EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS (4)

Verse 12.—“Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me.” They seized him as the sinner’s substitute, to deal with him as regards their own penalty, according to the sinner’s desert.—James Frame.

Verse 13.—The remaining verses of this Psalm are almost exactly identical with Psalm LXX.

Verse 14.—“Let them be ashamed and confounded,” etc. Even this prayer carried benevolence in its bosom. It sought from the divine Father, such a manifestation of what was glorious and God-like as might unnerve each rebel arm, and overawe each rebel heart in the traitor’s company. If each arm were for a little unnerved, if each heart were for a little unmanned, there might be time for the better principles of their nature to rise and put an arrest upon the prosecution of their wicked design. Such being the benevolent aim of the prayer, we need not wonder that it issued from the same heart that by-and-by exclaimed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” neither need we marvel that it was answered to the very letter, and that as soon as he said to the traitor band, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the ground.—James Frame.

Verse 15.—“Aha, aha.” An exclamation which occurs three times in the Psalms; and in each case there seems to be reference to the mockery at the Passion. See xxxv. 21; and lxx. 3, which appear to belong to the same time as the present Psalm.—Christopher Wordsworth.

Verse 16.—“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.” As every mercy to every believer giveth a proof of God’s readiness to show the like mercy to all believers, when they stand in need; so should every mercy shown to any of the number, being known to the rest, be made the matter and occasion of magnifying the Lord.—David Dickson.

Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.” To love God’s salvation is to love God himself, the Saviour, or Jesus.—Martin Geier.

Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.” One would think that self-love alone should make us love salvation. Ay, but they love it because it is his, “that love thy salvation.” It is the character of a holy saint to love salvation itself; not as his own only, but as God’s, as God’s that saves him.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 16.—“Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” Jesus who gave us our capacity of happiness and our capacity of speaking, realised the relation which he had established between them; and hence in praying for his friends, he prayed that in the joy and gladness of their souls they might say, “The Lord be magnified.” He desired them to speak of their holy happiness; and it was his wish that when they did speak of it they should speak in terms of laudation of Jehovah, for he was the source of it. He desired them to say continually, “The Lord be magnified.”—James Frame.

Verse 17.—In Dr. Malan’s memoir, the editor, one of his sons, thus writes of his brother Jocelyn, who was for some years prior to his death, the subject of intense bodily sufferings:—“One striking feature in his character was his holy fear of God, and reverence for his will. One day I was repeating a verse from the Psalms, ‘As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord careth for me: thou art my helper and deliverer; O Lord, make no long tarrying.’ He said, ‘Mamma, I love that verse, all but the last bit, it looks like a murmur against God. He never tarries in my case.’”—From “The Life, Labours, and Writings of Cæsar Malan (1787-1864): By one of his sons,” 1689.

Verse 17.—“Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” Sacred story derives from heaven the kindness of Abimelech to Abraham, of Laban and Esau to Jacob, of Ruth to Naomi, of Boaz to Ruth, and Jonathan to David. When others think of kindness to us, let us imitate David, ’tis the Lord that thinketh upon me, and forms those thoughts within their hearts. This should calm our spirits when a former friend’s heart is alienated by rash admissions of false suggestions, or when any faithful Jonathan expires his spirit into the bosom of God. It should not be lost what Hobson, the late noted carrier of Cambridge, said to a young student receiving a letter of the sad tidings of his uncle’s decease (who maintained him at the University), and weeping bitterly, and reciting the cause of his grief, he replied, Who gave you that friend? Which saying did greatly comfort him, and was a sweet support to him afterwards in his ministry. The Everliving God is the portion of a living faith, and he can never want that hath such an ocean. He that turns the hearts of kings like rivers at his pleasure, turns all the little brooks in the world into what scorched and parched ground he pleases.—Samuel Lee.

Verse 17.—“The Lord thinketh upon me.” There are three things in God’s thinking upon us, that are solacing and delightful. Observe the frequency of his thoughts. Indeed, they are incessant. You have a friend, whom you esteem and love. You wish to live in his mind. You say when you part, and when you write, “Think of me.” You give him, perhaps, a token to revive his remembrance. How naturally is Selkirk, in his solitary island, made to say:

But the dearest connexion in the world cannot be always thinking upon you. Half his time he is in a state of unconsciousness; and how much during the other half, is he engrossed! But there is no remission in the Lord’s thoughts.... Observe in the next place, the wisdom of his thoughts. You have a dear child, absent from you, and you follow him in your mind. But you know not his present circumstances. You left him in such a place; but where is he now? You left him in such a condition. But what is he now? Perhaps, while you are thinking upon his health, he is groaning under a bruised limb, or a painful disorder. Perhaps, while you are thinking of his safety, some enemy is taking advantage of his innocency. Perhaps, while you are rejoicing in his prudence, he is going to take a step that will involve him for life. But when God thinketh upon you, he is perfectly acquainted with your situation, your dangers, your wants. He knows all your walking through this great wilderness, and can afford you the seasonable succour you need. For again, observe the efficiency of his thoughts. You think upon another, and you are anxious to guide, or defend, or relieve him. But in how many cases can you think only? Solicitude cannot control the disease of the body, cannot dissipate the melancholy of the mind. But with God all things are possible. He who thinks upon you is a God at hand and not afar off; he has all events under his control; he is the God of all grace. If, therefore, he does not immediately deliver, it is not because he is unable to redress, but because he is waiting to be gracious.—William Jay.