growing sense of weakness makes us feel more deeply than ever - our need of being kept.

Psalms 1
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

TITLE. This Psalm may be regarded as THE PREFACE PSALM, having in it a notification of the contents of the entire Book. It is the psalmists' desire to teach us the way to blessedness, and to warn us of the sure destruction of sinners. This, then, is the matter of the first Psalm, which may be looked upon, in some respects, as the text upon which the whole of the Psalms make up a divine sermon.

This Psalm may fitly be entitled, the Psalm of Psalms, for it contains in it the very pith and quintessence of Christianity. It is short as to the composure, but full of length and strength as to the matter. This Psalm carries blessedness in the frontpiece; it begins where we all hope to end! It may well be called a Christian's Guide, for it discovers the quicksands where the wicked sink down in perdition, and the firm ground on which the saints tread to glory. Thomas Watson's 'Saints Spiritual Delight', 1660.

DIVISION. This Psalm consists of two parts: in the first (Psalm 1:1-3) David sets out wherein the felicity and blessedness of a godly man consists, what his exercises are, and what blessings he shall receive from the Lord.

In the second part (Psalm 1:4-6) he contrasts the state and character of the ungodly, reveals the future, and describes, in telling language, his ultimate doom.

Verse 1. BLESSED - see how this Book of Psalms opens with a benediction, even as did the famous Sermon of our Lord upon the Mount! The word translated "blessed" is a very expressive one. The original word is plural, hence we may learn the multiplicity of the blessings which shall rest upon the man whom God has justified, and the perfection and greatness of the blessedness he shall enjoy. We might read it, "Oh, the blessednesses!" and we may well regard it as a joyful acclamation of the gracious man's felicity. May the like benediction rest on us!

Here the gracious man is described both negatively (Psalm 1:1) and positively (Psalm 1:2). He is a man: who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. He takes wiser counsel, and walks in the commandments of the Lord his God. To him the ways of piety are paths of peace and pleasantness. His footsteps are ordered by the Word of God, and not by the cunning and wicked devices of carnal men. It is a rich sign of inward grace - when the outward walk is changed, and when ungodliness is put far from our actions.

Note next, he stands not in the way of sinners. His company is of a choicer sort than it was. Although a sinner himself, he is now a blood-washed sinner, quickened by the Holy Spirit, and renewed in heart. Standing by the rich grace of God in the congregation of the righteous, he dares not herd with the multitude that do evil.

Again it is said, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. He finds no rest in the atheist's scoffings. Let others make a mock of sin, of eternity, of hell and heaven, and of the Eternal God; this man has learned better philosophy than that of the infidel, and has too much sense of God's presence to endure to hear His name blasphemed. The seat of the scorner may be very lofty - but it is very near to the gate of hell! Let us flee from it, for it shall soon be empty, and destruction shall swallow up the man who sits therein.

Mark the downward gradation in the first verse:
He walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the way of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of scornful.

When men are living in sin they go from bad to worse. At first they merely walk in the counsel of the careless and ungodly, who forget God - the evil is rather practical than habitual - but after that, they become habituated to evil, and they stand in the way of open sinners who willfully violate God's commandments; and if let alone, they go one step further, and become themselves pestilent teachers and tempters of others, and thus they sit in the seat of the scornful. They have taken their degree in vice, and they are installed as true Doctors of Damnation, and are looked up to by others as Masters in Belial. But the blessed man, the man to whom all the blessings of God belong, can hold no communion with such characters as these. He keeps himself pure from these moral lepers; he puts away evil things from him as garments spotted by the flesh; he comes out from among the wicked, and goes outside the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ. O for grace to be thus separate from sinners!

The psalmist says more to the point about true happiness in this short Psalm than any one of the philosophers, or all of them put together; they did but beat the bush, God has here put the bird into our hand! John Trapp, 1660

Verse 2. And now mark his positive character. His delight is in the law of the Lord. He is not under the law as a curse and condemnation - but he is in it, and he delights to be in it as his rule of life. He delights, moreover, to meditate in it, to read it by day, and think upon it by night. He takes a text and carries it with him all day long; and in the night watches, when sleep forsakes his eyelids, he muses upon the Word of God. In the day of his prosperity he sings psalms out of the Word of God, and in the night of his affliction he comforts himself with promises out of the same book.

Psalms 1
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Meditation manifests what a man really is; by his meditations - he may take a measure of his heart, whether it be good or bad. "For as a man thinks in his heart - so is he." Proverbs 23:7. As the meditation is - such is the man. Meditation is the touchstone of a Christian; it shows what metal he is made of. It is a spiritual index; the index shows what is in the book, so meditation shows what is in the heart. Thomas Watson's Saints' Spiritual Delight.

Meditation chews the cud, and gets the sweetness and nutritive virtue of the Word into the heart and life! This is the way the godly bring forth much fruit. Ashwood's Heavenly Trade, 1688.

The law of the Lord is the daily bread of the true believer. And yet, in David's day, how small was the volume of inspiration, for they had scarcely anything but the first five books of Moses! How much more, then, should we prize the whole written Word which it is our privilege to have in all our houses! But, alas, what ill treatment is given to this angel from heaven! We are not all Berean searchers of the Scriptures. How few among us can lay claim to the blessing of the text! Perhaps some of you can claim a sort of negative purity, because you do not walk in the way of the ungodly; but let me ask you - Is your delight in the law of God? Do you study God's Word? Is it your best companion and hourly guide? If not, this blessing belongs not to you!

Verse 3. And he shall be like a tree planted - not a wild tree - but "a tree planted," chosen, considered as property, cultivated and secured from the last terrible uprooting, for "every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted up!" Mt 15:13.

By the rivers of water; so that even if one river should fail, he has another. The rivers of pardon and the rivers of grace, the rivers of the promise and the rivers of communion with Christ, are never failing sources of supply. He is "like a tree planted by the rivers of water", that brings forth his fruit in his season; not unseasonable graces, like untimely figs, which are never full flavored. But the man who delights in God's Word, being taught by it, brings forth patience in the time of suffering, faith in the day of trial, and holy joy in the hour of prosperity.

Fruitfulness is an essential quality of a gracious man, and that fruitfulness should be seasonable. The Lord's trees are all evergreens. No winter's cold can destroy their verdure; and yet, unlike evergreens in our country, they are all fruit bearers.

His leaf also shall not wither; his faintest word shall be everlasting; his little deeds of love shall be had in remembrance. Not simply shall his fruit be preserved - but his leaf also. He shall neither lose his beauty nor his fruitfulness.

And whatever he does shall prosper. Blessed is the man who has such a promise as this! But we must not always estimate the fulfillment of a promise - by our own eye sight. How often, my brethren, if we judge by feeble sense, may we come to the mournful conclusion of Jacob, "All these things are against me!" For though we know our interest in the promise, yet we are so tried and troubled - that sight sees the very reverse of what that promise foretells. But to the 'eye of faith' this word is sure, and by it we perceive that our works are prospered, even when everything seems to go against us.

It is not outward prosperity which the Christian most desires and values; it is soul prosperity which he longs for. Even in adversity, there is a true prospering, for it is often for the soul's health - that we would be poor, afflicted and tried. Our worst things - are often our best things! As there is a curse wrapped up in the wicked man's mercies - so there is a blessing concealed in the godly man's crosses, losses and sorrows. The trials of the saint are a divine husbandry, by which he grows and brings forth abundant fruit.

Verse 4. We have now come to the second head of the Psalm. In this verse the contrast of the dreadful estate of the wicked - is employed to heighten the coloring of that lovely and pleasant picture which precedes it. This may be rendered as, Not so the ungodly, not so! And we are hereby to understand that whatever good thing is said of the righteous is not true in the case of the ungodly.

Oh! how terrible is it to have a double negative put upon the promises! and yet this is just the condition of the ungodly. Mark the use of the term ungodly, for, as we have seen in the opening of the Psalm, these are the beginners in evil, and are the least offensive of sinners. Oh! if such is the sad state of those who quietly continue in their morality, and neglect their God - what must be the condition of open sinners and shameless infidels!

Psalms 1
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

The first sentence is a negative description of the ungodly, and the second is the positive picture. Here is their character, they are like chaff, intrinsically worthless, dead, unserviceable, without substance, and easily carried away. Here, also, mark their doom, the wind drives away; death shall hurry them with its terrible blast into the fire in which they shall be utterly consumed!

Chaff. Here, by the way, we may let the wicked know they have a thanks to give, which they little think of; that they may thank the godly for all the good days they live upon the earth, seeing it is for their sakes and not for their own - that they enjoy them. For as the chaff while it is united and keeps close to the wheat, enjoys some privileges for the wheat's sake, and is laid up carefully in the barn; but as soon as it is divided, and parted from the wheat - it is cast out and scattered by the wind. So the wicked, while the godly are in company and live among them, partake for their sake of some blessedness promised to the godly; but if the godly forsake them or be taken from them, then either a deluge of water comes suddenly upon them, as it did upon the old world when Noah left it; or a deluge of fire, as it did upon Sodom, when Lot left it, and went out of the city. Sir Richard Baker.

Drives away, This shows the vehement tempest of death, which sweeps away the soul of the ungodly.

Verse 5. They shall stand there to be judged - but not to be acquitted. Fear shall lay hold upon them there; they shall not stand their ground; they shall flee away; they shall not stand in their own defense; for they shall blush and be covered with eternal contempt.

Well may the saints long for heaven, for no evil men shall dwell there, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. All our congregations upon earth are mixed. Every Church has one devil in it. The tares grow in the same furrows as the wheat. There is no floor which is as yet thoroughly purged from chaff. Sinners MIX with saints - as dross mingles with gold.

God's precious diamonds still lie in the same field with worthless pebbles. Righteous Lots are continually vexed by the men of Sodom, on this side heaven. Let us rejoice then, that in "the general assembly and church of the firstborn" above, there shall by no means be admitted a single unrenewed soul.

Sinners cannot live in heaven. They would be out of their element. Sooner could a fish live in a tree - than the wicked in Paradise. Heaven would be an intolerable hell - to an impenitent man, even if he could be allowed to enter. But such a privilege shall never be granted to the man who perseveres in his iniquities. May God grant that we may have a name and a place in his courts above!

Verse 6. The righteous. Those who endeavor righteous living in themselves, and have Christ's righteousness imputed to them. Thomas Wilcocks, 1586.

Or, as the Hebrew has it yet more fully, The Lord is knowing the way of the righteous. He is constantly looking on their way, and though it may be often in mist and darkness, yet the Lord knows it. If it is in the clouds and tempest of affliction - he understands it. He numbers the hairs of our head; he will not allow any real evil to befall us. "He knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10.)

But the way of the ungodly shall perish. Not only shall they perish themselves - but their way shall perish too. The righteous carves his name upon the rock - but the wicked writes his remembrance in the sand. The righteous man ploughs the furrows of earth, and sows a harvest here, which shall never be fully reaped until he enters the enjoyments of eternity. But as for the wicked, he ploughs the sea, and though there may seem to be a shining trail behind his keel, yet the waves shall pass over it, and the place that knew him shall know him no more forever.

The very "way" of the ungodly shall perish. If it exists in remembrance, it shall be in the remembrance of the bad; for the Lord will cause the name of the wicked to rot, to become a stench in the nostrils of the godly, and to be only known to the wicked themselves by its putridity.

May the Lord cleanse our hearts and our ways, that we may escape the doom of the ungodly, and enjoy the blessedness of the righteous!

Psalms 2
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

TITLE. We shall not greatly err in our summary of this sublime Psalm, if we call it THE PSALM OF MESSIAH THE PRINCE; for it sets forth, as in a wondrous vision, the tumult of the people against the Lord's anointed, the determinate purpose of God to exalt his own Son, and the ultimate reign of that Son over all his enemies. Let us read it with the eye of faith, beholding, as in a looking-glass, the final triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over all his enemies.

Lowth has the following remarks upon this Psalm: "The establishment of David upon his throne, notwithstanding the opposition made to it by his enemies, is the subject of the Psalm. David sustains in it a twofold character, literal and allegorical. If we read over the Psalm, first with an eye to the literal David, the meaning is obvious, and put beyond all dispute by the sacred history. There is indeed an uncommon glow in the expression and sublimity in the figures, and the diction is now and then exaggerated, as it were on purpose to intimate, and lead us to the contemplation of higher and more important matters concealed within. In compliance with this admonition, if we take another survey of the Psalm as relative to the person and concerns of the spiritual David, a noble series of events immediately rises to view, and the meaning becomes more evident, as well as more exalted. The coloring which may perhaps seem too bold and glaring for the king of Israel, will no longer appear so when laid upon his great Antitype. After we have thus attentively considered the subjects apart, let us look at them together, and we shall behold the full beauty and majesty of this most charming poem. We shall perceive the two senses very distinct from each other, yet conspiring in perfect harmony, and bearing a wonderful resemblance in every feature and lineament, while the analogy between them is so exactly preserved, that either may pass for the original from whence the other was copied. New light is continually cast upon the phraseology, fresh weight and dignity are added to the sentiments, until, gradually ascending from things below - to things above, from human affairs to those that are Divine, they bear the great important theme upwards with them, and at length place it in the height and brightness of heaven."

DIVISION. This Psalm will be best understood if it be viewed as a four-fold picture:

(2:1-3) the Nations are raging;

(2:4-6) the Lord in heaven derides them;

(2:7-9) the Son proclaims the decree; and

(2:10-12) advice is given to the kings to yield obedience to the Lord's anointed. This division is not only suggested by the sense - but is warranted by the poetic form of the Psalm, which naturally falls into four stanzas of three verses each.

EXPOSITION

Verse 1. We have, in these first three verses, a description of the hatred of men against the Messiah. No better comment is needed upon it than the apostolic song in Acts 4:27,28: "For of a truth against your holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done."

The Psalm begins abruptly with an angry interrogation; and well it may: it is surely but little to be wondered at, that the sight of creatures in arms against their God, should amaze the psalmist's mind.

We see the heathen raging, roaring like the sea, tossed to and fro with restless waves, as the ocean in a storm; and then we mark the people in their hearts imagining a vain thing against God. Where there is much rage - there is generally some folly, and in this case there is an excess of it!

"Rage." The word with which Paul renders this in the Greek, denotes rage, pride, and restiveness, as of horses that neigh, and rush into the battle.

Verse 2. Note, that the commotion is not caused by the people only - but their leaders foment the rebellion! "The many had done their part, and now the mighty show themselves!" John Trapp.

The kings of the earth set themselves. In determined malice they arrayed themselves in opposition against God. It was not temporary rage - but deep seated hate, for they set themselves resolutely to withstand the Prince of Peace!

And the rulers take counsel together. They go about their warfare craftily, not with foolish haste - but deliberately. They use all the skill which human wisdom can give. Like Pharaoh, they cry, "Let us deal wisely with them." O that men were half as careful in God's service to serve him wisely, as his enemies are to attack his kingdom craftily. Sinners have their wits about them, and yet saints are dull. But what say they? What is the meaning of this commotion?

They gather together. But why did they band themselves against the Lord, or against his Anointed? What was their desire of him? To have his goods? No, he had none for himself; but they were richer than he. To have his liberty? Nay, that would not suffice them, for they had bound him before. To bring the people unto dislike of him? Nay, that would not serve them, for they had done so already, until even his disciples were fled from him. What would they have, then? his blood? Yes, "they took counsel", says Matthew, "to put him to death." They had the devil's mind, which is not satisfied but with death. And how do they contrive it? He says, "they took counsel about it." Henry Smith, 1578

Psalms 2
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Against Jehovah and against his Anointed. What an honor it was to David to be thus publicly associated with Jehovah! And because he was HIS anointed, to be an object of hatred and scorn to the ungodly world! If this very circumstance fearfully augmented the guilt, and sealed the doom of these infatuated heathen, surely it was that which above everything else would preserve the mind of David calm and serene, yes, peaceful and joyful notwithstanding the proud and boastful vauntiness of his enemies.

When writing this Psalm, David was like a man in a storm, who hears only the roaring of the tempest, or sees nothing but the raging billows threatening destruction on every side of him. And yet his faith enabled him to say, The people imagine a vain thing. They cannot succeed. They cannot defeat the counsels of heaven. They cannot injure the Lord's Anointed. David Pitcairn, 1851.

Verse 1-2. These verses show that all trust in man in the service of God is vain. Inasmuch as men oppose Christ, it is not good to hang our trust upon the multitude for their number, the earnest for their zeal, the mighty for their countenance, or the wise for their counsel, since all these are far oftener against Christ than for him.

Verse 3. Let us break their bands asunder. That is, "Let us be free to commit all manner of abominations. Let us be our own gods. Let us rid ourselves of all restraint."

Gathering impudence by the traitorous proposition of rebellion, they add - let us cast away; as if it were an easy matter, "let us fling off their cords from us." What! O you kings, do you think yourselves Samsons? and are the bands of Omnipotence but as threads before you? Do you dream that you shall snap to pieces and destroy the mandates of God - the decrees of the Most High - as if they were but threads? and do you say, "Let us cast away their cords from us?" Yes! There are monarchs who have spoken thus, and there are still rebels upon thrones.

However mad the resolution to revolt from God, it is one in which man has persevered ever since his creation, and he continues in it to this very day. The glorious reign of Jesus in the latter day will not be consummated, until a terrible struggle has convulsed the nations. His coming will be as a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap, and the day thereof shall burn as an oven! Earth hates her rightful monarch - but clings to the usurper's sway! The terrible conflicts of the last days will illustrate both the world's love of sin - and Jehovah's power to give the kingdom to his only Begotten Son. To a graceless neck - the yoke of Christ is intolerable - but to the saved sinner - it is easy and light. We may judge ourselves by this - do we love that yoke, or do we wish to cast it from us?

Resolved they were to run riot, as lawless, and aweless, and therefore they slander the sweet laws of Christ's kingdom as bonds and thick cords, which are signs of slavery. Jeremiah 27:2,6-7. But what says our Savior? "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." The law of Christ is no more burden to a regenerate man - than wings to a bird. John Trapp.

The true reason of the opposition of sinners to Christ's truth, is their hatred of the restraints of godliness.

Verse 4. Let us now turn our eyes from the wicked counsel chamber and raging tumult of man - to the secret place of the majesty of the Most High God. See God's derision of the rebellious, both now and hereafter.

What does God say? What will the King do unto the men who reject his only begotten Son, the Heir of all things? Mark the quiet dignity of the Omnipotent One, and the contempt which he pours upon the princes and their raging people. He has not taken the trouble to rise up and do battle with them - he despises them, he knows how absurd, how irrational, how futile are their attempts against him - he therefore laughs at them.

He who sits in the heavens. Hereby it is clearly intimated,

(1) that the Lord is far above all their malice and power,

(2) that he sees all their plots, looking down on all;

(3) that he is of omnipotent power, and so can do with his enemies as he desires. "Our God is in the heavens! He has done whatever he pleased." Psalm 115:3. Arthur Jackson, 1643.

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them! Sinners' follies are the righteous sport of God's infinite wisdom and power; and those attempts of the kingdom of Satan, which in our eyes are formidable, in God's eyes are despicable. Matthew Henry.

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. They scoff at us - but God laughs at them. Laugh? This seems like a harsh word at the first view. But are the injuries of his saints, the cruelties of their enemies, the derision, the persecution of all that are round about us - no more but matter of laughter? He laughs - but it is in scorn; he scorns - but it is with vengeance. Short is the joy of the wicked! Oh, what are God's frowns, if his smiles are so terrible! Thomas Adams.

The expression, He who sits in the heavens, at once fixes our thoughts on a being infinitely exalted above impotent man. And when it is said, "HE shall laugh," this word is designed to convey to our minds the idea, that the greatest confederacies among kings and peoples, and their most extensive and vigorous preparations, to defeat HIS purposes or to injure HIS servants - are in HIS sight altogether insignificant and worthless. HE looks upon their poor and puny efforts, not only without uneasiness or fear - but HE laughs at their folly! HE treats their impotency with derision. He knows how HE can crush them like a moth when HE pleases, or consume them in a moment with the breath of HIS mouth. How profitable it is for us to be reminded of truths such as these! Ah! it is indeed a vain thing for the potsherds of the earth to strive with the glorious Majesty of Heaven! David Pitcairn

Psalms 2
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Verse 5. The voice of wrath. One of a series of sermons upon the voices of the divine attributes. After he has laughed he shall speak; he needs not smite; the breath of his lips is enough. At the moment when their power is at its height, and their fury most violent, then shall his Word go forth against them. And what is it, that he says? It is a very galling sentence - Yet, says he, "despite your malice, despite your tumultuous gatherings, despite the wisdom of your counsels, despite the craft of your leaders, yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." Is not that a grand exclamation! He has already done that which the enemy seeks to prevent!

While they are proposing - he has disposed the matter. Jehovah's will is done, and man's will frets and raves in vain! God's Anointed is appointed, and shall not be disappointed. Look back through all the ages of infidelity, hearken to the high and hard things which men have spoken against the Most High, listen to the rolling thunder of earth's volleys against the Majesty of heaven - and then think that God is saying all the while, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

Vex them; either by horror of conscience, or physical plagues; one way or the other he will have his pennyworths of them, as he always has had the persecutors of his people. John Trapp.

It is easy for God to destroy his foes. Behold Pharaoh, his wise men, his armies and his horses plunging and sinking like lead in the Red sea. Here is the end of one of the greatest plots ever formed against God's chosen. Of thirty Roman emperors, governors of provinces, and others high in office, who distinguished themselves by their zeal and bitterness in persecuting the early Christians, one became speedily deranged after some atrocious cruelty, one was slain by his own son, one became blind, the eyes of one bulged out of his head, one was drowned, one was strangled, one died in a miserable captivity, one fell dead in a manner that will not bear recital, one died of so loathsome a disease that several of his physicians were put to death because they could not abide the stench that filled his room, two committed suicide, a third attempted it - but had to call for help to finish the work, five were assassinated by their own people or servants, five others died the most miserable and excruciating deaths, several of them having an untold complication of diseases, and eight were killed in battle, or after being taken prisoners. Among these was Julian the apostate. In the days of his prosperity he is said to have pointed his dagger to heaven defying the Son of God, whom he commonly called the Galilean. But when he was wounded in battle, he saw that all was over with him, and he gathered up his clotted blood, and threw it into the air, exclaiming, "You have conquered, O Galilean." Voltaire has told us of the agonies of Charles the 9th of France, which drove the blood through the pores of the skin of that miserable monarch, after his cruelties and treachery to the Christians. William S. Plumer, 1867.

Verse 6. "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." Yet Jesus reigns, yet he sees the travail of his soul, and "his unsuffering kingdom yet shall come" when he shall take unto himself his great power, and reign from the river unto the ends of the earth. Even now he reigns in Zion, and our glad lips sound forth the praises of the Prince of Peace. Greater conflicts may here be foretold - but we may be confident that victory will be given to our Lord and King. Glorious triumphs are yet to come - hasten them, we pray you, O Lord! It is Zion's glory and joy that her King is in her, guarding her from foes, and filling her with good things.

Jesus sits upon the throne of grace, and the throne of power in the midst of his church. In him is Zion's best safeguard; let her citizens be glad in him.

"Your walls are strength, and at your gates
A guard of heavenly warriors waits;
Nor shall your deep foundations move,
Fixed on his counsels and his love.

Your foes in vain designs engage;
Against his throne in vain they rage,
Like rising waves, with angry roar,
That dash and die upon the shore."

Yet have I set my King. Notice -
1. The royal office and character of our glorious Redeemer: he is a King, "This name he has on his vesture and on his thigh." Re 19:16.

2. The authority by which he reigns; he is "my King," says God the Father, and I have set him up from everlasting: "The Father judges no man; but has committed all judgment unto the Son." The world disowns his authority - but I own it; I have set him, I have "given him to be head over all things to the church."

3. His particular kingdom over which he rules; it is over "my holy hill of Zion" - an eminent type of the gospel church. The temple was built upon Mount Zion and therefore called a holy hill. Christ's throne is in his church, it is his head-quarters, and the place of his peculiar residence.

Psalms 2
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Notice the firmness of the divine purpose with respect unto this matter. "Yet have I set" him "King;" that is, whatever be the plots of hell and earth to the contrary, he reigns by his Father's ordination. Stephen Charnock, 1628-1680.

Verse 6. Yet have I set my KING, etc.

Jesus Christ is a threefold King:
First, his enemies' King;
secondly, his saints' King;
thirdly, his Father's King.

First, Christ is his enemies' King, that is - he is King over his enemies. Christ is a King above all kings. What are all the mighty men, the great, the honorable men of the earth, as compared to Jesus Christ? They are but like a little bubble in the water; for if all the nations, in comparison to God, be but as the drop of the bucket, or the dust of the balance, as the prophet speaks in Isa 40:15, how little then must be the kings of the earth! Nay, beloved, Christ Jesus is not only higher than kings - but he is higher than the angels; yes, he is the head of angels, and, therefore, all the angels in heaven are commanded to worship him. Col 2:12 Heb 1:6 ... He is King over all kingdoms, over all nations, over all governments, over all powers, over all people. Daniel 7:14 ... The very heathen are given to Christ, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. Psalm 2:8

Secondly, Jesus Christ is his saints' King. He is King of the bad, and of the good; but as for the wicked, he rules over them by his power and might; but the saints, he rules in them by his Spirit and graces. Oh! this is Christ's spiritual kingdom, and here he rules in the hearts of his people, here he rules over their consciences, over their wills, over their affections, over their judgments and understandings, and nobody has anything to do here but Christ. Christ is not only the King of nations - but the King of saints; the one he rules over, the other he rules in.

Thirdly. Jesus Christ is his Father's King too, and so his Father calls him: "I have set MY King upon my holy hill of Zion." Well may he be our King, when he is God's King. But you may say, how is Christ the Father's King? Because he rules for his Father. There is a twofold kingdom of God committed to Jesus Christ; first, a spiritual kingdom, by which he rules in the hearts of his people, and so is King of saints; and, secondly, a providential kingdom, by which he rules the affairs of this world, and so he is King of nations. William Dyer's Christ's Famous Titles, 1665.

Verse 7. The divine decree concerning Christ, in connection with the decrees of election and providence. The Sonship of Jesus. This Psalm wears something of a dramatic form, for now another person is introduced as speaking. We have looked into the council chamber of the wicked, and to the throne of God, and now we behold the Anointed One declaring his rights of sovereignty, and warning the traitors of their doom.

God has laughed at the counsel and ravings of the wicked, and now Christ the Anointed himself comes forward, as the Risen Redeemer, "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Romans 1:4. Looking into the angry faces of the rebellious kings, the Anointed One seems to say, "If this suffices not to make you silent" I will declare the decree. Now this decree is directly in conflict with the device of man, for its tenor is the establishment of the very dominion against which the nations are raving.

You are my Son. Here is a noble proof of the glorious Divinity of our Immanuel. "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you?" What a mercy to have a Divine Redeemer in whom to rest our confidence!

This day have I begotten you. If this refers to the Godhead of our Lord, let us not attempt to fathom it, for it is a great truth, a truth reverently to be received - but not irreverently to be questioned. It may be added, that if this relates to the Begotten One in his human nature, we must here also rejoice in the mystery - but not attempt to violate its sanctity by intrusive prying into the secrets of the Eternal God. The things which are revealed are enough, without venturing into vain speculations. In attempting to define the Trinity, or unveil the essence of Divinity, many men have lost themselves: here great ships have foundered. What have we to do in such a sea - with our frail skiffs?

The dispute concerning the eternal sonship of our Lord betrays more of presumptuous curiosity, than of reverent faith. It is an attempt to explain - where it is far better to adore. The controversy is one of the most unprofitable which ever engaged the pens of theologians.

Verse 8. Ask of me. It was a custom among great kings, to give to favored ones whatever they might ask. (Es 5:6 Mt 14:7.) So Jesus has but to ask - and have. Here he declares that his very enemies are his inheritance. To their face he declares this decree, and "Lo! here", cries the Anointed One, as he holds aloft in that once pierced hand the scepter of his power, "He has given me this, not only the right to be a king - but the power to conquer."

As the portrait painter looks on the person whose picture he would take, and draws his lines to answer him with the nearest similitude that he can, so God looks on Christ as the archetype to which he will conform the saint, in suffering, in grace, in glory; yet so that Christ has the preeminence in all. Every saint must suffer, because Christ suffered: Christ must not have a delicate body under a crucified head; yet never any suffered, or could suffer, what he endured. Christ is holy, and therefore so shall every saint be - but in an inferior degree; an image cut in clay cannot be so exact as that engraved on gold. Now, our conformity to Christ appears, that as the promises made to him were performed upon his prayers to his Father, his promises made to his saints are given to them in the same way of prayer: Ask of me, says God to his Son, and I shall give you. And the apostle tells us, "You have not, because you ask not." God has promised support to Christ in all his conflicts. Isa 42:1. "Behold my servant, whom I uphold;" yet he prayed "with strong cries and tears," when his feet stood within the shadow of death. A seed is promised to him, and victory over his enemies, yet for both these he prays. Christ toward us acts as a king - but toward his Father as a priest. All he speaks to God is by prayer and intercession. So the saints, the promise makes them kings over their lusts, conquerors over their enemies; but it makes them priests toward God, by prayer humbly to sue out these great things given in the promise. William Gurnall, 1617-1679.

Psalms 2
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Verse 9. "You will break them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery." The ruin of the wicked is certain, irresistible, terrible, complete and irretrievable! Yes! Jehovah has given to his Anointed a rod of iron with which he shall break rebellious nations in pieces, and, despite their imperial strength, they shall be but as pottery, easily dashed into shivers, when the rod of iron is in the hand of the omnipotent Son of God. Those who will not bend - must break. Pottery cannot to be restored if dashed in pieces, and the ruin of sinners will be hopeless if Jesus shall smite them.

"You sinners seek his grace,
Whose wrath you cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of his cross,
And find salvation there!"

The rod has a variety of meanings in Scripture. It might be of different materials, as it was employed for different purposes. At an early period, a wooden rod came into use as one of the insignia of royalty, under the name of scepter. By degrees the scepter grew in importance, and was regarded as characteristic of an empire, or of the reign of some particular king. A golden scepter denoted wealth and pomp. The straight scepter, of which we read in Psalm 45:6, is expressive of the justice and uprightness, the truth and equity, which shall distinguish Messiah's reign, after his kingdom on earth has been established. But when it is said in Re 19:15, that he, "whose name is called the Word of God," will smite the nations, and "rule them with a rod of iron," if the rod signifies "his scepter," then the "iron" of which it is made must be designed to express the severity of the judgments which the omnipotent "King of kings" will inflict on all who resist his authority. But to me it appears doubtful whether the "rod of iron" symbolizes the royal scepter of the Son of God at his second advent. It is mentioned in connection with "a sharp sword," which leads me to prefer the opinion that it also ought to be regarded as a weapon of war; at all events, the "rod of iron" mentioned in the Psalm we are endeavoring to explain is evidently not the emblem of sovereign power, although represented as in the hands of a king - but an instrument of correction and punishment. In this sense the word "rod" is often used.

When the correcting rod, is represented as in this second Psalm, to be of "iron," it only indicates how weighty, how severe, how effectual the threatened chastisement will be - it will not merely bruise - but it will break. You shall break them with a rod of iron.

Now it is just such a complete breaking as would not readily be effected excepting by an iron rod, that is more fully expressed in the following clause of the verse, "You shall dash them in pieces like pottery." The completeness of the destruction, however, depends on two things.

Even an iron rod, if gently used, or used against a hard and firm substance, might cause little injury; but, in the case before us, it is supposed to be applied with great force, "You shall dash them;" and it is applied to what will prove as brittle and frangible as pottery, "You shall dash them in pieces." Here, as in other respects, we must feel that the predictions and promises of this Psalm were but very partially fulfilled in the history of the literal David. Their real accomplishment, their solemn completion, abides the day when the spiritual David shall come in glory and in majesty as Zion's King, with a rod of iron to dash in pieces the great anti-Christian confederacy of kings and peoples, and to take possession of his long promised and dearly purchased inheritance. And the signs of the times seem to indicate that the coming of the Lord draws near. David Pitcairn.

Verse 10. "Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth!" True wisdom, fit for kings and judges, lies in obeying Christ. The gospel, a school for those who would learn how to rule and judge well. They may consider its principles, its exemplar, its spirit, etc.

The scene again changes, and counsel is given to those who have taken counsel to rebel. They are exhorted to obey, and give the kiss of homage and affection to him whom they have hated.

Be wise. It is always wise to be willing to be instructed, especially when such instruction tends to the salvation of the soul. "Now then, you kings, act wisely!" delay no longer - but let good reason weigh with you. Your warfare cannot succeed, therefore desist and yield cheerfully to him who will make you bow if you refuse his yoke. O how wise, how infinitely wise is obedience to Jesus - and how dreadful is the folly of those who continue to be his enemies!

As Jesus is King of kings and Judge of judges, so the gospel is the teacher of the greatest and wisest. If any are so great as to spurn its admonitions, God will make little of them; and if they are so wise as to despise its teachings, their fancied wisdom shall make fools of them. The gospel takes a high tone before the rulers of the earth, and they who preach it should, like Knox and Melvill, magnify their office by bold rebukes and manly utterances even in the royal presence. A clerical sycophant is only fit to be a scullion in the devil's kitchen.

Verse 11. Serve the Lord with fear. True religion is a compound of many virtues and emotions.

Let reverence and humility be mingled with your service. He is a great God, and you are but puny creatures; bend you, therefore, in lowly worship, and let a filial fear mingle with all your obedience to the great Father of the Ages.

Rejoice with trembling. There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian's joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a sweet fragrance, and we must see to it that we burn no other upon God's altar. Fear without joy, is torment; and joy without holy fear, would be presumption.

Psalms 2
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

The fear of God promotes spiritual joy; it is the morning star which ushers in the sunlight of comfort. "Walking in the fear of God, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit." God mingles joy with fear, that fear may not be slavish. Thomas Watson, 1660.

Verse 12. "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who put their trust in him."

Mark the solemn argument for reconciliation and obedience. It is an awful thing to perish in the midst of sin, in the very way of rebellion; and yet how easily could his wrath destroy us suddenly. It needs not that his anger should be heated seven times hotter; let the fuel kindle but a little, and we are consumed. O sinner! Take heed of the terrors of the Lord; for "our God is a consuming fire."

Note the blessing with which the Psalm closes: Blessed are all who put their trust in him. Have we a share in this blessedness? Do we trust in him? Our faith may be slender as a spider's thread; but if it is real, we are in our measure blessed. The more we trust, the more fully shall we know this blessedness. We may therefore close the Psalm with the prayer of the apostles, "Lord, increase our faith."

The first Psalm was a contrast between the righteous man - and the lost sinner; the second Psalm is a contrast between the tumultuous disobedience of the ungodly world - and the sure exaltation of the righteous Son of God. In the first Psalm, we saw the wicked driven away like chaff; in the second Psalm we see them broken in pieces like a potter's vessel. In the first Psalm, we beheld the righteous like a tree planted by the rivers of water; and here, we contemplate Christ the Covenant Head of the righteous, made better than a tree planted by the rivers of water, for he is made king of all the islands, and all the heathen bow before him and kiss the dust; while he himself gives a blessing to all those who put their trust in him. The two Psalms are worthy of the very deepest attention; they are, in fact, the preface to the entire Book of Psalms, and were by some of the ancients, joined into one.

They are, however, two Psalms; for Paul speaks of this as the second Psalm (Acts 13:33). The first shows us the character and lot of the righteous; and the next teaches us that the Psalms are Messianic, and speak of Christ the Messiah - the Prince who shall reign from the river even unto the ends of the earth. That they have both a far reaching prophetic outlook we are well assured - but we do not feel competent to open up that matter, and must leave it to abler hands.

Kiss:
A sign of love among equals.
A sign of subjection in inferiors.
A sign of religious adoration in worshipers.
John Richardson, 1655.

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. From the Person, the Son, we shall pass to the act (kiss the Son); in which we shall see, that since this is an act which licentious men have depraved (carnal men do it, and treacherous men do it - Judas betrayed his Master by a kiss), and yet God commands this, and expresses love in this. Everything that has, or may be abused, must not therefore be abandoned.

Then let us consider and magnify the goodness of God, who has brought us into this distance, that we may kiss the Son, that the expressing of this love lies in our hands, and that, whereas the love of the church, in the Old Testament, even in the Canticle, went no farther but to "O that he would kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!" So 1:1, now, in the Christian church, and in the visitation of a Christian soul, he has invited us, enables us to kiss him, for he is presently among us.

This leads us to give an earnest persuasion and exhortation to kiss the Son, with all those affections, which we shall there find to be expressed in the Scriptures, in that testimony of true love, a holy kiss. But then, lest that persuasion by love should not be effectual and powerful enough to us, we shall descend from that duty, to the danger, from love, to fear, "lest he be angry;" and therein see first, that God, who is love, can be angry; and then, that this God who is angry here, is the Son of God, he who has done so much for us, and therefore in justice may be angry; he who is our Judge, and therefore in reason we are to fear his anger! And then, in a third branch, we shall see how easily this anger departs - a kiss removes it.

Kiss the Son. That is, embrace him, depend upon him as your sovereign. Kiss him, and be not ashamed of kissing him.

"Lest he be angry." Anger, as it is a passion that troubles, and disorders, and discomposes a man - is not in God; but anger, as it is a sensible discerning of foes from friends, and of things that conduce, or disconduce to his glory - so it is in God. When God inflicts such punishments as a king justly incensed would do, then God is thus angry. Now here, our case is heavier; it is not this great, and almighty, and majestic God, that may be angry - that is bad enough; but even the Son, whom we must kiss, may be angry. From Sermons of John Donne.

Verse 12. Kiss the Son. To make peace with the Father - kiss the Son. "Let him kiss me," was the church's prayer. Song 1:2. Let us kiss him - that is our endeavor. Indeed, the Son must first kiss us by his mercy - before we can kiss him by our piety. Lord, grant in these mutual kisses and interchangeable embraces now, that we may come to the wedding supper hereafter; when the choir of heaven, even the voices of angels, shall sing nuptial songs, at the wedding of the spouse of the Lamb. Thomas Adams.

Verse 12. His wrath. Unspeakable must the wrath of God be when it is kindled fully, since perdition may come upon the kindling of it but a little. John Newton.

Psalms 3
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

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 does 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!

With regard to the authority of the TITLES, it befits 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. Augustine 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 Rabbis 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 contemporary, or nearly so, with the respective Psalms themselves, and to have been written about the period of their production. John Mason, 1854.

Here we have the first use of the word 'Psalm'. In Hebrew, Mizmor, which has 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.

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 should 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 is it 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 these verses, you have David:
making a complaint to God concerning his enemies (1-2),
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.

Verse 1. Here we have,
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?

The poor broken-hearted father complains of the multitude of his enemies: and if you turn to 2 Sam. 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 has forsaken me, my faithful counselors have turned their backs on me; lo! my generals and soldiers have deserted me!'

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! Troubles always come in flocks. Sorrow has a numerous family.

Many are those who rise up against me. Their armies are far superior to mine! Their numbers are too great for my reckoning! Let us here recall to our memory the innumerable multitude 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.

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

Psalms 3
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Thus you may plainly see how God has 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. Let the wicked idolaters brag that they will prevail against you and overcome you, and that God has 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 Counselor; yet say you, with David, You, O Lord, are my defender, and the lifter up of my head. Persuade yourselves, with David, that the Lord is your defender, who has compassed you round about, and is, as it were, a shield that covers you on every side. It is he only that may and will compass you about with glory and honor. It is he who 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 hair; and Ahithophel through desperation, shall hang himself. The bands shall be broken, and you shall be delivered; for this belongs 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.

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 how suddenly he had lost them! As people must not trust too much to princes (Psalm 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 who troubled him! Even good people must not think it strange if the stream goes against them, and the powers that threaten them grow more and more formidable. Matthew Henry.

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

David complains before his loving God of the worst weapon of his enemies' attacks, and the bitterest drop of his distresses. "Oh!" says 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 most unkind 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, you bloody man; God has forsaken you and left you!" 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 God will never rescue us! And yet remember our most blessed Savior had to endure this in the deepest degree when he cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He knew full well what is 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 by 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!

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

A child of God startles at the very thought of despairing of help from God; you cannot vex him with anything so much as if you persuade him that, 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 you;" but, Lord, if it is 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 you say unto my soul, "I am your salvation" (Psalm 35:3), and that shall satisfy me, and in due time silence them. Matthew Henry.

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 adjusted 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 follows 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."

Selah. Much has been written on this word, and still its meaning does not appear to be wholly determined. The word occurs seventy-three times in the Psalms, and three times in the book of Habakkuk. 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 of the 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 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. Albert Barnes, 1868.

Psalms 3
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Verse 3. The threefold blessing which God affords to his suffering ones - Defense, Honor, Joy. All these may be enjoyed by faith, even in our worst estate.

Here David avows his confidence in God. You, O Lord, are a shield for me. The word in the original signifies more than a shield; it means a buckler round about, a protection which shall surround a man entirely, a shield above, beneath, around, without and within. Oh! what a shield is God for his people! He wards off the fiery darts of Satan from beneath, and the storms of trials from above, while, at the same instant, he speaks peace to the tempest within the bosom.

You are my glory. David knew that though he was driven from his capital in contempt and scorn, he would yet return in triumph, and by faith he looks upon God as honoring and glorifying him. O for grace to see our future glory - amid present shame! Indeed, there is a present glory in our afflictions, if we could but discern it; for it is no small thing to have fellowship with Christ in his sufferings. David was honored when he made the ascent of Olivet, weeping, with his head covered; for he was in all this made like unto his Lord. May we learn, in this respect, to glory in tribulations also!

And the lifter up of my head - you shall yet exalt me. Though I hang my head in sorrow, I shall very soon lift it up in joy and thanksgiving. What a divine trio of mercies is contained in this verse! - defense for the defenseless, glory for the despised, and joy for the comfortless. Truly we may well say, "there is none like the God of Jeshurun."

Lifter up of my head. There is a lifting up of the head by elevating to office, as with Pharaoh's butler; this we trace to the divine appointment. There is a lifting up in honor after shame, in health after sickness, in gladness after sorrow, in restoration after a fall, in victory after a temporary defeat; in all these respects the Lord is the lifter up of our head.

Verse 4. I cried unto the Lord with my voice. Why does he say, "with my voice?" Surely, silent prayers are heard. Yes - but good men often find that, even in secret, they pray better aloud than they do when they utter no vocal sound. Perhaps, moreover, David would think thus, "My cruel enemies clamor against me; they lift up their voices, and, behold, I lift up mine, and my cry outsoars them all." They clamor - but the cry of my voice in great distress pierces the very skies, and is louder and stronger than all their tumult; for there is one in the sanctuary who harkens to me from the seventh heaven, and he has heard me out of his holy hill. Answers to prayers are sweet cordials for the soul. We need not fear a frowning world - while we rejoice in a prayer-hearing God.

He heard me. I have often heard persons say in prayer, "You are a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God, " but the expression contains a superfluity, since for God to hear is, according to Scripture, the same thing as to answer.

(1) In dangers we should pray.
(2) God will graciously hear.
(3) We should record his answers of grace.
(4) We may strengthen ourselves for the future - by remembering the deliverances of the past.

When prayer leads the van - in due time deliverance brings up the rear. Thomas Watson.

Here stands another Selah. Rest awhile, O tried believer, and think on these comforting truths.

Verse 5. David's faith enabled him to lie down; anxiety would certainly have kept him on tiptoe, watching for an enemy. Yes, he was able to sleep, to sleep in the midst of trouble, surrounded by foes. "So he gives his beloved sleep."

There is a sleep of presumption; God deliver us from it! There is a sleep of holy confidence; God help us so to close our eyes!

But David says he awaked also. Some sleep the sleep of death; but he, though exposed to many enemies, reclined his head on the bosom of his God, slept happily beneath the wing of Providence in sweet security, and then awoke in safety.

For the Lord sustained me. The sweet influence of the Pleiades of promise shone upon the sleeper, and he awoke conscious that the Lord had preserved him. An excellent divine has well remarked, "This quietude of a man's heart by faith in God, is a higher sort of work than the natural resolution of manly courage, for it is the gracious operation of God's Holy Spirit upholding a man above nature, and therefore the Lord must have all the glory of it."

Would you be secured in evil times? Get grace and fortify this garrison; a good conscience is a Christian's fort royal. David's enemies lay round about him; yet, says he, I laid me down and slept. A good conscience can sleep in the mouth of a cannon; grace is a Christian's coat of armor, which fears not the arrow or bullet. True grace may be shot at - but can never be shot through; grace puts the soul into Christ, and there it is safe, as the bee in the hive, as the dove in the ark. "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Thomas Watson.

The Lord sustained me. It would not be unprofitable to consider the sustaining power manifested in us while we lie asleep. In the flowing of the blood, heaving of the lung, etc., in the body, and the continuance of mental faculties while the image of death is upon us.

Psalms 3
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Verse 6. Here we see faith surrounded by enemies - and yet triumphant.

Buckling on his armor for the day's battle, our hero sings, I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. Observe that he does not attempt to under estimate the number or wisdom of his enemies. He reckons them at tens of thousands, and he views them as cunning huntsmen chasing him with cruel skill. Yet he trembles not - but looking his enemy in the face, he is ready for the battle.

There may be no way of escape; they may hem me in as the deer is surrounded by a circle of hunters; they may surround me on every side - but in the name of God I will dash through them; or, if I remain in the midst of them - yet shall they not hurt me; I shall be free in my very prison.

But David is too wise to venture to the battle without prayer; he therefore betakes himself to his knees, and cries aloud to Jehovah.

I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. The psalmist will trust, despite appearances. He will not be afraid though ten thousands of people have set themselves against him round about. Let us here limit our thoughts to this one idea, "despite appearances." What could look worse to human sight than this array of ten thousands of people? Ruin seemed to stare him in the face; wherever he looked an enemy was to be seen. What was one against ten thousand? It often happens that God's people come into circumstances like this; they say, "All these things are against me!" They seem scarcely able to count their troubles; they cannot see a loophole through which to escape; things look very black indeed; it is great faith and trust which says under these circumstances, "I will not be afraid."

At such seasons as these, the reasonable men of the world, those who walk by sight and not by faith, will think it reasonable enough that the Christian should be afraid. Weak believers are now ready to make excuses for us, and we are only too ready to make them for ourselves; instead of rising above the weakness of the flesh, we take refuge under it, and use it as an excuse. But let us think prayerfully for a little while, and we shall see that it should not be thus with us. To trust only when appearances are favorable, is to sail only with the wind and tide, to believe only when we can see. Oh! let us follow the example of the psalmist, and seek that unreservedness of faith which will enable us to trust God, come what will, and to say as he said, "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about". Philip Power, 1862.

I will not be afraid, etc. It makes no matter what our enemies be, though for number, legions; for power, principalities; for subtlety, serpents; for cruelty, dragons; for vantage of place, a prince of the air; for maliciousness, spiritual wickedness. Stronger is he who is in us - than those who are against us! Nothing is able to separate us from the love of God. In Christ Jesus our Lord, we shall be more than conquerors. William Cowper.

Verse 7. Our enemies are vanquished foes, toothless lions!

(1) Describe the Lord's past dealing with his enemies; "you have."

(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.

David's only hope is in his God - but that is so strong a confidence, that he feels the Lord has 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 has broken their jaws, so that they could not injure him; You have 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 has broken their teeth, and let them say what they will, their toothless jaws shall not be able to devour him. Rejoice, O believer, you have to do with a dragon whose head is broken, and with enemies whose teeth are dashed from their jaws!

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 favor. By a natural anthropomorphism, it describes the intervals of such manifestations 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 you have, in former exigencies, smitten all my enemies, without exception on the cheek or jaw, an act at once violent and insulting. J. A. Alexander.

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.

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 foolishness in thinking himself able to grapple with Omnipotence! Stephen Charnock.

Verse 8. Salvation belongs to the Lord. This verse contains the sum and substance of Calvinistic doctrine. Search Scripture through, and you must, if you read it with a candid mind, be persuaded that the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is the great doctrine of the word of God. This is a point concerning which we are daily fighting. Our opponents say, "Salvation belongs to the free will of man; if not to man's merit - yet at least to man's will." But we hold and teach that salvation from first to last, in every iota of it, belongs to the Most High God. It is God who chooses his people. He calls them by his grace; he quickens them by his Spirit, and keeps them by his power. It is not of man, neither by man; "not of him that wills, nor of him that runs - but of God who shows mercy." May we all learn this truth experimentally, for our proud flesh and blood will never permit us to learn it in any other way.

Psalms 3
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

In the last sentence the peculiarity and speciality of salvation are plainly stated: Your blessing is upon your people. Neither upon Egypt, nor upon Tyre, nor upon Nineveh; your blessing is upon your chosen, your blood - bought, your everlastingly beloved people.

Selah: Lift up your hearts, and pause, and meditate upon this doctrine! "Your blessing is upon your people." Divine, discriminating, distinguishing, eternal, infinite, immutable love, is a subject for constant adoration. Pause, my soul, at this Selah, and consider your own interest in the salvation of God; and if by humble faith you are enabled to see Jesus as your by his own free gift of himself to you, if this greatest of all blessings be upon you, rise up and sing,

"Rise, my soul! adore and wonder!
Ask, 'O why such love to me?'
Grace has put me in the number
Of the Savior's family!
Hallelujah! Thanks, eternal thanks, to Thee!"

Salvation belongs to the Lord. There is a parallel passage in Jonah 2:9, "Salvation is of the Lord." The mariners might have written upon their ship, instead of Castor and Pollux, or the like device, Salvation is the Lord's; the Ninevites might have written upon their gates, Salvation is the Lord's! It is the argument of both the Testaments, the staff and support of heaven and earth. They would both sink, and all their joints be severed, if salvation was not of the Lord.

Your blessing is upon your people. The saints are blessed before they are crowned. This seems a paradox to flesh and blood. What, reproached and maligned - yet blessed! A man that looks upon the children of God with a carnal eye, and sees how they are afflicted, and like the ship in the gospel, which was covered with waves (Mt 8:24), would think they were far from blessedness. Paul brings a catalogue of his sufferings (2 Co 11:24-26), "Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck," etc. And those Christians of the first magnitude, of whom the world was not worthy, "Had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, they were sawn asunder, they were slain with the sword." Heb 11:36,37. What! and were all these during the time of their sufferings, blessed? A carnal man would think, if this be to be blessed - then God deliver him from it. But, however sense would give their vote, our Savior Christ pronounces the godly man blessed; though a mourner, though a martyr - yet blessed. Job on the ash-heap was blessed Job. The saints are blessed when they are cursed. Shimei did curse David (2 Samuel 16:5), "He came forth and cursed him;" yet when he was cursed David - he was blessed David. The saints though they are bruised - yet they are blessed. Not only they shall be blessed - but they are so. Psalm 119:1. "Blessed are the undefiled." Psalm 3:8. "Your blessing is upon your people." Thomas Watson.

Salvation of God from first to last. They were blessed in Christ, through Christ, and shall be blessed with Christ. The blessing rests upon their persons, comforts, trials, labors, families, etc. It flows from grace, is enjoyed by faith, and is insured by oath, etc. James Smith's Portions, 1802-1862.

Psalms 4
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

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 the 8th verse 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 1 Chronicles 6:31, 1 Chronicles 6:32; 1 Chronicles 15:16-22; 1 Chronicles 25:1, 1 Chronicles 25:7. 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 icy 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 Psalms 4:1 David pleads with God for help. In the second he expostulates with his enemies, and continues to address them to the end of Psalms 4:5. Then from Psalms 4:6 to the close 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 lot us that David was tired, or probably we should never have heard these sweet sonnets of faith.

Hints to Preachers

Psalms 4:1 - 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."

Psalms 4:2 - Depravity of man as evinced

(1)   by continuance in despising Christ,

(2)   loving vanity in his heart, and

(3)   seeking lies in his daily life.

Psalms 4:2 - The length of the sinner's sin. "How long?" May be bounded by repentance, shall be by death, and yet shall continue in eternity.

Psalms 4:3 - Election - Its aspects towards God, our enemies, and ourselves.

Psalms 4:3 - "The Lord will hear when I call unto him." Answers to prayer certain to special persons. Mark out those who can claim the favour.

Psalms 4:3 - The gracious Separatist. Who is he? Who separated him? With what end? How to make men know it?

Psalms 4:4 - The sinner directed to review himself, that he may be convinced of sin - Andrew Fuller, 1754-1815.

Psalms 4:4 - "Be still." Advice - good, practical, but hard to follow. Times when seasonable. Graces needed to enable one to be still. Results of quietness. Persons who most need the advice. Instances of its practice. Here is much material for a sermon.

Psalms 4:5 - The nature of those sacrifices of righteousness which the Lord's people are expected to offer - William Ford Vance, 1827.

Psalms 4:6 - The cry of the world and the church contrasted. Vox populi not always Vox Dei.

Psalms 4:6 - The cravings of the soul all satisfied in God.

Psalms 4:6, Psalms 4:7 - An assurance of the Saviour's love, the source of unrivalled joy.

Psalms 4:7 - The believer's joys.

(1)   Their source, "Thou;"

(2)   their season - even now - "Thou hast;"

(3)   their position, "in my heart;"

(4)   their excellence, "more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased."

Psalms 4
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Another excellent theme suggests itself - "The superiority of the joys of grace to the joys of earth;" or, "Two sort of prosperity - which is to be the more desired?"

Psalms 4:8 - The peace and safety of the good man - Joseph Lathtop, D.D., 1805.

Psalms 4:8 - A bedchamber for believers, a vesper song to sing in it, and a guard to keep the door.

Psalms 4:8 - The Christian's good-night.

Psalms 4:2 - The means which a believer should use: to win the ungodly to Christ.

(1).   Expostulation, Psalms 4:2.

(2)   Instruction, Psalms 4:2.

(3)   Exhortation, Psalms 4:4, Psalms 4:5.

(4)   Testimony to the blessedness of true religion, as in Psalms 4:6, Psalms 4:7.

(5)   Exemplification of that testimony by the peace of faith, Psalms 4:8.

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Psalms 4:1

"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.

Psalms 4:1

"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 (James 5:17) particularly mentions of Elijah, whom he expressly describes in the ancient languages as 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 a name meaning the thundering legion. - Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow, 1611-1684.

Psalms 4:2

"O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah." Prayer soars above the violence and impiety of men, and with a swift wing commits itself to heaven, with happy omen, if I may allude to what the learned tell us of the augury of the ancients, which I shall not minutely discuss. Fervent prayers stretch forth a strong, wide-extended wing, and while the birds of night hover beneath, they mount aloft, and point out, as it were, the proper seats to which we should aspire. For certainly there is nothing that cuts the air so swiftly, nothing that takes so sublime, so happy, and so auspicious a flight as prayer, which bears the soul on its pinions, and leaves far behind all the dangers, and even the delights of this low world of ours. Behold this holy man, who just before was crying to God in the midst of distress, and with urgent importunity entreating that he might be heard, now, as if he were already possessed of all he had asked, taking upon him boldly to rebuke his enemies, how highly soever they were exalted, and how potent soever they might be even in the royal palace. - Robert Leighton, D.D.

Psalms 4:2

"O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?" etc. We might imagine every syllable of this precious Psalm used by our Master some evening, when about to leave the temple for the day, and retiring to his wonted rest at Bethany (Psalms 4:8), after another fruitless expostulation with the men of Israel. And we may read it still as the very utterance of his heart, longing over man, and delighting in God. But further, not only is this the utterance of the Head, it is also the language of one of his members in full sympathy with him in holy feeling. This is a Psalm with which the righteous may make their dwellings resound, morning and evening, as they cast a sad look over a world that rejects God's grace. They may sing it while they cling more and more every day to Jehovah, as their all-sufficient heritage, now and in the age to come. They may sing it, too, in the happy confidence of faith and hope, when the evening of the world's day is coming, and may then fall asleep in the certainty of what shall greet their eyes on the resurrection morning -

"Sleeping embosomed in his grace,
Till morning-shadows flee."
Andrew A. Bonar, 1859.

Psalms 4
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 4:2

"Love Vanity." They that love sin, love vanity; they chase a bubble, they lean upon a reed, their hope is as a spider's web.

"Leasing." This is an old Saxon word signifying falsehood.

Psalms 4:2

"How long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." This our first parents found, and therefore named their second son Abel, or vanity. Solomon, that had tried these things, and could best tell the vanity of them, he preacheth this sermon over again and again, "Vanity of vanities, and all is vanity." It is sad to think how many thousands there be that can say with the preacher, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity;" nay, swear it, and yet follow after these things as if there were no other glory, nor felicity, but what is to be found in these things they call vanity. Such men will sell Christ, heaven, and their souls, for a trifle, that call these things vanity, but do not cordially believe them to be vanity, but set their hearts upon them as if they were their crown, the top of all their royalty and glory. Oh! let your souls dwell upon the vanity of all things here below, till your hearts be so thoroughly convinced and persuaded of the vanity of them, as to trample upon them, and make them a footstool for Christ to get up, and ride in a holy triumph in your hearts.

Gilemex, king of Vandals, led in triumph by Belisarius, cried out, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." The fancy of Lucian, who placeth Charon on the top of a high hill, viewing all the affairs of men living, and looking on their greatest cities as little birds' nests, is very pleasant. Oh, the imperfection, the ingratitude, the levity, the inconstancy, the perfidiousness of those creatures we most servilely affect! Ah, did we but weigh man's pain with his payment, his crosses with his mercies, his miseries with his pleasures, we should then see that there is nothing got by the bargain, and conclude, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Chrysostom said once, "That if he were the fittest in the world to preach a sermon to the whole world, gathered together in one congregation, and had some high mountain for his pulpit, from whence he might have a prospect of all the world in his view, and were furnished with a voice of brass, a voice as loud as the trumpets of the archangel, that all the world might hear him, he would choose to preach upon no other text than that in the Psalms, O mortal men, 'How long will ye love vanity, and follow after leasing?'" - Thomas Brooks, 1608-1680.

Psalms 4:2

"Love Vanity." Men's affections are according to their principles; and every one loves that most without him which is most suitable to somewhat within him: liking is founded in likeness, and has therefore that word put upon it. It is so in whatsoever we can imagine; whether in temporals or spirituals, as to the things of this life, or of a better. Men's love is according to some working and impression upon their own spirits. And so it is here in the point of vanity; those which are vain persons, they delight in vain things; as children, they love such matters as are most agreeable to their childish dispositions, and as do suit them in that particular. Out of the heart comes all kind of evil. - Thomas Horton, 1675.

Psalms 4:3

"The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself." When God chooseth a man, he chooseth him for himself; for himself to converse with, to communicate himself unto him as a friend, a companion, and his delight. Now, it is holiness that makes us fit to live with the holy God for ever, since without it we cannot see him (Hebrews 12:14), which is God's main aim, and more than our being his children; as one must be supposed a man, one of mankind, having a soul reasonable, ere we can suppose him capable of adoption, or to be another man's heir. As therefore it was the main first design in God's eye, before the consideration of our happiness, let it be so in ours. - Thomas Goodwin, 1600-1679.

Psalms 4:3

What rare persons the godly are: "The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour." Proverbs 12:26. As the flower of the sun, as the wine of Lebanon, as the sparkling upon Aaron's breastplate, such is the orient splendour of a person embellished with godliness.... The godly are precious, therefore they are set apart for God, "Know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself." We set apart things that are precious; the godly are set apart as God's peculiar treasure (Psalms 135:4); as his garden of delight (Song of Solomon 4:12); as his royal diadem (Isaiah 43:3); the godly are the excellent of the earth (Psalms 16:3); comparable to fine gold (Lamentations 4:2); double refined. Zechariah 13:9. They are the glory of the creation. Isaiah 46:13. Origen compares the saints to sapphires and crystals: God calls them jewels. Malachi 3:17. - Thomas Watson.

Psalms 4:3

"The Lord will hear when I call unto him." Let us remember that the experience of one of the saints concerning the verity of God's promises, and of the certainty of the written privileges of the Lord's people, is a sufficient proof of the right which all his children have to the same mercies, and a ground of hope that they also shall partake of them in their times of need. - David Dickson, 1653.

Psalms 4
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 4:4

"Stand in awe, and sin not." Jehovah is a name of great power and efficacy, a name that hath in it five vowels, without which no language can be expressed; a name that hath in it also three syllables, to signify the Trinity of persons, the eternity of God, One in Three and Three in One; a name of such dread and reverence amongst the Jews, that they tremble to name it, and there: lore they use the name Adonai (Lord) in all their devotions. And thus ought every one to "stand in awe, and sin not," by taking the name of God in vain; but to sing praise, and honour, to remember, to declare, to exalt, to praise and bless it; for holy and reverend, only worthy and excellent is his name. - Rayment, 1630.

Psalms 4:4

"Commune with your own heart." The language is similar to that which we use when we say, "Consult your better judgment," or, "Take counsel of your own good sense." - Albert Barnes, in loc.

Psalms 4:4

If thou wouldst exercise thyself to godliness in solitude, accustom thyself to soliloquies, I mean to conference with thyself. He needs never be idle that hath so much business to do with his own soul. It was a famous answer which Antisthenes gave when he was asked what fruit he reaped by all his studies. By them, saith he, I have learned both to live and talk with myself. Soliloquies are the best disputes; every good man is best company for himself of all the creatures. Holy David enjoineth this to others, Commune with your own hearts upon your bed, and be still." "Commune with your own hearts;" when ye have none to speak with, talk to yourselves. Ask yourselves for what end ye were made, what lives ye have led, what times ye have lost, what love ye have abused, what wrath ye have deserved. Call yourselves to a reckoning, how ye have improved your talents, how true or false ye have been to your trust, what provision ye have laid in for an hour of death, what preparation ye have, made for a great day of account. "Upon your beds." Secrecy is the best opportunity for this duty. The silent night is a good time for this speech. When we have no outward objects to disturb us, and to call our eyes, as the fool's eyes are always, to the ends of, the earth; then our eyes, as the eyes of the wise, may be in our heads; and then our minds, like the windows in Solomon's temple, may be broad inwards. The most successful searches have been made in the night season; the soul is then wholly shut up in the earthly house of the body, and hath no visits from strangers to disquiet its thoughts. Physicians have judged dreams a probable sign whereby they might find out the distempers of the body. Surely, then, the bed is no bad place to examine and search into the state of the soul. "And be still." Self-communion will much help to curb your headstrong, ungodly passions. Serious consideration, like the casting up of earth amongst bees, will allay inordinate affections when they are full of fury, and make such a hideous noise. Though sensual appetites and unruly desires are, as the people of Ephesus, in an uproar, pleading for their former privilege, and expecting their wonted provision, as in the days of their predominancy, if conscience use its authority, commanding them in God's name, whose officer it is, to keep the king's peace, and argue it with them, as the town-clerk of. Ephesus, "We are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this day's concourse;" all is frequently by this means hushed, and the tumult appeased without any further mischief. - George Swinnock, 1627-1673.

Psalms 4:4

"Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." When we are most retired from the world, then we are most fit to have, and usually have, most communion with God. If a man would but abridge himself of sleep, and wake with holy thoughts, when deep sleep falleth upon sorrowful labouring men, he might be entertained with visions from God, though not such visions as Eliphaz and others of the saints have had, yet visions he might have. Every time God communicates himself to the soul, there is a vision of love, or mercy, or power; somewhat of God in his nature, or in his will, is showed unto us. David shows us divine work when we go to rest. The bed is not all for sleep: "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." Be still or quiet, sad then commune with your hearts; and if you will commune with your hearts, God will come and commune with your hearts too, his Spirit will give you a loving visit and visions of his love. - Joseph Caryl.

Psalms 4:4

"Stand in awe."
With sacred awe pronounce his name,
Whom words nor thoughts can reach.
John Needham, 1768.

Psalms 4:6

Where Christ reveals himself there is satisfaction in the slenderest portion, and without Christ there is emptiness in the greatest fulness. - Alexander Grosse, on enjoying Christ, 1632.

Psalms 4:6

"Many," said David, "ask who will shew us unit good?" meaning riches, and honour, and pleasure, which are not good. But when he came to godliness itself, he leaves out "many," and prayeth in his own person, "Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us;" as if none would join with him. - Henry Smith.

Psalms 4
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 4:6

"Who will shew us any good?" This is not a fair translation. The word any is not in the text, nor anything equivalent to it; and not a few have quoted it, and preached upon the text, placing the principal emphasis upon this illegitimate. The place is sufficiently emphatic. There are multitudes who say, Who will shew us good? Man wants good; he hates evil as evil, because he has pain, suffering, and death through it; and he wishes to find that supreme good which will content his heart, and save him from evil. But men mistake this good. They look for a good that is to gratify their passions; they have no notion of any happiness that does not come to them through the medium of their senses. Therefore they reject spiritual good, and they reject the supreme God, by whom alone all the powers of the soul of man can be gratified. - Adam Clarke.

Psalms 4:6

"Lift thou up," etc. This was the blessing of the high priest and is the heritage of all the saints. It includes reconciliation, assurance, communion, benediction, in a word, the fulness of God. Oh, to be filled therewith! - C. H. S.

Psalms 4:6, Psalms 4:7

Lest riches should be accounted evil in themselves, God sometimes gives them to the righteous; and lest they should be considered as the chief good, he frequently bestows them on the wicked. But they are more generally the portion of his enemies than his friends. Alas I what is it to receive and not to be received? to have none other dews of blessing than such as shall be followed by showers of brimstone? We may compass ourselves with sparks of security, and afterwards be secured in eternal misery. This world is a floating island, and so sure as we cast anchor upon it, we shall be carried away by it. God, and all that he has made, is not more than God without anything that he has made. He can never want treasure who has such a golden mine. He is enough without the creature, but the creature is not anything without him. It is, therefore, better to enjoy him without anything else, than to enjoy everything else without him. It is better to be a wooden vessel filled with wine, than a golden one filled with water. - William Secker's Nonsuch Professor, 1660.

Psalms 4:7

What madness and folly is it that the favourites of heaven should envy the men of the world, who at best do but feed upon the scraps that come from God's table! Temporals are the bones; spirituals are the marrow. Is it below a man to envy the dogs, because of the bones? And is it not much more below a Christian to envy others for temporals, when himself enjoys spirituals? - Thomas Brooks.

Psalms 4:7

"Thou hast put gladness in my heart." The comforts which God reserves for his mourners are filling comforts (Romans 15:13); "The God of hope fill you with joy" (John 16:24); "Ask that your joy may be full." When God pours in the joys of heaven they fill the heart, and make it run over (2 Corinthians 7:4); "I am exceeding joyful;" the Greek is, I overflow with joy, as a cup that is filled with wine till it runs over. Outward comforts can no more fill the heart than a triangle can fill a circle. Spiritual joys are satisfying (Psalms 63:5); "My heart shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips; Thou hast put gladness in my heart." Worldly joys do put gladness into the face, but the spirit of God puts gladness into the heart; divine joys are heart joys (Zechariah 10:7; John 16:22); "Your heart shall rejoice" (Luke 1:47); "My spirit rejoiced in God." And to show how filling these comforts are, which are of a heavenly extraction, the Psalmist says they create greater joy than when "corn and wine increase." Wine and oil may delight but not satisfy; they have their vacuity and indigence. We may say, as Zechariah 10:2, "They comfort in vain;" outward comforts do sooner cloy than cheer, and sooner weary than fill. Xerxes offered great rewards to him that could find out a new pleasure; but the comforts of the Spirit are satisfactory, they recruit the heart (Psalms 94:19), "Thy comforts delight my soul." There is as much difference between heavenly comforts and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten, and one that is painted on the wall. - Thomas Watson.

Psalms 4:8

It is said of the husbandman, that having cast his seed into the ground, he sleeps and riseth day and night, and the seed springs and grows he knoweth not how. Mark 4:26, Mark 4:27. So a good man having by faith and prayer cast his care upon God, he resteth night and day, and is very easy, leaving it to his God to perform all things for him according to his holy will. - Matthew Henry.

Psalms 4
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 4:8

When you have walked with God from morning until night, it remaineth that you conclude the day well, when you would give yourself to rest at night. Wherefore, first look back and take a strict view of your whole carriage that day past. Reform what you find amiss; and rejoice, or be grieved, as you find you have done well or ill, as you have advanced or declined in grace that day. Secondly, since you cannot sleep in safety if God, who is your keeper (Psalms 111:4, Psalms 111:5), do not wake and watch for you (Psalms 127:1); and though you have God to watch when you sleep, you cannot be safe, if he that watcheth be your enemy. Wherefore it is very convenient that at night you renew and confirm your peace with God by faith and prayer, commending and committing yourself to God's tuition by prayer (Psalms 3:4, Psalms 3:5; Psalms 92:2), with thanksgiving before you go to bed. Then shall you lie down in safety. Psalms 4:8. All this being done, yet while you are putting off your apparel, when you are lying down, and when you are in bed, before you sleep, iris good that you commune with your own heart. Psalms 4:4. If possibly you can fall asleep with some heavenly meditation, then will your sleep be more sweet (Proverbs 3:21, Proverbs 3:24, Proverbs 3:25); and more secure (Proverbs 6:21, Proverbs 6:22); your dreams fewer, or more comfortable; your head will be fuller of good thoughts (Proverbs 6:22), and your heart will be in a better frame when you awake, whether in the night or in the morning. - Condensed from Henry Scudder's Daily Walk, 1633.

Psalms 4:8

"I will both," etc. We have now to retire for a moment from the strife of tongues and the open hostility of foes, into the stillness and privacy of the chamber of sleep. Here, also, we find the "I will" of trust. "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." God is here revealed to us as exercising personal care in the still chamber. And there is something here which should be inexpressibly sweet to the believer, for this shows the minuteness of God's care, the individuality of his love; how it condescends and stoops, and acts, not only in great, but also in little spheres; not only where glory might be procured from great results, but where nought is to be had save the gratitude and love of a poor feeble creature, whose life has been protected and preserved, in a period of helplessness and sleep. How blessed would it be if we made a larger recognition of God in the Still chamber; if we thought of him as being there in all hours of illness, of weariness, and pain; if we believed that his interest and care are as much concentrated upon the feeble believer there as upon his people when in the wider battle field of the strife of tongues. There is something inexpressibly touching in this "laying down" of the Psalmist. In thus lying down he voluntarily gave up guardianship of himself; he resigned himself into the hands of another; he did so completely, for in the absence of all care he slept; there was here a perfect trust. Many a believer lies down, but it is not to sleep. Perhaps he feels safe enough so far as his body is concerned, but cares and anxieties invade the privacy of his chamber; they come to try his faith and trust; they threaten, they frighten, and alas! prove too strong for trust. Many a poor believer might say, "I will lay me down, but not to sleep." The author met with a touching instance of this, in the case of an aged minister whom he visited in severe illness. This worthy man's circumstances were narrow, and his family trials were great; he said, "The doctor wants me to sleep, but how can I sleep with care sitting on my pillow?" It is the experience of some of the Lord, s people, that although equal to an emergency or a continued pressure, a reaction sets in afterwards; and when they come to be alone their spirits sink, and they do not realise that strength from God, or feel that confidence in him which they felt while the pressure was exerting its force....There is a trial in stillness; and oftentimes the still chamber makes a larger demand upon loving trust than the battle field. O that we could trust God more and more with personal things! O that he were the God of our chamber, as well as of our temples and houses! O that we could bring him more and more into the minutiae of daily life! If we did thus, we should experience a measure of rest to which we are, perhaps, strangers now; we should have less dread of the sick chamber; we should have that unharassed mind which conduces most to repose, in body and soul; we should be able to say, "I will lie down and sleep, and leave tomorrow with God!" Ridley's brother offered to remain with him during the night preceding his martyrdom, but the bishop declined, saying, that "he meant to go to bed, and sleep as quietly as ever he did in his life." - Philip Bennett Power's 'I Wills' of the Psalms.

Psalms 4:8

Due observation of Providence will both beget and secure inward tranquility in your minds amidst the vicissitudes and revolutions of things in this unstable vain world. "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for the Lord only maketh me dwell in safety." He resolves that sinful fears of events shall not rob him of his inward quiet, nor torture his thoughts with anxious presages: he will commit all his concerns into that faithful fatherly hand that had hitherto wrought all things for him; and he means not to lose the comfort of one night's rest, nor brings the evil of tomorrow upon the day; but knowing in whose hand he was, wisely enjoys the sweet felicity of a resigned will. Now this tranquility of our minds is as much begotten and preserved by a due consideration of providence as by anything whatsoever. - John Flayel, 1627-1691.

Psalms 4:8

Happy is the Christian, who having nightly with this verse, committed himself to his bed as to his grave, shall at last, with the same words, resign himself to his grave as to his bed, from which he expects in due time to arise, and sing a morning hymn with the children of the resurrection. - George Horne, D.D., 1776.

Psalms 4:8

"Sleep."
"How blessed was that sleep
The sinless Saviour knew!
In vain the storm-winds blew,
Till he awoke to others' woes,
And hushed the billows to repose.
How beautiful is sleep -
The sleep that Christians know!
Ye mourners! cease your woe,
While soft upon his Saviour's breast,
The righteous sinks to endless rest."
Mrs. M'Cartree.

Psalms 5
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Short Biographical Information: Charles Hadden Spurgeon was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to 10,000 - all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.

The Treasury of David was first published in weekly installments over a twenty-year span in the London Metropolitan Tabernacle's periodical, The Sword and the Trowel. Completed sections were released volume by volume, until the seventh and final volume was released in 1885.

The Treasury of David is a superb literary achievement. Eric Hayden, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle a century after Spurgeon's ministry began there, calls this work "Spurgeon's magnum opus." Spurgeon's wife said that if Spurgeon had never written any other work, this would have been a permanent literary memorial.

Psalms 5

Title - "To the Chief Musician upon Nehiloth, a Psalm of David." The Hebrew word Nehiloth is taken from another word, signifying "to perforate, to bore through," whence it comes to mean a pipe or a flute; so that this song was probably intended to be sung with an accompaniment of wind instruments, such as the horn, the, trumpet, flute, or cornet. However, it is proper to remark that we are not sure of the interpretation of these ancient titles, for the Septuagint translates it, "For him who shall obtain inheritance," and Aben Ezra thinks it denotes some old and well-known melody to which this Psalm was to be played. The best scholars confess that great darkness hangs over the precise interpretation of the titles; nor is this much to be regretted, for it furnishes an internal evidence of the great antiquity of the Book. Throughout the Psalms 1:1-6, Psalms 2:1-12, Psalms 3:1-8, and Psalms 4:1-8, you will have noticed that the subject is a contrast between the position, the character, and the prospects of the righteous and of the wicked. In this Psalm you will note the same. The Psalmist carries out a contrast between himself made righteous by God's grace, and the wicked who opposed him. To the devout mind there is here presented a precious view of the Lord Jesus, of whom it is said that in the days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears.

Division - The Psalm should be divided into two parts, from the first to the seventh verse, and then from the eighth to the twelfth. In the first part of the Psalm David most vehemently beseeches the Lord to hearken to his prayer, and in the second part he retraces the same ground.

Hints to Preachers

Psalms 5:1, Psalms 5:2 - Prayer in its threefold form. "Words, meditation, cry." Showing how utterance is of no avail without heart, but that fervent longings and silent desires are accepted, even when unexpressed.

Psalms 5:3 - The excellence of morning devotion.

Psalms 5:3 (last two clauses).

1.   Prayer directed.

2.   Answers expected.

Psalms 5:4 - God's hatred of sin an example to his people.

Psalms 5:5 - "The foolish." Show why sinners are justly called fools.

Psalms 5:7 - "Multitude of thy mercy." Dwell upon the varied grace and goodness of God.

Psalms 5:7 - The devout resolution.

Psalms 5:7

I.   Observe the singularity of the resolution.

II.   Mark the object of the resolution. It regards the service of God in the sanctuary. "I will come into thine house.... in thy fear will I worship towards thy holy temple."

III.   The manner in which he would accomplish the resolution.

(1)   Impressed with a sense of the divine goodness: "I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy."

(2)   Filled with holy veneration: "And in thy fear will I worship." - William Jay, 1842.

Psalms 5:8 - God's guidance needed always, and especially when enemies are watching us.

Psalms 5:10 - Viewed as a threatening. The sentence, "Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions," is specially fitted to be the groundwork of a very solemn discourse.

Psalms 5:11

I.   The character of the righteous: faith and love.

II.   The privileges of the righteous.

(1)   Joy - great, pure, satisfying, triumphant (shout), constant (ever).

(2)   Defence - by power, providence, angels, grace, etc.

Psalms 5:11 - Joy in the Lord both a duty and a privilege.

Psalms 5:12 (first clause) - The divine blessing upon the righteous. It is ancient effectual, constant, extensive, irreversible, surpassing, eternal, infinite.

Psalms 5
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 5:12 (second clause) - A sense of divine favour a defence to the soul

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Psalms 5:1

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation." It is certain that the greater part of men, as they babble out vain, languid, and inefficacious prayers, most unworthy the ear of the blessed God, so they seem in some degree to set a just estimate upon them, neither hoping for any success from them, nor indeed seeming to be at all solicitous about it, but committing them to the mind as vain words, which in truth they are. But far be it from a wise and pious man, that he should so foolishly and coldly trifle in so serious an affair; his prayer has a certain tendency and scope, at which he aims with assiduous and repeated desires, and doth not only pray that he may pray, but that he may obtain an answer; and as he firmly believes that it may be obtained, so he firmly, and constantly, and eagerly urges his petition, that he may not flatter himself with an empty hope. - Robert Leighton, D.D.

Psalms 5:1, Psalms 5:2

Observe the order and force of the words, "my cry," "the voice of my prayer;" and also, "give ear," "consider," "hearken." These expressions all evince the urgency and energy of David's feelings and petitions. First, we have, "give ear;" that is, hear me. But it is of little service for the words to be heard, unless the "cry," or the roaring, or the meditation, be considered. As if he had said, in a common way of expression, I speak with deep anxiety and concern, but with a failing utterance; and I cannot express myself, nor: make myself understood as I wish. Do thou, therefore, understand from my feelings more than I am able to express in words. And, therefore, I add my "cry;" that what I cannot express in words for thee to hear, I may by my "cry" signify to thine understanding. And when thou hast understood me, then, O Lord "Hearken unto the voice of my prayer," and despise not what thou hast thus heard and understood. We are not, however, to understand that hearing, understanding, and hearkening, are all different acts in God, in the same way as they are in us; but that our feelings towards God are to be thus varied and increased; that is, that we are first to desire to be heard, and then, that our prayers which are heard may be understood; and then, that being understood, they may be hearkened unto, that is, not disregarded. - Martin Luther.

Psalms 5:1

"Meditation" fits the soul for supplication; meditation fills the soul with good liquor, and then prayer broaches it, and sets it a-running. David first mused, and then spake with his tongue, "Lord, make me to know mine end." Psalms 39:3, Psalms 39:4. Nay, to assure us that meditation was the mother which bred and brought forth prayer, he calls the child by its parent's name, "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation." Meditation is like the charging of a piece, and prayer the discharging of it." Isaac went into the field to meditate." Genesis 24:63. The Septuagint, the Geneva translation, and Tremellius, in his marginal notes on it, read it to "pray;" and the Hebrew word used there signifieth both to pray and meditate; whereby we may learn they are very near akin; like twins, they be in the same womb, in the same word. Meditation is the best beginning of prayer, and prayer is the best conclusion of meditation. When the Christian, like Daniel, hath first opened the windows of his soul by contemplation, then he may kneel down to prayer. - George Swinnock.

Psalms 5:3

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord."
When first thy eyes unveil, give thy soul leave
To do the like; our bodies but forerun
The spirit's duty; true hearts spread and heave
Unto their God, as flowers do to the sun:
Give him thy first thoughts, then, so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in him sleep.
Yet never sleep the sun up; prayer should
Dawn with the day, there are set awful hours
'Twixt heaven and us; the manna was not good
After sun-rising, for day sullies flowers.
Rise to prevent the sun; sleep doth sins glut,
And heaven's gate opens when the world's is shut.
Walk with thy fellow creatures; note the hush
And whisperings amongst them. Not a spring
Or leaf but hath his morning hymn; each bush
And oak doth know I am - canst thou not sing?
O leave thy cares and follies! Go this way,
And thou art sure to prosper all the day.
Henry Vaughan, 1621-1695.

Psalms 5:3

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning." "In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee," said Heman. That is the fittest time for devotion, you being then fresh in your spirits, and freest from distractions. Which opportunity for holy duties may fitly be called the wings of the morning. - Edward Reyner, 1658.

Psalms 5:3

"In the morning." "In the days of our fathers," says Bishop Burner, "when a person came early to the door of his neighbour, and desired to speak with the master of the house, it was as common a thing for the servants to tell him with freedoms 'My master is at prayer,' as it now is to say, 'My master is not up.'"

Psalms 5
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 5:3

"In the morning I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up," or I will marshal my prayer, I will bring up petition after petition, pleading after pleading, even till I become like Jacob, a prince with God, till I have won the field and got the day. Thus the word is applied by a metaphor both to disputations with men and supplications to God. Further, we may take the meaning plainly without any strain of rhetoric, Set thy words in order before me. Method is good in everything, either an express or covert method. Sometimes it is the best of art to cover it; in speaking there is a special use of method, for though, as one said very well (speaking of those who are more curious about method than serious about matter), "Method never converted any man;" yet method and the ordering of words is very useful. Our speeches should not be heaps of words, but words hound up; not a throng of words, but words set in array, or, as it were, in rank and file. - Joseph Caryl.

Psalms 5:3

"I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." In the words you may observe two things: first, David's posture in prayer; secondly, his practice after prayer. First, his posture in prayer, "I will direct my prayer unto thee." Secondly, his practice after prayer, "And I will look up." The prophet in these words, makes use of two military words. First, he would not only pray, but marshal up his prayers, he would put them in battle array; so much the Hebrew word imports. Secondly, when he had done this, then he would be as a spy upon his watch-tower, to see whether he prevailed, whether he got the day or no; and so much the Hebrew word imports. When David had set his prayers, his petitions, in rank and file, in good array, then he was resolved he would look abroad, he would look about him to see at what door God would send in an answer of prayer. He is either a fool or a madman, he is either very weak or very wicked, that prays and prays, but never looks after his prayers; that shoots many an arrow towards heaven, but never minds where his arrows alight. - Thomas Brooks.

Psalms 5:3

David would direct his prayer to God and look up; not down to the world, down to corruption, but up to God what he would speak. Psalms 85:8. "I will hear what God the Lord will speak." Let the resolution of the prophet be thine, "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me." Micah 7:7. - William Greenhill, 1650.

Psalms 5:3

"I will direct my prayer to thee, and will look up," that is, I will trade, I will send out my spiritual commodities, and expect a gainful return; I will make my prayers, and not give them for lost, but look up for an answer. God will bring man home by a way contrary to that by which he wandered from him. Man fell from God by distrust, by having God in suspicion; God will bring him back by trust, by having good thoughts of him. Oh, how richly laden might the vessel which thou sendest out come home, wouldst thou but long and look for its return! - George Swinnock.

Psalms 5:3

Faith hath a supporting art after prayer: it supports the soul to expect a gracious answer: "I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up," or I will look; for what, but for a return? An unbelieving heart shoots at random, and never minds where his arrow lights, or what comes of his praying; but faith fills the soul with expectation. As a merchant, when he casts up his estate, he counts what he hath sent beyond sea, as well as what he hath in hand; so doth faith reckon upon what he hath sent to heaven in prayer and not received, as well as those mercies which he hath received, and are in hand at present. Now this expectation which faith raiseth in the soul after prayer, appears in the power that it hath to quiet and compose the soul in the interim between the sending forth, as I may say, the ship of prayer, and its return home with its rich lading it goes for, and it is more or less, according as faith's strength is. Sometimes faith comes from prayer in triumph, and cries, Victoria. It gives such a being and existence to the mercy prayed for in the Christian's soul before any likelihood of it appears to sense and reason, that the Christian can silence all his troubled thoughts with the expectation of its coming. Yea, it will make the Christian disburse his praises for the mercy long before it is received.... For want of looking up many a prayer is lost. If you do not believe, why do you pray? And if you believe, why do you not expect? By praying you seem to depend on God; by not expecting, you again renounce your confidence. What is this, but to take his name in vain? O Christian, stand to your prayer in a holy expectation of what you have begged upon the credit of the promise.... Mordecai, no doubt, had put up many prayers for Esther, and therefore he waits at the king's gate, looking what answer God would in his providence give thereunto. Do thou likewise. - William Gurnall.

Psalms 5
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 5:4

"Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness." As a man that cutteth with a dull knife is the cause of cutting, but not of the ill-cutting and hacking of the knife - the knife is the cause of that; or if a man strike upon an instrument that is out of tune, he is the cause of the sound, but not of the jarring sound - that is the fault of the untuned strings; or, as a man riding upon a lame horse, stirs him - the man is the cause of the motion, but the horse himself of the halting motion: thus God is the author of every action, but not of the evil of that action - that is from man. He that makes instruments and tools of iron or other metal, he maketh not the rust and canker which corrupteth them, that is from another cause; nor doth that heavenly workman, God Almighty, bring in sin and iniquity; nor can he be justly blamed if his creatures do soil and besmear themselves with the foulness of sin, for he made them good. - Spencer's Things New and Old.

Psalms 5:4-6

Here the Lord's alienation from the wicked is set forth gradually, and seems to rise by six steps. First, he hath no pleasure in them; secondly, they shall not dwell with them; thirdly, he casteth them forth, they shall not stand in his sight; fourthly, his heart turns from them, thou hatest all the workers of iniquity; fifthly, his hand is turned upon them, thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing; sixthly, his spirit riseth against them, and is alienated from them, the Lord will abhor the bloody man. This estrangement is indeed a strange (yet a certain) punishment to "the workers of iniquity." These words, "the workers of iniquity," may be considered two ways. First, as intending (not all degrees of sinners, or sinners of every degree, but) the highest degree of sinners, great, and gross sinners, resolved and wilful sinners. Such as sin industriously, and, as it were, artificially, with skill and care to get themselves a name, as if they had an ambition to be accounted workmen that need not be ashamed in doing that whereof all ought to be ashamed; these, in strictness of Scripture sense, are "workers of iniquity." Hence note, notorious sinners made sin their business, or their trade. Though every sin be a work of iniquity, yet only some sinners are "workers of iniquity;" and they who are called so, make it their calling to sin. We read of some who love and make a lie. Revelation 22:15. A lie may be told by those who neither love nor make it; but there are lie-makers, and they, sure enough, are lovers of a lie. Such craftsmen in sinning are also described in Psalms 58:2. - "Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth." The psalmist doth not say, they had wickedness in their heart, but they did work it there; the heart is a shop within, an underground shop; there they did closely contrive, forge, and hammer out their wicked purposes, and fit them into actions. - Joseph Caryl.

Psalms 5:5

What an astonishing thing is sin, which maketh the God of love and Father of mercies an enemy to his creatures, and which could only be purged by the blood of the Son of God! Though all must believe this who believe the Bible, yet the exceeding sinfulness of sin is but weakly apprehended by those who have the deepest sense of it, and will never be fully known in this world. - Thomas Adam's Private Thoughts, 1701-1784.

Psalms 5:5 (last clause)

"Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." For what God thinks of sin, see Deuteronomy 7:22; Proverbs 6:16; Revelation 2:6, Revelation 2:15; where he expresseth his detestation and hatred of it, from which hatred proceeds all those direful plagues and judgments thundered from the fiery mouth of his most holy law against it; nay, not only the work, but worker also of iniquity becomes the object of his hatred. - William Gurnall.

Psalms 5:5 (last clause)

"Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." If God's hatred be against the workers of iniquity, how great is it against iniquity itself! If a man hate a poisonous creature, he hates poison much more. The strength of God's hatred is against sin, and so should we hate sin, and hate it with strength; it is an abomination unto God, let it be so unto us. Proverbs 6:16-19, "These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination unto him; a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." - William Greenhill.

Psalms 5:5 (last clause)

Those whom the Lord hates must perish. But he hates impenitent sinners, "Thou hatest all workers of iniquity." Now, who are so properly workers of iniquity as those who are so eager at it that they will not leave this work, though they be in danger to perish for it? Christ puts it out of doubt. The workers of iniquity must perish. Luke 13:27. Those whom the Lord will tear in his wrath must perish with a witness; but those whom he hates, he tears, &c. Job 16:8. What more due to such impenitent sinners than hatred! What more proper than wrath, since they treasure up wrath? Romans 2. Will he entertain those in the bosom of love whom his soul hates? No; destruction is their portion. Proverbs 21:15. If all the curses of the law, all the threatenings of the gospel, all judgments in earth or in hell, will be the ruin of him, he must perish. If the Lord's arm be strong enough to wound him dead, he must die. Psalms 68:21.... Avoid all that Christ hates. If you love, approve, entertain that which is hateful to Christ, how can he love you? What is that which Christ hates? The psalmist (Psalms 45:7)tells us, making it one of Christ's attributes, to hate wickedness.... As Christ hates iniquity, so the "workers of iniquity." You must not love them, so as to be intimate with them, delight in the company of evil doers, openly profane, scorners of godliness, obstructors of the power of it. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. If you love so near relations to wicked men, Christ will have no relation to you. If you would have communion with Christ in sweet acts of love, you must have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, nor those that act them. - David Clarkson, B.D., 1621-1686.

Psalms 5
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 5:6

"Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing," whether in jest or earnest. Those that lie in jest will (without repentance) go to hell in earnest. - John Trapp.

Psalms 5:6

"Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing," etc. In the same field wherein Absalom raised battle against his father, stood the oak that was his gibbet. The mule whereon he rode was his hangman, for the mule carried him to the tree, and the hair wherein he gloried served for a rope to hang. Little know the wicked how everything which now they have, shall be a snare to trap them when God begins to punish them. - Wiltiam Cowper, 1612.

Psalms 5:7

"In thy fear will I worship." As natural fear makes the spirits retire from the outward parts of the body to the heart, so a holy fear of miscarrying, in so solemn a duty, would be a means to call thy thoughts from all exterior carnal objects, and fix them upon the duty in hand. As the sculpture is on the seal, so will the print on the wax be; if the fear of God be deeply engraven on thy heart, there is no doubt but it will make a suitable impression on the duty thou performest. - William Gurnall.

Psalms 5:7

David saith, "In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple." The temple did shadow forth the body of our Lord Christ, the Mediator, in whom only our prayers and services are accepted with the Father which Solomon respected in looking towards the temple. - Thomas Manton, D.D., 1620-1677.

Psalms 5:7

"But as for me," etc. A blessed verse this! a blessed saying! The words and the sense itself, carry with them a powerful contrast. For there are two things with which this life is exercised, Hope and Fear, which are, as it were, those two springs of Judges 1:15, the one from above, the other from beneath. Fear comes from beholding the threats and fearful judgments of God; as being a God in whose sight no one is clean, every one is a sinner, every one is damnable. But hope comes from beholding the promises, and the all-sweet mercies of God; as it is written (Psalms 25:6), "Remember, O Lord, thy lovingkindnesses, and thy tender mercies which have been ever of old." Between these two, as between the upper and nether millstone; we must always be ground and kept, that we never turn either to the right hand or to the left. For this turning is the state peculiar to hypocrites, who are exercised with the two contrary things, security and presumption. - Martin Luther.

Psalms 5:9

If the whole soul be infected with such a desperate disease, what a great and difficult work is it to regenerate, to restore men again to spiritual life and vigour, when every part of them is seized by such a mortal distemper! How great a cure doth the Spirit of God effect in restoring a soul by sanctifying it! To heal but the lungs or the liver, if corrupted, is counted a great cure, though performed but upon one part of thee.; but all thy inward parts are very rottenness. "For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their inward part is very wickedness: their throat is an open sepulchre; they flatter with their tongue." How great a cure is it then to heal thee! Such as is only in the skill and power of God to do. - Thomas Goodwin.

Psalms 5:9

"Their throat is an open sepulchre." This figure graphically portrays the filthy conversation of the wicked. Nothing can be more abominable to the senses than an open sepulchre, when a dead body beginning to putrefy steams forth its tainted exhalations. What proceeds out of their mouth is infected and putrid and as the exhalation from a sepulchre proves the corruption within, so it is with the corrupt conversation of sinners. - Robert Haldane's "Expositions of the Epistle to the Romans," 1835.

Psalms 5:9

"Their throat is an open sepulchre., This doth admonish us, (1) that the speeches of natural unregenerate men are unsavoury, rotten, and hurtful to others; for, as a sepulchre doth send out noisome savors and filthy smells, so evil men do utter rotten and filthy words. (2) As a sepulchre doth consume and devour bodies cast into it, so wicked men do with their cruel words destroy others; they are like a gulf to destroy others. (3) As a sepulchre, having devoured many corpses, is still ready to consume more, being never satisfied, so wicked men, having overthrown many with their words, do proceed in their outrage seeking whom they may devour. - Thomas Wilson, 1653.

Psalms 5
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 5:9

"Their inward part," etc. Their hearts are storehouses, for the devil. - John Trapp.

Psalms 5:10

All those portions where we find apparently prayers that breathe revenge, are never to be thought of as anything else than the breathed assent of righteous souls to the justice of their God, who taketh vengeance on sin. When taken as the words of Christ himself, they are no other than an echo of the Intercessor's acquiescence at last in the sentence on the barren fig-tree. It is as if he cried aloud, "Hew it down now, I will intercede no longer, the doom is righteous, destroy them, O God; cast them out in (or, for) the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee." And in the same moment he may be supposed to invite his saints to sympathise in his decision; just as in Revelation 18:20, "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets." In like manner, when one of Christ's members, in entire sympathy with his Head, views the barren fig-tree from the same point of observation, and sees the glory of God concerned in inflicting the blow, he too can cry, "Let the axe smite!" Had Abraham stood beside the angel who destroyed Sodom, and seen how Jehovah's name required the ruin of these impenitent rebels, he would have cried out, "Let the shower descend; let the fire and brimstone come down!" Not in any spirit of revenge; not from want of tender love to souls, but from intense earnestness of concern for the glory of his God. We consider this explanation to be the real key that opens all the difficult passages in this book, where curses seem to be called for on the head of the ungodly. They are no more than a carrying out of Deuteronomy 27:15-26, "Let all the people say, Amen," and an entering into the Lord's holy abhorrence of sin, and delight in acts of justice expressed in the "Amen hallelujah," of Revelation 19:3. - Andrew A. Bonar, 1859.

Psalms 5:10 - (Or imprecatory passages generally).

Lord, when in my daily service I read David's Psalms, give me to alter the accent of my soul according to their several subjects. In such Psalms wherein he confesseth his sins, or requesteth thy pardon, or praiseth for former, or prayeth for future favours, in all these give me to raise my soul to as high a pitch as may be. But when I come to such Psalms wherein he curseth his enemies, O there let me bring my soul down to a lower note. For those words were made only to fit David's mouth. I have the like breath, but not the same spirit to pronounce them. Nor let me flatter myself, that it is lawful for me, with David, to curse thine enemies, lest my deceitful heart entitle mine enemies to be thine, and so what was religion in David, prove malice in me, whilst I act revenge under the pretence of piety. - Thomas Fuller, D.D., 1608-1661.

Psalms 5:12

When the strong man armed comes against us, when he darts his fiery darts, what can hurt us, if God compass us about with his lovingkindness as with a shield? He can disarm the tempter and restrain his malice, and tread him under our feet. If God be not with us, if he do not give us sufficient grace, so subtle, so powerful, so politic an enemy, will be too hard for us. How surely are we foiled, and get the worse, when we pretend to grapple with him in our own strength! How many falls, and how many bruises by those falls have we got, by relying too much on our own skill? How often have we had the help of. God when we have humbly asked it! And how sure are we to get the victory, if Christ pray, for us that we do not fail! Luke 22:31. Where can we go for shelter but unto God our Maker! When this lion of the forest does begin to roar, how will he terrify and vex us, till he that permits him for awhile to trouble us, be pleased to chain him up again! - Timothy Rogers, 1691.

Psalms 5:12

"As with a shield." Luther, when making his way into the presence of Cardinal Cajetan, who had summoned him to answer for his heretical opinions at Augsburg, was asked by one of the Cardinal's minions, where he should find a shelter, if his patron, the Elector of Saxony, should desert him? "Under the shelter of heaven!" was the reply. The silenced minion turned round and went his way.

Psalms 5:12

"With layout wilt thou compass him as with a shields." The shield is not for the defence of any particular part of the body, as almost all the other pieces are: helmet, fitted for the head; plate designed for the breast; and so others, they have their several parts, which they are fastened to; but the shield is a piece that is intended for the defence of the whole body. It was used therefore to be made very large; for its broadness, called a gate or door, because so long and large, as in a manner to cover the whole body. And if the shield were not large enough at once to cover every part, yet being a movable piece of armour, the skilful soldier might turn it this way or that way, to catch the blow or arrow from lighting on any part they were directed to. And this indeed doth excellently well set forth the universal use that faith is of to the Christian. It defends the whole man: every part of the Christian by it is preserved.... The shield doth not only defend the whole body, but it is a defence to the soldier's armour also; it keeps the arrow from the helmet as well as head, from the breast and breastplate also. Thus faith, it is armour upon armour, a grace that preserves all the other graces. - William Gurnall.

Psalms 6
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Title - This Psalm is commonly known as the first of The Penitential Psalms, and certainly its language well becomes the lip of a penitent, for it expresses at once the sorrow (Psalms 6:3, Psalms 6:6, Psalms 6:7), the humiliation (Psalms 6:2 and Psalms 6:4), and the hatred of sin (Psalms 6:8 ), which are the unfailing marks of the contrite spirit when it turns to God. O Holy Spirit, beget in us the true repentance which needeth not to be repented of. The title of this Psalm is, "To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of. David," that is, to the chief musician with stringed instruments, upon the eight, probably the octave. Some think it refers to the bass or tenor key, which would certainly be well adapted to this mournful ode. But we are not able to understand these old musical terms, and even the term "Selah," still remains untranslated. This, however, should be no difficulty in our way. We probably lose but very little by our ignorance, and it may serve to confirm our faith. It is a proof of the high antiquity of these Psalms that they contain words, the meaning of which is lost even to the best scholars of the Hebrew language. Surely these are but incidental (accidental I might almost say, if I did not believe them to be designed by God), proofs of their being, what they profess to be, the ancient writings of King David of olden times.

Division - You will observe that the Psalm is readily divided into two parts. First, there is the Psalmist's plea in his great distress, reaching from the Psalms 6:1 to the end of the Psalms 6:7. Then you have, from the Psalms 6:8to the end, quite a different theme. The Psalmist has changed his note. He leaves the minor key, and betakes himself to sublime strains. He tunes his note to the high key of confidence, and declares that God hath heard his prayer, and hath delivered him out of all his troubles.

Hints to Preachers

Psalms 6:1 - A Sermon for afflicted souls.

I.   God's twofold dealings.

(1)   Rebuke by a telling sermon, a judgment on another, a slight trial in our own person, or a solemn monition in our conscience by the Spirit.

(2)   Chastening. This follows the other when the first is disregarded. Pain, losses, bereavements, melancholy, and other trials.

II.   The evils in them to be most dreaded, anger and hot displeasure.

III.   The means to avert these ills. Humiliation, confession, amendment, faith in the Lord, etc.

Psalms 6:1 - The believer's greatest dread, the anger of God. What this fact reveals in the heart? Why it is so? What removes the fear?

Psalms 6:2 - The argumentum ad misericordiam.

Psalms 6:2 - First sentence - Divine healing.

1.   What precedes it, my bones are vexed.

2.   How it is wrought.

3.   What succeeds it.

Psalms 6:3 - The impatience of sorrow; its sins, mischief, and cure.

Psalms 6:3 - A fruitful topic may be found in considering the question, How long will God continue afflictions to the righteous?

Psalms 6:4 - "Return, O Lord." A prayer suggested by a sense of the. Lord's absence, excited by grace, attended with heart searching and repentance, backed by pressing danger, guaranteed as to its answer, and containing a request for all mercies.

Psalms 6:4 - The prayer of the deserted saint.

1.   His state: his soul is evidently in bondage and danger:

2.   His hope: it is in the Lord's return.

3.   His plea: mercy only.

Psalms 6:5 - The final suspension of earthly service considered in various practical aspects.

Psalms 6:5 - The duty of praising God while we live.

Psalms 6:6 - Saints' tears in quality, abundance, influence, assuagement, and final end.

Psalms 6:7 - The voice of weeping. What it is.

Psalms 6:8 - The pardoned sinner forsaking his bad companions.

Psalms 6:9 - Past answers the ground of present confidence. He hath, he will.

Psalms 6:10 - The shame reserved for the wicked.

Psalms 6
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings

Whole Psalm

David was a man that was often exercised with sickness and troubles from enemies, and in all the instances almost that we meet with in the Psalms of these his afflictions, we may observe the outward occasions of trouble brought him under the suspicion of God's wrath and his own iniquity; so that he was seldom sick, or persecuted, but this called on the disquiet of conscience, and brought his sin to remembrance; as in this Psalm, which was made on the occasion of his sickness, as appears from verse eight, wherein he expresseth the vexation of his soul under the apprehension of, God's anger; all his other griefs running into this channel, as little brooks, losing themselves in a great river, change their name and nature. He that was at first only concerned for his sickness, is now wholly concerned with sorrow and smart under the fear and hazard of his soul's condition; the like we may see in Psalm 38, and many places more. - Richard Gilpin, 1677.

Psalms 6:1

"Rebuke me not." God hath two means by which he reduceth his children to obedience; his word, by which he rebukes them; and his rod, by which he chastiseth them. The word precedes, admonishing them by his servants whom he hath sent in all ages to call sinners to repentance: of the which David himself saith, "Let the righteous rebuke me; "and as a father doth first rebuke his disordered child, so doth the Lord speak to them. But when men neglect the warnings of his word, then God as a good father, takes up the rod and beats them. Our Saviour wakened the three disciples in the garden three times, but seeing that served not, he told them that Judas and his band were coming to awaken them whom his own voice could not waken. - A. Symson, 1638.

Psalms 6:1

"Jehovah, rebuke me not in thine anger," etc. He does not altogether refuse punishment, for that would be unreasonable; and to be without it, he judged would be more hurtful than beneficial to him; but what he is afraid of is the wrath of God, which threatens sinners with ruin and perdition. To anger and indignation David tacitly opposes fatherly and gentle chastisement, and this last he was willing to bear. - John Calvin, 1509-1564.

Psalms 6:1

"O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger."

The anger of the Lord? Oh, dreadful thought!

How can a creature frail as man endure
The tempest of his wrath? Ah, whither flee
To 'scape the punishment he well deserves?
Flee to the cross! the great atonement there
Will shield the sinner, if he supplicate
For pardon with repentance true and deep,
And faith that questions not. Then will the frown
Of anger pass off the face of God,
Like a black tempest cloud that hides the sun.
Anon.

Psalms 6:1

"Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger," etc.; that is, do not lay upon me that thou hast threatened in thy law; where anger is not put for the decree, nor the execution, but for the denouncing. So (Matthew 3:11, and so Hosea 11:9), "I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger," that is, I will not execute my wrath as I have declared it. Again, it is said, he executes punishment on the wicked; he declares it not only, but executeth it, so anger is put for the execution of anger. - Richard Stock, 1641.

Psalms 6:1

"Neither chasten me in thine hot displeasure."

O keep up life and peace within,
If I must feel thy chastening rod!
Yet kill not me, but kill my sin,
And let me know thou art my God.
O give my soul some sweet foretaste
Of that which I shall shortly see!
Let faith and love cry to the last,
"Come, Lord, I trust myself with thee!"
Richard Baxter, 1615-1691.

Psalms 6:2

"Have mercy upon me, O Lord." To fly and escape the anger of God, David sees no means in heaven or in earth, and therefore retires himself to God, even to him who wounded him that he might heal him lie flies not with Adam to the bush, nor with Saul to the witch, nor with Jonah to Tarshish; but he appeals from an angry and just God to a merciful God, and from himself to himself. The woman who was condemned by King Philip, appealed from Philip being drunken to Philip being sober. But David appeals from one virtue, justice, to another, mercy. There may be appellation from the tribunal of man to the justice-seat of God; but when thou art indicted before God's justice-seat, whither or to whom wilt thou go but to himself and his mercy-seat, which is the highest and last place of appellation? "I have none in heaven but thee, nor in earth besides thee." ... David, under the name of mercy, includeth all things, according to that of Jacob to his brother Esau, "I have gotten mercy, and therefore I have gotten all things." Desirest thou any thing at God's hands? Cry for mercy, out of which fountain all good things will spring to thee. - Archibald Symson.

Psalms 6
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 6:2

"For I am weak." Behold, what rhetoric he useth to move God to cure him, "I am weak," an argument taken from his weakness, which indeed were a weak argument to move any man to show his favour, but is a strong argument to prevail with God. If a diseased person would come to a physician, and only lament the heaviness of his sickness, he would say, God help thee; or an oppressed person come to a lawyer, and show him the estate of his action and ask his advice, that is a golden question; or to a merchant to crave raiment, he will either have present money or a surety; or a courtier favour, you must have your reward ready in your hand. But coming before God the most forcible argument that ye can use is your necessity, poverty, tears, misery, unworthiness, and confessing them to him, it shall be an open door to furnish you with all things that he hath.... The tears of our misery are forcible arrows to pierce the heart of our heavenly Father, to deliver us and pity our hard case. The beggars lay open their sores to the view of the world, that the more they, may move men to pity them. So let us deplore our miseries to God, that he, with the pitiful Samaritan, at the sight of our wounds, may help us in due time. - Archibald Symson.

Psalms 6:2

"Heal me," etc. David comes not to take physic upon wantonness, but because the disease is violent, because the accidents are vehement; so vehement, so violent, as that it hath pierced ad ossa, and ad artimam, "My bones are vexed, and my soul is sore troubled," therefore "heal me;" which is the reason upon which he grounds this second petition, "Heal me, because my bones are vexed," etc. - John Donne.

Psalms 6:2

"My bones are vexed." The Lord can make the strongest and most insensible part of man's body sensible of his wrath when he pleaseth to touch him, for here David's bones are vexed. - David Dickson.

Psalms 6:2

The term "bones" frequently occurs in the psalms, and if we examine we shall find it used in three different senses. (1.) It is sometimes applied literally to our blessed Lord's human body, to the body which hung upon the cross, as, "They pierced my hands and my feet; I may tell all my bones." (2.) It has sometimes also a further reference to his mystical body the church. And then it denotes all the members of Christ's body that stand firm in the faith, that cannot be moved by persecutions, or temptations, however severe, as, "All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?" (3.) In some passages the term bones is applied to the soul, and not to the body, to the inner man of the individual Christian. Then it implies the strength and fortitude of the soul, the determined courage which faith in God gives to the righteous. This is the sense in which it is used in the second verse of Psalms 6:1-10, "O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed." - Augustine, Ambrose, and Chrysostom; quoted by F. H. Dunwell, B.A., in "Parochial Lectures on the Psalms," 1855.

Psalms 6:3

"My soul." Yokefellows in sin are yokefellows in pain; the soul is punished for informing, the body for performing, and as both the informer and performer, the cause and the instrument, so shall the stirrer up of sin and the executer of it be punished. - John Donne.

Psalms 6:3

"O Lord, how long?" Out of this we have three things to observe; first, that there is an appointed time which God hath measured for the crosses of all his children, before which time they shall not be delivered, and for which they must patiently attend, not thinking to prescribe time to God for their delivery, or limit the Holy One of Israel. The Israelites remained in Egypt till the complete number of four hundred and thirty years were accomplished. Joseph was three years and more in the prison till the appointed time of his delivery came. The Jews remained seventy years in Babylon. So that as the physician appointeth certain times to the patient, both wherein he must fast, and be dieted, and wherein he must take recreation, so God knoweth the convenient times both of our humiliation and exaltation. Next, see the impatiency of our nature in our miseries, our flesh still rebelling against the Spirit, which oftentimes forgetteth itself so far, that it will enter into reasoning with God, and quarrelling with him as we may read of Job, Jonas, etc., and here also of David. Thirdly, albeit the Lord delay his coming to relieve his saints, yet hath he great cause if we could ponder it; for when we were in the heat of our sins, many times he cried by the mouth of his prophets and servants, "O fools, how long will you continue in your folly?" And we would not hear; and therefore when we are in the heat of our pains, thinking long, yea, every day a year till we be delivered, no wonder it is if God will not hear; let us consider with ourselves the just dealing of God with us; that as he cried and we would not hear, so now we cry, and he will not hear. - A. Symson.

Psalms 6:3

"O Lord, how long?" As the saints in heaven have their usque quo, how long, Lord, holy and true, before thou begin to execute judgment? So, the saints on earth have their usque quo. How long, Lord, before thou take off the execution of this judgment upon us? For, our deprecatory prayers are not mandatory, they are not directory, they appoint not God his ways, or his times; but as our postulatory prayers are, they also are submitted to the will of God, and have all in them that ingredient, that herb of grace, which Christ put into his own prayer, that veruntamen, yet not my will, but thy will be fulfilled; and they have that ingredient which Christ put into our prayer, fiat voluntas, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven; in heaven there is no resisting of his will; yet in heaven there is a soliciting, a hastening, an accelerating of the judgment, and the glory of the resurrection; so though we resist not his corrections here upon earth, we may humbly present to God the sense which we have of his displeasure, for this sense and apprehension of his corrections is one of the principal reasons why he sends them; he corrects us therefore that we might be sensible of his corrections; that when we, being humbled under his hand, have said with his prophet, "I will bear the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him" (Micah 7:9), he may be pleased to say to his correcting angel, as he did to his destroying angel, This is enough, and so burn his rod now, as he put up his sword then. - John Donne.

Psalms 6
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 6:4

"Return, O Lord, deliver my soul," etc. In this his besieging of God, he brings up his works from afar off, closer; he begins in this Psalm, at a deprecatory prayer; he asks nothing, but that God would do nothing, that he would forbear him - rebuke me not, correct me not. Now, it costs the king less to give a pardon than to give a pension, and less to give a reprieve than to give a pardon, and less to connive, not to call in question, than either reprieve, pardon, or pension; to forbear is not much. But then as the mathematician said, that he could make an engine, a screw, that should move the whole frame of the world, if he could have a place assigned hint to fix that engine, that screw upon, so that it might work upon the world; so prayer, when one petition hath taken hold upon God, works upon God, moves God, prevails with God, entirely for all. David then having got this ground, this footing in God, he brings his works closer; he comes from the deprecatory to a postulatory prayer; not only that God would do nothing against him, but that he would do something for him. God hath suffered man to see Arcana imperii, the secrets of his state, how he governs - he governs by precedent; by precedents of his predecessors, he cannot, he hath none; by precedents of other gods he cannot, there are none; and yet he proceeds by precedents, by his own precedents, he does as he did before, habenti dat, to him that hath received he gives more, and is willing to be wrought and prevailed upon, and pressed with his own example. And, as though his doing good were but to learn how to do good better, still he writes after his own copy, and nulla dies sine linea. He writes something to us, that is, he doth something for us every day. And then, that which is not often seen in other masters, his copies are better than the originals; his latter mercies larger than his former; and in this postulatory prayer, larger than the deprecatory, enters our text, "Return, O Lord; deliver my soul: O save me," etc. - John Donne.

Psalms 6:5

"For in death there is no remembrance of thee, in the grave who will give thee thanks?" Lord, be thou pacified and reconciled to me... for shouldst thou now proceed to take away my life, as it were a most direful condition for me to die before I have propitiated thee, so I may well demand what increase of glory or honour will it bring unto thee? Will it not be infinitely more glorious for thee to spare me, till by true contrition I may regain thy favour? - and then I may live to praise and magnify thy mercy and thy grace: thy mercy in pardoning so great a sinner, and then confess thee by vital actions of all holy obedience for the future, and so demonstrate the power of thy grace which hath wrought this change in me; neither of which will be done by destroying me, but only thy just judgments manifested in thy vengeance on sinners. - Henry Hammond, D.D., 1659.

Psalms 6:6

"I fainted in my mourning." It may seem a marvellous change in David, being a man of such magnitude of mind, to be thus dejected and cast down. Prevailed he not against Goliath, against the lion and the bear, through fortitude and magnanimity? But now he is sobbing, sighing, and weeping as a child! The answer is easy; the diverse persons with whom he hath to do occasioneth the same. When men and beasts are his opposites, then he is more than a conqueror; but when he hath to do with God against whom he sinned, then he is less than nothing.

Psalms 6:6

"I caused my bed to swim." ... Showers be better than dews, yet it is sufficient if God at least hath bedewed our hearts, and hath given us some sign of a penitent heart. If we have not rivers of waters to pour forth with David, neither fountains flowing with Mary Magdalen, nor as Jeremy, desire to have a fountain in our head to weep day and night, nor with Peter weep bitterly; yet if we lament that we cannot lament, and mourn that we cannot mourn: yea, if we have the smallest sobs of sorrow and tears of compunction, if they be true and not counterfeit, they will make us acceptable to God; for as the woman with the bloody issue that touched the hem of Christ's garment, was no less welcome to Christ than Thomas, who put his fingers in the print of the nails; so, God looketh not at the quantity, but the sincerity of our repentance.

Psalms 6:6

"My bed." The place of his sin is the place of his repentance, and so it should be; yea, when we behold the place where we have offended, we should be pricked in the heart, and there again crave him pardon, As Adam sinned in the garden, and Christ sweat bloody tears in the garden. "Examine your hearts upon your beds, and convert unto the Lord;" and whereas ye have stretched forth yourselves upon your bed to devise evil things, repent there and make them sanctuaries to God. Sanctify by your tears every place which ye have polluted by sin, And let us seek Christ Jesus on our own bed, with the spouse in the Canticles, who saith, "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth." - Archibald Symson.

Psalms 6:6

"I water will couch with tears." Not only I wash, but also I water. The faithful sheep of the great Shepherd go up from the washing place, every one bringeth forth twins, and none barren among them. Son_4:2. For so Jacob's sheep, having conceived at the watering troughs, brought forth strong and party-coloured lambs. David likewise, who before had erred and strayed like a lost sheep, making here his bed a washing place, by so much the less is barren in obedience, by how much the more he is fruitful in repentance. In Solomon's temple stood the caldrons of brass, to wash the flesh of those beasts which where to be sacrificed on the altar, Solomon's father maketh a water of his tears, a caldron of his bed, an altar of his heart, a sacrifice, not of the flesh of unreasonable beasts, but of his own body, a living sacrifice, which is his reasonable serving of God. Now the Hebrew word here used signifies properly, to cause to swim, which is more than simply to wash. And thus the Geneva translation readeth it, I cause my bed every night to swim. So that as the priests used to swim in the molten sea, that they might be pure and clean, against they performed the holy rites and services of the temple, in like manner the princely prophet washeth his bed, yea, he swimmeth in his bed, or rather he causeth his bed to swim in tears, as in a sea of grief and penitent sorrow for his sin. - Thomas Playfere, 1604.

Psalms 6
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 6:6

"Water my couch with my tears." Let us water our bed every night with our tears. Do not only blow upon it with intermissive blasts, for then like fire, it will resurge and flame the more. Sin is like a stinking candle newly put out, it is soon lighted again. It may receive a wound, but like a dog it will easily lick itself whole; a little forbearance multiplies it like Hydra's heads. Therefore, whatsoever aspersion the sin of the day has brought upon us, let the tears of the night wash away. - Thomas Adams.

Psalms 6:6, Psalms 6:7

Soul-trouble is attended usually with great pain of body too, and so a man is wounded and distressed in every part. There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger, says David. "The arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit." Job 6:4. Sorrow of heart contracts the natural spirits, making all their motions slow and feeble; and the poor afflicted body does usually decline and waste away; and, therefore, saith Heman, "My soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave." In this inward distress we find our strength decay and melt, even as wax before the fire, for sorrow darkeneth the spirits, obscures the judgment, blinds the memory as to all pleasant things, and beclouds the lucid part of the mind, causing the lamp of life to burn weakly. In this troubled condition the person cannot be without a countenance that is pale, and wan, and dejected, like one that is seized with strong fear and consternation; all his motions are sluggish, and no sprightliness nor activity remains. A merry heart doth good, like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones. Hence come those frequent complaints in Scripture: My moisture is turned into the drought of the summer: I am like a bottle in the smoke; my soul cleaveth unto the dust: my face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelid is the shadow of death. Job 16:16, Job 30:17, Job 30:18-19. My bones are pierced in me, in the night season, and my sinews take no rest; by the great force of my disease is my garment changed. He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. Many times indeed the trouble of the soul does begin from the weakness and indisposition of the body. Long affliction, without any prospect of remedy, does, in process of time, begin to distress the soul itself. David was a man often exercised with sickness and the rage of enemies; and in all the instances almost that we meet with in the Psalms, we may observe that the outward occasions of trouble brought him under an apprehension of the wrath of God for his sin. (Psalms 6:1, Psalms 6:2; and the reasons given, Psalms 6:5 and Psalms 6:6.) All his griefs running into this most terrible, thought, that God was his enemy. As little brooks lose themselves in a great river, and change their name and nature, it most frequently happens, that when our pain is long and sharp, and helpless and unavoidable, we begin to question the sincerity of our estate towards God, though at its first assault we had few doubts or fears about it. Long weakness of body makes the soul more susceptible of trouble, and uneasy thoughts. - Timothy Rogers on Trouble of Mind.

Psalms 6:7

"Mine eye is consumed." Many make those eyes which God hath given them, as it were two lighted candles to let them see to go to hell; and for this God in justice requiteth them, that seeing their minds are blinded by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, God I say, sendeth sickness to debilitate their eyes which were so sharp-sighted in the devil's service, and their lust now causeth them to want the necessary sight of their body.

Psalms 6:7

"Mine enemies." The pirates seeing an empty bark, pass by it! but if she be loaded with precious wares, then they will assault her. So, if a man have no grace within him, Satan passeth by him, as not a convenient prey for him, but being loaded with graces, as the love of God, his fear, and such other spiritual virtues, let him be persuaded that according as he knows what stuff is in him, so will he not fail to rob him of them, if in any case he may. - Archibald Symson.

Psalms 6:7

That eye of his that had looked and lusted after his neighbour's wife is now dimmed and darkened with grief and indignation. He had wept himself almost blind. - John Trapp.

Psalms 6:8

"Depart from me," etc., i.e., you may now go your way; for that which you look for, namely, my death, you shall not have at this present; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping, i.e., has graciously granted me that which with tears I asked of him. - Thomas Wilcocks.

Psalms 6:8

"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." May not too much familiarity with profane wretches be justly charged upon church members? I know man is a sociable creature, but that will not excuse saints as to their carelessness of the choice of their company. The very fowls of the air, and beasts of the field, love not heterogeneous company. "Birds of a feather flock together." I have been afraid that many who would be thought eminent, of a high stature in grace and godliness, yet see not the vast difference there is between nature and regeneration, sin and grace, the old and the new man, seeing all company is alike unto them. - Lewis Stackley's "Gospel Glass," 1667.

Psalms 6
From The Treasury of David
By Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Biographical Information (http://forums.christiansunite.com/index.php?topic=24990.msg277391#msg277391)

Psalms 6:8

"The voice of my weeping." Weeping hath a voice, and as music upon the water sounds farther and more harmoniously than upon the land, so prayers, joined with tears, cry louder in God's ears, and make sweeter music than when tears are absent. When Antipater had written a large letter against Alexander's mother unto Alexander, the king answered him, "One tear from my mother will wash away all her faults." So it is with God. A penitent tear is an undeniable ambassador, and never returns from the throne of grace unsatisfied. - Spencer's Things New and Old.

Psalms 6:8

The wicked are called "workers of iniquity, because they are free and ready to sin, they have a strong tide and bent of spirit to do evil, and they do it not to halves but throughly; they do not only begin or nibble at the bait a little (as a good man often doth), but greedily swallow it down, hook and all; they are fully in it, and do it fully; they make a work of it, and so are "workers of iniquity." - Joseph Caryl.

Psalms 6:8

Some may say, "My constitution is such that I cannot weep; I may as well go to squeeze a rock, as think to get a tear." But if thou canst not weep for sin, canst thou grieve? Intellectual mourning is best; there may be sorrow where there are no tears, the vessel may be full though it wants vent; it is not so much the weeping eye God respects as the broken heart; yet I would be loath to stop their tears who can weep. God stood looking on Hezekiah's tears (Isaiah 38:5), "I have seen thy tears." David's tears made music in God's ears, "The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." It is a sight fit for angels to behold, tears as pearls dropping from a penitent eye. - T. Watson.

Psalms 6:8

"The Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping, "God hears the voice of our looks, God hears the voice of our tears sometimes better than the voice of our words; for it is the Spirit itself that makes intercession for us. Rom_8:26. Gemitibus inenarrabilibus, in those groans, and so in those tears, which we cannot utter; ineloquacibus, as Tertullian reads that place, devout, and simple tears, which cannot speak, speak aloud in the ears of God.; nay, tears which we cannot utter; not only not utter the force of the tears, but not utter the very tears themselves. As God sees the water in the spring in the veins of the earth before it bubble upon the face of the earth, so God sees tears in the heart of a man before they blubber his face; God hears the tears of that sorrowful soul, which for sorrow cannot shed tears. From this casting up of the eyes, and pouring out the sorrow of the heart at the eyes, at least opening God a window through which he may see a wet heart through a dry eye; from these overtures of repentance, which are as those imperfect sounds of words, which parents delight in, in their children, before they speak plain, a penitent sinner comes to a verbal and a more express prayer. To these prayers, these vocal and verbal prayers from David, God had given ear, and from this hearing of those prayers was David come to this thankful confidence, "The Lord hath heard, the Lord will hear." - John Donne.

Psalms 6:8

What a strange change is here all on a sudden! Well might Luther say, "Prayer is the leech of the soul, that sucks out the venom and swelling thereof." "Prayer," said another, "is an exorcist with God, and an exorcist against sin and misery." Bernard saith, "How oft hath prayer found me despairing almost, but left me triumphing, and well assured of pardon!" The same in effect saith David here, "Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping." What a word is that to his insulting enemies! Avaunt! come out! vanish! These be words used to devils and dogs, but good enough for a Doeg or a Shimei. And the Son of David shall say the same to his enemies when he comes to judgment. - John Trapp.

Psalms 6:9

"The Lord hath heard my supplication," etc. The Psalmist three times expresses his confidence of his prayers being heard and received, which may be either in reference to his having prayed so many times for help, as the apostle Paul did (2 Corinthians 12:8 ); and as Christ his antitype did (Mat_26:39, Mat_26:42, Mat_26:44); or to express the certainty of it, the strength of his faith in it, and the exuberance of his joy on account of it. - John Gill, D.D., 1697-1771.

Psalms 6:10

"Let all mine enemies be ashamed," etc. If this were an imprecation, a malediction, yet it was medicinal, and had rationem boni, a charitable tincture and nature in it; he wished the men no harm as men. But it is rather praedictorium, a prophetical vehemence, that if they will take no knowledge of God's declaring himself in the protection of his servants, if they would not consider that God had heard, and would hear, had rescued, and would rescue his children, but would continue their opposition against him, heavy judgments would certainly fall upon them; their punishment should be certain, but the effect should be uncertain; for God only knows whether his correction shall work upon his enemies to their mollifying, or to their obduration.... In the second word, "Let them be sore vexed," he wishes his enemies no worse than himself had been, for he had used the same word of himself before, Ossa tarbata, My bones are vexed; and, Anima tarbata, My soul is vexed; and considering that David had found this vexation to be his way to God, it was no malicious imprecation to wish that enemy the same physic that he had taken, who was more sick of the same disease than he was. For this is like a troubled sea after a tempest; the danger is past, but yet the billow is great still; the danger was in the calm, in the security, or in the tempest, by misinterpreting God's corrections to our obduration, and to a remorseless stupefaction; but when a man is come to his holy vexation, to be troubled, to be shaken with the sense of the indignation of God, the storm is past, and the indignation of God is blown over. The soul is in a fair and near way of being restored to a calmness, and to reposed security of conscience that is come to this holy vexation. - John Donne.

Psalms 6:10

"Let all mine enemies [or all mine enemies shall] be ashamed, and sore vexed," etc. Many of the mournful Psalms end in this manner, to instruct the believer that he is continually to look forward, and solace himself with beholding that day, when his warfare shall be accomplished; when sin and sorrow shall be no more; when sudden and everlasting confusion shall cover the enemies of righteousness; when the sackcloth of the penitent shall be exchanged for a robe of glory, and every tear become a sparkling gem in his crown; when to sighs and groans shall succeed the songs of heaven, set to angelic harps, and faith shall be resolved into the vision of the Almighty. - George Horne.

ChristiansUnite Forums

Fellowship => You name it!! => Topic started by: nChrist on August 12, 2009, 10:44:57 AM