_A.M. 3559. B.C. 445._ This Psalm is thought, by many commentators, to have been written by Nehemiah, Daniel, or some other prophet or holy man, in the time of the captivity, (see Nehemiah 1:3, &c.,) for his own use, and that of other pious persons, who lamented the desolation of Jerusalem, and the... [ Continue Reading ]
Title. _A prayer of the afflicted_, &c. It was composed by one who was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church of God, and for it; and it is calculated for an afflicted state, and intended for the use of others that maybe in similar distress. It is the fifth of those Psalms styled _Penitential.... [ Continue Reading ]
_My heart is withered like grass_ Which is smitten and withered by the heat of the sun, either while it stands, or after it is cut down. _So that I forget to eat my bread_ Because my mind is wholly swallowed up with the contemplation of my own miseries. _My bones cleave to my skin_ My flesh being qu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mine enemies reproach me all the day_ This my misery hath exposed me to the scorn of mine enemies, who do nothing but upbraid me with my calamities. _And they that are mad against me_ Or, _my slanderers_, as Dr. Waterland renders, מהוללי, _moholalai, are sworn against me_, Or, _they swear by me._ T... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have eaten ashes like bread_ That is, instead of eating my bread, I have laid down in dust and ashes. Or, dust and ashes are as constant and familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I cover my head with them; I sit, yea, lie down among them, as mourners often did, by which means the ashes might... [ Continue Reading ]
_My days are like a shadow_ Which “never continueth in one stay, but is still gliding imperceptibly on, lengthening as it goes, and at last vanisheth into darkness. The period of its existence is limited to a day at farthest. The rising sun gives it birth, and in the moment when the sun sets it is n... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt have mercy upon Zion_ Upon Jerusalem, or thy church and people; _for the set time is come_ The end of those seventy years which was the time fixed for the continuing of the Babylonish captivity: see Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:2. _For thy servants take pleasure in her stones... [ Continue Reading ]
_So the heathen shall fear the Lord_, &c. Shall have high thoughts of him and his people, and even the kings of the earth shall be affected with his glory. They shall think better of the church of God than they have done, when God, by his providence, thus puts honour upon it; and they shall be afrai... [ Continue Reading ]
_When the Lord shall build up Zion_ They take it for granted it would be done, for God himself had undertaken it; _he shall appear in his glory_ His glorious power, wisdom, and goodness shall be manifested to all the world. _He will regard the prayer of the destitute_ That is, of his poor, forsaken,... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he hath looked down_ Namely, upon us, and not as an idle spectator, but with an eye of pity and relief; _from the height of his sanctuary_ From his higher or upper sanctuary, namely, heaven, as the next clause explains it, which is called, God's _high and holy place, Isaiah 57:15_. _To loose th... [ Continue Reading ]
_He_ Namely, God, whom he considered as bringing these calamities upon them for their sins, and to whom therefore he applies for relief; _weakened my strength in the way_ That is, soon impaired the prosperity and flourishing condition of our church and commonwealth, in the course of our affairs. “Th... [ Continue Reading ]
But, _I said, O my God, take me not away_, &c. I prayed most earnestly to him, and said, _O my God_, who hast so graciously begun our deliverance, take me not away before it be completely finished, but let me see thy promise fulfilled, which thou, who diest not, as we do, I am sure, wilt not fail to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth_ The eternity of God looks both backward and forward: it is both without beginning and without end. The latter is affirmed and illustrated Psalms 102:24; Psalms 102:26, the former is implied in this verse. Thou hadst a being before the creation of t... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall perish_ Either as to the substance of them, which shall be annihilated, or as to their present form, fashion, and use, which shall be entirely changed: see the margin. The heavens and the earth, although they be the most permanent of all visible beings, and their continuance is often men... [ Continue Reading ]
_But thou art the same._ &c. “Amidst the changes and chances of this mortal life,” says Dr. Horne, “one topic of consolation will ever remain, namely, the eternity and immutability of God our Saviour, of him who was, and is, and is to come. Kingdoms and empires may rise and fall; nay, the heavens an... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children of thy servants shall continue_ Though the heavens and the earth perish, and though we, thy servants, _pine away in our iniquities_, according to thy righteous sentence and threatening, Leviticus 26:39, and die in captivity; yet, by virtue of thy eternal and unchangeable nature, and th... [ Continue Reading ]