INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 31 TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, A PSALM OF DAVID. This psalm, according to Arama, was composed by David when in Keilah; but, according to Kimchi and others, when the Ziphites proposed to deliver him up into the hands of Saul; and who, upon their solicitations, came down and surround... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THEE, O LORD, DO I PUT MY TRUST,.... Not in any creature, but in the Lord Jehovah; the Targum, "in thy Word"; the essential Logos, or Word, which was in the beginning with God, and was God, and so an equal object of faith, trust, and confidence, as Jehovah the Father: this act includes a trusting... [ Continue Reading ]
BOW DOWN THINE EAR TO ME,.... Which is said after the manner of men, who, when they give attention, and listen to anything, stoop, and incline the ear; and this for God to do, as he sometimes does, is wonderful condescending grace! DELIVER ME SPEEDILY; which shows that he was in great danger, and h... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU [ART] MY ROCK AND MY FORTRESS,.... What he prayed for he knew him to be, and to have been in times past, and could claim his interest in him; and therefore entreats that he would appear to be to him what he was in himself, and what he had been to him; THEREFORE FOR THY NAME'S SAKE LEAD ME,... [ Continue Reading ]
PULL ME OUT OF THE NET THAT THEY HAVE LAID PRIVILY FOR ME,.... The Ziphites, and Saul, and his men; the former intending treacherously to betray him, and the latter encompassing him about in order to take him; and such was his danger and difficulty, that he saw none but God could deliver him; and he... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THINE HAND I COMMIT MY SPIRIT,.... Either his life, as to a faithful Creator and Preserver, who was the God of his life, gave him it, and upheld his soul in it; or his soul, and the eternal salvation of it, which he committed into the hand of the Lord his Redeemer, where he knew it would be saf... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE HATED THEM THAT REGARD LYING VANITIES,.... Soothsaying and divination, as Aben Ezra and others think; made use of by kings, and generals of armies, to know when it was proper to go out to war, and what success they should have; see Ezekiel 21:21; but such men and their practices David abhorre... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BE GLAD, AND REJOICE IN THY MERCY,.... Both because of the nature of it, which is large and abundant, free and sovereign, from everlasting to everlasting, and is communicated in and through Christ, and is a good ground of hope and trust; and because of the effects of it, or what it has produc... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HAST NOT SHUT ME UP INTO THE HAND OF THE ENEMY,.... When in Keilah, in the wilderness of Ziph, and Maon, and encompassed about by Saul and his army, 1 Samuel 23:7; nor does the Lord suffer his people to be shut up under the power of sin and Satan, so that they cannot come forth in the exercise o... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE MERCY UPON ME, O LORD, FOR I AM IN TROUBLE,.... A sudden change of case and frame this! and so it is with the people of God; as soon as, out of one trouble, they are in another; these are what are appointed for them, and lie in their pathway to heaven, and are necessary; and under them it is qu... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MY LIFE IS SPENT WITH GRIEF, AND MY YEARS WITH SIGHING,.... Which shows the continuance of his troubles, and that his whole life had been, as it were, an uninterrupted series of sorrows; MY STRENGTH FAILETH BECAUSE OF MINE INIQUITY; this opens the source and spring of all his grief and trouble;... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS A REPROACH AMONG ALL MINE ENEMIES,.... This is a common case of the people of God; and though it may be the least of their afflictions, yet it is not grateful to the flesh; and it is as it is made: under divine supports saints rejoice, and take pleasure in reproaches, that they are counted wor... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM FORGOTTEN AS A DEAD MAN OUT OF MIND,.... Either by his friends, being out of sight, out of mind; as even the nearest relations and acquaintance are, in process of time, when dead, Ecclesiastes 9:5; or by the Lord; which shows the weakness of his faith, the uncomfortable frame he was in, through... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I HAVE HEARD THE SLANDER OF MANY,.... Both enemies and neighbours; FEAR [WAS] ON EVERY SIDE; his enemies were a "Magormissabib" to him, Jeremiah 20:3; encompassed him around, so that he was in fear from every quarter; WHILE THEY TOOK COUNSEL TOGETHER AGAINST ME; how to apprehend him, and what... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I TRUSTED IN THEE, O LORD,.... His faith revived again under all the discouraging views he had of things, and was exercised upon the Lord; he committed himself to him, believing he was able to help him in his time of trouble, and deliver him; I SAID, THOU [ART] MY GOD; he claimed his covenant i... [ Continue Reading ]
MY TIMES [ARE] IN THY HAND,.... And not in the hand of his enemies; as his time of life and death, which was only by the direction and appointment of God, was in his power, and fixed by him; nor could his enemies take away his life before his time, and without the will of his covenant God: the time... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE THY FACE TO SHINE UPON THY SERVANT,.... In which he prays for the gracious presence of God, the manifestations of himself unto him, the discoveries of his love, the enjoyment of him in Christ, communion with him, the comforts of his Spirit, and joys of his salvation; see Numbers 6:25; SAVE ME... [ Continue Reading ]
LET ME NOT BE ASHAMED, O LORD,.... The same petition as in Psalms 31:1; FOR I HAVE CALLED UPON THEE; who is nigh unto all that call upon him in truth, and is rich unto them, and has promised to help and save them; which should he not do, not only he would be made ashamed, but the promise of God wo... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE LYING LIPS BE PUT TO SILENCE,.... Being convicted of the lies told by them, and so silenced and confounded; or being cut off and destroyed, as all such will be in the Lord's own time, Psalms 12:3. It is very likely the psalmist may have respect either to Doeg the Edomite, who loved lying rat... [ Continue Reading ]
[O] HOW GREAT [IS] THY GOODNESS,.... Not the natural and essential goodness of God; for though that is large and abundant, yea, infinite, as every perfection of his is, yet it cannot with propriety be said to be laid up and wrought out; but rather the effects of his goodness, and not those which app... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU SHALL HIDE THEM IN THE SECRET OF THY PRESENCE,.... That is, those that fear the Lord and trust in him; and therefore they are called his "hidden ones", Psalms 83:3; these the Lord preserves in times of trouble and danger, and when his indignation is out against others; and so the Targum is, "in... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED [BE] THE LORD,.... A form of thanksgiving, in which the psalmist calls upon himself and others to bless and praise the Lord for the singular mercy granted him, expressed in the next clause; Psalms 18:46; FOR HE HATH SHOWED ME HIS MARVELLOUS KINDNESS IN A STRONG CITY; either in the city Kei... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I SAID IN MY HASTE,.... When he made haste to get away for fear of Saul, 1 Samuel 23:26; and so the Targum renders it, "I said when I sought to flee away"; or else he said this hastily and rashly, in the hurry of his mind, being in the utmost confusion and distress, as in Psalms 116:11; I AM CU... [ Continue Reading ]
O LOVE THE LORD, ALL YE HIS SAINTS,.... To whom his goodness extends; who are favoured with the blessings of his grace, as pardon, peace, and righteousness; and who particularly are sanctified by his Spirit, and have principles of grace and holiness wrought in their hearts: these, even all of them,... [ Continue Reading ]
BE OF GOOD COURAGE, AND HE SHALL STRENGTHEN YOUR HEART,.... Psalms 27:14; by this instance of God's wonderful kindness to the psalmist, he would have the saints take heart, and be of good cheer, even in the greatest distresses, since their case cannot be worse than his was; and yet he had deliveran... [ Continue Reading ]