Psalms 141 commentary

Make haste unto me. Those that know how to value God's gracious presence, will be the more fervent in their prayers. When presented through the sacrifice and intercession of the Saviour, they will be as acceptable to God as the daily sacrifices and burnings of incense were of old. Prayer is a spiritual sacrifice, it is the offering up the soul and its best affections. Good men know the evil of tongue sins. When enemies are provoking, we are in danger of speaking unadvisedly. While we live in an evil world, and have such evil hearts, we have need to pray that we may neither be drawn nor driven to do any thing sinful. Sinners pretend to find dainties in sin; but those that consider how soon sin will turn into bitterness, will dread such dainties, and pray to God to take them out of their sight, and by his grace to turn their hearts against them. Good men pray against the sweets of sin.

We should be ready to welcome the rebuke of our heavenly Father, and also the reproof of our brethren. It shall not break my head, if it may but help to break my heart: we must show that we take it kindly. Those who slighted the word of God before, will be glad of it when in affliction, for that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter, the word is sweet. Let us lift our prayer unto God. Let us entreat him to rescue us from the snares of Satan, and of all the workers of iniquity. In language like this psalm, O Lord, would we entreat that our poor prayers should set forth our only hope, our only dependence on thee. Grant us thy grace, that we may be prepared for this employment, being clothed with thy righteousness, and having all the gifts of thy Spirit planted in our hearts.

PSALM 141

Whatever may have been the immediate cause pressing David to pray in the manner he does in this Psalm, Many commentators are strongly of opinion, that this Psalm was written as a memorial of that very interesting scene in the life of David, recorded in 1 Samuel 24, relating to his generous treatment of Saul. Though he had an opportunity of putting that his cruel persecutor to death in the cave of En-gedi, yet he spared his life, only cutting off his skirt, and not suffering his followers to touch him; and when Saul had gone out of the cave, David going out after him, remonstrated with him from some distance in the gentlest and most respectful language in regard to the injustice of his conduct towards him. It is thought that the sixth verse contains so express a reference to this very remarkable occurrence in David’s history, as to leave little doubt that it was the occasion on which the Psalm was composed. it is plain that his desire is through divine grace to check and bridle his spirit, under injuries of a causeless and unprovoked description, so as not to break out into retaliation and revenge, and return evil for evil. Having attained to the exercise of forbearance, he seeks that God would judge between him and his enemies.

A Psalm of David.

Psalm 141:1-4

1. O Jehovah! I have cried unto thee, make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice when I cry unto thee. 2. Let my prayer be directed as incense before thy face; the lifting up of my hands, as As, here and in the preceding clause, is a supplement, very properly made by our author; a word signifying like, or in the stead of, being frequently understood in the Hebrew text of the Psalms. the evening sacrifice. 3. Set a watch, O Jehovah! upon my mouth, keep a guard upon the door of my lips. 4. Incline not my heart to an evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity, and that I may not eat of their dainties.

1. O Jehovah! I have cried unto thee. From such an exordium and manner of praying, it is evident that David was laboring under no small trial, as he repeats his requests, and insists upon receiving help. Without venturing to say anything definite upon the point, we would not disapprove of the conjecture that this Psalm was written by David with reference to the persecutions he suffered from Saul. He teaches us by his example to make application immediately to God, and not be tempted, as wicked men are, to renounce prayer, and rely on other resources. He says that he cried to God, not to heaven or earth, to men or to fortune, and other vain objects, which are made mention of, in the first place at least, in such cases by the ungodly. If they do address themselves to God, it is with murmurs and complaints, howling rather than praying.

Lord, I cry unto thee - Many of David's Psalms begin with complaints; but they are not those of habitual plaint and peevishness. He was in frequent troubles and difficulties, and he always sought help in God. He ever appears in earnest; at no time is there any evidence that the devotion of David was formal. He prayed, meditated, supplicated, groaned, cried, and even roared, as he tells us, for the disquietude of his soul. He had speedy answers; for he had much faith, and was always in earnest.

As incense - Incense was offered every morning and evening before the Lord, on the golden altar, before the veil of the sanctuary. Exo 29:39, and Num 28:4.

As the evening sacrifice - This was a burnt-offering, accompanied with flour and salt. But it does not appear that David refers to any sacrifice, for he uses not זבח zebach, which is almost universally used for a slaughtered animal; but מנחה minchah, which is generally taken for a gratitude-offering or unbloody sacrifice. The literal translation of the passage is, "Let my prayer be established for incense before thy faces; and the lifting up of my hands for the evening oblation." The psalmist appears to have been at this time at a distance from the sanctuary, and therefore could not perform the Divine worship in the way prescribed by the law. What could he do? Why, as he could not worship according to the letter of the law, he will worship God according to the spirit; then prayer is accepted in the place of incense; and the lifting up of his hands, in gratitude and self-dedication to God, is accepted in the place of the evening minchah or oblation. Who can deplore the necessity that obliged the psalmist to worship God in this way?

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth - While there are so many spies on my actions and words, I have need to be doubly guarded, that my enemies may have no advantage against me. Some think the prayer is against impatience; but if he were now going to Gath, it is more natural to suppose that he was praying to be preserved from dishonoring the truth, and from making sinful concessions in a heathen land; and at a court where, from his circumstances, it was natural to suppose he might be tempted to apostasy by the heathen party. The following verse seems to support this opinion.

Let me eat not of their dainties - This may refer either to eating things forbidden by the law; or to the partaking in banquets or feasts in honor of idols.

Let the righteous smite me - This verse is extremely difficult in the original. The following translation, in which the Syriac, Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic, and Arabic nearly agree, appears to me to be the best: "Let the righteous chastise me in mercy, and instruct me: but let not the oil of the wicked anoint my head. It shall not adorn (יני yani, from נוה navah) my head; for still my prayer shall be against their wicked works."

The oil of the wicked may here mean his smooth flattering speeches; and the psalmist intimates that he would rather suffer the cutting reproof of the righteous than the oily talk of the flatterer. If this were the case, how few are there now-a-days of his mind! On referring to Bishop Horsley, I find his translation is something similar to my own: -

Let the just one smite me, let the pious remove me.

Let not the ointment of the impious anoint my head.

But still I will intrude in their calamities.

When their judges are overthrown in stony places - בידי סלע biyedey sela, "In the hands of the rock." Does this rock signify a strong or fortified place; and its hands the garrison which have occupied it, by whom these judges were overthrown? If we knew the occasion on which this Psalm was made, we might be the better able to understand the allusions in the text.

They shall hear my words; for they are sweet - Some think there is here an allusion to David's generous treatment of Saul in the cave of En-gedi, and afterwards at the hill of Hachilah, in this verse, which might be translated: "Their judges have been dismissed in the rocky places; and have heard my words, that they were sweet." Or perhaps there may be a reference to the death of Saul and his sons, and the very disastrous defeat of the Israelites at Gilboa. If so, the seventh verse will lose its chief difficulty, Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth; but if we take them as referring to the slaughter of the priests at Nob, then, in stead of translating לפי שאול lephi sheol, at the grave's mouth, we may translate at the command of Saul; and then the verse will point out the manner in which those servants of the Lord were massacred; Doeg cut them in pieces; hewed them down as one cleaveth wood. Some understand all this of the cruel usage of the captives in Babylon. I could add other conjectures, and contend for my own; but they are all too vague to form a just ground for decided opinion.

But mine eyes are unto thee - In all times, in all places, on all occasions, I will cleave unto the Lord, and put my whole confidence in him.

Let the wicked fall into their own nets - This is generally the case; those who lay snares for others fall into them themselves. Harm watch, harm catch, says the old adage. How many cases have occurred where the spring guns that have been set for thieves have shot some of the family! I have known some dismal cases of this kind, where some of the most amiable lives have been sacrificed to this accursed machine.

Whilst - I withal escape - They alone are guilty; they alone spread the nets and gins; I am innocent, and God will cause me to escape.

Incline not - Suffer it not to be inclined. Heart - Keep me not only from wicked speeches, but from all evil motions of my heart. Dainties - The pleasures or advantages which they gain by their wickedness.

Smite - By reproofs. Break - Not hurt, but heal and greatly refresh me. Calamities - In the calamities of those righteous persons who reproved him. When they came into such calamities as those wherein he was involved he would pity them and pray for them.

Judges - The chief of mine enemies. Overthrown - Or, cast down headlong by thine exemplary vengeance. Hear - Hearken unto my counsels and offers which now they despise.

Our bones - Our case is almost as hopeless as of those who are dead, and whose bones are scattered in several places.

2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense ; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice .

Heb. Be directed to thy face. Let it not be lost, but let it come unto thee and find audience.

Owned and accepted by thee no less than the incense, which by thy command, Exod. 30. 7, &c. is offered upon thine Altar, from which I am now banished and so disenabled to offer it there, and therefore I trust thou wilt accept my prayer instead of it.

My prayer made with hands lifted up, which was the usual gesture. See Iob 11. 13. Psal. 63. 5. & 88. 10, &c.

Which was offered every evening, Exod. 29. 39, &c. Which he mention[illegible: 1+ letters] either, 1. by way of opposition to the incense which was offered in the morning: or, 2. Synecdochically, so as to include the morning-sacrifice and all the sacrifices of the day, of which this was the close; such Synecdoches being most frequent, as hath been already observed: or, 3. because the evening-sacrifice was more solemn than the morning, and was attended with more company and more prayers, whence the ninth hour, which was the time of this sacrifice, is called the hour of prayer, Acts 3. 1.

Marginal references: Heb. directed.

3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth ; keep the door of my lips .

That I may not through mine own infirmity and the great provocations of mine enemies, break [illegible: 1+ letters]orth into any unadvised speeches or any expressions of impa[illegible: 1+ letters]ience or distrust or envy or malice, &c.

My lips which are the door of my mouth whence words come forth.

4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity : and let me not eat of their dainties .

Suffer it not to be inclined or led aside either by my own errours or lusts, or by the temptations of the world or of the Devil. Thus God is frequently said to harden mens hearts not positively, for he can do no evil, nor tempt any man to it, Iam. 1. 13. but privatively, by denying sof[illegible: 1+ letters]ning grace.

Keep me not onely from wicked speeches, v. 3. but from all evil motions of my heart, which otherwise will draw me to many evil speeches and actions.

Either, 1. to joyn with them in their sinful courses: or, 2. to do wickedly as they do.

Let me never enjoy or desire worldly comforts upon such terms as they do, to wit, with Gods wrath and curse, as instruments of wickedness, and of my own eternal destruction. My afflictions are more desirable than such prosperity. Let none of their sweet morsels, the pleasures o[illegible: 1+ letters] advantages, which they gain by their wickedness, tempt me to approve of or imitate their ways.

5 Let the righteous smite me , it shall be a kindness , and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil , which shall not break my head : for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities .

To wit, with his tongue by reproofs, as the next clause explains it, which are called wounds, Prov. 27. 6. As I pray unto thee that [illegible: 1 word] would[illegible: 1+ letters]st keep me from sinful practices, so I beg it of all just men, that if I do transgress, or if, by the arts and slanders of mine enemies, any of them are made to believe that I am guilty of [illegible: 1+ letters]il designs against Saul, or of any other wickedness, that they would freely admonish and reprove me for it And their reproofs shall please me better than the dainties of the wicked last mentioned, v. 4.

I shall be so far from being offended with it as an act of enmity or ill will, as they may suspect, that I shall esteem it an act and sign of true friendship.

Or, it shall be as the oil of the head, as it is in the Hebrew, i. e. which is poured upon the head, as the manner was in great feasts and solemnities.

Not hurt or disturb it, but on the contrary, shall heal and greatly refresh and delight it. Which is here understood by a known figure called Meiosis, whereby more is intended than is expressed, as Prov. 17. 21. and oft elsewhere.

Either, 1. in the calamities of those righteous persons who reproved and censured him. So this is an evidence of what he last said, that he should take their reproofs for a kindness, because when they came into such calamities as those wherein he was involved, as all righteous men must expect sufferings at one time or other, he would not insult over them nor censure them, but pity them and pray for them: or, 2. in the calamities of his enemies, of which he speaks in the next words. And so this may be added as a reason why he did so freely offer himself to the righteous to be reproved by them, if he or his cause were so bad as his enemies made them, because he was well assured that he was sincere and his cause good, and that God would bring him out of all his calamities, and bring his enemies into such calamities, that they should need and desire his prayers, which also he would willingly grant to them; and then all good men would be fully satisfied of the justice of his person and cause.

Marginal references: Prov. 9. 8.; Or, let the righteous smi[illegible: 1+ letters] me kindly, and reprove me; let not their precious oil break my head, &c.

6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places , they shall hear my words, for they are sweet .

The chief of mine enemies, their Governors Civil and Military.

Or, shall be overthrown, or cast down headlong by thine exemplary vengeance. Or, as others, were left free, unhurt by me, when it was in my power to destroy them: of which see 1 Sam. 24. & 26. to which histories this place is by divers learned Interpreters thought to allude. And then by their Iudges he means Saul, although he thought not fit distinctly to mention him, but onely to intimate him in an obscure and general way.

Heb. in the hands or by the sides of the rock. Which may relate either, 1. to the rocky nature of those places in which Saul fell into Davids hands. See 1 Sam. 24. 2. or, 2. to the ancient manner of punishing malefactors, which was by throwing them down from the tops of rocks: of which see 2 Chron. 25. 12. or, 3. to aggravate their overthrow; for falls in stony places are as most easie and frequent, so also most mischievous.

Then they, either the Judges, who will be wise too late; or the people spared by my favour, when others were overthrown and warned by that fearful example, will hear my words, i. e. hearken to my counsels and offers which now they despise, and then they, my words, will be sweet and acceptable to them, which now they reject. Others thus, then they did hear my words that they were sweet, then they acknowledged that my words and carriage towards Saul were full of meekness and gentleness, and that I was not so false and malicious, as they had represented me to be.

7 Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth , as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth .

My bones and the bones of my friends and followers. Our skin and flesh is in a manner consumed, and there is nothing left of us but a company of dead and dry bones. Whereby he intimates that their condition was desperate. Comp. Ezek. 37. 11.

Either, 1. literally and properly. So barbarously cruel were our enemies, that they not onely killed us, but left our carkasses unburied, by which means our flesh and sinews, &c. were consumed or torn in pieces by wild [illegible: 1+ letters]easts, and our bones dispersed upon the face of the earth our common grave: or, if any of my followers were dead and buried, they pulled their bones out of the grave, and scattered them about: or rather, 2. Metaphorically. So the sence is, Our case is almost as hopeless as of those who are dead, and whose bones are scattered in several places.

As much neglected and despised by them as the chips which a Carpenter makes when he is cutting wood, which he will not stoop to take up. Or rather, as the LXX. and Chaldee and Syriack understand it, and as it is in the Hebrew, as when one (to wit, the husbandman) cutteth and cleaveth the earth or in the earth; which he teareth without any mercy.

8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust, leave not my soul destitute .

Or, naked, as this word signifies Psal. 137. 7. and a[illegible: 1+ letters] Aa[illegible: 1+ letters]on is said to have made the people naked, Exod. 32. 25. i. e. deprived of thy favour and protection. Or, do not po[illegible: 1+ letters]r out my soal, to wit, unto death, as this word is used, Isa. 53. 12.

Marginal references: Heb. make [illegible: 1 word] soul bare, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word]. 5. 2, 3.

10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets , whilst that I withal escape.

Heb. Into his nets, either into Gods nets, the Relative being put without the Antecedent, as is usual in such cases, where it is easily understood. Or, each into his own nets, to wit, the mischiefs which he designs against me.

Or, together, to wit, with my followers: or, in like manner, as I have d[illegible: 1+ letters]e formerly. But this word may seem to be more fitly joyned to the [illegible: 1+ letters]oregoing clause, to which it is next placed in the Hebrew, and the verse may be and is by divers both ancient and later Translators, thus rendred, Let the wicked fall▪ (Or, The wicked shall fall) into their own nets together, (altogether, or alik[illegible: 1+ letters], one as well as another, Saul himself not excepted, whom though I dare not destroy, God will judge) whilst that I escape, am preserved from that common calamity in which mine enemies shall perish. Which was verified by the event. For David was strangely kept out of harms way when Saul and others of Davids enemies were cut off by the Phisisti[illegible: 1+ letters]s, 1 Sam. 31.

Marginal references: Heb pass over.

Evening Psalm in the Times of Absalom

The four Psalms, Psa 140:1-13, Psa 141:1-10, Psa 142:1-7, and Psa 143:1-12, are interwoven with one another in many ways (Symbolae, pp. 67f.). The following passages are very similar, viz., Psa 140:7; Psa 141:1; Psa 142:2, and Psa 143:1. Just as the poet complains in Psa 142:4, “when my spirit veils itself within me,” so too in Psa 143:4; as he prays in Ps 142:8, “Oh bring my soul out of prison,” so in Psa 143:11, “bring my soul out of distress,” where צרה takes the place of the metaphorical מסגר. Besides these, compare Psa 140:5-6 with Psa 141:9; Psa 142:7 with Psa 143:9; Psa 140:3 with Psa 141:5, רעות; Ps 140:14 with Ps 142:8; Psa 142:4 with Psa 143:8.

The right understanding of the Psalm depends upon the right understanding of the situation. Since it is inscribed לדוד, it is presumably a situation corresponding to the history of David, out of the midst of which the Psalm is composed, either by David himself or by some one else who desired to give expression in Davidic strains to David’s mood when in this situation. For the gleaning of Davidic Psalms which we find in the last two Books of the Psalter is for the most part derived from historical works in which these Psalms, in some instances only free reproductions of the feelings of David with respect to old Davidic models, adorned the historic narrative. The Psalm before us adorned the history of the time of the persecution by Absalom. At that time David was driven out of Jerusalem, and consequently cut off from the sacrificial worship of God upon Zion; and our Psalm is an evening hymn of one of those troublous days. The ancient church, even prior to the time of Gregory (Constitutiones Apostolicae, ii. 59), had chosen it for its evening hymn, just as it had chosen Psa 63:1-11 for its morning hymn. Just as Psa 63:1-11 was called ὁ ὀρθρινός (ibid. 8:37), so this Psalm, as being the Vesper Psalm, was called ὁ ἐπιλύχνιος (vid., 8:35).

Psa 141:1-2

The very beginning of Psa 141:1-10 is more after the manner of David than really Davidic; for instead of haste thee to me, David always says, haste thee for my help, Psa 22:20; 38:23; Psa 40:14. The לך that is added to בּקראי (as in Psa 4:2) is to be explained, as in Psa 57:3 : when I call to Thee, i.e., when I call Thee, who art now far from me, to me. The general cry for help is followed in Psa 141:2 by a petition for the answering of his prayer. Luther has given an excellent rendering: Let my prayer avail to Thee as an offering of incense; the lifting up of my hands, as an evening sacrifice (Mein Gebet müsse fur dir tügen wie ein Reuchopffer, Meine Hende auffheben, wie ein Abendopffer). תּכּון is the fut. Niph. of כּוּן, and signifies properly to be set up, and to be established, or reflexive: to place and arrange or prepare one’s self, Amo 4:12; then to continue, e.g., Psa 101:7; therefore, either let it place itself, let it appear, sistat se, or better: let it stand, continue, i.e., let my prayer find acceptance, recognition with Thee קטרת, and the lifting up of my hands מנחת־ערב. Expositors say that this in both instances is the comparatio decurtata, as in Psa 11:1 and elsewhere: as an incense-offering, as an evening mincha. But the poet purposely omits the כּ of the comparison. He wishes that God may be pleased to regard his prayer as sweet-smelling smoke or as incense, just as this was added to the azcara of the meal-offering, and gave it, in its ascending perfume, the direction upward to God,It is not the priestly קטרת תּמיד, i.e., the daily morning and evening incense-offering upon the golden altar of the holy place, Exo 30:8, that is meant (since it is a non-priest who is speaking, according to Hitzig, of course John Hyrcanus), but rather, as also in Isa 1:13, the incense of the azcara of the meal-offering which the priest burnt (הקטיר) upon the altar; the incense (Isa 66:3) was entirely consumed, and not merely a handful taken from it. and that He may be pleased to regard the lifting up of his hands (משׂאת, the construct with the reduplication given up, from משּׂאת, or even, after the form מתּנת, from משּׂאה, here not oblatio, but according to the phrase נשׂא כפּים ידים, elevatio, Jdg 20:38, Jdg 20:40, cf. Psa 28:2, and frequently) as an evening mincha, just as it was added to the evening tamı̂d according to Exo 29:38-42, and concluded the work of the service of the day.The reason of it is this, that the evening mincha is oftener mentioned than the morning mincha (see, however, 2Ki 3:20). The whole burnt-offering of the morning and the meat-offering of the evening (2Ki 16:15; 1Ki 18:29, 1Ki 18:36) are the beginning and close of the daily principal service; whence, according to the example of the usus loquendi in Dan 9:21; Ezr 9:4., later on mincha directly signifies the afternoon or evening.

Psa 141:3-4

The prayer now begins to be particularized, and that in the first instance as a petition fore the grace of silence, calling to mind old Davidic passages like Psa 39:2; Psa 34:14. The situation of David, the betrayed one, requires caution in speaking; and the consciousness of having sinned, not indeed against the rebels, but against God, who would not visit him thus without his deserving it, stood in the way of any outspoken self-vindication. In pone custodiam ori meo שׁמרה is ἅπ. λεγ., after the infinitive form דּבקה, עזבה, עצמה. In Psa 141:3 דּל is ἅπ. λεγ. for דּלת; cf. “doors of the mouth” in Mic 7:5, and πύλαι στόματος in Euripides. נצּרה might be imper. Kal: keep I pray, with Dag. dirimens as in Pro 4:13. But נצר על is not in use; and also as the parallel word to שׁמרה, which likewise has the appearance of being imperative, נצּרה is explicable as regards its pointing by a comparison of יקּהה in Gen 49:10, דּבּרה in Deu 33:3, and קרבה in Psa 73:28. The prayer for the grace of silence is followed in Psa 141:4 by a prayer for the breaking off of all fellowship with the existing rulers. By a flight of irony they are called אישׁים, lords, in the sense of בּני אישׁ, Psa 4:3 (cf. the Spanish hidalgos = hijos d'algo, sons of somebody). The evil thing (רע | דּבר, with Pasek between the two ר, as in Num 7:13; Deu 7:1 between the two מ, and in 1Ch 22:3 between the two )ל, to which Jahve may be pleased never to incline his heart (תּט, fut. apoc. Hiph. as in Psa 27:9), is forthwith more particularly designated: perpetrare facinora maligne cum dominis, etc. עללות of great achievements in the sense of infamous deeds, also occurs in Psa 14:1; Psa 99:8. Here, however, we have the Hithpo. התעלל, which, with the accusative of the object עללות, signifies: wilfully to make such actions the object of one’s acting (cf. Arab. ta‛allala b - 'l - š', to meddle with any matter, to amuse, entertain one’s self with a thing). The expression is made to express disgust as strongly as possible; this poet is fond of glaring colouring in his language. In the dependent passage neve eorum vescar cupediis, לחם is used poetically for אכל, and בּ is the partitive Beth, as in Job 21:25. מנעמּים is another hapaxlegomenon, but as being a designation of dainties (from נעם, to be mild, tender, pleasant), it may not have been an unusual word. It is a well-known thing that usurpers revel in the cuisine and cellars of those whom they have driven away.

Psa 141:5-7

Thus far the Psalm is comparatively easy of exposition; but now it becomes difficult, yet not hopelessly so. David, thoroughly conscious of his sins against God and of his imperfection as a monarch, says, in opposition to the abuse which he is now suffering, that he would gladly accept any friendly reproof: “let a righteous man smite in kindness and reprove me - head-oil (i.e., oil upon the head, to which such reproof is likened) shall my head not refuse.” So we render it, following the accents, and not as Hupfeld, Kurtz, and Hitzig do: “if a righteous man smites me, it is love; if he reproves me, an anointing of the head is it unto me;” in connection with which the designation of the subject with היא would be twice wanting, which is more than is admissible. צדּיק stands here as an abstract substantive: the righteous man, whoever he may be, in antithesis, namely, to the rebels and to the people who have joined them. Amyraldus, Maurer, and Hengstenberg understand it of God; but it only occurs of God as an attribute, and never as a direct appellation. חסד, as in Jer 31:3, is equivalent to בּחסד, cum benignitate = benigne. What is meant is, as in Job 6:14, what Paul (Gal 6:1) styles πνεῦμα πραΰ́τητος. and הלם, tundere, is used of the strokes of earnest but well-meant reproof, which is called “the blows of a friend” in Pro 27:6. Such reproof shall be to him as head-oil (Psa 23:5; Psa 133:2), which his head does not despise. יני, written defectively for יניא, like ישּׁי, in Psa 55:16, אבי, 1Ki 21:29 and frequently; הניא (root נא, Arab. n', with the nasal n, which also expresses the negation in the Indo-Germanic languages) here signifies to deny, as in Psa 33:10 to bring to nought, to destroy. On the other hand, the lxx renders μὴ λιπανάτω τὴν κεφαλήν μου, which is also followed by the Syriac and Jerome, perhaps after the Arabic nawiya, to become or to be fat, which is, however, altogether foreign to the Aramaic, and is, moreover, only used of fatness of the body, and in fact of camels. The meaning of the figure is this: well-meant reproof shall be acceptable and spiritually useful to him. The confirmation כּי־עוד וגו follows, which is enigmatical both in meaning and expression. This עוד is the cipher of a whole clause, and the following ו is related to this עוד as the Waw that introduces the apodosis, not to כּי as in 2Ch 24:20, since no progression and connection is discernible if כי is taken as a subordinating quia. We interpret thus: for it is still so (the matter still stands thus), that my prayer is against their wickednesses; i.e., that I use no weapon but that of prayer against these, therefore let me always be in that spiritual state of mind which is alive to well-meant reproof. Mendelssohn’s rendering is similar: I still pray, whilst they practise infamy. On עוד ו cf. Zec 8:20 עוד אשׁר (vid., Köhler), and Pro 24:27 אחר ו. He who has prayed God in Psa 141:3 to set a watch upon his mouth is dumb in the presence of those who now have dominion, and seeks to keep himself clear of their sinful doings, whereas he willingly allows himself to be chastened by the righteous; and the more silent he is towards the world (see Amo 5:13), the more constant is he in his intercourse with God. But there will come a time when those who now behave as lords shall fall a prey to the revenge of the people who have been misled by them; and on the other hand, the confession of the salvation, and of the order of the salvation, of God, that has hitherto been put to silence, will again be able to make itself freely heard, and find a ready hearing.

As Psa 141:6 says, the new rulers fall a prey to the indignation of the people and are thrown down the precipices, whilst the people, having again come to their right mind, obey the words of David and find them pleasant and beneficial (vid., Pro 15:26; Pro 16:24). נשׁמטוּ is to be explained according to 2Ki 9:33. The casting of persons down from the rock was not an unusual mode of execution (2Ch 25:12). ידי־סלע are the sides (Psa 140:6; Jdg 11:26) of the rock, after which the expression ἐχόμενα πέτρας of the lxx, which has been misunderstood by Jerome, is intended to be understood;Beda Pieringer in his Psalterium Romana Lyra Radditum (Ratisbonae 1859) interprets κατεπόθησαν ἐχόμενα πέτρας οἱ κραταιοὶ τὐτῶν, absorpti, i.e., operti sunt loco ad petram pertinente signiferi turpis consilii eorum. they are therefore the sides of the rock conceived of as it were as the hands of the body of rock, if we are not rather with Böttcher to compare the expressions בּידי and על־ידי construed with verbs of abandoning and casting down, Lam 1:14; Job 16:11, and frequently. In Psa 141:7 there follows a further statement of the issue on the side of David and his followers: instar findentis et secantis terram (בּקע with Beth, elsewhere in the hostile signification of irrumpere) dispersa sunt ossa nostra ad ostium (לפי as in Pro 8:3) orci; Symmachus: ὥσπερ γεωργὸς ὅταν ῥήσσῃ τὴν τὴν, οὕτως ἐσκορπίσθη τὰ ὀστᾶ ἡμῶν εἰς στόμα ᾅδου; Quinta: ὡς καλλιεργῶν καὶ σκάπτων ἐν τῇ γῇ κ. τ. λ. Assuming the very extreme, it is a look of hope into the future: should his bones and the bones of his followers be even scattered about the mouth of Sheôl (cf. the Syrian picture of Sheôl: “the dust upon its threshold ‛al - escûfteh ,” Deutsche Morgenländ. Zeitschrift, xx. 513), their soul below, their bones above - it would nevertheless be only as when on in ploughing cleaves the earth; i.e., they do not lie there in order that they may continue lying, but that they may rise up anew, as the seed that is sown sprouts up out of the upturned earth. lxx Codd. Vat. et Sinait. τὰ ὀστᾶ ἡμῶν, beside which, however, is found the reading αὐτῶν (Cod. Alex. by a second hand, and the Syriac, Arabic, and Aethiopic versions), as Böttcher also, pro ineptissimo utcunque, thinks עצמינו must be read, understanding this, according to 2Ch 25:12 extrem., of the mangled bodies of those cast down from the rock. We here discern the hope of a resurrection, if not directly, at least (cf. Oehler in Herzog’s Real-Encyclopädie, concluding volume, S. 422) as am emblem of victory in spite of having succumbed. That which authorizes this interpretation lies in the figure of the husbandman, and in the conditional clause (Psa 141:8), which leads to the true point of the comparison; for as a complaint concerning a defeat that had been suffered: “so are our bones scattered for the mouth of the grave (in order to be swallowed up by it),” Psa 141:7, would be alien and isolated with respect to what precedes and what follows.

Psa 141:8-10

If Psa 141:7 is not merely an expression of the complaint, but at the same time of hope, we now have no need to give the כּי the adversative sense of imo, but we may leave it its most natural confirmatory signification namque. From this point the Psalm gradually dies away in strains comparatively easy to be understood and in perfect keeping with the situation. In connection with Psa 141:8 one is reminded of Psa 25:15; Psa 31:2; with Psa 141:9., of Psa 7:16; Psa 69:23, and other passages. In “pour not out (תּער with sharpened vowel instead of תּער, Ges. §75, rem. 8) my soul,” ערה, Piel, is equivalent to the Hiph. הערה in Isa 53:12. ידי פח are as it were the hands of the seizing and capturing snare; and יקשׂוּ לּי is virtually a genitive: qui insidias tendunt mihi, since one cannot say יקשׁ פח, ponere laqueum. מכמרים, nets, in Psa 141:10 is another hapaxlegomenon; the enallage numeri is as in Psa 62:5; Isa 2:8; Isa 5:23, - the singular that slips in refers what is said of the many to each individual in particular. The plural מקשׁות for מקשׁים, Psa 18:6; Psa 64:6, also occurs only here. יחד is to be explained as in 4:9: it is intended to express the coincidence of the overthrow of the enemies and the going forth free of the persecuted one. With יחד אנכי the poet gives prominence to his simultaneous, distinct destiny: simul ego dum (עד as in Job 8:21, cf. Job 1:18) praetereo h.e. evado. The inverted position of the כּי in Psa 18:10-12 may be compared; with Psa 120:7 and 2Ki 2:14, however (where instead of אף־הוּא it is with Thenius to be read אפוא), the case is different.

Fervent Supplications.

1 Lord , I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. 2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. 3 Set a watch, O Lord , before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. 4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

Mercy to accept what we do well, and grace to keep us from doing ill, are the two things which we are here taught by David's example to pray to God for.

I. David loved prayer, and he begs of God that his prayers might be heard and answered, v. 1, 2. David cried unto God. His crying denotes fervency in prayer; he prayed as one in earnest. His crying to God denotes faith and fixedness in prayer. And what did he desire as the success of his prayer? 1. That God would take cognizance of it: "Give ear to my voice; let me have a gracious audience." Those that cry in prayer may hope to be heard in prayer, not for their loudness, but their liveliness. 2. That he would visit him upon it: Make haste unto me. Those that know how to value God's gracious presence will be importunate for it and humbly impatient of delays. He that believes does not make haste, but he that prays may be earnest with God to make haste. 3. That he would be well pleased with him in it, well pleased with his praying and the lifting up of his hands in prayer, which denotes both the elevation and enlargement of his desire and the out-goings of his hope and expectation, the lifting up of the hand signifying the lifting up of the heart, and being used instead of lifting up the sacrifices which were heaved and waved before the Lord. Prayer is a spiritual sacrifice; it is the offering up of the soul, and its best affections, to God. Now he prays that this may be set forth and directed before God as the incense which was daily burnt upon the golden altar, and as the evening sacrifice, which he mentions rather than the morning sacrifice, perhaps because this was an evening prayer, or with an eye to Christ, who, in the evening of the world and in the evening of the day, was to offer up himself a sacrifice of atonement, and establish the spiritual sacrifices of acknowledgement, having abolished all the carnal ordinances of the law. Those that pray in faith may expect it will please God better than an ox or bullock. David was now banished from God's court, and could not attend the sacrifice and incense, and therefore begs that his prayer might be instead of them. Note, Prayer is of a sweet-smelling savour to God, as incense, which yet has no savour without fire; nor has prayer without the fire of holy love and fervour.

II. David was in fear of sin, and he begs of God that he might be kept from sin, knowing that his prayers would not be accepted unless he took care to watch against sin. We must be as earnest for God's grace in us as for his favour towards us. 1. He prays that he might not be surprised into any sinful words (v. 3): "Set a watch, O Lord! before my mouth, and, nature having made my lips to be a door to my words, let grace keep that door, that no word may be suffered to go out which may in any way tend to the dishonour of God or the hurt of others." Good men know the evil of tongue-sins, and how prone they are to them (when enemies are provoking we are in danger of carrying our resentment too far, and of speaking unadvisedly, as Moses did, though the meekest of men), and therefore they are earnest with God to prevent their speaking amiss, as knowing that no watchfulness or resolution of their own is sufficient for the governing of their tongues, much less of their hearts, without the special grace of God. We must keep our mouths as with a bridle; but that will not serve: we must pray to God to keep them. Nehemiah prayed to the Lord when he set a watch, and so must we, for without him the watchman walketh but in vain. 2. That he might not be inclined to any sinful practices (v. 4): "Incline not my heart to any evil thing; whatever inclination there is in me to sin, let it be not only restrained, but mortified, by divine grace." The example of those about us, and the provocations of those against us, are apt to stir up and draw out corrupt inclinations. We are ready to do as others do, and to think that if we have received injuries we may return them; and therefore we have need to pray that we may never be left to ourselves to practise any wicked work, either in confederacy with or in opposition to the men that work iniquity. While we live in such an evil world, and carry about with us such evil hearts, we have need to pray that we may neither be drawn in by any allurement nor driven on by any provocation to do any sinful thing. 3. That he might not be ensnared by any sinful pleasures: "Let me not eat of their dainties. Let me not join with them in their feasts and sports, lest thereby I be inveigled into their sins." Better is a dinner of herbs, out of the way of temptation, than a stalled ox in it. Sinners pretend to find dainties in sin. Stolen waters are sweet; forbidden fruit is pleasant to the eye. But those that consider how soon the dainties of sin will turn into wormwood and gall, how certainly it will, at last, bite like a serpent and sting like an adder, will dread those dainties, and pray to God by his providence to take them out of their sight, and by his grace to turn them against them. Good men will pray even against the sweets of sin.

Reproofs of the Righteous; Complaints and Petitions.

5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. 6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. 7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. 8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. 9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

Here, I. David desires to be told of his faults. His enemies reproached him with that which was false, which he could not but complain of; yet, at the same time, he desired his friends would reprove him for that which was really amiss in him, particularly if there was any thing that gave the least colour to those reproaches (v. 5): let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. The righteous God (so some); "I will welcome the rebukes of his providence, and be so far from quarrelling with them that I will receive them as tokens of love and improve them as means of grace, and will pray for those that are the instruments of my trouble." But it is commonly taken for the reproofs given by righteous men; and it best becomes those that are themselves righteous to reprove the unrighteousness of others, and from them reproof will be best taken. But if the reproof be just, though the reprover be not so, we must make a good use of it and learn obedience by it. We are here taught how to receive the reproofs of the righteous and wise. 1. We must desire to be reproved for whatever is amiss in us, or is done amiss by us: "Lord, put it into the heart of the righteous to smite me and reprove me. If my own heart does not smite me, as it ought, let my friend do it; let me never fall under that dreadful judgment of being let alone in sin." 2. We must account it a piece of friendship. We must not only bear it patiently, but take it as a kindness; for reproofs of instruction are the way of life (Prov. vi. 23), are means of good to us, to bring us to repentance for the sins we have committed, and to prevent relapses into sin. Though reproofs cut, it is in order to a cure, and therefore they are much more desirable than the kisses of an enemy (Prov. xxvii. 6) or the song of fools, Eccl. vii. 5. David blessed God for Abigail's seasonable admonition, 1 Sam. xxv. 32. 3. We must reckon ourselves helped and healed by it: It shall be as an excellent oil to a wound, to mollify it and close it up; it shall not break my head, as some reckon it to do, who could as well bear to have their heads broken as to be told of their faults; but, says David, "I am not of that mind; it is my sin that has broken my head, that has broken my bones, Ps. li. 8. The reproof is an excellent oil, to cure the bruises sin has given me. It shall not break my head, if it may but help to break my heart." 4. We must requite the kindness of those that deal thus faithfully, thus friendly with us, at least by our prayers for them in their calamities, and hereby we must show that we take it kindly. Dr. Hammond gives quite another reading of this verse: "Reproach will bruise me that am righteous, and rebuke me; but that poisonous oil shall not break my head (shall not destroy me, shall not do me the mischief intended), for yet my prayer shall be in their mischiefs, that God would preserve me from them, and my prayer shall not be in vain."

II. David hopes his persecutors will, some time or other, bear to be told of their faults, as he was willing to be told of his (v. 6): "When their judges" (Saul and his officers who judged and condemned David, and would themselves be sole judges) "are overthrown in stony places, among the rocks in the wilderness, then they shall hear my words, for they are sweet." Some think this refers to the relentings that were in Saul's breast when he said, with tears, Is this thy voice, my son David? 1 Sam. xxiv. 16; xxvi. 21. Or we may take it more generally: even judges, great as they are, may come to be overthrown. Those that make the greatest figure in this world do not always meet with level smooth ways through it. And those that slighted the word of God before will relish it, and be glad of it, when they are in affliction, for that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter the word is sweet. Oppressed innocency cannot gain a hearing with those that live in pomp and pleasure, but when they come to be overthrown themselves they will have more compassionate thoughts of the afflicted.

III. David complains of the great extremity to which he and his friends were reduced (v. 7): Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, out of which they are thrown up, so long have we been dead, or into which they are ready to be thrown, so near are we to the pit; and they are as little regarded as chips among the hewers of wood, which are thrown in neglected heaps: As one that cuts and cleaves the earth (so some read it), alluding to the ploughman who tears the earth in pieces with his plough-share, Ps. cxxix. 3. Can these dry bones live?

IV. David casts himself upon God, and depends upon him for deliverance: "But my eyes are unto thee (v. 8); for, when the case is ever so deplorable, thou canst redress all the grievances. From thee I expect relief, bad as things are, and in thee is my trust." Those that have their eye towards God may have their hopes in him.

V. He prays that God would succour and relieve him as his necessity required. 1. That he would comfort him: "Leave not my soul desolate and destitute; still let me see where my help is." 2. That he would prevent the designs of his enemies against him (v. 9): "Keep me from being taken in the snare they have laid for me; give me to discover it and to evade it." Be the gin placed with ever so much subtlety, God can and will secure his people from being taken in it. 3. That God would, in justice, turn the designs of his enemies upon themselves, and, in mercy, deliver him from being ruined by them (v. 10): let the wicked fall into their own net, the net which, intentionally, they procured for me, but which, meritoriously, they prepared for themselves. Nec lex est justioir ulla quam necis artifices arte perire sua—No law can be more just than that the architects of destruction should perish by their own contrivances. All that are bound over to God's justice are held in the cords of their own iniquity. But let me at the same time obtain a discharge. The entangling and ensnaring of the wicked sometimes prove the escape and enlargement of the righteous.

PSAL. CXLI.

A Psalme of David.

IEhovah, I call upon thee, make haste unto me, give eare to my voice when I call unto thee. Let my prayer be firmely directed as incense before thee; the lifting up of my hands as the evening oblation. Set thou, Iehovah, a watch before my mouth, keepe the doore of my lips. Incline not my heart to an evill thing; to pretend pretences in wickednesse, with men that worke painfull iniquity: and let me not eat their dainties. Let the just man smite mee, it shall be a kindnesse, and let him reprove mee; the headoile, let it not breake mine head; for yet my prayer also shall be in their evils. Their Iudges are throwne down by the Rock sides; and they shall heare my sayings, for they are pleasant. As when one cutteth and cleaveth on the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of hell. But mine eyes are unto thee, Iehovih Lord; in thee I hope for safetie: powre not out my soule. Keepe mee from hands of the snare, which they have laid for me, and the grinnes of them that worke painfull iniquity. Let the wicked fall into his net, whiles I together passe over.

Annotations. BE firmely directed] or prepared; and so acceptable. as incense] or perfume, which was a confection of sweet spices, made after the art of the Apothecary, pure and holy, and was by the Priests burned upon the golden altar, every morning before the Lord, Exod. 30. 34, 35, 36. 7. 8. a figure of the praiers of the Saints, acceptable to God, through Christs mediation, as this place sheweth, compared with Rev. 8. 3. my hands] or palmes, lifted up in praier: see Psal. 63. 5. evening oblation] the Manchah properly was the meatoffering, (which was fine flower mingled with oile) offered together with the Lambe every evening, before the Lord continually, as Exod. 29. 39, 40, 41, 42. Num. 28. 2, 3,—8. Here it is taken for the whole oblation, at the time of the offering whereof the godly used to pray, Exod. 9. 5. Dan. 9. 21. it was at the ninth houre of the day, (about three of the clocke in the afternoone) called the houre of praier, Acts 3. 1. Vers. 3. a watch] or, a ward, custody, to keep me from speaking amisse. keepe] observe thou: or, an observation, before the doore. the doore] or gate of my lips, by which my words passe out as at a doore: so the doores of the wombe, Iob 3. 10. The originall dal, is contracted for deleth, a doore: though this be rare: yet the Hebrew text sometime doth the like, as Chaji, 2 Sam. 23. 20. for Chajil, 1 Chron. 11. 22. Vers. 4. Incline not] to wit, by Satan, or mine owne corruption: for God properly tempteth no man to evill, but the devill, and mans owne concupiscence, Iam. 1. 13, 14. 1 Cor. 7. 5. and by Satan, God moveth mens minds, as appeareth, 1 Chro. 21. 1. with 2 Sam. 24. 1. So Matt. 6. 13. evill thing] or word: see Psal. 7. 1. to pretend pretences] or, excuses; thus the Greeke turneth it: the Hebrew also signifieth occasions pretended, as Deut. 22. 14, 17. Or we may reade it, to practise practises in wickednesse. with men that worke] or, with men workers, that is, such as stoutly, boldly, and manfully worke iniquity. their dainties] the Chaldee expoundeth it, of their songs at bankers. Vers. 5. smite] or beat me; the word properly signifieth beating with an hammer, Psal. 74. 6. Iudg. 5. 26. applied to sharperebukes. So Prov. 23. 35. Compare also Prov. 9. 8. and 25. 12. and 28. 23. Zach. 13. 6. it shall be a kindnesse] a mercy, or, with kindnesse, that is, let him smite mee kindly, and reprove me. the head-oile] that is, the chiefe or precious oile: (as head spices are chiefe and principall, Exod. 30. 23.) or oile of the head, which is to anoint the head with. Or, by head, understand the chiefest of his adversaries, as before, Ps. 140. 10. for this seemeth to be an opposition to the former thus, let the just smite mee, but let not the precious oile (or the oile of the head) of the wicked break mine head: and this the Greeke favoureth, saying, but let not the oile of the sinner supple mine head: by oile, meaning flattering words, as Psal. 55. 22. Otherwise we may referre it to the former just mans reproofe, it shall be a precious oile, let him not make it faile my head. The Chaldee otherwise expoundeth it, and let the Priest reprove me, anointing mee with the anointing oile of the Sanctuary: but let him not take the crowne of the kingdome from mine head. let it not breake my head] not distract or dazell my wits, not overcome me; the Hebrew word signifieth breaking and bringing to nought, Ps. 33. 10. and is applied to the breaking of the heart by discouragement, Num. 32. 7. and here to the breaking of the head, or bringing to nought of counsels, purposes, &c. by flattery. Or, if it be understood of the just, we may reade it, let him not make it faile mine head, that is, let the oile of his reproofe not be wanting upon mine head. in their evils] or, against their evils: which may be applied to the evil deeds of the wicked, or calamities of the just: and here understand, is or shall be in their evils: or, as the Chaldee explaineth it, is ordered against their evill. Vers. 6. Their Iudges] the Princes of mine adversaries. are throwne downe] or, throw downe themselves, that is, secretly pursue and beset me in the rockes and mountaines whither I am forced to flee, 1 Sam. 24. 3. and 23. 26. The word may also beare their throwing down to destruction, as 1 Chro. 25. 12. by the rock sides] or, in rockie places; Hebr. in the hands of the rocke; as Psal. 140. 6. and they shall heare] or, though they have heard. Vers. 7. cutteth and cleaveth] to wit, wood, or the ground with the plough. of hell] or, the grave. Compare Ezek. 37. 1, 11, 12. Iehovih] or God: see Psal. 68. 21. powre not out my soule] to wit, unto death, as Esa. 53. 12. that is, kill mee not: or, make not my soule bare, that is, leave it not destitute and helplesse. Vers. 10. Let the wicked fall] or, They shall fall. into his net] that is, every of them into his owne not, or flue. together] namely, with their fall, or together with them that are with me: or, altogether (wholly) passe over, and escape: the Greeke saith, alone I am, untill I passe over. See this word, Psal. 33. 15.

PSAL. CXLI.

VErſ. 1 Lord I cry unto thee] No diſtreſs or danger, how greatſoever ſhall ſtifle my faith, or ſtop my mouth, but make mee more earneſt and my prayers like ſtrong ſtreams in narrow ſtrains, ſhall bear down all before them.

Make haſte unto mee] Leſt help come too late.

Verſ. 2 Let my prayer bee ſet forth before thee as incenſe] Faithfull prayer is [non-Latin text not transcribed] (ſaith Da[illegible: 1 letter]aſen) the aſcenſion of the heart to God. Dim. de fide. In this incenſe how many ſweet ſpices are burned together by the fire of faith, as humility, hope, love, &c? all which come up for a memoriall before God: Act. 10.4. and the Saints (as Manoahs Angel) aſcend up in the flame, and do wonderouſly, Judg. 13.19, 20. whilſt their pillars of ſmoak are perfumed with myrrhe and frankincenſe, with all powders of the ſpice-Merchant, Cant. 3.6. that is, with the merits and mediation of Jeſus Chriſt, Heb. 9.24. thoſe ſweet odours poured into the prayers of Saints, Rev. 5.8. & 8.4. for want whereof the incenſe of the wicked is abomination, Iſa. 1.13. as ſtinking of the hand that offereth it.

As the evening Sacrifice] The ſacrificium juge, that was offered every morning and evening, Exod. 29.39. Numb. 28.4. in reference to that immaculate Lamb of God, ſlain from the beginning, for an offering and a ſweet ſmelling ſavour, Epheſ. 5.2. Chryſoſtom telleth us, that the Greek Church made uſe of this Pſalm in their evening-Liturgie.

Verſ. 3 Set a Watch, O Lord, before my mouth] Orat pro patientia; ſaith One, here hee prayeth for patience; leſt by giving himſelf leave to over-laſh, hee make the matter much worſe. The beſt patience long tryed, and hard put to't, may miſcarry, to its coſt.

Keep the door of my lips] That it move not creaking, Dal pro Deleth per Apo[illegible: 1 letter]cp[illegible: 1 letter]n poc[illegible: 1 letter]icam. and complaining as on ruſty hinges, for want of the oil of joy and gladneſs. David had ſomewhat to do with his tongue, as wee ſee, Pſal. 39.1.3. and when hee had carted the Ark, how untowardly ſpake hee, as if the fault were more in God than himſelf, that there was ſuch a breach made in Uzzah, 1 Chron. 15.2? It was but need therefore thus to pray.

Verſ. 4 Incline not my heart] Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth ſpeaketh. For the better ordering of his words, therefore hee prayeth, not to be delivered up to Satan, and to his own hearts luſt (as hee was, 1 Chron 21.1. with 2 Sam. 24.1.) for God tempteth no man, but the Devill and his own concupiſcence, Jam. 1.13, 14. but to bee bent the better way by Gods over-powering efficacious grace, and to bee ſtabliſhed with his free Spirit,

To practiſe wicked works] The Vulgar rendreth it, ad excuſandas excuſationes in peccatis, to frame excuſe for mine offences; but that, when I have over-laſht,Gnala[illegible: 1 letter] ſignificat operaticut occaſione pratex[illegible: 1 letter]u, cauſa. I may confeſs and forſake, and ſo finde mercy.

And let mee not eat of their dainties] Their murthering morſels of iniquity, The Chaldee[illegible: 1 letter] expoundeth i[illegible: 1 letter] of their ſongs at banquets. or their tid-bits and baites, whereby Sauls courtiers ſought to inſnare him.

Verſ. 5 Let the Righteous smite mee, &c.] In case I do offend in word or deed, let mee never want a faithfull reprover, who may ſmite mee as with a hammer (ſo the word ſignifieth) reprove mee ſharply, Prov. 23.35. Zech. 13.5. Tit. 1.13. cuttingly, as the Apoſtles word importeth, yet mildly and lovingly, Gal. 6.1. Prov. 9.8. [non-Latin text not transcribed] & 19.25. & 25.12. with ſoft words, but hard arguments.

It ſhall bee a kindneſſe] David thought the better of Nathan for ſo roundly reproving him, 2 Sam. 12. and made him of his Councill, 1 King. 1. Peter thought the better of Paul for dealing ſo plainly with him at Antioch, Gal. 2. and maketh honourable mention of him, and his writings, 2 Pet. 3. Tis ſaid of Gerſon (that great Chancellour of Paris, that [illegible: 1 word] r[illegible: 1 letter] alia tantop[illegible: 3 letters] laetaretur, In vita Joh[illegible: 2 letters] Gerſon. quam ſi a[illegible: 1 letter] aliquo fraterne & charitarive redargueretur, hee rejoyced in nothing ſo much as in a friendly reprehenſion: great pitty it was that none beſtowed a shi[illegible: 1 letter]ing on him for being ſo active againſt John H[illegible: 2 letters], and Hier[illegible: 2 letters] of Pragus, at the councill of Conſtance. Of Queen Anne Bullen, it is reported, that ſhee was not only willing to bee admoniſhed, but required her Chaplains freely and plainly to tell her of whatſoever was amiſs. Mr. Clark Matryrolo[illegible: 2 letters] p. 78. Her Daughter Queen Elizabeth was well pleaſed with Mr. Deerings plain dealing, who told her in a Sermon that once ſhee was Tanquam [illegible: 1 letter]vis, but now Tanquam indemita juvenca, as an untamed Heifer: and ſpeaking of the diſorders of the times, Theſe things are ſo, ſaid hee, and you ſit ſtill, and do nothing, &c.

It ſhall bee an excellent oil] Heb. A head-oil, ſuch as they poured on their friends heads; and that was of the beſt.

Which ſhall not break my head] My heart it may. Or, Let him not make it [illegible: 1 letter]ail my head, let him not ceaſe to do mee this good office daily; I ſhall count it a courteſie, and requite it with my beſt prayers for him, in his greateſt neceſſity.

For yet my prayer alſo ſhall bee in their calamity] I will not curſe them for their good counſell, raile at them for reproving mee, or inſult over them in miſery as juſtly met withall; but pray for them, and prize them as my beſt friends.

Verſ. 6 When their Judges are overthrown] As I like juſt reprehenſions, ſo I ſuffer unjuſt Perſecutions from the Grandees of the Nation, who ſhall ſhortly bee dejected from their dignity, and daſhed as it were againſt the rocks, And then

They ſhall hear my words] The common people that have been ſeduced by their evil Rulers to think the worſt of mee, ſhall be brought to a right underſtanding of things, and undeceived: ſo that they ſhall ſet by thoſe words of mine that they have vilipended and ſleighted.

Verſ. 7 Our bones are ſcattered at the graves mouth] i. e. I and company are in a dying condition, free among the dead; yea, if taken wee ſhould be put to moſt cruel deaths, Non una & ſimplici morte contenti ſunt. hewn in peeces, or pulled limbmeal, and left unburied; and our dead bodies mangled by a barbarous inhumanity, as wood-cleavers make the ſhivers flye hither and thither. This is the perillous caſe of mee, and my partiſans.

Verſ. 8 But mine eyes are unto thee] Afflictions to the Saints are tanquam ſcalae & alae, to mount them to God.

Leave not my ſoul deſtitute] Ne exinanias, make not bare my ſoul viz. of thy protection.

Verſ. 9 Keep mee from the ſnare, &c.] See Pſal. 140.5.

Verſ. 10 Let the wicked fall] Metaphora a piſcibus, ſaith Tremellius, as fiſhes in caſting-nets, Iſa. 19.8.

Whileſt that I withall eſcape] The Righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked commeth in his ſtead; Prov. 11.8. It appeareth at length that ſimple honeſty is the beſt policie, and wicked polity the greateſt ſimplicity, and moſt ſelf-deſtructive.

Lord, I cry unto thee. This is my last resort: prayer never fails me. My prayer is painful and feeble, and worthy only to be called a cry; but it is a cry unto Jehovah, and this ennobles it. I have cried unto thee, I still cry to thee, and I always mean to cry to thee. To whom else could I go? What else can I do? Others trust to themselves, but I cry unto thee. The weapon of all prayer is one which the believer may always carry with him, and use in every time of need. Make haste unto me. His case was urgent, and he pleaded that urgency. God's time is the best time, but when we are sorely pressed we may with holy importunity quicken the movements of mercy. In many cases, if help should come late, it would come too late; and we are permitted to pray against such a calamity. Give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. See how a second time he talks of crying: prayer had become his frequent, yea, his constant exercise: twice in a few words he says, "I cry; I cry." How he longs to be heard, and to be heard at once! There is a voice to the great Father in every cry, and groan, and tear of his children: he can understand what they mean when they are quite unable to express it. It troubles the spirit of the saints when they fear that no favourable car is turned to their doleful cries: they cannot rest unless their "unto thee" is answered by an "unto me." When prayer is a man's only refuge, he is deeply distressed at the bare idea of his failing therein.

"That were a grief I could not bear,

Didst thou not hear and answer prayer;

But a prayer hearing, answering God

Supports me under every load."

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. As incense is carefully prepared, kindled with holy fire, and devoutly presented unto God, so let my prayer be. We are not to look upon prayer as easy work requiring no thought. It needs to be "set forth"; what is more, it must be set forth "before the Lord, "by a sense of his presence and a holy reverence for his name: neither may we regard all supplication as certain of divine acceptance, it needs to be set forth before the Lord "as incense, "concerning the offering of which there were rules to be observed, otherwise it would be rejected of God. And the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Whatever form his prayer might take his one desire was that it might be accepted of God. Prayer is sometimes presented without words by the very motions of our bodies: bent knees and lifted hands are the tokens of earnest, expectant prayer. Certainly work, or the lifting up of the hands in labour, is prayer if it be done in dependence upon God and for his glory: there is a hand prayer as well as a heart prayer, and our desire is that tiffs may be sweet unto the Lord as the sacrifice of eventide. Holy hope, the lifting up of hands that hang down, is also a kind of worship: may it ever be acceptable with God. The Psalmist makes a bold request: he would have his humble cries and prayers to be as much regarded of the Lord as the appointed morning and evening sacrifices of the holy place. Yet the prayer is by no means too bold, for, after all, the spiritual is in the Lord's esteem higher than the ceremonial, and the calves of the lips are a truer sacrifice than the calves of the stall. So far we have a prayer about prayer: we have a distinct supplication in the two following verses.

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth. That mouth had been used in prayer, it would be a pity it should ever be defiled with untruth, or pride, or wrath; yet so it will become unless carefully watched, for these intruders are ever lurking about the door. David feels that with all his own watchfulness he may be surprised into sin, and so he begs the Lord himself to keep him. When Jehovah sets the watch the city is well guarded: when the Lord becomes the guard of our mouth the whole man is well garrisoned. Keep the door of my lips. God has made our lips the door of the mouth, but we cannot keep that door of ourselves, therefore do we entreat the Lord to take the rule of it. O that the Lord would both open and shut our lips, for we can do neither the one nor the other aright if left to ourselves. In times of persecution by ungodly men we are peculiarly liable to speak hastily, or evasively, and therefore we should be specially anxious to be preserved in that direction from every form of sin. How condescending is the Lord! We are ennobled by being door keepers for him, and yet he deigns to be a door keeper for us. Incline not my heart to any evil thing. It is equivalent to the petition, "Lead us not into temptation." O that nothing may arise in providence which would excite our desires in a wrong direction. The Psalmist is here careful of his heart. He who holds the heart is lord of the man: but if the tongue and the heart are under God's care all is safe. Let us pray that he may never leave us to our own inclinations, or we shall soon decline from the right. To practise wicked works with men that work iniquity. The way the heart inclines the life soon tends: evil things desired bring forth wicked things practised. Unless the fountain of life is kept pure the streams of life will soon be polluted. Alas, there is great power in company: even good men are apt to be swayed by association; hence the fear that we may practise wicked works when we are with wicked workers. We must endeavour not to be with them lest we sin with them. It is bad when the heart goes the wrong way alone, worse when the life runs in the evil road alone; but it is apt to increase unto a high degree of ungodliness when the backslider runs the downward path with a whole horde of sinners around him. Our practice will be our perdition if it be evil: it is an aggravation of sin rather than an excuse for it to say that it is our custom and our habit. It is God's practice to punish all who make a practice of iniquity. Good men are horrified at the thought of sinning as others do; the fear of it drives them to their knees. Iniquity, which, being interpreted, is a want of equity, is a thing to be shunned as we would avoid an infectious disease. And let me not eat of their dainties. If we work with them we shall soon eat with them. They will bring out their sweet morsels, and delicate dishes, in the hope of binding us to their service by the means of our palates. The trap is baited with delicious meats that we may be captured and become meat for their malice. If we would not sin with men we had better not sit with them, and if we would not share their wickedness we must not share their wantonness.

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. He prefers the bitters of gracious company to the dainties of the ungodly. He would rather be smitten by the righteous than feasted by the wicked. He gives a permit to faithful admonition, he even invites it —"let the righteous smite me." When the ungodly smile upon us their flattery is cruel; when the righteous smite us their faithfulness is kind. Sometimes godly men rap hard; they do not merely hint at evil, but hammer at it; and even then we are to receive the blows in love, and be thankful to the hand which smites so heavily. Fools resent reproof; wise men endeavour to profit by it. And let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break ray head. Oil breaks no heads, and rebuke does no man any harm; rather, as oil refreshes and perfumes, so does reproof when fitly taken sweeten and renew the heart. My friend must love me well if he will tell me of my faults: there is an unction about him if he is honest enough to point out my errors. Many a man has had his head broken at the feasts of the wicked, but none at the table of a true hearted reprover. The oil of flattery is not excellent; the oil so lavishly used at the banquet of the reveller is not excellent; head breaking and heart breaking attend the anointings of the riotous; but it is otherwise with the severest censures of the godly: they are not always sweet, but they are always excellent; they may for the moment bruise the heart, but they never break either it or the head. For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. Gracious men never grow wrathful with candid friends so as to harbour an ill feeling against them; if so, when they saw them in affliction, they would turn round upon them and taunt them with their rebukes. Far from it; these wisely grateful souls are greatly concerned to see their instructors in trouble, and they bring forth their best prayers for their assistance. They do not merely pray for them, but they so closely and heartily sympathize that their prayers are "in their calamities, "down in the dungeon with them. So true is Christian brotherhood that we are with our friends in sickness or persecution, suffering their griefs; so that our heart's prayer is in their sorrows. When we can give good men nothing more, let us give them our prayers, and let us do this doubly to those who have given us their rebukes.

This is a verse of which the meaning seems far to seek. Does it refer to the righteous among the Israelites? We think so. David surely means that when their leaders fell never to rise again, they would then turn to him and take delight in listening to his voice. When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. And so they did: the death of Saul made all the best of the nation look to the son of Jesse as the Lord's anointed; his words became sweet to them. Many of those good men who had spoken severely of David's quitting his country, and going over to the Philistines, were nevertheless dear to his heart for their fidelity, and to them he returned nothing but good will, loving prayers, and sweet speeches, knowing that by and by they would overlook his faults, and select him to be their leader. They smote him when he erred, but they recognized his excellences. He, on his part, bore no resentment, but loved them for their honesty. He would pray for them when their land lay bleeding at the feet of their foreign enemies; he would come to their rescue when their former leaders were slain; and his words of courageous hopefulness would be sweet in their ears. This seems to me to be a good sense, consistent with the context. At the same time, other and more laboured interpretations have their learned admirers, and to these we will refer in our notes from other authors.

David's case seemed hopeless: the cause of God in Israel was as a dead thing, even as a skeleton broken, and rotten, and shovelled out of the grave, to return as dust to its dust. Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth. There seemed to be no life, no cohesion, no form, order, or headship among the godly party in Israel: Saul had demolished it, and scattered all its parts, so that it did not exist as an organized whole. David himself was like one of these dried bones, and the rest of the godly were in much the same condition. There seemed to be no vitality or union among the holy seed; but their cause lay at death's door. As when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. They were like wood divided and thrown apart: not as one piece of timber, nor even as a bundle, but all cut to pieces, and thoroughly divided. Leaving out the word "wood", which is supplied by the translators, the figure relates to cleaving upon the earth, which probably means ploughing, but may signify any other form of chopping and splitting, such as felling a forest, tearing up bushes, or otherwise causing confusion and division. How often have good men thought thus of the cause of God! Wherever they have looked, death, division, and destruction have stared them in the face. Cut and cloven, hopelessly sundered! Scattered, yea, scattered at the grave's mouth! Split up and split for the fire! Such the cause of God and truth has seemed to be. "Upon the earth" the prospect was wretched; the field of the church was ploughed, burrowed, and scarified: it had become like a wood chopper's yard, where everything was doomed to be broken up. We have seen churches in such a state, and have been heart broken. What a mercy that there is always a place above the earth to which we can look! There lives One who will give a resurrection to his cause, and a reunion to his divided people. He will bring up the dead bones from the grave's mouth, and make the dried faggots live again. Let us imitate the Psalmist in the next verse, and look up to the living God.

But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord. He looked upward and kept his eyes fixed there. He regarded duty more than circumstances; he considered the promise rather than the external providence; and he expected from God rather than from men. He did not shut his eyes in indifference or despair, neither did he turn them to the creature in vain confidence, but he gave his eyes to his God, and saw nothing to fear. Jehovah his Lord is also his hope. Thomas called Jesus Lord and God, and David here speaks of his God and Lord. Saints delight to dwell upon the divine names when they are adoring or appealing. In thee is my trust. Not alone in thine attributes or in thy promises, but in thyself. Others might confide where they chose, but David kept to his God: in him he trusted always, only, confidently, and unreservedly. Leave not my soul destitute; as it would be if the Lord did not remember and fulfil his promise. To be destitute in circumstances is bad, but to be destitute in soul is far worse; to be left of friends is a calamity, but to be left of God would be destruction. Destitute of God is destitution with a vengeance. The comfort is that God hath said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee."

Keep me from, the snares which they have laid for me. He had before asked, in Ps 141:3, that the door of his mouth might be kept; but his prayer now grows into "Keep me." He seems more in trouble about covert temptation than concerning open attacks. Brave men do not dread battle, but they hate secret plots. We cannot endure to be entrapped like unsuspecting animals; therefore we cry to the God of wisdom for protection. And the gins of the workers of iniquity. These evil workers sought to catch David in his speech or acts. This was in itself a piece of in equity, and so of a piece with the rest of their conduct. They were bad themselves, and they wished either to make him like themselves, or to cause him to seem so. If they could not catch the good man in one way, they would try another; snares and gins should be multiplied, for anyhow they were determined to work his ruin. Nobody could preserve David but the Omniscient and Omnipotent One: he also will preserve us. It is hard to keep out of snares which you cannot see, and to escape gins which you cannot discover. Well might the much hunted Psalmist cry, "Keep me."

Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. It may not be a Christian prayer, but it is a very just one, and it takes a great deal of grace to refrain from crying Amen to it; in fact, grace does not work towards making us wish otherwise concerning the enemies of holy men. Do we not all wish the innocent to be delivered, and the guilty to reap the result of their own malice? Of course we do, if we are just men. There can be no wrong in desiring that to happen in our own case which we wish for all good men. Yet is there a more excellent way.

Whole Psalm. This psalm, like the one before it, is distinguished by a pregnant brevity and the use of rare expressions, while at the same time it is full of verbal and real coincidences with the other psalms of David. These indications are so clear and undeniable, that a sceptical critic of great eminence (De Wette) pronounces it one of the oldest psalms in the collection. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

Whole Psalm. Few psalms in so small a compass crowd together so many gems of precious and holy truth. —Barton Bouchier.

Whole Psalm. Many commentators are strongly of opinion that this psalm was written as a memorial of that very interesting scene in the life of David recorded in 1Sa 24:1-22, relating to his generous treatment of Saul. Though he had an opportunity of putting his cruel persecutor to death in the cave of Engedi, yet he spared his life, only cutting off his skirt, and not suffering his followers to touch him; and when Saul had gone out of the cave, David, going out after him, remonstrated with him from some distance in the gentlest and most respectful language in regard to the injustice of his conduct towards him. It is thought that the sixth verse contains so express a reference to this very remarkable occurrence in David's history, as to leave little doubt that it was the occasion on which the psalm was composed. —James Anderson's Note to Calvin, in loc.

Whole Psalm. The imagery and allusions of the psalm are in keeping; viz., the oil which had lately anointed him; and the watch before his mouth, etc., suggested by the watching at the mouth of the cave, though ultimately referring to the tabernacle service. —John Jebb.

LORD, I cry unto thee. Misbelief doth seek many ways for delivery from trouble; but faith hath but one way, —to go to God, to wit, by prayer, for whatsoever is needful. —David Dickson.

LORD, I cry unto thee. No distress or danger, how great soever, shall stifle my faith or stop my mouth, but it shall make me more earnest, and my prayers, like strong streams in narrow straits, shall bear down all before them. —John Trapp.

Unto thee...unto me. Our prayer and God's mercy are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends, the other descends. —Ezekiel Hopkins.

Note that the difference of tense, "I have cried" (Heb., 70., and Vulgate) followed by "when I cry", signifies the earnest perseverance of the saint in prayer, never ceasing, so long as trouble lasts. And trouble does last so long as we are in the world; wherefore the apostle teaches us to "Pray without ceasing." —Augustine and Bruno, in Neale and Littledale.

Verses 1-5. That the Psalmist was now in some distress, whereof he was deeply sensible, is evident from the vehemency of his spirit, which he expresses in the reiteration of his request or supplication (Ps 141:1); and by his desire that his "prayer might come before the Lord like incense, and the lifting up of his hands as the evening sacrifice" (Ps 141:2). The Jewish expositors guess, not improbably, that in that allusion he had regard unto his present exclusion from the holy services of the tabernacle, which in other places he deeply complains of. For the matter of his prayer in the beginning of the psalm, it respecteth himself, and his deportment under his present condition, which he desireth may be harmless and holy, becoming himself, and useful to others. And whereas he was two ways liable to miscarry; first, by too high an exasperation of spirit against his oppressors and persecutors; and, secondly, by a fraudulent and pusillanimous compliance with them in their wicked courses; —which are the two extremes which men are apt sinfully to run into in such conditions: he prays earnestly to be delivered from them both. The first he hath respect unto in Ps 141:3, "Set a watch, O, LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips": namely, that he might not, under those great provocations which were given him, break forth into an unseemly intemperance of speech against his unjust oppressors, which sometimes fierce and unreasonable cruelties will wrest from the most sedate and moderate spirits. But it was the desire of this holy Psalmist, as in like cases it should be ours, that his heart might be always preserved in such a frame, under the conduct of the Spirit of God, as not to be surprised into an expression of distempered passion in any of his words or sayings. The other he regards in his earnest supplication to be delivered from it, Ps 141:4: "Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties." There are two parts of his request unto the purpose intended. 1. That by the power of God's grace influencing his mind and soul, his heart might not be inclined unto any communion or society with his wicked adversaries in their wickedness. 2. That he might be preserved from a liking of, or a longing after those things, which are the baits and allurements whereby men are apt to be drawn into societies and conspiracies with the workers of iniquity; "And let me not eat of their dainties." See Pr 1:10-14. For he here describeth the condition of men prospering for a season in a course of wickedness; they first jointly give up themselves unto the practice of iniquity, and then together solace themselves in those satisfactions of their lusts, with which their power and interest in the world do furnish them.

These are the "dainties", for which an impotent longing and desire do betray the minds of unstable persons unto a compliance with ways of sin and folly: for I look on these "dainties" as comprising whatever the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, or the pride of life can afford. All these David prays to be delivered from any inclination unto; especially when they are made the allurements of a course of sin. In the enjoyment of these "dainties", it is the common practice of wicked men to soothe up, and mutually encourage one another in the way and course wherein they are engaged. And this completes that poor felicity which in this world so many aspire unto, and whereof alone they are capable. The whole of it is but a society in perishing sensual enjoyments, without control, and with mutual applause from one another. This the Psalmist had a special regard unto when casting his eye towards another communion and society which he longed after (Ps 141:5). He saw there not dainties but rebukes: he discerned that which is most opposite unto those mutual applause and rejoicing in one another, which is the salt and cement of all evil societies, for he noticed rebukes and reproofs for the least miscarriages that shall be observed. Now whereas the dainties which some enjoy in a course of prosperous wickedness, are that alone which seems to have anything in it amongst them that is desirable, and on the other side rebukes and reproofs are those alone which seem to have any sharpness, or matter of uneasiness and dislike in the society of the godly, David balances that which seemeth to be sharpest in the one society, against that which seems to be sweetest in the other, and, without respect unto other advantages, prefers the one above the other. Hence, some read the beginning of the words, "Let the righteous rather smite me", meaning, "rather than that I should eat of the dainties of the ungodly." —John Owen.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee. Margin, directed. The Hebrew word means to fit; to establish; to make firm. The Psalmist desires that his prayer should not be like that which is feeble, languishing, easily dissipated; but that it should be like that which is firm and secure. —Albert Barnes.

Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense. Literally, Let my prayer, incense, be set in order before Thee, —implying that prayer was in the reality what incense was in the symbol ...Passing to New Testament Scripture, though still only to that portion which refers to Old Testament times, we are told of the people without being engaged in player, while Zacharias was offering incense within the Sanctuary (Lu 1:10); they were in spirit going along with the priestly service. And in the book of Revelation the prayers of saints are once and again identified with the offering of incense on the golden altar before the throne. Re 5:8 8:3-4. —Patrick Fairbairn, in "The Typology of Scripture."

Set forth. Prayer is knowing work, believing work, thinking work, searching work, humbling work, and nothing worth if heart and hand do not join in it. —Thomas Adam, 1701-1784.

Set forth before thee as incense, whose fragrant smoke still ascends upwards. But many times in the very ascent, whilst it strives up higher and higher, infimo phantasmate verberatur, saith Gregory, "it is beaten back again by earthly imaginations which intervene", and then is extenuated by degrees, and vanisheth to nothing. Therefore the prophet prays ut diriyatur oratio, "that his prayer may be set before God", ut stubiliatur;so some render it out of the Hebrew, "that it may be established", that it may neither evaporate itself nor be whiffed about with the wind of vain and contrary imaginations, which come ab extrinseco from without], and may corrupt it. —Anthony Farindon.

As incense. That in general by incense prayer is signified, the Scripture expressly testifieth. And there is a fourfold resemblance between them:

1. In that it was beaten and pounded before it was used. So doth acceptable prayer proceed from a broken and contrite heart: Ps 51:17.

2. It was of no use until fire was put under it, and that taken from the altar. Nor is that prayer of any virtue or efficacy which is no kindled by the fire from above, the Holy Spirit of God, which we have from our altar, Christ Jesus.

3. It naturally ascended upwards towards heaven, as all offerings in the Hebrew are called twle, "ascensions", uprisings. And this is the design of prayer, to ascend unto the throne of God: "I will direct unto thee, and will look up"; that is, pray: Ps 5:3.

4. It yielded a sweet savour; which was one end of it in temple services, wherein there was so much burning of flesh and blood. So doth prayer yield a sweet savour unto God; a savour of rest, wherein he is well pleased. —John Owen.

As incense...as the evening sacrifice. Though this address of mine must necessarily want all that solemnity of preparation required in the service of thy holy Tabernacle, the cloud of incense and perfume, etc., the "mincha" or oblation of fine flour, etc., yet let the purity and fervour of my heart, and the innocency of my hands, now lifted up to thee in tiffs sad hour of my distress, be accepted instead of all these, and prevail for deliverance and a safe retreat to me and my companions. —Charles Peters ( —1777), in "A Critical Dissertation on the Book of Job," 1751.

As the evening sacrifice. This should be our daily service, as a lamb was offered up morning and evening for a sacrifice. But, alas! how dull and dead are our devotions! Like Pharaoh's chariots, they drive on heavily. Some, like Balaam's ass, scarce ever open their mouths twice. —Thomas Adams.

My hands. Spreading forth our hands in believing and fervent prayer is the only way of grasping mercy. —F. E., in "The Saints of Ebenezer," 1667.

In the gorgeous ceremonial worship of the Hebrews, none of the senses were excluded from taking part in the service...The sense of smell occupied, perhaps, the most prominent place; for the acceptance of the worship was always indicated by a symbol borrowed from this sense: "The Lord smelled a sweet savour." The prayer of the people ascended as incense, and the lifting up of their hands as the evening sacrifice. The offering of incense formed the essential part of the religious service. The altar of incense occupied one of the most conspicuous and honoured positions in the tabernacle and temple... On this altar a censer full of incense poured forth its fragrant clouds every morning and evening; and yearly, as the day of atonement came round, when the high priest entered the holy of holies, he filled a censer with live coals from the sacred fire on the altar of burnt offerings, and bore it into the sanctuary, where lie threw upon the burning coals the "sweet incense beaten small", which he had brought in his hand. Without this smoking censer lie was forbidden, on pain of death, to enter into the awful shrine of Jehovah. Notwithstanding the washing of his flesh, and the linen garments with which he was clothed, tie dare not enter the holiest of all with the blood of atonement, unless he could personally shelter himself under a cloud of incense.

It has been supposed by some writers that incense was invented for the purpose of concealing or neutralizing the noxious effluvia caused by the number of beasts slaughtered every day in the sanctuary. Other writers have attached a mystical import to it, and believed that it was a symbol of the breath of the world arising in praise to the Creator, the four ingredients of which it was composed representing the four elements. While a third class, looking upon the tabernacle as the palace of God, the theocratic King of Israel, and the ark of the covenant as his throne, regarded the incense as merely corresponding to the perfume so lavishly employed about the person and appointments of an Oriental monarch. It may doubtless have been intended primarily to serve these purposes and convey these meanings, but it derived its chief importance in connection with the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic ritual from the fact of its being the great symbol of prayer. It was offered at the time when the people were in the posture and act of devotion; and their prayers were supposed to be presented to God by the priest, and to ascend to him in the smoke and odour of that fragrant offering. Scripture is full of allusions to it, understood in this beautiful symbolical sense. Acceptable, prevailing prayer was a sweet smelling savour to the Lord; and prayer that was unlawful, or hypocritical, or unprofitable, was rejected with disgust by the organ of smell.

Doubtless the Jews felt, when they saw the soft white clouds of fragrant smoke rising slowly from the altar of incense, as if the voice of the priest were silently but eloquently pleading in that expressive emblem in their behalf. The association of sound was lost in that of smell, and the two senses were blended in one. And this symbolical mode of supplication, as Dr. George Wilson has remarked, has this one advantage over spoken or written prayer, that it appealed to those who were both blind and deaf, a class that are usually shut out from social worship by their affliction. Those who could not hear the prayers of the priest could join in devotional exercises symbolized by incense, through the medium of their sense of smell; and the hallowed impressions shut out by one avenue were admitted to the mind and heart by another. The altar of incense stood in the closest connection with the altar of burnt offerings. The blood of the sin offering was sprinkled on the horns of both on the great day of annual atonement. Morning and evening, as soon as the sacrifice was offered, the censer poured forth its fragrant contents, so that the perpetual incense within ascended simultaneously with the perpetual burnt offering outside. Without the live coals from off the sacrificial altar, the sacred incense could not be kindled; and without the incense previously filling the holy place, the blood of atonement from the altar of burnt offering could not be sprinkled on the mercy seat. Beautiful and expressive type of the perfect sacrifice and the all prevailing intercession of Jesus —of intercession founded upon atonement, of atonement preceded and followed by intercession! Beautiful and expressive type, too, of the prayers of believers kindled by the altar fire of Christ's sacrifice, and perfumed by his merits! —Hugh Macmillan, in "The Ministry of Nature," 1871.

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth, etc.

1. A man would never use this language without a conviction of the importance of the subject ...Everything is transacted by speech, in natural, civil, and religious concerns: how much, therefore, depends on the good or evil management of the tongue! What an ardour of holy love and friendship, or of anger and malice, may a few words fan into a flame! The tongue is the principal instrument in the cause of God; and it is the chief engine of the devil; give him this, and lie asks no more —there is no mischief or misery he will not accomplish by it. The use, the influence of it, therefore, is inexpressible; and words are never to be considered only as effects, but as causes, the operation of which can never be fully imagined. Let us suppose a case, a case, I fear, but too common. You drop, in the thoughtlessness of conversation, or for the sake of argument or wit, some irreligious, sceptical, expression —it lodges in the memory of a child, or a servant —it takes root in a soil favourable to such seed —it gradually springs up, and brings forth fruit, in the profanation of the Sabbath; the neglect of the means of grace; in the reading of improper books; in the choice of dangerous companions; —who can tell where it will end? But there is a Being who knows where it began. It will be acknowledged that some have it in their power, by reason of their office, talents, and influence, to do much more injury than others; but none are so insignificant as to be harmless.

2. A man would never use this language without a conviction that he is in danger of transgression. And if David was conscious of a liableness to err, shall we ever presume on our safety? Our danger arises from the depravity of our nature. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked"; and "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" Our danger arises from the contagion of example. There is nothing in which mankind are more universally culpable than in the disorders of speech. Yet with these we are constantly surrounded; and to these we have been accustomed from our impressible infancy. We are in danger from the frequency of speech. "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin." We must of necessity speak often; but we often speak without necessity. Duty calls us to intermingle much with our fellow creatures; but we are too little in the closet, and too much in the crowd —and when we are in company we forget the admonition, "Let every man be swift to hear, and slow to speak."

3. A man would never use this language without a conviction of inability to preserve himself. The Bible teaches us this truth, not only doctrinally, but historically. The examples of good men, and men eminent in godliness, confirm it in the very article before us. Moses, the meekest man in the earth, "spake unadvisedly with his lips." You have heard of the patience of Job, but he "cursed the day of his birth"; and Jeremiah, the prophet of the Lord, did the same. Peter said, "Though all men should be offended because of thee, I will never be offended; though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee." But how did he use his tongue a few hours after? Then "began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man!"

4. A man would never use this language without a conviction of the wisdom of applying to God for the assistance he needs. Prayer is the effect of our weakness, and the expression of our dependence. It confesses the agency of God.

(a) In the first place —God is equal to our preservation.

(b) His succours are not to be obtained without prayer.

(c) Prayer always brings the assistance it implores. —Condensed from W. Jay's Sermon on "The Regulation of the Tongue."

Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth, etc. Watching and prayer are often joined together. We are best kept when recommended into God's hand. I do observe here, First, That unadvised and passionate speeches do easily drop from us in our troubles, especially in our persecution. Secondly, That a godly, conscientious man is very tender of these, as of all evil. He that would live in communion with God for the present, and hope to appear with comfort before him hereafter, is sensible of the least thing that tends to God's displeasure, and God's dishonour: this is the true spirit of one that will be owned by Christ at the last day. Thirdly, There is no way to prevent being provoked to impatience and rashness of speech, or any evil, but by keeping a watch, and renewing our obligations to God. Fourthly, Whoever would keep a watch must call in the aid and assistance of God's grace; "Lord, set a watch before my mouth." —Thomas Manton.

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, etc. Thus holy men have kept the sessions at home, and made their hearts the foremen of the jury, and examined themselves as we examine others. The fear of the Lord stood at the door of their souls, to examine every thought before it went in, and at the door of their lips, to examine every word before it went out, whereby they escaped a thousand sins which we commit, as though we had no other work. —Henry Smith.

Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Nature having made my lips to be a door to my words, let grace keep that door, that no word may be suffered to go out which may any way tend to the dishonour of God, or the hurt of others. —Matthew Henry.

Set a watch, etc. Let a seal for words not to be spoken lie on the tongue. A watch over words is better than over wealth. —Lucian.

Keep the door of my lips. That it move not creaking and complaining, as on rusty hinges, for want of the oil of joy and gladness. David had somewhat to do with his tongue, as we see (Ps 39:1,3); and when he had carted the ark, how untowardly he spake, as if the fault were more in God than himself, that there was such a breach made in Uzzah (1Ch 13:12). It was but need thus to pray. —John Trapp.

Incline not my heart to any evil thing, etc. The present pleasure and commodity of sin is in high estimation with the sinner, and much sweeter to him than what he may lawfully enjoy; the pleasures of sin are his delicates. No man can keep himself from being taken with the allurements of a sinful course, except the Lord preserve him: Let me not eat of their dainties. The holiest men in Scripture have been most sensible of the impotency of their own free will, and of their inability to resist temptations, or to bring the principles of grace into action; most diffident of themselves, most dependent upon God, most careful to make use of means, and conscientious in following of ordinances, as their prayers do testify: "Incline not my heart to any evil thing", etc. —David Dickson.

Incline not my heart. Heb. Let not be inclined my heart. —John Jebb.

My heart. That man is like Esau which had an inheritance, which had a heart but now he hath not possession of his own; therefore, give God thy heart, that he may keep it; and not a piece of thy heart, not a room in thy heart, but thy heart. The heart divided, dieth. God is not like the mother which would have the child divided, but like the natural mother, which said, rather than it should be divided, let her take all. Let the devil have all, if he which gave it be not worthy of it. God hath no cope-mate, therefore he will have no parting of stakes, but all or none; and therefore he which asks here thy heart, in the sixth of Deuteronomy and the fifth verse, asketh "all thy heart, all thy soul, and all thy strength"; thrice he requireth all, lest we should keep a thought behind. Yet it is thy heart, that is, a vain heart, a barren heart, a sinful heart, until thou give it unto God, and then it is the spouse of Christ, the temple of the Holy Ghost, and the image of God, so changed, and formed, and refined, that God calls it a new heart. There is such strife for the heart as there was for Moses's body. "Give it me", saith the Lord; "give it me", saith the tempter; "give it me", saith the pope; "give it me", saith riches; "give it me", saith pleasure; as though thou must needs give it to some one. Now here is the choice, whether thou wilt give it to God or the devil; God's heart or the devil's heart; whose wilt thou be? —Henry Smith.

Let me not eat of their dainties. Sin is not only meat, but sweet meat, not only bread, but pleasant bread to an evil heart. Daniel for some weeks ate no pleasant bread; he ate bread to keep life and soul together, but he forbare feasting or good cheer. Sin is a feast to a carnal man, it is his good cheer, yea, it is "dainties" to him. David, speaking of wicked men, says, Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties. These "dainties" may be expounded either for the prosperity that comes in by wicked practices (some by wicked ways get not only their ordinary food but "dainties"); or those "dainties" are sin itself: they feasted themselves in doing evil: "Lord, let me not eat of their dainties." If that be their food I had rather starve than eat with them. —Joseph Caryl.

Their dainties. The enemies of David were sensual and luxurious; and they would have gladly admitted him to share in their banquets, if his character had resembled their own. He entreats to be preserved from inducement so to do. —William Walford.

Let the righteous smite me, etc. This verse is so obscure as to be almost unintelligible. According to the English versions, it expresses his willingness to be rebuked by good men for his benefit. But this sense is not only hard to be extracted from the words, but foreign from the context. Of the many contradictory interpretations which have been proposed the most probable is that which makes the sentence mean, that the sufferings endured by the good man, even at the hand of the wicked, are chastisements inflicted by a righteous God in justice and with mercy, and as such may be likened to a festive ointment, which the head of the sufferer should not refuse, as he will still have need of consolation and occasion to invoke God, in the midst of trials and of mischiefs yet to be experienced. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

Let the righteous smite me, The word olh is seldom used in Scripture but to signify a severe stroke which shakes the subject smitten, and causeth it to tremble; see Pr 23:35 1Sa 14:16 Ps 74:6; and it is used for the stroke of the hammer on the anvil in fashioning of the iron (Isa 41:7). Wherefore the word dox following may be taken adverbially, as a lenitive of that severity which this word imports: "Let him smite me, but" leniter, benigne, misericorditer, "gently, kindly, friendly, mercifully": and so some translations read the words, "Let the righteous smite me friendly, or kindly." —John Owen.

Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness, etc. Grace will teach a Christian to take those potions which are wholesome, though they be not toothsome. Faithful reproof is a token of love, and therefore may well be esteemed a kindness. Such wounding of a friend is healing, and so David might well call it an excellent oil. And he did not only say so, which is easy and ordinary, but acted accordingly. He did not as the papists, who highly commend holy water, but turn away their faces when it comes to be sprinkled on them. When he had by sin, and continuance in it, so gangrened his flesh, and corrupted himself, that he was in danger of death, he suffered his sores to be thoroughly searched without regret. Nathan was the chirurgeon whom God employed to search that wound which had divers mouths for festering in his soul; and truly he did not dally with his patient, though he were a prince, but thrust his instrument to the bottom; yet whatever pain it put him to, he took it patiently, and was so far from being angry with the prophet, that he made him one of his privy council. It is a sign of a polluted nature for a man, like a serpent, if he be but touched, to gather poison, and vomit it up at the party. "Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee": Pr 9:8. —George Swinnock.

Let the righteous smite me, etc. If the righteous smite us by reproofs, it must be taken as a kindness, and as a precious balsam, which doth not break our head, but heal us. Not that we are bound to belie ourselves in compliance with every man's censorious humour that will accuse us; but we must be readier to censure ourselves than others, and readier to confess a fault than to expect a confession from others whom we reprove. Sincerity and serious repentance will be honourable in that person who is most careful to avoid sin, and most ready penitently to confess it when he hath been overcome, and truly thankful to those that call him to repentance; as being more desirous that God and his laws and religion should have the glory of their holiness, than that he himself should have the undue glory of innocency; and escape the deserved shame of his sin. It is one of the most dangerous diseases of professors, and one of the greatest scandals of this age, that persons taken for eminently religious arc more impatient of plain, though just, reproof than many a drunkard, swearer, or fornicator; and when they have spent hours or days in the seeming earnest confession of their sin, and lament before God and man that they cannot do it with more grief and tears, yet they take it for a heinous injury in another that will say half so much against them, and take him for a malignant enemy of the godly who will call them as they call themselves. —Richard Baxter (1615-1691), in "The Morning Exercises."

Let the righteous smite me. If a righteous or a right wise man smite and reprove, he will do it, 1. Sine felle, without gall, without bitterness. 2. Sine publicatione, without publishing, divulging, or telling it to the world. 3. Sine contumelia, without disgrace —to reform his friend, not to disgrace him. 4. Sine adulatione, without flattery. 5. Nonn sine Deo, not without God. —John Gore, in a Sermon entitled "Unknowne Kindnesse", 1635.

The righteous, etc. The minister cannot be always preaching; two or three hours, may be, in a week, he spends among his people in the pulpit, holding the glass of the gospel before their faces; but the lives of professors, these preach all the week long: if they were but holy and exemplary, they would be as a repetition of the preacher's sermon to their families and neighbours among whom they converse, and keep the sound of his doctrine continually ringing in their ears. This would give Christians an amiable advantage in doing good to their carnal neighbours by counsel and reproof, which now is seldom done, and when done it proves to little purpose, because not backed with their own exemplary walking. "It behooves him", saith Tertullian, "that would counsel or reprove another, to guard his speech with the authority of his own conversation, lest, wanting that, what he says puts himself to the blush." We do not love one that hath a stinking breath to come very near us; such, therefore, had need have a sweet scented life. Reproofs are a good physic, but they have an unpleasant reception; it is hard for men not to throw them back on the face of him that gives them. Now nothing is more powerful to keep a reproof from thus coming back than the holiness of the person that reproves. "Let the righteous smite me", saith David, "it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." See how well it is taken from such a hand, from the authority that holiness carries with it. None but a vile wretch will smite a righteous man with reproach for smiting him with a reproof, if softly laid on, and like oil fermented, and wrought into him, as it should, with compassion and love to his soul! Thus we see how influential the power of holiness would be unto the wicked, neither would it be less upon our brethren and fellow Christians. Holy David professed he would take it as a kindness for the righteous man to smite him; yea, as kindly as if he broke a box of precious oil upon his head, which was amongst the Jews a high expression of love. —William Gurnall.

It shall be a kindness.

1. It is a kindness reducere errarvin, to bring back the wandering.

2. Senate cegrotum, to recover the sick.

3. Suscitare letbargum, to awake, to stir up the lethargic, the sleepy.

4. Ligure insanum, to bind a madman.

5. Liberare perditum, to save a lost man, one in imminent danger. —John Gore.

It shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head. Some persons pride themselves on being blunt, or, as they call it, "honest"; but very blunt people do little good to others, and get little love to themselves. The Scriptures recommend gentleness and kindness. Reproof should fall like the dew, and not like the rushing hailstorm. The "oil" insinuates itself; the stone wounds and then rebounds. Christians should take heed of getting fond of the work of "rebuking." Such "spiritual constables" do a great deal of mischief without intending it. They are in a church what a very witty and sarcastic person is in society, or what a tell tale is in a school; and approximate very closely to that class which the apostle terms "busy bodies in other men's matters." Our manner must be tender and winning. The nail of reproof, says an old writer, must be well oiled in kindness before it is driven home. Meddling with the faults of others is like attempting to move a person afflicted with the rheumatic gout: it must be done slowly and tenderly, nor must we be frightened by an out cry or two. The great thing is to show the person that you really love him; and if you manifest this in the sight of God, he will bless your efforts, and give you favour in the sight of an erring brother. —Christian Treasury.

It shall be an excellent oil. Certain oils are said to have a most salutary effect on the head; hence in fevers, or any other complaints which affect the head, the medical men always recommend oil. I have known people who were deranged, cured in a very short time by nothing more than the application of a peculiar kind of oil to the head. There are, however, other kinds which are believed, when thus applied, to produce delirium. Thus the reproofs of the righteous were compared to "excellent oil", which produced a most salutary effect on the head. So common is this practice of anointing the head, that all who can afford it do it every week. But, strange as it may appear, the crown of their heads is the place selected for chastisement; thus owners of slaves, or husbands, or school masters, beat the heads of the offenders with their knuckles. Should all urchin come late to school, or forget his lesson, the pedagogue says to some of the other boys, "Go beat his head!" "Begone, fellow! or I will beat thy head." Should a man be thus chastised by an inferior, he quotes the old proverb: "If my head is to be beaten, let it be done with the fingers that have rings on"; meaning a man of rank. "Yes, yes; let a holy man smite my head! and what of that? it is an excellent oil." "My master has been beating my head, but it has been good oil for me." —Joseph Roberts.

Oil, which shall not break my head. When I first took this text in hand, this seemed unto me a very strange and uncouth expression. If the Psalmist had said, It shall be a stone that shall not break my head, etc., we had easily understood him; but to speak of an oil, or a balm, which we know to be so soft, so supple, so lithe and gentle an ointment, that he should speak of breaking his head with oil, it is strange. I confess it troubled me a while, till at length I conceived it might be spoken by contraries; as when a physician gives a patient some pectoral, or cordial, and saith, Take this, it will not hurt you; his meaning is, it will help and do him good. So this oil shall not break my head;that is, it shall heal it, being broken by my own corruption, by Satan's temptations, and by the evil influence of such as flatter me in my sins. —John Gore.

If David could say of his enemy that cursed him, "Let him alone, for God hath bidden him to curse"; much more safely mayest thou say of thy friend that reproves thee, "Let him alone, for God hath bidden him to smite." And as the apostle saith of ministers, that God "doth entreat you by us"; so persuade yourselves that God doth reprove you by them. —John Gore.

It was the saying of a heat hell, though no heathenish saying, "That he who would be good, must either have a faithful friend to instruct him, or a watchful enemy to correct him." Should we murder a physician because he comes to cure us; or like him worse, because he would make us better? The flaming sword of reprehension is but to keep us from the forbidden fruit of transgression. "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." Let him smite me as with a hammer, for so the word signifies. A Boanerges is as necessary as a Barnabas. —William Seeker.

Yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. That is, if ever they who are my reprovers fall into calamity, though they may think they provoked me so by reproving me, that they have lost my love, and have cast themselves out of my prayers, or that I will never speak well of them or for them again; yet I will pray for them with all my heart, as their matter shall require. I will pray for them when they have most need of prayer, even "in their calamities." Some heighten the sense thus, —The more they sharpen their reproof, the more I think myself bound to pray for them. It shows an excellent spirit, not to be hindered from doing good to others by anything they do or speak against us, nor by their sharpest (though perhaps mistaken) reproofs of us. Thus it was that that good man Job "prayed for his friends", who had spoken much against him, and not only reproved him without cause, but reproached him without charity. —Joseph Caryl.

When their judges are overthrown, etc. When the judgments in reserve for the leaders of my enemies shall come upon them, they will perceive too late how reasonable are my words, and wish that they had hearkened to them sooner. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

Overthrown. The verb rendered "overthrown" is used of Jezebel in 2Ki 9:33; "Throw her down. So they threw her down." —Speaker's Commentary.

They shall hear my words; for they are sweet. This is especially true of all the words which David spake by inspiration, or the Spirit of God spake to him; articulately in his book of Psalms; concerning the Messiah, the covenant of grace, and the blessings of it; of the rich experiences of grace he had, and the several doctrines of the gospel declared by him; which were sweet, delightful, and entertaining to those who have ears to hear such things; or whose ears are opened to hear them, so as to understand them and distinguish them, but to others not. —John Gill.

They shall hear my words; for they are sweet. Those that slighted the word of God before, will relish it and be glad of it when they are in affliction; for that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter the word is sweet. Oppressed innocency cannot gain a hearing with those that live in pomp and pleasure; but when they come to be overthrown themselves, they will have more compassionate thoughts of the afflicted. —Matthew Henry.

For they are sweet. They shall be pleasant; mild; gentle; equitable; just. After the hash and severe enactments of Saul, after enduring his acts of tyranny, the people will be glad to welcome me, and to live under the laws of a just and equal administration. The passage, therefore, expresses confidence that Saul and his hosts would be overthrown, and that the people of the land would gladly hail the accession to the throne of one who had been anointed to reign over them. —Albert Barnes.

Verses 6-7. The mild and dutiful behaviour of David towards Saul and his friends are set together by way of contrast, in the strongest light, from the instances of each sort here produced. The first is, David's humanity towards Saul, in giving him his life at two several times, when he had it in his power to destroy him as he pleased. "Their judges have been dismissed in the rocky places; and have heard my words that they are sweet"; that is, "Their princes have been dismissed in safety, when I had them at an advantage in those rocky deserts; and only heard me expostulate with them in the gentlest words." The other is, Saul's barbarity and cruelty towards David (or his friends, which is much the same) in the horrid massacre of Ahimelech and the priests, by the hand of Doeg the Edomite, done in such a savage manner, that he compares it to the chopping and cleaving wood; "Like as when one cutteth and cleaveth, so have our bones been scattered on the earth at the command of Saul"; for so I read the Hebrew words, le-pi Saul, at the mouth, that is, the command of Saul. Should we suppose this passage to refer to the first time of David's sparing Saul, viz., when he had him in his power in the cave of Engedi (here called jede selay), the sides of the rock, or the rocky places, the speech he made on this occasion when he called after Saul (and which is recorded in 1Sa 24:8-16.) might well be called sweet or pleasant words. For they set his own innocence and the king's unjust behaviour to him in so strong a light, and with all that gentleness and mildness, and even this hard hearted prince could not forbear being greatly affected with it for the present; and we are told (1Sa 24:16-17) that "he lifted up his voice and wept." —Charles Peters.

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, etc. The primary reference may be to the slaughter of the priests by the command of Saul, 1Sa 22:16-19. The language, however, may be illustrative of the many massacres like that on the eve of St. Bartholomew, so numerous as to be scattered on the face of the earth, marking the passage of pious martyrs from this world to a better, and testifying where the blood of the slain shall be disclosed for the judgment of their murderers. —W. Wilson.

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, etc. Assuming the very extreme, it is a look of hope into the future: should his bones and the bones of his followers be even scattered about the mouth of Sheol (cf. the Syrian picture of Sheol: "the dust upon its threshold, `al-escufteh", Deutsche Morgenland. Zeit-schrift, 20. 513), their soul below, their bones above —it would nevertheless be only as when one in ploughing cleaves the earth; i.e., they do not lie there in order that they may continue lying, but that they may rise up anew, as the seed that is sown sprouts up out of the upturned earth. —Franz Delitzsch.

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth. That is to say, I and my company are in a dying condition, free among the dead; yea, if taken we should be put to most cruel deaths, hewn in pieces, or pulled limbmeal, and left unburied; and our dead bodies mangled by a barbarous inhumanity, as wood cleavers make the shivers fly hither and thither. This is the perilous case of me and my partisans. —John Trapp.

Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth. This seems to be strong eastern painting, and almost figurative language; but that it may be strictly true, the following extract demonstrates: "At five o'clock we left Garigana, our journey being still to the eastward of north; and, at a quarter past six in the evening, arrived at the village of that name, whose inhabitants had all perished with hunger the year before; their wretched bones being all unburied, and scattered upon the surface of the ground, where the village formerly stood. We encamped among the bones of the dead, as no space could be found free from them; and on the 23rd, at six in the morning, full of horror at this miserable spectacle, we set out for Teawa." —(James Bruce's Travels.) To the Jews such a spectacle must have been very dreadful, as the want of burial was esteemed one of the greatest calamities which could befall them. —Burder's "Oriental Customs."

Like one ploughing and cleaving in the earth. This clause may be explained not of cleaving wood but ploughing, to which the first verb is applied in Arabic. Like (one) ploughing and cleaving (making furrows) in the earth, not for the sake of mangling its surface, but to make it fruitful and productive, (so) our bones are scattered at the mouth of hell as the necessary means of a glorious resurrection. —Joseph Addison Alexander.

Who can attend the digging of a grave, and view the ruins then disclosed, without exclaiming, Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth? —George Horne.

Mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord. If you would keep your mind fixed in prayer, keep your eye fixed. Much vanity comes in at the eye. When the eyes wander in prayer, the heart wanders. To think to keep the heart fixed in prayer, and yet let the eyes gaze abroad, is as if one should think to keep his house sate, yet let the windows be open. —Thomas Watson.

Leave not my soul destitute. The literal Hebrew is, Pour not out my soul, but keep it in thy cup of salvation. —Agellius. Compare Isa 53:12: "He hath poured out his soul unto death."

Leave not my soul destitute, or, "Cast not out my soul." That is, cast not my life away, as water, which is of no account, is cast out of a vessel containing it. —Daniel Cresswell.

Leave not my soul destitute. His soul knew what it was to be "destitute"; he had known the misery of spiritual beggary and soul poverty. It was not with him as natural poverty is with the rich, a matter of speculation, a mere matter of theory; but a matter of personal and painful experience...It is in the margin "Make not my soul bare", Strip me not of every hope; leave me not completely naked; abandon me not to nature's beggary and misery; let me not go down into the pit with all my sins upon my head; leave not my soul destitute of pardon and peace. —Joseph C. Philpot.

Verses 8-10.

O pour not out my soul, I pray,

From the dark snare preserve my way,

The chambers of the blind entangling net,

Which by my path the powers of evil set.

Behold them hid, the godless crew,

Low in the toils they darkly drew:

The while, with gathering heart and watchful eye

I wait mine hour to pass victorious by. —John Keble.

Verses 9-10. Snares, Gins, Nets. The usual method of capturing or killing the lion in Palestine was by pitfalls or nets, to both of which there are many references in the Scriptures. The mode of hunting the lion with nets was identical with that which is practised in India at the present time. The precise locality of the lion's dwelling place having been discovered, a circular wall of net is arranged round it, or if only a few nets can be obtained, they are set in a curved form, the concave side being towards the lion. They then send dogs into the thicket, hurl stones and sticks at the den, shoot arrows into it, fling burning torches at it, and so irritate and alarm the animal that it rushes against the net, which is so made that it falls down and envelops the animal in its folds. If the nets be few, the drivers go to the opposite side of the den, and induce the lion to escape in the direction where he sees no foes, but where he is sure to run against the treacherous net. Other large and dangerous animals were also captured by the same means. Another and more common, because an easier and a cheaper method, was, by digging a deep pit, covering the mouth with a slight covering of sticks and earth, and driving the animal upon the treacherous covering. It is an easier method than the net, because after the pit is once dug, the only trouble lies in throwing the covering over its mouth. But it is not so well adapted for taking beasts alive, as they are likely to be damaged, either by the fall into the pit, or by the means used in getting them out again. Animals, therefore, that are caught in pits are generally, though not always, killed before they are taken out. The net, however, envelops the animal so perfectly, and renders it so helpless, that it can be easily bound and taken away. The hunting net is very expensive, and requires a large staff of men to work it, so that none but a rich man could use the net in hunting. Besides the net, several other modes of bird catching were used by the ancient Jews, just as is the case at the present day. Boys, for example, who catch birds for their own consumption, and not for the market, can do so by means of various traps, most of which are made on the principle of the noose, or snare. Sometimes a great number of hair nooses are set in places to which the birds are decoyed, so that in hopping about, many of them are sure to be entangled in the snares. Sometimes the noose is ingeniously suspended in a narrow passage which the birds are likely to traverse, and sometimes a simple fall trap is employed. —J. G. Wood.

Into their own nets. The word rendered "nets" occurs only in this place, as the closely corresponding word in Ps 140:10, which is rendered "deep pits", occurs there only. —Speaker's Commentary.

1. The Perpetuity of Prayer: "I cry. I cry."

2. The Personality: "unto thee", "unto me."

3. The Practicalness: "Make haste; give ear."

Holy haste.

1. The saint hasting to God.

2. The saint hastening God.

3. God's sure hastening to his help. —W. B. H.

Verses 1-2.

1. Prayer put forth: a) With urgency: "Make haste unto me." b) With fervency: "Give ear", etc.

2. Prayer set forth: "Let my prayer be set forth", etc. When hearing is obtained there is composure and order in prayer. When the fire is kindled the incense rises.

3. Prayer held forth: "The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice", as constant and accepted. —G. R.

True prayer acceptable as incense and as the evening sacrifice. It is spiritual, solemn, ordained of God, brings Christ to remembrance.

1. The mouth a door.

2. A watchman needed.

3. The Lord fulfilling that office.

Total abstinence from evil desires, practices, and delights.

A prayer,

1. For the repression of every evil tendency in the heart: "Incline not my heart", etc.

2. For the prevention of any association with the wicked in their sinful works: "To practise", etc.

3. For a holy contempt of the temporal pleasure or profit placed in our way through the sin of others: "Let me not eat", etc. Note, many who will not engage in a wicked act do not object to participate in its gains. —J. F.

Deprecation of,

1. Devil's desires.

2. Devil's deeds.

3. Devil's dainties. —W. B. H.

Rebukes of good men.

1. Invited.

2. Appreciated: "it shall be a kindness."

3. Utilized: "an excellent oil."

4. Cheerfully endured: "not break my head."

5. Repaid, by our prayers for them in time of trouble.

(last clause.) "Intercessory Prayer." See" Spurgeon's Sermons", No. 1,049.

1. Times of trouble will come to the careless.

2. Then they will be more ready to hear the gospel.

3. Then they will find sweetness in that which they formerly refused.

A Desert Oasis.

1. The world is a stony place, hard, barren.

2. Often pride and self trust suffer overthrowing there.

3. Then words of God by his sent servant make an oasis in the desert. —W. B. H.

Verses 7-8. A cemetery scene.

1. Dry bones of the dead about the grave.

2. Weary bones of the aged and sick around the grave.

3. All bones being from day to day made ready for the grave.

4. Bones finding rest in God: "mine eyes are unto thee, O God", etc.