Psalms 71 commentary

David prays that he might never be made ashamed of dependence upon God. With this petition every true believer may come boldly to the throne of grace. The gracious care of Divine providence in our birth and infancy, should engage us to early piety. He that was our Help from our birth, ought to be our Hope from our youth. Let none expect ease or comfort from the world. Those who love the Lord, often are hated and persecuted; men wondered at for their principles and conduct; but the Lord has been their strong refuge. The faithful servants of God may be assured that he will not cast them off in old age, nor forsake them when their strength fails.

The psalmist declares that the righteousness of Christ, and the great salvation obtained thereby, shall be the chosen subject of his discourse. Not on a sabbath only, but on every day of the week, of the year, of his life. Not merely at stated returns of solemn devotion, but on every occasion, all the day long. Why will he always dwell on this? Because he knew not the numbers thereof. It is impossible to measure the value or the fulness of these blessings. The righteousness is unspeakable, the salvation everlasting. God will not cast off his grey-headed servants when no longer capable of labouring as they have done. The Lord often strengthens his people in their souls, when nature is sinking into decay. And it is a debt which the old disciples of Christ owe to succeeding generations, to leave behind them a solemn testimony to the advantage of religion, and the truth of God's promises; and especially to the everlasting righteousness of the Redeemer. Assured of deliverance and victory, let us spend our days, while waiting the approach of death, in praising the Holy One of Israel with all our powers. And while speaking of his righteousness, and singing his praises, we shall rise above fears and infirmities, and have earnests of the joys of heaven. The work of redemption ought, above all God's works, to be spoken of by us in our praises. The Lamb that was slain, and has redeemed us to God, is worthy of all blessing and praise.

PSALM 71 ”Although this psalm has no title, it is by general consent ascribed to David, and supposed to have been composed during Absalom’s revolt, as he mentions his old age, and his danger of perishing. It is almost a copy of Psalm 31; and, as the passages in the present psalm, which refer to his advanced age, are wanted in the other, it seems as if the 31st psalm (written probably during the persecution of Saul) was taken and adapted, by a little alteration and addition, to his latter afflictions.” — Illustrated Commentary upon the Bible.

David, having spoken at the outset of his confidence in God, partly calls upon him for deliverance, and partly complains of the pride of his enemies. At length, to confirm his faith, he prepares himself for yielding a grateful ascription of praise for the benefits which God had conferred upon him.

Psalm 71:1-4

1. In thee, O Jehovah! do I put my trust; let me not be put to confusion for ever. 2. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and rescue me: incline thy ear to me, and save me. 3. Be thou to me for a rock of strength, In the Hebrew it is, “Be thou to me for a rock of habitation.” But instead of מעון, maon, “habitation,” many of Dr Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS. have מעוז, maoz, “munition,” or “defense.” “Be thou my rock of defence.” [or for a strong rock,] into which I may at all times enter: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my tower and my fortress. 4. O my God! deliver me from the hand of the wicked man; from the hand of the perverse and violent man.

1. In thee, O Jehovah! do I put my trust. It has been thought that the occasion of the composition of this psalm was the conspiracy of Absalom; and the particular reference which David makes to his old age renders this conjecture not improbable. As when we approach God, it is faith alone which opens the way for us, David, in order to obtain what he sought, protests, according to his usual manner, that he does not pour forth at the throne of grace hypocritical prayers, but betakes himself to God with sincerity of heart, fully persuaded that his salvation is laid up in the Divine hand. The man whose mind is in a state of constant fluctuation, and whose hope is divided by being turned in different directions, in each of which he is looking for deliverance, or who, under the influence of fear, disputes with himself, or who obstinately refuses the Divine assistance, or who frets and gives way to restless impatience, is unworthy of being succoured by God. The particle לעולם, leolam, in the end of the first verse, which we have translated for ever, admits of a twofold sense, as I have shown on Psalm 31:1. It either tacitly implies a contrast between the present calamities of David and the happy issue which he anticipated; as if he had said, Lord, I lie in the dust at present as one confounded; but the time will come when thou wilt grant me deliverance. Or not to be ashamed for ever, means never to be ashamed. As these verses almost correspond with the beginning of the 31st psalm, I would refer to that place for those explanatory remarks which I here purposely omit, not wishing to tax the patience of my readers by unnecessary repetition.

In these words of the third verse, Into which I may at all times enter, which are not to be found in the other psalm, David briefly prays that he may have so ready and easy access to God for succor, as to find in him a secure refuge whenever threatened by any immediate danger. Lord! as if he had said, let me always find ready succor in thee, and do thou meet me with a smile of benignity and grace, when I betake myself to thee. The expression which follows, Thou hast given commandment to save me, is resolved by some interpreters into the optative mood; as if David requested that he might be committed to the guardianship of angels. But it is better to retain the past tense of the verb, and to understand him as encouraging himself, from his experience in times past, to hope for a happy issue to his present calamities. Nor is there any necessity for limiting to the angels the verb, thou hast given commandment. God, no doubt, employs them in defending his people; but as he is possessed of innumerable ways of saving them, the expression, I conceive, is used indefinitely, to teach us that he gives commandment concerning the salvation of his servants, according as he has purposed, whenever he gives some manifest token of his favor toward them in his providence; and what he has determined in his own mind, he executes sometimes by his nod alone, and sometimes by the instrumentality of men or other creatures. Meanwhile, David would intimate that such is the all-sufficient power of God intrinsically considered, that without having recourse to any foreign aid, his commandment alone is abundantly adequate for effecting our salvation.

PSALM 71

Psa 71:1-24. The Psalmist, probably in old age, appeals to God for help from his enemies, pleading his past favors, and stating his present need; and, in confidence of a hearing, he promises his grateful thanks and praise.

1-3. (Compare Psa 30:1-3).

4-5. cruel man--corrupt and ill-natured--literally, "sour."

6-9. His history from early infancy illustrated God's care, and his wonderful deliverances were at once occasions of praise and ground of confidence for the future.

my praise ... of thee--literally, "in" or "by Thee" (Psa 22:25).

10-11. The craft and malicious taunts of his enemies now led him to call for aid (compare the terms used, 2Sa 17:12; Psa 3:2; 7:2).

12. (Compare Psa 22:19; 40:4).

13. (Compare Psa 35:4; 40:14).

14-16. The ruin of his enemies, as illustrating God's faithfulness, is his deliverance, and a reason for future confidence.

17-21. Past experience again encourages.

taught me, &c.--by providential dealings.

22-24. To the occasion of praise he now adds the promise to render it.

will ... praise--literally, "will thank."

even thy truth--as to Thy truth or faithfulness.

Be thou my strong habitation - Instead of מען maon, habitation, many of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. read מעז maoz, munition or defense. Be thou my rock of defense.

Thou hast given commandment to save me - Thou hast determined my escape, and hast ordered thy angels to guard me. See Psa 91:11, Psa 91:12.

Out of the hand of the wicked - Probably his unnatural son Absalom, called here רשע rasha, the Wicked, because he had violated all laws, human and Divine.

The unrighteous and cruel man - Probably Ahithophel who was the iniquitous counsellor of a wicked and rebellious son.

My trust from my youth - When I was born into the world, thou didst receive me, and thou tookest me under thy especial care. "My praise shall be continually of thee." Rather, I have always made thee my boast.

I am as a wonder unto many - I am כמופת kemopheth "as a portent," or "type:" I am a typical person; and many of the things that happen to me are to be considered in reference to him of whom I am a type. But he may mean I am a continual prodigy. My low estate, my slaying the lion and the bear, conquering the Philistine, escaping the fury of Saul, and being raised to the throne of Israel, are all so many wonders of thy providence, and effects of thy power and grace.

Cast me not off in the time of old age - The original might be translated and paraphrased thus: "Thou wilt not cast me off till the time of old age; and according to the failure of my flesh, thou wilt not forsake me." My expectation of rest and happiness will not be deferred till the time that I shall be an aged man, Thou wilt not withdraw thy presence from me as my flesh decays, and as my natural strength abates; but, on the contrary, as my outward man decays, my inward man shall be renewed day by day. It was in David's old age that the rebellion of Absalom took place.

Lay wait for my soul - They seek to destroy my life.

God hath forsaken him - "God, who has been his special help all through life, and who has guarded him so that no hand could be raised successfully against him, has now cast him off; therefore we shall easily prevail against him. His present adversity shows that God is no longer his friend." Thus men judge. "Secular prosperity is a proof of God's favor: adversity is a proof of his displeasure." But this is not God's way, except in especial judgments, etc. He never manifests his pleasure or displeasure by secular good or ill.

Let them be confounded - They shall be confounded: these are prophetic denunciations.

I will hope continually - I shall expect deliverance after deliverance, and blessing after blessing; and, in consequence, I will praise thee more and more. As thy blessings abound, so shall my praises.

I know not the numbers - I must be continually in the spirit of gratitude, praise, and obedience, for thy blessings to me are innumerable.

I will go - אבוא abo, I will enter, i.e., into the tabernacle, in the strength or mightinesses of Adonai Jehovah, the supreme God, who is my Prop, Stay, and Support.

I will make mention of thy righteousness - I will continually record and celebrate the acts of thy mercy and goodness. They are without number, (Psa 71:15), and of these alone will I speak.

Thou hast taught me from my youth - I have had thee for my continual instructor: and thou didst begin to teach me thy fear and love from my tenderest infancy. Those are well taught whom God instructs; and when he teaches, there is no delay in learning.

Old and grey-headed - In the ninth verse he mentioned the circumstance of old age; here he repeats it, with the addition of hoary-headedness, which, humanly speaking, was calculated to make a deeper impression in his favor. Though all these things are well known to God, and he needs not our information, yet he is pleased to say, "Come now, and let us reason together." And when his children plead and reason with him, they are acting precisely as he has commanded.

Thy righteousness - is very high - עד מרום ad marom - is up to the exalted place, reaches up to heaven. The mercy of God fills all space and place. It crowns in the heavens what it governed upon earth.

Who hast done great things - גדלות gedoloth. Thou hast worked miracles, and displayed the greatest acts of power.

Who is like unto thee! - מי כמוך mi camocha. God is alone, - who can resemble him? He is eternal. He can have none before, and there can be none after; for in the infinite unity of his trinity he is that eternal, unlimited, impartible, incomprehensible, and uncompounded ineffable Being, whose essence is hidden from all created intelligences, and whose counsels cannot be fathomed by any creature that even his own hand can form. Who is Like Unto Thee! will excite the wonder, amazement, praise, and adoration of angels and men to all eternity.

Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles - Multiplied straits and difficulties. And thou hast only showed them.

Hadst thou permitted them to have fallen upon me with all their own energy and natural consequences, they would have destroyed me. As it was, I was nearly buried under them.

Shalt quicken me again - Shalt revive me - put new life in me. This has been applied to the passion of our Lord, and his resurrection; for it is added, Thou: -

Shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth - Death shall not prey upon my body; thy Holy One can see no corruption. As applicable to David, it might mean his being almost overwhelmed with afflictions; and his deliverance was like a life from the dead.

Thou shalt increase my greatness - Thou wilt restore me to my throne and kingdom; and it shall be done in such a way that all shall see it was the hand of God; and I shall have the more honor on the account.

Comfort me on every side - I shall have friends in all quarters; and the tribes on all sides will support me.

I will also praise thee with the psaltery - בכלי נבל bichli nebel, with the instrument nebel. Unto thee will I sing with the harp; בכנור bechinnor, with the kinnor. Both were stringed instruments, and the principal used in the Jewish worship; and with which, or any thing like them, in Divine worship, we, as Christians, have nothing to do.

My lips shall greatly rejoice and my soul - My lips shall use words expressive of my soul's happiness and gratitude. Thou hast redeemed me; and thou shalt have the eternal praise.

Talk of thy righteousness - The righteousness of God is frequently used in this Psalm, and in other places, to signify his justice, judgments, faithfulness, truth, mercy, etc. There are few words of more general import in the Bible.

They are confounded - The counsel of Ahithophel is confounded, and turned to foolishness, and he was so ashamed that he went and hanged himself. As to the vain and wicked Absalom, he met with the fate that he had meditated against his father. Though not yet done, David sees all these things as actually accomplished; for he had got a Divine assurance that God would bring them to pass.

A wonder - For my many and sore calamities.

The numbers - Of thy salvations and mercies vouchsafed to me.

Make mention - To support and comfort myself with the remembrance of it. Righteousness - Of thy faithfulness in making good all thy promises.

Very high - Most eminent.

Bring me - From the grave.

1 IN thee, O LORD, do I put my trust, let me never be put to confusion .

This Verse a[illegible: 1+ letters]d the next, are taken out of Psal. 31. 1, 2.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 25. 2, 3. [illegible: 1+ letters] 31. 1.

3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress.

By which he understands God's purpose and Promise; and his Providence, watching to Execute them; All which are as certain and Powerful, as a Command.

Marginal references: Heb. be thou [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] for a Rock [illegible: 1 word] Habitation.

6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb ; thou art he that took me out of my mothers bowels , my praise shall be continually of thee.

(i. e.) From the time when I came out of the Womb.

(i. e.) Out of her Womb. Which he justly mentions, as a great and wonderful, though a common and neglected work of God's Power and Goodness.

Marginal references: Psal. 22. 9▪ 10. [illegible: 1 word] 46. 3.

7 I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong refuge .

Or, Prodigy; Either, 1. Of Mercy, for the wonderful Protections and Deliverances, which God hath given me. Or rather, 2. Of Judgment, for my many and sore Calamites, as appears from the next Words. They wondred both at the Calamities themselves, which befel me; which were great and Various, and strange; and that they should be[illegible: 1+ letters]al me, one who have made it the chief Care and Business of my Life, to please and serve, and glorifie God; and one whom God hath owned in so Eminent a degree, and Crowned with such a constant Succession, of Blessings and Deliverances, from time to time. That such a Man should [illegible: 1+ letters]e forsaken by [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] a God; and Persecuted even to Death by his own S[illegible: 1+ letters]n, whom he had so tenderly loved; and dese[illegible: 1+ letters]ed by the Body of his own People, who had generally expressed so great an Opinion o[illegible: 1+ letters] him, and affection to him, and had so many [illegible: 1 word] to him, and such singular Benefits, by his wi[illegible: 1+ letters] and just, and pious Government; this was indeed cause of Wonder.

But although Men desert me, and look [illegible: 1 word] at me, God is a sure Refuge to me.

Marginal references: Zech. 3. 8.

8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise , and with thy honour all the day.

Give me occasion to multiply my Praises to thee, for delivering me out of my present Distress.

9 Cast me not off in the time of old age , forsake me not when my strength faileth.

When I am most feeble, and most need thy Help, and one who is grown Old in thy Service.

10 For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul, take counsel together.

Or, watch it, that they may find occasion to destroy it, and that it may not escape their Hands.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span] ▪

11 Saying, God hath forsaken him : persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him.

For his Adultery and Murder, and other Wickednesses, and therefore we shall certainly prevail against him.

14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more .

For which I know thou wilst yet give me abundant occasion.

15 My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness, and thy salvation all the day: for I know not the numbers thereof .

(i. e.) Of thy Salvations and Mercies vouchsa[illegible: 1+ letters]ed to me, which being innumerable oblige me the more, to celebrate thy Praises.

Marginal references: Psal. 40. 5▪

16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD : I will make mention of thy righteousness even of thine onely .

I will not sit down in Despair, but I will go on, or proceed in my Business, Courag[illegible: 1+ letters]ously and Cheerfully, in making necessary Provisions for my own defence.

Relying onely upon thy strength, and not upon my own Military Preparations.

Partly, to Praise and celebrate it: and Partly, to support and Comfort my self, with the Remembrance of it.

Either, 1. Of thy Mercy and Goodness. Or rather, 2. Of thy Faithfulness, and in making good all thy Promises to me, as this Word is most commonly used in this Book.

Not of my Subjects and Friends, who are false and persidious to thee, and to me: Nor of my own; for I have been most unfaithful to thee, and have broken my Covenant with thee.

Marginal references: Vers. 2. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 24.

17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Partly, by thy Word and Spirit, convincing and assuring me; and Partly, by my own Experience, of thy Right[illegible: 1+ letters] last mentioned, the wondrous Effects whereof I have received and declared from time to time, as it here follows.

18 Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God forsake me not: until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come .

Either, 1. This further Act, or instance of thy strength. [illegible: 1+ letters]r rather, 2. Thy great Power, which will more Eminently appear in this, than it hath done in former Deliverances, as my Danger is now greater, because this is a Civil War, and the Generality of mine own People are ingaged against me, and my Forces are very inconsiderable to theirs, and without thy Help, my Case is desperate.

(i. e.) To all succeeding Generations, to whom I will leave a lasting Monument of this glorious Example, of al-sufficiency, such as this Psalm is.

Marginal references: Heb. unto old Age, and gray H[illegible: 1+ letters]s.; Heb. thine [illegible: 1 word].

19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high , who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee?

(i. e.) Most Eminent and Evident, as high things are.

20 Thou which hast shewed me great and sore trouble, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth .

(i. e.) From the Grave; for I was like one Dead and buried, and past all hope of Deliverance, without thy Almighty assistance.

Marginal references: Psal. 63. 9. & 88. 6.

21 Thou shalt encrease my greatness , and comfort me on every side.

I am assured that thou wilst not onely restore that Royal Majesty, which my Son hath invaded to me, but also increase my Honour and Power.

Prayer of a Grey-Headed Servant of God for Further Divine Aid

The Davidic Psa 70:1-5 is followed by an anonymous Psalm which begins like Ps 31 and closes like Ps 35, in which Psa 71:12, just like Psa 70:2, is an echo of Psa 40:14. The whole Psalm is an echo of the language of older Psalms, which is become the mental property, so to speak, of the author, and is revived in him by experiences of a similar character. Notwithstanding the entire absence of any thorough originality, it has an individual, and in fact a Jeremianic, impress.

The following reasons decide us in considering the Psalm as coming from the pen of Jeremiah: - (1) Its relationship to Psalms of the time of David and of the earlier times of the kings, but after David, leads us down to somewhere about the age of Jeremiah. (2) This anthological weaving together of men’s own utterances taken from older original passages, and this skilful variation of them by merely slight touches of his own, is exactly Jeremiah’s manner. (3) In solitary instances the style of Ps 69, slow, loose, only sparingly adorned with figures, and here and there prosaic, closely resembles Jeremiah; also to him corresponds the situation of the poet as one who is persecuted; to him, the retrospect of a life rich in experience and full of miraculous guidings; to him, whose term of active service extended over a period of more than thirty years under Zedekiah, the transition to hoary age in which the poet finds himself; to him, the reference implied in Psa 71:21 to some high office; and to him, the soft, plaintive strain that pervades the Psalm, from which it is at the same time clearly seen that the poet has attained a degree of age and experience, in which he is accustomed to self-control and is not discomposed by personal misfortune. To all these correspondences there is still to be added an historical testimony. The lxx inscribes the Psalm τῷ Δαυίδ υἱῷν Ἰωναδάβ καὶ τῶν πρώτων αἰχμαλωτισθέντων. According to this inscription, the τῷ Δαυίδ of which is erroneous, but the second part of which is so explicit that it must be based upon tradition, the Psalm was a favourite song of the Rechabites and of the first exiles. The Rechabites are that tribe clinging to a homely nomad life in accordance with the will of their father, which Jeremiah (Jer 35) holds up before the men of his time as an example of self-denying faithful adherence to the law of their father which puts them to shame. If the Psalm is by Jeremiah, it is just as intelligible that the Rechabites, to whom Jeremiah paid such a high tribute of respect, should appropriate it to their own use, as that the first exiles should do so. Hitzig infers from Psa 71:20, that at the time of its composition Jerusalem had already fallen; whereas in Ps 69 it is only the cities of Judah that as yet lie in ashes. But after the overthrow of Jerusalem we find no circumstances in the life of the prophet, who is no more heard of in Egypt, that will correspond to the complaints of the psalmist of violence and mockery. Moreover the foe in Psa 71:4 is not the Chaldaean, whose conduct towards Jeremiah did not merit these names. Nor can Psa 71:20 have been written at the time of the second siege and in the face of the catastrophe.

Psa 71:1-6

Stayed upon Jahve, his ground of trust, from early childhood up, the poet hopes and prays for deliverance out of the hand of the foe. The first of these two strophes (Psa 71:1-3) is taken from Psa 31:2-4, the second (Psa 71:4-6, with the exception of Psa 71:4 and Psa 71:6) from Psa 22:10-11; both, however, in comparison with Psa 70:1-5 exhibit the far more encroaching variations of a poet who reproduces the language of others with a freer hand. Olshausen wishes to read מעוז in Psa 71:3, Psa 90:1; Psa 91:9, instead of מעון, which he holds to be an error in writing. But this old Mosaic, Deuteronomial word (vid., on Psa 90:1) - cf. the post-biblical oath המעון (by the Temple!) - is unassailable. Jahve, who is called a rock of refuge in Psa 31:3, is here called a rock of habitation, i.e., a high rock that cannot be stormed or scaled, which affords a safe abode; and this figure is pursued still further with a bold remodelling of the text of Psa 31:3 : לבוא תּמיד, constantly to go into, i.e., which I can constantly, and therefore always, as often as it is needful, betake myself for refuge. The additional צוּית is certainly not equivalent to צוּה; it would more likely be equivalent to אשׁר צוית; but probably it is an independent clause: Thou hast (in fact) commanded, i.e., unalterably determined (Psa 44:5; Psa 68:29; Psa 133:3), to show me salvation, for my rock, etc. To the words לבוא תמיד צוית corresponds the expression לבית מצודות in Psa 31:3, which the lxx renders καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς, whereas instead of the former three words it has καὶ εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν, and seems to have read לבית מבצרות, cf. Dan 11:15 (Hitzig). In Psa 71:5, Thou art my hope reminds one of the divine name מקוה ישׂראל in Jer 17:13; Jer 50:7 (cf. ἡ ἐλπίς ἡμῶν used of Christ in 1Ti 1:1; Col 1:27). נסמכתּי is not less beautiful than השׁלכתּי in Psa 22:11. In its incipient slumbering state (cf. Psa 3:6), and in its self-conscious continuance. He was and is the upholding prop and the supporting foundation, so to speak, of my life. And גוזי instead of גּחי in Psa 22:10, is just such another felicitous modification. It is impracticable to define the meaning of this גוזי according to גּזה = גּזה, Arab. jz’, retribuere (prop. to cut up, distribute), because גּמל is the representative of this Aramaeo-Arabic verb in the Hebrew. Still less, however, can it be derived from גּוּז, transire, the participle of which, if it would admit of a transitive meaning = מוציאי (Targum), ought to be גּזי. The verb גּזה, in accordance with its radical signification of abscindere (root גז, synon. קץ, קד, קט, and the like), denotes in this instance the separating of the child from the womb of the mother, the retrospect going back from youth to childhood, and even to his birth. The lxx σκεπαστής (μου) is an erroneous reading for ἐκσπαστής, as is clear from Psa 22:10, ὁ ἐκσπάσας με. הלּל בּ, Psa 44:9 (cf. שׂיח בּ, Psa 69:13), is at the bottom of the expression in Psa 71:6. The God to whom he owes his being, and its preservation thus far, is the constant, inexhaustible theme of his praise.

Psa 71:7-12

Brought safely through dangers of every kind, he is become כּמופת, as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic aft from afata, cognate afaka, הפך, to bend, distort: a turning round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e., that which is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze upon him as such with astonishment (Psa 40:4). It is his God, however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will look to be thus wonderfully preserved: מחסי־עז, as in 2Sa 22:33. עז is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid., supra, p 171) in order that what God is to, and does for, the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independently [lit. unalloyed]. Psa 71:8 tells us what it is that he firmly expects on the ground of what he possesses in God. And on this very ground arises the prayer of Psa 71:9 also: Cast me not away (viz., from Thy presence, Psa 51:13; Jer 7:15, and frequently) in the time (לעת, as in Gen 8:11) of old age - he is therefore already an old man (זקן), though only just at the beginning of the זקנה. He supplicates favour for the present and for the time still to come: now that my vital powers are failing, forsake me not! Thus he prays because he, who has been often wondrously delivered, is even now threatened by foes. Psa 71:11, introduced by means of Psa 71:10, tells us what their thoughts of him are, and what they purpose doing. לי, Psa 71:10, does not belong to אויבי, as it dies not in Psa 27:2 also, and elsewhere. The ל is that of relation or of reference, as in Psa 41:6. The unnecessary לאמר betrays a poet of the later period; cf. Psa 105:11; Psa 119:82 (where it was less superfluous), and on the contrary, Psa 83:5. The later poet also reveals himself in Psa 71:12, which is an echo of very similar prayers of David in Psa 22:12, Psa 22:20 (Psa 40:14, cf. Psa 70:2), Psa 35:22; Psa 38:22. The Davidic style is to be discerned here throughout in other points also. In place of הישׁה the Kerî substitutes חוּשׁה, which is the form exclusively found elsewhere.

Psa 71:13-18

In view of Psa 40:15 (Psa 70:3), Psa 35:4, Psa 35:26; Psa 109:29, and other passages, the reading of יכּלמוּ, with the Syriac, instead of יכלוּ in Psa 71:13 commends itself; but there are also other instances in this Psalm of a modification of the original passages, and the course of the thoughts is now climactic: confusion, ruin (cf. Ps 6:11), and in fact ruin accompanied by reproach and shame. This is the fate that the poet desires for his deadly foes. In prospect of this he patiently composes himself, Psa 71:14 (cf. 31:25); and when righteous retribution appears, he will find new matter and ground and motive for the praise of God in addition to all such occasion as he has hitherto had. The late origin of the Psalm betrays itself again here; for instead of the praet. Hiph. הוסיף (which is found only in the Books of Kings and in Ecclesiastes), the older language made use of the praet. Ka. Without ceasing shall his mouth tell (ספּר, as in Jer 51:10) of God’s righteousness, of God’s salvation for he knows not numbers, i.e., the counting over or through of them (Psa 139:17.);The lxx renders οὐκ ἔγνων πραγματείας; the Psalterium Romanum, non cognovi negotiationes; Psalt. Gallicum (Vulgate), non cognovi literaturam (instead of which the Psalt. Hebr., literaturas). According to Böttcher, the poet really means that he did not understand the art of writing. the divine proofs of righteousness or salvation עצמוּ מסּפּר (Psa 40:6), they are in themselves endless, and therefore the matter also which they furnish for praise is inexhaustible. He will tell those things which cannot be so reckoned up; he will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jahve, and with praise acknowledge His righteousness, Him alone. Since גּברות, like the New Testament δυνάμεις, usually signifies the proofs of the divine גּבוּרה (e.g., Psa 20:7), the Beth is the Beth of accompaniment, as e.g., in Psa 40:8; Psa 66:13. בּוא בּ, vernire cum, is like Arab. j'â' b (atâ), equivalent to afferre, he will bring the proofs of the divine power, this rich material, with him. It is evident from Psa 71:18. that בגברות does not refer to the poet (in the fulness of divine strength), but, together with צדקתך, forms a pair of words that have reference to God. לבדּך, according to the sense, joins closely upon the suffix of צדקתך (cf. Ps 83:19): Thy righteousness (which has been in mercy turned towards me), Thine alone (te solum = tui solius). From youth up God has instructed him, viz., in His ways (Psa 25:4), which are worthy of all praise, and hitherto (עד־הנּה, found only in this passage in the Psalter, and elsewhere almost entirely confined to prose) has he, “the taught of Jahve” (למּוּד ה), had to praise the wonders of His rule and of His leadings. May God, then, not forsake him even further on עד־זקנה ושׂיבה. The poet is already old (זקן), and is drawing ever nearer to שׂיבה, silvery, hoary old age (cf. 1Sa 12:2). May God, then, in this stage of life also to which he has attained, preserve him in life and in His favour, until (עד = עד־אשׁר, as in Psa 132:5; Gen 38:11, and frequently) he shall have declared His arm, i.e., His mighty interposition in human history, to posterity (דּור), and to all who shall come (supply אשׁר), i.e., the whole of the future generation, His strength, i.e., the impossibility of thwarting His purposes. The primary passage for this is Psa 22:31.

Psa 71:19-24

The thought of this proclamation so thoroughly absorbs the poet that he even now enters upon the tone of it; and since to his faith the deliverance is already a thing of the past, the tender song with its uncomplaining prayer dies away into a loud song of praise, in which he pictures it all to himself. Without Psa 71:19-21 being subordinate to עד־אגיד in Psa 71:18, וצדקתך is coupled by close connection with בגורתך. Psa 71:19 is an independent clause; and עד־מרום takes the place of the predicate: the righteousness of God exceeds all bounds, is infinite (Psa 36:6., Psa 57:11). The cry כמוך מי, as in Psa 35:10; Psa 69:9, Jer 10:6, refers back to Exo 15:11. According to the Chethîb, the range of the poet’s vision widens in Psa 71:20 from the proofs of the strength and righteousness of God which he has experienced in his own case to those which he has experienced in common with others in the history of his own nation. The Kerî (cf. on the other hand Psa 60:5; Psa 85:7; Deu 31:17) rests upon a failing to discern how the experiences of the writer are interwoven with those of the nation. תּשׁוּב in both instances supplies the corresponding adverbial notion to the principal verb, as in Psa 85:7 (cf. Psa 51:4). תּהום, prop. a rumbling, commonly used of a deep heaving of waters, here signifies an abyss. “The abysses of the earth” (lxx ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς, just as the old Syriac version renders the New Testament ἄβυσσος, e.g., in Luk 8:31, by Syr. tehūmā') are, like the gates of death (Psa 9:14), a figure of extreme perils and dangers, in the midst of which one is as it were half hidden in the abyss of Hades. The past and future are clearly distinguished in the sequence of the tenses. When God shall again raise His people out of the depth of the present catastrophe, then will He also magnify the גּדלּה of the poet, i.e., in the dignity of his office, by most brilliantly vindicating him in the face of his foes, and will once more (תּסּוב, fut. Niph. like תּשׁוּב ekil .h above) comfort him. He on his part will also (cf. Job 40:14) be grateful for this national restoration and this personal vindication: he will praise God, will praise His truth, i.e., His fidelity to His promises. בּכלי נבל instead of בּנבל sounds more circumstantial than in the old poetry. The divine name “The Holy One of Israel” occurs here for the third time in the Psalter; the other passages are Psa 78:41; Psa 89:19, which are older in time, and older also than Isaiah, who uses it thirty times, and Habakkuk, who uses it once. Jeremiah has it twice (Jer 50:29; Jer 51:5), and that after the example of Isaiah. In Psa 71:23, Psa 71:24 the poet means to say that lips and tongue, song and speech, shall act in concert in the praise of God. תּרנּנּה with Dagesh also in the second Nun, after the form תּקוננּה, תּשׁכּנּה, side by side with which we also find the reading תּרנּנּה, and the reading תּרנּנה, which is in itself admissible, after the form תּאמנה, תּעגנה, but is here unattested.Heidenheim reads תּרנּנּה with Segol, following the statement of Ibn-Bil'am in his טעמי המקרא and of Mose ha-Nakdan in his דרכי הנקוד, that Segol always precedes the ending נּה, with the exception only of הנּה and האזנּה. Baer, on the other hand, reads תונּנּה, following Aben-Ezra and Kimchi (Michlol 66b).

The cohortative after כּי (lxx ὅταν) is intended to convey this meaning: when I feel myself impelled to harp unto Thee. In the perfects in the closing line that which is hoped for stands before his soul as though it had already taken place. כי is repeated with triumphant emphasis. Prayer for the Dominion of Peace of the Anointed One of God

This last Psalm of the primary collection, united to Ps 71 by community of the prominent word tsdqtk, appears, as we look to the superscription, Psa 72:20, to be said to be a Psalm of David; so that consequently לשׁלמה designates Solomon as the subject, not the author. But the Lamed of לשׁלמה here and in Psa 127:1 cannot have any other meaning than that which the Lamed always has at the head of the Psalms when it is joined to proper names; it is then always the expression denoting that the Psalm belongs to the person named, as its author. Then in style and general character the Psalm has not the least kinship with the Psalms of David. Characteristic of Solomon, on the other hand, are the movement proverb-like, and for the most part distichic, which has less of original freshness and directness than of an artificial, reflective, and almost sluggish manner, the geographic range of view, the richness in figures drawn from nature, and the points of contact with the Book of Job, which belongs incontrovertibly to the circle of the Salomonic literature: these are coincident signs which are decisive in favour of Solomon. But if Solomon is the author, the question arises, who is the subject of the Psalm? According to Hitzig, Ptolemy Philadelphus; but no true Israelite could celebrate him in this manner, and there is no reliable example of carmina of this character having found their way into the song-book of Israel. The subject of the Psalm is either Solomon (lxx εἰς Σαλωμών) or the Messiah (Targum, “O God, give Thy regulations of right to the King Messiah, למלכּא משׁיחא"). Both are correct. It is Solomon himself to whom the intercession and desires of blessing of this Psalm refer. Solomon, just as David with Psa 20:1-9 and Psa 20:1, put it into the heart and mouth of the people, probably very soon after his accession, it being as it were a church-prayer on behalf of the new, reigning king. But the Psalm is also none the less Messianic, and with perfect right the church has made it the chief Psalm of the festival of Epiphany, which has received its name of festum trium regum out of it.

Solomon was in truth a righteous, benign, God-fearing ruler; he established and also extended the kingdom; he ruled over innumerable people, exalted in wisdom and riches above all the kings of the earth; his time was the most happy, the richest in peace and joy that Israel has ever known. The words of the Psalm were all fulfilled in him, even to the one point of the universal dominion that is wished for him. But the end of his reign was not like the beginning and the middle of it. That fair, that glorious, that pure image of the Messiah which he had represented waxed pale; and with this fading away its development in relation to the history of redemption took a new turn. In the time of David and of Solomon the hope of believers, which was attached to the kingship of David, had not yet fully broken with the present. At that time, with few exceptions, nothing was known of any other Messiah than the Anointed One of God, who was David or Solomon himself. When, however, the kingship in these its two most glorious impersonations had proved itself unable to bring to full realization the idea of the Messiah or of the Anointed One of God, and when the line of kings that followed thoroughly disappointed the hope which clung to the kingship of the present, - a hope which here and there, as in the reign of Hezekiah, blazed up for a moment and then totally died out, and men were driven from the present to look onward into the future, - then, and not until then, did any decided rupture take place between the Messianic hope and the present. The image of the Messiah is now painted on the pure ethereal sky of the future (though of the immediate future) in colours which were furnished by older unfulfilled prophecies, and by the contradiction between the existing kingship and its idea; it becomes more and more, so to speak, an image, super-earthly, super-human, belonging to the future, the invisible refuge and invisible goal of a faith despairing of the present, and thereby rendered relatively more spiritual and heavenly (cf. the Messianic image painted in colours borrowed from our Psalm in Isa. 11, Mic 5:3, Mic 5:6; Zec 9:9.). In order rightly to estimate this, we must free ourselves from the prejudice that the centre of the Old Testament proclamation of salvation [or gospel] lies in the prophecy of the Messiah. Is the Messiah, then, anywhere set forth as the Redeemer of the world? The Redeemer of the world if Jahve. The appearing (parusia) of Jahve is the centre of the Old Testament proclamation of salvation. An allegory may serve to illustrate the way in which the Old Testament proclamation of salvation unfolds itself. The Old Testament in relation to the Day of the New Testament is Night. In this Night there rise in opposite directions two stars of Promise. The one describes its path from above downwards: it is the promise of Jahve who is about to come. The other describes its path from below upwards: it is the hope which rests on the seed of David, the prophecy of the Son of David, which at the outset assumes a thoroughly human, and merely earthly character. These two stars meet at last, they blend together into one star; the Night vanishes and it is Day. This one Star is Jesus Christ, Jahve and the Son of David in one person, the King of Israel and at the same time the Redeemer of the world, - in one word, the God-man.

David Professes His Confidence in God; Believing Prayers.

1 In thee, O Lord , do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. 2 Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. 3 Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. 4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 5 For thou art my hope, O Lord God : thou art my trust from my youth. 6 By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee. 7 I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge. 8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day. 9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. 10 For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, 11 Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him. 12 O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help. 13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

Two things in general David here prays for—that he might not be confounded and that his enemies and persecutors might be confounded.

I. He prays that he might never be made ashamed of his dependence upon God nor disappointed in his believing expectations from him. With this petition every true believer may come boldly to the throne of grace; for God will never disappoint the hope that is of his own raising. Now observe here,

1. How David professes his confidence in God, and with what pleasure and grateful variety of expression he repeats his profession of that confidence, still presenting the profession of it to God and pleading it with him. We praise God, and so please him, by telling him (if it be indeed true) what an entire confidence we have in him (v. 1): "In thee, O Lord! and in thee only, do I put my trust. Whatever others do, I choose the God of Jacob for my help." Those that are entirely satisfied with God's all-sufficiency and the truth of his promise, and in dependence upon that, as sufficient to make them amends, are freely willing to do and suffer, to lose and venture, for him, may truly say, In thee, O Lord! do I put my trust. Those that will deal with God must deal upon trust; if we are shy of dealing with him, it is a sign we do not trust him. Thou art my rock and my fortress (v. 3); and again, "Thou art my refuge, my strong refuge" (v. 7); that is, "I fly to thee, and am sure to be safe in thee, and under thy protection. If thou secure me, none can hurt me. Thou art my hope and my trust" (v. 5); that is, "thou hast proposed thyself to me in thy word as the proper object of my hope and trust; I have hoped in thee, and never found it in vain to do so."

2. How his confidence in God is supported and encouraged by his experiences (v. 5, 6): "Thou hast been my trust from my youth; ever since I was capable of discerning between my right hand and my left, I stayed myself upon thee, and saw a great deal of reason to do so; for by thee have I been holden up from the womb." Ever since he had the use of his reason he had been a dependent upon God's goodness, because ever since he had had a being he had been a monument of it. Note, The consideration of the gracious care which the divine Providence took of us in our birth and infancy should engage us to an early piety and constant devotedness to his honour. He that was our help from our birth ought to be our hope from our youth. If we received so much mercy from God before we were capable of doing him any service, we should lose no time when we are capable. This comes in here as a support to the psalmist in his present distress; not only that God had given him his life and being, bringing him out of his mother's bowels into the world, and providing that he should not die from the womb, nor give up the ghost when he came out of the belly, but that he had betimes made him one of his family: "Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels into the arms of thy grace, under the shadow of thy wings, into the bond of thy covenant; thou tookest me into thy church, as a son of thy handmaid, and born in thy house, Ps. cxvi. 16. And therefore," (1.) "I have reason to hope that thou wilt protect me; thou that hast held me up hitherto wilt not let me fall now; thou that madest me wilt not forsake the work of thy own hands; thou that helpedst me when I could not help myself wilt not abandon me now that I am as helpless as I was then." (2.) "Therefore I have reason to resolve that I will devote myself unto thee: My praise shall therefore be continually of thee;" that is, "I will make it my business every day to praise thee and will take all occasions to do it."

3. What his requests to God are, in this confidence.

(1.) That he might never be put to confusion (v. 1), that he might not be disappointed of the mercy he expected and so made ashamed of his expectation. Thus we may all pray in faith that our confidence in God may not be our confusion. Hope of the glory of God is hope that makes not ashamed.

(2.) That he might be delivered out of the hand of his enemies (v. 2): "Deliver me in thy righteousness. As thou art the righteous Judge of the world, pleading the cause of the injured and punishing the injurious, cause me in some way or other to escape" (God will, with the temptation, make a way to escape, 1 Cor. x. 13): "Incline thy ear unto my prayers, and, in answer to them, save me out of my troubles, v. 4. Deliver me, O my God! out of the hands of those that are ready to pull me in pieces." Three things he pleads for deliverance:—[1.] The encouragement God had given him to expect it: Thou hast given commandment to save me (v. 3); that is, thou hast promised to do it, and such efficacy is there in God's promises that they are often spoken of as commands, like that, Let there be light, and there was light. He speaks, and it is done. [2.] The character of his enemies; they are wicked, unrighteous, cruel men, and it will be for the honour of God to appear against them (v. 4), for he is a holy, just, and good God. [3.] The many eyes that were upon him (v. 7): "I am as a wonder unto many; every one waits to see what will be the issue of such extraordinary troubles as I have fallen into and such extraordinary confidence as I profess to have in God." Or, "I am looked upon as a monster, am one whom every body shuns, and therefore am undone if the Lord be not my refuge. Men abandon me, but God will not."

(3.) That he might always find rest and safety in God (v. 3): Be thou my strong habitation; be thou to me a rock of repose, whereto I may continually resort. Those that are at home in God, that live a life of communion with him and confidence in him, that continually resort unto him by faith and prayer, having their eyes ever towards him, may promise themselves a strong habitation in him, such as will never fall of itself nor can ever be broken through by any invading power; and they shall be welcome to resort to him continually upon all occasions, and not be upbraided as coming too often.

(4.) That he might have continual matter for thanksgiving to God, and might be continually employed in that pleasant work (v. 8): "Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, as now it is with my complaints, and then I shall not be ashamed of my hope, but my enemies will be ashamed of their insolence." Those that love God love to be praising him, and desire to be doing it all the day, not only in their morning and evening devotions, not only seven times a day (Ps. cxix. 164), but all the day, to intermix with all they say something or other that may redound to the honour and praise of God. They resolve to do it while they live; they hope to be doing it eternally in a better world.

(5.) That he might not be neglected now in his declining years (v. 9): Cast me not off now in the time of my old age; forsake me not when my strength fails. Observe here, [1.] The natural sense he had of the infirmities of age: My strength fails. Where there was strength of body and vigour of mind, strong sight, a strong voice, strong limbs, alas! in old age they fail; the life is continued, but the strength is gone, or that which is his labour and sorrow, Ps. xc. 10. [2.] The gracious desire he had of the continuance of God's presence with him under these infirmities: Lord, cast me not off; do not then forsake me. This intimates that he should look upon himself as undone if God should abandon him. To be cast off and forsaken of God is a thing to be dreaded at any time, especially in the time of old age and when our strength fails us; for it is God that is the strength of our heart. But it intimates that he had reason to hope God would not desert him; the faithful servants of God may be comfortably assured that he will not cast them off in old age, nor forsake them when their strength fails them. He is a Master that is not wont to cast off old servants. In this confidence David here prays again (v. 12): "O God! be not far from me; let me not be under the apprehension of thy withdrawings, for then I am miserable. O my God! a God in covenant with me, make haste for my help, lest I perish before help come."

II. He prays that his enemies might be made ashamed of their designs against him. Observe, 1. What it was which they unjustly said against him, v. 10, 11. Their plot was deep and desperate; it was against his life: They lay wait for my soul (v. 10), and are adversaries to that, v. 13. Their powers and policies were combined: They take counsel together. And very insolent they were in their deportment: They say, God has forsaken him; persecute and take him. Here their premises are utterly false, that because a good man was in great trouble and had continued long in it, and was not so soon delivered as perhaps he expected, therefore God had forsaken him and would have no more to do with him. All are not forsaken of God who think themselves so or whom others think to be so. And, as their premises were false, so their inference was barbarous. If God has forsaken him, then persecute and take him, and doubt not but to make a prey of him. This is talking to the grief of one whom God has smitten, Ps. lxix. 26. But thus they endeavour to discourage David, as Sennacherib endeavoured to intimidate Hezekiah by suggesting that God was his enemy and fought against him. Have I now come up without the Lord against this city, to destroy it? Isa. xxxvi. 10. It is true, if God has forsaken a man, there is none to deliver him; but therefore to insult over him ill becomes those who are conscious to themselves that they deserve to be for ever forsaken of God. But rejoice not against me, O my enemy! though I fall, I shall rise. He that seems to forsake for a small moment will gather with everlasting kindness. 2. What it was which he justly prayed for, from a spirit of prophecy, not a spirit of passion (v. 13): "Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul. If they will not be confounded by repentance, and so saved, let them be confounded with everlasting dishonour, and so ruined." God will turn into shame the glory of those who turn into shame the glory of God and his people.

Joyful Praises; Rejoicing in Hope.

14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. 15 My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. 16 I will go in the strength of the Lord God : I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. 17 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. 18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. 19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee! 20 Thou, which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side. 22 I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. 24 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.

David is here in a holy transport of joy and praise, arising from his faith and hope in God; we have both together v. 14, where there is a sudden and remarkable change of his voice; his fears are all silenced, his hopes raised, and his prayers turned into thanksgivings. "Let my enemies say what they will, to drive me to despair, I will hope continually, hope in all conditions, in the most cloudy and dark day; I will live upon hope and will hope to the end." Since we hope in one that will never fail us, let not our hope in him fail us, and then we shall praise him yet more and more. "The more they reproach me the more closely will I cleave to thee; I will praise thee more and better than ever I have done yet." The longer we live the more expert we should grow in praising God and the more we should abound in it. I will add over and above all thy praise, all the praise I have hitherto offered, for it is all too little. When we have said all we can, to the glory of God's grace, there is still more to be said; it is a subject that can never be exhausted, and therefore we should never grow weary of it. Now observe, in these verses,

I. How his heart is established in faith and hope; and it is a good thing that the heart be so established. Observe,

1. What he hopes in, v. 16. (1.) In the power of God: "I will go in the strength of the Lord God, not sit down in despair, but stir up myself to and exert myself in my work and warfare, will go forth and go on, not in any strength of my own, but in God's strength—disclaiming my own sufficiency and depending on him only as all-sufficient—in the strength of his providence and in the strength of his grace." We must always go about God's work in his strength, having our eyes up unto him to work in us both to will and to do. (2.) In the promise of God: "I will make mention of thy righteousness, that is, thy faithfulness to every word which thou hast spoken, the equity of thy disposals, and thy kindness to thy people that trust in thee. This I will make mention of as my plea in prayer for thy mercy." We may very fitly apply it to the righteousness of Christ, which is called the righteousness of God by faith, and which is witnessed by the law and the prophets; we must depend upon God's strength for assistance and upon Christ's righteousness for acceptance. In the Lord have I righteousness and strength, Isa. xlv. 24.

2. What he hopes for.

(1.) He hopes that God will not leave him in his old age, but will be the same to him to the end that he had been all along, v. 17, 18. Observe here, [1.] What God had done for him when he was young: Thou hast taught me from my youth. The good education and good instructions which his parents gave him when he was young he owns himself obliged to give God thanks for as a great favour. It is a blessed thing to be taught of God from our youth, from our childhood to know the holy scriptures, and it is what we have reason to bless God for. [2.] What he had done for God when he was middle-aged: He had declared all God's wondrous works. Those that have not good when they are young must be doing good when they are grown up, and must continue to communicate what they have received. We must own that all the works of God's goodness to us are wondrous works, admiring he should do so much for us who are so undeserving, and we must make it our business to declare them, to the glory of God and the good of others. [3.] What he desired of God now that he was old: Now that I am old and gray-headed, dying to this world and hastening to another, O God! forsake me not. This is what he earnestly desires and confidently hopes for. Those that have been taught of God from their youth, and have made it the business of their lives to honour him, may be sure that he will not leave them when they are old and gray-headed, will not leave them helpless and comfortless, but will make the evil days of old age their best days, and such as they shall have occasion to say they have pleasure in. [4.] What he designed to do for God in his old age: "I will not only show thy strength, by my own experience of it, to this generation, but I will leave my observations upon record for the benefit of posterity, and so who it to every one that is to come." As long as we live we should be endeavouring to glorify God and edify one another; and those that have had the largest and longest experience of the goodness of God to them should improve their experiences for the good of their friends. It is a debt which the old disciples of Christ owe to the succeeding generations to leave behind them a solemn testimony to the power, pleasure, and advantage of religion, and the truth of God's promises.

(2.) He hopes that God would revive him and raise him up out of his present low and disconsolate condition (v. 20): Thou who hast made me to see and feel great and sore troubles, above most men, shalt quicken me again. Note, [1.] The best of God's saints and servants are sometimes exercised with great and sore troubles in this world. [2.] God's hand is to be eyed in all the troubles of the saints, and that will help to extenuate them and make them seem light. He does not say, "Thou hast burdened me with those troubles," but "shown them to me," as the tender father shows the child the rod to keep him in awe. [3.] Though God's people be brought ever so low he can revive them and raise them up. Are they dead? he can quicken them again. See 2 Cor. i. 9. Are they buried, as dead men out of mind? he can bring them up again from the depths of the earth, can cheer the most drooping spirit and raise the most sinking interest. [4.] If we have a due regard to the hand of God in our troubles, we may promise ourselves, in due time, a deliverance out of them. Our present troubles, though great and sore, shall be no hindrance to our joyful resurrection from the depths of the earth, witness our great Master, to whom this may have some reference; his Father showed him great and sore troubles, but quickened him and brought him up from the grave.

(3.) He hopes that God would not only deliver him out of his troubles, but would advance his honour and joy more than ever (v. 21): "Thou shalt not only restore me to my greatness again, but shalt increase it, and give me a better interest, after this shock, than before; thou shalt not only comfort me, but comfort me on every side, so that I shall see nothing black or threatening on any side." Note, Sometimes God makes his people's troubles contribute to the increase of their greatness, and their sun shines the brighter for having been under a cloud. If he make them contribute to the increase of their goodness, that will prove in the end the increase of their greatness, their glory; and if he comfort them on every side, according to the time and degree wherein he has afflicted them on every side, they will have no reason to complain. When our Lord Jesus was quickened again, and brought back from the depths of the earth, his greatness was increased, and he entered on the joy set before him.

(4.) He hopes that all his enemies would be put to confusion, v. 24. He speaks of it with the greatest assurance as a thing done, and triumphs in it accordingly: They are confounded, they are brought to shame, that seek my hurt. His honour would be their disgrace and his comfort their vexation.

II. Let us now see how his heart is enlarged in joy and praises, how he rejoices in hope, and sings in hope for we are saved by hope.

1. He will speak of God's righteousness and his salvation, as great things, things which he was well acquainted with, and much affected with, which he desired God might have the glory of and others might have the comfortable knowledge of (v. 15): My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation; and again (v. 24), My tongue shall talk of thy righteousness, and this all the day. God's righteousness, which David seems here to be in a particular manner affected with, includes a great deal: the rectitude of his nature, the equity of his providential disposals, the righteous laws he has given us to be ruled by, the righteous promises he has given us to depend upon, and the everlasting righteousness which his Son has brought in for our justification. God's righteousness and his salvation are here joined together; let no man think to put them asunder, nor expect salvation without righteousness, Ps. l. 23. If these two are made the objects of our desire, let them be made the subjects of our discourse all the day, for they are subjects that can never be exhausted.

2. He will speak of them with wonder and admiration, as one astonished at the dimensions of divine love and grace, the height and depth, the length and breadth, of it: "I know not the numbers thereof, v. 15. Though I cannot give a particular account of thy favours to me, they are so many, so great (if I would count them, they are more in number than the sand, Ps. xl. 5), yet, knowing them to be numberless, I will be still speaking of them, for in them I shall find new matter," v. 19. The righteousness that is in God is very high; that which is done by him for his people is very great: put both together, and we shall say, O God! who is like unto thee? This is praising God, acknowledging his perfections and performances to be, (1.) Above our conception; they are very high and great, so high that we cannot apprehend them, so great that we cannot comprehend them. (2.) Without any parallel; no being like him, no works like his: O God! who is like unto thee? None in heaven, none on earth, no angel, no king. God is a non-such; we do not rightly praise him if we do not own him to be so.

3. He will speak of them with all the expressions of joy and exultation, v. 22, 23. Observe,

(1.) How he would eye God in praising him. [1.] As a faithful God: I will praise thee, even thy truth. God is made known by his word; if we praise that, and the truth of that, we praise him. By faith we set to our seal that God is true; and so we praise his truth. [2.] As a God in covenant with him: "O my God! whom I have consented to and avouched for mine." As in our prayers, so in our praises, we must look up to God as our God, and give him the glory of our interest in him and relation to him. [3.] As the Holy One of Israel, Israel's God in a peculiar manner, glorious in his holiness among that people and faithful to his covenant with them. It is God's honour that he is a Holy One; it is his people's honour that he is the Holy One of Israel.

(2.) How he will express his joy and exultation. [1.] With his hand, in sacred music—with the psaltery, with the harp; at these David excelled, and the best of his skill shall be employed in setting forth God's praises to such advantage as might affect others. [2.] With his lips, in sacred songs: "Unto thee will I sing, to thy honour, and with a desire to be accepted of thee. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee, knowing they cannot be better employed." [3.] In both with his heart: "My soul shall rejoice which thou hast redeemed." Note, First, Holy joy is the very heart and life of thankful praise. Secondly, We do not make melody to the Lord, in singing his praises, if we do not do it with our hearts. My lips shall rejoice, but that is nothing; lip-labour, though ever so well laboured, if that be all, is but lost labour in serving God; the soul must be at work, and with all that is within us we must bless his holy name, else all about us is worth little. Thirdly, Redeemed souls ought to be joyful thankful souls. The work of redemption ought, above all God's works, to be celebrated by us in our praises. The Lamb that was slain, and has redeemed us to God, must therefore be counted worthy of all blessing and praise.

PSAL. LXXI.

IN thee Iehovah doe I hope for safety, let me not be abashed for ever. In thy justice rid thou me, and deliver me; incline thine eare unto me, and save me. Be thou to me for a rocke of habitation to enter continually; thou hast commanded to save me, for thou art my rocke and my munition. My God, deliver me out of the hand of the wicked, out of the palme of the evill doer and the levened. For thou art mine expectation, Lord Iehovih, my confidence from my child-hood. By thee have I beene holden up from the wombe; from my mothers bowels thou tookest me; of thee is my praise continually.

As a wonder I am unto many, but thou art my strong hope. Let my mouth bee filled with thy praise, all the day with thy glory. Cast me not away at the time of old age; when mine able strength faileth, forsake not thou me. For mine enemies speake of mee, and they that observe my soule consult together.

Saying, God hath forsaken him; pursue and take him, for there is none to reskue. O God, be not thou farre away from me; my God, make haste to mine helpe. Let them bee abashed and consumed that are adversaries of my soule: let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seeke mine evill. And I will patiently wait continually, and adde unto all thy praise. My mouth shall tell thy justice, all the day thy salvation, though I know not the numbers. I will enter in the powers of the Lord Iehovih; I will record thy justice, thine onely. O God, thou hast learned me from my child-hood, and hitherto have I shewed thy marvellous workes. And also unto old age and hoarinesse, O God forsake me not; untill I shew thine arme to this generation, thy power to every one that shall come. And thy justice, O God, which is to on high, which hast done great things; O God, who is like thee? Which didst make mee to see distresses many and evill, didst returne and quicken me; and from the deeps of the earth didst returne and bring mee up. Thou didst much increase my greatnesse, & didst turne about and comfort me. Also, I will confesse thee with the instrument of Psalterie, even thy faithfulnesse, my God; I will sing Psalme to thee with Harpe, O holy One of Israel. My lips shall shout when I sing Psalme unto thee, and my soule which thou hast redeemed. Also, my tongue shall talke of thy justice all the day, for they are abashed, for they are ashamed that seeke mine evill.

Annotations. IN thee] Chald. In the Word of the Lord. This Psalme which hath no title in the Hebrew, is in Greeke thus intituled: Of David, a Psalme of the sonnes of Ionada[illegible: 1 letter], and of them that were first captived. Vers. 2. deliver] or, make me to escape safe. Vers. 3. of habitation] or of mansion, a rocke whereto I may flie and there dwell safe. God is often called a Rocke, Psal. 18. 3. and a mansion (or habitation) to his people, Psal. 90. 1. The Greeke here makes it plaine thus, Be to me for a God protector. hast commanded] to wit, thine Angels, as Psal. 91. 11. or, hast effectually appointed: See Psal. 44 5. Vers. 4. evill doer] or, injurious, wrong doer. the levened] that is, the malicious: for maliciousnesse and wickednesse is likened to leven, 1 Cor. 5. 8. The Hebrew Chomets properly signifieth that which is levened or sowre, Exod. 12. 39. here used for the malicious or violent cruell man, as the Greeke turneth it, the injurious, or Chomets may be used for Chomes, the violent. Vers. 5. Iehovih] or God, for it hath the vowels of Aelohim: so after, vers. 16. See Psal. 68. 21. Vers. 6. tookest me] or, didst rid me, to wit, from danger: Compare this with Psal. 22. 10, 11. of thee] or in thee, but in is often used for of as Psal. 63. 7. and 87. 3. see the notes there. Vers. 7. a wonder to many] or, a monster to the mighty: a signe whom the many (or mighty) doe gaze upon, speake of, and shew to others, and wonder at. A wonder and a signe are sometimes used as one, 2 Chron. 32. 24. with 2 King. 20. 8, 9. So, Christ and his Disciples were as signes and wonders in Israel, Isa. 8. 18. Heb. 2. 13. Iehoshuah and his fellowes were monstrous persons, Zach. 3. 8. the Apostles agazing stocke to the world, 1 Cor. 4. 9. hope] or refuge, a place where one hopeth for safety. Vers. 8. with thy glory] or glory of thee, that is, with glorifying thee, honouring, beautifying, and commending thy Majestie. Vers. 10. speake of] or say of me, that God hath forsaken me, vers. 11. or, they speake against me. observe] that is, lay wait for, it is meant here for evill: as is the observing of the steps, Psal. 56. 7. but often this phrase is used for good, to keepe, regard, and preserve the soule or life, Psal. 97. 10. and 121. 7. Prov. 22. 5. Vers. 14. adde unto all thy praise] that is, increase it; I will praise thee more than I have done, or, more than others doe, as 2 Chron. 10. 11. I will adde unto your yoke, that is, increase it. Vers. 15. though I know not] or, for I know not the numbers, to wit, of them. Gods justice and salvation is innumerable waies administred, which are to be celebrated, but cannot be reckoned, Psal. 40. 6. Vers. 16. I will enter] to wit, into this worke of praising God in his power, not mine owne: or, I will enter, that is, begin with his powerfull works to praise them; or, I will enter, that is, go in hand, or goe forward with my busines through his power. Vers. 18. unto old age] or, whiles old age is upon me, as vers. 9. So elsewhere God saith, that he had borne Israel from the wombe and birth, and would beare them still unto old age and the hoary haires, Isa. 46. 3, 4. thine arme] that is, strength, helpe, salvation. So Psal. 77. 16. Isa. 51. 5. and 53. 1. D[illegible: 1 letter]u. 33. 27. this generation] the men of this age. The word this (or present) is understood by that which followeth: see also Psal. 45. 4. Vers. 19. And thy justice, O God, which is to on high] that is, which reacheth up to Heaven, viz. I will shew it. Thus the Greeke understandeth it. We may also translate, For thy justice is unto the high place, that is, to heaven, incomprehensible, as Psal. 36. 6, 7. And may be in stead of For, as Psal. 60. 13. and the high place is by the Chaldee expounded, the high heavens: so Psa. 93. 4. Mat. 2[illegible: 1 letter]. 9 Vers. 20. didst make me see] or us see: sheweast me and us; for the Hebrew hath a double reading, meaning David in speciall, and other Gods people with him: so after, it is read in the margine, quicken me, bring me up, (as also the Greeke [illegible: 2 letters]th i[illegible: 1 letter]) but written in the line, quicken us, bring us up. By making see, is also meant experience and feeling, as Psal. 49. 10. and evill] or evils, that is, calamities. didst returne] that is, didst againe quicken, or, wilt againe quicken me. So after. But the Greek turneth it in the time past. deeps] abyss[illegible: 1 letter]s of the earth, gulfs of affliction and death, elsewhere called the lowest parts, Psal. 88. 7. such Christ in his humanitie, sorrowes and death, went downe unto and returned, Eph. 4. 9. Rom. 10. 7. Vers. 21. my greatnesse] or magnificence, majestie, honour; for Christ after afflictions entred into his glory, Luk. 24. 26. 1 Pet. 1. 11. Phil. 2 8, 9. and the godly must suffer with him, that they may also be glorified with him, Rom. 8. 17. Vers. 22. psalterie] or lute: see Psal. 33. 2. even thy faith] or, for thy faithfull truth. holy one] or Saint of Israel: God is so called, both for that he is holinesse it selfe, and sanctifieth his people, Lev. 20. 8, 26. and againe is sanctified, that is, holily praised and honoured of them, Isa. 8. 13. So Psal. 78. 41. and 89. 19. Vers. 24. talke of] or meditate, that is, speake advisedly and after due meditation: See Psal. 1. 2. for they] or when they are abashed, that is, destroyed: See Psal. 6. 11.

PSAL. LXXI.

VErſ. 1. In thee; O Lord, do I put my truſts] See Pſal. 31.1. with the Note. It appeareth by verſ. 9.18. that this Pſalm was written by David in his old age, when Abſolom, or Sheba was in rebellion againſt him, though haply for haſte, and in that fright he could not ſuperſcribe it as he did the reſt. The Greek title, viz. of David, A Pſalm of the Sons of Jonadab, and of them that were firſt captived, hath no footing in the Original Hebrew.

Verſ. 2. Deliver me in thy righteouſneſs] Let my deliverance be the fruit of thy promiſe, and of my prayer; and ſo it will be much the ſweeter.

Verſ. 3. Thou hast given Commandement] ſc. To thine Angels, and all other thy Creatures. or, thou haſt commanded, that is, thou haſt promiſed.

Verſ. 4. One of the hand of the unrighteous] That ſeeketh by fraud to undermine me, and by force to overturn me.

And cruel man] Qui totus in fermento jacet; ſoure as leaven, ſharp as vineger.

Verſ. 5. For thou art my hope] Helpleſs I may ſeem, but hopeleſs I am not.

Verſ. 6. H[illegible: 1 letter] thee have I been bolden us from the womb As in the Womb I lived upon thee, ſo from the womb. The ſame that breede thus, feedeth us, that matter that nourisheth the Childe in the Womb, ſtriking up into the breaſts, and by a further concoction becoming white is mode milk for it.

Thou ar[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 span] me out infamy to other bowels] Elſe I had never been born alive. That a childe is bound. [illegible: 1 span] ſaith Galen, Sed quomoda fiat, admotoritar [illegible: 1 span] calleth it, [illegible: 1 word] ſupra mirabilo[illegible: 1 letter] muja mirabila the greateſt wonder in the World. Surely, if a Childe were born but once in an hundred years ſpace, we ſhould all then to ſee ſo ſtrange a work ſaith another.

Verſ. 7. I am as a wonder [illegible: 1 word] ] Or, [illegible: 1 word] the great ones a Monſter to the mighty, Quia credo [illegible: 1 span] gloſſeth, becauſe I beleeve what I yet ſee not, viz. that this ſtorm ſhall blow over [and I he re[illegible: 3 letters]ed in my Throne.

Verſ. 8. [illegible: 1 span].

Verſ. 9. Caſt me not off in the time of old age] For now I have moſt need of thee. The white Roſe is ſooneſt cankered, ſo is the white Head ſooneſt corrupted.

Saepe nigrum cor eſt, capue albium —

Satan maketh a prey of old Salomon, Aſa, Lot, others; whom when young, hee could never ſo deceive. The Heathens therefore well warn us to look well to our old age, as that which cometh not alone, but is infeſted with many diſeaſes both of body and minde. This David knew, and therefore prayed, as here, Caſt me not off in the time of old age, for ſake me not when my ſtrength faileth. He is a rare old man that can ſay with Caleb, Joſh. 14.10, 11. Omnia fert at[illegible: 2 letters], animum quo que .

Verſ. 10. For mine enemies.] Who, rather than their lives, would bereave me of mine; theſe would double murther me, firſt by detraction, and then by deadly practice.

Verſ. 11. God hath forſaken him] For his late fin againſt Ʋriah; and as may appear by his preſent diſtreſs, his forlorn proſcribed condition.

Verſ. 12. O God, be not farre from me] The inſolency of his enemies ſets an edge upon his prayers; Oratio ſine malis eſt avis ſine alis. Our Saviour in his Agony prayed the more earneſtly, Luk. 22.44.

Verſ. 13. Let them be confounded and conſumed.] Here he beginneth, Diris devovere, to devote his foes to deſtruction, who ſoon alſo found that theſe were not bruta fulmina, as the Popes Bulls are (wittily compared by one to a fools Dagger, ratling and ſnapping without an edge) but that there was an energy in them, though haply not felt for preſent: and that they had better have angered all the Witches in the Country than occaſioned David thus to curſe them in the Name of the Lord.

Verſ. 14. But I will hope continually] I will lengthen out mine hope, as a line drawn out. Tremellius renders it, I am in expectation ſtill of compleating thy praiſe, and will go on therein, viz. when thou ſhalt have compleated my deliverance.

Verſ. 15. My mouth ſhall ſhew forth thy righteouſneſs and thy ſalvation] Lo here a ſweet and comfortable conjunction of Gods Righteouſneſs, and our Salvation. See 2. Theſſ. 1.6, 7.

For I know not the numbers thereof] Or, Though I know not, &c. by a modeſt correction, ſith they may be celebrated, but not enumerated.

Littera quot conchas, quot amaena roſaria flores, Quotve ſoporiferum grana papaver habet: Sylva feras quot alit, quot piſcibus unda natatur, Et teneram pennis aera pulfat avis.

So many, and ten thouſand times more are Gods loving kindneſſes. The Pſalmiſt elſewhere venteth himſelf by an Exclamation, Pſal. 31.19. See the Note there.

Verſ. 16. I will go in the ſtrength of the Lord God] Ingrediar in potentias Domini, I will do what I can, with Gods help, in glorifying his Name, though I cannot do as I would, and as I ought: Narrabo res inenarrabilos and then intreat thoſe that hear me to think higher things of God than I am able to utter.

Evan of thine only] For that is enough, and more than I can well do; I will not once mention (as profane perſons uſe to do) mine own Wiſdom, valour, &c. alas, they are not worthy to be named in the ſame day with thine.

Verſ. 17. O God, thou haſt taught me] Happy David in ſuch a School-maſter. All the faithful are taught of God; outwardly by his Word and Works, inwardly by his Spirit; Et quando Chriſt[illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 3 letters]giſter quam cite diſcitur quod decetur? Aug. Ambroſ. Neſcit tarda molimina Spiritus ſancti gratia.

Verſ. 18. N[illegible: 2 letters] alſo what I am [illegible: 1 word] and rray-headed] Now, that the Plumb-tree is full of bloomes, the map of age is figured in my ſore-head, the calendar of death appeareth in the furrows of my face: let me do nothing to ſpot my white head. Let me with the S[illegible: 1 letter]n give greateſt glimpſe at the going down, and with the Roſe [illegible: 1 span], though I have loſt my colour, See verſ. 9.

And thy power to every one that is to come] Mirus fervor David is in celebranda bonitate Dei, ſaith Vatablus here. David would propagate Gods praiſe to all poſterity.

Verſ. 19. Thy righteouſueſs alſo, O God, is very bigh.] Farre above the reach of human reaſon; yet for the ſtrengthening of my hope, I will look up after it, though mine eye ſhould be tired in the way.

Verſ. 20. Thou which baſt ſhewed me great and ſore troubles] Auguſtias magnas & malas, and haſt thereby taught me, verſ. 17, Quae nocent, docent.

Shall quicken me again] And this is one ſingular height of thy righteouſneſs, that thou carryeſt thy people thorough ſo many deaths; and cauſeſt them to aſcend from the loweſt ebbe of affliction, to the higheſt pitch of comfort. Stoicks aſcribe ſuch Occurrences to Fate, Epicures to Fortune, but David to God alone.

Verſ. 21. Thou ſhalt increaſe my greatneſs] Meam, id eſt Tuam, quam mihi dediſti, ſaith the Arabick gloſs here; My greatneſs, that is, thy greatneſs which thou haſt given me.

Verſ. 22. I will alſo praiſe thee with the Pſaltery] In Organo natali, with an inſtrument made like a bottle.

O thou holy one of Iſrael] Who ſanctifieſt thine throughout, and art to be ſanctified of thine throughout all eternity, Iſa. 5.16.

Verſ. 23. And my ſoul which thou haſt redeemed] Heart and lips ſhall concur in this work. The voyce which is made in the mouth, is nothing ſo ſweet as that which cometh from the depth of the breaſt. The deeper and hollower the belly of the Lute, or Viol is, the pleaſanter is the ſound: the fleeter, the more grating and harſh in our ears.

Verſ. 24. My tongue alſo ſhall talk of thy righteouſneſs] Adviſedly talk, and upon due deliberation. What a mad Edict was that of Henry the ſecond of France, that men ſhould not talk at all of Scripture-matters? And that of the Jeſuites at Dola, forbidding any talk of God, either in good ſort, or in bad?

Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape. Be true, O God, to thy word. It is a righteous thing in thee to keep the promises which thou hast made unto thy servants. I have trusted thee, and thou wilt not be unrighteous to forget my faith. I am taken as in a net, but do thou liberate me from the malice of my persecutors. Incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Stoop to my feebleness, and hear my faint whispers; be gracious to my infirmities, and smile upon me: I ask salvation; listen thou to my petitions, and save me. Like one wounded and left for dead by mine enemies, I need that thou bend over me and bind up my wounds. These mercies are asked on the plea of faith, and they cannot, therefore, be denied.

Be thou my strong habitation. Permit me to enter into thee, and be as much at home as a man in his own house, and then suffer me to remain in thee as my settled abode. Whereas foes molest me, I need a dwelling framed and bulwarked, to sustain a siege and resist the attacks of armies; let, then, thine omnipotence secure me, and be as a fortress unto me. Here we see a weak man, but he is in a strong habitation; his security rests upon the tower in which he hides, and is not placed in jeopardy through his personal feebleness. Whereunto I may continually resort. Fast shut is this castle against all adversaries, its gates they cannot burst open; the drawbridge is up, the portcullis is down, the bars are fast in their places; but, there is a secret door, by which friends of the great Lord can enter at all hours of the day or night, as often as ever they please. There is never an hour when it is unlawful to pray. Mercy's gates stand wide open, and shall do so, till, at the last, the Master of the house has risen up and shut to the door. Believers find their God to be their habitation, strong and accessible, and this is for them a sufficient remedy for all the ills of their mortal life.

Thou hast given commandment to save me. Nature is charged to be tender with God's servants; Providence is ordered to work their good, and the forces of the invisible world are ordained as their guardians. David charged all his troops to spare the young man Absalom, but yet he fell. God's commandment is of far higher virtue, for it compels obedience, and secures its end. Destruction cannot destroy us, famine cannot starve us; but we laugh at both, while God's mandate shields us. No stones of the field can throw us down, while angels bear us up in their hands; neither can the beasts of the field devour us, while David's God delivers us from their ferocity, or Daniel's God puts them in awe of us. For thou art my rock and my fortress. In God we have all the security which nature which furnishes the rock, and art which builds the fortress, could supply; he is the complete preserver of his people. Immutability may be set forth by the rock, and omnipotence by the fortress. Happy is he who can use the personal pronoun "my" —not only once, but as many times as the many aspects of the Lord may render desirable. Is he a strong habitation? I will call him "my strong habitation, "and he shall be my rock, my fortress, my God (Ps 71:4), my hope, my trust (Ps 71:5), my praise (Ps 71:6). All mine shall be his, all his shall be mine. This was the reason why the psalmist was persuaded that God had commanded his salvation, namely, because he had enabled his to exercise a calm and appropriating faith.

Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked. God is on the same side with us, and those who are our enemies are also his, for they are wicked; therefore will the Lord surely rescue his own confederates, and he will not suffer the evil to triumph over the just. He who addresses such a prayer as this to heaven, does more injury to his enemies than if he had turned a battery of Armstrongs upon them. Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. Being wicked to God, they become unrighteous towards men, and cruel in their persecutions of the godly. Two hands are here mentioned: they grasp and they crush; they strike and they would slay if God did not prevent; had they as many hands as Briarcus, the finger of God would more than match them.

For thou art my hope, O Lord God. God who gives us grace to hope in him, will assuredly fulfil our hope, and, therefore, we may plead it in prayer. His name is "Jehovah, the hope of Israel" (Jer 17:13); and, as he cannot be a false or failing hope, we may expect to see our confidence justified. Thou art my trust from my youth. David had proved his faith by notable exploits when he was a youth and ruddy; it was to him a cheering recollection, and he felt persuaded that the God of his youth would not forsake him in his age. They are highly favoured who can like David, Samuel, Josiah, Timothy, and others say, "Thou art my trust from my youth."

By thee have I been holden up from the womb. Before he was able to understand the power which preserved him, he was sustained by it. God knows us before we know anything. The elect of old lay in the bosom of God before they were laid on their mothers' bosoms; and when their infantile weakness had no feet strong enough to carry it, the Lord upheld it. We do well to reflect upon divine goodness to us in childhood, for it is full of food for gratitude. Thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels. Even before conscious life, the care of God is over his chosen. Birth is a mystery of mercy, and God is with both mother and babe. If marriages are registered in heaven, we may be sure that births are also. Holy women do well to bless God for his mercy to them in nature's perilous hour; but every one who is born of woman has equal cause for thankfulness. She, whose life is preserved, should render thanks, and so should he whose life is given. My praise shall be continually of thee. Where goodness has been unceasingly received, praise should unceasingly be offered. God is the circle where praise should begin, continue, and endlessly revolve, since in him we live, and move, and have our being.

I am as a wonder unto many. "To thousand eyes a mark and gaze am I." The saints are men wondered at; often their dark side is gloomy even to amazement, while their bright side is glorious even to astonishment. The believer is a riddle, an enigma puzzling the unspiritual; he is a monster warring with those delights of the flesh, which are the all in all of other men; he is a prodigy, unaccountable to the judgments of ungodly men; a wonder gazed at, feared, and, by and by, contemptuously derided. Few understand us, many are surprised at us. But thou art my strong refuge. Here is the answer to our riddle. If we are strong, it is in God; if we are safe, our refuge shelters us; if we are calm, our soul hath found her stay in God. When faith is understood, and the grounds of her confidence seen, the believer is no longer a wonder; but the marvel is that so much unbelief remains among the sons of men.

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day. What a blessed mouthful! A man never grows nauseated though the flavour of it be all day in his mouth. God's bread is always in our mouths, so should his praise be. He fills us with good; let us be also filled with gratitude. This would leave no room for murmuring or backbiting; therefore, may we well join with holy David in this sacred wish.

Cast me not off in the time of old age. David was not tired of his Master, and his only fear was lest his Master should be tired of him. The Amalekite in the Bible history left his Egyptian servant to famish when he grew old and sick, but not so the Lord of saints; even to hoar hairs he bears and carries us. Alas for us, if we were abandoned by our God, as many a courtier has been by his prince! Old age robs us of personal beauty, and deprives us of strength for active service; but it does not lower us in the love and favour of God. An ungrateful country leaves its worn out defenders to starve upon a scanty pittance, but the pensioners of heaven are satisfied with good things. Forsake me not when my strength faileth. Bear with me, and endure my infirmities. To be forsaken of God is the worst of all conceivable ills, and if the believer can be but clear of that grievous fear, he is happy: no saintly heart need be under any apprehension upon this point.

For mine enemies speak against me. Dogs howl over a dying lion. When David's arm was able to chastise his foes, they were yet impudent enough to slander him, and he fears that now they will take fresh license in the hour of his weakness. The text most properly means that his enemies had said that God would forsake him; and, therefore, he is the more earnest that the Lord's faithful dealings may give them the lie. And they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together. The psalmist had enemies, and these were most malicious; seeking his utter destruction, they were very persevering, and staid long upon the watch; to this they added cunning, for they lay in ambush to surprise him, and take him at a disadvantage; and all this they did with the utmost unanimity and deliberation, neither spoiling their design by want of prudence, nor marring its accomplishment by a lack of unity. The Lord our God is our only and all sufficient resort from every form of persecution.

Saying, God hath forsaken him. O bitter taunt! There is no worse arrow in all the quivers of hell. Our Lord felt this barbed shaft, and it is no marvel if his disciples feel the same. Were this exclamation the truth, it were indeed an ill day for us; but, glory be to God, it is a barefaced lie. Persecute and take him. Let loose the dogs of persecution upon him, seize him, worry him, for there is none to deliver him. Down with him, for he has no friends. It is safe to insult him, for none will come to his rescue. O cowardly boasts of a braggart foe, how do ye wound the soul of the believer: and only when his faith cries to his Lord is he able to endure your cruelty.

O God, be not far from me. Nearness to God is our conscious security. A child in the dark is comforted by grasping its father's hand. O my God, make haste for my help. To call God ours, as having entered into covenant with us, is a mighty plea in prayer, and a great stay to our faith. The cry of "make haste" has occurred many times in this portion of the Psalms, and it was evoked by the sore pressure of affliction. Sharp sorrows soon put an end to procrastinating prayers.

Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul. It will be all this to them to see thy servant preserved; their envy and malice, when disappointed, will fill them with life consuming bitterness. The defeat of their plans shall nonplus them, they shall be confounded as they enquire the reason for their overthrow; the men they seek to destroy seem so weak, and their cause so contemptible, that they will be filled with amazement as they see them not only survive all opposition, but even surmount it. How confounded must Pharaoh have been when Israel multiplied, despite his endeavours to exterminate the race; and how consumed with rage must the Scribes and Pharisees have become when they saw the gospel spreading from land to land by the very means which they used for its destruction. Let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt. He would have their shame made visible to all eyes, by their wearing it in their blushes as a mantle. They would have made a laughing stock of the believer, if his God had forsaken him; therefore, let unbelief and atheism be made a public scoffing in their persons.

The holy faith of the persecuted saint comes to the front in these three verses. But I will hope continually. When I cannot rejoice in what I have, I will look forward to what shall be mine, and will still rejoice. Hope will live on a bare common, and sing on a branch laden down with snow. No date and no place are unsuitable for hope. Hell alone excepted, hope is a dweller in all regions. We may always hope, for we always have grounds for it: we will always hope, for it is a never failing consolation. And will yet praise thee more and more. He was not slack in thanksgiving; in fact, no man was ever more diligent in it; yet he was not content with all his former praises, but vowed to become more and more a grateful worshipper. When good things are both continual and progressive with us, we are on the right tack. We ought to be misers in going good, and our motto should be "more and more." While we do not disdain to "rest and be thankful, "we cannot settle down into resting in our thankfulness. "Superior" cries the eagle, as he mounts towards the sun: higher and yet higher is also our aim, as we soar aloft in duty and devotion. It is our continual hope that we shall be able more and more to magnify the Lord.

My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day. We are to bear testimony as experience enables us, and not withhold from others that which we have tasted and handled. The faithfulness of God in saving us, in delivering us out of the hand of our enemies, and in fulfilling his promises, is to be everywhere proclaimed by those who have proved it in their own history. How gloriously conspicuous is righteousness in the divine plan of redemption! It should be the theme of constant discourse. The devil rages against the substitutionary sacrifice, and errorists of every form make this the main point of their attack; be it ours, therefore, to love the doctrine, and to spread its glad tidings on every side, and at all times. Mouths are never so usefully employed as in recounting the righteousness of God revealed in the salvation of believers in Jesus. The preacher who should be confined to this one theme would never need seek another: it is the medulla theologae, the very pith and marrow of revealed truth. Has our reader been silent upon this choice subject? Let us, then, press him to tell abroad what he enjoys within: he does not well who keeps such glad tidings to himself. For I know not the numbers thereof. He knew the sweetness of it, the sureness, the glory, and the truth of it; but as to the full reckoning of its plenitude, variety, and sufficiency, he felt he could not reach to the height of the great argument. Lord, where I cannot count I will believe, and when a truth surpasses numeration I will take to admiration. When David spoke of his enemies, he said they were more in number than the hairs of his head; he had, therefore, some idea of their number, and found a figure suitable to set it out; but, in the case of the Lord's covenant mercies, he declares, "I know not the number, "and does not venture upon any sort of comparison. To creatures belong number and limit, to God and his grace there is neither. We may, therefore, continue to tell out his great salvation all day long, for the theme is utterly inexhaustible.

I will go in the strength of the Lord God. Our translators give us a good sense, but not the sense in this place, which is on this wise, "I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jehovah." He would enter into those deeds by admiring study, and then, wherever he went, he would continue to rehearse them. He should ever be a welcome guest who can tell us of the mighty acts of the Lord, and help us to put our trust in him. The authorised version may be used by us as a resolve in all our exertions and endeavours. In our own strength we must fail; but, when we hear the voice which saith, "Go in this thy might, "we may advance without fear. Though hell itself were in the way, the believer would pursue the path of duty, crying: I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. Man's righteousness is not fit to be mentioned —filthy rags are best hidden; neither is there any righteousness under heaven, or in heaven, comparable to the divine. As God himself fills all space, and is, therefore, the only God, leaving no room for another, so God's righteousness, in Christ Jesus, fills the believer's soul, and he counts all other things but dross and dung "that he may win Christ, and be found in him, not having his own righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith." What would be the use of speaking upon any other righteousness to a dying man? and all are dying men. Let those who will cry up man's natural innocence, the dignity of the race, the purity of philosophers, the loveliness of untutored savages, the power of sacraments, and the infallibility of pontiffs; this is the true believer's immovable resolve: "I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only." For ever dedicated to thee, my Lord, be this poor, unworthy tongue, whose glory it shall be to glorify thee.

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth. It was comfortable to the psalmist to remember that from his earliest days he had been the Lord's disciple. None are too young to be taught of God, and they make the most proficient scholars who begin betimes. And hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works. He had learned to tell what he knew, he was a pupil teacher; he continued still learning and declaring, and did not renounce his first master; this, also, was his comfort, but it is one which those who have been seduced from the school of the gospel, into the various colleges of philosophy and scepticism, will not be able to enjoy. A sacred conservatism is much needed in these days, when men are giving up old lights for new. We mean both to learn and to teach the wonders of redeeming love, till we can discover something nobler or more soul satisfying; for this reason we hope that our gray heads will be found in the same road as we have trodden, even from our beardless youth.

Now also when I am old and grey headed, O God, forsake me not. There is something touching in the sight of hair whitened with the snows of many a winter: the old and faithful soldier receives consideration from his king, the venerable servant is beloved by his master. When our infirmities multiply, we may, with confidence, expect enlarged privileges in the world of grace, to make up for our narrowing range in the field of nature. Nothing shall make God forsake those who have not forsaken him. Our fear is lest he should do so; but his promise kisses that fear into silence. Until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation. He desired to continue his testimony and complete it; he had respect to the young men and little children about him, and knowing the vast importance of training them in the fear of God, he longed to make them all acquainted with the power of God to support his people, that they also might be led to walk by faith. He had leaned on the almighty arm, and could speak experimentally of its all sufficiency, and longed to do so ere life came to a close. And thy power to every one that is to come. He would leave a record for unborn ages to read. He thought the Lord's power to be so worthy of praise, that he would make the ages ring with it till time should be no more. For this cause believers live, and they should take care to labour zealously for the accomplishment of this their most proper and necessary work. Blessed are they who begin in youth to proclaim the name of the Lord, and cease not until their last hour brings their last word for their divine Master.

Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high. Very sublime, unsearchable, exalted, and glorious is the holy character of God, and his way of making men righteous. His plan of righteousness uplifts men from the gates of hell to the mansions of heaven. It is a high doctrine gospel, gives a high experience, leads to high practice, and ends in high felicity. Who hast done great things. The exploits of others are mere child's play compared with thine, and are not worthy to be mentioned in the same age. Creation, providence, redemption, are all unique, and nothing can compare with them. O God, who is like unto thee. As thy works are so transcendent, so art thou. Thou art without compeer, or even second, and such are thy works, and such, especially, thy plan of justifying sinners by the righteousness which thou hast provided. Adoration is a fit frame of mind for the believer. When he draws near to God, he enters into a region where everything is surpassingly sublime; miracles of love abound on every hand, and marvels of mingled justice and grace. A traveller among the high Alps often feels overwhelmed with awe, amid their amazing sublimities; much more is this the case when we survey the heights and depths of the mercy and holiness of the Lord. O God, who is like unto thee.

Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again. Here is faith's inference from the infinite greatness of the Lord. He has been strong to smite; he will be also strong to save. He has shown me many heavy and severe trials, and he will also show me many and precious mercies. He has almost killed me, he will speedily revive me; and though I have been almost dead and buried, he will give me a resurrection, and bring me up again from the depths of the earth. However low the Lord may permit us to sink, he will fix a limit to the descent, and in due time will bring us up again. Even when we are laid low in the tomb, the mercy is that we can go no lower, but shall retrace our steps and mount to better lands; and all this, because the Lord is ever mighty to save. A little God would fail us, but not Jehovah the Omnipotent. It is safe to lean on him, since he bears up the pillars both of heaven and earth.

Thou shalt increase my greatness. As a king, David grew in influence and power. God did great things for him, and by him, and this is all the greatness believers want. May we have faith in God, such as these words evince. And comfort me on every side. As we were surrounded with afflictions, so shall we be environed with consolations. From above, and from all around, light shall come to dispel our former gloom; the change shall be great, indeed, when the Lord returns to comfort us. Here is the final vow of praise.

I will also praise thee with the psaltery. Love so amazing calls for sweetest praise. David would give his best music, both vocal and instrumental, to the Best of Masters. His harp should not be silent, nor his voice. Even thy truth, O my God. This is ever a most enchanting attribute —viz., the truth or faithfulness of our covenant God. On this we rest, and from it we draw streams of richest consolation. His promises are sure, his love unalterable, his veracity indisputable. What saint will not praise him as he remembers this? Unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. Here is a new name, and, as it were, a new song. The Holy One of Israel is at once a lofty and an endearing name, full of teaching. Let us resolve, by all means within our power, to honour him. Here is the final vow of praise.

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee. It shall be no weariness to me to praise thee. It shall be a delightful recreation, a solace, a joy. The essence of song lies in the holy joy of the singer. And my soul, which thou hast redeemed. Soul singing is the soul of singing. Till men are redeemed, they are like instruments out of tune; but when once the precious blood has set them at liberty, then are they fitted to magnify the Lord who bought them. Our being bought with a price is a more than sufficient reason for our dedicating ourselves to the earnest worship of God our Saviour. Here is the final vow of praise.

My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long. I will talk to myself, and to thee, my God, and to my fellow men: my theme shall be thy way of justifying sinners, the glorious display of thy righteousness and grace in thy dear Son; and this most fresh and never to be exhausted subject shall be ever with me, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same. Others talk of their beloveds, and they shall be made to hear of mine. I will become an incessant talker, while this matter lies on my heart, for in all company this subject will be in season. For they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt. As in many other Psalms, the concluding stanzas speak of that as an accomplished fact, which was only requested in former verses. Faith believes that she has her request, and she has it. She is the substance of things hoped for —a substance so real and tangible, that it sets the glad soul singing. Already sin, Satan, and the world are vanquished, and the victory is ours.

"Sin, Satan, Death appear

To harass and appal:

Yet since the gracious Lord is near,

Backward they go, and fall."

"We meet them face to face,

Through Jesus' conquest blest;

March in the triumph of his grace,

Right onward to our rest."

Whole Psalm. This Psalm, which has no title in the Hebrew, in the LXX has the title, By David, of the sons of Jonadab, and of those who were first made prisoners. If any authority be allowed to this title, we must suppose that this was a Psalm written by David, which was used, as particularly adapted to the circumstances of their condition, by the Rechabites, who were descended from Jonadab (Jeremiah 35), and the Jews, who were taken by the Chaldeans as captives to Babylon. However this may be, it seems probable that David was the author of this Psalm, and that he wrote it in his extreme age, and but a little while before he died. The line which follows the next Psalm, and closes the second book, perhaps has a reference to this fact. Some of the Fathers interpret the Psalm mystically of the church in her old age, and her trials at the end of the world. "Plain Commentary."

Whole Psalm. The Psalm, I am aware, is anonymous, and is, therefore, by many recent critics referred to some later writer; but I am satisfied that Venema and Hengstenberg have adduced sufficient reasons for retaining the opinion of Calvin and the older expositors, that it is from David's pen, and is the plaintive song of his old age. It shows us the soul of the aged saint, darkened by the remembrance of his great transgression, and by the swarms of sorrows with which that sin filled all his later years. But he finds comfort in reverting to the happy days of his childhood, and especially to the irrevocable trust which he was then enabled to repose in God. The thoughts and feelings expressed remind one of those which invest with such a solemn, tender interest the Second Epistle to Timothy, which embalms the dying thoughts of the great apostle. Like Paul, David takes a retrospect of the Lord's dealings with him from the beginning; and, in effect, declares, with the dying apostle: "I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Ti 1:12. Only, there is this notable difference between the two, that while Paul gathered confirmation of his faith from the experience of a thirty years' walk with his Lord, David's experience stretched over more than twice so many years; for it began with his childhood. William Binnie.

Whole Psalm. It will be asked how Christ could use such verses as Ps 71:9,18, since these look forward apparently to the frailty of age. The reply to this felt difficulty is, these expressions are used by him in sympathy with his members, and in his own case denote the state equivalent to age. His old age was, ere he reached three and thirty years, as Joh 8:57 is supposed to imply: for "Worn out men live fast." Barclay seems to give the right sense in the following lines: —

"Grown old and weak, with pain and grief,

Before his years were half complete."

Besides, the words signify, "Forsake me not from this time onward, even were I to live to grey hairs." This is a view that conveys precious consolation to aged ones, who might be ready to say that Christ could not altogether enter into their feelings, having never experienced the failing weakness of age, the debility, the decay, the bodily infirmities so trying to the spirit. But this Psalm shows us, that in effect he did pass through that stage of our sojourning, worn out and wasted in bodily frame and feeling, by living so much in so short a time. The aged members of his church may find his sweet sympathy breathed out in Isa 46:3-4; and, here they may almost see him learning the lesson in a human way, as he bends under the weight of our frailties. For this reason, among others, this Psalm was specially prized by Robert Blair, one of our godly forefathers. He used to call it "His Psalm." Andrew A. Bonar.

In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. As if he should say: O Lord, permit not those who put their trust in thee to be confounded, and to be held up as a laughing stock. I have placed all my hope in thee, and thou art that God who, for the sake of thy goodness and truth, hast never deserted those who hope in thee. If thou shalt suffer me to be confounded, the enemies to triumph, and my hope to be placed in thee in vain, certainly this shame shall fall upon thine own name... Let us, therefore, learn from this place to be more anxious about what may happen to the name of God through us, than to our own; whether it be through us in doing, or in us in suffering. The prophet is fearful lest he should be confounded on account of his hope placed in God, although it was not in his own power, nor could he prevent it... It is necessary, first, that we should be of those who place their hope in God, then it is necessary that this piety of our hearts should not be confined to ourselves only, but should be known to all those who come in contact with us, even our opponents and enemies; else it is not possible for us to dread this kind of confusion feared by the prophet, when nobody knows that our hope is placed in God. No artist suffers confusion, if he has never shared the good opinion of his fellow men. To no sick man can it be said, Physician, heal thyself, if his reputation for medical skill has never stood high. So of those, it cannot be said, They hoped in God, let him save them if he will have them, of whom it was never remarked that they placed any hope in God. His solicitude, therefore, belongs only to those whose hope is in the Lord; upon others it cannot fall. Musculus.

In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. It is a good beginning, and a recommendation to our prayers, when we can declare our faith and trust to be in God alone. Edward Walter, in "A Help to the profitable reading of the Psalms." 1854.

Deliver me in thy righteousness. Incline thine ear. Let my deliverance be the fruit of thy promise, and of my prayer; and so it will be much the sweeter. John Trapp.

In thy righteousness. The righteousness of God is in this place that virtue by which he makes good his promises —revenges injuries and rewards piety —which is elsewhere called his veracity. Upon this perfection David here calls, not because he was innocent before God, but because God had bound himself to him by promises, as if he were, in the presence of the men who were persecuting him, both innocent and righteous; and, therefore, worthy of being delivered from this last terrible calamity into which he has fallen through Absalom, since God had thus acted towards him. Hermann Venema.

Thy righteousness. Not mine. He knew that he was being chastened for his sin against Uriah. He pleads no merit of his own. Simon de Muis.

Incline thine ear. And since I am so wounded that I am not able to send up my cry to thee, the Most High, do thou incline thine ear to me as I lie half dead, left by the robbers who have wounded and spoiled me. Gerhohus.

Whereunto I may continually resort. Would he then want to repair to him always? Our necessities, our work, our danger require it constantly. We are commanded to pray without ceasing. And if, while we acknowledge and feel the obligation, we are renewed in the spirit of our mind, we shall not lament it. Loving him, as well as depending upon him, we shall find it good to draw near to God, and delight ourselves in the Almighty; and we shall never find him, when we want him, inaccessible. There is a way to our strong habitation, and we know the way. There is a door, and we have the key. No sentinel keeps us back; the dwelling is our own: and who dares to forbid us all its accommodations and contents? Kings, however disposed, cannot be always approachable. Owing to the multitude of their claims, and the limitation of their powers, and the importance of keeping up a sense of their dignity, they are only accessible at certain times, and with stately formalities. But the King of kings allows us to come boldly to the throne of grace; and enjoins us in every thing, by prayer and supplication, to make our requests unto him. We cannot be too importunate, or by our continual coming weary him. William Jay.

Thou hast given commandment to save me. Let us observe his words; he ascribes to the word and command of God a saving virtue, which no power on earth, none in hell, nor death itself can resist. Only, he says, give the command that I may be saved, and, in a moment, I shall be wholly saved. Musculus.

The cruel man is literally the leavened man, leavened with hatred of truth and enmity to God; and, therefore, a violent opposer of his people. So, in 1Co 5:8 we are cautioned against the "leaven of malice and wickedness, "which, in accordance with the figure, may pervade the whole natural character of an ungodly man, his faculties and affections. W. Wilson.

Thou art my hope. Not only is our hope in him but he himself is our hope. "God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, "saith St. Paul, "our hope." 1 Ti 1:1. Yea, there is a deeper, nearer depth: "The glory of the mystery of the gospel, "says St. Paul, "is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ himself is our hope, as the only Author of it; Christ is our hope, as the End of it; and Christ, who is the Beginning and the End, is our hope also by the way; for he saith, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Col 1:27. Each yearning of our hearts, each ray of hope which gleams upon us, each touch which thrills us, each voice which whispers in our inmost hearts of the good things laid up in store for us, if we will love God, are the light of Christ enlightening us, the touch of Christ raising us to new life, the voice of Christ, "Whoso cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out; "it is "Christ in us, the hope of glory, "drawing us up by his spirit who dwelleth in us, unto himself our hope. For our hope is not the glory of heaven, not joy, not peace, not rest from labour, not fulness of our wishes, nor sweet contentment of the whole soul, nor understanding of all mysteries and all knowledge, not only a torrent of delight; it is "Christ our God, ""the hope of glory." Nothing which God could create is what we hope for; nothing which God could give us out of himself, no created glory, or bliss, or beauty, or majesty, or riches. What we hope for is our Redeeming God himself, his love, his bliss, the joy of our Lord himself who hath so loved us, to be our joy and our portion for ever. E. B. Pusey.

From my youth. The remembering and acknowledging of God in youth will be great satisfaction in old age. O what joy will reflection upon youthful piety yield! Even Seneca, a heathen, could say: "Youth well spent is the greatest comfort of old age." David could confidently plead with God for deliverance out of the hand of the wicked: For, saith he, thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. "Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth" (Ps 71:9,17-18). An ingenuous master will not turn off a superannuated servant. When the proconsul bade Polycarp deny Christ and swear by the emperor, he answered: "I have served Christ these eighty-six years, and he hath not once injured me, and shall I now deny him?" Jacob could say: "God hath fed me all my life long unto this day; he hath been kind to me all my days, and I trust he will look to me even in the end; and shall I now turn my back on him?" Whither can I go to mend myself for a master? "Thou only hast the words of eternal life." He that hath been the stay of my youth, will be the staff of my age. I dare venture my soul upon his promise who hath hitherto maintained me by his providence. "In the days of my youth, the secret of God was upon my tabernacle, his candle did shine upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; "and, though now "the sun, and the light, and moon and stars be darkened, "in this my natural horizon, yet "the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?" "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." I have abundant experience of his grace and presence. O the days of mercy I have had many years ago! A good man said: "I got that in my youth, which I would not for all the world have to get now." Oliver Heywood. 1629-1702.

He did not, like most men, recognise the hand of God only when, in an extraordinary manner, it became manifest in life; but his eye of faith regards the ordinary works of God as miracles. The translation from his mother's womb to the light of day is to him an object of praise. (Ps 22:9-10.) And, really, is not the preservation of the embryo, in its narrow confines, a miracle? Is it not a pledge, simultaneously with man's growing into being, of our after experience in life, that we have a God "who bringeth us out of death to light?" (Ps 68:20.) Is not the reason of our finding so little of praise, to be sought in our having no eyes for his daily miracles? The psalmist has eyes for the daily miracles of the Lord; and, therefore, his mouth is daily full of the praise of the Lord. Augustus F. Tholuck.

Blessed be God that ever I was born. Halyburton.

This verse corresponds with the preceding, except that David proceeds farther. He not only celebrates the goodness of God, which he had experienced from his childhood, but, also, those proofs of it which he had received previous to his birth. An almost similar confession is contained in Ps 22:9-10, by which is magnified the wonderful power and inestimable goodness of God in the generation of men, the way and manner of which would be altogether incredible, were it not a fact with which we are quite familiar. If we are astonished at that part of the history of the flood, in which Moses declares (Ge 8:13), that Noah and his household lived ten months amidst the offensive nuisance produced by so many living creatures, when he could not draw the breath of life, have we not equal reason to marvel that the infant, shut up within its mother's womb, can live in such a condition as would suffocate the strongest man in half an hour? But we thus see how little account we make of the miracles which God works, in consequence of our familiarity with them. The Spirit, therefore, justly rebukes this ingratitude, by commending to our consideration this memorable instance of the grace of God which is exhibited in our birth and generation. When we are born into the world, although the mother do her office, and the midwife may be present with her, and many others may lend their help, yet did not God, putting, so to speak, his hand under us, receive us into his bosom, what would become of us? and what hope would there be in the continuance of our life? Yea, rather, were it not for this, our very birth would be an entrance into a thousand deaths. God, therefore, is with the highest propriety said to take us out of our mother's bowels. To this corresponds the concluding part of the verse, My praise shall be continually of thee by which the psalmist means that he has been furnished with matter for praising God without intermission. John Calvin.

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise. Let my mouth, I say, be so filled with thy praise, that from the bottom of my heart, even to the lips of my mouth, the plenitude of thy grace, O God, infused into my heart, and diffused over my lips, may loyally magnify thee; so shall I not be found like that people, of whom thou dost say: "This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." Isa 29:13. Gerhohus.

Cast me not off in the time of old age, etc.; for now I have most need of thee. The white rose is soonest cankered; so is the white head soonest corrupted. Saepe nigrum cor est, caput album. Satan maketh a prey of old Solomon, Asa, Lot, others; whom when young he could never so deceive. The heathens, therefore, well warn us to look well to our old age, as that which cometh not alone, but is infested with many diseases, both of body and mind. This David knew, and, therefore, prayed as here: Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth. He is a rare old man that can say with Caleb (Jos 14:10,14), "Behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, "etc. John Trapp.

Cast me not off in the time of old age, etc. It is not unnatural or improper for a man who sees old age coming upon him to pray for special grace, and special strength, to enable him to meet what he cannot ward off, and what he cannot but dread; for who can look upon the infirmities of old age, as coming upon himself, but with sad and pensive feelings? Who would wish to be an old man? Who can look upon a man tottering with years, and broken down with infirmities; a man whose sight and hearing are gone; a man who is alone amidst the graves of all the friends that he had in early life; a man who is a burden to himself, and to the world; a man who has reached the "Last scene of all that ends the strange, eventful history" —that scene of

"Second childishness, and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything; " that scene when one can say —

"I have lived long enough; my way of life

Is fallen into the sear, the yellow leaf;

And that which should accompany old age,

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,

I must not look to have; "

Who can think of all this and not pray for special grace for himself, should he live to see those days of infirmity and weakness? And who, in view of such infirmities, can fail to see the propriety of seeking the favour of God in early years? Albert Barnes.

Cast me not off in the time of old age, etc. David, mindful of the noble actions which, through God's assistance, he had achieved in his youth, beseeches him not to desert his servant, when persecuted by a rebellious son, in his old age. The weakness and temptations peculiar to that time of life, render this a petition necessary for all to make, before we are overtaken by it. The church findeth but too much occasion to make the same, now that she is sunk in years; when faith languisheth, charity waxeth cold, and the infirmities of a spiritual old age are coming fast upon her. George Horne.

Cast me not off. God had cast of his predecessor, Saul, and things looked as if he now meant to cast him off. His people also seemed disposed, by their joining with Absalom, to cast him off: hence the force of the petition. Andrew Fuller.

Forsake me not when my strength faileth. Neither will Christ forsake his church in the latter days of its age, when the weakness of faith becomes more prevalent. W. Wilson.

Forsake me not when my strength faileth. June 28. This day I enter on my eighty-sixth year. I now find I grow old:

1. My sight is decayed, so that I cannot read a small print, unless in a strong light.

2. My strength is decayed, so that I walk much slower than I did some years since.

3. My memory of names, whether of persons, or places, is decayed, till I stop a little to recollect them.

What I should be afraid of, is, if I took thought for the morrow, that my body should weigh down my mind, and create either stubbornness, by the decrease of my understanding, or peevishness, by the increase of bodily infirmities; But thou shalt answer for me, O Lord my God. John Wesley.

All kinds of distresses are obnoxious to the worst of misjudgings from malevolent minds. The sufferings of Christ produced this censorious scoff, "Let God deliver him, if he will have him." (Mt 27:43.) David's trouble easily induced his adversaries to conclude that God had forsaken him, and that there was none to deliver him. But in troubles of this nature, where especially there are frightful complainings against themselves, men are more easily drawn out to be peremptory in their uncharitable judgments concerning them, because the trouble itself is somewhat rare, and apt to beget hideous impressions, and, withal, the vent which the afflicted parties give by their bemoaning of their estate, in hope to ease themselves thereby, is but taken as a testimony against themselves and the undoubted echoes of their real feelings. Richard Gilpin (1625-1700), in "Daemonologia Sacra; or, a Treatise of Satan's Temptations." (In Nichols Series of Puritan Divines.)

Let them be confounded, etc. Let them, who were so wicked that they never hoped anything good of me, be confounded by the evidence of the blessings which manifestly fall upon me; and, let them fail, the grounds of their abuse being taken away, as a fire fails when the fagots are removed. Gerhohus.

Let them be confounded, etc. By the law of retaliation (talio), he might have said: "Be thou an adversary to their souls, and seek their hurt." Nothing of this is hinted at: his only desire is that they may be confounded and fail, that they may be covered with disgrace and shame. He seeks nothing beyond the frustration of their attempts, that they may begin to be ashamed, and have no cause for boasting that they came off victorious. Musculus.

Shame ariseth from utter disappointments. If hope deferred causeth shame, then much more hope destroyed. When a man sees his hopes quite cut off, so that he can no way reach the thing he looked for, shame takes hold of him strongly. Joseph Caryl.

That are adversaries to my soul. That hated him with a diabolical hatred, as the devil hates the souls of men, and who has his name Satan from the word here used. All wicked men are Satans, full of enmity against God and all good men; and such were David's enemies, spiteful and malicious, and nothing would satisfy them but his life. John Gill.

But I will hope continually. Behold, O Lord, I have prayed to thee, and I am comforted. Hope has thus taught me. I am glad; because in thee have I trusted, I shall never be confounded. Sorrow returned, equipped with vast array, fortified at all points with swords and spears, and with great clamour beleaguered my city. The din of his horsemen terrified me; and, standing at the gates, he commanded silence, and thus loudly spake: "Behold the man who trusted in God; who said, I shall not be confounded for ever; who took hope for a consoler." And, when he observed me blushing at these words, he drew nearer, and said: "Where are the promises which were thy trust? Where the consolation? Where the deliverance? What have thy tears availed thee? What help have thy prayers brought thee from heaven? Thou hast cried, and no one has answered; thou hast wept, and who have been moved with pity for thee? Thou hast called upon thy God, and he has been silent. Thou hast prayed to him, and he has hidden himself from thee: there has come no voice nor sound... Arise, therefore, and flee for help to man, that he may free thee from thy prison." With these words, there arose such a din of arms in the camp —such a clamour of men and sounding of trumpets —that I could hardly keep up heart; and, unless my beloved Hope had brought me help, Sorrow would have seized and carried me off in chains to his own place. Comes Hope to me, gleaming in divine brightness, and, smiling, said: "O soldier of Christ, how is thy heart? What is this struggle in thy mind?" At these words, I began to blush. "Fear not, "she said, "Evil shall not capture thee; thou shalt never perish. Behold, I am with thee, to deliver thee. Dost thou not know what is written (Psalm 12), `The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.' As one of the foolish women hath this Sorrow spoken; never shall he be able to persuade thee that there is no God, or that God does not exercise a providence over all." Girolamo Savonarola. 1452-1498.

And I will always hope, and add to (literally, add upon, accumulate, increase) all thy praise. To all thy praise which I have uttered hitherto, I will continue still to add. Joseph Addison Alexander.

I will expect continually. But what did he expect? That for which he prayed in the ninth verse —the preservation of his prosperity, the presence and the help of God to the very end of life. Wherefore, he adds, continually, in perpetuity, in the time of old age, —usque ad mortem. Hermann Venema.

As there is no end to the lovingkindness of Jehovah, there should be none to our gratitude. The hope of a Christian enableth him to be thankful, even in the dark season of affliction. Mrs. Thomson.

The righteousness of God, here mentioned, includes not only the rectitude of his nature, and the equity of his proceedings, but likewise that everlasting righteousness which his Son hath brought in for our justification. God's righteousness and salvation are here joined together; and, therefore, let no man think to put them asunder, or expect salvation without righteousness. Mrs. Thomson.

I know not the numbers. David began his arithmetic, in Ps 71:14, with addition: "I will yet praise thee more and more; "but he is fairly beaten in this first rule of sacred mathematics. His calculation fails him, the mere enumeration of the Lord's mercies overwhelms his mind; he owns his inadequacy. Reckon either by time, by place, or by value, and the salvation of God baffles all powers of estimation. C. H. S.

I will go. The word to go must be here taken in the sense of going to battle against enemies. This, he says, he will do, trusting not to his own, but to the power of the Lord, his heart fired with the memory of the righteousness of God. So is it in another place: "Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we in the name of our God." Musculus.

I will go in the strength of the Lord. The minister goes thus by realising this strength and depending on it. In this strength he goes into the path of communion with God, into the fields of conflict, in the privacy of domestic life, and in all the walks of active life. His boast is in the righteousness of Christ; and he mentions this to God as the ground of his confidence, to himself as the spring of his comforts, to others as the hope of salvation. Substance of Sermon by James Sherman. The first preached by him after his settlement at Surrey Chapel. September 4th, 1836.

The strength of the Lord God. The power of God is expressed in the plural number, to show the greatness of it, which is as a garrison to the believer. John Gill.

I will go in the strength of the Lord. The phrase, to go in, or, with the strengths of God, does not teach us that he would go by means of them, by their help and assistance, as many have thought, first, because the word is used to signify the illustrious and mighty deeds of God; secondly, because it denotes the subject of praise; but to go with the strength of Jehovah, as the rendering ought to be... is to go as if girt with his former deeds of power —girt with them as if with the material of praise. Hermann Venema.

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth. Whence was it that David understood "more than the ancients"? (Ps 119:100.) He had a Father to teach him; God was his instructor. Many a child of God complains of ignorance and dulness; remember this, thy Father will be thy tutor; he hath promised to give "his Spirit to lead thee into all truth" (Joh 6:13); and God doth not only inform the understanding, but inclines the will; he doth not only teach us what we should do, but enables us to do it. (Eze 36:27); "I will cause you to walk in my statutes." What a glorious privilege is this, to have the star of the word pointing us to Christ, and the loadstone of the Spirit drawing! Thomas Watson.

Thou hast taught me from my youth. If you ask me what were the ways by which David was taught, I might ask you what they were not... God taught him by his shepherd's crook; and by the rod and sceptre of a king he taught him. He taught him by the shouts of the multitude —"Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands; "and he taught him just as much, if not more, by the contempt he met in the court of the Philistines. He taught him by the arrows of Jonathan, levelled in friendship; and he taught him by the javelin of Saul levelled at his life. He taught him by the faithlessness of Abiathar, and the faithlessness of even his faithful Joab; and he taught him by the faithfulness of Abishai, and the faithfulness of Mephibosheth; and, let me add too, by the rebellion of Absalom, and the selfishness of Adonijah; they were all means, by which the Lord taught this his servant. And be assured, you that are under his teaching, there is nothing in your lives, but he can teach you by it: by comforts and crosses, by your wounds and your healings, by that which he gives and by what he takes away. He unteaches his child, that he may teach him; shows him his folly, that he may make him wise; strips him of his vain confidence, that he may give him strength; makes him know that he is nothing, that he may show him that he has all in the Lord —in Jesus his Beloved one. James Harrington Evans.

Thou hast taught me from my youth. Youth needs a teacher that it may embrace virtue. Seneca says, Virtue is a hard thing to youth, it needs a ruler and guide; vices are acquired without a master. How prone he was in his boyhood and youth to vices, we may see in Psalm 25. "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." Jerome, in his Epistle to Nepotianus, says: "As fire in green wood is stifled, so wisdom in youth, impeded by temptations and concupiscence, does not unfold its brightness, unless by hard work, and steady application and prayer, the incentives of youth are inwardly repelled." Hence it is that almost all nations have provided good and wise teachers of the young. Among the Spartans, one was chosen from the Magistrates and Senators to be paidonomos, rector of the boys... At Athens there were twelve men named Sophronistae, elected by the suffrages of all the tribes, to moderate the manners of youth... God is the teacher of his servants. Plato says, oiden einai yeioteron, that there is nothing more divine than the education of children. Of God the Father, or of the whole Trinity, Hannah, the mother of Samuel, says, 1Sa 2:3: "The Lord is a God of knowledge; "(Scientiarum, Vulg.) that is, as the Chaldee has it, he knows all things... Socrates says, that he is the mind of the universe. Without him, therefore, all are demented; but with him, and through him, in a single moment they become wise. Philo, in his treatise of the sacrifice of Cain and Abel, says, Masters cannot fill the mind of their pupils as if they were pouring water into a vessel; but when God, the fountain of wisdom, communicates knowledge to the human race, he does it without delay, in the twinkling of an eye... His anointing shall teach you of all things. 1Jo 2:27. Thomas Le Blanc.

From my youth. Is it such "a crown of glory" to be found old in the ways of righteousness? Do you then begin to be godly betimes; that, if you live in this world you may have this crown set upon your heads when you are ancient; for is it not better for you to be plants of God's house, than weeds upon the dunghill? Those that are wicked are but as weeds upon a dunghill, but you that are godly are as plants in God's own orchard. In Ro 16:7, we find that Andronicus and Junia are commended because they were in Christ before Paul: "They were in Christ before me." It is an honourable thing to be in Christ before others; this is honourable when you are young; and then going on in the ways of godliness all your young time, and so in your middle age, and till you come to be old. Jeremiah Burroughs.

Wondrous works. Observe that he calls the blessing of divine aid so often received in affliction, wondrous works. By this expression, he shows us, with what grievous perils he was tossed; then how he had been snatched from them by the hand of God, contrary to the expectation of all men. Therefore, God is wonderful among his saints. To this end the adversities of the saints tend, that they may show forth in them the wonderful works of God. Musculus.

Verses 17-18. The integrity of our hearts and ways, in former walkings after God, and service for God, may by faith in Christ, as in all our justification, be pleaded. See also Isa 38:3 and Ps 119:10. The Lord himself maketh it to himself a motive to show mercy to his people (Isa 63:8 Jer 2:2); only we must use this plea more rarely and sparingly, in a self denying way, in faith in Christ's righteousness, as made ours. Thomas Cobbet.

Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not. God exalts pardoning grace to some more, and sanctifying grace to others; he is the God of grace. Those ships that have been in long voyages at sea, three or four years out, have gone through hot climates and cold, passed the equinoctial line again and again, and have run through many a difficulty, and great storms, and yet have been kept alive at sea, as they speak, when these shall meet one another at sea near the haven, how will they congratulate? And old disciples should do so, that God hath kept grace alive in their souls. And I would ask you how many thousand ships have you seen cast away before your eyes? How many that have made "shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, "as the apostle speaks? This and that profession, that has run into this and that error damnable, or false opinions and teaching, though all of smaller moment; others that have struck upon quicksands of worldly preferments, and many split upon rocks, and yet you have been kept. This should move you to bless this your God, the God of grace, the more. Come, let me knock at your hearts; are none of you old professors, like old hollow oaks, who stand in the woods among professors still, and keep their stand of profession still, and go to ordinances, etc.; but the "rain they drink in, "as the apostle's word is, serves to no other end but to rot them. "These are nigh unto cursing." Or, have you green fruits still growing on you, as quickly and lively affections to God and Christ, and faith and love, as at the first, and more abounding? O bless God you are so near the haven, and lift up your hearts, your redemption draws near; and, withal, raise your confidence, that that God of grace, who hath called you into his eternal glory, will keep you for it, and possess you of it shortly. Thomas Goodwin.

Forsake me not; until, etc. Apostasy in old age is fearful. He that climbs almost to the top of a tower, then slipping back, hath the greater fall. The patient almost recovered, is more deadly sick by a relapse. There were stars struck from heaven by the dragon's tail (Re 12:4); they had better never have perched so high. The place where the Israelites fell into that great folly with the daughters of Moab, was in the plain, within the prospect of the Holy Land; they saw their inheritance, and yet fell short of it. So wretched is it for old men to fall near to their very entry of heaven, as old Eli in his indulgence (1 Samuel 2); old Judah in his incest (Genesis 38); old David with Bathsheba; old Asa trusting in the physicians more than in God (2Ch 16:12); and old Solomon built the high places. Some have walked like cherubs in the midst of the stones of fire, yet have been cast as profane out of God's mountain. Eze 28:14,16. Thus the seaman passeth all the main, and suffers wreck in the haven. The corn often promises a plenteous harvest in the blade, and shrinks in the ear. You have seen trees loaden with blossoms, yet, in the season of expectation, no fruit. A comedy that holds well many scenes, and goes lamely off in the last act, finds no applause. Remember Lot's wife (Lu 17:32): think on that pillar of salt, that it may season thee. Thomas Adams.

Until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, etc. Are there better preachers of the works of God to be found than hoary parents in the circle of their children; or grandparents in that of their grandchildren? Augustus F. Tholuck.

With years oppressed, with sorrows worn,

Dejected, harassed, sick, forlorn,

To thee, O God, I pray;

To thee my withered hands arise,

To thee I lift these failing eyes:

Oh, cast me not away!

Thy mercy heard my infant prayer;

Thy love, with all a mother's care,

Sustained my childish days:

Thy goodness watched my ripening youth,

And formed my heart to love thy truth,

And filled my lips with praise.

O Saviour! has thy grace declined?

Can years affect the Eternal Mind,

Or time its love destroy?

A thousand ages pass thy sight,

And all their long and weary flight

Is gone like yesterday.

Then, even in age and grief, thy name

Shall still my languid heart inflame,

And bow my faltering knee:

Oh, yet this bosom feels the fire,

This trembling hand and drooping lyre,

Have yet a strain for thee!

Yes, broken, tuneless still, O Lord,

This voice, transported, shall record

Thy goodness tried so long;

Till, sinking slow, with calm decay,

Its feeble murmurs melt away,

Into a seraph's song. —Sir Robert Grant.

O God, who is like unto thee? Either for greatness or goodness, for power or for mercy, for justice, truth, and faithfulness; for the perfections of his nature, or the works of his hands; and to be praised, reverenced, and adored, as he is. John Gill.

Who is like unto thee! Krmk ym, Mi camocha. God is alone: who can resemble him? He is eternal; he can have none before, and there can be none after; for, in the infinite unity of trinity, he is that eternal, unlimited, impartible, incomprehensible, and uncompounded, ineffable Being, whose essence is hidden from all created intelligences, and whose counsels cannot be fathomed by any creature that even his own hand can form. "WHO IS LIKE UNTO THEE!" will excite the wonder, amazement, praise, and adoration of angels and men to all eternity. Adam Clarke.

Thou shalt quicken me again, etc. Here Jerome triumphs over the Jews, challenging them when this was ever verified in David, for he was never dead and quickened again; and, therefore, this must needs be expounded of him as that in Psalm 16: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave; "and to "the depths of the earth, "here, answer those words, Eph 4:9, "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" Yet, this may also be applied to David, being figuratively understood, as a like speech of Hannah, 1 Samuel 2. John Mayer.

And thou shalt bring me up, etc. This is an allusion to men who are unhappily fallen into a deep pit of water. The meaning is, Thou shalt draw me out of the extreme danger into which I am plunged, and wherein I shall perish without thy help. Thomas Fenton.

Greatness increasing with comfort, and comfort increasing with greatness; very rarely united. George Rogers.

With the psaltery... with the harp. There was a typical signification in them; and upon this account they are not only rejected and condemned by the whole army of Protestant divines, as for instance, by Zuinglius, Calvin, Peter Martyr, Zepperus, Paraeus, Willet, Ainsworth, Ames, Calderwood, and Cotton; who do, with one mouth, testify against them, most of them expressly affirming that they are a part of the abrogated legal pedagogy; so that we might as well recall the incense, tapers, sacrifices, new moons, circumcision, and all the other shadows of the law into use again. But Aquinas himself also, though a Popish schoolman, pleads against them upon the same account, quia aliquid figurabant, and saith, the Church in his time did not use them, ne videatur judaizare, lest they should seem to judaize. Samuel Mather, on The Types.

Psaltery... harp. Suppose singing with instruments were not typical, but only an external solemnity of worship, fitted to the solace of the outward senses of children under age, such as the Israelites were in the Old Testament (Ga 4:1-3); yet now, in the grown age of the heirs of the New Testament, such external pompous solemnities are ceased, and no external worship reserved, but such as holdeth forth simplicity and gravity; nor is any voice now to be heard in the church of Christ, but such as is significant and edifying by signification (1Co 14:10-11,26), which the voice of instruments is not. John Cotton, 1585-1652.

Holy One of Israel. This name of God occurs in the Psalms only in two other places, Ps 71:78,41 89:18 these last two being, according to Delitzsch, older Psalms than this. In Isaiah, this name of God occurs thirty times; in Habakkuk once; in Jeremiah (who may have adopted it from Isaiah) twice (Jer 50:29 51:5). J. J. Stewart Perowne.

My lips; my soul. Hypocrites praise God with the lips only; but David joins the soul to the lips. William Nicholson.

Greatly. See how the word great is repeated. Great things done, Ps 71:19; great troubles shown, Ps 71:20; greatness increased, Ps 71:21; and great rejoicing consequent thereon, in Ps 71:23. In a great God, doing great things, it is meet greatly to rejoice. C. H. S.

Arguments used to induce to Lord to hear, drawn,

1. From his justice and equity: Deliver me in thy righteousness.

2. From his word and promise: Thou hast given commandment, etc.

3. From his power: Thou art my rock. etc.

4. From his relation to him: My God, my hope.

5. From the qualities of his adversaries: They were wicked, unrighteous, and cruel.

6. From his confidence: Thou art my hope.

7. From his gracious providence: By thee have I been holden up, etc.

8. From his thankful heart: My praise shall be continually, etc.

9. He had none to trust to but God: Thou art my refuge. Adam Clarke.

Faith is a present act; faith is a personal act, faith deals only with God, faith knows what she is about, faith kills her fears by prayer.

An appeal.

1. To the power of God: Deliver me.

2. To the faithfulness of God: In thy righteousness.

3. To the providence of God: Cause me to escape.

4. To the condescension of God: Incline thine ear.

5. To the mercy of God: Save me.

Cause me to escape. From whom? From what? How? By what power? For what end?

(first two clauses). The believer abiding in God and continually resorting to him.

(Third clause). A command based on the divine promise, clothed with divine power, addressed to all necessary agencies, and embracing all exigencies.

1. When God is for us, the wicked are against us.

2. When the wicked are against us, God is for us.

God the essence of hope and faith.

(first clause). may be accommodated to,

1. The Saviour.

2. The Saint. He is a wonder in reference to

(a) What he once was;

(b) What he now is;

(c) What he will hereafter be.

3. The sinner is "a wonder unto many;" a wonder to three worlds: to

(a) angels;

(b) saints;

(c) devils and lost souls. —Warwell Fenn. 1830.

Consider the text, with reference to David, to Christ, and to the Christian.

1. With reference to David.

(a) David was a wonder as a man.

(b) As a king.

(c) As a servant of God.

2. With respect to Christ.

(a) Christ was a wonder in his person.

(b) In his life.

(c) In his miracles.

(d) In his teaching.

(e) In his sufferings.

(f) In his ascension and mediatorial glory.

3. With regard to the Christian.

(a) The Christian is a wonder to himself.

(b) To the world.

(c) To wicked spirits.

(d) To the angels in heaven. —John Cawood. 1830.

1. What? filled with what? —murmurings? doubts? fears? No! Praise. My own? —of men? No. Thy praise. Thy honour.

2. When? All the day.

(a) The whole day.

(b) Every day; a good preparation for heaven.

There are some peculiar circumstances of old age which render this blessing —the favour and presence of God —necessary.

1. Old age is a time of but little natural enjoyment, as Barzillai acknowledged, 2Sa 19:35.

2. It is a time of life in which the troubles of life are often known to increase.

3. Old age is a time in which the troubles of life not only increase, but become less tolerable.

4. Old age is a time which ought to command respect, and does so among dutiful children and all serious Christians: but it is often known to be attended with neglect. This is the case especially where they are poor and dependent. It has been the case where public characters have lost their youthful vivacity, and the brilliancy of their talents. A. Fuller.

There is,

1. Fear, mixed with faith.

(a) Natural to old age.

(b) Suggested by the usage of the world.

2. Faith mixed with fear: "Cast me not, "etc.

(a) Old age is not a sin.

(b) It is a crown of glory if found, etc.

Verses 11-12. Two great lies and two sweet prayers.

Verses 13-14.

1. What the wicked gain by opposing the righteous: Let them, etc. Ps 71:13.

2. What the righteous gain from being opposed by them, Ps 71:14: But I, etc.

See "Spurgeon's Sermons, "No. 998; "More and More."

1. The determination avowed.

(a) To recount the instances of the divine faithfulness in his deliverances.

(b) To recount them publicly: My mouth, etc.

(c) Constantly: All the day.

2. The reason assigned: For I know not, etc. "Eternity's too short to utter all thy praise." Therefore I begin it now, and will continue it.

1. The resolution: I will go.

2. The reservation: Thy strength only —thy righteousness only.

O God, thou hast taught me. None but God can teach us experimentally; and the lessons he teaches are always useful and important. He teaches all his scholars to know themselves —their depravity, poverty, and slavery. He teaches them his law —its purity, claims, and penalty. He teaches them his gospel —its fulness, freeness, and sensibility. He teaches them to know himself; as a reconciled God, as their Father and faithful friend. His teaching is accompanied with power and authority. We may know divine teaching by its effects: it always produces humility —they sit as his feet; dependence upon him; abhorrence of sin; love to God as a teacher; obedience to the lessons taught; thirst for further attainments; and it brings us daily to Jesus. James Smith.

The peculiar testimony of pious old age, what it is based upon, to whom it should be directed, and what we may hope from it.

A sermon might be instructively worked out upon "the high things of God."

1. The future benefit of present trials: "Hereafter," said Aneas to his shipwrecked companions. "It will delight us to think of these things."

2. The present benefit of future mercies: "Glory to thee for all the grace we have not tasted yet."

A choice subject for song —"thy truth, "which may mean either doctrinal truth, or the attribute of faithfulness, its manifestation in history, and in our own experience.

Verse 22-23.

1. The soul of music: Not in the instrument or the voice, but in the soul. "I will sing with the understanding also." "Making melody in the heart, "etc.

2. The music of the soul. The soul which thou hast redeemed. Redemption is the music of souls once lost. Their only song in heaven.

How to make familiar talk edifying and useful.

WORK UPON THE SEVENTY-FIRST PSALM

Hieronymi Savonarolae Ferrariensis Meditationes in Psalmos —Miserere —In Te Domine Speravi, et Qui Regis Israel (12mo. Leyden: 1633).