EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS

EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

Title.—“Gittith,” was probably a musical instrument used at their rejoicings after the vintage. The vintage closed the civil year of the Jews, and this Psalm directs us to the latter-day glory, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth, having subdued all his enemies. It is very evident that the vintage was adopted as a figurative representation of the final destruction of all God’s enemies. Isaiah lxiii. 1-6; Rev. xix. 18-20. The ancient Jewish interpreters so understood this Psalm, and apply it to the mystic vintage. We may then consider this interesting composition as a prophetic anticipation of the kingdom of Christ, to be established in glory and honour in the “world to come,” the habitable world. Heb. ii. 5. We see not yet all things put under his feet, but we are sure that the Word of God shall be fulfilled, and every enemy, Satan, death, and hell, shall be for ever subdued and destroyed, and creation itself delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Rom. viii. 17-23. In the use of this Psalm, then, we anticipate that victory, and in the praise we thus celebrate, we go on from strength to strength till, with him who is our glorious Head, we appear in Zion before God.—W. Wilson, D.D., in loc.

Whole Psalm.—Now, consider but the scope of the Psalm, as the apostle quoteth it to prove the world to come. Heb. ii. Any one that reads the Psalm would think that the Psalmist doth but set forth old Adam in his kingdom, in his paradise, made a little lower than the angels—for we have spirits wrapped up in flesh and blood, whereas they are spirits simply—a degree lower, as if they were dukes, and we marquises; one would think, I say, that this were all his meaning, and that it is applied to Christ but by way of allusion. But the truth is, the apostle bringeth it in to prove and to convince these Hebrews, to whom he wrote, that that Psalm was meant of Christ, of that man whom they expected to be the Messiah, the Man Christ Jesus. And that he doth it, I prove by the sixth verse—it is the observation that Beza hath—“One in a certain place,” quoting David, διεμαρτύρατο, hath testified; so we may translate it, hath testified it, etiam atque etiam, testified most expressly; he bringeth an express proof for it that it was meant of the Man Christ Jesus; therefore it is not an allusion. And indeed it was Beza that did first begin that interpretation that I read of, and himself therefore doth excuse it and make an apology for it, that he diverteth out of the common road, though since many others have followed him.

Now the scope of the Psalm is plainly this: in Rom. v. 14, you read that Adam was a type of him that was to come. Now in Psalm viii. you find there Adam’s world, the type of a world to come; he was the first Adam, and had a world, so the second Adam hath a world also appointed for him; there are his oxen and his sheep, and the fowls of the air, whereby are meant other things, devils perhaps, and wicked men, the prince of the air; as by the heavens there, the angels, or the apostles rather—“the heavens declare the glory of God;” that is applied to the apostles, that were preachers of the gospel.

To make this plain to you, that that Psalm where the phrase is used, “All things under his feet,” and quoted by the apostle in Eph. i. 22—therefore it is proper—was not meant of man in innocency, but of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ; and therefore, answerably, that the world there is not this world, but a world on purpose made for this Messiah, as the other was for Adam.

First, it was not meant of man in innocency properly and principally. Why? Because in the second verse he saith, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength.” There were no babes in the time of Adam’s innocency, he fell before there were any. Secondly, he addeth, “That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger;” the devil that is, for he showed himself the enemy there, to be a manslayer from the beginning. God would use man to still him; alas! he overcame Adam presently. It must be meant of another therefore, one that is able to still this enemy and avenger.

Then he saith, “How excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.” Adam had but paradise, he never propagated God’s name over all the earth; he did not continue so long before he fell as to beget sons; much less did he found it in the heavens.

Again, verse 4, “What is man, and the son of man?” Adam, though he was man, yet he was not the son of man; he is called indeed, “the son of God” (Luke iii. 38), but he was not filius hominis. I remember Ribera urgeth that.

But take an argument the apostle himself useth to prove it. This man, saith he, must have all subject to him; all but God, saith he; he must have the angels subject to him, for he hath put all principalities and powers under his feet, saith he. This could not be Adam, it could not be the man that had this world in a state of innocency; much less had Adam all under his feet. No, my brethren, it was too great a vassalage for Adam to have the creatures thus bow to him. But they are thus to Jesus Christ, angels and all; they are all under his feet, he is far above them.

Secondly, it is not meant of man fallen, that is as plain; the apostle himself saith so. “We see not,” saith he, “all things subject unto him.” Some think that it is meant as an objection that the apostle answereth; but it is indeed to prove that man fallen cannot be meant in Psalm viii. Why? Because, saith he, we do not see anything, all things at least, subject unto him; you have not any one man, or the whole race of man, to whom all things have been subject; the creatures are sometimes injurious to him. We do not see him, saith he; that is, the nature of man in general considered. Take all the monarchs in the world, they never conquered the whole world; there was never any one man that was a sinner that had all subject to him. “But we see,” saith he—mark the opposition—“but we see Jesus,” that Man, “crowned with glory and honour;” therefore, it is this Man, and no man else; the opposition implieth it.... So now it remaineth then, that it is only Christ, God-man, that is meant in Psalm viii. And indeed, and in truth, Christ himself interpreteth the Psalm of himself; you have two witnesses to confirm it, Christ himself and the apostle. Matt. xxi. 16. When they cried hosanna to Christ, or “save now,” and made him the Saviour of the world, the Pharisees were angry, our Saviour confuteth them by this very Psalm: “Have ye not read,” saith he, “out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?” He quoteth this very Psalm which speaks of himself; and Paul, by his warrant, and perhaps from that hint, doth thus argue out of it, and convince the Jews by it.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 1.—“How excellent is thy name in all the earth!” How illustrious is the name of Jesus throughout the world! His incarnation, birth, humble, and obscure life, preaching, miracles, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension, are celebrated through the whole world. His religion, the gifts and graces of his Spirit, his people—Christians, his gospel, and the preachers of it, are everywhere spoken of. No name is so universal, no power and influence so generally felt, as those of the Saviour of mankind. Amen.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 1.—“Above the heavens;” not in the heavens, but “above the heavens;” even greater, beyond, and higher than they; “angels, principalities, and powers, being made subject unto him.” As Paul says, he hath “ascended up far above all heavens.” And with this his glory above the heaven is connected, his sending forth his name upon earth through his Holy Spirit. As the apostle adds in this passage, “He hath ascended up far above all heavens; and he gave some apostles.” And thus here: “Thy name excellent in all the world;” “Thy glory above the heavens.”—Isaac Williams.

Verse 2.—“Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength,” etc. In a prophetic manner, speaking of that which was to be done by children many hundreds of years after, for the asserting of his infinite mercy in sending his Son Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins. For so the Lord applieth their crying, “Hosannah to the Son of David” in the temple. And thus both Basil and other ancients, and some new writers also understand it. But Calvin will have it meant of God’s wonderful providing for them, by turning their mothers’ blood into milk, and giving them the faculty to suck, thus nourishing and preserving them, which sufficiently convinceth all gainsayers of God’s wonderful providence towards the weakest and most shiftless of all creatures.—John Mayer, 1653.

Verse 2.—Who are these “babes and sucklings?” 1. Man in general, who springeth from so weak and poor a beginning as that of babes and sucklings, yet is at length advanced to such power as to grapple with, and overcome the enemy and the avenger. 2. David in particular, who being but a ruddy youth, God used him as an instrument to discomfit Goliath of Gath. 3. More especially our Lord Jesus Christ, who assuming our nature and all the sinless infirmities of it, and submitting to the weakness of an infant, and after dying is gone in the same nature to reign in heaven, till he hath brought all his enemies under his feet. Psalm cx. 1, and 1 Cor. xv. 27. Then was our human nature exalted above all other creatures, when the Son of God was made of a woman, carried in the womb. 4. The apostles, who to outward appearance were despicable, in a manner children and sucklings in comparison of the great ones of the world; poor despised creatures, yet principal instruments of God’s service and glory. Therefore ’tis notable, that when Christ glorifieth his Father for the wise and free dispensation of his saving grace (Matt. xi. 25), he saith, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes,” so called from the meanness of their condition.... And you shall see it was spoken when the disciples were sent abroad, and had power given them over unclean spirits. “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” This he acknowledged to be an act of infinite condescension in God. 5. Those children that cried Hosanna to Christ, make up part of the sense, for Christ defendeth their practice by this Scripture.... 6. Not only the apostles, but all those that fight under Christ’s banner, and are listed into his confederacy, may be called babes and sucklings; first, because of their condition; secondly, their disposition.... 1. Because of their condition ... God in the government of the world is pleased to subdue the enemies of his kingdom by weak and despised instruments. 2. Because of their disposition: they are most humble spirited. We are told (Matt. xviii. 3), “Except ye be converted, and become as little children,” etc. As if he had said, you strive for pre-eminence and worldly greatness in my kingdom; I tell you my kingdom is a kingdom of babes and containeth none but the humble, and such as are little in their own eyes, and are contented to be small and despised in the eyes of others, and so do not seek after great matters in the world. A young child knoweth not what striving or state meaneth, and therefore by an emblem and visible representation of a child set in the midst of them, Christ would take them off from the expectation of a carnal kingdom.—Thomas Manton, 1620-1677.

Verse 2.—“That thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” This very confusion and revenge upon Satan, who was the cause of man’s fall, was aimed at by God at first; therefore is the first promise and preaching of the gospel to Adam brought in rather in sentencing him than in speaking to Adam, that the seed of the woman should break the serpent’s head, it being in God’s aim as much to confound him as to save poor man.—Thomas Goodwin.

Verse 2.—The work that is done in love loses half its tedium and difficulty. It is as with a stone, which in the air and on the dry ground we strain at but cannot stir. Flood the field where it lies, bury the block beneath the rising water; and now, when its head is submerged, bend to the work. Put your strength to it. Ah! it moves, rises from its bed, rolls on before your arm. So, when under the heavenly influences of grace the tide of love rises, and goes swelling over our duties and difficulties, a child can do a man’s work, and a man can do a giant’s. Let love be present in the heart, and “out of the mouth of babes and sucklings God ordaineth strength.”—Thomas Guthrie, D.D.