Psalms 39:11

_WHEN THOU WITH REBUKES DOST CORRECT MAN FOR INIQUITY, THOU MAKEST HIS BEAUTY TO CONSUME AWAY LIKE A MOTH: SURELY EVERY MAN IS VANITY. SELAH._ When thou with rebukes dost correct man. God's word of 'rebuke' is equivalent to punishment in act; because His Word effects His will. THOU MAKEST HIS BEAUTY TO CONSUME AWAY LIKE A MOTH - i:e., like as a moth consumes a garment, however beautiful heretofore, so that it is fit neither for ornament or use, so God makes to consume (literally, dissolves) man's beauty (chamudo) - literally, 'all that is desirable in or about him.' SURELY EVERY MAN IS VANITY - Hebrew (_ 'AK_ (H389)), 'only (i:e., nothing but) vanity is every man.' He uses the same plea as in Psalms 39:5, end, but in a different spirit. There it was a complaint against God, here it is a humble appeal

7-13 There is no solid satisfaction to be had in the creature; but it is to be found in the Lord, and in communion with him; to him we should be driven by our disappointments. If the world be nothing but vanity, may God deliver us from having or seeking our portion in it. When creature-confidences fail, it is our comfort that we have a God to go to, a God to trust in. We may see a good God doing all, and ordering all events concerning us; and a good man, for that reason, says nothing against it. He desires the pardoning of his sin, and the preventing of his shame. We must both watch and pray against sin. When under the correcting hand of the Lord, we must look to God himself for relief, not to any other. Our ways and our doings bring us into trouble, and we are beaten with a rod of our own making. What a poor thing is beauty! and what fools are those that are proud of it, when it will c...

Verse Psalms 39:11. _WHEN THOU WITH REBUKES DOST CORRECT MAN_] תוכחות _tochachoth_ signifies a _vindication of proceedings in a court of_ _law_, a _legal defence_. When God comes to maintain the credit and authority of his law against a sinner, he "causes his beauty to consume away:" a metaphor taken from the case of a culprit, who, by the arguments of counsel, and the unimpeachable evidence of witnesses, has the facts all proved against him, grows pale, looks terrified; his fortitude forsakes him, and he faints in court. _SURELY EVERY MAN IS VANITY._] He is incapable of resistance; he falls before his Maker; and none can deliver him but his _Sovereign_ and _Judge_, against whom he has offended. _SELAH._] This is a true saying, an everlasting truth....

WHEN THOU WITH REBUKES - The word here rendered “rebukes” means properly: (a) proof or demonstration; (b) confutation or contradiction; (c) reproof or admonition by words; (d) reproof by correction or punishment. This is the meaning here. The idea of the psalmist is, that God, by punishment or calamity, expresses his sense of the evil of human conduct; and that, under such an expression of it, man, being unable to sustain it, melts away or is destroyed. DOST CORRECT MAN FOR INIQUITY - Dost punish man for his sin; or dost express thy sense of the evil of sin by the calamities which are brought upon him. THOU MAKEST HIS BEAUTY - Margin: “That which is to be desired in him.” The He

EXPOSITION THE psalmist, vexed and disgusted with life, feeling a desire to murmur and complain, but aware that his words are watched, and his wicked enemies ready to make use of them against him, has resolved on maintaining an entire silence—at any rate, while the ungodly are in his sight (Psalms 39:1, Psalms 39:2), but is unable to keep to his resolve. Despite himself, he bursts out into speech—a speech of bitter complaint (Psalms 39:4). "How long has he got to endure this life so unsatisfactory, so full of vanity?" The outburst relieves him, and he continues in a gentler strain, recognizing God's hand in the griefs and woes of life, entreating his help, and finally asking to be spared a little

WHEN THOU WITH REBUKES DOST CORRECT MAN FOR INIQUITY,.... The psalmist illustrates his own case, before suggested, by the common case and condition of men, when God corrects them; which he has a right to do, as the Father of spirits, and which he does with rebukes; sometimes with rebukes of wrath, with furious rebukes, rebukes in flames of fire, as the men of the world; and sometimes with rebukes of love, the chastenings of a father, as his own dear children; and always for iniquity, whether one or another; and not the iniquity of Adam is here meant, but personal iniquity: and correction for it is to be understood of some bodily affliction, as the effect of it shows; THOU MAKEST HIS BEAUTY TO CONSUME AWAY LIKE A MOTH; that is, secretly, suddenly, and at once; as a moth eats a garment, and takes off the beauty of it; or as easily as a moth is crushed between a man's fingers; so the Targu...

To the chief Musician, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. David dedicated some Psalms to Asaph, and one or two to Jeduthun. Some of this chief musician's family appear to have remained singers as late as the time of Nehemiah. It is a great honour to be a singer in the house of God. Ungodly men have no right to lead the psalmody; only redeemed lives can sing aright the song of redemption. I reckon that it is almost as wrong to have an unconverted person to lead the singing as it would be to have an unconverted man to preach the Gospel. David was in a great heat of spirit, and much tried, when he wrote this Psalm. There is little that is cheerful in it, yet there is much that may cheer us, Sometimes, when we are unusually thoughtful, we are more likely to be blessed than at other times. Specific gravity is better than specific levity; there are some who have a great deal of the latter qua...

Psalms 39 Deep Soul Exercise in View of Man's Frailty and Nothingness _ 1. The vanity of life (Psalms 39:1)_ 2. Self-judgment and prayer (Psalms 39:7) This Psalm is connected closely with the preceding one and shows deep soul exercises. In the midst of trial, with God's hand resting upon the sufferer, he had been silent before his enemies. Before the Lord he did not maintain silence but pours out his heart, confessing the vanity of his fleeting life which appears to him as a hand-breadth and altogether vanity. Beautiful is Psalms 39:7. “And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee.” All else the saint waits for in

XXXIX. PRAYER OF A PIOUS ISRAELITE IN DISTRESS. Psalms 39:3. The poet, afflicted though he is, is silent in presence of the wicked, lest they should impugn or ridicule God's righteous government of the world. But silence is unendurable. PSALMS 39:1. Read, I will _set_ a muzzle on my mouth (LXX). Psalms 39:2. The LXX suggests a better text: I am bowed down with misery, I am far from welfare. PSALMS 39:4. The Psalmist begs God to teach him how brief, uncertain, and vain life is. PSALMS 39:5. Read, Surely

MAN. Hebrew. _'ish._ App-14. See note on "moth", below. MOTH. Hebrew. _'ash._ Forming the Figure of speech _Paronomasia_ (App-6), connecting man (' _ish)_ with. moth (_'ash_). SELAH. Connecting human vanity with an abiding reality and. divinely provided resource prayer, and hope in Jehovah. See App-66....