EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS (3)

Verse 7 (last clause).—If God be thy portion, then there is no loss in all the world that lies so hard and so heavy upon thee as the loss of thy God. There is no loss under heaven that doth so affect and afflict a man that hath God for his portion, as the loss of his God. David met with many a loss, but no loss made so sad and so great a breach upon his spirit as the loss of the face of God, the loss of the favour of God: “In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.” The Hebrew word בָהַל bahal signifies to be greatly troubled, to be sorely terrified, as you may see in that 1 Sam. xxviii. 21, “And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled.” Here is the same Hebrew word bahal. Saul was so terrified, affrighted, and disanimated with the dreadful news that the devil in Samuel’s likeness told him, that his very vital spirits so failed him, that he fell into a deadly swoon. And it was even so with David upon God’s hiding of his face. David was like a withered flower that had lost all its sap, life, and vigour, when God had wrapped himself up in a cloud. The life of some creatures lieth in the light and warmth of the sun; and so doth the life of the saints lie in the light and warmth of God’s countenance. And, as in an eclipse of the sun, there is a drooping in the whole frame of nature, so when God hides his face, gracious souls cannot but droop and languish, and bow down themselves before him. Many insensible creatures, some by opening and shutting, as marigolds and tulips, others by bowing and inclining the head, as the solsequy[3] and mallow-flowers, are so sensible of the presence and absence of the sun, that there seems to be such a sympathy between the sun and them, that if the sun be gone or clouded, they wrap up themselves or hang down their heads, as being unwilling to be seen by any eye but his that fills them: and just thus it was with David when God had hid his face in a cloud.—Thomas Brooks.

Verse 8.—“I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication.” Bernard, under a fiction, proposeth a fable well worthy our beholding: therein the kings of Babylon and Jerusalem, signifying the state of the world and the church, always warring together; in which encounter, at length it fell out, that one of the soldiers of Jerusalem was fled to the castle of Justice. Siege laid to the castle, and a multitude of enemies entrenched round about it, Fear gave over all hope, but Prudence ministered her comfort. “Dost thou not know,” saith she, “that our king is the King of glory; the Lord strong and mighty, even the Lord mighty in battle? Let us therefore despatch a messenger that may inform him of our necessities.” Fear replieth, “But who is able to break through? Darkness is upon the face of the earth, and our walls are begirt with a watchful troop of armed men, and we, utterly inexpert of the way into so far a country.” Whereupon Justice is consulted. “Be of good cheer,” saith Justice, “I have a messenger of especial trust, well known to the king and his court, Prayer by name, who knoweth to address herself by ways unknown in the stillest silence of the night, till she cometh to the secrets and chamber of the King himself.” Forthwith she goeth, and findeth the gates shut, knocketh amain, “Open, ye gates of righteousness, and be ye opened, ye everlasting doors, that I may come in and tell the King of Jerusalem how our case standeth.” Doubtless the trustiest and effectuallest messenger we have to send is Prayer. If we send up merits, the stars in heaven will disdain it, that we which dwell at the footstool of God dare to presume so far, when the purest creatures in heaven are impure in his sight. If we send up fear and distrustfulness, the length of the way will tire them out. They are as heavy and lumpish as gads of iron; they will sink to the ground before they come halfway to the throne of salvation. If we send up blasphemies and curses, all the creatures betwixt heaven and earth will band themselves against us. The sun and the moon will rain down blood; the fire, hot burning coals; the air, thunderbolts upon our heads. Prayer, I say again, is the surest ambassador; which neither the tediousness of the way, nor difficulties of the passage, can hinder from her purpose; quick of speed, faithful for trustiness, happy for success, able to mount above the eagles of the sky, into the heaven of heavens, and as a chariot of fire bearing us aloft into the presence of God to seek his assistance.—John King.

Verse 9.—“What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?” Implying that he would willingly die, if he could thereby do any real service to God, or his country. Phil. ii. 17. But he saw not what good could be done by his dying in the bed of sickness, as might be if he had died in the bed of honour. Lord, saith he, wilt thou sell one of “thine own people for nought, and not increase thy wealth by the price?” Psalm xliv. 12.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 9.—“What profit is there in my blood,” etc. The little gain that the Lord would have by denying his people in the mercies they request, may also be used as a plea in prayer. David beggeth his own life of God, using this plea, “What profit is there in my blood?” So did the captive church plead (Psalm xliv. 12); “Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.” So then, poor saints of God when they come and tell the Lord in their prayers that indeed he may condemn, or confound, or cut or cast them off; he may continue to frown upon them; he may deny such-and-such requests of theirs, for such-and-such just causes in them; but what will he gain thereby? He may gain many praises, etc., by hearing them, and helping them; but what good will it do him to see them oppressed by the enemies of their souls? or what delight would it be to him to see them sighing and sinking, and fainting under sad pressures, etc.? this is an allowed and a very successful kind of pleading.—Thomas Cobbet.

Verse 9.—“Shall the dust praise thee?” Can any number be sufficient to praise thee? Can there ever be mouths enough to declare thy truth? And may not I make one—a sinful one I know—but yet one in the number, if thou be pleased to spare me from descending into the pit?—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 9.—Prayer that is likely to prevail with God must be argumentative. God loves to have us plead with him and overcome him with arguments in prayer.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 11.—“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.” This might be true of David, delivered from his calamity; it was true of Christ, arising from the tomb, to die no more; it is true of the penitent, exchanging his sackcloth for the garments of salvation; and it will be verified in us all, at the last day, when we shall put off the dishonours of the grave, to shine in glory everlasting.—George Horne.

Verse 11.—“Thou hast turned.” I do so like the ups and downs in the Psalms.—Adelaide Newton.

Verse 11.—“Thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.” I say with the apostle, “Overcome evil with good,” sorrow with joy. Joy is the true remedy for sorrow. It never had, never could have any other. We must always give the soul that weeps reason to rejoice; all other consolation is utterly useless.—Alexander Rodolph Vinet, D.D., 1797-1847.

Verse 11.—“Thou hast girded me with gladness.” My “sackcloth” was but a loose garment about me, which might easily be put off at pleasure, but my “gladness” is girt about me, to be fast and sure, and cannot leave me though it would; at least none shall be able to take it from me.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 12.—Even as the Chaldeans formerly measured their natural day differently from the Israelites; they put the day first and the night after; but the Israelites, on the contrary, according to the order that was observed in the creation; for in the beginning darkness was upon the face of the deep, and of every one of the six days it is said, “The evening and the morning were the first day,” etc. So the times of the world and of the church are differently disposed; for the world begins hers by the day of temporal prosperity, and finishes it by a night of darkness and anguish that is eternal; but the church, on the contrary, begins hers by the night of adversity, which she suffers for awhile, and ends them by a day of consolation which she shall have for ever. The prophet in this Psalm begins with the anger of God, but ends with his favour: as of old, when they entered into the tabernacle they did at first see unpleasant things, as the knives of the sacrifices, the blood of victims, the fire that burned upon the altar, which consumed the offerings; but when they passed a little farther there was the holy place, the candlestick of gold, the shew-bread, and the altar of gold on which they offered perfumes; and in fine, there was the holy of holies, and the ark of the covenant, and the mercy-seat and the cherubims, which was called the face of God.—Timothy Rogers.

Verse 12.—“I will give thanks.” What is praise? The rent we owe to God; and the larger the farm the greater the rent should be.—G. S. Bowes, 1863.