EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—This Psalm is the prayer which the church might be supposed offering up, had all the redeemed stood by the cross, or in Gethsemane, in full consciousness of what was doing there. Messiah, in reading these words, would know that he had elsewhere the sympathy he longed for, when he said to the three disciples, “Tarry ye here, and watch with me.” Matt. xxvi. 38. It is thus a pleasant song, of the sacred singer of Israel, to set forth the feelings of the redeemed in their Head, whether in his sufferings or in the glory that was to follow.—Andrew A. Bonar.

Whole Psalm.—There are traces of liturgical arrangement in many of the Psalms. There is frequently an adaptation to the circumstances of public worship. Thus, when the Jewish church wished to celebrate the great act of Messiah the High Priest making a sacrifice for the people on the day of atonement, as represented in the twenty-second Psalm, a subject so solemn, grand, and affecting, was not commenced suddenly and unpreparedly, but first a suitable occasion was sought, proper characters were introduced, and a scene in some degree appropriate to the great event was fitted for its reception. The priests and Levites endeavour to excite in the minds of the worshippers an exalted tone of reverential faith. The majesty and power of God, all the attributes which elevate the thoughts, are called in to fill the souls of the worshippers with the most intense emotion; and when the feelings are strung to the highest pitch, an awful, astounding impression succeeds, when the words are slowly chanted, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” We are to suppose, then, that the series of Psalms, from the twentieth to the twenty-fourth inclusive, was used as a service or office in the public worship of the Jewish church.[12]—R. H. Ryland, M.A., in “The Psalms Restored to Messiah,” 1853.

Whole Psalm.—Really good wishes are good things, and should be expressed in words and deeds. The whole Psalm thus teaches. Christian sympathy is a great branch of Christian duty. There may be a great deal of obliging kindness in that which costs us little.—William S. Plumer.

Verse 1.—“The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble.” All the days of Christ were days of trouble. He was a brother born for adversity, a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs.... But more particularly it was a “day of trouble” with him when he was in the garden, heavy and sore amazed, and his sweat was, as it were, droops of blood falling on the ground, and his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death; but more especially this was his case when he hung upon the cross ... when he bore all the sins of his people, endured the wrath of his Father, and was forsaken by him. Now, in this “day of trouble,” both when in the garden and on the cross, he prayed unto his Father, as he had been used to do in other cases, and at other times; and the church here prays that God would hear and answer him, as he did.—Condensed from John Gill.

Verse 1.—“The name.” Whereas they say, “The name of the God of Jacob,” thereby they mean God himself; but they thus speak of God because all the knowledge that we have of God ariseth from the knowledge of his name, and as to that end he hath given himself in the Scriptures sundry names, that thereby we might know not only what he is in himself, so far as it is meet for us to know, but especially what he is to us, so by them, and them principally, we know him to be, as he is, not only in himself, but unto us.... From this knowledge of the name of God ariseth confidence in prayer! as when they know him, and here call him “the God of Jacob,” that is, he that hath made a covenant of mercy with him and with his posterity, that he will be their God and they shall be his people, that they may be bold to flee to him for succour, and confidently call upon him in the day of their trouble to hear them, and to help them, as they do. And the more that they know of his name, that is, of his goodness, mercy, truth, power, wisdom, justice, etc., so may they the more boldly pray unto him, not doubting but that he will be answerable unto his name.... For as among men, according to the good name that they have for liberality and pity, so will men be ready to come unto them in their need, and the poor will say, “I will go to such an house for they have a good name, and are counted good to the poor, and merciful, all men speak well of them for their liberality;” and this name of theirs giveth the encouragement to come boldly and often. So when we know God thus by his name, it will make us bold to come unto him in prayer.... Or, if a man be never so merciful, and others know it not, and so they are ignorant of his good name that he hath, and that he is worthy of, they cannot, with any good hope, come unto him, for they know not what he is; they have heard nothing of him at all. So when, by unbelief, we hardly conceive of God and of his goodness, or for want of knowledge are ignorant of his good name, even of all his mercy, and of his truth, pity and compassion that is in him, and so know not his great and glorious name, we can have little or no heart at all to come unto him in trouble, and seek unto him for help by prayer, as these did here; and this maketh some so forward unto prayer, they are so well acquainted with the name of God, that they doubt not of speeding, and others again are so backward unto it, they are so wholly ignorant of his name.—Nicholas Bownd, 1604.

Verse 1.—“The name of the God of Jacob defend thee.” This is a beautiful allusion to the history of the patriarch Jacob. Jehovah had appeared for him, when he fled from his brother Esau, at Bethel, and Jacob said to his household, “Let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.” Gen. xxxv. 3.—John Morison.

Verse 1.—“The name of the God of Jacob defend thee.” Hebrew, “set thee in an high place,” such as God’s name is. Prov. xviii. 10. “The righteous runneth into it and is safe,” as in a tower of brass, or town of war. By the name of God is meant, Deus nominatissimus, the most renowned God, saith Junius, and “worthy to be praised,” as Psalm xviii. 3; and he is called the God of Jacob here, saith another, first, because Jacob was once in the like distress (Gen. xxxii. 6, 7); secondly, because he prayed to the like purpose (Gen. xxxv. 3); thirdly, because he prevailed with God as a prince; “and there God spake with us” (Hosea xii. 4); fourthly, because God of Jacob is the same with “God of Israel,” and so the covenant is pleaded.—John Trapp.

Verse 1.—“The name of the God of Jacob defend thee.”—There is an assurance of thy protection, of thy safety, in the midst of ten thousand foes, and of thy perseverance to the end. But you will say, how will the name of the God of Jacob defend me? Try it. I have, over and over again; therefore I speak what I do know and testify what I have seen. “The name of the God of Jacob defend thee.” I was once goaded by a poor silly Irish papist to try it, who told me, in his consummate ignorance and bigotry, that if a priest would but give him a drop of holy water, and make a circle with it around a field full of wild beasts, they would not hurt him. I retired in disgust at the abominable trickery of such villains, reflecting, what a fool I am that I cannot put such trust in my God as this poor deluded man puts in his priest and a drop of holy water! And I resolved to try what “the name of the God of Jacob” would do, having the Father’s fixed decrees, the Son’s unalterable responsibility, and the Spirit’s invincible grace and operation around me. I tried it and felt my confidence brighten. O brethren, get encircled with covenant engagements, and covenant blood, and covenant grace, and covenant promises, and covenant securities: then will “the Lord hear you in the time of trouble, and the name of the God of Jacob will defend you.”—Joseph Irons.

Verse 1.—A sweeter wish, or a more consolatory prayer for a child of sorrow was never uttered by man, “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee.” And who is there of the sons of men to whom a “day of trouble” does not come, whose path is not darkened at times, or with whom is it unclouded sunshine from the cradle to the grave? “Few plants,” says old Jacomb, “have both the morning and the evening sun;” and one far older than he said, “Man is born to trouble.” A “day of trouble,” then, is the heritage of every child of Adam. How sweet, as I have said, how sweet the wish, “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble.” It is the prayer of another in behalf of some troubled one, and yet it implies that the troubled one himself had also prayed, “The Lord hear thee”—hear and answer thine own prayer!—Barton Bouchier.

Verses 1, 2.—The scene presented in this place to the eye of faith is deeply affecting. Here is the Messiah pouring out his heart in prayer in the day of his trouble; his spouse overhears his agonising groans; she is moved with the tenderest sympathy towards him; she mingles her prayers with his; she entreats that he may be supported and defended.... It may now, perhaps, be said, he is out of the reach of trouble, he is highly exalted, he does not want our sympathies or our prayers. True; yet still we may pray for him—see Matthew xxv. 40—“Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” We can pray for him in his members. And thus is fulfilled what is written in Psalm lxxii. 15, “And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually (that is, in his suffering members): and daily shall he be praised” (that is, in his own admirable person).—Hamilton Verschoyle, 1843.

Verses 1-5.—These are the words of the people, which they spake unto God in the behalf of their king; and so they did as David desired them, namely, pray for him. If they did thus pray for him, being desired thereunto, and it was their bound duty so to do, and they knew it to be so, and therefore did make conscience of it, and it had been a great fault for them to have failed in it; then by consequence it followeth of necessity, that whensoever any of our brethren or sisters in Christ shall desire this duty at our hands, we must be careful to perform it; and it were a fault not to be excused in us, both against God and them, to fail in it. Therefore we must not think that when godly men and women at their parting or otherwise, desire our prayers, and say, “I pray you pray for me,” or, “remember me in your prayers,” that these are words of course (though I do not deny, but that many do so use them, and so doing they take the name of God in vain); but we should be persuaded, that out of the abundance of their feeling of their own wants they speak unto us, and so be willing by our prayers to help to supply them. And especially we should do it when they shall make known their estate unto us, as here David did to the people, giving them to understand that he should or might be in great danger of his enemies, and so it was “a time of trouble” unto him, as he called it.... Most of all this duty of prayer ought to be carefully performed when we have promised it unto any upon such notice of their estate. For as all promises ought to be kept, yea, though it be to our own hindrance, so those most of all that so nearly concern them. And as if when any should desire us to speak to some great man for them, and we promise to do it, and they trust to it, hoping that we will be as good as our words; it were a great deceit in us to fail them, and so to frustrate their expectation; so when any have desired us to speak to God for them, and upon our promise they would comfort themselves over it, if we should by negligence deceive them, it were a great fault in us, and that which the Lord would require at our hands, though they should never know of it. Therefore, as we ought daily to pray one for another unasked, as our Saviour Christ hath taught us, “O our Father which art in heaven,” etc., so more specially and by name should we do it for them that have desired it of us. And so parents especially should not forget their children in their prayers, which daily ask their blessing, and hope to be blessed of God by their prayers. Secondarily, if we should neglect to pray for them that have desired it at our hands, how could we have any hope that others whom we have desired to pray for us should perform that duty unto us? Nay, might not we justly fear that they would altogether neglect it, seeing we do neglect them? and should it not be just with God so to punish us? according to the saying of our Saviour Christ, “With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Matt. vii. 2. And I remember that this was the saying of a reverend father in the church, who is now fallen asleep in the Lord, when any desired him to pray for them (as many did, and more than any that I have known), he would say unto them, “I pray you pray for me, and pray that I may remember you, and then I hope I shall not forget you.” Therefore if we would have others pray for us, let us pray for them.—Nicholas Bownd.