EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS (4)

Verse 20.—“Into smoke shall they consume.” “What hath pride profited us? or what hath our boasting of riches given us?” Such are the things, they shall speak who are in hell, and who have sinned. For the hope of the ungodly is like a dry thistle-down, by the wind carried away, or the thin foam spread upon the billows or as a smoke floated hither and thither by the wind, or as the remembrance of a wayfaring man for a day.—Wouter of Stoelwÿk, 1541.

Verse 21.—“Payeth not again;” i.e., has it not in his power, from his straitened circumstances, to repay what he has borrowed: comp. Deut. xxviii. 12. A Jew thus circumstanced became the bond-slave of his creditors: comp. 2 Kings iv. 1.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 22.—God promiseth that the seed of his people shall inherit the earth. The child of such a tenant as paid his rent well, shall not be put out of his farm.—John Glascock.

Verse 23.—“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” When this Pilot undertakes to steer their course, their vessel shall never split upon the rock, run upon the sands, or spring a leak, so as to sink in the seas. To be sure he will see them safe in their harbour. He was no Christian, yet I suppose none will deny but he spake good divinity, who said, “If a man will choose God for his Friend, he shall travel securely through a wilderness that hath many beasts of prey in it; he shall pass safely through this world; for he only is safe that hath God for his guide.” (Ar. Epist. xxvii.) Doth he not speak a little like David himself (Psalm xxxvii. 23), who never expected to come to glory except he were guided by his counsel? Now, if a poor heathen could say thus, and see good reason to trust God, and admire his faithfulness as he doth frequently (and so doth Seneca, justifying God’s faithfulness in all his dealings with the best men in all their sufferings, and the prosperity of the wicked); what then shall the heavenly Christian say, who hath experienced so much of God’s faithfulness in answering his prayers, in fulfilling his promises, and supplying all his exigencies?—James Janeway.

Verse 23.—“He delighteth in his way.” Note that in verse four, we are bidden to delight in the Lord, and here he delights in us, and as here our way is his delight, so in verse thirty-four we are to “keep his way.” These antitheses are instructive.—C. H. S.

Verses 23, 24.—Strange words to us! the very “steps” all “ordered,” and that by an Almighty One, who “delights” in the goodness of the good man’s way. And yet the inference so distinctly to be drawn is that the good man may fall, and that his God and Guide may stand by and behold and permit!

Let us add to the suggestion of these verses, one or two references which may help us to establish the principle in our hearts, that the child of God may fall and still remain the child of God; and also to explain somewhat of the reason why this is part of their lot, whether ordered, or only permitted, at all events, a step of the “right way,” by which God leads them to a city of habitation. Psalm cvii. 7.

It is observed near the close of Hezekiah’s good and prosperous life that, “in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon ... God left him to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.” 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. And again, in Daniel’s prophecy regarding the latter days, we find (Daniel xi. 35), “And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white.” In the two preceding verses, we have also some valuable details regarding such falls, such as the help with which God will uphold them, the flatteries with which the world will still beset, and hinder them from rising again; the outward troubles into which their fall shall lead them, as through a furnace; the high position (instructors of many) which yet shall not save them from their needed ordeal—the time appointed—and the end in view. So here. The acknowledgment of the possibility of the good man’s fall is accompanied with the precious assurance that “he shall not be utterly cast down.”—Mary B. M. Duncan, in “Under the Shadow, 1867.”

Verse 24.—“Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down,” etc. Thus the Spirit comforts and answers the secret thoughts which everyone might have, saying with himself, I have, however, seen it happen, that the righteous is oppressed, and his cause is trodden in the dust by the wicked. Nay, he replies, dear child, let it be so, that he falls; he still cannot remain lying thus and be cast away; he must be up again, although all the world doubts of it. For God catches him by the hand, and raises him again.—Martin Luther.

Verse 24.—“Though he fall,” namely, as one that were faint-hearted, “he shall not be cast off,” namely, utterly, or for ever from God (2 Cor. iv. 9); “for the Lord putteth under his hand,” i.e., his power and might, namely, to uphold him from utter falling away, which we should quickly do if God were not with us.—Thomas Wilcocks.

Verse 24.—A man pardoned, and justified by faith in Christ, though he may, and sometimes doth, fall into foul sins, yet they never prevail so far as to reverse pardon, and reduce to a state of non-justification. “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand!” He speaks of a good man pardoned, justified; he may fall; but how far? from pardon, from justification? No, then he should utterly fall, be cast down beneath God’s hand; but the text saith, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand; or, as Montanus renders the words, the Lord upholdeth his hands, and he will not let him sink into such a condition. If it were so, then sin should have dominion over him, but, Rom. vi. 14. “Sin shall not have dominion over you;” and chap. viii. 2, justified ones are freed from the law of sin and death; and verse 30, the predestinated, called, justified, and glorified ones, are so linked together, that there is no breaking their chain; if they do sin, they have an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John ii. 1, 2.—William Greenhill.

Verse 25.—“I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken” (he doth not say, In my experience I never saw the righteous afflicted, but, I never saw him left or forsaken in his affliction), “and I never saw his seed begging their bread:” he puts in that, because begging of bread, especially in the commonwealth of Israel, and in the state of the Jews, was a note of utter dereliction! for though God had told them that they should have the poor always with them, yet he had given an express law that there should be no beggar among them; therefore, saith he, I have not seen the righteous so forsaken, that they should be forced to live by begging. If any say, that David himself begged, he asked bread of Abimelech and of Nabal; I answer, it is a good rule, and it resolves the case; transitory cases, and sudden accidents, make no beggars: we must not say, David was a beggar, or begged his bread, because once he was in a strait and asked bread of Abimelech; and in a second strait sent to Nabal: in such sudden cases, the richest man in the world may be put to ask a piece of bread. A good man may fall into such wants, but good men are rarely, if ever or at all, left in them.—Joseph Caryl.

Verse 25.—“Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Perhaps it will be objected that there have been many righteous men poor: but the place speaketh of a righteous charitable man, for so the following verse showeth, which saith, “He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” And who hath seen such a one or his seed to be brought to such poverty as to beg his bread? When our Saviour Christ had fed four thousand with seven loaves and a few fishes, all being filled, seven baskets full of fragments were gathered up; and it is Saint Austin’s note upon it, crescit dum impenditur victus, sic eleemosyna si indigentibus erogetur, the victuals in expending were augmented, and so is the alms which is given to the poor.—Michael Jermin.

Verse 25.—“Yet have I not seen,” etc. I believe this to be literally true in all cases. I am now grey-headed myself; I have travelled in different countries, and have had many opportunities of seeing and conversing with religious people in all situations in life; and I have not, to my knowledge, seen one instance to the contrary. I have seen no righteous man forsaken, nor any children of the righteous begging their bread. God puts honour upon all that fear him; and thus careful is he of them, and of their posterity.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 25.—“Begging bread.” This is not meant of an occasional seeking relief in want (for so David himself desired bread of Abimelech, 1 Samuel xxi. 3, and he and his soldiers desired some supply of victuals from Nabal, ch. xxv. 8); but of living in a continual way of begging from door to door, which is denounced as a curse against the wicked (Psalm cix. 10), “Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg.” Nor doth it hence follow, that neither the righteous man, nor his seed, are ever brought to this sad degree of misery; but only that it doth so rarely happen, that David in all his time had never seen it.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 25.—This observation of the Psalmist will be found generally verified. We find indeed exceptions, as in the case of Eli’s family. But this was the result of his defect of character as a righteous man. And we know that the promises must fail, if they neglect the means necessary to their accomplishment (see Genesis xviii. 19). But some think that this verse admits of an explanatory supplement; and render the last clause thus, “Nor his seed (forsaken, though) begging bread.”—David Davidson, in “The Pocket Commentary, 1836.”

Verse 25.—These words must be taken as a general observation, not absolutely verified in every case; yet the strict fact is, I apprehend, that the immediate descendants of truly pious persons are very seldom, if ever reduced to such extremities, unless by their own great imprudence, or their abandoned practices.—William Walford.

Verse 25.—Here he recordeth an experiment of his (such as whereof Psalm cxix. is mostly made up), and if other men’s experiences agree not altogether with his, it is no wonder: kings use not to mind beggars.—John Trapp.

Verses 25, 26.—Many persons are solicitously perplexed how their children shall do when they are dead; yet they consider not, how God provided for them when they were children. Is the Lord’s arm shortened? Did he take thee from thy mother’s breasts; and when thy parents forsook thee (as the Psalmist saith), became thy Father? And cannot this experienced mercy to thee, persuade thee that he will not forsake thine? Is not “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever?” “I have been young,” saith David, “and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken,” that is granted, nay, “nor his seed begging bread.”

Many distrustful fathers are so carking for their posterity, that while they live they starve their bodies, and hazard their souls, to leave them rich. To such a father it is said justly, Dives es hœredi, pauper inopsque tibi. Like an over-kind hen he feeds his chickens, and famisheth himself. If usury, circumvention, oppression, extortion, can make them rich, they shall not be poor. Their folly is ridiculous; they fear lest their children should be miserable, yet take the only course to make them miserable; for they leave them not so much heirs to their goods as to their evils. They do as certainly inherit their fathers’ sins as their lands: “God layeth up his iniquity for his children: and his offspring shall want a morsel of bread.” Job xxi. 19.

On the contrary, the good man “is merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” What the worldling thinks shall make his posterity poor, God saith shall make the good man’s rich. The precept gives a promise of mercy to obedience, not confined to the obedient man’s self, but extended to his seed, and that even to a thousand generations, Exodus xx. 6. Trust, then, Christ with thy children; when thy friends shall fail, usury bear no date, oppression be condemned to hell, thyself rotten to the dust, the world itself turned and burned into cinders, still “Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”—Thomas Adams.