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![single out others as the enemies in whose overthrow and destruction we could rejoice. At the same time,
it is but just to the Hebrews to remember that they were the chosen people of God, and from their point of
view, and with their measure of light, they regarded their enemies as God' s enemies (seePsa_139:22).
The way David sometimes treated his foes can by no means be justified. £
The views of truth which God'
s people hold are often sadly discoloured by the conventionalisms of their time; and David was no
exception thereto. We may pray for the time when Zion' s King "shall have put all enemies under his feet,"
and even praise him for telling us that it will be so. But we may surely leave all details absolutely with
]aim.
VI. THE EVER-
UNFOLDING DISCLOSURES OF WHAT GOD IS MAY WELL CALL FORTH SHOUTS OF JOYOUS SONG
. (Verse 13.) When we have such repeated illustrations of God' s loving-kindness, mercy, and grace, we
can feel unfeigned delight in singing of his power. What rapturous delight may we have in the thought that-
"The voice which rolls the stars along
Speaks all the promises;"
that the same Being who is most terrible to sin, is infinitely gracious to the sinner, and. that to all who trust
him he is their "exceeding Joy"!—C.
9. CHARLES SIMEON, “THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND OF CHRIST
Psa_21:1-7. The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou
preventest him with the blessings of goodness; thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked
life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy
salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever:
thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord; and, through
the mercy of the Most High, he shall not be moved.
THIS psalm is appointed by the Church to be read on the day of our Lord’s Ascension: and on a close
examination, it will appear to be well suited to that occasion. We will,
I. Explain it—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-9-320.jpg)
![In its primary and literal sense, it expresses David’s gratitude on his advancement to the throne of
Israel—
[After acknowledging, in general terms, God’s goodness towards him in this dispensation, he speaks of
his elevation as an answer to his prayers, though in its origin it was altogether unsolicited and unsought
for [Note: ver. 1–4.] Impressed with the greatness of the honour conferred upon him, he exults in it,
especially as affording him an opportunity of benefiting others [Note: ver. 5, 6.]; and declares his
confidence, that his enemies, so far from ever being able to subvert his government, shall all be crushed
before him [Note: ver. 7–12.]—
Passing over this view of the psalm, we proceed to observe, that]
It is yet more applicable to Christ, as expressing his feelings on his ascension to the throne of glory—
[David was a type of Christ, as David’s kingdom was of Christ’s kingdom: and Christ, on his ascension to
heaven, may be considered as addressing his Father in the words of this psalm.
He declares his joy and gratitude on account of the blessedness vouchsafed to him, and on account of
the blessedness which he was now empowered to bestow on others. With respect to his own
blessedness we observe, that his conflicts were now terminated. These had been numerous and severe.
From his first entrance into the world to the instant of his departure from it, he “was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief.” View him especially during the three years of his Ministry, what “contradiction of
sinners against himself did he endure!”— — — View more particularly the four last days of his life, what
grievous and accumulated wrongs did he sustain! — — — Consider his conflicts also with the powers of
darkness, and the terrors of his Father’s wrath — — — O what reason had he to rejoice in the termination
of such sufferings, and to magnify his Father who had brought him in safety through them! For this he had
prayed; and God had given him the fullest answer to his prayers [Note: Heb_5:7. with ver. 2, 4.]. Now
also he was restored to glory. He had “a glory with the Father before the worlds were made
[Note: Joh_1:1; Joh_1:18;Joh_17:5.]:” and of that glory he had divested himself when he assumed our
nature [Note: Php_2:6-8.]. But now he was restored to it: and what a contrast did it form with that state,
from which he had been delivered! A few days ago he had not where to lay his head: now he is received
into his Father’s house, his Father’s bosom. Lately he was derided, mocked, insulted, spit upon, buffeted,
and scourged by the vilest of the human race; and now he is seated on his throne of glory, and
worshipped and adored by all the hosts of heaven — — — Great indeed was the glory that now accrued
to him, and great “the majesty that was now laid upon him [Note: ver. 5.]”— — — and, as it had
proceeded from his Father [Note: Php_2:9-11.], so he justly acknowledges it as his Father’s gift.
But it was not to himself only that Jesus had respect: he blesses his Father also for the blessedness
which he was empowered to bestow on others. The words, “Thou hast made him most blessed for ever,”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-10-320.jpg)
![are translated in the margin of our Bibles, “Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever.” This version opens
a new and important view of the subject, a view which particularly accords with all the prophecies
respecting Christ. It is said again and again concerning him, that “in him shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed;” and we are well assured, that to communicate blessings to a ruined world is a source of
inconceivable happiness to himself. We apprehend that to have been a very principal idea in the mind of
the Apostle, when, speaking of Christ, he said, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Note:Heb_12:2.].”
With what joy must he behold the myriads who had been exalted to glory through the virtue of his
sacrifice, whilst yet it remained to be offered! It was through “his obedience unto death” that all the
antediluvian and patriarchal saints were saved. Our First Parents looked to him as “the Seed of the
woman that should bruise the serpent’s head.” To him righteous Abel had respect, in the offering which
was honoured with visible tokens of God’s acceptance. To him Noah looked, when he offered the burnt-
offerings, from which “God smelled a sweet savour [Note: Gen_8:20-21.].” In a word, it is through his
righteousness that forbearance and forgiveness were exercised from the beginning, just as they will be
exercised even to the end: and all who were saved before his advent are in that respect on the same
level with those who have been saved since: there is but one song amongst all the glorified saints in
heaven; they are all harmonious in singing “to Him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his
own blood, &c.” What a joy must it be to Christ to see in so many myriads the travail of his soul, who
“were brought forth, as it were, to God, even before he travailed!” With what joy, too, did he then take
upon him to dispense his blessings to the myriads yet unborn! He is “Head over all things,” not for his own
sake merely, but “for the Church’s sake.” Knowing then how many of his most cruel enemies were given
to him by the Father, with what pleasure would he look down upon them, (even while their hands were yet
reeking with his blood,) and anticipate their conversion to God by the influence of his Spirit on the day of
Pentecost! Every child of man that shall at any period of the world participate his grace, was at that
moment before his eyes: and with what delight would he view them, as drawn by his word, as nourished
by his grace, as comforted by his Spirit, as made more than conquerors over all their enemies
[Note: Zep_3:17.] — — — At that moment he saw, as it were, the whole company of the redeemed, the
multitudes which no man can number, all enthroned around him, the monuments of his love, the heirs of
his glory, the partners of his throne — — — He saw that the kingdom which he had now established upon
earth “should never be moved;” that “the gates of hell should never prevail against it;” and that it should
stand for ever and ever [Note: ver. 7.]. Well therefore might he say, “The King shall joy in thy strength, O
Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!”]
Having thus explained the psalm, we proceed to,
II. Shew what improvement we should make of it—
From its literal sense we learn, how thankful we should be for any blessings vouchsafed unto us—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-11-320.jpg)
![[In many respects God has “prevented us with the blessings of goodness;” and in many he has given
them in answer to our prayers. We may “account even his long-suffering towards us to be salvation,” and
much more the gift of his grace, and the knowledge of his dear Son. Can we reflect on “the salvation to
which he has called us,” even “the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory,” and not be thankful
for it? Can we reflect on the exaltation which we ourselves have received, from death to life, from slaves
to free-men, from children of the devil to sons of God, and not rejoice in it? Can we think of our having
been made “kings and priests unto God,” “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” yea, partners of his
throne, and partakers of his glory for evermore; can we contemplate all this, and not say, “In thy salvation
how greatly shall I rejoice?” — — — Verily, if we do not rejoice and shout for joy, “the very stones will cry
out against us” — — —]
From its mystical or prophetical sense we learn what should be our disposition and conduct towards the
Lord Jesus—
[Methinks, we should rejoice in his joy. If it were but a common friend that was released from heavy
sufferings and exalted to glory, we should rejoice with him in the blessed change: how much more then
should we participate in our minds the joy and glory of our adorable Redeemer! — — — But more
particularly we should submit to his government. This is strongly and awfully suggested in all the latter
part of the psalm before us. “God has highly exalted Jesus, that at his name every knee should bow:”
yea, he has sworn, that every knee shall bow to him: and that all who will not bow to the sceptre of his
grace, shall be broken in pieces with a rod of iron. Read from the text to the end of the psalm; and
endeavour to realize every expression in it — — — O that we may be wise ere it be too late! Let us “kiss
the Son, lest he be angry, and we perish:” for though now he condescends to follow us with entreaties to
be reconciled towards him, the time is quickly coming, when he will say, “Bring hither those that were
mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me.”
A further improvement we should make of this subject is, to confide in his care. “He is set to be blessings”
to a ruined world. He has “ascended up on high that he might fill all things:” “he has received gifts, even
for the rebellious;” and “has all fulness treasured up in him,” on purpose that we may “receive out of his
fulness grace for grace.” There is nothing that we can want, but it may be found in him; nor any thing
which he is not willing to bestow on the very chief of sinners. Let us then look to him, and trust in him; and
assure ourselves, that, as “he lost none that had been given him” in the days of his flesh, so now will he
suffer “none to be plucked out of his hands.” We cannot expect too much from such a King: however
“wide we open our mouths, he will fill them.”
To seek the enlargement of his kingdom is the last duty we shall mention as suggested by the subject
before us. In the prayer that he has taught us, we say, “Thy kingdom come;” and we close that prayer
with ascribing to him “the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever: and it is with similar](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-12-320.jpg)
![sentiments that the psalm before us concludes. Let us enter into the spirit of them, saying, “Be thou
exalted, Lord, in thine own strength; so will we sing and praise thy power.” Nothing should be so dear to
us as the advancement of his glory. Let us reflect, how we may best promote it; and let the extension of
his kingdom be our chief joy [Note: Psa_72:18-19.] — — —]
10. WILLIAM KELLY, “Here we have the answer to their desires, perhaps we may add to His also, as far
as they could enter in. It too is "To the chief musician, a psalm of David."
As it was into their trouble the remnant saw the Messiah enter, and therefore prayed that He might be
heard of Jehovah, so now in the Spirit of prophecy they behold in His deliverance and exaltation the
answer to their petitions as to His. Indeed they see more - that Jehovah had not only heard and given,
but gone beyond, and of Himself anticipated with the blessings of goodness, and, if He with death
before Him asked life, gave length of days for ever and ever. We may observe how completely Messianic
all is, and bounded by Jewish hopes: not at all the far deeper truth of His eternal glory that dawned
through the clouds of His rejection on those who so feebly followed to the cross and learnt all better in
the light of His heavenly place and of His person. This is our portion, and therefore should we be the last
to slight and the first to understand the very distinct relations of the godly remnant of Jews, who are to
succeed us and take up His testimony for the earth when we shall have passed to heaven. It is the
confusion of the earthly and the heavenly, of Jewish expectation in the Christian, that hinders our
intelligence of either. Thus the enemy wrought from the beginning, first to hinder, then to darken and
corrupt, the church; as all recovery, for such as by grace discern God's mind to do His will, is by seeing in
Christ the key to all; for He is the Head of the church in the heavenly places, as surely as He is Messiah of
Israel and Son of man to rule all nations. Distinguishing things that differ (and the difference is immense)
is the secret of learning by the word and Spirit of God.
So we see that the second part of the psalm anticipates Messiah's proper action on His earthly foes.
Thus the opposition and enmity of those who would not have Him to reign over them are met by their
overthrow and destruction before all; and Jehovah and His Anointed are identified, not more in public
exaltation, than in the fire that devours their enemies. Messiah's sufferings at the hands of men bring
sure and unsparing judgments on them, as surely as His glories follow His sufferings, though none of
Israel understood but the godly, who merged in the church and rose to higher hopes and better
blessings by the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. So there will be godly ones to
understand in the latter day after those who now compose the church are translated to meet the Lord.
For when the heavenly counsels are fulfilled, at least virtually, the question of a godly people for the
earth has to be solved; and these are the souls who will take up and make good the Jewish aspirations in](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-13-320.jpg)
![therefore it is his salvation. The joy here spoken of is described by a note of exclamation and a word of
wonder: how greatly! The rejoicing of our risen Lord must, like his agony, be unutterable. If the
mountains of his joy rise in proportion to the depth of the valleys of his grief, then his sacred bliss is high
as the seventh heaven. For the joy which was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame,
and now that joy daily grows, for he rests in his love and rejoices over his redeemed with singing, as in
due order they are brought to find their salvation in his blood. Let us with our Lord rejoice in salvation, as
coming from God, as coming to us, as extending itself to others, and as soon to encompass all lands. We
need not be afraid of too much rejoicing in this respect; this solid foundation will well sustain the loftiest
edifice of joy. The shoutings of the early Methodists in the excitement of the joy were far more pardonable
than our own lukewarmness. Our joy should have some sort of inexpressibleness in it.
13. MEYER, “REJOICING IN THE STRENGTH OF JEHOVAH
Psa_21:1-13
This is a companion to the psalm preceding. The blessings there asked for are here gladly
acknowledged to have been granted; and bright anticipations are entertained for the future.
How much of this psalm is true only of the ideal King-our Lord! Let us read it with special
reference to Him as He rides forth on His white horse, Rev_19:11-16.
That which the heart desires, the lips at times find difficulty in expressing. God’s help always
prevents us, that is, “goes before” us, anticipates our needs. The only life that can satisfy is the
eternal, but that is ours already if we only knew it. Our beloved dead are more blessed forever,
because they see Him “face to face;” but we also may share their joy. Trust in Christ is the secret
of immovability. God has exalted Christ to be a Prince and a Savior, and we shall never be at
peace until we have done the same, Act_5:31.
2
You have granted him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips.[b]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-16-320.jpg)
![2. The gist of the text is that God’s wise grace can outstrip the present stage of our experience, can pass
on into the future, and be busy on our behalf before we arrive there. He not only attends us with the
blessings of His goodness, He “prevents” us with them as well—goes on before and sows the days to
come with mercy, so that we find it waiting us when we arrive, and reap—or may reap—nothing but
goodness as we go. It is a profound, most comfortable truth for us to rest our minds on.
There is in theology a term, still used, “prevenient grace,” meaning the grace which acts on a
sinner before repentance inducing him to repent, the grace by which he attains faith and receives power
to will the good. Milton, when describing the repentance of Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost, when they
confessed their sin and prayed for forgiveness, puts it:
Thus they in lowliest plight repentant stood
Praying, for from the Mercy-seat above
Prevenient Grace descending had remov’d
The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh
Regenerate grow instead.
But we must not limit God’s prevenient grace to the act of repentance, to the steps which lead up to the
consciousness of sonship with God.
1 [Note: H. Black, Christ’s Service of Love, 210.]
I.
A Prepared World
1. When we come upon the stage of existence we find that the world has been prepared for us. “Thou
hast formed the world to be inhabited” is one of the deep sayings of the prophets. For whatever ends the
world has been created, it has been fashioned upon the lines of man. It has been decked in beauty for the
human eye; covered with sustenance for the human frame; stored with energies that would have slept
unused but for the large intelligence of man. Does the newborn child need to be clothed? Sheep have
been pasturing upon the hills. Does the newborn child need to be fed? Mysterious changes have been
preparing food. And does the newborn child need to be warmed? Why then, unnumbered centuries ago,
the leaves were falling with the sunshine in them, that to-day we might have summer on the hearth. Not
into an unprepared world is the little infant flung. Nature never calls, “I am not ready, nor can I support this
gift of a new life.” Nature has been getting ready for millenniums, since she awoke from the primeval
chaos; and in her depths, and on her hills of pasturage, has been preparing for this very hour.
We are rising to the conviction that we are a part of nature, and so a part of God; that the whole
creation—the One and the Many and All-One—is travailing together toward some great end; and that
now, after ages of development, we have at length become conscious portions of the great scheme, and
can co-operate in it with knowledge and with joy. We are no aliens in a stranger universe governed by an
outside God; we are parts of a developing whole, all enfolded in an embracing and interpenetrating love,
of which we too, each to other, sometimes experience the joy too deep for words.
1 [Note: Sir Oliver Lodge.]
There are inhospitable regions, in which the oak cannot flourish, in which the hardy pine cannot live, and
in which the mountain heather finds no place, but yet some variety of corn can be made to grow, if man
can live there at all. If you were to ascend from the sea-level to the sides of the high mountains, or to
proceed from the swamps of China to the prairies of America, or from the burning plains of India to the
Arctic regions, you would find at the different levels, or in the different latitudes, entirely different kinds of](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-26-320.jpg)
![plants, with one exception; the corn plant you would find everywhere. In the tropical regions you would
find rice; in the bleak north, oats and rye; in parts of the western world not congenial to wheat, you would
find maize, while similar parts of Europe produce barley. So carefully has God provided for the needs of
man.
2. These bounties of God come to us at a great cost. Take a single grain of corn, and remember that it
cost the Creator thousands of years of forethought and labour. We know how useless it is to sow wheat
on hard clay or solid rock. Soil needs first to be made, so God sets in motion the forces of rain, frost, and
rivers. He sets the great glaciers grinding over the granite, sandstone, and limestone. And that took
thousands of years. If God had not laboured for ages, not even the tiniest grain of corn could have existed
to-day. But, further, the God who made the soil sends thousands of rays of sunshine to ripen the corn.
And for every ray that we see, there are ten invisible heat rays. Now before these rays can begin their
work, they have a journey to make of more than ninety millions of miles. And God keeps these
messengers continually flying through the sky. He spares no labour and counts no cost to provide royally
for His children.
II.
A Prepared Home
1. Home is the child’s whole world. Within the family circle lie his earth and heaven, and through the
medium of its life and fortunes the larger provision accumulated out of doors is gradually interpreted and
conveyed to him. To have first drawn breath, then, in a truly Christian home is to have been born to an
inheritance which not all the world’s wealth could buy. To have been received into this world by one
whose first feeling was that of trembling thankfulness to God, mingled with fear lest she should be
unworthy of the trust of bringing up a child for Him; to have grown up within walls where He from whom
every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named, was ever acknowledged supreme and reverently loved
and served; to have been led to His footstool early, and to have had His word printed on the mind; to
have been taught to rest on the day of rest, and to “love the habitation of God’s house”; to have been
trained in early impressionable years, for the most part unconsciously, under the influence of those
around, as well as of the men and women that come about a good man’s fireside and the books that lie
on a good man’s table,—in all this what splendid provision for all who are fortunate enough to fall heirs to
it. Truly God “prevented us with blessings of goodness.” Our lot was stored with them beforehand. We
were cradled in spiritual profusion which a Loving Care had been long preparing, as a mother’s choicest
appointments will be ready for her babe long before it is put into her hands.
Sometimes there comes a visitor to see us of whose coming we had no anticipation. He has been long
abroad, and for years we have not seen him, until one day he is standing at our door. But it is not thus
that into Christian homes there come the joy and mystery of childhood. The child is born in a prepared
place, and love has been very busy with its welcome. And prayers go heavenward with a new intensity,
and some now pray who never prayed before; and fountains of tenderness are opened up, and feelings
that were scarce suspected once; and God is nearer and His hand is more wonderful, and all the future
has a different music, and that is why home is as a type of heaven; it is a prepared place for a prepared
people. Thou goest before us with the blessings of goodness.
1 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels,
146.]
O’er a new joy this day we bend,
Soft power from heaven our souls to lift;
A wondering wonder Thou dost lend
With loan outpassing gift—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-27-320.jpg)
![A little child. She sees the sun—
Once more incarnates thy old law:
One born of two, two born in one,
Shall into one three draw.
But is there no day creeping on
Which I should tremble to renew?
I thank Thee, Lord, for what is gone—
Thine is the future too!
And are we not at home in Thee,
And all this world a visioned show,
That, knowing what Abroad is, we
What Home is too may know?
2 [Note: George MacDonald, Organ Songs.]
Mr. Moody could never speak of those early days of want and adversity without the most tender
references to that brave mother whose self-sacrifice and devotion had sacredly guarded the home
entrusted to her care. When, at the age of ninety, her life-voyage ended, she entered the Haven of Rest,
her children, her children’s children, and an entire community rose up to call her blessed. And well she
deserved the praise they gave her, for she had wisely and discreetly discharged the duties God had
placed upon her, and, entering the presence of her Master, could render a faithful account of the
stewardship of motherhood. To rule a household of seven sturdy boys and two girls, the eldest twelve
years old, required no ordinary tact and sound judgment, but so discreet was this loyal mother that to the
very end she made “home” the most loved place on earth to her family, and so trained her children as to
make them a blessing to society.
“For nearly fifty years I have been coming back to Northfield,” said Mr. Moody, long after that little circle
had been broken up, “and I have always been glad to get back. When I get within fifty miles of home I
grow restless and walk up and down the car. It seems as if the train will never get to Northfield. When I
come back after dark I always look to see the light in mother’s window.”
1 [Note: W. R. Moody, Life of Dwight L.
Moody, 26.]
The purest-minded of all pagans and all Emperors devotes the whole of the first book of
his Meditations to a grateful consideration of all that he owed to others in his youth. Such humble
gratitude is the mark of a great soul. He goes over the list of all who helped him by counsel or example.
“The example of my grandfather, Verus, gave me a good disposition, not prone to anger. By the
recollection of my father’s character, I learned to be both modest and manly. My mother taught me to
have regard for religion, to be generous and open-handed. The philosopher Sextus recommended good-
humour to me. Alexander the Grammarian taught me not to be finically critical about words. I learned from](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-28-320.jpg)
![Catulus not to slight a friend for making a remonstrance.” And so on through a long list of benefits which
his sweet humble mind acknowledged, finishing up with: “I have to thank the gods that my grandfathers,
parents, sister, preceptors, relations, friends, and domestics were almost all of them persons of
probity.”
2 [Note: H. Black, Christ’s Service of Love, 213.]
2. We are ushered also into a society that was prepared. A child’s education is a great deal more than a
matter of lesson books and a few years’ schooling. The use he is able to make of books and schooling
depends on the nature he brings to them and on the surroundings among which he is born; and these
again depend largely on what manner of persons those were who went before him. Education is the
development of manhood, and this is determined always, on the one hand, by the stock the man springs
from, and, on the other, by the intellectual and moral atmosphere he grows up in. So that in literal truth it
may be said about each of us that Providence began our education not one but many hundreds of years
since. All down the generations the lot we should in due time stand in has been growing more goodly and
favourable, until at this particular stage in the history of the race and in our own greatly privileged land,
what amelioration of manners, what elevation of morals, what enrichment of social relationships, what
increase of knowledge, in a word, what multiplied spiritual wealth, opportunity, and stimulus, do we not
inherit! We are the heirs of the ages, and are born rich indeed. We reap where we had not strawed. Why,
the very language in which we speak to one another—the medium of communion between man and
man—is a legacy of the past to us, and in our earliest broken syllables we unconsciously acknowledge
our indebtedness to it.
The holy Andrewes before he comes to give thanks for salvation begins with what is more fundamental
still. “I thank Thee,” he writes, “that I was born a living soul, and not senseless matter; a man and not a
brute; civilized not savage; free not a slave; liberally educated, and endowed with gifts of nature and
worldly good.”
1 [Note: A. Martin, Winning the Soul, 204.]
3. It cannot be that God is absent from the most untoward environment. There are children born into the
world for whom you would say little preparation had been made by any one. Nobody seems to want them
here. It is scanty care they receive from any one. They are left to grow as they may; and live, one hardly
knows how; and are reared with squalor before their eyes, and coarseness in their ears, and evil
everywhere. Is God beforehand with them with the blessings of goodness? Surely He is; for, after all, the
world is His, nor can man’s uttermost labour in evil altogether obliterate or quench His everywhere
present and active loving-kindness. One thing is certain; that He has the strangest ways of blending His
mercy even with the most untoward environment.
I have seen little children exposed to early influences which you would have thought must inevitably have
proved fatal to any seeds of goodness they brought with them into the world; and these things—
drunkenness, vileness, murderous brutality, and all the unspeakable horrors that make up the daily round
in a drunkard’s home—were only blessed to them. There is no limit to the power of Him who overrules all
things, and whose face the angels of little children do always behold, out of evil to bring good. “In him the
fatherless find mercy.” Let us admit that He deals with many—or allows them to be dealt with by
circumstances—very strangely, very sorely. Nevertheless, these circumstances too are under His Hand.
Who shall say that they are ever sufficient to blind any soul born into God’s world outright to its
inheritance or quite to put it beyond His reach?
2 [Note: lbid. 202.]
In his ballad “The Three Graves” Coleridge puts this story into the mouth of an old sexton. A young
farmer, paying his addresses to the daughter of a widow, finds that the widow herself desires to marry
him. When he asks in due time that the day of the marriage may be fixed, the mother maliciously
depreciates the character of her daughter, and confesses her own passion. Finding herself thrust aside,
she kneels down and solemnly prays for a curse upon her daughter and the lover she had accepted. A
cloud hangs over the wedding, and bride and bridegroom find themselves strangely chilled and
depressed. On Ash-Wednesday the widow goes to church, and takes her place by the side of her
daughter’s friend, who has helped forward the marriage, and curses her together with the others. Under
the haunting influence of that curse the three people fade away, and, within a few short months, fill graves
side by side in the country churchyard. The essence of the ballad story is expressed in the lines:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-29-320.jpg)
![Beneath the foulest mother’s curse
No child could ever thrive.
That conception fits a pagan condition of society in which, for both temporal and spiritual things, the
power of the parent is absolute. But it makes into an almighty fiat the cry of the blood of Abel, and is
untrue to the spirit of the gospel. None can curse child or neighbour into hopeless distress in either this or
the coming life. He who opens and shuts the gates of blessedness has not surrendered the key into
unworthy hands.
1 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 90.]
III.
A Prepared Inheritance
1. What have we that we have not received? Behind us lie the labours and sufferings and sacrifices of the
noblest, and we have entered into their labours. We have a rich inheritance, which can be described only
as the blessings of goodness. The tree of our life has its roots deep in the soil and the subsoil of history.
We are not only the heirs of all the ages, but the heirs of God’s grace through all the ages. God’s
providence is only another name for God’s grace, and His providence did not begin to us merely at the
hour of birth. Every prophet, and every man of faith, has felt in some degree at some time of intense
insight that he has been under a foreordaining, a loving purpose before birth, before history, from the very
foundation of the world. God’s grace began with him long before he was born, and prepared his place for
him, and went before him with the blessings of goodness. Time would fail for any of us to tell all that we
owe to the past, all the debt in which we stand to preceding generations, not only for temporal mercies,
but even for the very intellectual and spiritual atmosphere into which we have been born, and in which we
have been reared. We have a spiritual climate, as well as a geographical; and in it we have had our place
prepared for us. The blessings of God’s goodness have gone before us, and can in many lines be clearly
seen by every enlightened mind and conscience and heart. The liberty we enjoy politically and religiously
has been bought and paid for by others. The knowledge which we hold so cheap was dearly acquired by
the race. Every advance in social organization which is to us now as our birthright was attained at great
cost.
As a man deepens so his longings deepen, till they reach to the Infinite and the Eternal. And the strange
thing is, that as these cravings alter, and rise from the transient to the enduring, so God is ever there
before us, with His prepared answer to our quest. We crave for light, and the sun and moon are there,
and they have been shining for unnumbered ages. We crave for love, and love is not of yesterday. It is as
ancient as the heart-beat of humanity. We come to crave for pardon and for peace and for unbroken
fellowship with God; and all that, in Jesus Christ our Lord, has been made ready for us long ago.
2. God’s prevenient goodness is very conspicuous in the privileges of the Gospel. Our spiritual needs are
all anticipated by an ample provision. And that is signified by our baptism. God’s goodness came to a
point there, so to speak, and was set forth with gracious impressiveness. For baptism is the seal of our
lineage and signifies that we come of the elect stock. It is the Christian circumcision, and denotes that we
belong to the community of the faithful, whose life is sustained by the living Lord, and have our right and
portion among them in all the goodness He has introduced into human life.
To me one of the surest proofs that the Bible is indeed the Word of God is the way in which it goes before
us through all the changing experience of life. Other books we leave behind. They were before us once;
they are behind us now. We have outgrown them. We have reached an hour when they were powerless
to cheer and guide. But always as we battle through the years, and break through the thicket into another
glade, a little ahead of us, with eyes of love, we descry the figure of the Word of God. It is before us in the
day of triumph. It is before us in the hour of fall. In every new temptation it is there; in every joy, in every](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-30-320.jpg)
![bitterness. We move into the shadow and the heartbreak, or into the sunshine with the play of waters, and
yet the Bible understands it all, and is there to meet us when we come. We are not above it when we
scale the heavens, nor beneath it when we make our bed in hell. It is always a little higher than our
highest. It is always a little deeper than our deepest. And that to me is an argument unanswerable that
God is in Scripture as in no other book. It is not so much that I find Him there. It is rather that
there He finds me.
1[Note: G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, 150.]
Geologists find the presence of tropical species in latitudes now subjected to the rigours of a cold climate,
and arctic forms in regions at present belonging to the temperate zone. In endeavouring to explain these
anomalies of climate, scientists in past days went in search of vast cosmic changes, such as an alteration
in the position of the terrestrial axis, a diminution in the amount of solar heat, or a gradual cooling of the
earth’s crust; but modern scientists are satisfied to explain these climatic conditions as the result of a
familiar agency close at hand, of which we have daily experience. A genial current of water or air
deflected toward our coast is, in their opinion, sufficiently powerful to create the difference of temperature
which rescues us from the rigours of Lapland and fills our island with summer’s pageantry and autumn’s
pride. So to give the nations of the earth a sweet summer for the long dark winter of their discontent God
makes the stream of His grace to flow through our sanctuaries, schools, and homes, silently blessing and
enriching human life.
2 [Note: W. L. Watkinson, The Fatal Barter, 37.]
IV.
A God who is always Beforehand
1. God is before at every stage of this life. Whatever good we have gained to ourselves, there is a better
still before us. The best is always in store. We go from strength to strength. And if we have an eye for the
working of His Hand at all, we need never fail to find the traces of God’s power marking out before-hand
the path in which we go.
(1) God is before us to enrich and to purify our joys.—Indeed those joys are of God’s own making. They
arrive we know not whence or how. They come as a surprise. We had not looked for them, or learned
perhaps to desire them. And then they befell us, and woke our nature into music, and made all life new. Is
it not so for the most part that our great joys have come to us? the choice gifts of Providence? the signal
blessings of grace? And what does this mean but just that the Divine loving-kindness had prepared for us
such mercy, and then at the fitting moment laid it bare? He who has planned our path is in ambush for us,
and oftenest it is at some unexpected turn of the way that His goodness stands disclosed. We stumble
upon His bounty ere we know, and find to our surprise how long it had been stored for us. Does not the
greatest of all gifts, the Gift Unspeakable, at times arrive upon us in this way, hiding Himself in some
unlooked-for experience, then striding into our life suddenly? And of other gifts also, the arrival is, as a
rule, as unexpected, and betokens a preparation we had not thought of. Our path has been sown with
goodness beforehand, and we reap the harvest of it as we go.
I am filled with shame and confusion when I reflect, on one hand, upon the great favours which God has](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-31-320.jpg)
![bestowed and is still unceasingly bestowing upon me; and, on the other, upon the ill use I have made of
them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection. Since, by His mercy, He gives us still a little
time, let us begin in earnest, let us redeem the time that is lost, let us return with a whole-hearted trust to
this Father of Mercies, who is always ready to receive us into His loving arms. Let us renounce, and
renounce generously, with single heart, for the love of Him, all that is not His; He deserves infinitely more.
Let us think of Him unceasingly; in Him let us put all our confidence. I doubt not but that we shall soon
experience the effects of it in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and
without which we can do nought but sin.
1 [Note: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, 48.]
Dr. John Brown (“Rab”) had a favourite expression, which he was constantly using—“Unexpectedness.”
There is much of that in life. It plays a large part in our training. Kindness comes from unexpected
quarters. So does unkindness. “It was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance.” It is, as
we say, the unexpected that happens. The seemingly impossible comes to pass. Often what we plan
fails, and what we expect deceives, while what we neither plan nor expect occurs. The forces that work
for us and against us do more than we anticipate. If some men disappoint us painfully, others do so
agreeably. The timid Nicodemus was one of the foremost at Jesus’ tomb. There are flowers in the desert.
The beauty of holiness blooms in unexpected places. What we lean upon breaks, what seems broken
stands. Ananias was a failure, Saul became Paul. How often our fears are disappointed, our hopes
surpassed, our difficulties removed. The whole of life is a succession of surprises breaking its monotony.
It is like a winding road, where every turn discloses something new that beguiles and draws us on. There
are many of what Faber sings of—“novelties of love.” You think, sometimes, that everything has been
exhausted, and then God surprises you with a fresh gladness.
2 [Note: A. Philip, The Father’s Hand, 161.]
A critic of the oratorio “Elijah” has pointed out how, after apparently exhausting every combination of
sound, Mendelssohn has given one more proof of his resource, by the weird effect of a single, long-
sustained note. But what is a marvel in this consummate artist is only a suggestion of the fertility of God in
every life. Amiel has been described as the master of the unexpected. It is God who is its true Master. It is
He who is the true Giver of surprises. No two days are alike. Our life is like a series of dissolving views. Its
fashion is ever changing. God, in providence, appeals to the strange and the varied. What every child of
God feels about His kindnesses is that they are new every morning, and is it not quite as true that they
are fresh every evening? Is there a day that we are not constrained to say, “Thou surprisest me with the
blessings of goodness”?
3 [Note: Ibid. 162.]
As I look back, and recall what is past—struggles which I have not chronicled here; doubts and inward
conflicts which may not be written; hours of fierce anguish of spirit; moments in hell too awful and too
sacred to be recorded; joys which, though brief, are yet joys for ever; tearful times of sowing which have](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-32-320.jpg)
![yielded happy harvests; kindly teachings, both tender and severe, which experience has brought—I see
life as education, wonderful and changeful, but full of a Divine purpose; replete with interest, and slowly
revealing that Love is its origin and Love its end. Oh, brother man, to whom life seems dark and its
purpose undecipherable, hold fast to the Loving Spirit! It will guide you into the heart of things. It will so
fashion you after its own likeness that, when you awake to life’s true significance, you will be
satisfied.
1 [Note: Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages of My Life, 332.]
(2) God is in front to assuage our sorrow.—There are trials and sorrows which come to all in course of
nature, and in regard to which, unless men and women are very rebellious, it is possible perhaps to see
no little mercy and goodness assuaging their bitterness all through. But those which come athwart the
course of nature, as it were; which no one could have foreseen, and nothing appears to justify; which only
darken the world to men, and confound their judgment, and tempt their unbelief—what are we to say of
these sorrows? They are, alas! not uncommon, and growing experience of life furnishes always fresh
evidence of the forms they may take. Where men and women lie prostrate under them—their hearth
perhaps left bare, the light of youthful promise perhaps quenched, perhaps worse sorrows still befalling
them—what are you to expect them to feel and say in circumstances like these? Even if they believe, is it
to be thought of that they are to look up to God and say, “These things too are good. Thou comest to
meet me in them with the blessings of goodness”? Yet I have known one whose worldly all was, in a quite
unlooked-for hour, swept away from her, and who, after a single moment’s pause, said: “The Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken away! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” I have known another whose home was
suddenly left desolate, and the cherished hopes of years, and the early blossom of their fulfilment strewed
in ruins, and all he said was, “I needed this.” And just the other day I heard of one struck down at the
outset of a most promising career and rendered helpless for the remainder of his days, yet who was able,
almost at once, to accept his Father’s will and to be content with it. Had not such humble trusting
sufferers found the “blessings of goodness” in those dark providences that suddenly darkened round
them and seemed to others to wreck their lives?
1 [Note: A. Martin, Winning the Soul, 209.]
Do we complain of the sorrows of life, classing them among the insoluble problems of existence? We owe
much of life’s purest and happiest experiences to these sorrows. They can reveal unexpected good
qualities; they can draw human lives into sympathy with one another; they can bridge over chasms which
seemed to decree separation between soul and soul; they can soften, refine, and elevate. Certainly, if I
may speak from my own experience, hours of sorrow serve to show what an unsuspected wealth of
kindness there is in the world. Here is a box, full of letters! No, I am not going to open it, or drag forth the
letters to view. Let them lie where they are, in sacred seclusion; but they are witnesses to the width and
depth of human sympathy. They are letters, written to me, by people of all classes, in one supreme,
sorrowful hour of my life. Indeed, as I go about my room, and turn from one treasury of old letters to](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-33-320.jpg)
![another, I realize that the sweetest and best of them are the offspring of sorrow in some form or another.
Dear letters—some written by hands now cold—you still carry your message to my heart! You are the
constant witnesses that our capacities of heart could hardly have found scope to work, or space to grow,
had not sorrow opened the door of opportunity.
2 [Note: Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages of My Life, 331.]
(3) God is in front to strengthen us in temptation.—Temptation is the constant element in our lives that
every now and then gathers itself up into some “sore hour” which tries and shakes our fidelity to the roots.
The temptation to unbelief, the temptation to self-indulgence, the temptation to be untrue to some heavy
charge of which we would fain be quit—temptations such as these, and others like them, are no doubt
dangerous, since we may give way in our weakness and fall ignobly. But with the temptation there is
always a strength available for the bearing of it, of which, if we seize and are not overborne by it, nothing
but good is the issue. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. It strengthens the thews of the spirit. It
toughens faith. It teaches to pray. Temptation, if met and dealt with fairly, brings blessing into our life,—
and nothing else.
I would especially recommend you, as far as possible, to keep your mind fixed on our Blessed Lord’s
love, sympathy, and presence with you—not on the temptation. Put the temptation altogether aside. Don’t
think of it. Don’t pray about it. Don’t entangle yourself with it. But keep close to God, and feel sure that
“He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world,” and ask of our Blessed Lord that He would
encompass you with His blessed angels, and so drive far away the evil spirit. Nothing is impossible with
Him. Make proof of His power and love, and resolve, though you have failed before, now henceforth to fail
no more. Let it encourage you to feel that every temptation overcome makes you stronger than you were
before.
1 [Note: J. P. F. Davidson, Letters of Spiritual Counsel, 65.]
It was my Time. The old hour struck,
The ancient self without my leave—
The old impatience came to pluck,
How briskly at my sleeve!
And one stood crying within my heart—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-34-320.jpg)
![(It was not I)—“The strait is sore.
Thy strength is small. So yield. Thy part
Requires of thee no more.”
Then to the god we do not know,
Whose perfect name lies not within
Our speech, all speechless in her woe
My spirit fled, crying—“This is sin.
Against his coming many times
Thou gavest a secret, golden power.”
Then sudden as the lark that climbs,
I sang, and in that dolorous hour
I stood with an immortal strength,
Looked out upon the dangerous way,
And singing trod its bitter length,
Scatheless, as even a mortal may.
2 [Note: Mildred McNeal-Sweeney, Men of No Land, 56.]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-35-320.jpg)
![(4) God is beforehand to soften trouble.—With our cares, anxieties, daily duty—whatever is commonest,
whatever is most exceptional—God is before us to make them bearable, and profitable. All our
experiences whatsoever bring good to us, if we will have it. Life is a constant discovery of light and help
and blessing of every kind, which are waiting us beforehand. It is not by chance that these things come
there. They have all the marks of a provision made by One who knows what things we have need of. Let
us be sure of it and fear nothing. Faith should recognize a friend even when sense fears a foe. And of
everything that comes to meet us our hearts should be greatly able to say: “This also cometh forth from
the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”
As Washington Irving was passing a print window in Broadway, New York, one day, his eye rested on the
beautiful engraving of Christus Consolator. He stopped and looked at it intently for some minutes,
evidently much affected by the genuine inspiration of the artist in this remarkable representation of the
Saviour as the consoler of sorrow-stricken humanity. His tears fell freely. “Pray get me that print,” said he;
“I must have it framed for my sitting-room.” When he examined it more closely and found the artist’s
name, “It’s by my old friend Ary Scheffer!” said he, remarking, further, that he had known Scheffer
intimately, and knew him to be a true artist, but had not expected from him anything so excellent as this. I
afterwards sent him the companion, Christus Remunerator; and the pair remained his daily companions
till the day of his death. To me, the picture of Irving, amid the noise and bustle of noon in Broadway,
shedding tears as he studied that little print, so feelingly picturing human sorrow and the Source of its
alleviation, has always remained associated with the artist and his works. If Irving could enjoy wit and
humour, and give that enjoyment to others, no other writer of books had a heart more tenderly sensitive
than his to the sufferings and ills to which flesh is heir.
1 [Note: George Palmer Putnam, 268.]
2. God may be trusted to prepare our everlasting portion. “I go to prepare a place for you,” said Christ.
Whatever hell be, it is not man’s environment. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. Whatever
heaven be, it is man’s native place, prepared for him from the foundation of the world. And then within
that kingdom, all made ready, there is to be the individual touch—“I go to prepare a place for you.” Of
what kind that preparation is, eye hath not seen and ear hath never heard. All we know is that we shall be
at home, and shall be welcomed by familiar hands. And if here the preparation is so wonderful that waits
for the little child when it is born, how much more wonderful shall it all be when dying we are born into the
glory. If love has been busy making ready here, shall love not also be making ready there? It is all our
Father’s house of many rooms, and we but pass from one into the other.
Robertson took an active part in the work of the revival movement of 1859, sometimes holding services in
the open air, in the neighbouring mining village of Dreghorn, and in the opposite direction, near the
Eglinton furnaces. Mr. Andrew James Symington describes one of these outdoor services. “When we](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-36-320.jpg)
![arrived at the manse,” he says, “we found that Robertson had gone to address a meeting of miners in the
open air at their works, about a mile off. We followed, and got among the crowd of listeners. The sermon
was a remarkable one, as simple in its telling illustrations as it was powerful in the enforcement of truth.
Rarely have I heard such an earnest flow of impassioned eloquence—one could have heard a pin fall—
and the begrimed audience, spellbound, hung on his every word. The theme was ‘mansions prepared,’
and the subject was approached and opened up by an allusion to the coming November ‘term’ time—to
those who were going to ‘flit’—and he asked them if they had yet looked out other houses to which they
would go. Then, as to our abode on earth, he said, we were all tenants-at-will. But our heavenly Father
had prepared, not cabins or houses, but mansions for us. These were freely offered, and why should we
anxiously look before us to the habitations of a few short years, and yet think so little of the heavenly
mansions, prepared from before the foundation of the world for all who love Him, for Christ’s sake, by Him
who made these glorious stars, twinkling overhead in the blue? Then he pressed home the gospel offer,
and, as an ambassador for heaven, invited all to come and receive their inheritance.”
1 [Note: A. Guthrie,
Robertson of Irvine, 156.]
Can the bonds that make us here
Know ourselves immortal,
Drop away, like foliage sear,
At life’s inner portal?
What is holiest below
Must for ever live and grow.
I shall love the angels well,
After I have found them
In the mansions where they dwell,
With the glory round them:](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-37-320.jpg)
![O’er the Silent River.
Death, thy hastening oar I know;
Bear me, Thou Life-giver,
Through the waters, to the shore,
Where mine own have gone before!
1 [Note: Lucy Larcom.]
As you ascend the Stelvio Pass from the Italian side, you travel through wild, majestic scenery. One
moment you are lost in admiration of the engineering skill that carried the zigzag road along the
mountain-side; another, lingering by a waterfall, or caught by the vista of some retreating valley, the ruin
of an avalanche, or the dazzling sheen of the encircling snow. But the road is nothing to the top of the
pass; it hides the secret that awaits you. It is impossible to forget the thrill of emotion when we touched
the summit of the pass, and the glorious secret stood disclosed. It had taken hours to ascend, and then,
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, a marvellous panorama of mountain and glacier burst on the eye,
and Austria lay in the abyss at our feet.
This present life is like crossing the Stelvio. We are going towards the glorious secret, but meantime the
way hides it. The more we think of the land within the veil, the more we must look forward to the top of the
pass, when we shall see the secret for ourselves. It is ready, as Peter writes, to be revealed. When we
behold it, shall we not adore the loving-kindness of Him who hid that He might reveal, in whose light it is
ours now to see light clearly?
1 [Note: A. Philip, The Father’s Hand, 91.]
A famous city in the East has triple walls. Within the huge, strong gates of the first wall the trading and
mercantile populations dwell; within the gates of the second wall the space is reserved for tribesmen who
are akin to the reigning house; and within the gates of the innermost wall nestle palace and park and
imperial pleasure-grounds. The first gate to which Christ holds the key looks forth into infinite vistas. The
gospel opportunity gives access into a new standing-ground of privilege, and through the new standing-
ground passes a highway into the favoured and sacred sphere, where dwell members of a royal and
priestly race, and through this sphere approach is at last made to the blessed and glorious realms beyond
the angel-guarded gates.
2 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 80.]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-39-320.jpg)
![We shall consider them,
I. According to their original import—
This psalm, like many other parts of Scripture, has a double sense—
In an historical view it speaks of David himself—
[David had long been habituated to trust in the Lord. When he was yet a youth, he withstood a lion and a
bear in dependence upon God [Note: 1Sa_17:36-37.]; nor feared to encounter him, who filled all the hosts
of Israel with terror [Note: 1Sa_17:45; 1Sa_17:47.]. During the persecutions of Saul he still held fast his
confidence; and, under the most imminent danger and accumulated trouble, encouraged himself in God
[Note: 1Sa_30:6.]. Sometimes, indeed, his faith for a moment began to fail him [Note: 1Sa_27:1.]; but, on
the whole, he was “strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Nor was he less sensible of his own insufficiency
when he was a king: he still made the Most High his only and continual refuge
[Note: Psa_91:2; Psa_56:2-4.]: and God approved himself faithful to his believing servant. There were
indeed some occasions wherein David was greatly “moved [Note: 2Sa_15:30.]; ”but these only served
more fully to evince the power and faithfulness of his God [Note: 2Sa_23:5.].]
In a prophetical sense the words are applicable to Christ—
[The whole psalm has an evident reference to the Messiah. Christ is that “King” who was raised to sit
upon the throne of David [Note: Luk_1:32.]; and, as for every other good thing, so was he eminent for
trust in God. He disregarded the plots of his most powerful enemies [Note: Luk_13:32.]; and, undaunted,
renewed his visit to those who had lately sought to stone him [Note: Joh_11:8.]. He well knew that, till his
hour was come, no power on earth could touch him [Note: Joh_19:11.]; nor was he ever left destitute of
the divine protection. He seemed indeed to be “moved” when “he was crucified through weakness;” but
he soon shewed how vain were the attempts of his adversaries. In his resurrection and ascension he “led
captivity itself captive:” and he will in due season “put all his enemies under his feet.”]
In both these views the text sets before us an instructive example—
But we may consider it further,
II. In reference to the present occasion—](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-54-320.jpg)
![The solemnities of this day prove that the former part of the text is exemplified also in our own monarch
[Note: This was preached on occasion of the king going to St. Paul’s to present the colours taken in three
different engagements with the French, Spanish, and Dutch fleets.]—
We may therefore hope that the latter part also shall be accomplished in him—
[The religious conduct of kings is of great importance to a nation. Their piety indeed is not more
meritorious than that of others; but it is often more beneficial to the community than that of a private
person. In the days of old, God paid especial regard to the prayers of princes [Note: 2Ch_14:11-
12; 2Ch_20:5-6; 2Ch_20:12; 2Ch_20:15; 2Ch_20:17; 2Ch_34:27 and Isa_37:21-22; Isa_37:33-34.]: even
when they were of an abandoned character, he heard them [Note:1Ki_21:29.]. How much more may we
hope that he will respect those offered to him this day! “The mercy of the Most High” has hitherto been
signally manifested towards us, and if we trust in him it shall yet be continued to us. We say not indeed
but that, as a nation, we may be greatly “moved.” It is certain that we deserve the heaviest calamities that
can fall upon us; but we shall not be given up to ruin if we cry unto God for help. To the end of the world
shall that promise be fulfilled to repenting nations [Note: Jer_18:7-8.].]
Sure we are that they who trust in God for spiritual blessings shall never be disappointed—
[Our thoughts on this occasion are not to be confined to temporal concerns. Much as we are interested in
national mercies, the welfare of our souls is yet more important: yea, our spiritual progress is the great
means of obtaining God’s protection to the state. Trust in God therefore, for spiritual blessings, is not
foreign to the business of this day. Whatever our political sentiments may be, we are all equally
concerned to seek acceptance through Christ. We all need to trust in the promises made to us in him;
and, if we do, “the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against us.” Though we have been led captive
by our lusts, “we shall have redemption through his blood;” and though we have still to conflict with sin
and Satan, we shall be made more than conquerors. The mercy of the Most High shall assuredly be
extended to us. Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than that promise fail of accomplishment
[Note: 2Ch_20:20.].]
Application—
[Let us habituate ourselves to view the hand of God in all our mercies, and to trust in him both for
personal and national blessings; but let us not think, we trust in God, when in reality we do not. Trust in
God necessarily implies a renunciation of all creature-confidence: it also supposes that we sincerely
commit our cause to God, and that we plead the promises made to us in his word. If we seek not the Lord](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-55-320.jpg)
![in this manner, we trust rather in chance, or in our own vain conceits, than in him. Let us then be earnest
in our applications at the throne of grace. Let us be exceeding thankful to God for the mercies we have
received, and in every difficulty, temporal or spiritual, confide in him. Thus shall we see an happy issue to
our present troubles, and be monuments of God’s truth and faithfulness to all eternity.]
9. K&D, “(Heb.: 21:8-9) With this strophe the second half of the Psalm commences. The
address to God is now changed into an address to the king; not, however, expressive of the
wishes, but of the confident expectation, of the speakers. Hengstenberg rightly regards Psa_21:8
as the transition to the second half; for by its objective utterance concerning the king and God, it
separates the language hitherto addressed to God, from the address to the king, which follows.
We do not render Psa_21:8: and trusting in the favour of the Most High - he shall not be moved;
the mercy is the response of the trust, which (trust) does not suffer him to be moved; on the
expression, cf. Pro_10:30. This inference is now expanded in respect to the enemies who desire
to cause him to totter and fall. So far from any tottering, he, on the contrary, makes a victorious
assault upon his foes. If the words had been addressed to Jahve, it ought, in order to keep up the
connection between Psa_21:9 and Psa_21:8, at least to have been איביו and שׁנאיו (his, i.e., the
king's, enemies). What the people now hope on behalf of their king, they here express
beforehand in the form of a prophecy. א ָצ ָמְל (as in Isa_10:10) and א ָצ ָמ seq. acc. (as in 1Sa_23:17)
are distinguished as: to reach towards, or up to anything, and to reach anything, attain it.
Supposing ְל to represent the accusative, as e.g., in Psa_69:6, Psa_21:9 would be a useless
repetition.
10. CALVIN, “7.For the king trusteth. Here again the pious Israelites glory that their king shall be
established, because he relies upon God; and they express at the same time how he relies upon him,
namely, by hope or trust. I read the whole verse as one sentence, so that there is but one principal verb,
and explain it thus:- The king, as he places by faith his dependence on God and his goodness, will not be
subject to the disasters which overthrow the kingdoms of this world. Moreover, as we have said before,
that whatever blessings the faithful attribute to their king, belong to the whole body of the Church, there is
here made a promise, common to all the people of God, which may serve to keep us tranquil amidst the
various storms which agitate the world. The world turns round as it were upon a wheel, by which it comes
to pass, that those who were raised to the very top are precipitated to the bottom in a moment; but it is
here promised, that the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Christ of which it was a type, will be
exempted from such vicissitude. Let us remember, that those only have the firmness and stability here
promised, who betake themselves to the bosom of God by an assured faith, and relying upon his mercy,
commit themselves to his protection. The cause or the ground of this hope or trust is at the same time](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-56-320.jpg)
![when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of
them; that is, direct the arrows of his wrath and vengeance right against them; see Psa_7:11.
4. HENRY, “The enemies of God's kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same doom,
and the whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and all opposing rule, principality,
and power, shall be put down. The arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to
flight, being levelled at the face of them, Psa_21:12. That will be the lot of daring enemies that
face God. The fire of God's wrath will consume them (Psa_21:9); they shall not only be cast into
a furnace of fire (Mat_13:42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they
shall be their own tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own consciences will be their
hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought
against him, shall find that even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to
eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies not.
5. JAMISON, “turn their back — literally, “place them [as to the] shoulder.”
against the face of them — The shooting against their faces would cause them to turn their
backs in flight.
6. PULPIT, “Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back; literally, their neck (comp. Is. Psa_18:40).
The meaning is simply, "Thou shalt put them to flight." When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy
strings against the face of them. The Authorized Version, by supplying "when" and "thine arrows,"
expresses what the psalmist has left to the intelligence of the reader. The psalmist says, "Thou shalt put
them to flight; thou shalt make ready upon thy strings against the face of them, no doubt meaning that the
discharge of arrows would produce the hasty flight, but not saying it.
7. SPURGEON, “Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine
arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.†For a time the foes of God may make bold
advances, and threaten to overthrow everything, but a few ticks of the clock will alter the face of their
affairs. At first they advance impudently enough, but Jehovah meets them to their teeth, and a taste of the
sharp judgments of God speedily makes them flee in dismay. The original has in it the thought of the
wicked being set as a butt for God to shoot at, a target for his wrath to aim at. What a dreadful situation!
As an illustration upon a large scale, remember Jerusalem during the siege; and for a specimen in an
individual, read the story of the death-bed of Francis Spira. God takes sure aim; who would be his target?
His arrows are sharp and transfix the heart; who would wish to be wounded by them? Ah, ye enemies of
God, your boastings will soon be over when once the shafts begin to fly!](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-71-320.jpg)
![8. CALVIN, “12.For thou wilt set them as a butt. As the Hebrew word ,שכםshekem, which we have
rendered a butt, properly signifies a shoulder, some understand it in that sense here, and explain the
sentence thus: Their heads shall be smitten with heavy blows, so that having their bodies bended, their
shoulders shall appear sticking out. According to these interpreters, the subjugation of the enemies of
God is here metaphorically pointed out. But there is another explanation which is more generally received
even among the Jewish expositors, namely, that God will shut them up in some corner, and there keep
them from doing mischief; (492) and they take this view, because the Hebrew word,שכם shekem, is often
used to denote a corner, quarter, or place. As, however, the sacred writer, in the clause immediately
following, represents God as furnished with a bow, ready to shoot his arrows directly in their faces, I have
no doubt that, continuing his metaphor, he compares them to a butt, or mound of earth, on which it is
customary to plant the mark which is aimed at, and thus the sense will flow very naturally thus: Lord, thou
wilt make them as it were a butt against which to shoot thine arrows. (493) The great object which the
Psalmist has in view is doubtless to teach us to exercise patience, until God, at the fit time, bring the
ungodly to their end.
(492) Kimchi and others read, “ wilt put them into a corner;” which has been understood in this sense, “
wilt thrust them into a corner, and then direct thine arrows against their faces.” — See Poole’ Synopsis
Criticorum.
(493) This is the view taken by Ainsworth, Castellio, Cocceius, Diodati, Dathe, Horsley, andFry.
Horsley translates the verse thus:—
“ thou shalt make them a butt for thine arrows;
Thou shalt take a steady aim against them.”
“ take,” says he, “ ,כונך [the word which he translates a steady aim, ] to be a technical term of archery, to
express the act of taking aim at a particular object.” In our English version it is, Therefore thou shalt make
them turn their backs.” In defense of this sense of ,שכם shekem, see Merrick’ Annotations. Gesenius
takes the word in the same sense. Literally, “ bow-string.”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/psalm21commentary-150325081805-conversion-gate01/85/Psalm-21-commentary-72-320.jpg)
Uploaded byGLENN PEASE
Psalm 21 commentary
1) The psalm celebrates God giving the king victory in battle and granting his desires. The king rejoices in God's strength and salvation. 2) Commentators discuss how the victory is attributed solely to God's power, not human strength. God's answer to the king's prayers in the previous psalm brought him great joy. 3) The psalm is applied both to David's victories and looking forward to the ultimate victory and salvation brought by the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
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Psalm 21 commentary
- 1. PSALM 21 COMMENTARY EDITEDBY GLENN PEASE For the director of music. A psalm of David. 1 The king rejoices in your strength, LORD. How great is his joy in the victories you give! 1.BARNES, “The king shall joy in thy strength - King David, who had achieved the victory which he had desired and prayed for, Psa_20:1-9. This is in the third person, but the reference is doubtless to David himself, and is to be understood as his own language. If it be understood, however, as the language of “the people,” it is still an ascription of praise to God for his favor to their king. It seems better, however, to regard it as the language of David himself. The word ““strength”” here implies that all the success referred to was to be traced to God. It was not by the prowess of a human arm; it was not by the valor or skill of the king himself; it was by the power of God alone. And in thy salvation - In the salvation or deliverance from foes which thou hast granted, and in all that thou doest to save. The language would embrace all that God does to save his people. How greatly shall he rejoice! - Not only does he rejoice now, but he ever will rejoice. It will be to him a constant joy. Salvation, now to us a source of comfort, will always be such; and when we once have evidence that God has interposed to save us, it is accompanied with the confident anticipation that this will continue to be the source of our highest joy forever. 2. CLARKE, “The king shall joy - מלךמשיחא melech Meshicha, “the King Messiah.” - Targum. What a difference between ancient and modern heroes! The former acknowledged all to be of God, because they took care to have their quarrel rightly founded; the latter sing a Te Deum, pro forma, because they well know that their battle is not of the Lord. Their own vicious conduct sufficiently proves that they looked no higher than the arm of human strength. God suffers such for a time, but in the end he confounds and brings them to naught. 3, GILL, “The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord,.... Either in that strength which is in Jehovah himself, in whom is everlasting strength; and which is seen in the works of creation and
- 2. providence, and isthe same in Christ himself, as he is the mighty God; or else in the strength which Jehovah communicated to Christ as man, whereby he was strengthened in his human nature to go through and complete the work of man's redemption; or in the strength which the Lord puts forth, and the power which he exerts towards and upon his people, in conversion; which is the produce of the exceeding greatness of his power; and in strengthening them, from time to time, to exercise grace, discharge duty, and withstand temptations and sin; and in keeping them safe to the end; in supporting them under all their trials, and in carrying on and finishing the work of faith upon their souls; all which is matter of joy to Christ; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice? meaning either his own salvation by the Lord, from all his sorrows and troubles, and out of the hands of all enemies, being in the presence of God, where is fulness of joy, Psa_16:9; or else the salvation of his people by him, which Jehovah appointed them to, secured for them in the covenant of grace, sent Christ to work out for them, applies by his Spirit, and at last puts into the full possession of: Christ rejoices at the effectual calling and conversion of his people, when salvation is brought near unto them; and especially at their glorification, when they shall be in the full enjoyment of it; then will they be his joy, and crown of rejoicing: this is the joy that was set before him, which made him go so cheerfully through his sufferings and death for them, Heb_12:2; the reasons of this joy are, because of the great love he bears to them; the interest and property he has in them; his undertakings for them, as their surety, to bring them safe to glory; his purchase of them by his blood; his intercession for them, that they might be with him to behold his glory; and, last of all, because of his Father's glory, his own glory, and the glory of the blessed Spirit, which are concerned in the salvation of these persons. 4. HENRY, “David here speaks for himself in the first place, professing that his joy was in God's strength and in his salvation, and not in the strength or success of his armies. He also directs his subjects herein to rejoice with him, and to give God all the glory of the victories he had obtained; and all with an eye to Christ, of whose triumphs over the powers of darkness David's victories were but shadows. 1. They here congratulate the king on his joys and concur with him in them (Psa_21:1): “The king rejoices, he uses to rejoice in thy strength, and so do we; what pleases the king pleases us,” 2Sa_3:36. Happy the people the character of whose king it is that he makes God's strength his confidence and God's salvation his joy, that is pleased with all the advancements of God's kingdom and trusts God to bear him out in all he does for the service of it. Our Lord Jesus, in his great undertaking, relied upon help from heaven, and pleased himself with the prospect of that great salvation which he was thereby to work out. 2. They gave God all the praise of those things which were the matter of their king's rejoicing. 5. CALVIN, “1.The king will rejoice in thy strength, O Jehovah! David could have given thanks to God in private for the victories and other signal favors which he had received from him; but it was his intention to testify not only that it was God who elevated him to the throne, but also that whatever blessings God had conferred upon him redounded to the public good, and the advantage of all the faithful. In the beginning of the psalm the believing Israelites express their firm persuasion that God, who had created
- 3. David to beking, had undertaken to defend and maintain him. It therefore appears that this psalm, as well as the preceding, was composed for the purpose of assuring the faithful that the goodness of God in this respect towards David would be of long duration, and permanent; and it was necessary, in order to their being established in a well-grounded confidence of their safety; to hope well of their king, whose countenance was as it were a mirror of the merciful and reconciled countenance of God. The sense of the words is: Lord, in putting forth thy power to sustain and protect the king, thou wilt preserve him safe; and, ascribing his safety to thy power, he will greatly rejoice in thee. The Psalmist has doubtless put strength and salvation for strong and powerful succor; intimating, that the power of God in defending the king would be such as would preserve and protect him against all dangers. In the second verse there is pointed out the cause of this joy. The cause was this: that God had heard the prayers of the king, and had liberally granted him whatever he desired. It was important to be known, and that the faithful should have it deeply impressed on their minds, that all David’ successes were so many benefits conferred upon him by God, and at the same time testimonies of his lawful calling. And David, there is no doubt, in speaking thus, testifies that he did not give loose reins to the desires of the flesh, and follow the mere impulse of his appetites like worldly men, who set their minds at one time upon this thing, and at another time upon that, without any consideration, and just as they are led by their sensual lusts; but that he had so bridled his affections as to desire nothing save what was good and lawful. According to the infirmity which is natural to men, he was, it is true, chargeable with some vices, and even fell shamefully on two occasions; but the habitual administration of his kingdom was such that it was easy to see that the Holy Spirit presided over it. But as by the Spirit of prophecy the Psalmist had principally an eye to Christ, who does not reign for his own advantage, but for ours, and whose desire is directed only to our salvation, we may gather hence the very profitable doctrine, that we need entertain no apprehension that God will reject our prayers in behalf of the church, since our heavenly King has gone before us in making intercession for her, so that in praying for her we are only endeavoring to follow his example. 5B. JAMISON, “Psa_21:1-13. The pious are led by the Psalmist to celebrate God’s favor to the king in the already conferred and in prospective victories. The doxology added may relate to both Psalms; the preceding of petition, chiefly this of thanksgiving, ascribing honor to God for His display of grace and power to His Church in all ages, not only under David, but also under his last greatest successor, “the King of the Jews.” thy strength ... thy salvation — as supplied by Thee.
- 4. 6. PULPIT, “Psa_21:1-13is generally regarded as a companion composition to Psa_20:1-9, being the thanksgiving after the victory for which the preceding psalm was the supplication. It consists of three parts: (1) a direct thanksgiving to God, offered by the people on behalf of the king (Psa_20:1-7); (2) an address to the king, auguring for him future successes on the ground of his recent victory (Psa_20:8 -12); and (3) a brief return to direct praise of God in two short ejaculatory sentences. Part 1 is interrupted by a pause ("Selah" ) at the end of Psa_20:2, when thank-offerings may have been made. The Davidical authorship, asserted in the title, is not seriously disputed. Psa_21:1 The king shall joy. The future is used to give the idea of continuance, "The king rejoices, and will go on rejoicing." In thy strength, O Lord; i.e. in the strength that thou puttest forth to help and protect him (comp. Psa_20:6). And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice: God' s "salvation" had been confidently anticipated (Psa_20:5, Psa_20:6, Psa_20:9), and has now been experienced. 7. PULPIT, “The triumph of victory. "Thou hast given him his heart' s desire." We seem to hear in this psalm the trumpets and harps and shawms of the temple, and jubilant voices of Levites praising God for some great victory. Joy-bells are rung and Te Deum laudamuschanted because the king has come home in triumph. The psalm is closely connected with the preceding one. There we see the king going forth to war, consecrating his banner and trusting his cause to God. The Church prays, "The Lord hear thee grant thee according to thine own heart" (Psa_20:1-4). Here it triumphs in victory, and praises God as the Hearer of prayer. Whether the psalm refers to some special victory of David or any of his successors; or whether it be applied to Christ and his kingdom, the practical spiritual lessons we may draw from it are the same. One of the greatest Jewish commentators says, "Our ancient doctors interpreted this psalm of King Messiah; but against the heretics (Christians) it is better to understand it of David" (Rashi, quoted by Perowne). Take up briefly the leading thoughts which the text naturally suggests. I. DESIRE IS THE MAINSPRING OF LIFE. Could the infinite multitude of desires, good or bad, transient
- 5. or constant, nobleor base, loving or selfish, which at this moment agitate human hearts, all cease, and be replaced by dull apathy, hope and effort would die. The whole busy drama of life would come to a dead stand, like an engine stopping when the fire is burnt out. Because so many of these desires are either wrong or ill-regulated, the word "lust"—often used in our English Bible, originally meaning simply "pleasure" or "desire "—has come to have an ill meaning. St. James puts his finger on these ungoverned discordant desires as the source of all the strife that disturbs the world (Jas_4:1, Jas_4:2). If all hearts submitted their desires to reason and God' s law, the world would be one vast peace society. Vexatious litigation and unfair competition would be unknown. II. Therefore OUR HEART' S DESIRE IS THE TEST OF OUR CHARACTER. Not what a man says and does, but what he would like to say and do, if he could and dared, decide his character. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." From the momentary wish, too unreasonable or too languid to stir us to action, to the deep steadfast purpose which rules a life, our desires mark us for what we are, and mould us to what we shall be. Find what it is you deeply and habitually desire, and you have the key to your characters (Pro_19:22). III. DESIRE IS THE SOUL OF PRAYER. If we do not present to God our heart' s desire, we do not pray. Words without desire are not living prayer, only a dead form. Desire without words may be the truest, highest kind of prayer (Rom_8:26). Here is the peril of even the best forms of prayer. Their benefit is that they help to put our best desires into better words than we could find for ourselves; and by the power of association, as well as aptness, quicken our desires and instruct us what we ought to desire. Their danger is that we may mistake form and habit for life and spirit—a danger not confined to set forms. Extempore prayer may be as heartless and lifeless as a Tartar prayer-mill. Our own private prayers may degenerate into dead forms. Every earnest Christian (I suppose) is aware of this danger. When men came to our Saviour, his question was not "What have you to say?" but "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" What is thy heart's desire? IV. The whole world of human desire is OPEN TO GOD' S EYE. Heart-secrets are no secrets to him (Jer_17:9, Jer_17:10). The silent wish that flashed to the surface of consciousness, soaring up into light, or plunging, like a guilty thing, into darkness—God saw it; sees it still. The passionate longing, so timid yet so strong that the heart would die sooner than betray it, is to him as though proclaimed with sound of trumpet. No wish so sudden, strange, ambitious, as to take him by surprise. No lawful desire but he has provided for its satisfaction, either in creatures or in his own uncreated fulness. And unlawful desires are so, not because he forbids anything really good for us, but because they mean our harm, not happiness. This perfect Divine knowledge of all our desires, and of the wisdom or unwisdom of granting them, is not confined, remember, to the moment when we become conscious of them, or present them in prayer. They
- 6. are foreseen. Forthe most part—perhaps, if we knew all, in every case—an answer to prayer implies preparation. Our prayer for daily bread is answered out of the fulness of last year' s harvest—the fruit of all harvests since corn was first reaped and sown. This abyss of Divine foreknowledge utterly confounds our intellect; yet to doubt it would be to doubt if God is God. Why then, with this boundless knowledge—foreknowledge—of all our desires and the conditions of their fulfilment, has God appointed prayer? Why does his Word show it to us as the very heart of religion? Partly, we may venture to say, because God delights to answer prayer. If not, it would scarcely be true—at least intelligible—that "God is love." Partly because blessings are doubly, nay, tenfold, precious when they come in answer to prayer; a strong help to faith, a spur to hope, an assurance of God' s love, and powerful motive to love (Pro_13:19). But supremely (I venture to think) in order that what is deepest, innermost, strongest, in our nature—our "heart' s desire"—should bring us closest to God; make us intensely feel our dependence on him; be consecrated, being offered to him in prayer. V. Thank God, OUR HEART' S DESIRES—how large, lofty, pure, reasonable, soever— ARE NOT THE MEASURE OF GOD' S GIVING; do not circumscribe his willingness, any more than his power. He is "able to do exceeding abundantly," etc. (Eph_3:20). If men' s desires are like the sea, his mercy is the shore. His chiefest, "his unspeakable Gift" came in answer to no desire of human hearts or prayer from human lips. "God so loved" a prayerless, thankless, godless "world, that he gave his only begotten Son." This Gift has given us a new measure of expectation (Rom_8:32). What is more vital, it has opened a new fountain of desire in our hearts, and thereby enlarged, deepened, exalted, the whole scope of our life. Desire to be like Christ, to glorify Christ, to be with Christ,—these three give to life a new meaning, purpose, hope. If these be our heart' s desires, they are secure of fulfilment, because they are in agreement with God' s most glorious Gift, his most merciful purpose, his most precious promises. Here, as everywhere, our Saviour has left us an example, that we should follow his steps. We know what the supreme consuming desire of his heart was Joh_4:34. In the midst of life and usefulness, he longed for death; not as an escape from this world, but as the accomplishment of his destined work (Luk_12:50; Joh_10:17, Joh_10:18). "For the joy," etc. (Heb_12:2). In your salvation and mine he sees "of the travail of his soul" (Isa_53:1-12 :24). CONCLUSION. We are furnished with a practical test—first, of our desires; secondly, of our prayers. Our desires (we said) are the index to our character. Will they fit into our prayers? Are they such that we can come with boldness to the throne of grace through the blood of Jesus, and say, "Lord, all my desire is before thee" (Psa_38:9; Isa_26:8)? Prayer (we said) is living, real, worth offering, only as it is the utterance of our desires, the pouring out of our heart. Are our prayers such a true outbreathing of our "heart' s desire" ? Suppose, when you have joined in some high-toned hymn, or prayed in the earnest
- 7. words of someancient saint, a voice from heaven were to ask, "Do you mean what you say?" would it be for good or ill, here and hereafter, if God indeed granted your heart' s desire? 8. PULPIT, “A royal thanksgiving for answers to prayer. (For a day of national thanksgiving.) We fail to see, in the structure of this psalm, sufficient indications of its being the counterpart of the preceding one, to lead us to call it a Te Deum, to be sung on returning from battle as victor. It would equally well suit other occasions on which the grateful hearts of king and people desired to render praises in the house of God for mercies received; e.g. Psa_21:4 : would be equally adapted to the recovery of the king from sickness. Its precise historic reference it is, however, now impossible to ascertain; but this is of comparatively small importance. That the psalm is meant for a public thanksgiving is clear; and thus, with differences of detail in application thereof according to circumstances, it may furnish a basis for helpful teaching on days of national rejoicing over the mercies of God. We must, however, carefully avoid two errors in opening up the hid treasure of this psalm. We must not interpret it as if its references were only temporal, nor as if we lost sight of the supernatural revelation and of the Messianic prophecies which lie in the background thereof; nor yet, on the other hand, may we interpret its meaning as if the religious knowledge or conceptions of Israel' s king were as advanced as the thoughts of Paul or John. E.g. "His glory is great in thy salvation." If we were to interpret this word "salvation" as meaning, primarily, the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, we should be guilty of an anachronism. Its first meaning is, rescue from impending trouble or danger. This, however, may be regarded as prophetic of the triumph awaiting the Church' s King; but our exposition will be sure and clear only as we begin with the historic meaning, an& then move carefully forward. The prayers and thanksgivings of a people cannot rise above the level of inspiration and revelation which marked the age in which they lived. We, indeed, may now set our devotions into another form than that which is represented by verses 8-12; and, indeed, we are bound so to do. For since revelation is progressive, devotion should be correspondingly progressive too. So that if the remarks we make on the psalm are in advance of the thinkings of believers in David' s time, let us remember that this is because we now look at all events and read all truth in the light of the cross, and not because we pretend to regard such fulness of meaning as belonging to the original intention of the psalm. There are here six lines of exposition before us. I. HERE IS THE RECALL OF A TIME OF TROUBLE- OF TROUBLE WHICH GATHERED, ROUND THE PERSON OF THE KING. (Verse 1.) We cannot decide (nor is it important that we should) what was the precise kind of anxiety which had been felt. The word "life" in the fourth verse may indicate that some sickness had threatened the life of the king. The word "deliverance" and the allusions to "enemies' rather point to peril from hostile forces. Either way,
- 8. when a monarch's life is threatened, either through sickness or war, the burden is very heavy on the people' s heart. The first cause of anxiety was felt in Hezekiah' s time; the second, often and notably in the days of Jehoshaphat. II. THE TROUBLE LED TO PRAYER. We gather from the contents of the psalm that the specific prayer was for the king' s life, either by way of recovery from sickness or of victory in war. Note: Whatever is a burden on the hearts of God' s people may be laid before God in prayer. Prayer may and should be specific; and even though our thought, desires, and petitions in prayer may be very defective, still we may tell to God all we feel, knowing that we shall never be misunderstood, and that the answer will come according to the Father' s infinite wisdom, and not according to our defects; yea, our God will do abundantly for us above all that we can ask or think. Hence we have to note— III. THE PRAYER BROUGHT AN ANSWER. The trust of the praying ones was not disappointed (cf. verses 2-7). The jubilant tone of the words indicates that the prayer had not been barely, but overflowingly answered. God' s good things had gone far ahead of the petitions, and had even anticipated the king' s wishes and wants (verse 3). "Life" had been asked; and God had granted "length of days for ever and ever." This cannot refer to the personal earthly life of any human king; the meaning is that in the deliverance vouchsafed there had been a new confirmation of that "everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure," wherein God had promised to establish David' s throne for ever(Psa_61:6; Psa_132:11- 14). Dr. Moll says, £ "I find here the strongest expression of the assurance of faith in the personal continuance of the life of those who hold fast to the covenant of grace in living communion with Jehovah." Yea, the old Abrahamic covenant has been again confirmed. "Thou hast made him to be blessings for ever". So that this deliverance thus celebrated in Hebrew song is at once a development of God' s gracious plan, and the answer to a king' s and a people' s prayer! "Thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head" (verse 3; cf 2Sa_12:30). IV. NEW ANSWERS TO PRAYER INSPIRED NEW HOPE (Verse 7.) "Through the loving-kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved" (cf. Psa_23:6; Psa_63:7). He who proves himself to be our Refuge to- day, thereby proves himself our Refuge for every day. V. THE PROVIDENTIAL INTERPOSITIONS IN ANSWER TO PRAYER AFFORDED NEW ILLUSTRATIO NS OF GOD' S WORKS AND WAYS. (Verses 8-13.) God is what he is. He remains "the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." But he cannot seem the same to his enemies as to his friends; the same events which fulfil the hopes of his friends are the terror and dread of his foes. This general principle is always true: it must be (verse 10); and side by side with the Divine provision for the continuance of good, there is the Divine provision for shortening the entail of evil. But we are not bound in our devotions to
- 9. single out othersas the enemies in whose overthrow and destruction we could rejoice. At the same time, it is but just to the Hebrews to remember that they were the chosen people of God, and from their point of view, and with their measure of light, they regarded their enemies as God' s enemies (seePsa_139:22). The way David sometimes treated his foes can by no means be justified. £ The views of truth which God' s people hold are often sadly discoloured by the conventionalisms of their time; and David was no exception thereto. We may pray for the time when Zion' s King "shall have put all enemies under his feet," and even praise him for telling us that it will be so. But we may surely leave all details absolutely with ]aim. VI. THE EVER- UNFOLDING DISCLOSURES OF WHAT GOD IS MAY WELL CALL FORTH SHOUTS OF JOYOUS SONG . (Verse 13.) When we have such repeated illustrations of God' s loving-kindness, mercy, and grace, we can feel unfeigned delight in singing of his power. What rapturous delight may we have in the thought that- "The voice which rolls the stars along Speaks all the promises;" that the same Being who is most terrible to sin, is infinitely gracious to the sinner, and. that to all who trust him he is their "exceeding Joy"!—C. 9. CHARLES SIMEON, “THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND OF CHRIST Psa_21:1-7. The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord; and, through the mercy of the Most High, he shall not be moved. THIS psalm is appointed by the Church to be read on the day of our Lord’s Ascension: and on a close examination, it will appear to be well suited to that occasion. We will, I. Explain it—
- 10. In its primaryand literal sense, it expresses David’s gratitude on his advancement to the throne of Israel— [After acknowledging, in general terms, God’s goodness towards him in this dispensation, he speaks of his elevation as an answer to his prayers, though in its origin it was altogether unsolicited and unsought for [Note: ver. 1–4.] Impressed with the greatness of the honour conferred upon him, he exults in it, especially as affording him an opportunity of benefiting others [Note: ver. 5, 6.]; and declares his confidence, that his enemies, so far from ever being able to subvert his government, shall all be crushed before him [Note: ver. 7–12.]— Passing over this view of the psalm, we proceed to observe, that] It is yet more applicable to Christ, as expressing his feelings on his ascension to the throne of glory— [David was a type of Christ, as David’s kingdom was of Christ’s kingdom: and Christ, on his ascension to heaven, may be considered as addressing his Father in the words of this psalm. He declares his joy and gratitude on account of the blessedness vouchsafed to him, and on account of the blessedness which he was now empowered to bestow on others. With respect to his own blessedness we observe, that his conflicts were now terminated. These had been numerous and severe. From his first entrance into the world to the instant of his departure from it, he “was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” View him especially during the three years of his Ministry, what “contradiction of sinners against himself did he endure!”— — — View more particularly the four last days of his life, what grievous and accumulated wrongs did he sustain! — — — Consider his conflicts also with the powers of darkness, and the terrors of his Father’s wrath — — — O what reason had he to rejoice in the termination of such sufferings, and to magnify his Father who had brought him in safety through them! For this he had prayed; and God had given him the fullest answer to his prayers [Note: Heb_5:7. with ver. 2, 4.]. Now also he was restored to glory. He had “a glory with the Father before the worlds were made [Note: Joh_1:1; Joh_1:18;Joh_17:5.]:” and of that glory he had divested himself when he assumed our nature [Note: Php_2:6-8.]. But now he was restored to it: and what a contrast did it form with that state, from which he had been delivered! A few days ago he had not where to lay his head: now he is received into his Father’s house, his Father’s bosom. Lately he was derided, mocked, insulted, spit upon, buffeted, and scourged by the vilest of the human race; and now he is seated on his throne of glory, and worshipped and adored by all the hosts of heaven — — — Great indeed was the glory that now accrued to him, and great “the majesty that was now laid upon him [Note: ver. 5.]”— — — and, as it had proceeded from his Father [Note: Php_2:9-11.], so he justly acknowledges it as his Father’s gift. But it was not to himself only that Jesus had respect: he blesses his Father also for the blessedness which he was empowered to bestow on others. The words, “Thou hast made him most blessed for ever,”
- 11. are translated inthe margin of our Bibles, “Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever.” This version opens a new and important view of the subject, a view which particularly accords with all the prophecies respecting Christ. It is said again and again concerning him, that “in him shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;” and we are well assured, that to communicate blessings to a ruined world is a source of inconceivable happiness to himself. We apprehend that to have been a very principal idea in the mind of the Apostle, when, speaking of Christ, he said, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God [Note:Heb_12:2.].” With what joy must he behold the myriads who had been exalted to glory through the virtue of his sacrifice, whilst yet it remained to be offered! It was through “his obedience unto death” that all the antediluvian and patriarchal saints were saved. Our First Parents looked to him as “the Seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent’s head.” To him righteous Abel had respect, in the offering which was honoured with visible tokens of God’s acceptance. To him Noah looked, when he offered the burnt- offerings, from which “God smelled a sweet savour [Note: Gen_8:20-21.].” In a word, it is through his righteousness that forbearance and forgiveness were exercised from the beginning, just as they will be exercised even to the end: and all who were saved before his advent are in that respect on the same level with those who have been saved since: there is but one song amongst all the glorified saints in heaven; they are all harmonious in singing “to Him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood, &c.” What a joy must it be to Christ to see in so many myriads the travail of his soul, who “were brought forth, as it were, to God, even before he travailed!” With what joy, too, did he then take upon him to dispense his blessings to the myriads yet unborn! He is “Head over all things,” not for his own sake merely, but “for the Church’s sake.” Knowing then how many of his most cruel enemies were given to him by the Father, with what pleasure would he look down upon them, (even while their hands were yet reeking with his blood,) and anticipate their conversion to God by the influence of his Spirit on the day of Pentecost! Every child of man that shall at any period of the world participate his grace, was at that moment before his eyes: and with what delight would he view them, as drawn by his word, as nourished by his grace, as comforted by his Spirit, as made more than conquerors over all their enemies [Note: Zep_3:17.] — — — At that moment he saw, as it were, the whole company of the redeemed, the multitudes which no man can number, all enthroned around him, the monuments of his love, the heirs of his glory, the partners of his throne — — — He saw that the kingdom which he had now established upon earth “should never be moved;” that “the gates of hell should never prevail against it;” and that it should stand for ever and ever [Note: ver. 7.]. Well therefore might he say, “The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!”] Having thus explained the psalm, we proceed to, II. Shew what improvement we should make of it— From its literal sense we learn, how thankful we should be for any blessings vouchsafed unto us—
- 12. [In many respectsGod has “prevented us with the blessings of goodness;” and in many he has given them in answer to our prayers. We may “account even his long-suffering towards us to be salvation,” and much more the gift of his grace, and the knowledge of his dear Son. Can we reflect on “the salvation to which he has called us,” even “the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory,” and not be thankful for it? Can we reflect on the exaltation which we ourselves have received, from death to life, from slaves to free-men, from children of the devil to sons of God, and not rejoice in it? Can we think of our having been made “kings and priests unto God,” “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” yea, partners of his throne, and partakers of his glory for evermore; can we contemplate all this, and not say, “In thy salvation how greatly shall I rejoice?” — — — Verily, if we do not rejoice and shout for joy, “the very stones will cry out against us” — — —] From its mystical or prophetical sense we learn what should be our disposition and conduct towards the Lord Jesus— [Methinks, we should rejoice in his joy. If it were but a common friend that was released from heavy sufferings and exalted to glory, we should rejoice with him in the blessed change: how much more then should we participate in our minds the joy and glory of our adorable Redeemer! — — — But more particularly we should submit to his government. This is strongly and awfully suggested in all the latter part of the psalm before us. “God has highly exalted Jesus, that at his name every knee should bow:” yea, he has sworn, that every knee shall bow to him: and that all who will not bow to the sceptre of his grace, shall be broken in pieces with a rod of iron. Read from the text to the end of the psalm; and endeavour to realize every expression in it — — — O that we may be wise ere it be too late! Let us “kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and we perish:” for though now he condescends to follow us with entreaties to be reconciled towards him, the time is quickly coming, when he will say, “Bring hither those that were mine enemies, who would not that I should reign over them, and slay them before me.” A further improvement we should make of this subject is, to confide in his care. “He is set to be blessings” to a ruined world. He has “ascended up on high that he might fill all things:” “he has received gifts, even for the rebellious;” and “has all fulness treasured up in him,” on purpose that we may “receive out of his fulness grace for grace.” There is nothing that we can want, but it may be found in him; nor any thing which he is not willing to bestow on the very chief of sinners. Let us then look to him, and trust in him; and assure ourselves, that, as “he lost none that had been given him” in the days of his flesh, so now will he suffer “none to be plucked out of his hands.” We cannot expect too much from such a King: however “wide we open our mouths, he will fill them.” To seek the enlargement of his kingdom is the last duty we shall mention as suggested by the subject before us. In the prayer that he has taught us, we say, “Thy kingdom come;” and we close that prayer with ascribing to him “the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever: and it is with similar
- 13. sentiments that thepsalm before us concludes. Let us enter into the spirit of them, saying, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength; so will we sing and praise thy power.” Nothing should be so dear to us as the advancement of his glory. Let us reflect, how we may best promote it; and let the extension of his kingdom be our chief joy [Note: Psa_72:18-19.] — — —] 10. WILLIAM KELLY, “Here we have the answer to their desires, perhaps we may add to His also, as far as they could enter in. It too is "To the chief musician, a psalm of David." As it was into their trouble the remnant saw the Messiah enter, and therefore prayed that He might be heard of Jehovah, so now in the Spirit of prophecy they behold in His deliverance and exaltation the answer to their petitions as to His. Indeed they see more - that Jehovah had not only heard and given, but gone beyond, and of Himself anticipated with the blessings of goodness, and, if He with death before Him asked life, gave length of days for ever and ever. We may observe how completely Messianic all is, and bounded by Jewish hopes: not at all the far deeper truth of His eternal glory that dawned through the clouds of His rejection on those who so feebly followed to the cross and learnt all better in the light of His heavenly place and of His person. This is our portion, and therefore should we be the last to slight and the first to understand the very distinct relations of the godly remnant of Jews, who are to succeed us and take up His testimony for the earth when we shall have passed to heaven. It is the confusion of the earthly and the heavenly, of Jewish expectation in the Christian, that hinders our intelligence of either. Thus the enemy wrought from the beginning, first to hinder, then to darken and corrupt, the church; as all recovery, for such as by grace discern God's mind to do His will, is by seeing in Christ the key to all; for He is the Head of the church in the heavenly places, as surely as He is Messiah of Israel and Son of man to rule all nations. Distinguishing things that differ (and the difference is immense) is the secret of learning by the word and Spirit of God. So we see that the second part of the psalm anticipates Messiah's proper action on His earthly foes. Thus the opposition and enmity of those who would not have Him to reign over them are met by their overthrow and destruction before all; and Jehovah and His Anointed are identified, not more in public exaltation, than in the fire that devours their enemies. Messiah's sufferings at the hands of men bring sure and unsparing judgments on them, as surely as His glories follow His sufferings, though none of Israel understood but the godly, who merged in the church and rose to higher hopes and better blessings by the power of the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. So there will be godly ones to understand in the latter day after those who now compose the church are translated to meet the Lord. For when the heavenly counsels are fulfilled, at least virtually, the question of a godly people for the earth has to be solved; and these are the souls who will take up and make good the Jewish aspirations in
- 14. that day, thatthe Lord may have not only His blessed associates on high, but hearts to welcome Him on earth for long eclipsed Zion. 11. PULPIT, ” Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. This psalm concerns the king. But the question is which king? It may have been David. There is much that might apply to him. Perhaps on his recovery from some sickness, or on his return from some signal victory over his enemies, or on the occasion of his birthday or some great anniversary, David and his people may have rejoiced before the Lord with the voice of joy and praise. But a greater than David is here. If the psalm in part is true of David, it finds its highest and most complete fulfilment in David' s Sou and Lord, and in the glorious salvation which he has accomplished for his people. We know that Jesus is a King. As a King he was announced by Gabriel (Luk_1:32); as a King he was worshipped in his cradle by the Wise Men (Mat_2:11); as a King he was rejected by the Jews, persecuted by the chief priests, and crucified by Pilate (Joh_19:19). And as a King he rose from the dead, was received up into glory, and now rules in power in heaven and upon earth (1Ti_6:15). To this day and everywhere Jesus receives royal honours—his people say as with one voice and one heart, in the words of the ancient hymn, "Thou art the King of glory, O Christ!" The burden of this psalm may be said to be, "Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King." I. BECAUSE OF HIS FAVOUR WITH GOD. (Psa_21:1-3.) Other kings have been honoured of God, but none like Jesus. From the cradle to the cross we find continual proof and token of the favour of God towards him (Luk_2:52;Luk_9:35; Joh_3:35; Joh_8:29). The secret was in the perfect accord between the Father and the Son, and the absolute and complete surrender of the Son to do his Father' s will. What was said of the land of Israel, and still more tenderly of the house of the Lord, is true in the higher sense of God' s dear Son, "Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually" (Deu_11:12; 1Ki_9:3). II. BECAUSE OF THE GREAT SALVATION WHICH HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED. (Psa_21:1, Psa_21:5.) 1. This salvation was very dear to him. It was "his heart' s desire." 2. This salvation was obtained by a stupendous sacrifice. "Life" (Psa_21:4). We may take the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane as the true interpretation of this passage (Mat_27:38 44). There we see Jesus in an agony. There we see him "asking life," thrice, with strong crying and tears. And there we see him submitting, with the truest faith and love, to the holy will of God, which decreed that he should die that sinners might be saved (Mat_27:53, Mat_27:54;Joh_10:17, Joh_10:18; Heb_2:14, Heb_2:15).
- 15. 3. This salvationhas secured inestimable benefits to mankind. (Psa_21:6; 2Co_5:14, 2Co_5:15; Eph_1:7; Eph_2:4-6.) III. BECAUSE OF THE SURE TRIUMPH OF HIS CAUSE AND KINGDOM. (Psa_21:7-13.) 1. Certain. (Psa_21:8.) Might here is right. God' s word is pledged, and what he has promised he is able to perform. The King' s strength is still in God, and through him all opposition shall be overthrown. 2. Complete. (Psa_21:9-12.) The same power that is able to crush and confound the foe is arrayed in defence of God' s people. The end is as the beginning—praise. It is like an anticipation of the song of Moses and the Lamb of the Apocalypse (Rev_15:3).—WF. 12. SPURGEON, “The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord. Jesus is a Royal Personage. The question, Art thou a King then? received a full answer from the Savior's lips: Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this purpose came I into this world, that I might bear witness unto the truth. He is not merely a King, but the King; King over minds and hearts, reigning with a dominion of love, before which all other rule is but mere brute force. He was proclaimed King even on the cross, for there, indeed, to the eye of faith, he reigned as on a throne, blessing with more than imperial munificence the needy sons of earth. Jesus has wrought out the salvation of his people, but as a man he found his strength in Jehovah his God, to whom he addressed himself in prayer upon the lonely mountain's side, and in the garden's solitary gloom. That strength so abundantly given is here gratefully acknowledged, and made the subject of joy. The Man of Sorrows is now anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Returned in triumph from the overthrow of all his foes, he offers his own rapturous Te Deum in the temple above, and joys in the power of the Lord. Herein let every subject of King Jesus imitate the King; let us lean upon Jehovah's strength, let us joy in it by unstaggering faith, let us exult in it in our thankful songs. Jesus not only has thus rejoiced, but he shall do so as he sees the power of divine grace bringing out from their sinful hiding-places the purchase of his soul's travail; we also shall rejoice more and more as we learn by experience more and more fully the strength of the arm of our covenant God our weakness unstrings our harps, but his strength tunes them anew. If we cannot sing a note in honour of our own strength, we can at any rate rejoice in our omnipotent God. And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! everything is ascribed to God; the source is thy strength and the stream is thy salvation. Jehovah planned and ordained it, works it and crowns it, and
- 16. therefore it ishis salvation. The joy here spoken of is described by a note of exclamation and a word of wonder: how greatly! The rejoicing of our risen Lord must, like his agony, be unutterable. If the mountains of his joy rise in proportion to the depth of the valleys of his grief, then his sacred bliss is high as the seventh heaven. For the joy which was set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame, and now that joy daily grows, for he rests in his love and rejoices over his redeemed with singing, as in due order they are brought to find their salvation in his blood. Let us with our Lord rejoice in salvation, as coming from God, as coming to us, as extending itself to others, and as soon to encompass all lands. We need not be afraid of too much rejoicing in this respect; this solid foundation will well sustain the loftiest edifice of joy. The shoutings of the early Methodists in the excitement of the joy were far more pardonable than our own lukewarmness. Our joy should have some sort of inexpressibleness in it. 13. MEYER, “REJOICING IN THE STRENGTH OF JEHOVAH Psa_21:1-13 This is a companion to the psalm preceding. The blessings there asked for are here gladly acknowledged to have been granted; and bright anticipations are entertained for the future. How much of this psalm is true only of the ideal King-our Lord! Let us read it with special reference to Him as He rides forth on His white horse, Rev_19:11-16. That which the heart desires, the lips at times find difficulty in expressing. God’s help always prevents us, that is, “goes before” us, anticipates our needs. The only life that can satisfy is the eternal, but that is ours already if we only knew it. Our beloved dead are more blessed forever, because they see Him “face to face;” but we also may share their joy. Trust in Christ is the secret of immovability. God has exalted Christ to be a Prince and a Savior, and we shall never be at peace until we have done the same, Act_5:31. 2 You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips.[b]
- 17. 1.BARNES, “Thou hastgiven him his heart’s desire - See the notes at Psa_20:4. This had been the prayer of the people that God would “grant him according to his own heart, and fulfil all his counsel,” and this desire had now been granted. All that had been wished; all that had been prayed for by himself or by the people, had been granted. And hast not withholden - Hast not denied or refused. The request of his lips - The request, or the desire which his lips had uttered. The meaning is, that his petitions had been filly granted. Selah - See the notes at Psa_3:2. 2. CLARKE, “Thou hast given him his heart’s desire - This seems to refer to the prayers offered in the preceding Psalm; see especially Psa_21:1-4. 3, GILL, “Thou hast given him his heart's desire,.... Which the church had prayed for in Psa_20:4; whatever Christ's heart desired, or his lips requested, has been given him; and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Whatever he asked in the council and covenant of peace was granted; he asked for all the elect, as his spouse and bride; these were the desire of his heart and eyes, and they were given him; he asked for all the blessings of grace for them, and all grace was given to them in him; he asked for glory, for eternal life, and it was promised him; and not only the promise of it was put into his hand, but the thing itself; see Psa_2:8, 1Jo_5:11; and Psa_20:4; whatever he requested of his Father, when here on earth, was granted; he always heard him; that memorable prayer of his in Joh_17:1 is heard and answered, both in what respects himself, his own glorification, and the conversion, sanctification, union, preservation, and glorification of his people; whatever he now desires and requests in heaven, as the advocate and intercessor for his saints, is ever fulfilled; which is an instance of the great regard Jehovah has unto him, and may be considered as a reason of his joy in him. 4. HENRY, “They gave God all the praise of those things which were the matter of their king's rejoicing. (1.) That God had heard his prayers (Psa_21:2): Thou hast given him his heart's desire (and there is no prayer accepted but what is the heart's desire), the very thing they begged of God for him, Psa_20:4. Note, God's gracious returns of prayer do, in a special manner, require our humble returns of praise. When God gives to Christ the heathen for his inheritance, gives him to see his seed, and accepts his intercession for all believers, he give him his heart's desire. 5. JAMISON, “The sentiment affirmed in the first clause is reaffirmed by the negation of its opposite in the second.
- 18. 6. PULPIT, “Thouhast given him his heart' s desire (comp. Psa_20:4, "Grant thee according to thine own heart"). And hast not withholden the request of his lips. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." The deliverance from his enemies, which David had earnestly desired in his heart, he had also devoutly requested with his lips (Psa_20:1, Psa_20:5). Selah. The pause here may have been for the presentation of a thank-offering. 7. SPURGEON, “Thou hast given him his heart's desire.†That desire he ardently pursued when he was on earth, both by his prayer, his actions, and his suffering; he manifested that his heart longed to redeem his people, and now in heaven he has his desire granted him, for he sees his beloved coming to be with him where he is. The desires of the Lord Jesus were from his heart, and the Lord heard them; if our hearts are right with God, he will in our case also “fulfil the desire of them that fear him.†And hast not withholden the request of his lips.†What is in the well of the heart is sure to come up in the bucket of the lips, and those are the only true prayers where the heart's desire is first, and the lip's request follows after. Jesus prayed vocally as well as mentally; speech is a great assistance to thought. Some of us feel that even when alone we find it easier to collect our thoughts when we can pray aloud. The requests of the Saviour were not withheld. He was and still is a prevailing Pleader. Our Advocate on high returns not empty from the throne of grace. He asked for his elect in the eternal council-chamber, he asked for blessings for them here, he asked for glory for them hereafter, and his requests have speeded. He is ready to ask for us at the mercy-seat. Have we not at this hour some desire to send up to his Father by him? Let us not be slack to use our willing, loving, all-prevailing Intercessor. Here a pause is very properly inserted, that we may admire the blessed success of the king's prayers, and that we may prepare our own requests which may be presented through him. If we had a few more quiet rests, a few more Selahs in our public worship, it might be profitable. 8. EBC, “This psalm is a pendant to the preceding. There the people prayed for the king; here they give thanks for him: there they asked that his desires might be fulfilled; here they bless Jehovah, who has fulfilled them: there the battle was impending; here it has been won, though foes are still in the field: there the victory was prayed for; here it is prophesied. Who is the "king"? The superscription points to David. Conjecture has referred to Hezekiah, principally because of his miraculous recovery, which is supposed to be intended in Psa_21:4. Cheyne thinks of Simon Maccabaeus, and sees his priestly crown in Psa_21:3. But there are no individualising features in the royal portrait, and it is so idealised or rather spiritualised, that it is hard to suppose that any single monarch was before the singer’s mind. The remarkable greatness and majesty of the figure will appear as we read. The whole may be cast into two parts, with a closing strain of prayer. In the first part (Psa_21:1-7), the people praise Jehovah for His
- 19. gifts to theking; in the second (Psa_21:8-12) they prophesy to the king complete victory; in Psa_21:13 they end, as in Psa_20:1-9, with a short petition, which, however, here is in accordance with the tone of the whole, more jubilant than the former and less shrill. The former psalm had asked for strength to be given to the king; this begins with thanks for the strength in which the king rejoices. In the former the people had anticipated triumph in the king’s salvation or victory; here they celebrate his exceeding exultation in it. It was his, since he was victor, but it was Jehovah’s, since He was Giver of victory. Loyal subjects share in the king’s triumph, and connect it with him; but he himself traces it to God. The extraordinarily lofty language in which Jehovah’s gifts are described in the subsequent verses has, no doubt. analogies in the Assyrian hymns to which Cheyne refers; but the abject reverence and partial deification which these breathe were foreign to the relations of Israel to its kings, who were not separated from their subjects by such a gulf as divided the great sovereigns of the East from theirs. The mysterious Divinity which hedges "the king" in the royal psalms is in sharp contrast with the democratic familiarity between prince and people exhibited in the history. The phenomena common to these psalms naturally suggest that "the king" whom they celebrate is rather the ideal than the real monarch. The office rather than the individual who partially fulfils its demands and possesses its endowments seems to fill the singer’s canvas. But the ideal of the office is destined to be realised in the Messiah, and the psalm is in a true sense Messianic, inasmuch as, with whatever mixture of conceptions proper to the then stage of revelation, it still ascribes to the ideal king attributes which no king of Judah exhibited. The transcendant character of the gifts of Jehovah enumerated here is obvious, however the language may be pared down. First, we have the striking picture of Jehovah coming forth to meet the conqueror with "blessings of goodness," as Melchizedek met Abraham with refreshments in his hand; and benedictions on his lips. Victory is naturally followed by repose and enjoyment, and all are Jehovah’s gift. The subsequent endowments may possibly be regarded as the details of these blessings, the fruits of the victory. Of these the first is the coronation of the conqueror, not as if he had not been king before, but as now more fully recognised as such. The supporters of the Davidic authorship refer to the crown of gold won at the capture of Rabbath of Ammon, but there is no need to seek historical basis for the representation. Then comes a signal instance of the king’s closeness of intercourse with Jehovah and of his receiving his heart’s desire in that he asked for "life" and received "length of days forever and ever." No doubt the strong expression for perpetuity may be paralleled in such phrases as "O king, live forever." and others which are obviously hyperbolical and mean not perpetual, but indefinitely protracted, duration; but the great emphasis of expression here and its repetition in Psa_21:6 can scarcely be disposed of as mere hyperbole. If it is the ideal king who is meant, his undying life is substantially synonomous with the continuance of the dynasty which 2Sa_7:1-29 represents as the promise underlying the Davidic throne. The figure of the king is then brought still nearer to the light of Jehovah, and words which are consecrated to express Divine attributes are applied to him in Psa_21:5. "Glory," "honour and majesty," are predicated of him, not as if there were an apotheosis, as would have been possible in Assyrian or Roman flattery, but the royal recipient and the Divine Giver are clearly separated, even while the lustre raying from Jehovah is conceived of as falling in brightness upon the king. These flashing emanations of the Divine glory make their recipient "blessings forever," which seems to include both the possession and the communication of good. An eternal fountain of blessing and himself blessed, he is cheered with joy which comes from Jehovah’s face, so close is his approach and so gracious to him is that countenance. Nothing higher could be thought of than such intimacy and friendliness of access. To dwell in the blaze of that face and to find only joy therein is the crown of human blessedness. (Psa_16:11) Finally the double foundation of all the king’s gifts is laid in Psa_21:7 : he trusts and Jehovah’s lovingkindness gives, and therefore he stands firm, and his throne endures, whatever may dash against it. These daring anticipations are too exuberant to be realised in any but One, whose victory was achieved in the hour of apparent defeat; whose conquest was both His salvation and
- 20. God’s; who praysknowing that He is always heard; who is King of men because He endured the cross, -and wears the crown of pure gold because He did not refuse the crown of thorns; who liveth for evermore, having been given by the Father to have life in Himself; who is the outshining of the Father’s glory, and has all power granted unto Him: who is the source of all blessing to all, who dwells in the joy to which He will welcome His servants; and who Himself lived and conquered by the life of faith, and so became the first Leader of the long line of those who have trusted and therefore have stood fast. Whomsoever the psalmist saw in his vision, he has gathered into one many traits which are realised only in Jesus Christ. The second part (Psa_21:8-12) is, by Hupfeld and others, taken as addressed to Jehovah; and that idea has much to recommend it, but it seems to go to wreck on the separate reference to Jehovah in Psa_21:9, on the harshness of applying "evil against thee" and "a mischievous device" (Psa_21:11) to Him, and on the absence of a sufficient link of connection between the parts if it is adopted. If, on the other hand, we suppose that the king is addressed in these verses, there is the same dramatic structure as in Psa_20:1-9; and the victory which has been won is now taken as a pledge of future ones. The expectation is couched in terms adapted to the horizon of the singer, and on his lips probably meant stern extermination of hostile nations. The picture is that of a fierce conqueror, and we must not seek to soften the features, nor, on the other hand, to deny the prophetic inspiration of the psalmist. The task of the ideal king was to crush and root out opposition to his monarchy, which was Jehovah’s. Very terrible are the judgments of his hand, which sound liker those of Jehovah than those inflicted by a man, as Hupfeld and others have felt. In Psa_21:8 the construction is slightly varied in the two clauses, the verb "reach" having a preposition attached in the former, and not in the latter, which difference may be reproduced by the distinction between "reach towards" and "reach." The seeking hand is stretched out after, and then it grasps, its victims. The comparison of the "fiery oven" is inexact in form, but the very negligence helps the impression of agitation and terribleness. The enemy are not likened to a furnace, but to the fuel cast into it. But the phrase rendered in A.V. "in the time of thine anger" is very remarkable, being literally "in the time of thy face." The destructive effect of Jehovah’s countenance (Psa_34:17) is here transferred to His king’s, into whose face has passed, as he gazed, in joy on the face of Jehovah, some of the lustre which kills where it does not gladden. Compare "everlasting destruction from the face of the Lord." (2Th_1:9) The king is so completely representative of Jehovah that the destruction of the enemy is the work of the one fire of wrath common to both. The destruction extends to the whole generation of enemies, as in the ferocious warfare of old days, when a nation was wiped off the earth. The psalmist sees in the extremest vengeance the righteous and inevitable consequence of hostility condemned by the nature of the case to be futile, and yet criminal: "They cause evil to hang over thee: they meditate mischief; they will achieve nothing." Then, in Psa_21:12, the dread scene is completed by the picture of the flying foe and the overtaking pursuer, who first puts them to flight, and then, getting in front of them, sends his arrows full in their faces. The ideal of the king has a side of terror; and while his chosen weapon is patient love, he has other arrows in his quiver. The pictures of the destroying conqueror are taken up and surpassed in the New Testament. They do not see the whole Christ who do not see the Warrior Christ, nor have they realised all His work who slur over the solemn expectation that one day ‘men’ shall call on rocks and hills to cover them from "the steady whole of the Judge’s face." As in Psa_20:1-9, the close is a brief petition, which asks the fulfilment of the anticipations in Psa_21:8-12, and traces, as in Psa_21:1, the king’s triumph to Jehovah’s strength. The loyal love of the nation will take its monarch’s victory as its own joy and be glad in the manifestation thereby of Jehovah’s power. That is the true voice of devotion which recognises God, not man, in all victories, and answers the forth flashing of His delivering: power by the thunder of praise.
- 21. 3 You came togreet him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head. 1.BARNES, “For thou preventest him - Thou goest before him; thou dost anticipate him. See Psa_17:13, margin. Our word “prevent” is now most commonly used in the sense of “hinder, stop, or intercept.” This is not the original meaning of the English word; and the word is never used in this sense in the Bible. The English word, when our translation was made, meant to “go before,” to “anticipate,” and this is the uniform meaning of it in our English version, as it is the meaning of the original. See the notes at Job_3:12. Compare Psa_59:10; Psa_79:8; Psa_88:13; Psa_95:2; Psa_119:147-148; Amo_9:10; see the notes at 1Th_4:15. The meaning here is, that God had “anticipated” him, or his desires. He had gone before him. He had designed the blessing even before it was asked. With the blessings of goodness - Blessings “indicating” goodness on his part; blessings adapted to promote the “good” or the welfare of him on whom they were bestowed. Perhaps the meaning here is, not only that they were “good,” but they “seemed” to be good; they were not “blessings in disguise,” or blessings as the result of previous calamity and trial, but blessings where there was no trial - no shadow - no appearance of disappointment. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head - This does not refer to the time of his coronation, or the period when he was crowned a king, but it refers to the victory which he had achieved, and by which he had been made truly a king. He was crowned with triumph; he was shown to be a king; the victory was like making him a king, or setting a crown of pure gold upon his head. He was now a conqueror, and was indeed a king. 2. CLARKE, “Thou preventest him - To prevent, from prcevenio, literally signifies to go before. Hence that prayer in the communion service of our public Liturgy, “Prevent us, O Lord, in all our doings, with thy most gracious favor!” That is, “Go before us in thy mercy, make our way plain, and enable us to perform what is right in thy sight!” And this sense of prevent is a literal version of the original word תקדמנו tekademennu. “For thou shalt go before him with the blessings of goodness.” Our ancestors used God before in this sense. So in Henry V.’s speech to the French herald previously to the battle of Agincourt: - “Go therefore; tell thy master, here I am. My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk; My army, but a weak and sickly guard: Yet, God before, tell him we will come on, Though France himself, and such another neighbor, Stand in our way.” A crown of pure gold - Probably alluding to the crown of the king of Rabbah, which, on the taking of the city, David took and put on his own head. See the history, 2Sa_12:26-30 (note).
- 22. 3, GILL, “Forthou preventest him with the blessings of goodness,.... Not temporal, but spiritual blessings, which spring from the grace and goodness of God, and consist of it; and relate to the spiritual and eternal welfare of those for whose sake he receives them, and who are blessed with them in him: his being "prevented" with them denotes the freeness of the donation of them; that before he could well ask for them, or before he had done requesting them, they were given him; and also the earliness of the gift of them, they were put into his hands before his incarnation, before he was manifest in the flesh, even from the foundation of the world, and before the world began, Eph_1:3, 2Ti_1:9, and likewise the order in which they were given; first to Christ, and then to his people in him, as the passages referred to show; thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head; which is expressive of his victory over all enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, death and hell; and of his being possessed of his throne and kingdom; and has respect to his exaltation at the right hand of God, where he is crowned with glory and honour: and this crown being of "pure gold" denotes the purity, glory, solidity, and perpetuity of his kingdom; this is a crown, not which believers put upon him by believing in him, and ascribing the glory of their salvation to him, or what the church, called his mother, has crowned him with, Son_3:11, but which his father put upon him, who has set him King over his holy hill of Zion, Psa_2:6; compare with this Rev_14:14. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read "a crown of a precious stone"; and so Apollinarius; and seem to refer to the crown set on David's head, which had precious stones in it, 2Sa_12:30; Josephus (x) says it had a sardonyx. Fortunatus Scacchus (y) fancies the topaz is meant, and that the Hebrew text should be read "a crown of topaz"; mistaking the sense of the word "phaz", which never signifies a topaz, but the best gold, pure solid gold. 4. HENRY, “That God had surprised him with favours, and much outdone his expectations (Psa_21:3): Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness. All our blessings are blessings of goodness, and are owing, not at all to any merit of ours, but purely and only to God's goodness. But the psalmist here reckons it in a special manner obliging that these blessings were given in a preventing way; this fixed his eye, enlarged his soul, and endeared his God, as one expresses it. When God's blessings come sooner and prove richer than we imagine, when they are given before we prayed for them, before we were ready for them, nay, when we feared the contrary, then it may be truly said that he prevented us with them. Nothing indeed prevented Christ, but to mankind never was any favour more preventing than our redemption by Christ and all the blessed fruits of his mediation. (3.) That God had advanced him to the highest honour and the most extensive power: “Thou hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head and kept it there, when his enemies attempted to throw it off.” Note, Crowns are at God's disposal; no head wears them but God sets them there, whether in judgment to his land or for mercy the event will show. On the head of Christ God never set a crown of gold, but of thorns first, and then of glory.
- 23. 5. CALVIN, “3.Forthou wilt prevent him. The change of the tense in the verbs does not break the connection of the discourse; and, therefore, I have, without hesitation, translated this sentence into the future tense, as we know that the changing of one tense into another is quite common in Hebrew. Those who limit this psalm to the last victory which David gained over foreign nations, and who suppose that the crown of which mention is here made was the crown of the king of the Ammonites, of which we have an account in sacred history, give, in my judgment, too low a view of what the Holy Spirit has here dictated concerning the perpetual prosperity of this kingdom. David, I have no doubt, comprehended his successors even to Christ, and intended to celebrate the continual course of the grace of God in maintaining his kingdom through successive ages. It was not of one man that it had been said, “ will be his father, and he shall be my son,” (2Sa_7:14;) but this was a prophecy which ought to be extended from Solomon to Christ, as is fully established by the testimony of Isaiah, (Isa_9:6,) who informs us that it was fulfilled when the Son was given or manifested. When it is said, Thou wilt prevent him, the meaning is, that such will be the liberality and promptitude of God, in spontaneously bestowing blessings, that he will not only grant what is asked from him, but, anticipating the requests of the king, will load him with every kind of good things far beyond what he had ever expected. By blessings we are to understand abundance or plenteousness. Some translate the Hebrew word ,טוב tob, goodness; (481) but with this I cannot agree. It is to be taken rather for the beneficence orthe free gifts of God. Thus the meaning will be, The king shall want nothing which is requisite to make his life in every respect happy, since God of his own good pleasure will anticipate his wishes, and enrich him with an abundance of all good things. The Psalmist makes express mention of the crown, because it was the emblem and ensign of royalty; and he intimates by this that God would be the guardian of the king, whom he himself had created. But as the prophet testifies, that the royal diadem, after lying long dishonored in the dust, shall again be put upon the head of Christ, we come to the conclusion, that by this song the minds of the godly were elevated to the hope of the eternal kingdom, of which a shadow only, or an obscure image, was set forth in the person of the successors of David. The doctrine of the everlasting duration of the kingdom of Christ is, therefore, here established, seeing he was not placed upon the throne by the favor or suffrages of men, but by God, who, from heaven, set the royal crown upon his head with his own hand. (481) Reading “ of goodness;” that is, the best or most excellent blessings.
- 24. 5B. JAMISON, “preventest— literally, “to meet here in good sense,” or “friendship” (Psa_59:10; compare opposite, Psa_17:13). blessings of goodness — which confer happiness. crown of pure gold — a figure for the highest royal prosperity. 6. PULPIT, “For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness; i.e. thou givest him blessings before he asks, and more than he asks.. "The blessings of goodness" is pleonastic, since a blessing cannot be otherwise than a good. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. It is remarked that David, as the result of one of his wars, did actually take the crown of the conquered king, which was a crown of gold, from off the king' s head, and place it upon his own head (2Sa_12:30); but this is scarcely what is intended here. As Hengstenberg observes, "The setting on of the crown marks the bestowment of dominion," not in one petty ease only, but generally, and is scarcely to be altogether separated from the promises recorded in 2Sa_7:12-16. 7. SPURGEON, “For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness.†The word prevent formerly signified to precede or go before, and assuredly Jehovah preceded his Son with blessings. Before he died saints were saved by the anticipated merit of his death, before he came believers saw his day and were glad, and he himself had his delights with the sons of men. The Father is so willing to give blessings through his Son, that instead of his being constrained to bestow his grace, he outstrips the Mediatorial march of mercy. “I say not that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you.†Before Jesus calls the Father answers, and while he is yet speaking he hears. Mercies may be bought with blood, but they are also freely given. The love of Jehovah is not caused by the Redeemer's sacrifice, but that love, with its blessings of goodness, preceded the great atonement, and provided it for our salvation. Reader, it will be a happy thing for thee if, like thy Lord, thou canst see both providence and grace preceding thee, forestalling thy needs, and preparing thy path. Mercy, in the case of many of us, ran before our desires and prayers, and it ever outruns our endeavours and expectancies, and even our hopes are left to lag behind. Prevenient grace deserves a song; we may make one out of this sentence, let us try. All our mercies are to be viewed as “blessings;†gifts of a blessed God, meant to make us blessed; they are “blessings of goodness,†not of merit, but of free favour; and they come to us in a preventing way, a way of prudent foresight, such as only preventing love could have arranged. In this light the verse is itself a sonnet! Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.†Jesus wore the thorn-crown, but now wears the glory- crown, It is a “crown,†indicating royal nature, imperial power, deserved honour, glorious conquest, and divine government. The crown is of the richest, rarest, most resplendent, and most lasting order -
- 25. “gold,†and thatgold of the most refined and valuable sort, “pure gold,†to indicate the excellence of his dominion. This crown is set upon his head most firmly, and whereas other monarchs find their diadems fitting loosely, his is fixed so that no power can move it, for Jehovah himself has set it upon his brow. Napoleon crowned himself, but Jehovah crowned the Lord Jesus; the empire of the one melted in an hour, but the other has an abiding dominion. Some versions read, “a crown of precious stones;†this may remind us of those beloved ones who shall be as jewels in his crown, of whom he has said, “They shall be mine in the day when I make up my jewels.†May we be set in the golden circlet of the Redeemer's glory, and adorn his head for ever! 8. K&D, “(Heb.: 21:4-5) “Blessings of good” (Pro_24:25) are those which consist of good, i.e., true good fortune. The verb ם ֵ ִ,ק because used of the favour which meets and presents one with some blessing, is construed with a double accusative, after the manner of verbs of putting on and bestowing (Ges. §139). Since Psa_21:4 cannot be intended to refer to David's first coronation, but to the preservation and increase of the honour of his kingship, this particularisation of Psa_21:4 sounds like a prediction of what is recorded in 2Sa_22:30 : after the conquest of the Ammonitish royal city Rabbah David set the Ammonitish crown (ת ֶר ֶט ֲ,)ע which is renowned for the weight of its gold and its ornamentation with precious stones, upon his head. David was then advanced in years, and in consequence of heavy guilt, which, however, he had overcome by penitence and laying hold on the mercy of God, was come to the brink of the grave. He, worthy of death, still lived; and the victory over the Syro-Ammonitish power was a pledge to him of God's faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. It is contrary to the tenour of the words to say that Psa_21:5 does not refer to length of life, but to hereditary succession to the throne. To wish any one that he may live ם ָּולע ְ,ל and especially a king, is a usual thing, 1Ki_1:31, and frequently. The meaning is, may the life of the king be prolonged to an indefinitely distant day. What the people have desired elsewhere, they here acknowledge as bestowed upon the king. 9. GREAT TEXTS, “The Ministry of Surprise Thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness.—Psa_21:3. 1. This is a companion Psalm to the one that goes before it. They both deal with the same general situation, the outbreak of national war, but differ in this respect, that while the first is a Psalm of prayer before the people go forth to the battle, the second is a Psalm of thanksgiving after they have returned victorious. In the former we are to conceive them gathered in the Temple, the king at their head, to entreat the aid of their fathers’ God, that in the hour of danger He may send them help out of the sanctuary and strength from His holy hill. But in the latter the danger is past. The king’s arms have been successful. His enemies have been scattered. He has re-entered the city gates with his exultant army, and made his triumphal way through the streets, and now once more, as is most meet, stands before the Lord, who has given him the victory, while priests and people make the sacred courts ring again with their shouts of thanksgiving and joy. “The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.”
- 26. 2. The gistof the text is that God’s wise grace can outstrip the present stage of our experience, can pass on into the future, and be busy on our behalf before we arrive there. He not only attends us with the blessings of His goodness, He “prevents” us with them as well—goes on before and sows the days to come with mercy, so that we find it waiting us when we arrive, and reap—or may reap—nothing but goodness as we go. It is a profound, most comfortable truth for us to rest our minds on. There is in theology a term, still used, “prevenient grace,” meaning the grace which acts on a sinner before repentance inducing him to repent, the grace by which he attains faith and receives power to will the good. Milton, when describing the repentance of Adam and Eve in Paradise Lost, when they confessed their sin and prayed for forgiveness, puts it: Thus they in lowliest plight repentant stood Praying, for from the Mercy-seat above Prevenient Grace descending had remov’d The stony from their hearts, and made new flesh Regenerate grow instead. But we must not limit God’s prevenient grace to the act of repentance, to the steps which lead up to the consciousness of sonship with God. 1 [Note: H. Black, Christ’s Service of Love, 210.] I. A Prepared World 1. When we come upon the stage of existence we find that the world has been prepared for us. “Thou hast formed the world to be inhabited” is one of the deep sayings of the prophets. For whatever ends the world has been created, it has been fashioned upon the lines of man. It has been decked in beauty for the human eye; covered with sustenance for the human frame; stored with energies that would have slept unused but for the large intelligence of man. Does the newborn child need to be clothed? Sheep have been pasturing upon the hills. Does the newborn child need to be fed? Mysterious changes have been preparing food. And does the newborn child need to be warmed? Why then, unnumbered centuries ago, the leaves were falling with the sunshine in them, that to-day we might have summer on the hearth. Not into an unprepared world is the little infant flung. Nature never calls, “I am not ready, nor can I support this gift of a new life.” Nature has been getting ready for millenniums, since she awoke from the primeval chaos; and in her depths, and on her hills of pasturage, has been preparing for this very hour. We are rising to the conviction that we are a part of nature, and so a part of God; that the whole creation—the One and the Many and All-One—is travailing together toward some great end; and that now, after ages of development, we have at length become conscious portions of the great scheme, and can co-operate in it with knowledge and with joy. We are no aliens in a stranger universe governed by an outside God; we are parts of a developing whole, all enfolded in an embracing and interpenetrating love, of which we too, each to other, sometimes experience the joy too deep for words. 1 [Note: Sir Oliver Lodge.] There are inhospitable regions, in which the oak cannot flourish, in which the hardy pine cannot live, and in which the mountain heather finds no place, but yet some variety of corn can be made to grow, if man can live there at all. If you were to ascend from the sea-level to the sides of the high mountains, or to proceed from the swamps of China to the prairies of America, or from the burning plains of India to the Arctic regions, you would find at the different levels, or in the different latitudes, entirely different kinds of
- 27. plants, with oneexception; the corn plant you would find everywhere. In the tropical regions you would find rice; in the bleak north, oats and rye; in parts of the western world not congenial to wheat, you would find maize, while similar parts of Europe produce barley. So carefully has God provided for the needs of man. 2. These bounties of God come to us at a great cost. Take a single grain of corn, and remember that it cost the Creator thousands of years of forethought and labour. We know how useless it is to sow wheat on hard clay or solid rock. Soil needs first to be made, so God sets in motion the forces of rain, frost, and rivers. He sets the great glaciers grinding over the granite, sandstone, and limestone. And that took thousands of years. If God had not laboured for ages, not even the tiniest grain of corn could have existed to-day. But, further, the God who made the soil sends thousands of rays of sunshine to ripen the corn. And for every ray that we see, there are ten invisible heat rays. Now before these rays can begin their work, they have a journey to make of more than ninety millions of miles. And God keeps these messengers continually flying through the sky. He spares no labour and counts no cost to provide royally for His children. II. A Prepared Home 1. Home is the child’s whole world. Within the family circle lie his earth and heaven, and through the medium of its life and fortunes the larger provision accumulated out of doors is gradually interpreted and conveyed to him. To have first drawn breath, then, in a truly Christian home is to have been born to an inheritance which not all the world’s wealth could buy. To have been received into this world by one whose first feeling was that of trembling thankfulness to God, mingled with fear lest she should be unworthy of the trust of bringing up a child for Him; to have grown up within walls where He from whom every fatherhood in heaven and earth is named, was ever acknowledged supreme and reverently loved and served; to have been led to His footstool early, and to have had His word printed on the mind; to have been taught to rest on the day of rest, and to “love the habitation of God’s house”; to have been trained in early impressionable years, for the most part unconsciously, under the influence of those around, as well as of the men and women that come about a good man’s fireside and the books that lie on a good man’s table,—in all this what splendid provision for all who are fortunate enough to fall heirs to it. Truly God “prevented us with blessings of goodness.” Our lot was stored with them beforehand. We were cradled in spiritual profusion which a Loving Care had been long preparing, as a mother’s choicest appointments will be ready for her babe long before it is put into her hands. Sometimes there comes a visitor to see us of whose coming we had no anticipation. He has been long abroad, and for years we have not seen him, until one day he is standing at our door. But it is not thus that into Christian homes there come the joy and mystery of childhood. The child is born in a prepared place, and love has been very busy with its welcome. And prayers go heavenward with a new intensity, and some now pray who never prayed before; and fountains of tenderness are opened up, and feelings that were scarce suspected once; and God is nearer and His hand is more wonderful, and all the future has a different music, and that is why home is as a type of heaven; it is a prepared place for a prepared people. Thou goest before us with the blessings of goodness. 1 [Note: G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, 146.] O’er a new joy this day we bend, Soft power from heaven our souls to lift; A wondering wonder Thou dost lend With loan outpassing gift—
- 28. A little child.She sees the sun— Once more incarnates thy old law: One born of two, two born in one, Shall into one three draw. But is there no day creeping on Which I should tremble to renew? I thank Thee, Lord, for what is gone— Thine is the future too! And are we not at home in Thee, And all this world a visioned show, That, knowing what Abroad is, we What Home is too may know? 2 [Note: George MacDonald, Organ Songs.] Mr. Moody could never speak of those early days of want and adversity without the most tender references to that brave mother whose self-sacrifice and devotion had sacredly guarded the home entrusted to her care. When, at the age of ninety, her life-voyage ended, she entered the Haven of Rest, her children, her children’s children, and an entire community rose up to call her blessed. And well she deserved the praise they gave her, for she had wisely and discreetly discharged the duties God had placed upon her, and, entering the presence of her Master, could render a faithful account of the stewardship of motherhood. To rule a household of seven sturdy boys and two girls, the eldest twelve years old, required no ordinary tact and sound judgment, but so discreet was this loyal mother that to the very end she made “home” the most loved place on earth to her family, and so trained her children as to make them a blessing to society. “For nearly fifty years I have been coming back to Northfield,” said Mr. Moody, long after that little circle had been broken up, “and I have always been glad to get back. When I get within fifty miles of home I grow restless and walk up and down the car. It seems as if the train will never get to Northfield. When I come back after dark I always look to see the light in mother’s window.” 1 [Note: W. R. Moody, Life of Dwight L. Moody, 26.] The purest-minded of all pagans and all Emperors devotes the whole of the first book of his Meditations to a grateful consideration of all that he owed to others in his youth. Such humble gratitude is the mark of a great soul. He goes over the list of all who helped him by counsel or example. “The example of my grandfather, Verus, gave me a good disposition, not prone to anger. By the recollection of my father’s character, I learned to be both modest and manly. My mother taught me to have regard for religion, to be generous and open-handed. The philosopher Sextus recommended good- humour to me. Alexander the Grammarian taught me not to be finically critical about words. I learned from
- 29. Catulus not toslight a friend for making a remonstrance.” And so on through a long list of benefits which his sweet humble mind acknowledged, finishing up with: “I have to thank the gods that my grandfathers, parents, sister, preceptors, relations, friends, and domestics were almost all of them persons of probity.” 2 [Note: H. Black, Christ’s Service of Love, 213.] 2. We are ushered also into a society that was prepared. A child’s education is a great deal more than a matter of lesson books and a few years’ schooling. The use he is able to make of books and schooling depends on the nature he brings to them and on the surroundings among which he is born; and these again depend largely on what manner of persons those were who went before him. Education is the development of manhood, and this is determined always, on the one hand, by the stock the man springs from, and, on the other, by the intellectual and moral atmosphere he grows up in. So that in literal truth it may be said about each of us that Providence began our education not one but many hundreds of years since. All down the generations the lot we should in due time stand in has been growing more goodly and favourable, until at this particular stage in the history of the race and in our own greatly privileged land, what amelioration of manners, what elevation of morals, what enrichment of social relationships, what increase of knowledge, in a word, what multiplied spiritual wealth, opportunity, and stimulus, do we not inherit! We are the heirs of the ages, and are born rich indeed. We reap where we had not strawed. Why, the very language in which we speak to one another—the medium of communion between man and man—is a legacy of the past to us, and in our earliest broken syllables we unconsciously acknowledge our indebtedness to it. The holy Andrewes before he comes to give thanks for salvation begins with what is more fundamental still. “I thank Thee,” he writes, “that I was born a living soul, and not senseless matter; a man and not a brute; civilized not savage; free not a slave; liberally educated, and endowed with gifts of nature and worldly good.” 1 [Note: A. Martin, Winning the Soul, 204.] 3. It cannot be that God is absent from the most untoward environment. There are children born into the world for whom you would say little preparation had been made by any one. Nobody seems to want them here. It is scanty care they receive from any one. They are left to grow as they may; and live, one hardly knows how; and are reared with squalor before their eyes, and coarseness in their ears, and evil everywhere. Is God beforehand with them with the blessings of goodness? Surely He is; for, after all, the world is His, nor can man’s uttermost labour in evil altogether obliterate or quench His everywhere present and active loving-kindness. One thing is certain; that He has the strangest ways of blending His mercy even with the most untoward environment. I have seen little children exposed to early influences which you would have thought must inevitably have proved fatal to any seeds of goodness they brought with them into the world; and these things— drunkenness, vileness, murderous brutality, and all the unspeakable horrors that make up the daily round in a drunkard’s home—were only blessed to them. There is no limit to the power of Him who overrules all things, and whose face the angels of little children do always behold, out of evil to bring good. “In him the fatherless find mercy.” Let us admit that He deals with many—or allows them to be dealt with by circumstances—very strangely, very sorely. Nevertheless, these circumstances too are under His Hand. Who shall say that they are ever sufficient to blind any soul born into God’s world outright to its inheritance or quite to put it beyond His reach? 2 [Note: lbid. 202.] In his ballad “The Three Graves” Coleridge puts this story into the mouth of an old sexton. A young farmer, paying his addresses to the daughter of a widow, finds that the widow herself desires to marry him. When he asks in due time that the day of the marriage may be fixed, the mother maliciously depreciates the character of her daughter, and confesses her own passion. Finding herself thrust aside, she kneels down and solemnly prays for a curse upon her daughter and the lover she had accepted. A cloud hangs over the wedding, and bride and bridegroom find themselves strangely chilled and depressed. On Ash-Wednesday the widow goes to church, and takes her place by the side of her daughter’s friend, who has helped forward the marriage, and curses her together with the others. Under the haunting influence of that curse the three people fade away, and, within a few short months, fill graves side by side in the country churchyard. The essence of the ballad story is expressed in the lines:
- 30. Beneath the foulestmother’s curse No child could ever thrive. That conception fits a pagan condition of society in which, for both temporal and spiritual things, the power of the parent is absolute. But it makes into an almighty fiat the cry of the blood of Abel, and is untrue to the spirit of the gospel. None can curse child or neighbour into hopeless distress in either this or the coming life. He who opens and shuts the gates of blessedness has not surrendered the key into unworthy hands. 1 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 90.] III. A Prepared Inheritance 1. What have we that we have not received? Behind us lie the labours and sufferings and sacrifices of the noblest, and we have entered into their labours. We have a rich inheritance, which can be described only as the blessings of goodness. The tree of our life has its roots deep in the soil and the subsoil of history. We are not only the heirs of all the ages, but the heirs of God’s grace through all the ages. God’s providence is only another name for God’s grace, and His providence did not begin to us merely at the hour of birth. Every prophet, and every man of faith, has felt in some degree at some time of intense insight that he has been under a foreordaining, a loving purpose before birth, before history, from the very foundation of the world. God’s grace began with him long before he was born, and prepared his place for him, and went before him with the blessings of goodness. Time would fail for any of us to tell all that we owe to the past, all the debt in which we stand to preceding generations, not only for temporal mercies, but even for the very intellectual and spiritual atmosphere into which we have been born, and in which we have been reared. We have a spiritual climate, as well as a geographical; and in it we have had our place prepared for us. The blessings of God’s goodness have gone before us, and can in many lines be clearly seen by every enlightened mind and conscience and heart. The liberty we enjoy politically and religiously has been bought and paid for by others. The knowledge which we hold so cheap was dearly acquired by the race. Every advance in social organization which is to us now as our birthright was attained at great cost. As a man deepens so his longings deepen, till they reach to the Infinite and the Eternal. And the strange thing is, that as these cravings alter, and rise from the transient to the enduring, so God is ever there before us, with His prepared answer to our quest. We crave for light, and the sun and moon are there, and they have been shining for unnumbered ages. We crave for love, and love is not of yesterday. It is as ancient as the heart-beat of humanity. We come to crave for pardon and for peace and for unbroken fellowship with God; and all that, in Jesus Christ our Lord, has been made ready for us long ago. 2. God’s prevenient goodness is very conspicuous in the privileges of the Gospel. Our spiritual needs are all anticipated by an ample provision. And that is signified by our baptism. God’s goodness came to a point there, so to speak, and was set forth with gracious impressiveness. For baptism is the seal of our lineage and signifies that we come of the elect stock. It is the Christian circumcision, and denotes that we belong to the community of the faithful, whose life is sustained by the living Lord, and have our right and portion among them in all the goodness He has introduced into human life. To me one of the surest proofs that the Bible is indeed the Word of God is the way in which it goes before us through all the changing experience of life. Other books we leave behind. They were before us once; they are behind us now. We have outgrown them. We have reached an hour when they were powerless to cheer and guide. But always as we battle through the years, and break through the thicket into another glade, a little ahead of us, with eyes of love, we descry the figure of the Word of God. It is before us in the day of triumph. It is before us in the hour of fall. In every new temptation it is there; in every joy, in every
- 31. bitterness. We moveinto the shadow and the heartbreak, or into the sunshine with the play of waters, and yet the Bible understands it all, and is there to meet us when we come. We are not above it when we scale the heavens, nor beneath it when we make our bed in hell. It is always a little higher than our highest. It is always a little deeper than our deepest. And that to me is an argument unanswerable that God is in Scripture as in no other book. It is not so much that I find Him there. It is rather that there He finds me. 1[Note: G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, 150.] Geologists find the presence of tropical species in latitudes now subjected to the rigours of a cold climate, and arctic forms in regions at present belonging to the temperate zone. In endeavouring to explain these anomalies of climate, scientists in past days went in search of vast cosmic changes, such as an alteration in the position of the terrestrial axis, a diminution in the amount of solar heat, or a gradual cooling of the earth’s crust; but modern scientists are satisfied to explain these climatic conditions as the result of a familiar agency close at hand, of which we have daily experience. A genial current of water or air deflected toward our coast is, in their opinion, sufficiently powerful to create the difference of temperature which rescues us from the rigours of Lapland and fills our island with summer’s pageantry and autumn’s pride. So to give the nations of the earth a sweet summer for the long dark winter of their discontent God makes the stream of His grace to flow through our sanctuaries, schools, and homes, silently blessing and enriching human life. 2 [Note: W. L. Watkinson, The Fatal Barter, 37.] IV. A God who is always Beforehand 1. God is before at every stage of this life. Whatever good we have gained to ourselves, there is a better still before us. The best is always in store. We go from strength to strength. And if we have an eye for the working of His Hand at all, we need never fail to find the traces of God’s power marking out before-hand the path in which we go. (1) God is before us to enrich and to purify our joys.—Indeed those joys are of God’s own making. They arrive we know not whence or how. They come as a surprise. We had not looked for them, or learned perhaps to desire them. And then they befell us, and woke our nature into music, and made all life new. Is it not so for the most part that our great joys have come to us? the choice gifts of Providence? the signal blessings of grace? And what does this mean but just that the Divine loving-kindness had prepared for us such mercy, and then at the fitting moment laid it bare? He who has planned our path is in ambush for us, and oftenest it is at some unexpected turn of the way that His goodness stands disclosed. We stumble upon His bounty ere we know, and find to our surprise how long it had been stored for us. Does not the greatest of all gifts, the Gift Unspeakable, at times arrive upon us in this way, hiding Himself in some unlooked-for experience, then striding into our life suddenly? And of other gifts also, the arrival is, as a rule, as unexpected, and betokens a preparation we had not thought of. Our path has been sown with goodness beforehand, and we reap the harvest of it as we go. I am filled with shame and confusion when I reflect, on one hand, upon the great favours which God has
- 32. bestowed and isstill unceasingly bestowing upon me; and, on the other, upon the ill use I have made of them, and my small advancement in the way of perfection. Since, by His mercy, He gives us still a little time, let us begin in earnest, let us redeem the time that is lost, let us return with a whole-hearted trust to this Father of Mercies, who is always ready to receive us into His loving arms. Let us renounce, and renounce generously, with single heart, for the love of Him, all that is not His; He deserves infinitely more. Let us think of Him unceasingly; in Him let us put all our confidence. I doubt not but that we shall soon experience the effects of it in receiving the abundance of His grace, with which we can do all things, and without which we can do nought but sin. 1 [Note: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, 48.] Dr. John Brown (“Rab”) had a favourite expression, which he was constantly using—“Unexpectedness.” There is much of that in life. It plays a large part in our training. Kindness comes from unexpected quarters. So does unkindness. “It was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance.” It is, as we say, the unexpected that happens. The seemingly impossible comes to pass. Often what we plan fails, and what we expect deceives, while what we neither plan nor expect occurs. The forces that work for us and against us do more than we anticipate. If some men disappoint us painfully, others do so agreeably. The timid Nicodemus was one of the foremost at Jesus’ tomb. There are flowers in the desert. The beauty of holiness blooms in unexpected places. What we lean upon breaks, what seems broken stands. Ananias was a failure, Saul became Paul. How often our fears are disappointed, our hopes surpassed, our difficulties removed. The whole of life is a succession of surprises breaking its monotony. It is like a winding road, where every turn discloses something new that beguiles and draws us on. There are many of what Faber sings of—“novelties of love.” You think, sometimes, that everything has been exhausted, and then God surprises you with a fresh gladness. 2 [Note: A. Philip, The Father’s Hand, 161.] A critic of the oratorio “Elijah” has pointed out how, after apparently exhausting every combination of sound, Mendelssohn has given one more proof of his resource, by the weird effect of a single, long- sustained note. But what is a marvel in this consummate artist is only a suggestion of the fertility of God in every life. Amiel has been described as the master of the unexpected. It is God who is its true Master. It is He who is the true Giver of surprises. No two days are alike. Our life is like a series of dissolving views. Its fashion is ever changing. God, in providence, appeals to the strange and the varied. What every child of God feels about His kindnesses is that they are new every morning, and is it not quite as true that they are fresh every evening? Is there a day that we are not constrained to say, “Thou surprisest me with the blessings of goodness”? 3 [Note: Ibid. 162.] As I look back, and recall what is past—struggles which I have not chronicled here; doubts and inward conflicts which may not be written; hours of fierce anguish of spirit; moments in hell too awful and too sacred to be recorded; joys which, though brief, are yet joys for ever; tearful times of sowing which have
- 33. yielded happy harvests;kindly teachings, both tender and severe, which experience has brought—I see life as education, wonderful and changeful, but full of a Divine purpose; replete with interest, and slowly revealing that Love is its origin and Love its end. Oh, brother man, to whom life seems dark and its purpose undecipherable, hold fast to the Loving Spirit! It will guide you into the heart of things. It will so fashion you after its own likeness that, when you awake to life’s true significance, you will be satisfied. 1 [Note: Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages of My Life, 332.] (2) God is in front to assuage our sorrow.—There are trials and sorrows which come to all in course of nature, and in regard to which, unless men and women are very rebellious, it is possible perhaps to see no little mercy and goodness assuaging their bitterness all through. But those which come athwart the course of nature, as it were; which no one could have foreseen, and nothing appears to justify; which only darken the world to men, and confound their judgment, and tempt their unbelief—what are we to say of these sorrows? They are, alas! not uncommon, and growing experience of life furnishes always fresh evidence of the forms they may take. Where men and women lie prostrate under them—their hearth perhaps left bare, the light of youthful promise perhaps quenched, perhaps worse sorrows still befalling them—what are you to expect them to feel and say in circumstances like these? Even if they believe, is it to be thought of that they are to look up to God and say, “These things too are good. Thou comest to meet me in them with the blessings of goodness”? Yet I have known one whose worldly all was, in a quite unlooked-for hour, swept away from her, and who, after a single moment’s pause, said: “The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away! Blessed be the name of the Lord!” I have known another whose home was suddenly left desolate, and the cherished hopes of years, and the early blossom of their fulfilment strewed in ruins, and all he said was, “I needed this.” And just the other day I heard of one struck down at the outset of a most promising career and rendered helpless for the remainder of his days, yet who was able, almost at once, to accept his Father’s will and to be content with it. Had not such humble trusting sufferers found the “blessings of goodness” in those dark providences that suddenly darkened round them and seemed to others to wreck their lives? 1 [Note: A. Martin, Winning the Soul, 209.] Do we complain of the sorrows of life, classing them among the insoluble problems of existence? We owe much of life’s purest and happiest experiences to these sorrows. They can reveal unexpected good qualities; they can draw human lives into sympathy with one another; they can bridge over chasms which seemed to decree separation between soul and soul; they can soften, refine, and elevate. Certainly, if I may speak from my own experience, hours of sorrow serve to show what an unsuspected wealth of kindness there is in the world. Here is a box, full of letters! No, I am not going to open it, or drag forth the letters to view. Let them lie where they are, in sacred seclusion; but they are witnesses to the width and depth of human sympathy. They are letters, written to me, by people of all classes, in one supreme, sorrowful hour of my life. Indeed, as I go about my room, and turn from one treasury of old letters to
- 34. another, I realizethat the sweetest and best of them are the offspring of sorrow in some form or another. Dear letters—some written by hands now cold—you still carry your message to my heart! You are the constant witnesses that our capacities of heart could hardly have found scope to work, or space to grow, had not sorrow opened the door of opportunity. 2 [Note: Bishop Boyd Carpenter, Some Pages of My Life, 331.] (3) God is in front to strengthen us in temptation.—Temptation is the constant element in our lives that every now and then gathers itself up into some “sore hour” which tries and shakes our fidelity to the roots. The temptation to unbelief, the temptation to self-indulgence, the temptation to be untrue to some heavy charge of which we would fain be quit—temptations such as these, and others like them, are no doubt dangerous, since we may give way in our weakness and fall ignobly. But with the temptation there is always a strength available for the bearing of it, of which, if we seize and are not overborne by it, nothing but good is the issue. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. It strengthens the thews of the spirit. It toughens faith. It teaches to pray. Temptation, if met and dealt with fairly, brings blessing into our life,— and nothing else. I would especially recommend you, as far as possible, to keep your mind fixed on our Blessed Lord’s love, sympathy, and presence with you—not on the temptation. Put the temptation altogether aside. Don’t think of it. Don’t pray about it. Don’t entangle yourself with it. But keep close to God, and feel sure that “He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world,” and ask of our Blessed Lord that He would encompass you with His blessed angels, and so drive far away the evil spirit. Nothing is impossible with Him. Make proof of His power and love, and resolve, though you have failed before, now henceforth to fail no more. Let it encourage you to feel that every temptation overcome makes you stronger than you were before. 1 [Note: J. P. F. Davidson, Letters of Spiritual Counsel, 65.] It was my Time. The old hour struck, The ancient self without my leave— The old impatience came to pluck, How briskly at my sleeve! And one stood crying within my heart—
- 35. (It was notI)—“The strait is sore. Thy strength is small. So yield. Thy part Requires of thee no more.” Then to the god we do not know, Whose perfect name lies not within Our speech, all speechless in her woe My spirit fled, crying—“This is sin. Against his coming many times Thou gavest a secret, golden power.” Then sudden as the lark that climbs, I sang, and in that dolorous hour I stood with an immortal strength, Looked out upon the dangerous way, And singing trod its bitter length, Scatheless, as even a mortal may. 2 [Note: Mildred McNeal-Sweeney, Men of No Land, 56.]
- 36. (4) God isbeforehand to soften trouble.—With our cares, anxieties, daily duty—whatever is commonest, whatever is most exceptional—God is before us to make them bearable, and profitable. All our experiences whatsoever bring good to us, if we will have it. Life is a constant discovery of light and help and blessing of every kind, which are waiting us beforehand. It is not by chance that these things come there. They have all the marks of a provision made by One who knows what things we have need of. Let us be sure of it and fear nothing. Faith should recognize a friend even when sense fears a foe. And of everything that comes to meet us our hearts should be greatly able to say: “This also cometh forth from the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” As Washington Irving was passing a print window in Broadway, New York, one day, his eye rested on the beautiful engraving of Christus Consolator. He stopped and looked at it intently for some minutes, evidently much affected by the genuine inspiration of the artist in this remarkable representation of the Saviour as the consoler of sorrow-stricken humanity. His tears fell freely. “Pray get me that print,” said he; “I must have it framed for my sitting-room.” When he examined it more closely and found the artist’s name, “It’s by my old friend Ary Scheffer!” said he, remarking, further, that he had known Scheffer intimately, and knew him to be a true artist, but had not expected from him anything so excellent as this. I afterwards sent him the companion, Christus Remunerator; and the pair remained his daily companions till the day of his death. To me, the picture of Irving, amid the noise and bustle of noon in Broadway, shedding tears as he studied that little print, so feelingly picturing human sorrow and the Source of its alleviation, has always remained associated with the artist and his works. If Irving could enjoy wit and humour, and give that enjoyment to others, no other writer of books had a heart more tenderly sensitive than his to the sufferings and ills to which flesh is heir. 1 [Note: George Palmer Putnam, 268.] 2. God may be trusted to prepare our everlasting portion. “I go to prepare a place for you,” said Christ. Whatever hell be, it is not man’s environment. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. Whatever heaven be, it is man’s native place, prepared for him from the foundation of the world. And then within that kingdom, all made ready, there is to be the individual touch—“I go to prepare a place for you.” Of what kind that preparation is, eye hath not seen and ear hath never heard. All we know is that we shall be at home, and shall be welcomed by familiar hands. And if here the preparation is so wonderful that waits for the little child when it is born, how much more wonderful shall it all be when dying we are born into the glory. If love has been busy making ready here, shall love not also be making ready there? It is all our Father’s house of many rooms, and we but pass from one into the other. Robertson took an active part in the work of the revival movement of 1859, sometimes holding services in the open air, in the neighbouring mining village of Dreghorn, and in the opposite direction, near the Eglinton furnaces. Mr. Andrew James Symington describes one of these outdoor services. “When we
- 37. arrived at themanse,” he says, “we found that Robertson had gone to address a meeting of miners in the open air at their works, about a mile off. We followed, and got among the crowd of listeners. The sermon was a remarkable one, as simple in its telling illustrations as it was powerful in the enforcement of truth. Rarely have I heard such an earnest flow of impassioned eloquence—one could have heard a pin fall— and the begrimed audience, spellbound, hung on his every word. The theme was ‘mansions prepared,’ and the subject was approached and opened up by an allusion to the coming November ‘term’ time—to those who were going to ‘flit’—and he asked them if they had yet looked out other houses to which they would go. Then, as to our abode on earth, he said, we were all tenants-at-will. But our heavenly Father had prepared, not cabins or houses, but mansions for us. These were freely offered, and why should we anxiously look before us to the habitations of a few short years, and yet think so little of the heavenly mansions, prepared from before the foundation of the world for all who love Him, for Christ’s sake, by Him who made these glorious stars, twinkling overhead in the blue? Then he pressed home the gospel offer, and, as an ambassador for heaven, invited all to come and receive their inheritance.” 1 [Note: A. Guthrie, Robertson of Irvine, 156.] Can the bonds that make us here Know ourselves immortal, Drop away, like foliage sear, At life’s inner portal? What is holiest below Must for ever live and grow. I shall love the angels well, After I have found them In the mansions where they dwell, With the glory round them:
- 38. But at first,without surprise, Let me look in human eyes. Step by step our feet must go Up the holy mountain; Drop by drop within us flow Life’s unfailing fountain. Angels sing with crowns that burn: We shall have our song to learn. He who on our earthly path Bids us help each other— Who His Well-beloved hath Made our Elder Brother— Will but clasp the chain of love Closer, when we meet above. Therefore dread I not to go
- 39. O’er the SilentRiver. Death, thy hastening oar I know; Bear me, Thou Life-giver, Through the waters, to the shore, Where mine own have gone before! 1 [Note: Lucy Larcom.] As you ascend the Stelvio Pass from the Italian side, you travel through wild, majestic scenery. One moment you are lost in admiration of the engineering skill that carried the zigzag road along the mountain-side; another, lingering by a waterfall, or caught by the vista of some retreating valley, the ruin of an avalanche, or the dazzling sheen of the encircling snow. But the road is nothing to the top of the pass; it hides the secret that awaits you. It is impossible to forget the thrill of emotion when we touched the summit of the pass, and the glorious secret stood disclosed. It had taken hours to ascend, and then, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, a marvellous panorama of mountain and glacier burst on the eye, and Austria lay in the abyss at our feet. This present life is like crossing the Stelvio. We are going towards the glorious secret, but meantime the way hides it. The more we think of the land within the veil, the more we must look forward to the top of the pass, when we shall see the secret for ourselves. It is ready, as Peter writes, to be revealed. When we behold it, shall we not adore the loving-kindness of Him who hid that He might reveal, in whose light it is ours now to see light clearly? 1 [Note: A. Philip, The Father’s Hand, 91.] A famous city in the East has triple walls. Within the huge, strong gates of the first wall the trading and mercantile populations dwell; within the gates of the second wall the space is reserved for tribesmen who are akin to the reigning house; and within the gates of the innermost wall nestle palace and park and imperial pleasure-grounds. The first gate to which Christ holds the key looks forth into infinite vistas. The gospel opportunity gives access into a new standing-ground of privilege, and through the new standing- ground passes a highway into the favoured and sacred sphere, where dwell members of a royal and priestly race, and through this sphere approach is at last made to the blessed and glorious realms beyond the angel-guarded gates. 2 [Note: T. G. Selby, The Divine Craftsman, 80.]
- 40. 4 He asked youfor life, and you gave it to him— length of days, for ever and ever. 1.BARNES, “He asked life of thee - An expression similar to this occurs in Psa_61:5-6, “For thou, O God, hast heard my vows;...Thou wilt prolong the king’s life, and his years to many generations.” The expression in both cases implies that there had been a prayer for “life,” as if life were in danger. The expression itself would be applicable to a time of sickness, or to danger of any kind, and here it is used doubtless in reference to the exposure of life in going into battle, or in going forth to war. In this apprehended peril he prayed that God would defend him. He earnestly sought protection as he went forth to the perils of war. And thou gavest it him - Thou didst hear and answer his prayer. He was saved from danger. Even length of days forever and ever - Thou didst grant him more than he asked. He sought life for himself; thou bast not only granted that, but hast granted to him the assurance that he should live in his posterity to all generations. The idea is, that there would be an indefinite contination of his race. His posterity would occupy his throne, and there would be no end to his reign thus prolonged. Beyond all his petitions and his hopes, God bad given the assurance that his reign would be permanent and enduring. We cannot suppose that he understood this as if it were a promise made to him personally, that “he” would live and would occupy the throne forever; but the natural interpretation is that which would refer it to his posterity, and to the perpetuity of the reign of his family or descendants. A similar promise occurs elsewhere: 2Sa_7:13, 2Sa_7:16; compare the notes at Psa_18:50. It is by no means an uncommon thing that God gives us more than we asked in our prayers. The offering of prayer is not only the means of securing the blessing which we asked, but also often of securing much more important blessings which we did not ask. If the expression were allowable it might be said that the prayer “suggested” to the divine mind the conferring of all needed blessings, or it indicates such a state of mind on the part of him who prays that God “takes occasion” to confer blessings which were not asked; as a request made by a child to a parent for a specific favor is followed not only by granting “that” favor, but by bestowing others of which the child did not think. The state of mind on the part of the child was such as to “dispose” the parent to grant much larger blessings. 2. CLARKE, “He asked life of thee - This verse has caused some interpreters to understand the Psalm of Hezekiah’s sickness, recovery, and the promised addition to his life of fifteen years; but it may be more literally understood of the Messiah, of whom David was the type, and in several respects the representative.
- 41. 3, GILL, “Heasked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,.... Both for himself, as man, when he was about to die, that he might be raised to life again, which was granted him; and for his people, that they might live spiritually and eternally, and accordingly life is given to him for them; and he has power to give it to as many as the Father has given him, Joh_17:2; even length of days for ever and ever; the life he has for himself as man is what will ever continue; he will die no more, death will have no more dominion over him; he will live for evermore, and that to make intercession for his members, Rom_6:9; and the life which is granted them at his request is an everlasting one, both as to body and soul; for though they die as other men, they shall live again in the resurrection of the just, and never die more, but shall be like the angels in heaven; and as for the second death, that shall not harm them, nor have any power over them; they will live and reign with Christ for ever. 4. HENRY, “That God had assured him of the perpetuity of his kingdom, and therein had done more for him than he was able either to ask or think (Psa_21:4): “When he went forth upon a perilous expedition he asked his life of thee, which he then put into his hand, and thou not only gavest him that, but withal gavest him length of days for ever and ever, didst not only prolong his life far beyond his expectation, but didst assure him of a blessed immortality in a future state and of the continuance of his kingdom in the Messiah that should come of his loins.” See how God's grants often exceed our petitions and hopes, and infer thence how rich he is in mercy to those that call upon him. See also and rejoice in the length of the days of Christ's kingdom. He was dead, indeed, that we might live through him; but he is alive, and lives for evermore, and of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end; and because he thus lives we shall thus live also. 5. CALVIN, “4.He asked life from thee. This verse confirms what I have formerly said, that this psalm is not to be limited to the person of any one man. David’ life, it is true, was prolonged to an advanced period, so that, when he departed from this world, he was an old man, and full of days; but the course of his life was too short to be compared to this length of days, which is said to consist of many ages. Even if we reckon the time from the commencement of David’ reign to the captivity of Babylon, this length of days will not be made up and completed in all David’ successors. David, therefore, without doubt, comprehends the Eternal King. There is here a tacit comparison between the beginnings of this kingdom, which were obscure and contemptible, or rather which were fraught with the most grievous perils, and which bordered on despair; and the incredible glory which followed, when God, exempting it from the common lot of other kingdoms, elevated it almost above the heavens. For it is no ordinary commendation of this kingdom, when it is said, that it shall endure as long as the sun and moon shall shine in the heavens, (Psa_72:1.) David, therefore, in saying that he asked life, tacitly points to the distressed
- 42. circumstances to whichhe had often been reduced; and the meaning is, Lord, since the time thou hast called thy servant to the hope of the kingdom by thy holy anointing, his condition has been such that he has accounted it a singular blessing to be rescued from the jaws of death; but now, he has not only, by thy grace, escaped in safety the dangers which threatened his life: thou hast also promised that his kingdom will be continued for many ages in his successors. And it serves not a little to magnify the grace of God, that he vouchsafed to confer on a poor and miserable man, who was almost at the point of death, not only his life, - when, amidst the dangers which threatened it, he tremblingly asked merely its preservations — but also the inestimable honor of elevating him to the royal dignity, and of transmitting the kingdom to his posterity for ever. Some expound the verse thus:— Thou hast given him the life which he asked, even to the prolonging of his days for ever and ever. But this seems to me a cold and strained interpretation. We must keep in view the contrast which, as I have said, is here made between the weak and contemptible beginnings of the kingdom, and the unexpected honor which God conferred upon his servant, in calling the moon to witness that his seed should never fail. The same has been exemplified in Christ, who, from contempt, ignominy, death, the grave, and despair, was raised up by his Father to the sovereignty of heaven, to sit at the Father’ right hand for ever, and at length to be the judge of the world. 5B. JAMISON, “(Compare 2Sa_7:13-16). The glory and blessedness of the king as head of his line, including Christ, as well as in being God’s specially selected servant, exceeded that of all others. 6. PULPIT, “He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. The "life" intended cannot be ordinary human life, since in David' s case this certainly did not continue "for ever and ever." We must understand the psalmist to have asked for continuance in his posterity, and this was guaranteed him in the message which God sent him by Nathan (2Sa_7:13, 2Sa_7:16). In the full sense the promise was, of course, Messianic, being fulfilled only in Christ, the God-Man, who alone of David' s posterity "liveth for ever." 7. SPURGEON, “He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.†The first words may suit King David, but the length of days for ever and ever can only refer to the King Messiah. Jesus, as man, prayed for resurrection and he received it, and now possesses it in immortality. He died once, but being raised from the dead he dieth no more. “Because I live, ye shall live also,†is the delightful intimation which the Saviour gives us, that we are partakers of his eternal life. We had never found this jewel, if he had not rolled away the stone which covered it.
- 43. 8. SBC, “Thisverse, which King David was taught by the Spirit of God to set down as the greatest possible happiness, carries to most of our ears rather a disappointing and modifying sound with it. For although it be true that every man is fond of life, yet it is certain that very few appear much concerned about life eternal. Such is their perverseness that what they love best in the world when God offers it to them as His own gift and in the very highest perfection, loses its value directly in their eyes. I. The chief reason is this, that men have got such a liking for the pleasures and profits of this bad world that without them the thought even of eternal happiness seems something dull and tiresome. No sensual or worldly-minded man can in earnest desire to go to such a place as heaven. Though he earnestly desires to live, yet he cares not for eternal life. Such is the miserable folly in which we lose ourselves when we set our hearts upon anything on this side the grave, rather than upon the glorious things which Jesus Christ bought for us with His own blood. II. Something of the same sort is the case with many of us in the sickness and death of dear friends. We ask life for them, and yet are disappointed when God gives them a long life, even for ever and ever. How absurd it is in a Christian to be much troubled at the shortness either of his friend’s life or his own. It would be as if labourers should complain of their employer for paying them their wages and sending them home before their day’s work was done. III. To ask life of God without a sincere purpose to repent of all our sins is only adding sin to sin; and to be discontented at His refusing us life or health, or any other outward blessing, is only showing that we do not indeed care for the blessing of eternal life. And if we do not care for it, we may be sure that we shall not enjoy it. Jesus Christ has taught us to pray, "Thy will be done." And what we pray for every day we must practise every hour. Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. iv., p. 98. Reference: Psalm 21—I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ, p. 380. 9. PULPIT, “Prayer. What is true of Christ is true, in a sense, of his people. Here we learn— I. THE TRUE NATURE OF PRAYER. It is the desire of the heart (Psa_21:2). This is frequently taught by doctrine and fact in Holy Scripture. Words are of the mouth, thoughts are of the heart. "Words without thoughts never to heaven go." It is asking of God for things agreeable to his will. While there is real "asking," there is also loving trust and acquiescence. God' s will is aye the best will. II. SOME LIGHT AS TO THE MANNER IN WHICH GoD ANSWERS PRAYER.
- 44. 1. By givingwhat is good. "Life." 2. In a higher sense than we thought of. "For ever." 3. In such a way as shall be for the greatest benefit to others as well as to ourselves. "Blessings" (cf. Paul, "more needful for you," Php_1:24). Hence faith is confirmed. Our hopes as to the future are sustained. Our hearts are soothed amidst the disappointments and trials of life, by the assurance that all is well. We ask "life" for ourselves; and God gives what he sees best. We ask "life" for our friends. Some child or loved one is in peril of death. We plead for him. We entreat that he may be spared. We continue with "strong crying and tears" to pray that his life, so precious and so dear, may be prolonged. But in vain. He dies. We are troubled. We mourn in bitterness of soul, as if God had forgotten to be gracious. But when we look at things aright, we find comfort. God has answered us in his own way. He knows what is best. Your little one has gone quickly to heaven. Your darling boy has been taken to a nobler field of service than earth. The "desire of your eyes" has been caught up into the glory of God. There they await us. Love never faileth. The fellowship in Christ endures for ever.—W.F. 5 Through the victories you gave, his glory is great; you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty. 1.BARNES, “His glory is great in thy salvation - Not in himself; not in anything that he has done, but in what thou hast done. The fact that thou hast saved him, and the manner in which it has been done, has put upon him great honor. He felt indeed that his condition as king, and as to the prospects before him, was one of great “glory” or honor; but he felt at the same time that it was not in “himself,” or for anything that he had done: it was only in the ““salvation”” which “God” had conferred upon him. Every child of God, in like manner, has great “glory” conferred upon him, and his “glory” will be great forever; but it is not in himself, or in virtue of anything that he has done. It is “great” in the “salvation” of God: (a) in the “fact” that God has interposed to save him; and (b) in the “manner” in which it has been done. The highest honor that can be put upon man is in the fact that God will save him. Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him -
- 45. (a) In makinghim a king; (b) in the victories and triumphs which thou hast now given him, placing on his head, as it were, a brighter crown; (c) in the promised perpetuity of his reign. So we may say of the ransomed sinner - the child of God - now. Honour and majesty have been laid on him: (a) in the fact that God has redeemed him; (b) in the manner in which this has been accomplished; (c) in his adoption into the family of God; (d) in the rank and dignity which he occupies as a child of God; (e) in the hope of immortal blessedness beyond the grave. 2. CLARKE, “His glory is great - But great as his glory was, it had its greatness from God’s salvation. There is no true nobility but of the soul, and the soul has none but what it receives from the grace and salvation of God. 3, GILL, “His glory is great in thy salvation,.... That is, the glory of the King Messiah is great in the Lord's salvation of him; delivering him from all his troubles and sorrows, and out of the hands of all his enemies, when he was raised from the dead, and was set at the right hand of God, and crowned with glory and honour: or the sense is, that his glory is great in the salvation of his people by him; it was his glory as Mediator to be appointed to be the Lord's salvation to them; and it being effected by him declares the glory and greatness of his person; and the nature of it is such as cannot fast of bringing glory to him; and such is the sense his people have of it, that it obliges them to ascribe the glory of it alone to him; honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him; which is to be understood not of the honour and majesty of his divine nature, which are essential to him, and not laid upon him by any; nor of the glory which the saints attribute to him on account of their salvation by him; but of that which his Father has put upon him, and lies in the introduction of him into his glory after his sufferings and death, and resurrection from the dead; in exalting him at his right hand above all creatures and things; in giving him all power in heaven and in earth; in putting all the gifts of the Spirit into his hands, which he receiving gave to men, and in ordaining him Judge of quick and dead. 4. HENRY, “That God had advanced him to the highest honour and dignity (Psa_21:5): “His glory is great, far transcending that of all the neighbouring princes, in the salvation thou hast wrought for him and by him.” The glory which every good man is ambitious of is to see the salvation of the Lord. Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him, as a burden which he must bear, as a charge which he must account for. Jesus Christ received from God the Father honour and glory (2Pe_1:17), the glory which he had with him before the worlds were, Joh_17:5. And
- 46. on him islaid the charge of universal government and to him all power in heaven and earth is committed. 5. K&D, “(Heb.: 21:6-7) The help of God turns to his honour, and paves the way for him to honour, it enables him-this is the meaning of. Psa_21:6 - to maintain and strengthen his kingship with fame and glory. הָוּ ִשׁל ַע used, as in Psa_89:20, of divine investiture and endowment. To make blessings, or a fulness of blessing, is a stronger form of expressing God's words to Abram, Gen_12:2 : thou shalt be a blessing i.e., a possessor of blessing thyself, and a medium of blessing to others. Joy in connection with (ת ֵא as in Psa_16:11) the countenance of God, is joy in delightful and most intimate fellowship with Him. ה ָ ִ,ח from ה ָד ָ,ח which occurs once in Exo_18:9, has in Arabic, with reference to nomad life, the meaning “to cheer the beasts of burden with a song and urge them on to a quicker pace,” and in Hebrew, as in Aramaic, the general signification “to cheer, enliven.” 6. PULPIT, “His glory is great in thy salvation. David' s glory exceeds that of all other living men, through the "salvation" which God vouchsafes him. That salvation is partly temporal, consisting in deliverance from his foes; partly of an unearthly and spiritual character, arising out of his relationship to the coming Messiah. It is from the latter point of view, rather than the former, that it is said, Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. 7. CALVIN, “5.His glory is great. By these words the people intimate that their king, through the protection which God afforded him, and the deliverances which he wrought for him, would become more renowned than if he had reigned in peace with the applause of all men, or had been defended by human wealth and human strength, or, finally, had continued invincible by his own power and policy; for thereby it appeared the more clearly that he had only attained to the royal dignity by the favor, conduct, and commandment of God. The believing Israelites, therefore, leave it to heathen kings to ennoble themselves by their own achievements, and to acquire fame by their own valor; and they set more value upon this, that God graciously showed himself favorable towards their king, (483) than upon all the triumphs of the world. At the same time, they promise themselves such assistance from God as will suffice for adorning the king with majesty and honor. 8. SPURGEON, “His glory is great in thy salvation.†Immanuel bears the palm; he once bore the cross. The Father has glorified his Son, so that there is no glory like unto that which surroundeth him. See his person as it is described by John in the Revelation; see his dominion as it stretches from sea to sea;
- 47. see his splendouras he is revealed in flaming fire. Lord, who is like unto thee? Solomon in all his glory could not be compared with thee, thou once despised Man of Nazareth! Mark, reader: salvation is ascribed to God; and thus the Son, as our Saviour, magnifies his Father; but the Son's glory is also greatly seen, for the Father glorifies his Son. “Honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.†Parkhurst reads, “splendour and beauty.†These are put upon Jesus, as chains of gold, and stars and tokens of honour are placed upon princes and great men. As the wood of the tabernacle was overlaid with pure gold, so is Jesus covered with glory and honour. If there be a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory for his humble followers, what must there be for our Lord himself? The whole weight of sin was laid upon him; it is but meet that the full measure of the glory of bearing it away should be laid upon the same beloved person. A glory commensurate with his shame he must and will receive, for well has he earned it. It is not possible for us to honour Jesus too much; what our God delights to do, we may certainly do to our utmost. Oh for new crowns for the lofty brow which once was marred with thorns! “Let him be crowned with majesty Who bowed his head to death. And be his honours sounded high By all thing that have breath 6 Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence. 1.BARNES, “For thou hast made him most blessed for ever - Margin, as in Hebrew, “set him” to be “blessings.” The expression in our translation, as it is now commonly understood, would mean that God had made him “happy” or “prosperous.” This does not seem to be the sense of the original. The idea is, that he had made him a blessing to mankind or to the world; or, that he had made him to be a source of blessing to others. Blessings would descend
- 48. through him; andthough in the consciousness of this fact he would be “happy,” and in that sense be “blessed,” yet the idea is rather that blessings would be imparted or scattered through him. Blessings would abound to others through his own reign; blessings through the reigns of those who should succeed him in the throne; blessings would be imparted to men as far as the import of the promise extended, that is, forever, Psa_21:4. The word “forever” here undoubtedly, as it was used by the Spirit of inspiration, was designed to refer to the eternal blessings which would descend on mankind through the Messiah, the illustrious descendant of David. How far David himself understood this, is not material inquiry. He was undoubtedly directed by the Spirit of inspiration to use such language as would fairly and properly express this. It is right, therefore, for us so to regard it, and so to interpret and apply it. Thou hast made him exceeding glad - Margin, as in Hebrew, “gladded him with joy.” The Hebrew phrase means, as it is expressed in our translation, that he had been made very glad, or very happy. The favors of God to him, alike in his protection and in the promises which had been made in reference to the future, were such as to make him happy in the highest degree. With thy countenance - With thy favor. By lifting the light of thy countenance upon him; or, as we should express it, by “smiling” upon him. See the notes at Psa_4:6. 2. CLARKE, “Thou hast made him most blessed for ever - Literally, “Thou hast set him for blessings for ever.” Thou hast made the Messiah the Source whence all blessings for time and for eternity shall be derived. He is the Mediator between God and man. Thou hast made him exceeding glad - Jesus, as Messiah, for the joy that was set before him, of redeeming a lost world by his death, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is for ever set down on the right hand of God. 3, GILL, “For thou hast made him most blessed for ever,.... Not as God, for as such he is over all blessed for ever, and not made so; but as man and Mediator; the words may be rendered, "thou hast set him to be blessings for ever" (z); which design the blessings which are laid up in Christ for his people, and which he imparts unto, them, and they are blessed with in him; so that he is made a blessing, or rather blessings to them; such as redemption to free them from, bondage, righteousness to justify them, sanctification to make them holy, wisdom to direct and guide them, and strength to assist and support them; through whom they have the forgiveness of sins, by whom they have peace with God, and from whom they receive all their joy and comfort, and at last eternal life and happiness; and all these are for ever, they are irreversible blessings, are never repented of, nor taken away: or this blessedness may be understood of that which Christ himself enjoys as man; which lies in his human nature being exalted to union with the Son of God; in being heard and helped in the day of salvation; in being raised from the dead, and glory given him; in being set at God's right hand, angels, authorities, and powers, being subject to him; and in seeing the travail of his soul with satisfaction: the particular instance of his blessedness follows; thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance; the glorious presence of God in heaven; Christ having done his work on earth ascended to heaven, where he was received by his Father with a cheerful countenance, was made to sit down on the same throne with him, being well pleased with his obedience, righteousness, and sacrifice; and being now in the presence of God, in which is fulness of joy, and at his right hand, where are pleasures for
- 49. evermore, the humannature of Christ is filled with an excess of joy; the words may be rendered, "thou hast made" or "wilt make him glad with joy (a), with thy countenance"; see Psa_16:11. 4. HENRY, “That God had given him the satisfaction of being the channel of all bliss to mankind (Psa_21:6): “Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever” (so the margin reads it), “thou hast made him to be a universal blessing to the world, in whom the families of the earth are, and shall be blessed; and so thou hast made him exceedingly glad with the countenance thou hast given to his undertaking and to him in the prosecution of it.” See how the spirit of prophecy gradually rises here to that which is peculiar to Christ, for none besides is blessed for ever, much less a blessing for ever to that eminency that the expression denotes: and of him it is said that God made him full of joy with his countenance. In singing this we should rejoice in his joy and triumph in his exaltation. 5. JAMISON, “made him most blessed — or set him “to be blessings,” as Abraham (Gen_12:2). with thy countenance — by sight of thee (Psa_16:11), or by Thy favor expressed by the light of Thy countenance (Num_6:25), or both. 6. PULPIT, “For thou hast made him most blessed for ever; literally, for thou settest him to be blessings for ever. Thou makest him, i.e; to be a perennial source of blessings to men. As all mankind were blessed in Abraham (Gen_12:3;Gen_18:18; Gen_22:18), i.e. in his seed, so were they all blessed in David' s seed. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance; i.e. with thy favour and protection, so frequently and so markedly extended to him. 7. CALVIN, “6.For thou hast set him to be blessings for ever. Some explain these words simply thus, That God had chosen David to be king, in order to pour upon him his blessings in rich abundance. But it is evident that something more is intended by this manner of speaking. It implies, that the king had such an exuberant abundance of all good things, that he might justly be regarded as a pattern of the greatness of the divine beneficence; or that, in praying, his name would be generally used to serve as an example of how the suppliant wished to be dealt with. The Jews were accustomed to speak of those being set to be a curse, who were rendered so detestable, and on whom the dreadful vengeance of God had been inflicted with such severity, that their very names served for cursing and direful imprecations. On the other hand, they were accustomed to speak of those being set to be a blessing, whose names we propose in our prayers as an example of how we desire to be blessed; as if a man for instance should say, May God graciously bestow upon thee the same favor which he vouchsafed to his servant David! I do not reject this
- 50. interpretation, but Iam satisfied with the other, which views the words as implying that the king, abounding in all kind of good things, was an illustrious pattern of the liberality of God. We must carefully mark what is said immediately after concerning joy: Thou hast gladdened him with joy before thy countenance (484) The people not only mean that God did good to the king, seeing he looked upon him with a benignant and fatherly eye, but they also point out the proper cause of this joy, telling us that it proceeded from the knowledge which the king had of his being the object of the Divine favor. It would not be enough for God to take care of us, and to provide for our necessities, unless, on the other hand, he irradiated us with the light of his gracious and reconciled countenance, and made us to taste of his goodness, as we have seen in the 4th Psalm, “ be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us, and we shall be saved.” And without all doubt, it is true and solid happiness to experience that God is so favorable to us that we dwell as it were in his presence. (484) Walford reads this clause — “ hast made him glad with the joy of thy presence.” 8. SPURGEON, “For thou hast made him most blessed for ever.†He is most blessed in himself, for he is God over all, blessed for ever; but this relates to him as our Mediator, in which capacity blessedness is given to him as a reward. The margin has it, thou hast set him to be blessings; he is an overflowing wellspring of blessings to others, a sun filling the universe with light. According as the Lord sware unto Abraham, the promised seed is an everlasting source of blessings to all the nations of the earth. He is set for this, ordained appointed, made incarnate with this very design, that he may bless the sons of men. Oh that sinners had sense enough to use the Saviour for that end to which he is ordained, viz., to be a Saviour to lost and guilty souls. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. He who is a blessing to others cannot but be glad himself; the unbounded good-doing of Jesus ensures him unlimited joy. The loving favour of his Father, the countenance of God, gives Jesus exceeding joy. This is the purest stream to drink of, and Jesus chooses no other. His joy is full. Its source is divine. Its continuance eternal. Its degree exceeding all bounds. The countenance of God makes the Prince of Heaven glad; how ought we to seek it, and how careful should we be lest we should provoke him by our sins to hide his face from us! Our anticipations may cheerfully fly forward to the hour when the joy of our Lord shall be shed abroad on all the saints, and the countenance of Jehovah shall shine upon all the blood-bought. So shall we “enter into the joy of our Lord.
- 51. So far allhas been the shout of them that triumph, the song of them that feast. Let us shout and sing with them, for Jesus is our King, and in his triumphs we share a part. 7 For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. 1.BARNES, “For the king - David, the author of the psalm. Trusteth in the Lord - All these blessings have resulted from his confiding in God, and looking to him for his favor and protection. And through the mercy of the Most High - The favor of Him who is exalted above all; the most exalted Being in the universe. The word “mercy” here is equivalent to “favor.” He had already experienced God’s favor; he looked for a continuance of it; and through that favor he was confident that he would never be shaken in his purposes, and that he would never be disappointed. He shall not be moved - He shall be firmly established. That is, his throne would be firm; he himself would live a life of integrity, purity, and prosperity; and the promises which had been so graciously made to him, and which extended so far into the future, would all be acomplished. The truth taught here is, that however firm or prosperous our way seems to be, the continuance of our prosperity, and the completion of our hopes and our designs, depend wholly on the “mercy” or the favor of the Most High. Confiding in that, we may feel assured that whatever changes and reverses we may experience in our temporal matters, our ultimate welfare will be secure. Nothing can shake a hope of heaven that is founded on his gracious promises as made through a Saviour. 2. CLARKE, “The king trusteth in the Lord - It was not by my skill or valor that I have gained this victory, but by faith in the strong protecting, and conquering arm of Jehovah. He shall not be moved - Perhaps this may be best understood of him who was David’s prototype. His throne, kingdom, and government, shall remain for ever. 3, GILL, “For the King trusteth in the Lord,.... That is, the King Messiah, as the Targum paraphrases it; he trusted in the Lord for his support and sustenance as man, for assistance and
- 52. help in histime of trouble, and for deliverance out of it; he trusted in the Lord that he would hear him for himself, and for his people; and that he would glorify him with all glory, honour, majesty, and blessedness, before spoken of; see Psa_22:8; and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved; God the Father is the most High; Christ is called the Son of the Highest, and the Spirit the power of the Highest, Luk_1:32; there is mercy with him, which is a ground of hope and trust, in his people, and also in the Messiah; see Psa_89:28; and some versions make the mercy of the most High to be what the King Messiah trusts in, reading the words (b), "for the King trusteth in the Lord, and in the mercy of the most High"; but the accent "athnach", which distinguishes the propositions, will not admit of it; but the sense is, that because of the mercy, grace, goodness, and faithfulness of God in making and keeping his promises, Christ would not be and was not moved from his trust and confidence in the Lord; nor shall he even be removed from his throne of glory on which he sits; nor from the glorious and happy state in which he is: nor will it ever be in the power of his enemies to displace him; for these in time will be destroyed by him, as the following words show. 4. HENRY, “The psalmist, having taught his people to look back with joy and praise on what God had done for him and them, here teaches them to look forward with faith, and hope, and prayer, upon what God would further do for them: The king rejoices in God (Psa_21:1), and therefore we will be thankful; the king trusteth in God (Psa_21:7), therefore will we be encouraged. The joy and confidence of Christ our King is the ground of all our joy and confidence. I. They are confident of the stability of David's kingdom. Through the mercy of the Most High, and not through his own merit or strength, he shall not be moved. His prosperous state shall not be disturbed; his faith and hope in God, which are the stay of his spirit, shall not be shaken. The mercy of the Most High (the divine goodness, power, and dominion) is enough to secure our happiness, and therefore our trust in that mercy should be enough to silence all our fears. God being at Christ's right hand in his sufferings (Psa_16:8) and he being at God's right hand in his glory, we may be sure he shall not, he cannot, be moved, but continues ever. 5. JAMISON, “The mediate cause is the king’s faith, the efficient, God’s mercy. 6. PULPIT, “For the king trusteth in the Lord. This is at once the ground and the result of God' s favour to him. God favours David because of his trust, and David trusts in God because of his favour. The result is that, through the mercy (or, loving-kindness, Revised Version) of the Most High he shall not be moved (comp. Psa_15:5; Psa_112:6). The words appear to denote a conviction, as Professor Alexander says, that David "would never be shaken from his standing in God' s favour." This conviction we may well conceive him to have felt, and to have regarded as one that might fittingly be expressed by his subjects, in whose mouth he placed it. But such a conviction is not always borne out by events, and David
- 53. confesses elsewhere, that,at any rate, once in his life, after he had said, "I shall never be moved," God "hid away his face from him," and he "was troubled" (Psa_30:6, Psa_30:7). 7. SPURGEON, “For the king trusteth in the Lord. Our Lord, like a true King and leader, was a master in the use of the weapons, and could handle well the shield of faith, for he has set us a brilliant example of unwavering confidence in God. He felt himself safe in his Father's care until his hour was come, he knew that he was always heard in heaven; he committed his cause to him that judgeth right, and in his last moments he committed his spirit into the same hands. The joy expressed in the former verses was the joy of faith, and the victory achieved was due to the same precious grace. A holy confidence in Jehovah is the true mother of victories. This Psalm of triumph was composed long before our Lord's conflict began, but faith overleaps the boundaries of time, and chants her while yet she sings her battle song. Through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.†Eternal mercy secures the mediatorial throne of Jesus. He who is Most High in every sense, engages all his infinite perfections to maintain the throne of grace upon which our King in Zion reigns. He was not moved from his purpose, nor in his sufferings, nor by his enemies, nor shall he be moved from the completion of his designs. He is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Other empires are dissolved by the lapse of years, but eternal mercy maintains his growing dominion evermore; other kings fail because they rest upon an arm of flesh, but our monarch reigns on in splendour because he trusteth in Jehovah. It is a great display of divine mercy to men that the throne of King Jesus is still among them: nothing but divine mercy could sustain it, for human malice would overturn it tomorrow if it could. We ought to trust in God for the promotion of the Redeemer's kingdom, for in Jehovah the King himself trusts: all unbelieving methods of action, and especially all reliance upon mere human ability, should be for ever discarded from a kingdom where the monarch sets the example of walking by faith in God. 8. CHARLES SIMEON, “TRUST IN GOD RECOMMENDED Psa_21:7. The king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. THERE is an inseparable connexion between the duties and privileges of a Christian. It is his privilege to enjoy composure under all difficulties and dangers; but this he cannot possess, unless he repose his confidence in God. Nevertheless in relying upon God his mind shall be kept in perfect peace. David had known the storms of trouble as much as any man; but in the midst of all maintained a full assurance of divine protection. He records his experience in the words before us.
- 54. We shall considerthem, I. According to their original import— This psalm, like many other parts of Scripture, has a double sense— In an historical view it speaks of David himself— [David had long been habituated to trust in the Lord. When he was yet a youth, he withstood a lion and a bear in dependence upon God [Note: 1Sa_17:36-37.]; nor feared to encounter him, who filled all the hosts of Israel with terror [Note: 1Sa_17:45; 1Sa_17:47.]. During the persecutions of Saul he still held fast his confidence; and, under the most imminent danger and accumulated trouble, encouraged himself in God [Note: 1Sa_30:6.]. Sometimes, indeed, his faith for a moment began to fail him [Note: 1Sa_27:1.]; but, on the whole, he was “strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Nor was he less sensible of his own insufficiency when he was a king: he still made the Most High his only and continual refuge [Note: Psa_91:2; Psa_56:2-4.]: and God approved himself faithful to his believing servant. There were indeed some occasions wherein David was greatly “moved [Note: 2Sa_15:30.]; ”but these only served more fully to evince the power and faithfulness of his God [Note: 2Sa_23:5.].] In a prophetical sense the words are applicable to Christ— [The whole psalm has an evident reference to the Messiah. Christ is that “King” who was raised to sit upon the throne of David [Note: Luk_1:32.]; and, as for every other good thing, so was he eminent for trust in God. He disregarded the plots of his most powerful enemies [Note: Luk_13:32.]; and, undaunted, renewed his visit to those who had lately sought to stone him [Note: Joh_11:8.]. He well knew that, till his hour was come, no power on earth could touch him [Note: Joh_19:11.]; nor was he ever left destitute of the divine protection. He seemed indeed to be “moved” when “he was crucified through weakness;” but he soon shewed how vain were the attempts of his adversaries. In his resurrection and ascension he “led captivity itself captive:” and he will in due season “put all his enemies under his feet.”] In both these views the text sets before us an instructive example— But we may consider it further, II. In reference to the present occasion—
- 55. The solemnities ofthis day prove that the former part of the text is exemplified also in our own monarch [Note: This was preached on occasion of the king going to St. Paul’s to present the colours taken in three different engagements with the French, Spanish, and Dutch fleets.]— We may therefore hope that the latter part also shall be accomplished in him— [The religious conduct of kings is of great importance to a nation. Their piety indeed is not more meritorious than that of others; but it is often more beneficial to the community than that of a private person. In the days of old, God paid especial regard to the prayers of princes [Note: 2Ch_14:11- 12; 2Ch_20:5-6; 2Ch_20:12; 2Ch_20:15; 2Ch_20:17; 2Ch_34:27 and Isa_37:21-22; Isa_37:33-34.]: even when they were of an abandoned character, he heard them [Note:1Ki_21:29.]. How much more may we hope that he will respect those offered to him this day! “The mercy of the Most High” has hitherto been signally manifested towards us, and if we trust in him it shall yet be continued to us. We say not indeed but that, as a nation, we may be greatly “moved.” It is certain that we deserve the heaviest calamities that can fall upon us; but we shall not be given up to ruin if we cry unto God for help. To the end of the world shall that promise be fulfilled to repenting nations [Note: Jer_18:7-8.].] Sure we are that they who trust in God for spiritual blessings shall never be disappointed— [Our thoughts on this occasion are not to be confined to temporal concerns. Much as we are interested in national mercies, the welfare of our souls is yet more important: yea, our spiritual progress is the great means of obtaining God’s protection to the state. Trust in God therefore, for spiritual blessings, is not foreign to the business of this day. Whatever our political sentiments may be, we are all equally concerned to seek acceptance through Christ. We all need to trust in the promises made to us in him; and, if we do, “the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against us.” Though we have been led captive by our lusts, “we shall have redemption through his blood;” and though we have still to conflict with sin and Satan, we shall be made more than conquerors. The mercy of the Most High shall assuredly be extended to us. Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than that promise fail of accomplishment [Note: 2Ch_20:20.].] Application— [Let us habituate ourselves to view the hand of God in all our mercies, and to trust in him both for personal and national blessings; but let us not think, we trust in God, when in reality we do not. Trust in God necessarily implies a renunciation of all creature-confidence: it also supposes that we sincerely commit our cause to God, and that we plead the promises made to us in his word. If we seek not the Lord
- 56. in this manner,we trust rather in chance, or in our own vain conceits, than in him. Let us then be earnest in our applications at the throne of grace. Let us be exceeding thankful to God for the mercies we have received, and in every difficulty, temporal or spiritual, confide in him. Thus shall we see an happy issue to our present troubles, and be monuments of God’s truth and faithfulness to all eternity.] 9. K&D, “(Heb.: 21:8-9) With this strophe the second half of the Psalm commences. The address to God is now changed into an address to the king; not, however, expressive of the wishes, but of the confident expectation, of the speakers. Hengstenberg rightly regards Psa_21:8 as the transition to the second half; for by its objective utterance concerning the king and God, it separates the language hitherto addressed to God, from the address to the king, which follows. We do not render Psa_21:8: and trusting in the favour of the Most High - he shall not be moved; the mercy is the response of the trust, which (trust) does not suffer him to be moved; on the expression, cf. Pro_10:30. This inference is now expanded in respect to the enemies who desire to cause him to totter and fall. So far from any tottering, he, on the contrary, makes a victorious assault upon his foes. If the words had been addressed to Jahve, it ought, in order to keep up the connection between Psa_21:9 and Psa_21:8, at least to have been איביו and שׁנאיו (his, i.e., the king's, enemies). What the people now hope on behalf of their king, they here express beforehand in the form of a prophecy. א ָצ ָמְל (as in Isa_10:10) and א ָצ ָמ seq. acc. (as in 1Sa_23:17) are distinguished as: to reach towards, or up to anything, and to reach anything, attain it. Supposing ְל to represent the accusative, as e.g., in Psa_69:6, Psa_21:9 would be a useless repetition. 10. CALVIN, “7.For the king trusteth. Here again the pious Israelites glory that their king shall be established, because he relies upon God; and they express at the same time how he relies upon him, namely, by hope or trust. I read the whole verse as one sentence, so that there is but one principal verb, and explain it thus:- The king, as he places by faith his dependence on God and his goodness, will not be subject to the disasters which overthrow the kingdoms of this world. Moreover, as we have said before, that whatever blessings the faithful attribute to their king, belong to the whole body of the Church, there is here made a promise, common to all the people of God, which may serve to keep us tranquil amidst the various storms which agitate the world. The world turns round as it were upon a wheel, by which it comes to pass, that those who were raised to the very top are precipitated to the bottom in a moment; but it is here promised, that the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Christ of which it was a type, will be exempted from such vicissitude. Let us remember, that those only have the firmness and stability here promised, who betake themselves to the bosom of God by an assured faith, and relying upon his mercy, commit themselves to his protection. The cause or the ground of this hope or trust is at the same time
- 57. expressed, and itis this, that God mercifully cherishes his own people, whom he has once graciously received into his favor. 8 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes. 1.BARNES, “Thine hand shall find out - That is, Thou wilt find out - the hand being that by which we execute our purposes. This verse commences a new division of the psalm (see the introduction) - in which the psalmist looks forward to the complete and final triumph of God over “all” his enemies. He looks to this in connection with what God had done for him. He infers that he who had enabled him to achieve such signal conquests over his own foes and the foes of God would not withdraw his interposition until he had secured a complete victory for the cause of truth and holiness. In connection with the promise made to him respecting his permanent reign and the reign of his successors on the throne Psa_21:4, he infers that God would ultimately subdue the enemies of truth, and would set up his kingdom over all. All thine enemies - However they may attempt to conceal themselves - however they may evade the efforts to subdue them - yet they shall “all” be found out and overcome. As this was intended by the Spirit of inspiration, it undoubtedly refers to the final triumph of truth on the earth, or to the fact that the kingdom of God will be set up over all the world. All that are properly ranked among the enemies of God - all that are in any way opposed to him and to his reign - will be found out and conquered. All the worshippers of idols - all the enemies of truth - all the rejecters of revelation - all the workers of iniquity, - all that are infidels or scoffers - shall be found out and subdued. Either by being made to yield to the claims of truth, and thus becoming the friends of God, or by being cut off and punished for their sins - they will be all so overcome that God shall reign over all the earth. An important truth is further taught here, to wit, that no enemy of God can escape him. There is no place to which he can flee where God will not find him. “There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves,” Job_34:22. Thy right hand - See the notes at Psa_17:7. Those that hate thee - All thine enemies.
- 58. 2. CLARKE, “Thinehand shall find out - Thy uncontrollable power shall find out all thine enemies, wheresoever hidden or howsoever secret. God knows the secret sinner, and where the workers of iniquity hide themselves. 3, GILL, “Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies,.... The Jews, that would not have him to reign over them, who crucified him and persecuted his apostles; the Gentiles, who were also concerned in his death; the Roman emperors, who persecuted the Christians, and are signified by the red dragon that waited to devour the man child when brought forth by the woman, the church, Rev_12:3; and also the Papists, the followers of the man of sin, who oppose Christ in his offices and grace, and are the enemies of his witnesses, and of his interest; and besides these there are many professors of religion who are enemies of Christ, either doctrinally or practically; to whom may be added, the devil and his angels, and all those who are the children of him and are influenced by him: these the hand of Christ will find out sooner or later; for the words are an address to the King Messiah, who being omniscient knows where all his enemies are, and where to find them; and being omnipotent he will lay hold upon them, and hold them, and none shall escape from him; his hand of vengeance shall fall upon them, and he shall inflict righteous and deserved punishment on them; and this shall be the case of "all" of them, none will be able to hide themselves in secret places from him. This has been in part verified in the Jewish nation at the destruction of Jerusalem, when wrath came upon that people to the uttermost for their treatment of the Messiah; and in the Pagan empire, when it was demolished, and kings and great men in vain called to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb, Rev_6:15; and will have a further accomplishment in the antichristian states and kingdoms, when the vials of God's wrath shall be poured out upon them; and especially at the battle of Armageddon, when Christ will avenge himself, and get rid of all his enemies at once; and will have its final accomplishment in all wicked men and devils at the day of judgment, when all Christ's enemies will be found out by him, whether open or secret, and receive their just punishment; thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee; this is the same with the former clause, and is repeated for the further certainty and greater confirmation of the thing; and "the right hand" is mentioned as expressive of the mighty power of the Lord. The Chaldee paraphrase renders it, "the vengeance of thy right hand". 4. HENRY, “They are confident of the destruction of all the impenitent implacable enemies of David's kingdom. The success with which God had blessed David's arms hitherto was an earnest of the rest which God would give him from all his enemies round about, and a type of the total overthrow of all Christ's enemies who would not have him to reign over them. Observe, 1. The description of his enemies. They are such as hate him, Psa_21:8. They hated David because God had set him apart for himself, hated Christ because they hated the light; but both were hated without any just cause, and in both God was hated, Joh_15:23, Joh_15:25. 2. The designs of his enemies (Psa_21:11): They intended evil against thee, and imagined a mischievous device; they
- 59. pretended to fightagainst David only, but their enmity was against God himself. Those that aimed to un-king David aimed, in effect, to un-God Jehovah. What is devised and designed against religion, and against the instruments God raises up to support and advance it, is very evil and mischievous, and God takes it as devised and designed against himself and will so reckon for it. (3.) The disappointment of them: “They devise what they are not able to perform,” Psa_21:11. Their malice is impotent, and they imagine a vain thing, Psa_2:1. (4.) The discovery of them (Psa_21:8): “Thy hand shall find them out. Though ever so artfully disguised by the pretences and professions of friendship, though mingled with the faithful subjects of this kingdom and hardly to be distinguished from them, though flying from justice and absconding in their close places, yet thy hand shall find them out wherever they are.” There is no escaping God's avenging eye, no going out of the reach of his hand; rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last than fig-leaves were at first. 5. JAMISON, “The address is now made to the king. hand — denotes power, and right hand — a more active and efficient degree of its exercise. find out — reach, lay hold of, indicating success in pursuit of his enemies. 6. PULPIT, “In this second portion of the psalm, the people address themselves to David, anticipating future glories for him. "Having shown what God would do for his anointed, the psalm now describes what the latter shall accomplish through Divine assistance" (Alexander). Past success is taken as a guarantee of victory over all other enemies. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies; i.e. "shall reach them, attain them, punish them". Thy right hand (the hand of greater power) shall find out those that hate thee; and, of' course, punish them severely. 7. SPURGEON, “Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. The destruction of the wicked is a fitting subject for joy to the friends of righteousness; hence here, and in most scriptural Songs, it is noted with calm thanksgiving. Thou hast put down the mighty from their seats,†is a note of the same song which sings,and hast exalted them of low degree.†We pity the lost for they are men, but we cannot pity them as enemies of Christ. None can escape from the wrath of the victorious King, nor is it desirable that they should. Without looking for his flying foes he will find them with his hand, for his presence is about and around them. In vain shall any hope for escape, he will find
- 60. out all, andbe able to punish all, and that too with the ease and rapidity which belong to the warrior's right hand. The finding out relates, we think, not only to the discovery of the hiding-places of the haters of God, but to the touching of them in their tenderest parts, so as to cause the severest suffering. When he appears to judge the world hard hearts will be subdued into terror, and proud spirits humbled into shame. He who has the key of human nature can touch all its springs at his will, and find out the means of bringing the utmost confusion and terror upon those who aforetime boastfully expressed their hatred of him. 8. CALVIN, “8.Thy hand shall find. Hitherto the internal happiness of the kingdom has been described. Now there follows, as it was necessary there should, the celebration of its invincible strength against its enemies. What is said in this verse is of the same import as if the king had been pronounced victorious over all his enemies. I have just now remarked, that such a statement is not superfluous; for it would not have been enough for the kingdom to have flourished internally, and to have been replenished with peace, riches, and abundance of all good things, had it not also been well fortified against the attacks of foreign enemies. This particularly applies to the kingdom of Christ, which is never without enemies in this world. True, it is not always assailed by open war, and there is sometimes granted to it a period of respite; but the ministers of Satan never lay aside their malice and desire to do mischief, and therefore they never cease to plot and to endeavor to accomplish the overthrow of Christ’ kingdom. It is well for us that our King, who lifts up his hand as a shield before us to defend us, is stronger than all. As the Hebrew word ,מצא matsa, which is twice repeated, and which we have translated, to find, sometimes signifies to suffice; and, as in the first clause, there is prefixed to the word ,כל kal, which signifies all, the letter ,ל lamed, which signifies for, or against, and which is not prefixed to the Hebrew word which is rendered those that hate thee; some expositors, because of this diversity, explain the verse as if it had been said, Thy hand shall be able for all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thus the sentence will ascend by degrees, — Thy hand shall be able to withstand, thy right hand shall lay hold upon thy enemies, so that they shall not escape destruction. 9 When you appear for battle, you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace.
- 61. The LORD willswallow them up in his wrath, and his fire will consume them. 1.BARNES, “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger - Thou shalt consume or destroy them, “as if” they “were” burned in a heated oven. Or, they shall burn, as if they were a flaming oven; that is, they would be wholly consumed. The word rendered “oven” - תנור tannur - means either an “oven” or a “furnace.” It is rendered “furnace and furnaces” in Gen_15:17; Neh_3:11; Neh_12:38; Isa_31:9; and, as here, “oven” or “ovens,” in Exo_8:3; Lev_2:4; Lev_7:9; Lev_11:35; Lev_26:26; Lam_5:10; Hos_7:4, Hos_7:6-7; Mal_4:1. It does not occur elsewhere. The oven among the Hebrews was in the form of a large “pot,” and was heated from within by placing the wood inside of it. Of course, while being heated, it had the appearance of a furnace. The meaning here is that the wicked would be consumed or destroyed “as if” they were such a burning oven; as if they were set on fire, and burned up. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath - The same idea of the utter destruction of the wicked is here presented under another form - that they would be destroyed as if the earth should open and swallow them up. Perhaps the allusion in the language is to the case of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Num_16:32; compare Psa_106:17. And the fire shall devour them - The same idea under another form. The wrath of God would utterly destroy them. That wrath is often represented under the image of “fire.” See Deu_4:24; Deu_32:22; Psa_18:8; Mat_13:42; Mat_18:8; Mat_25:41; Mar_9:44; 2Th_1:8. Fire is the emblem by which the future punishment of the wicked is most frequently denoted. 2. CLARKE, “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven - By thy wrath they shall be burnt up, and they shall be the means of consuming others. One class of sinners shall, in God’s judgments, be the means of destroying another class; and at last themselves shall be destroyed. 3, GILL, “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven,.... Some think the allusion is to David's causing the Ammonites to pass through the brick kiln, 2Sa_12:31; others to the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah: it represents what a severe punishment shall be inflicted on the enemies of Christ; they shall be cast into a fiery oven, or furnace of fire, as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were by the order of Nebuchadnezzar; so some render the words, "thou shalt put them into a fiery oven", ,כ "as", being put for ,ב "into" (c): wicked men are as dry trees, as stubble, as thorns or briers, and are fit fuel for a fiery oven or furnace; by which is meant the wrath and fury of God, which is poured forth as fire; and this has had its fulfilment in part in the Jews at Jerusalem's destruction; when that day of the Lord burned like an oven, and the proud and haughty Jews, and who dealt wickedly by Christ, were burned up in it, Mal_4:1; and will have an additional accomplishment when the whore of Babylon shall be burnt with fire, and when the beast and false prophet shall be cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone; and still more fully at the general conflagration, when will be the perdition of ungodly men, and the earth and all that is therein shall be burnt up; and especially when all wicked men and devils
- 62. shall be castinto the lake and furnace of fire, where will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; see Rev_17:16. This will be in the time of thine anger, or "of thy countenance" (d); not his gracious, but his angry countenance; when he shall put on a fierce look, and appear as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and stir up all his wrath; the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath; not that they shall be annihilated; their souls remain after death, and their bodies after the resurrection; and will be tormented with the fire of God's wrath for ever and ever; the phrase is expressive of utter ruin, of the destruction of soul and body in hell; see Psa_35:25; Jarchi takes it to be a prayer, "may the Lord swallow them up", &c. and the fire shall devour them; that is, as the Targum paraphrases it, the fire of hell; or, however, it designs the wrath of God, who is a consuming fire; or that fiery indignation of his, which shall devour the adversaries; which comes down upon them either in temporal judgments here, or in their everlasting destruction hereafter. 4. HENRY, “The destruction of them; it will be an utter destruction (Luk_19:27); they shall be swallowed up and devoured, Psa_21:9. Hell, the portion of all Christ's enemies, is the complete misery both of body and soul. Their fruit and their seed shall be destroyed, Psa_21:10. The enemies of God's kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same doom, and the whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and all opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down. The arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to flight, being levelled at the face of them, Psa_21:12. That will be the lot of daring enemies that face God. The fire of God's wrath will consume them (Psa_21:9); they shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire (Mat_13:42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they shall be their own tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find that even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies not. 5. K&D, “(Heb.: 21:10-11) Hitherto the Psalm has moved uniformly in synonymous dipodia, now it becomes agitated; and one feels from its excitement that the foes of the king are also the people's foes. True as it is, as Hupfeld takes it, that ת ֵע ְלָיךֶנ ָ sounds like a direct address to Jahve, Psa_21:10 nevertheless as truly teaches us quite another rendering. The destructive effect, which in other passages is said to proceed from the face of Jahve, Psa_34:17; Lev_20:6; Lam_4:16 (cf. ᅞχει θεᆵς ᅞκδικον ᆊµµα), is here ascribed to the face, i.e., the personal appearing (2Sa_17:11) of the king. David's arrival did actually decide the fall of Rabbath Ammon, of whose inhabitants some died under instruments of torture and others were cast into brick-kilns, 2Sa_12:26. The prospect here moulds itself according to this fate of the Ammonites. וּר ַת ְⅴשׁ ֵא is a second accusative to ּונ ֵית ִשׁ ְ , thou wilt make them like a furnace of fire, i.e., a burning furnace, so that like its contents they shall entirely consume by fire (synecdoche continentis pro contento). The figure is only hinted at, and is differently applied to what it is in Lam_5:10, Mal_4:1. Psa_21:10 and Psa_21:10 are intentionally two long rising and falling wave-like lines, to which succeed, in Psa_21:11, two short lines; the latter describe the peaceful gleaning after the fiery
- 63. judgment of Godthat has been executed by the hand of David. ּומָי ְר ִ , as in Lam_2:20; Hos_9:16, is to be understood after the analogy of the expression י ִר ְן ֶט ֶ ַה . It is the fate of the Amalekites (cf. Psa_9:6.), which is here predicted of the enemies of the king. 6. PULPIT, “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of his anger. Some suppose a reference to the event mentioned in 2Sa_12:31, "He (David) made them (the Ammonites) to pass through the brick- kiln.;" but the expression "fiery oven" is probably not intended to be taken literally, but metaphorically. Severe suffering is continually compared in Scripture to confinement in an oven or furnace (see Deu_4:20; 1Ki_8:51; Isa_48:10; Jer_11:4; Eze_22:18, Eze_22:20,Eze_22:22; Mal_4:1). And we may best understand the present passage to mean simply that in the time of his anger David would subject such of his enemies as fell into his hands to very terrible sufferings. (See, as showing what extreme severities David did sometimes inflict on captured enemies, 2Sa_12:31 which is to the point, as also is 1Ki_11:15,1Ki_11:16.) The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. The metaphor is followed up, with the addition that what was previously attributed to David alone is here declared to have the sanction of God. 7.SPURGEON, “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger.†They themselves shall be an oven to themselves and so their own tormentors. Those who burned with anger against thee shall be burned by thine anger. The fire of sin will be followed by the fire of wrath. Even as the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah went up to heaven, so shall the enemies of the Lord Jesus be utterly and terribly consumed. Some read it, “thou shalt put them as it were into a furnace of fire.†Like faggots cast into an oven they shall burn furiously beneath the anger of the Lord; “they shall be cast into a furnace of fire, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.†These are terrible words, and those teachers do not well who endeavour by their sophistical reasonings to weaken their force. Reader, never tolerate slight thoughts of hell, or you will soon have low thoughts of sin. The hell of sinners must be fearful beyond all conception, or such language as the present would not be used. Who would have the Son of God to be his enemy when such an overthrow awaits his foes? The expression, the time of thine anger,†reminds us that as now is the time of his grace, so there will be a set time for his wrath. The judge goes upon assize at an appointed time. There is a day of vengeance of our God; let those who despise the day of grace remember this day of wrath. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.†Jehovah will himself visit with his anger the enemies of his Son. The Lord Jesus will, as it were, judge by commission from God,
- 64. whose solemn assentand co-operation shall be with him in his sentences upon impenitent sinners. An utter destruction of soul and body, so that both shall be swallowed up with misery, and be devoured with anguish, is here intended. Oh, the wrath to come! The wrath to come! Who can endure it? Lord, save us from it, for Jesus' sake. 8. CALVIN, “9.Thou shalt put them as it were into a furnace of fire. (486) The Psalmist here describes a dreadful kind of vengeance, from which we gather, that he does not speak of every kind of enemies in general, but of the malicious and frantic despisers of God, who, after the manner of the giants (487) of old, rise up against his only begotten Son. The very severity of the punishment shows the greatness of the wickedness. Some think that David alludes to the kind of punishment which he inflicted upon the Ammonites, of which we have an account in the sacred history; but it is more probable that he here sets forth metaphorically the dreadful destruction which awaits all the adversaries of Christ. They may burn with rage against the Church, and set the world on fire by their cruelty, but when their wickedness shall have reached its highest pitch, there is this reward which God has in reserve for them, that he will cast them into his burning furnace to consume them. In the first clause, the king is called an avenger; in the second, this office is transferred to God; and in the third, the execution of the vengeance is attributed to fire; which three things very well agree. We know that judgment has been committed to Christ, that he may cast his enemies headlong into everlasting fire; but, it was of importance distinctly to express that this is not the judgment of man but of God. Nor was it less important to set forth how extreme and dreadful a kind of vengeance this is, in order to arouse from their torpor those who, unapprehensive of danger, boldly despise all the threatenings of God. Besides, this serves not a little for the consolation of the righteous. We know how dreadful the cruelty of the ungodly is, and that our faith would soon sink under it, if it did not rise to the contemplation of the judgment of God. The expression, In the time of thy wrath,admonishes us that we ought patiently to bear the cross as long as it shall please the Lord to exercise and humble us under it. If, therefore, he does not immediately put forth his power to destroy the ungodly, let us learn to extend our hope to the time which our heavenly Father has appointed in his eternal purpose for the execution of his judgment, and when our King, armed with his terrible power, will come forth to execute vengeance. While he now seems to take no notice, this does not imply that he has forgotten either himself or us. On the contrary, he laughs at the madness of those who go on in the commission of every kind of sin without any fear of danger, and become more presumptuous day after day. This laughter of God, it is true, brings little comfort to us; but we must, nevertheless, complete the time of our condition of warfare till “ day of the Lord’ vengeance” come, which, as Isaiah declares, (Isa_34:8) shall also be “ year of our redemption.” It does not seem to me to be out of place to suppose, that in the last clause, there is denounced against the enemies of Christ a destruction like that which God in old time sent upon Sodom and Gomorrah. That punishment was a striking and memorable example above all others of the judgment of God against all the wicked, or rather it was, as it were, a visible image
- 65. upon earth ofthe eternal fire of hell which is prepared for the reprobate: and hence this similitude is frequently to be met with in the sacred writings. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from mankind. 1.BARNES, “Their fruit - Their offspring; their children; their posterity, for so the parallelism demands. The “fruit” is that which the tree produces; and hence, the word comes to be applied to children as the production of the parent. See this use of the word in Gen_30:2; Exo_21:22; Deu_28:4, Deu_28:11, Deu_28:18; Psa_127:3; Hos_9:16; Mic_6:7. Shalt thou destroy from the earth - Thou shalt utterly destroy them. This is in accordance with the statement so often made in the Scriptures, and with what so often occurs in fact, that the consequences of the sins of parents pass over to their posterity, and that they suffer in consequence of those sins. Compare Exo_20:5; Exo_34:7; Lev_20:5; Lev_26:39; compare the notes at Rom_5:12-21. And their seed - Their posterity. From among the children of men - From among men, or the human family. That is, they would be entirely cut off from the earth. The truth taught here is, that the wicked will ultimately be destroyed, and that God will obtain a complete triumph over them, or that the kingdom of righteousness shall be at length completely established. A time will come when truth and justice shall be triumphant, when all the wicked shall be removed out of the way; when all that oppose God and his cause shall be destroyed, and when God shall show, by thus removing and punishing the wicked, that he is the Friend of all that is true, and good, and right. The “idea” of the psalmist probably was that this would yet occur on the earth; the “language” is such, also, as may be applied to that ultimate state, in the future world, when all the wicked shall be destroyed, and the righteous shall be no more troubled with them. 2. CLARKE, “Their fruit shalt thou destroy - Even their posterity shall be cut off, and thus their memorial shall perish. 3, GILL, “Their fruit shall thou destroy from the earth,.... Meaning the offspring of wicked men; the fruit of the womb, Psa_127:3; the same with their seed in the next clause:
- 66. and their seedfrom among the children of men; see Psa_37:28; which must be understood of such of their seed, and offspring as are as they were when born; are never renewed and sanctified, but are like their parents; as the Jews were, their parents were vipers, and they were serpents, the generation of them; and were the children of the devil, and did his works: now these passages had their accomplishment in the Jews, when the day of God's wrath burnt them up, and left them neither root nor branch, Mal_4:1; and in the Pagan empire, when every mountain and island were moved out of their places, and the Heathen perished out of the land, Rev_6:14; and will be further accomplished when the Lord shall punish the wicked woman Jezebel, the antichristian harlot, and kill her children with death, Rev_2:23; see Psa_104:35. 4. HENRY, “ 5. JAMISON, “fruit — children (Psa_37:25; Hos_9:16). 6. PULPIT, “Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth; i.e. their offspring or progeny. Joab, by David' s orders, remained in Edom "until he had cut off every male" (1Ki_11:16). And their seed from among the children of men. The second clause, as so often, re-echoes the first; without adding anything to it. 7. SPURGEON, “Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth.†Their life's work shall be a failure, and the result of their toil shall be disappointment. That in which they prided themselves shall be forgotten; their very names shall be wiped out as abominable, “and their seed from among the children of men.†Their posterity following in their footsteps shall meet with a similar overthrow, till at last the race shall come to an end. Doubtless the blessing of God is often handed down by the righteous to their sons, as almost a heirloom in the family, while the dying sinner bequeaths a curse to his descendants. If men will hate the Son of God, they must not wonder if their own sons meet with no favor. 8. CALVIN, “10.Thou shalt destroy their fruit from the earth. David amplifies the greatness of God’ wrath, from the circumstance that it shall extend even to the children of the wicked. It is a doctrine common enough in Scripture, that God not only inflicts punishment upon the first originators of wickedness, but makes it even to overflow into the bosom of their children. (488) And yet when he thus pursues his vengeance to the third and fourth generation, he cannot be said indiscriminately to involve the innocent with the guilty. As the seed of the ungodly, whom he has deprived of his grace, are accursed, and as all are by nature children of wrath, devoted to everlasting destruction, he is no less just in exercising his severity towards the children than towards the fathers. Who can lay any thing to his charge, if he withhold
- 67. from those whoare unworthy of it the grace which he communicates to his own children? In both ways he shows how dear and precious to him is the kingdom of Christ; first, in extending his mercy to the children of the righteous even to a thousand generations; and, secondly, in causing his wrath to rest upon the reprobate, even to the third and fourth generation. (488) “Mais qu’ le fait mesme regorger au sein des enfans d’.” — Fr. See Isa_65:6. 11 Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed. 1.BARNES, “For they intended evil against thee - literally, “They stretched out evil.” The idea seems to be derived from “stretching out” or laying snares, nets, or gins, for the purpose of taking wild beasts. That is, they formed a plan or purpose to bring evil upon God and his cause: as the hunter or fowler forms a purpose or plan to take wild beasts or fowls. It is not merely a purpose in the head, as our word “intended” would seem to imply; it supposes that arrangements had been entered into, or that a scheme had been formed to injure the cause of God - that is, through the person referred to in the psalm. The purposes of wicked men against religion are usually much more than a mere “intention.” The intention is accompanied with a scheme or plan in their own mind by which the act may be accomplished. The evil here referred to was that of resisting or overpowering him who was engaged in the cause of God, or whom God had appointed to administer his laws. They imagined a mischievous device - They thought, or they purposed. The word rendered “mischievous device” מזמה me zimmah - means properly “counsel, purpose; then prudence, sagacity;” then, in a bad sense, “machination, device, trick.” Gesenius, Lexicon. Pro_12:2; Pro_14:17; Pro_24:8. Which they are not able to perform - literally, “they could not;” that is, they had not the power to accomplish it, or to carry out their purpose. Their purpose was plain; their guilt was therefore clear; but they were prevented from executing their design. Many such designs are kept from being carried into execution for the want of power. If all the devices and the desires of the wicked were accomplished, righteousness would soon cease in the earth, religion and virtue would come to an end, and even God would cease to occupy the throne. 2. CLARKE, “For they intended evil - Sinners shall not be permitted to do all that is in their power against the godly; much less shall they be able to perform all that they wish.
- 68. 3, GILL, “Forthey intended evil against thee,.... All evil, whether in thought or deed, if not immediately and directly, yet is ultimately against the Lord, whose law is transgressed, and who is despised and reflected upon as a lawgiver; all sin is an hostility committed against God, or against Christ, against the Lord and his Anointed, or against his people, who are all one as himself: the intention of evil is evil, and is cognizable by the Lord, and punishable by him: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform; not the death of Christ; that was indeed in itself a mischievous device of theirs, but that they performed, though they had not their end in it; they expected his name would then perish, and they should hear no more of him: but rather it respects his resurrection from the dead, they could not prevent, though they took all imaginable care that them might be no show of it; and when they found he was really raised from the dead, they contrived a wicked scheme to stop the credit of it, but in vain, Mat_27:63; and Jews and Gentiles, and Papists, have formed schemes and done all they can to root the Gospel, cause, and interest of Christ, out of the world, but have not been able to perform it. 4. JAMISON, “This terrible overthrow, reaching to posterity, is due to their crimes (Exo_20:5, Exo_20:6). 5. PULPIT, “For they intended evil against thee. Their destruction is brought upon them by their own selves. They plot against the people of God, and thus provoke God to anger, and cause him to deliver them into their enemy' s hand. It does not matter that they can effect nothing. The "intention" is enough. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. The inability is not so much from a deficiency of strength in themselves, as from the opposition offered to their schemes by God. The best-laid plans an powerless, if God wills to baffle them. 6. SPURGEON, “For they intended evil against thee.†God takes notice of intentions. He who would, but could not, is as guilty as he who did. Christ's church and cause are not only attacked by those who do not understand it, but there are many who have the light and yet hate it. Intentional evil has a virus in it which is not found in sins of ignorance; now as ungodly men with malice aforethought attack the gospel of Christ, their crime is great, and their punishment will be proportionate. The words “against thee†show us that he who intends evil against the poorest believer means ill to the King himself: let persecutors beware. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.†Want of power is the clog on the foot of the haters of the Lord Jesus. They have the wickedness to imagine, and the cunning to
- 69. devise, and themalice to plot mischief, but blessed be God, they fail in ability; yet they shall be judged as to their hearts, and the will shall be taken for the deed in the great day of account. When we read the boastful threatenings of the enemies of the gospel at the present day, we may close our reading by cheerfully repeating, “which they are not able to perform.†The serpent may hiss, but his head is broken; the lion may worry, but he cannot devour; the tempest may thunder, but cannot strike. Old Giant Pope bites his nails at the pilgrims, but he cannot pick their bones as aforetime. Growling forth a hideous the devil and all his allies retire in dismay from the walls of Zion, for the Lord is there. 7. CALVIN, “11.For they have spread out. In this verse David shows that the ungodly had deserved the awful ruin which he predicted would befall them, since they had not only molested mortal man, but had also rushed forth in the fury of their pride to make war against God himself. No man, as has been stated in our exposition of the second psalm, could offer violence to the kingdom of Israel, which was consecrated in the person of David, by the commandment of God, without making foul and impious war against God. Much more when persons directly attack the kingdom of Christ to overthrow it, is the majesty of God violated, since it is the will of God to reign in the world only by the hand of his Son. As the Hebrew word ,נטה natah, which we have translated to spread out, also sometimes signifies to turn aside, it may not unsuitably be here rendered either way. According to the first view the meaning is, that the wicked, as if they had spread out their nets, endeavored to subject to themselves the power of God. According to the second the meaning is, that for the purpose of hindering, and as it were swallowing up his power, (491) they turned aside their malice, so as to make it bear against it, just like a man who, having dug a great ditch, turned aside the course of some torrent to make it fall within it. The Psalmist next declares, that they devised a stratagem, or device, which would fail of its accomplishment. By these words he rebukes the foolish arrogance of those who, by making war against God, manifest a recklessness and an audacity which will undertake any thing, however daring. 12 You will make them turn their backs when you aim at them with drawn bow.
- 70. 1.BARNES, “Therefore shaltthou make them turn their back - Margin, “Thou shalt set them as a butt.” The word back also is rendered in the margin “shoulder.” The word translated “therefore” means in this placer or, and the rendering “therefore” obscures the sense. The statement in this verse in connection with the previous verse, is, that they would not be able to “perform” or carry out their well-laid schemes, “for” or “because” God would make them turn the back; that is, he had vanquished them. They were going forward in the execution of their purposes, but God would interpose and turn them back, or compel them to “retreat.” The word rendered “back” in this place - שׁכם shekem - means properly “shoulder,” or, more strictly, the “shoulder-blades,” that is, the part where these approach each other behind; and then the upper part of the back. It is not, therefore, incorrectly rendered by the phrase “thou shalt make them turn “the back.”” The expression is equivalent to saying that they would be defeated or foiled in their plans and purposes. When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings - Compare the notes at Psa_11:2. That is, when God should go forth against them, armed as a warrior. Against the face of them - Against them; or, in their very front. He would meet them as they seemed to be marching on to certain conquest, and would defeat them. It would not be by a side-blow, or by skillful maneuver, or by turning their flank and attacking them in the rear. Truth meets error boldly, face to face, and is not afraid of a fair fight. In every such conflict error will ultimately yield; and whenever the wicked come openly into conflict with God, they must be compelled to turn and flee. 2. CLARKE, “Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back - God can in a moment strike the most powerful and numerous army, even in the moment of victory, with panic; and then even the lame, the army which they had nearly routed, shall take the prey, and divide the spoil. Against the face of them - Thou shalt cause them to turn their backs and fly, as if a volley of arrows had been discharged in their faces. This seems to be the sense of this difficult verse. 3, GILL, “Therefore shall thou make them turn their back,.... Or flee and run away to private places, to hide themselves from the wrath of God and of the Lamb, though to no purpose; or "make them turn behind thy back": God will turn his back upon them, and be negligent and careless of them, and not regard them when they cry in their misery and destruction. Some Jewish interpreters (e) understand it of their being put together on one side, in one corner, and be separate from the people of God; to which sense the Targum inclines, rendering the word for "back" the "shoulder", which sometimes signifies unanimity and union, Zep_3:9; and thus, being all together by themselves, the wrath of God shall be poured forth upon them, and they shall be destroyed at once: so the Christians were, by the providence of God, brought out of Jerusalem before its destruction; and the saints will be called out of Babylon before its fall; and the goats, the wicked, will be separated from the righteous, and set together at Christ's left hand; for they shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous: but the best sense of the words is, "thou shalt set them for a butt" or (f) "heap"; or, as it is in the Hebrew text, a shoulder; a butt to shoot at being so called, because it is earth heaped up like a shoulder; see Job_16:12; and to this agrees what follows:
- 71. when thou shaltmake ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them; that is, direct the arrows of his wrath and vengeance right against them; see Psa_7:11. 4. HENRY, “The enemies of God's kingdom, in every age, shall fall under the same doom, and the whole generation of them will at last be rooted out, and all opposing rule, principality, and power, shall be put down. The arrows of God's wrath shall confound them and put them to flight, being levelled at the face of them, Psa_21:12. That will be the lot of daring enemies that face God. The fire of God's wrath will consume them (Psa_21:9); they shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire (Mat_13:42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace; they shall be their own tormentors; the reflections and terrors of their own consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule and save them, but rejected him and fought against him, shall find that even the remembrance of that will be enough to make them, to eternity, a fiery oven to themselves: it is the worm that dies not. 5. JAMISON, “turn their back — literally, “place them [as to the] shoulder.” against the face of them — The shooting against their faces would cause them to turn their backs in flight. 6. PULPIT, “Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back; literally, their neck (comp. Is. Psa_18:40). The meaning is simply, "Thou shalt put them to flight." When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. The Authorized Version, by supplying "when" and "thine arrows," expresses what the psalmist has left to the intelligence of the reader. The psalmist says, "Thou shalt put them to flight; thou shalt make ready upon thy strings against the face of them, no doubt meaning that the discharge of arrows would produce the hasty flight, but not saying it. 7. SPURGEON, “Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.†For a time the foes of God may make bold advances, and threaten to overthrow everything, but a few ticks of the clock will alter the face of their affairs. At first they advance impudently enough, but Jehovah meets them to their teeth, and a taste of the sharp judgments of God speedily makes them flee in dismay. The original has in it the thought of the wicked being set as a butt for God to shoot at, a target for his wrath to aim at. What a dreadful situation! As an illustration upon a large scale, remember Jerusalem during the siege; and for a specimen in an individual, read the story of the death-bed of Francis Spira. God takes sure aim; who would be his target? His arrows are sharp and transfix the heart; who would wish to be wounded by them? Ah, ye enemies of God, your boastings will soon be over when once the shafts begin to fly!
- 72. 8. CALVIN, “12.Forthou wilt set them as a butt. As the Hebrew word ,שכםshekem, which we have rendered a butt, properly signifies a shoulder, some understand it in that sense here, and explain the sentence thus: Their heads shall be smitten with heavy blows, so that having their bodies bended, their shoulders shall appear sticking out. According to these interpreters, the subjugation of the enemies of God is here metaphorically pointed out. But there is another explanation which is more generally received even among the Jewish expositors, namely, that God will shut them up in some corner, and there keep them from doing mischief; (492) and they take this view, because the Hebrew word,שכם shekem, is often used to denote a corner, quarter, or place. As, however, the sacred writer, in the clause immediately following, represents God as furnished with a bow, ready to shoot his arrows directly in their faces, I have no doubt that, continuing his metaphor, he compares them to a butt, or mound of earth, on which it is customary to plant the mark which is aimed at, and thus the sense will flow very naturally thus: Lord, thou wilt make them as it were a butt against which to shoot thine arrows. (493) The great object which the Psalmist has in view is doubtless to teach us to exercise patience, until God, at the fit time, bring the ungodly to their end. (492) Kimchi and others read, “ wilt put them into a corner;” which has been understood in this sense, “ wilt thrust them into a corner, and then direct thine arrows against their faces.” — See Poole’ Synopsis Criticorum. (493) This is the view taken by Ainsworth, Castellio, Cocceius, Diodati, Dathe, Horsley, andFry. Horsley translates the verse thus:— “ thou shalt make them a butt for thine arrows; Thou shalt take a steady aim against them.” “ take,” says he, “ ,כונך [the word which he translates a steady aim, ] to be a technical term of archery, to express the act of taking aim at a particular object.” In our English version it is, Therefore thou shalt make them turn their backs.” In defense of this sense of ,שכם shekem, see Merrick’ Annotations. Gesenius takes the word in the same sense. Literally, “ bow-string.”
- 73. 13 Be exalted inyour strength, LORD; we will sing and praise your might. 1.BARNES, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength - This is the concluding part of the psalm (see the introduction), expressing a desire that God “might” be exalted over all his foes; or that his own strength might he so manifestly put forth that he would be exalted as he ought to be. This is the ultimate and chief desire of all holy created beings, that God might be exalted in the estimation of the universe above all other beings - or that he might so triumph over all his enemies as to reign supreme. So will we sing and praise thy power - That is, as the result of thy being thus exalted to proper honor, we will unite in celebrating thy glory and thy power. Compare Rev_7:10-12; Rev_12:10; Rev_19:1-3. This will be the result of all the triumphs which God will achieve in the world, that the holy beings of all worlds will gather around his throne and “sing and praise his power.” The “thought” in the psalm is that God will ultimately triumph over all his foes, and that this triumph will be followed by universal rejoicing and praise. Come that blessed day! 2. CLARKE, “Be thou exalted - Exalt thyself. O Lord - thy creatures cannot exalt thee. Lift thyself up, and discomfit thy foes by thine own strength! Thou canst give a victory to thy people over the most formidable enemies, though they strike not one blow in their own defense. God’s right hand has often given the victory to his followers, while they stood still to see the salvation of God. How little can the strength of man avail when the Lord raiseth up himself to the battle! His children, therefore, may safely trust in him, for the name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous flee into it, and are safe. Praise thy power - God is to receive praise in reference to that attribute which he has exhibited most in the defense or salvation of his followers. Sometimes he manifests his power, his mercy, his wisdom, his longsuffering, his fatherly care, his good providence, his holiness, his justice, his truth, etc. Whatever attribute or perfection he exhibits most, that should be the chief subject of his children’s praise. One wants teaching, prays for it, and is deeply instructed: he will naturally celebrate the wisdom of God. Another feels himself beset with the most powerful adversaries, with the weakest of whom he is not able to cope: he cries to the Almighty God for strength; he is heard, and strengthened with strength in his soul. He therefore will naturally magnify the all-conquering power of the Lord. Another feels himself lost, condemned, on the brink of hell; he calls for mercy, is heard and saved: mercy, therefore, will be the chief subject of his praise, and the burden of his song. The old Anglo-Scottish Psalter says, We sal make knowen thi wordes in gude wil and gude werk, for he synges well that wirkes well. For thi, sais he twise, we sal syng; ane tyme for the luf of hert; another, for the schewyng of ryghtwisness, til ensampil.
- 74. 3, GILL, “Bethou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength,.... Exert thy strength, display thy power in such manner, that thou mayest be exalted and magnified on account of it. This was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem, when the kingdom of God came with power, Mar_9:1; and will be again when Babylon shall be utterly destroyed, because the Lord is strong who judgeth her, Rev_18:8; and finally at the day of judgment, when the wicked will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, 2Th_1:9; so will we sing and praise thy power; forms of such songs of praise may be seen, as Cocceius observes, in Rev_11:15; at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, at the victory over the beast, and his image, and at the destruction of Babylon. 4. HENRY, “In this confidence they beg of God that he would still appear for his anointed (Psa_21:13), that he would act for him in his own strength, by the immediate operations of his power as Lord of hosts and Father of spirits, making little use of means and instruments. And, 1. Hereby he would exalt himself and glorify his own name. “We have but little strength, and are not so active for thee as we should be, which is our shame; Lord, take the work into thy own hands, do it, without us, and it will be thy glory.” 2. Hereupon they would exalt him: “So will we sing, and praise thy power, the more triumphantly.” The less God has of our service when a deliverance is in the working the more he must have of our praises when it is wrought without us. 5. JAMISON, “The glory of all is ascribable to God alone. 6. PULPIT, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. The psalm, as already remarked, ends, as it began, with the praise of God. "Be thou exalted" means, "Be thou lifted up, both in thyself, and in the praises of thy people" (comp. Psa_18:46;Psa_46:10). So will we sing and praise thy power. We, at any rate, will do our part to exalt thee. Our tongues shall ever sing of the great deeds thou doest for us. 7. JAMES NISBET, “‘Be Thou exalted, Lord, in Thine own strength; so will we sing and praise The power.’ Psa_21:13 This psalm follows naturally on the preceding. In the former, prayer had been offered for the warrior king as he went forth to war, but now in the opening strains of this (1–7), the priests of the temple, and perhaps the people, celebrate his victory. Ah! tried and conflicting soul, as surely as thou hast uttered thy prayer for salvation thou shalt utter thy thanks for it. Was it asked that God should grant thee thy heart’s desire? (20:4). It shall be said ‘Thou hast given him’ (Psa_21:2).
- 75. I. How admirablydo these sweet words describe, not only the case of the Church militant, but also that of the Church triumphant!—Think of those whom you have loved and lost awhile, and then say of them Psa_21:2-6. Oh, when will that day come, when of us too those words so exuberant in their triumph will be true? Of how many of our sainted dead may we not say that, in answer to their faithful prayers, God hath made them most blessed for ever, making them glad with His countenance? II. But as the fire which ripens fruit consumes straw, so the same love which deals so tenderly with the saints is stern to punish all who oppose themselves.—Beware, O hardened sinner, lest in a moment thou be plunged into irretrievable ruin! Be thou exalted, O blessed Christ! in all coming ages, for Thy reign means joy and song to Thy saints. Illustrations (1) ‘The Targum and the Talmud understand this psalm of the King Messiah. In this, as in the last, the people come before God with matters which concern the welfare of their king; in the former with their wishes and prayers, in the latter with their thanksgivings and hopes in the certainty of a victorious termination of the war.’ (2) ‘A noble coronation psalm. It was sung throughout England by the over-trustful Presbyterians at the Restoration of Charles II. They afterwards mildly characterised it as a day when “the bitter was mingled with the sweet.” ’ (3) ‘Given the Messianic interpretation, it seems an irresistible conclusion that the group, from the twenty- first to the twenty-fourth inclusive, forms a connected whole—the twenty-first a thanksgiving for the victory of the King.’ 8. SPURGEON, “Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. A sweet concluding verse. Our hearts shall join in it. It is always right to praise the Lord when we call to remembrance his goodness to his Son, and the overthrow of his foes. The exaltation of the name of God should be the business of every Christian; but since such poor things as we fail to honour him as he deserves, we may invoke his own power to aid us. Be high, O God, but do thou maintain thy loftiness by thine own almightiness, for no other power can worthily do it. So will we sing and praise thy power. For a time the saints may mourn, but the glorious appearance of their divine Helper awakens their joy. Joy should always flow in the channel of praise. All the attributes of God are fitting subjects to be celebrated by the music of our hearts and voices, and when we observe a
- 76. display of hispower, we must extol it. He wrought our deliverance alone, and he alone shall have the praise. 9. K&D, “(Heb.: 21:14) After the song has spread abroad its wings in twice three tetrastichs, it closes by, as it were, soaring aloft and thus losing itself in a distich. It is a cry to God for victory in battle, on behalf of the king. “Be Thou exalted,” i.e., manifest Thyself in Thy supernal (Psa_57:6, 12) and judicial (Psa_7:7.) sovereignty. What these closing words long to see realised is that Jahve should reveal for world-wide conquest this ה ָבוּרְ, to which everything that opposes Him must yield, and it is for this they promise beforehand a joyous gratitude. 10. CALVIN, “13.Raise thyself, O Jehovah! The psalm is at length concluded with a prayer, which again confirms that the kingdom which is spoken of is so connected with the glory of God, that his power is reflected from it. This was no doubt true with respect to the kingdom of David; for God in old time displayed his power in exalting him to the throne. But what is here stated was only fully accomplished in Christ, who was appointed by the heavenly Father to be King over us, and who is at the same time God manifest in the flesh. As his divine power ought justly to strike terror into the wicked, so it is described as full of the sweetest consolation to us, which ought to inspire us with joy, and incite us to celebrate it with songs of praise and thanksgivings. Footnotes: a. Psalm 21:1 In Hebrew texts 21:1-13 is numbered 21:2-14. b. Psalm 21:2 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here. New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.