EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Whole Psalm.—David’s Psalm, or, a Psalm of David; but David’s name is here set first, which elsewhere commonly is last: or, A Psalm concerning David, that is, Christ, who is called David in the prophets: Hos. iii. 5; Jer. xxx. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 23, and xxxii. 24. Of him this Psalm entreateth as the apostle teacheth, Heb. x. 5, 6, etc.—Henry Ainsworth.

Whole Psalm.—It is plain, from verses 6-8 of this Psalm, compared with Heb. x. 5, that the prophet is speaking in the person of Christ, who, 1-5, celebrateth the deliverance wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, 6-8, the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentioneth his own inclination to do the will of his Father, and 9, 10, to preach righteousness to the world. 11-13. He representeth himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own, and his people’s salvation; he foretelleth, 14, 15, the confusion and desolation of his enemies, and, 16, the joy and thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy accomplishment of which, 17, he preferreth a petition.—George Horne.

Verse 1.—“I waited patiently for the Lord: and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” I see that the Lord, suppose he drifteth and delayeth the effect of his servant’s prayer, and granteth not his desire at the first, yet he heareth him. I shall give a certain argument, whereby thou may know that the Lord heareth thee, suppose he delay the effect of thy prayers. Continuest thou in prayer? Hast thou this strength given thee to persevere in suiting[17] anything? Thou may be assured he heareth; for this is one sure argument that he heareth thee, for naturallie our impatience carrieth us to desperation; our suddenness is so great, speciallie in spiritual troubles, that we cannot continue in suiting. When thou, therefore, continues in suiting, thou may be sure that this strength is furnished of God, and cometh from heaven, and if thou have strength he letteth thee see that he heareth thy prayer; and suppose he delay the effect and force thereof, yet pray continuallie. This doctrine is so necessary for the troubled conscience, that I think it is the meetest bridle in the Scripture to refrain our impatience; it is the meetest bit to hold us in continual exercise of patience; for if the heart understand that the Lord hath rejected our prayer altogether, it is not possible to continue in prayer; so when we know that the Lord heareth us, suppose he delay, let us crave patience to abide his good will.—Robert Bruce, 1559-1631.

Verse 1.—“I waited for the Lord.” The infinite קַוֹּה being placed first brings the action strongly out: I waited. This strong emphasis on the waiting, has the force of an admonition; it suggests to the sufferer that everything depends on waiting.—E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 1.—“I waited patiently:” rather anxiously; the original has it, waiting I waited; a Hebraism, which signifies vehement solicitude.—Daniel Cresswell.

Verse 1.—“I waited.” The Saviour endured his sufferings waitingly, as well as patiently and prayerfully. He “waited for the Lord.” He expected help from Jehovah; and he waited for it until it came.—James Frame, in “Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm XL.” 1869.

Verse 1.—“Patiently.” Our Lord’s patience under suffering was an element of perfection in his work. Had he become impatient as we often do, and lost heart, his atonement would have been vitiated. Well may we rejoice that in the midst of all his temptations, and in the thickest of the battle against sin and Satan, he remained patient and willing to finish the work which his Father had given him to do.—James Frame.

Verse 1.—“Heard my cry.” Our Saviour endured his sufferings prayerfully as well as patiently.—James Frame.

Verse 2.—“An horrible pit.” Some of the pits referred to in the Bible were prisons, one such I saw at Athens, and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a hole at the top, which served for both door and window. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting state, and sometimes deep in mud. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay;” one of these filthy prisons being in the Psalmist’s view, in Isaiah xxxviii. 17, called “the pit of corruption,” or putrefaction and filth.—John Gadsby.

Verse 2.—“An horrible pit;” or, as it is in the Hebrew, a pit of noise; so called because of waters that falling into it, with great violence, make a roaring dreadful noise; or because of the strugglings and outcries they make that are in it; or because when anything is cast into deep pits, it will always make a great noise; and where he stuck fast in “miry clay,” without a seeming possibility of getting out. And some refer this to the greatness of Christ’s terrors and sufferings, and his deliverance from them both.—Arthur Jackson.

Verse 2.—Three things are stated in verse two. First, resurrection as the act of God, “He brought me up,” etc. Secondly, the justification of the name and title of the Sufferer, “and set my feet upon a rock.” Jesus is set up, as alive from the dead, upon the basis of accomplished truth. Thirdly, there is his ascension, “He establisheth my goings.” The Son of God having trodden, in gracious and self-renouncing obedience the passage to the grave, now enters finally as Man the path of life. “He is gone into heaven,” says the Spirit. And again, “He ascended on high, and led captivity captive.”—Arthur Pridham in “Notes and Reflections on the Psalms,” 1869.

Verse 3.—“A new song.” See Notes on Psalm xxxiii. verse 3.

Verse 3.—“Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” The terms fear, and hope, or trust, do not seem at first view to harmonise; but David has not improperly joined them together, for no man will ever entertain the hope of the favour of God but he whose mind is first imbued with the fear of God. I understand fear, in general, to mean the feeling of piety which is produced in us by the knowledge of the power, equity, and mercy of God.—John Calvin.

Verse 3.—“Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” First of all they “see.” Their eyes are opened; and their opened eyes see and survey what they are, where they are, whence they came, and whither they are going.... When the attention of sinners is really and decisively arrested by the propitiation of Jesus, not only are their eyes opened to their various moral relations, not only do they “see” but they “fear” too. They “see” and “fear.”... Conviction follows illumination.... But while the sinner only sees and fears, he is but in the initial stage of conversion, only in a state of readiness to flee from the city of destruction. He may have set out on his pilgrimage, but he has not yet reached his Father to receive the kiss of welcome and forgiveness. The consummating step has not yet been taken. He has seen indeed; he has feared too; but he still requires to trust, to trust in the Lord, and banish all his fears. This is the culminating point in the great change; and, unless this be reached, the other experiences will either die away, like an untimely blossom, or they will only be fuel to the unquenchable fire.—James Frame.

Verse 5.—“Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,” etc. Behold God in the magnificence and wisdom of the works which his hands have made, even this immense universe, which is full of his glory. What art and contrivance! What regularity, harmony, and proportion, are to be seen in all his productions, in the frame of our own bodies, or those that are about us! And with what beams of majestic glory do the sun, moon, and stars proclaim how august and wonderful in knowledge their Maker is! And ought not all these numberless beauties wherewith the world is stored, which the minds of inquisitive men are ready to admire, lead up our thoughts to the great Parent of all things, and inflame our amorous souls with love to him, who is infinitely brighter and fairer than them all?

Cast abroad your eyes through the nations, and meditate on the mighty acts which he hath done, and the wisdom and power of his providence, which should charm all thy affections. Behold his admirable patience, with what pity he looks down on obstinate rebels; and how he is moved with compassion when he sees his creatures polluted in their blood, and bent upon their own destruction; how long he waits to be gracious; how unwillingly he appears to give up with sinners, and execute deserved vengeance on his enemies; and then with what joy he pardons for “with him is plenteous redemption.” And what can have more force than these to win thy esteem, and make a willing conquest of thy heart? so that every object about thee is an argument of love, and furnishes fuel for this sacred fire. And whether you behold God in the firmament of his power, or the sanctuary of his grace, you cannot miss to pronounce him “altogether lovely.”—William Dunlop.

Verse 5.—“Thy thoughts which are to us-ward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:” i.e., there is no one can digest them in order; for although that may be attempted according to the comprehension and meaning of men, yet not before thee, every attempt of that nature being infinitely beneath thy immeasurable glory.—Victorinus Bythner’s “Lyre of David;” translated by T. Dee: new edition, by N. L. Benmohel, 1847.

Verse 5.—“Us-ward.” It is worthy of notice that while addressing his Father, as Jehovah and his God, our Saviour speaks of the members of the human family as his fellows. This is implied in the expressions “to us-ward.” He regarded himself as most intimately associated with the children of men.—James Frame.

Verse 5.—“They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.” They are “in order” in themselves, and if they could be “reckoned up” as they are, they would be “reckoned in order.” Created mind may not be able to grasp the principle of order that pervades them, but such a principle there is. And the more we study the whole series in its interrelations, the more shall we be convinced that as to time and place all the preparations for the mediatorial work of Christ, all the parts of its accomplishment, and all the divinely appointed consequents of its acceptation throughout all time into eternity, are faultlessly in order; they are precisely what and where and when they should be.—James Frame.

Verse 5.—“They are more than can be numbered.” The pulses of Providence are quicker than those of our wrists or temples. The soul of David knew right well their multiplicity, but could not multiply them aright by any skill in arithmetic; nay, the very sum or chief heads of divine kindnesses were innumerable. His “wonderful works” and “thoughts” towards him could not be reckoned up in order by him, they were more than could be numbered.—Samuel Lee (1625-1691), in “The Triumph of Mercy in the Chariot of Praise.”

Verse 5.—It is Christ’s speech, of whom the Psalm is made, and that relating unto his Father’s resolved purposes and contrivements from eternity, and those continued unto his sending Christ into the world to die for us, as verses 6, 7. It follows so, as although his thoughts and purposes were but one individual act at first, and never to be altered; yet they became many, through a perpetuated reiteration of them, wherein his constancy to himself is seen.... My brethren, if God have been thinking thoughts of mercy from everlasting to those that are his, what a stock and treasury do these thoughts arise to, besides those that are in his nature and disposition! This is in his actual purposes and intentions, which he hath thought, and doth think over, again and again, every moment. “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward,” saith Jesus Christ; for Psalm xl. is a Psalm of Christ, and quoted by the apostle, and applied unto Christ in Heb. x., “How many are thy thoughts to us-ward!”—he speaks it in the name of the human nature—that is, to me and mine. “If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” And what is the reason? Because God hath studied mercies, mercies for his children, even from everlasting. And then, “He reneweth his mercies every morning;” not that any mercies are new, but he actually thinketh over mercies again and again, and so he brings out of his treasury, mercies both new and old, and the old are always new. What a stock, my brethren, must this needs amount unto!—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 6.—“Sacrifice and offering ... burnt-offering and sin-offering.” Four kinds are here specified, both by the Psalmist and apostle: namely, sacrifice, זֶבַח zebhach, θυσία; offering, מִנְחָה minchah, προσφορὰ; burnt-offering, עוֹלָה olah, ὁλοκαύτωμα; sin-offering, חֲטָאָה chataah, περὶ ἁμαρτίας. Of all these we may say with the apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, etc., should take away sin.—Adam Clarke.