This psalm expresses a confident expectation of eternal life and happiness, founded on the evidence of true attachment to God. It expresses the deep conviction that one who loves God will not be left in the grave, and will not be suffered to see permanent “corruption,” or to perish in the grave, for... [ Continue Reading ]
PRESERVE ME, O GOD - Keep me; guard me; save me. This language implies that there was imminent danger of some kind - perhaps, as the subsequent part of the psalm would seem to indicate, danger of death. See Psalms 16:8. The idea here is, that God was able to preserve him from the impending danger, a... [ Continue Reading ]
O MY SOUL, THOU HAST SAID UNTO THE LORD - The words “O my soul” are not in the original. A literal rendering of the passage would be, “Thou hast said unto the Lord,” etc., leaving something to be supplied. De Wette renders it: “To Yahweh I call; thou art my Lord.” Luther: “I have said to the Lord.”... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT TO THE SAINTS THAT ARE IN THE EARTH - This verse also has been very variously rendered. Our translators seem to have understood it, in connection with the previous verse, as meaning that his “goodness,” or piety, was not of so pure and elevated a character that it could in any way extend to God... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR SORROWS SHALL BE MULTIPLIED - The word here rendered “sorrows - עצבוּת _‛__atsts__e__bôth_ - may mean either idols or sorrows. Compare Isaiah 48:5; Psalms 139:24; Job 9:28; Psalms 147:3. Some propose to render it, “Their idols are multiplied;” that is, many are the gods which others worship,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD IS THE PORTION OF MINE INHERITANCE - In contradistinction from idols. The margin here is, “of my part.” The word properly means “lot, portion, part;” and is applicable to the portion of booty or plunder that fell to anyone; or to the portion of land that belonged to anyone in the division o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LINES - The word used here refers to the “lines” employed in measuring and dividing land, Amos 7:17; 2 Samuel 8:2. Hence, the word comes to denote a portion of land that is “measured out” (or that is “surveyed off”) to anyone - his possession or property; and hence, the word refers to the condit... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BLESS THE LORD, WHO HATH GIVEN THE COUNSEL - Probably the reference here is to the fact that the Lord had counseled him to choose him as his portion, or had inclined him to his service. There is nothing for which a heart rightly affected is more disposed to praise God than for the fact that b... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SET THE LORD ALWAYS BEFORE ME - By night as well as by day; in my private meditations as well as in my public professions. I have regarded myself always as in the presence of God; I have endeavored always to feel that, his eye was upon me. This, too, is one of the certain characteristics of p... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE MY HEART IS GLAD - In view of this fact, that my confidence is in God alone, and my belief that he is my Protector and Friend. See the notes at Acts 2:26. AND MY GLORY REJOICETH - The Septuagint translate this, “my tongue,” and this translation is followed by Peter in his quotation of the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU WILL NOT LEAVE - The language used here implies, of course, that what is here called the soul would be in the abode to which the name hell is given, but “how long” it would be there is not intimated. The thought simply is, that it would not be “left” there; it would not be suffered to “rema... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WILT SHOW ME THE PATH OF LIFE - In this connection this means that though he was to die - to descend to the regions of the dead, and to lie down in the dark grave - yet there WAS a path again to the living world, and that that path would be pointed out to him by God. In other words, he would no... [ Continue Reading ]