Psalms 86 commentary

Our poverty and wretchedness, when felt, powerfully plead in our behalf at the throne of grace. The best self-preservation is to commit ourselves to God's keeping. I am one whom thou favourest, hast set apart for thyself, and made partaker of sanctifying grace. It is a great encouragement to prayer, to feel that we have received the converting grace of God, have learned to trust in him, and to be his servants. We may expect comfort from God, when we keep up our communion with God. God's goodness appears in two things, in giving and forgiving. Whatever others do, let us call upon God, and commit our case to him; we shall not seek in vain.

Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love. Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein, than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God, will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.

PSALM 86

In this psalm prayers and holy meditations, engaged in with the view of nourishing and confirming faith, together with praises and thanksgivings, are intermingled. It having been difficult in the judgement of carnal reason for David to escape from the distresses with which he was environed, he sets in opposition to its conclusions the infinite goodness and power of God. Nor does he simply request deliverance from his enemies; but he also prays that the fear of God may be implanted and firmly established in heart.

A Prayer of David.

Psalm 86:1-7

1. Incline thy ear, O Jehovah! answer me; for I am poor and needy. 2. Preserve my soul, for I am meek: “Hezekiah, in the season of distress, 2 Kings 19:16, begins his prayer with these words: which may have occasioned the tradition of the Jews that he made use of this psalm on that occasion.” — Warner. O my God! save thy servant who trusteth in thee. 3. Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah! for daily In our English version it is, “for I am holy.” Cresswell would rather render, “for I am merciful and pious.” “That,” says he, “is the meaning of the Hebrew word, which the Septuagint and Jerome have rendered by holy. The Psalmist supplicates God’s favor upon five several grounds, namely, his destitution, (verse 1;) his mercifulness and goodness, (verse 2;) his trust in God, (verse 2;) his prayerfulness, (verses 3, 4;) and God’s goodness, (verse 5.”) — Cresswell. do I cry to thee. 4. Make glad the soul of thy servant; for to thee, O Lord! “Ou, tout le jour.” — Fr. marg. “Or, all the day.” do I lift up my soul. 5. For thou, O Lord! art good, and gracious, and of great mercy to all who call upon thee. 6. Listen, O Jehovah! to my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. 7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

1. Incline thy ear, O Jehovah! Neither the inscription nor the contents of this psalm enable us to conclude with certainty what dangers David here complains of; but the psalm in all probability refers to that period of his life when he was persecuted by Saul, and describes the train of thought which then occupied his mind, although it may not have been written until after his restoration to a state of outward peace and tranquillity, when he enjoyed greater leisure. He does not without cause allege before God the oppressions which he endured as a plea for obtaining the divine favor; for nothing is more suitable to the nature of God than to succor the afflicted: and the more severely any one is oppressed, and the more destitute he is of the resources of human aid, the more inclined is God graciously to help him. That despair therefore may not overwhelm our minds under our greatest afflictions, let us support ourselves from the consideration that the Holy Spirit has dictated this prayer for the poor and the afflicted.

PSALM 86

Psa 86:1-17. This is a prayer in which the writer, with deep emotion, mingles petitions and praises, now urgent for help, and now elated with hope, in view of former mercies. The occurrence of many terms and phrases peculiar to David's Psalms clearly intimates its authorship.

1-2. poor and needy--a suffering child of God, as in Psa 10:12, 17; 18:27.

I am holy--or, "godly," as in Psa 4:3; 85:8.

4. lift up my soul--with strong desire (Psa 25:1).

5-7. unto all ... that call upon thee--or, "worship Thee" (Psa 50:15; 91:15) however undeserving (Ex 34:6; Le 11:9-13).

8. neither ... works--literally, "nothing like thy works," the "gods" have none at all.

9-10. The pious Jews believed that God's common relation to all would be ultimately acknowledged by all men (Psa 45:12-16; 47:9).

11. Teach--Show, point out.

the way--of Providence.

walk in thy truth--according to its declarations.

unite my heart--fix all my affections (Psa 12:2; Jas 4:8).

to fear thy name--(compare Psa 86:12) to honor Thy perfections.

13-14. The reason: God had delivered him from death and the power of insolent, violent, and godless persecutors (Psa 54:3; Eze 8:12).

15. Contrasts God with his enemies (compare Psa 86:5).

16. son ... handmaid--homeborn servant (compare Lu 15:17).

17. Show me--literally, "Make with me a token," by Thy providential care. Thus in and by his prosperity his enemies would be confounded.

Bow down thine ear - Spoken after the manner of men: I am so low, and so weak, that, unless thou stoop to me, my voice cannot reach thee.

Poor and needy - I am afflicted, and destitute of the necessaries of life.

Preserve my soul - Keep it as in a strong place.

For I am holy - כי חשיד אני ki chasid ani, for I am merciful. The spirit of this prayer is, "The mercy I to others show,

That mercy show to me!"

Save thy servant - I have long taken thee as my Master and Lord; I receive the word from thy mouth, and obey thee.

Be merciful unto me - I have no merit; I plead none, but trust in thee alone.

I cry unto thee daily - My state deeply affects me; and I incessantly cry for thy salvation.

Rejoice the soul of thy servant - I want spiritual blessings; I want such consolations as thou dost impart to them that love thee; I present that soul to thee which I wish thee to console.

For thou, Lord, art good - I found my expectations of help on thy own goodness through which thou art always ready to forgive. And I found it also on thy well-known character, to which all thy followers bear testimony, viz., that "thou art plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee."

Give ear, O Lord - Attend to me. Millions call upon thee for help and mercy; but who has more need than myself? That the psalmist was deeply in earnest, his conduct shows.

1. He prayed.

2. His prayer was vehement; he lifted up his voice.

3. He continued in prayer; he abounded in supplications.

Thou wilt answer me - Because thou art good, merciful, and ready to forgive; and I call upon thee fervently, and seek thee in thy own way.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord - None that trusted in an idol ever had help in time of need; none that prayed to any of them ever had an answer to his petitions. Thou savest; they cannot; thou upholdest; they must be upheld by their foolish worshippers. Thou art my Director, אדני Adonai; but they cannot direct nor teach; they have mouths, but they speak not.

All nations - Thy word shall be proclaimed among all the Gentiles: they shall receive thy testimony, and worship thee as the only true and living God.

For thou art great - Almighty, infinite, eternal.

And doest wondrous things - ועשה נפלאות veoseh niphlaoth; thou art the Worker of miracres. This thou hast done in numerous instances, and thereby showed thy infinite power and wisdom.

This appears to be a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, and the evidence to be given to his Divine mission by the miracles which he should work.

Thou art God alone - Συ ει ὁ Θεος μονος ὁ μεγας - Sept. Thou art the only, The Great God. In this the Ethiopic and Arabic agree.

Teach me thy way - Instruct me in the steps I should take; for without thy teaching I must go astray.

Unite my heart - יחד לבבי yached lebabi, join all the purposes, resolutions, and affections of my heart together, to fear and to glorify thy name. This is a most important prayer. A divided heart is a great curse; scattered affections are a miserable plague. When the heart is not at unity with itself, the work of religion cannot go on. Indecision of mind and division of affections mar any work. The heart must be one, that the work may be one. If this be wanting, all is wrong. This is a prayer which becomes the mouth of every Christian.

I will praise thee - with all my heart - When my heart is united to fear thy name, then shall I praise thee with my whole heart.

Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell - This must mean more than the grave; a hell below hell - a place of perdition for the soul, as the grave is a place of corruption for the body.

The assemblies of violent men - עדת עריצים adath aritsim, the congregation of the terrible ones. Men of violent passions, violent counsels, and violent acts; and, because they have power, terrible to all.

Have not set thee before them - Who sins that sets God before his eyes? Who does not sin that has no consciousness of the Divine presence?

But thou, O Lord - What a wonderful character of God is given in this verse! אדני Adonai, the Director, Judge, and Support; - but instead of אדני Adonai, thirty-four of Kennicott's MSS. have יהוה Jehovah, the self-existent and eternal Being; - אל El, the strong God; רחום rachum, tenderly compassionate; חנון channun, the Dispenser of grace or favor; ארך אפים erech appayim, suffering long, not easily provoked; רב חמד rab chesed, abundant in blessings; and אמת emeth, faithful and true. Such is the God who has made himself more particularly known to us in Christ. The scanty language of our ancestors was not adequate to a full rendering of the original words: "And thu driht God gemildsiend, and mildheort, gethyldig and mucel mildheortnysse and sothfaest - And thou, Lord God, art mild, and mildhearted, patient, and of much mildheartedness, and soothfast," - steady in truth.

In the old Psalter the language is but little improved: And thou Lorde God mercier, and mercyful, sufferand, and of mykel mercy, and sothefast.

The word mercier is interpreted, do and dede of mercy.

O turn unto me - He represents himself as following after God; but he cannot overtake him; and then he plays that he would turn and meet him through pity; or give him strength that he might be able to hold on his race.

Give thy strength unto thy servant - The Vulgate renders, Daniel imperium tuum puero tuo, "Give thy empire to thy child." The old Psalter. Gyf empyre to thi barne, and make safe the son of thi hand mayden. Thi barne - thy tender child. Anglo-Saxon; thy knave; signifying either a serving man or a male child. As many servants were found to be purloiners of their masters' property, hence the word knave, became the title of an unprincipled servant. The term fur, which signifies a thief in Latin, for the same reason became the appellative of a dishonest servant.

Quid domini facient, audent cum talia Fures?

When servants (thieves) do such things, what may not be expected from the masters?

Virg. Ecl. 3:16.

So Plautus, speaking of a servant, Aulul. 2:46, says: Homo es trium literarum, "Thou art a man of three letters," i.e., Fur, a thief. The word knave is still in use, but is always taken in a bad sense. The paraphrase in the old Psalter states the handmaid to be the kirk, and the son of this handmaid to be a true believer.

Show me a token for good - עשה עמי אוה aseh immi oth "Make with me a sign." Fix the honourabie mark of thy name upon me, that I may be known to be thy servant. There seems to be an allusion here to the marking of a slave, to ascertain whose property he was. The Anglo-Saxon, "do with me a token in good.' Old Psalter: Do with me signe in gude. From tacn we have our word token, which signifies a sign, mark, or remembrancer of something beyond itself; a pledge that something, then specified, shall be done or given. Give me, from the influence of thy Spirit in my heart, a pledge that the blessings which I now ask shall be given in due time. But he wished for such a sign as his enemies might see; that they might know God to be his helper, and be confounded when they sought his destruction.

Holy - Sincerely devoted to thy service.

Truth - In the way of thy precepts, which are true and right in all things. My heart - Knit my whole heart to thyself.

Hell - From extreme dangers and miseries.

1 BOw down thine ear, O LORD, hear me, for I am poor and needy .

Forsaken and persecuted by men, and utterly unable to save my self, and therefore a very proper objects or thy power and goodness to work upon.

2 Preserve my soul, for I am holy : O thou my God , save thy servant that trusteth in thee .

Sanctified in some measure by thy Grace, and sincerely devoted to thy service. This, David speaks, not in a way of vain ostentation, but partly as a powerful argument to move God to hear his prayers, because he was one of that sort of men to whom God had engaged himself by his Promise and Covenant; and partly by way of just and necessary vindication of himself from the censures of his Enemies who represented him to the world, as a gross dissembler, and secretly a very wicked man; concerning which he here makes a solemn appeal to God, desiring audience and help from God, upon no other terms, than upon this supposition, that he was an holy man. Which, by the way, savoureth of no more arrogancy than when he elsewhere professeth his great love to and longing after God, his sincere obedience to all God's commands, and his hatred of every false way, and the like.

By thy Covenant, and my own choice.

Whereby thou seemest obliged in honour, and by promise to help me.

Marginal references: Or, one whom [illegible: 1 word] savourest.

4 Rejoyce the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul .

The expression notes servent desire joyned with hope o[illegible: 1+ letters] expectation, as appears by comparing D[illegible: 1+ letters]uter. 24. 15. Ier. 22. 27.

5 For thou, LORD, art good and ready to forgive : and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee k.

Herewith he relieveth himself under the sence of his guilt, whereby he had brought his present calamities upon himself.

h To wit, in truth, as it is explained Psal. 145. 18. or with an upright heart: for if a man regard iniquity in his heart, God will not hear him, Psal. 66. 18.

Marginal references: Verse 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. Joel 2. 13.

6 Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer: and attend to the voice of my supplications .

He repeats and multiplies his requests both to ease his own troubled mind, and to prevail with God, who is well pleased with his peoples importunity in prayer. See Luke 18. 1, &c.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer mee .

Whereof I have assurance both from the be[illegible: 1+ letters]ignity of thy hature, and from the truth and certainty of thy promises, and from my own and others experiences in former times.

Marginal references: Psal. 50. 15.

8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee , O Lord, neither are there any works like unto thy works.

Either for power or readiness to hear and answer prayers. I am not now calling upon a deaf and impotent Idol, for then I might cry my heart out, and all in vain, as they did, 1 King. 18. 26, &c. but upon the Almighty and most Gracious God.

Marginal references: Exod. 15. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. Deut. 3. 24. Psal. 89. [illegible: 1+ letters].

9 All Nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship before thee, O LORD: and shall glorifie thy name .

So true is that which I have now said of thee, Verse 8. that the time is coming when all the Nations of the Earth shall acknowledge it, and, forsaking their impotent Idols, shall worship thee alone. Which being a Work of thy Power and Grace clear[illegible: 1+ letters] proves that no God is like to thee, and no works like thine. And those words, whom thou hast made, are added to prevent, or remove Objections concerning the insuperable difficulty and incredibility of this work. The God, saith he, that made them can easily convince and convert them to himself.

10 For thou art great, and dost wondrous things : thou art God alone .

This is added as a reason either why the Nations should own the true God, because they should see his wonderful Works; or why that great Work, Verse 9. was not incredible, but should certainly be accomplished.

And all the Idols of the Heathen are no gods, but vanities; as the Gentiles themselves shall see and acknowledge.

Marginal references: Psal. 72. 18▪ and 77. 14.; Deut. 6. 4. and 32. 39. Isa. 37. 16. and 44. 6. Mark 12. 29. 1 Cor. 8. 4. Eph. 4. 6▪

11 Teach me thy way , O LORD, I will walk in thy truth : unite my heart to fear thy name.

Wherein thou wouldst have me to walk. As thou hast taught me by thy word, so also by thy spirit enlighten my mind that I may clearly discern thy will and my duty in all Conditions and Circumstances.

In the way of thy Precepts which are true and right in all things, as he saith Psal. 119. 12[illegible: 1+ letters]. and the onely true Rule of thy Worship, and the onely true way to man's happiness.

Ingage and knit my whole heart to thy self and service, and deliver me from inconstancy and wavering, that I may not at any time, nor in the least degree be withdrawn from thee either to any corrupt Worship, or to the love and pursuit of the lusts or vanities of this present evil world.

Marginal references: Psal. 25. 4. and 119. 33. and 143 8.

12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorifie thy name for evermore .

Either 1. If thou grantest my request, Verse 11. Or 2. Because thou hast done what is expressed, Verse 13.

13 For great is thy mercy toward me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell .

My person or life, as in the next Verse.

Either 1. From hell properly so called. Or rather, 2. From extreme and desperate dangers and miseries; by comparing this with Deut. 32. 22. and with Psal: 88. 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest (the same word in the Hebrew which is here) pit. Where by the pit he means, as is evident and confessed, the grave, which is commonly called Scheol, the word here used.

Marginal references: Heb. Hell beneath. Psal. [illegible: 1+ letters]6. 10.

14 O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul: and have not set thee before them .

They have no reverence nor regard for thee, neither for thy word which hath conferred the Kingdom upon me; nor for thine all-seeing Eye which beholds all their wicked devises and practises against me; nor for thy justice which will undoubtedly bring their mischief upon their own heads.

Marginal references: Psal. 54. 3.; Heb. terrible.

15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious: long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth.

To wit, to thy People, and to me in particular; and therefore thou wilst forget and forgive my manifold sins for which thou mightest justly reject me, and make me to know thy breach of Promise; and therefore thou wilst save me from my cruel Enemies.

Marginal references: Exod. 34. 6. Numb. 14. 18. Nehem. 9. 17. Psal. 103. 8. and 145. 8. Joel 2. 13. Verse 5.

16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me: give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid .

To assist, support and save me.

Me, who by thy gracious providence was born not of. Heathen, but of Israelitish Parents, and therefore was in covenant with thee from my Birth, and whose Mother was thy faithful Servant, and did intirely devote me to thy Service.

Marginal references: Psal. [illegible: 1+ letters]16. 16.

17 Shew me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed, because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

Vouchsafe unto me some evident and eminent token of thy good will to me, for the conviction of mine Enemies, and mine own comfort.

Prayer of a Persecuted Saint

A Psalm “by David” which has points of contact with Psa 85:1-13 (cf. Psa 86:2, חסיד, with Psa 85:9; Psa 86:15, חסד ואמת, with Psa 85:11) is here inserted between Korahitic Psalms: it can only be called a Psalm by David as having grown out of Davidic and other model passages. The writer cannot be compared for poetical capability either with David or with the authors of such Psalms as Ps 116 and Psa 130:1-8. His Psalm is more liturgic than purely poetic, and it is also only entitled תּפּלּה, without bearing in itself any sign of musical designation. It possesses this characteristic, that the divine name אדני occurs seven times,For the genuine reading in Psa 86:4 (where Heidenheim reads יהוה) and in Psa 86:5 (where Nissel reads יהוה) is also אדני (Bomberg, Hutter, etc.). Both the divine names in Psa 86:4 and Psa 86:5 belong to the 134 ודּאין. The divine name אדני, which is written and is not merely substituted for יהוה, is called in the language of the Masora ודאי (the true and real one). just as it occurs three times in Psa 130:1-8, forming the start for a later, Adonajic style in imitation of the Elohimic.

Psa 86:1-5

The prayer to be heard runs like Psa 55:3; and the statement of the ground on which it is based, Psa 86:1, word for word like Ps 40:18. It is then particularly expressed as a prayer for preservation (שׁמרה, as in Psa 119:167, although imperative, to be read shāmerah; cf. Psa 30:4 מיּרדי, Psa 38:21 רדפי or רדפי, and what we have already observed on Psa 16:1 שׁמרני); for he is not only in need of God’s help, but also because חסיד (Psa 4:4; Psa 16:10), i.e., united to Him in the bond of affection (חסד, Hos 6:4; Jer 2:2), not unworthy of it. In Psa 86:2 we hear the strains of Psa 25:20; Psa 31:7; in Psa 86:3, of Psa 57:2.: the confirmation in Psa 86:4 is taken verbally from Psa 25:1, cf. also Psa 130:6. Here, what is said in Psa 86:4 of this shorter Adonajic Psalm, Psa 130:1-8, is abbreviated in the ἅπαξ γεγραμ. סלּח (root סל, של, to allow to hang loose, χαλᾶν, to give up, remittere). The Lord is good (טּוב), i.e., altogether love, and for this very reason also ready to forgive, and great and rich in mercy for all who call upon Him as such. The beginning of the following group also accords with Psa 130:1-8 in Psa 86:2.

Psa 86:6-13

Here, too, almost everything is an echo of earlier language of the Psalms and of the Law; viz., Psa 86:7 follows Psa 17:6 and other passages; Psa 86:8 is taken from Exo 15:11, cf. Psa 89:9, where, however, אלהים, gods, is avoided; Psa 86:8 follows Deu 3:24; Psa 86:9 follows Psa 22:28; Psa 86:11 is taken from Psa 27:11; Psa 86:11 from Psa 26:3; Psa 86:13, שׁאול תּחתּיּה from Deu 32:22, where instead of this it is תּחתּית, just as in Psa 130:2 תּחנוּני (supplicatory prayer) instead of תּחנוּנותי (importunate supplications); and also Psa 86:10 (cf. Psa 72:18) is a doxological formula that was already in existence. The construction הקשׁיב בּ is the same as in Psa 66:19. But although for the most part flowing on only in the language of prayer borrowed from earlier periods, this Psalm is, moreover, not without remarkable significance and beauty. With the confession of the incomparableness of the Lord is combined the prospect of the recognition of the incomparable One throughout the nations of the earth. This clear unallegorical prediction of the conversion of the heathen is the principal parallel to Rev 15:4. “All nations, which Thou hast made” - they have their being from Thee; and although they have forgotten it (vid., Psa 9:18), they will nevertheless at last come to recognise it. כּל־גּוים, since the article is wanting, are nations of all tribes (countries and nationalities); cf. Jer 16:16 with Psa 22:18; Tobit 13:11, ἔθνη πολλά, with ibid. Psa 14:6, πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. And how weightily brief and charming is the petition in Psa 86:11 : uni cor meum, ut timeat nomen tuum! Luther has rightly departed from the renderings of the lxx, Syriac, and Vulgate: laetetur (יחדּ from חדה). The meaning, however, is not so much “keep my heart near to the only thing,” as “direct all its powers and concentrate them on the one thing.” The following group shows us what is the meaning of the deliverance out of the hell beneath (שׁאול תּחתּיּה, like ארץ תּחתּית, the earth beneath, the inner parts of the earth, Eze 31:14.), for which the poet promises beforehand to manifest his thankfulness (כּי, Psa 86:13, as in Ps 56:14).

Psa 86:14-17

The situation is like that in the Psalms of the time of Saul. The writer is a persecuted one, and in constant peril of his life. He has taken Psa 86:14 out of the Elohimic Psa 54:5, and retained the Elohim as a proper name of God (cf. on the other hand Psa 86:8, Psa 86:10); he has, however, altered זרים to זרים, which here, as in Isa 13:11 (cf. however, ibid. Psa 25:5), is the alternating word to עריצים. In Psa 86:15 he supports his petition that follows by Jahve’s testimony concerning Himself in Exo 34:6. The appellation given to himself by the poet in Psa 86:16 recurs in Psa 116:16 (cf. Wisd. 9:5). The poet calls himself “the son of Thy handmaid” as having been born into the relation to Him of servant; it is a relationship that has come to him by birth. How beautifully does the Adonaj come in here for the seventh time! He is even from his mother’s womb the servant of the sovereign Lord, from whose omnipotence he can therefore also look for a miraculous interposition on his behalf. A “token for good” is a special dispensation, from which it becomes evident to him that God is kindly disposed towards him. לטובה as in the mouth of Nehemiah, Neh 5:19; Neh 13:31; of Ezr 8:22; and also even in Jeremiah and earlier. ויבשׁוּ is just as parenthetical as in Isa 26:11.

Humble Petitions.

1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord , hear me: for I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 6 Give ear, O Lord , unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

This psalm was published under the title of a prayer of David; not as if David sung all his prayers, but into some of his songs he inserted prayers; for a psalm will admit the expressions of any pious and devout affections. But it is observable how very plain the language of this psalm is, and how little there is in it of poetic flights or figures, in comparison with some other psalms; for the flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer. Now here we may observe,

I. The petitions he puts up to God. It is true, prayer accidentally may preach, but it is most fit that (as it is in this prayer) every passage should be directed to God, for such is the nature of prayer as it is here described (v. 4): Unto thee, O Lord! do I lift up my soul, as he had said Ps. xxv. 1. In all the parts of prayer the soul must ascend upon the wings of faith and holy desire, and be lifted up to God, to meet the communications of his grace, and in an expectation raised very high of great things from him. 1. He begs that God would give a gracious audience to his prayers (v. 1): Bow down thy ear, O Lord! hear me. When God hears our prayers it is fitly said that he bows down his ear to them, for it is admirable condescension in God that he is pleased to take notice of such mean creatures as we are and such defective prayers as ours are. He repeats this again (v. 6): "Give ear, O Lord! unto my prayer, a favourable ear, though it be whispered, though it be stammered; attend to the voice of my supplications." Not that God needs to have his affection stirred up by any thing that we can say; but thus we must express our desire of his favour. The Son of David spoke it with assurance and pleasure (John xi. 41, 42), Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me; and I know that thou hearest me always. 2. He begs that God would take him under his special protection, and so be the author of his salvation (v. 2): Preserve my soul; save thy servant. It was David's soul that was God's servant; for those only serve God acceptably that serve him with their spirits. David's concern is about his soul; if we understand it of his natural life, it teaches us that the best self-preservation is to commit ourselves to God's keeping and by faith and prayer to make our Creator our preserver. But it may be understood of his spiritual life, the life of the soul as distinct from the body: "Preserve my soul from that one evil and dangerous thing to souls, even from sin; preserve my soul, and so save me." All those whom God will save he preserves, and will preserve them to his heavenly kingdom. 3. He begs that God would look upon him with an eye of pity and compassion (v. 3): Be merciful to me, O Lord! It is mercy in God to pardon our sins and to help us out of our distresses; both these are included in this prayer, God be merciful to me. "Men show no mercy; we ourselves deserve no mercy, but, Lord, for mercy-sake, be merciful unto me." 4. He begs that God would fill him with inward comfort (v. 4): Rejoice the soul of thy servant. It is God only that can put gladness into the heart and make the soul to rejoice, and then, and not till then, the joy is full; and, as it is the duty of those who are God's servants to serve him with gladness, so it is their privilege to be filled with joy and peace in believing, and they may in faith pray, not only that God will preserve their souls, but that he will rejoice their souls, and the joy of the Lord will be their strength. Observe, When he prays, Rejoice my soul, he adds, For unto thee do I lift up my soul. Then we may expect comfort from God when we take care to keep up our communion with God: prayer is the nurse of spiritual joy.

II. The pleas with which he enforces these petitions. 1. He pleads his relation to God and interest in him: "Thou art my God, to whom I have devoted myself, and on whom I depend, and I am thy servant (v. 2), in subjection to thee, and therefore looking for protection from thee." 2. He pleads his distress: "Hear me, for I am poor and needy, therefore I want thy help, therefore none else will hear me." God is the poor man's King, whose glory it is to save the souls of the needy; those who are poor in spirit, who see themselves empty and necessitous, are most welcome to the God of all grace. 3. He pleads God's good will towards all that seek him (v. 5): "To thee do I lift up my soul in desire and expectation; for thou, Lord, art good;" and whither should beggars go but to the door of the good house-keeper? The goodness of God's nature is a great encouragement to us in all our addresses to him. His goodness appears in two things, giving and forgiving. (1.) He is a sin-pardoning God; not only he can forgive, but he is ready to forgive, more ready to forgive than we are to repent. I said, I will confess, and thou forgavest, Ps. xxxii. 5. (2.) He is a prayer-hearing God; he is plenteous in mercy, very full, and very free, both rich and liberal unto all those that call upon him; he has wherewithal to supply all their needs and is openhanded in granting that supply. 4. He pleads God's good work in himself, by which he had qualified him for the tokens of his favour. Three things were wrought in him by divine grace, which he looked upon as earnests of all good:—(1.) A conformity to God (v. 2): I am holy, therefore preserve my soul; for those whom the Spirit sanctifies he will preserve. He does not say this in pride and vain glory, but with humble thankfulness to God. I am one whom thou favourest (so the margin reads it), whom thou hast set apart for thyself. If God has begun a good work of grace in us, we must own that the time was a time of love. Then was I in his eyes as one that found favour, and whom God hath taken into his favour he will take under his protection. All his saints are in thy hand, Deut. xxxiii. 3. Observe, I am needy (v. 1), yet I am holy (v. 2), holy and yet needy, poor in the world, but rich in faith. Those who preserve their purity in their greatest poverty may assure themselves that God will preserve their comforts, will preserve their souls. (2.) A confidence in God: Save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Those that are holy must nevertheless not trust in themselves, nor in their own righteousness, but only in God and his grace. Those that trust in God may expect salvation from him. (3.) A disposition to communion with God. He hopes God will answer his prayers, because he had inclined him to pray. [1.] To be constant in prayer: I cry unto thee daily, and all the day, v. 3. It is thus our duty to pray always, without ceasing, and to continue instant in prayer; and then we may hope to have our prayers heard which we make in the time of trouble, if we have made conscience of the duty at other times, at all times. It is comfortable if an affliction finds the wheels of prayer a-going, and that they are not then to be set a-going. [2.] To be inward with God in prayer, to lift up his soul to him, v. 4. Then we may hope that God will meet us with his mercies, when we in our prayers send forth our souls as it were to meet him. [3.] To be in a special manner earnest with God in prayer when he was in affliction (v. 7): "In the day of my trouble, whatever others do, I will call upon thee, and commit my case to thee, for thou wilt hear and answer me, and I shall not seek in vain, as those did who cried, O Baal! hear us; but there was no voice, nor any that regarded," 1 Kings xviii. 29.

Petitions and Praises; Prayer for Mercy and Grace.

8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. 11 Teach me thy way, O Lord ; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. 12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. 14 O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. 17 show me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, Lord , hast holpen me, and comforted me.

David is here going on in his prayer.

I. He gives glory to God; for we ought in our prayers to praise him, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory, to him, with the most humble and reverent adorations. 1. As a being of unparalleled perfection, such a one that there is none like him nor any to be compared with him, v. 8. Among the gods, the false gods, whom the heathens worshipped, the angels, the kings of the earth, among them all, there is none like unto thee, O Lord! none so wise, so mighty, so good; neither are there any works like unto thy works, which is an undeniable proof that there is none like him; his own works praise him, and the best way we have of praising him is by acknowledging that there is none like him. 2. As the fountain of all being and the centre of all praise (v. 9): "Thou hast made all nations, made them all of one blood; they all derive their being from thee, and have a constant dependence on thee, and therefore they shall come and worship before thee and glorify thy name." This was in part fulfilled in the multitude of proselytes to the Jewish religion in the days of David and Solomon, but was to have its full accomplishment in the days of the Messiah, when some out of every kingdom and nation should be effectually brought in to praise God, Rev. vii. 9. It was by Christ that God made all nations, for without him was not any thing made that was made, and therefore through Christ, and by the power of his gospel and grace, all nations shall be brought to worship before God, Isa. lxvi. 23. 3. As a being infinitely great (v. 10): "Therefore all nations shall worship before thee, because as King of nations thou art great, thy sovereignty absolute and incontestable, thy majesty terrible and insupportable, thy power universal and irresistible, thy riches vast and inexhaustible, thy dominion boundless and unquestionable; and, for the proof of this, thou doest wondrous things, which all nations admire, and whence they might easily infer that thou art God alone, not only none like thee, but none besides thee." Let us always entertain great thoughts of this great God, and be filled with holy admiration of this God who doeth wonders; and let him alone have our hearts who is God alone. 4. As a being infinitely good. Man is bad, very wicked and vile (v. 14); no mercy is to be expected from him; but thou, O Lord! art a God full of compassion, and gracious, v. 15. This is that attribute by which he proclaims his name, and by which we are therefore to proclaim it, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. It is his goodness that is over all his works, and therefore should fill all our praises; and this is our comfort, in reference to the wickedness of the world we live in, that, however it be, God is good. Men are barbarous, but God is gracious; men are false, but God is faithful. God is not only compassionate, but full of compassion, and in him mercy rejoiceth against judgment. He is long-suffering towards us, though we forfeit his favour and provoke him to anger, and he is plenteous in mercy and truth, as faithful in performing as he was free in promising. 5. As a kind friend and bountiful benefactor to him. We ought to praise God as good in himself, but we do it most feelingly when we observe how good he has been to us. This therefore the psalmist dwells upon with most pleasure, v. 12, 13. He had said (v. 9), All nations shall praise thee, O Lord! and glorify thy name. It is some satisfaction to a good man to think that others shall praise and glorify God, but it is his greatest care and pleasure to do it himself. "Whatever others do" (says David), "I will praise thee, O Lord my God! not only as the Lord, but as my God; and I will do it with all my heart; I will be ready to do it and cordial in it; I will do it with cheerfulness and liveliness, with a sincere regard to thy honour; for I will glorify thy name, not for a time, but for evermore. I will do it as long as I live, and hope to be doing it to eternity." With good reason does he resolve to be thus particular in praising God, because God had shown him particular favours: For great is thy mercy towards me. The fountain of mercy is inexhaustibly full; the streams of mercy are inestimably rich. When we speak of God's mercy to us, it becomes us thus to magnify it: Great is thy mercy towards me. Of the greatness of God's mercy he gives this instance, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell, from death, from so great a death, as St. Paul (2 Cor. i. 10), from eternal death, so even some of the Jewish writers understand it. David knew he deserved to be cast off for ever into the lowest hell for his sin in the matter of Uriah; but Nathan assured him that the Lord had taken away his sin, and by that word he was delivered from the lowest hell, and herein God's mercy was great towards him. Even the best saints owe it, not to their own merit, but to the mercy of God, that they are saved from the lowest hell; and the consideration of that should greatly enlarge their hearts in praising the mercy of God, which they are obliged to glorify for evermore. So glorious; so gracious, a rescue from everlasting misery, justly requires the return of everlasting praise.

II. He prays earnestly for mercy and grace from God. He complains of the restless and implacable malice of his enemies against him (v. 14): "Lord, be thou for me; for there are many against me." He then takes notice of their character; they were proud men that looked with disdain upon poor David. (Many are made persecutors by their pride.) They were violent men, that would carry all before them by force, right or wrong. They were terrible formidable men (so some), that did what they could to frighten all about them. He notices their number: There were assemblies of them; they were men in authority and met in councils and courts, or men for conversation, and met in clubs; but, being assembled, they were the more capable of doing mischief. He notices their enmity to him: "They rise up against me in open rebellion; they not only plot, but they put their plots in execution as far as they can; and the design is not only to depose me, but to destroy me: they seek after my life, to slay me; after my soul, to damn me, if it lay in their power." And, lastly, He notices their distance and estrangement from God, which were at the bottom of their enmity to David: "They have not set thee before them; and what good can be expected from those that have no fear of God before their eyes? Lord, appear against them, for they are thy enemies as well as mine." His petitions are,

1. For the operations of God's grace in him, v. 11. He prays that God would give him, (1.) An understanding heart, that he would inform and instruct him concerning his duty: "Teach me thy way, O Lord! the way that thou hast appointed me to walk in; when I am in doubt concerning it, make it plain to me what I should do; let me hear the voice saying, This is the way," Isa. xxx. 21. David was well taught in the things of God, and yet was sensible he needed further instruction, and many a time could not trust his own judgment: Teach me thy way; I will walk in thy truth. One would think it should be, Teach me thy truth, and I will walk in thy way; but it comes all to one; it is the way of truth that God teaches and that we must choose to walk in, Ps. cxix. 30. Christ is the way and the truth, and we must both learn Christ and walk in him. We cannot walk in God's way and truth unless he teach us; and, if we expect he should teach us, we must resolve to be governed by his teachings, Isa. ii. 3. (2.) An upright heart: "Unite my heart to fear thy name. Make me sincere in religion. A hypocrite has a double heart; let mine be single and entire for God, not divided between him and the world, not straggling from him." Our hearts are apt to wander and hang loose; their powers and faculties wander after a thousand foreign things; we have therefore need of God's grace to unite them, that we may serve God with all that is within us, and all little enough to be employed in his service. "Let my heart be fixed for God, and firm and faithful to him, and fervent in serving him; that is a united heart."

2. For the tokens of God's favour to him, v. 16, 17. Three things he here prays for:—(1.) That God would speak peace and comfort to him: "O turn unto me, as to one thou lovest and hast a kind and tender concern for. My enemies turn against me, my friends turn from me; Lord, do thou turn to me and have mercy upon me; it will be a comfort to me to know that thou pitiest me." (2.) That God would work deliverance for him, and set him in safety: "Give me thy strength; put strength into me, that I may help myself, and put forth thy strength for me, that I may be saved out of the hands of those that seek my ruin." He pleads relation: "I am thy servant; I am so by birth, as the son of thy handmaid, born in thy house, and therefore thou art my rightful owner and proprietor, from whom I may expect protection. I am thine; save me." The children of godly parents, who were betimes dedicated to the Lord, may plead it with him; if they come under the discipline of his family, they are entitled to the privileges of it. (3.) That God would put a reputation on him: "Show me a token for good; make it to appear to others as well as to myself that thou art doing me good, and designing further good for me. Let me have some unquestionable illustrious instances of thy favour to me, that those who hate me may see it, and be ashamed of their enmity to me, as they will have reason to be when they perceive that thou, Lord, hast helped me and comforted me, and that therefore they have been striving against God, opposing one whom he owns, and that they have been striving in vain to ruin and vex one whom God himself has undertaken to help and comfort." The joy of the saints shall be the shame of their persecutors.

PSAL. LXXXVI.

A Prayer of David.

BOw downe thine eare Iehovah, answer me, for I am poore, afflicted, and needy. Keepe my soule, for I am mercifull; thou my God save thy servant, that trusleth unto thee. Be gracious unto me, Iehovah, for unto thee doe I call all the day. Rejoyce the soule of thy servant, for unto thee Lord lift I up my soule. For thou Iehovah art good, and mercifully pardonest, and much of mercie to all that call upon thee. Give eare Iehovah to my prayer, and attend to the voyce of my supplications for grace. In the day of my distresse will I call unto thee, for thou wilt answer me. There is none like thee among the gods, O Lord, and none like thy works. All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and bow downe themselves before thee, O Lord, & shall glorifie thy Name. For great art thou, and dost marvellous things; thou art God thy selfe alone. Teach me, O Iehovah, thy way, I will walke in thy truth; unite my heart for to feare thy Name. I will confesse thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorifie thy Name for ever. For thy mercy is great toward me, and thou hast delivered my soule from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen up against me, and the assembly of violent men seeke my soule, and they have not set thee before them. But thou Lord art a God, pittifull and gracious, long suffering, and much of mercie and truth. Turne the face unto me, and be gracious to me; give thy strength to thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. Doe with mee a signe for good, and let my haters see and be abashed, because thou, Iehovah, hast holpen mee, and comforted me.

Annotations. A Prayer] the like title is of Psalme 17. To Christ may this Psalme fitly be applied. Vers. 2. mercifull] or, a gracious Saint, pious, holy. See Psal. 4. 4. This ti[illegible: 1 letter]e God taketh to himselfe, Ier. 3. 12. Vers. 4. Lift I up] See the Notes on Psal. 25. 1. The Chaldee saith, lift I up my soule in prayer. Vers. 5. mercifully pardonest] or, art propitious, a forgiver: the Chaldee addeth, of them which turne to the Law. See Psal. 25. 11. Vers. 8. among the gods] Though there be that are called Gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be many gods, and many Lords;) yet unto us there is but one God, &c. 1 Cor. 8. 5, 6. all the gods of the peoples are idols, Psal. 96. 5. Or, by gods may be meant Angels, as the Chaldee here explaineth it, and the Princes of the world. and none] to wit, can doe workes like thine; or, no workes are like thy works, Psal. 13 6. 4. Vers. 11. Vnite my heart] apply and knit it to thy feare onely, and that with simplicitie. Vers. 13. hell] or grave, the state of death: see Ps. 16. 10. Vers. 14. the proud] Compare this with Psalm. 54. 5. Vers. 15. pitifull] or, full of ruth, mercie, and tender love. When Gods name was proclaimed before Moses, this title with other was in it, Exo. 34. 5, 6. long suffering] Hebr. long of nostrils, that is, of anger; long ere thou be angry. The nose and anger have one name in Hebrew: see Psalm. 2. 5. Vers. 16. son of thine handmaid] that is, borne thy servant, of godly parents that were thy servitors. Of Christ, this also was true, the sonne of Mary the Virgin, the handmaid of the Lord, Luk. 1. 48. See the like speech, Psal. 116. 16. Vers. 17. Doe with me a signe] or, Shew it me: that is, So deale with me, in my deliverance and preservation, that I may have my selfe, and may be to others a signe, for good. Korah and his company were for a signe to the Israelites, Num. 16. 38. & 26. 10. Ionas a signe to the Ninevites, and Christ to the Iewes, Luke 11. 30.

PSAL. LXXXVI.

A Prayer] Left for a form, for a help to devotion, as was alſo, Pſal. 1[illegible: 1 letter]2. Title.

Verſ. 1. Bow down thine [illegible: 1 word], O Lord] As the careful Phyſician doth to his feeble Patient: ſo Baſil gloſſeth here.

For I am poor, and needy] Having nothing to live on but what my friends privily ſend me, or what I can get by boot-haling from the Lords enemies, 1 Sam. 30.26.

Verſ. 2. Preſerve my ſoul, for I am holy] Or, a [illegible: 1 word], a Saint, merciful, ſuch an one as upon whoſe heart the tender mercies of the Almighty [illegible: 1 word] forth abundantly, do leave a compaſſionate frame. David had the Divine Nature transfuſed into him, he was holy, as God is holy; and merciful, as God is merciful (in quality though not in equality) but all of free grace; and this he plead[illegible: 3 letters] for his own ſafety.

Save thy ſervant] Serva ſervum tuum, thy devoted ſervant, and not thy beneficiary only.

Verſ. 3. Be merciful unto me] Leſt any ſhould by the former [illegible: 1 word] (I [illegible: 1 span]) ſuſpect him to be a merit-monger, he beggeth mercy, with inſtancy and conſtancy of requeſt.

Verſ. 4. Rejoyce the ſoul of thy ſervant] True and ſolid joy entreth [illegible: 1 word], by the door of ſervent prayer. Pray that your joy may be fell.

I lift up my ſoul] In prayer,Pſal. 25.1 and confident [illegible: 1 word] of an [illegible: 1 word] carrying return thereof [illegible: 1 span]. 24.[illegible: 2 letters].

Verſ. 5. For thou Lord are good, [illegible: 1 word].] Lord, I am [illegible: 1 letter]ell, [illegible: 1 span] are Heaven, ſaid God by prayer.

And plenteous in mercy] Both to [illegible: 1 word] ſin, and to give good Hoſ. 14.[illegible: 1 letter].

Verſ. 6. Give ear, O Lord &c.] The hearing of our ſutes is earneſtly to be ſought and reckoned among our chiefeſt [illegible: 1 word].

Verſ. 7. In the day of my trouble, &c.] Gods Petitioners muſt pray and beleeve, and beleeve and pray [illegible: 1 span]. David had ſaid verſe [illegible: 1 letter] God is man in mercy to all that call upon him. Here he [illegible: 1 word] and con[illegible: 3 letters]th , [illegible: 1 span] in the day of my trouble will call upon him, therefore he will anſwer mee.

Verſ. 8. Among the Gods] Whether deputed or reputed.

There is none like unto thee] Either in eſſence, or in operation. See [illegible: 1 word] 15.11.

Verſ. 9. As Nations whom thou haſt [illegible: 1 word] come, &c.] I were [illegible: 1 word] they ſhould, Rev. 4. ult. 'tis to be hoped they ſhall, Iſa. 11. & 43. not by [illegible: 1 letter]hange of [illegible: 1 letter]race, but [illegible: 1 word], respon[illegible: 1 letter]ing their irreligions, and yeelding unto Chriſt the [illegible: 1 word] of faith. Some underſtand this Text of that generall Aſſembly at the [illegible: 1 word].

Verſ. 10. For thou are gr[illegible: 3 letters] ] Great is the Lord without quantity, good without quality, everlaſting without time, omni preſent without place, containing all things without extent; within all things, and contained of nothing; without all things, and ſuſtained of nothing, &c. Now the leaſt [illegible: 1 word] of this knowledge is worth all the gleams of human wiſdome.

And doeſt wondrous things] The Schools have laid down a threefold way of knowing God; Firſt, Negation of Imperfections. Secondly, Affirmation of Perfections. Thirdly, Cauſation of great works.

Verſ. 11. Teach mee thy way] David knew much of God, and yet he deſireth to be taught more; delivering himſelf up to Gods diſcipline, and ſaying as once Solon did [non-Latin text not transcribed].

Unite my heart to fear thy name] i. e. To ſerve thee with ſimplicity and godly [illegible: 1 word] 2 Cor. [illegible: 2 letters] cleav[illegible: 2 letters] to thee with full purpoſe of heart, Act. 11.23. and attending upon thee without diſtraction, 1 Cor. 7.35. As thou a[illegible: 1 letter] God alone (verſe 10.) ſo let my heart be towa[illegible: 1 letter]d thee alone. Behold I find it divided, disjoynted, and ſo diſabled for duty (for anima diſper ſa fit minor) Oh do thou unite it I beſeech thee, giving mee that one heart thou haſt promiſed, until we all come unto that oneneſs of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, &c. Epheſ. 4.13.

Verſ. 12. I will praiſe thee] While he prayed, he found his prayer anſwered; and therefore thus breaketh forth into praiſes.

Verſ. 13. [illegible: 1 span] delivered my ſoul from the loweſt hell] That is from deadly and deſperate dangers. Some underſtand it of the damnation of hell which David had deſerved by his ſins. The Rabbines gloſs is, A loco adulter is appropriate.

Verſ. 14. O God, the proud] The ſtrangers ſome read it (by the change of a letter in the original) who are commonly cruel.

And the aſſemblies of violent men] Nebulonum, ſome render it, ſturdy varlets, [illegible: 1 span].

Verſ. 15. But thou O Lord art a God full, &c.] Theſe are part of thoſe thirteen Attributes of Almighty God, ſet down and proclaimed by himſelf, Exod. 34.6. Middoth the Rabbines call them, that is, Properties.

Verſ. 16. O turn unto mee] Or, Look toward mee; the life of a beleever conſiſteth in the light of Gods countenance.

Give thy ſtrength unto thy ſervant] Maſter, pray lend me your hand, ſaith the ſervant to his Master,, when he wants help.

[illegible: 1 span] ] q. d. I was both in thy houſe, came religious Parents, &c. therefore do mee good for their ſakes at leaſt, as Iſmael was bleſſed for Abrahams.

Verſ. 17. Shew mee a token for good] Make mee King as thou haſt promised; and mean while to deliver mee, that my greateſt adver[illegible: 4 letters], may be convinced of their malice and madneſs. At the death of ſome tokens were flown [illegible: 1 span], for inſtance [illegible: 1 span], and the Sun [illegible: 1 letter]hope of a da[illegible: 2 letters] cloud ſo full,Act. & Mon 1544, 1547. 1398. that he was forced to look another way.

Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me. In condescension to my littleness, and in pity to my weakness, "bow down thine ear, O Lord." When our prayers are lowly by reason of our humility, or feeble by reason of our sickness, or without wing by reason of our despondency, the Lord will bow down to them, the infinitely exalted Jehovah will have respect unto them. Faith, when she has the loftiest name of God on her tongue, and calls him Jehovah, yet dares to ask from him the most tender and condescending acts of love. Great as he is he loves his children to be bold with him. For I am poor and needy —doubly a son of poverty, because, first, poor and without supply for my needs, and next needy, and so full of wants, though unable to supply them. Our distress is a forcible reason for our being heard by the Lord God, merciful, and gracious, for misery is ever the master argument with mercy. Such reasoning as this would never be adopted by a proud man, and when we hear it repeated in the public congregation by those great ones of the earth who count the peasantry to be little better than the earth they tread upon, it sounds like a mockery of the Most High. Of all despicable sinners those are the worst who use the language of spiritual poverty while they think themselves to be rich and increased in goods.

Preserve my soul. Let my life be safe from my enemies, and my spiritual nature be secure from their temptations. He feels himself unsafe except he be covered by the divine protection. For I am holy. I am set apart for holy uses, therefore do not let thine enemies commit a sacrilege by injuring or defiling me: I am clear of the crimes laid to my charge, and in that sense innocent; therefore, I beseech thee, do not allow me to suffer from unjust charges: and I am inoffensive, meek, and gentle towards others, therefore deal mercifully with me as I have dealt with my fellow men. Any of these renderings may explain the text, perhaps all together will expound it best. It is not self righteous in good men to plead their innocence as a reason for escaping from the results of sins wrongfully ascribed to them; penitents do not bedaub themselves with mire for the love of it, or make themselves out to be worse than they are out of compliment to heaven. No, the humblest saint is not a fool, and he is as well aware of the matters wherein he is clear as of those wherein he must cry "peccavi." To plead guilty to offences we have never committed is as great a lie as the denial of our real faults. O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Lest any man should suppose that David trusted in his own holiness he immediately declared his trust in the Lord, and begged to be saved as one who was not holy in the sense of being perfect, but was even yet in need of the very clements of salvation. How sweet is that title, "my God", when joined to the other, "thy servant"; and how sweet is the hope that on this ground we shall be saved; seeing that our God is not like the Amalekitish master who left his poor sick servant to perish. Note how David's poor I am (or rather the I repeated without the am) appeals to the great I AM with that sacred boldness engendered by the necessity which breaks through stone walls, aided by the faith which removes mountains.

Be merciful unto me, O Lord. The best of men need mercy, and appeal to mercy, yea to nothing else but mercy; they need it for themselves, and crave it eagerly of their God as a personal requisite. For I cry unto thee daily. Is there not a promise that importunity shall prevail? May we not, then, plead our importunity as an argument with God? He who prays every day, and all the day, for so the word may mean, may rest assured that the Lord will hear him in the day of his need. If we cried sometimes to man, or other false confidences, we might expect to be referred to them in the hour of our calamity, but if in all former times we have looked to the Lord alone, we may be sure that he will not desert us now. See how David pleaded, first that he was poor and needy, next that he was the Lord's set apart one, then that he was God's servant and had learned to trust in the Lord, and lastly that he had been taught to pray daily; surely these are such holy pleadings as any tried believer may employ when wrestling with a prayer hearing God, and with such weapons the most trembling suppliant may hope to win the day.

Rejoice the soul of thy servant. Make my heart glad, O my Maker, for I count it my honour to call myself again and again thy servant, and I reckon thy favour to be all the wages I could desire. I look for all my happiness in thee only, and therefore unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. As the heliotrope looks to the sun for its smile, so turn I my heart to thee. Thou art as the brazen serpent to my sick nature, and I lift up my soul's eye to thee that I may live. I know that the nearer I am to thee the greater is my joy, therefore be pleased to draw me nearer while I am labouring to draw near. It is not easy to lift a soul at all; it needs a strong shoulder at the wheel when a heart sticks in the miry clay of despondency: it is less easy to lift a soul up to the Lord, for the height is great as well as the weight oppressive; but the Lord will take the will for the deed, and come in with a hand of almighty grace to raise his poor servant out of the earth and up to heaven.

For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive. Good at giving and forgiving; supplying us with his good, and removing our evil. Here was the great reason why the Psalmist looked to the Lord alone for his joy, because every joy creating attribute is to be found in perfection in Jehovah alone. Some men who would be considered good are so self exultingly indignant at the injuries done them by others, that they cannot forgive; but we may rest assured that the better a being is, the more willing he is to forgive, and the best and highest of all is ever ready to blot out the transgressions of his creatures. And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. God does not dispense his mercy from a slender store which perchance may be so impoverished as to give out altogether, but out of a cornucopiae he pours forth the infinite riches of his mercy: his goodness flows forth in abounding streams towards those who pray and in adoring worship make mention of his name. David seems to have stood in the cleft of the rock with Moses, and to have heard the name of the Lord proclaimed even as the great lawgiver did, for in two places in this psalm he almost quotes verbatim the passage in Ex 34:6 —"The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."

Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer. Even the glory which his spirit had beheld did not withdraw him from his prayer, but rather urged him to be more fervent in it; hence he implores the Lord to hear his requests. Attend to the voice of my supplications. Here are repetitions, but not vain repetitions. When a child cries it repeats the same note, but it is equally in earnest every time, and so was it with the suppliant here. Note the expression, "the voice of my supplications", as if they were not all voice but were partly made up of inarticulate noise, yet amid much that was superfluous there really was a distinct voice, an inner meaning, a living sense which was the heart's intention. This he would have the Lord sift out from the chaff, and hear amid the mingled din. May our prayers never be voiceless; may the soul's intent always give them a live core of meaning.

In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. A pious resolve backed by a judicious reason. It is useless to cry to those who cannot or will not hear; once convince men that prayer has no effect upon God, and they will have no more of it. In these busy days and especially in troublous times, men cannot afford to waste time in entreaties which must be unavailing. Our experience confirms us in the belief that Jehovah the living God really does aid those who call upon him, and therefore we pray and mean to pray, not because we are so fascinated by prayer that for its own sake we would continue in it if it proved to be mere folly and superstition, as vain philosophers assert; but because we really, indeed, and of a truth, find it to be a practical and effectual means of obtaining help from God in the hour of need. There can be no reason for praying if there be no expectation of the Lord's answering. Who would make a conscience of pleading with the winds, or find a solace in supplicating the waves? The mercy seat is a mockery if there be no hearing nor answering. David, as the following verses show, believed the Lord to be a living and potent God, and indeed to be "God alone", and it was on that account that he resolved in every hour of trouble to call upon him.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. There are gods by delegated office, such as kings and magistrates, but they are as nothing in the presence of Jehovah; there are also gods by the nomination of superstition, but these are vanity itself, and cannot be compared with the living and true God. Even if the heathen idols were gods, none of them in power or even in character, could be likened unto the self existent, all creating God of Israel. If every imaginary deity could start into actual existence, and become really divine, yet would we choose Jehovah to be our God, and reject all others. Neither are there any works like unto thy works. What have the false gods ever made or unmade? What miracles have they wrought? When did they divide a sea, or march through a wilderness scattering bread from the skies? O Jehovah, in thy person and in thy works, thou art as far above all gods as the heavens are above the nethermost abyss.

All nations whom thou hast made, and these include all mankind, since they all come of the first Adam —thy creature, and their lives are all distinct creations of thine omnipotence. All these shall come with penitent hearts, in thine own way, to thine own self, and worship before thee, O Lord. Because thou art thus above all gods, the people who have been so long deceived shall at last discover thy greatness, and shall render thee the worship which is thy due: thou hast created them all, and unto thee shall they all yield homage. This was David's reason for resorting to the Lord in trouble, for he felt that one day all men would acknowledge the Lord to be the only God. It makes us content to be in the minority today, when we are sure that the majority will be with us tomorrow, ay, and that the truth will one day be carried unanimously and heartily. David was not a believer in the theory that the world will grow worse and worse, and that the dispensation will wind up with general darkness, and idolatry. Earth's sun is to go down amid tenfold night if some of our prophetic brethren are to be believed. Not so do we expect, but we look for day when the dwellers in all lands shall learn righteousness, shall trust in the Saviour, shall worship thee alone, O God, and shall glorify thy name. The modern notion has greatly damped the zeal of the church for missions, and the sooner it is shown to be unscriptural the better for the cause of God. It neither consorts with prophecy, honours God, nor inspires the church with ardour. Far hence be it driven.

For thou art great. He had before said, "thou art good"; it is a grand thing when greatness and goodness are united; it is only in the Divine Being that either of them exists absolutely, and essentially. Happy is it for us that they both exist in the Lord to an equal degree. To be great and not good might lead to tyranny in the King, and for him to be good and not great might involve countless calamities upon his subjects from foreign foes, so that either alternative would be terrible; let the two be blended, and we have a monarch in whom the nation may rest and rejoice. And doest wondrous things. Being good, he is said to be ready to forgive: being great, he works wonders: we may blend the two, for there is no wonder so wonderful as the pardon of our transgressions. All that God does or makes has wonder in it; he breathes, and the wind is mystery; he speaks, and the thunder astounds us; even the commonest daisy is a marvel, and a pebble enshrines wisdom. Only to fools is anything which God has made uninteresting: the world is a world of wonders. Note that the verb doest is in the present, the Lord is doing wondrous things, they are transpiring before our eyes. Where are they? Look upon the bursting buds of spring or the maturing fruits of autumn, gaze on the sky or skim the sea, mark the results of providence and the victories of grace, everywhere at all times the great Thaumaturge stretches forth his rod of power.

Thou art God alone. Alone wast thou God before thy creatures were; alone in godhead still art thou now that thou hast given life to throngs of beings; alone for ever shalt thou be, for none can ever rival thee. True religion makes no compromises, it does not admit Baal or Dagon to be a god; it is exclusive and monopolizing, claiming for Jehovah nothing less than all. The vaunted liberality of certain professors of modern thought is not to be cultivated by believers in the truth. "Philosophic breadth" aims at building a Pantheon, and piles a Pandemonium; it is not for us to be helpers in such an evil work. Benevolently intolerant, we would, for the good of mankind, as well as for the glory of God, undeceive mankind as to the value of their compromises, —they are mere treason to truth. Our God is not to be worshipped as one among many good and true beings, but as God alone; and his gospel is not to be preached as one of several saving systems, but as the one sole way of salvation. Lies can face each other beneath one common dome; but in the temple of truth the worship is one and indivisible.

Teach me thy way, O LORD. Instruct me thus at all times, let me live in thy school; but teach me now especially since I am in trouble and perplexity. Be pleased to shew me the way which thy wisdom and mercy have prepared for my escape; behold I lay aside all wilfulness, and only desire to be informed as to thy holy and gracious mind. Not my way give me, but thy way teach me, I would follow thee and not be wilful. I will walk in thy truth. When taught I will practise what I know, truth shall not be a mere doctrine or sentiment to me, but a matter of daily life. The true servant of God regulates his walk by his master's will, and hence he never walks deceitfully, for God's way is ever truth. Providence has a way for us, and it is our wisdom to keep in it. We must not be as the bullock which needs to be driven and urged forward because it likes not the road, but be as men who voluntarily go where their trusted friend and helper appoints their path. Unite my heart to fear thy name. Having taught me one way, give me one heart to walk therein, for too often I feel a heart and a heart, two natures contending, two principles struggling for sovereignty. Our minds are apt to be divided between a variety of objects, like trickling streamlets which waste their force in a hundred runnels; our great desire should be to have all our life floods poured into one channel and to have that channel directed towards the Lord alone. A man of divided heart is weak, the man of one object is the man. God who created the bands of our nature can draw them together, tighten, strengthen, and fasten them, and so braced and inwardly knit by his uniting grace, we shall be powerful for good, but not otherwise. To fear God is both the beginning, the growth, and the maturity of wisdom, therefore should we be undividedly given up to it, heart, and soul.

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. When my heart is one, I will give thee all of it. Praise should never be rendered with less than all our heart, and soul, and strength, or it will be both unreal and unacceptable. This is the second time in the psalm that David calls the Lord "my God", the first time he was in an agony of prayer (Ps 86:2), and now he is in an ecstacy of praise. If anything can make a man pray and praise, it is the knowledge into that the Lord is his God. And I will glorify thy name for evermore, eternity gratitude will prolong its praise. God has never done blessing us, let us never have done blessing him. As he ever gives us grace, let us ever render to him the glory of it.

For great is thy mercy toward me. Personal experience is ever the master singer. Whatever thou art to others, to me thy mercy is most notable. The psalmist claims to sing among the loudest, because his debt to divine mercy is among the greatest. And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. From the direst death and the deepest dishonour David had been kept by God, for his enemies would have done more than send him to hell had they been able. His sense of sin also made him feel as if the most overwhelming destruction would have been his portion had not grace prevented, therefore does he speak of deliverance from the nethermost abode of lost spirits. There are some alive now who can use this language unfeignedly, and he who pens these lines most humbly confesses that he is one. Left to myself to indulge my passions, to rush onward with my natural vehemence, and defy the Lord with recklessness of levity, what a candidate for the lowest abyss should I have made myself by this time. For me, there was but one alternative, great mercy, or the lowest hell. With my whole heart do I sing, "Great is thy mercy towards me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." The psalmist here again touches a bold and joyful note, but soon he exchanges it for the mournful string.

O God, the proud are risen against me. They could not let God's poor servant alone, his walk with God was as smoke to their eyes, and therefore they determined to destroy him. None hate good men so fiercely as do the high minded and domineering. And the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul. Unitedly oppressors sought the good man's life; they hunted in packs, with keen scent, and eager foot. In persecuting times many a saint has used these words in reference to Papal bishops and inquisitors. And have not set thee before them. They would not have molested the servant if they had cared one whit for the master. Those who fear not God are not afraid to commit violent and cruel acts. An atheist is a misanthrope. Irreligion is akin to inhumanity.

But thou, O Lord. What a contrast! We get away from the hectorings and blusterings of proud but puny men to the glory and goodness of the Lord. We turn from the boisterous foam of chafing waves to the sea of glass mingled with fire, calm and serene. "Art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth." A truly glorious doxology, in which there is not one redundant word. As we have before observed, it is mainly transcribed from Ex 34:6. Here is compassion for the weak and sorrowing, grace for the undeserving, longsuffering for the provoking, mercy for the guilty, and truth for the tried. God's love assumes many forms, and is lovely in them all. Into whatsoever state we may be cast, there is a peculiar hue in the light of love which will harmonize with our condition; love is one and yet sevenfold, its white ray contains the chromatic scale. Are we sorrowful? We find the Lord full of compassion. Are we contending with temptation? His grace comes to our aid. Do we err? He is patient with us. Have we sinned? He is plenteous in mercy. Are we resting on his promise? He will fulfil it with abundant truth.

O turn unto me. As though the face of God had been before averted in anger, the suppliant pleads for a return of conscious favour. One turn of God's face will turn all our darkness into day. And have mercy upon me, that is all he asks, for he is lowly in heart; that is all he wants, for mercy answereth all a sinner's needs. Give thy strength unto thy servant. Gird me with it that I may serve thee, guard me with it that I may not be overcome. When the Lord gives us his own strength we are sufficient for all emergencies, and have no cause to fear any adversaries. And save the son of thine handmaid. He meant that he was a home born servant of God. As the sons of slaves were their master's property by their birth, so he gloried in being the son of a woman who herself belonged to the Lord. What others might think a degrading illustration he uses with delight, to show how intensely he loved the Lord's service; and also as a reason why the Lord should interpose to rescue him, seeing that he was no newly purchased servant, but had been in the house from his very birth.

Shew to me a token for good. Let me be assured of thy mercy by being delivered out of trouble.

That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed.

"Some token of thy favour show,

Some sign which all my foes may see;

And filled with blank confusion know,

My comfort and my help in thee."

What bodes good to me shall make them quail and blush. Disappointed and defeated, the foes of the good man would feel ashamed of what they had designed. "Because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me." God doth nothing by halves, those whom he helps he also consoles, and so makes them not merely safe but joyful. This makes the foes of the righteous exceedingly displeased, but it brings to the Lord double honour. Lord, deal thou thus with us evermore, so will we glorify thee, world without end. Amen.

TITLE. —The prophet David has penned two psalms, which he has eminently appropriated to himself as his own: the one is styled David's prayer, though many other psalms are prayers —it is Ps 86:1-17; the other David's praise, Ps 145:1-21. The first his tephilla, the latter his tehilla; in each of these he makes a solemn rehearsal of the very words of Moses, in Ex 34:6-7. In Ps 86:1-17 he brings them in as they were a support unto his faith in his distresses from sins and miseries, to which use he puts them, Ps 86:3-4 6-7. And again, Ps 86:16-17, he makes a plea of these words by way of prayer. In Ps 145:1-21, he brings them in as they are an elogium or celebration of the glorious nature and excellencies of God, to excite the sons of men to love and praise him. —Thomas Goodwin.

Title. —This Psalm was published under the title of A Prayer of David; not as if David sung all his prayers, but into some of his songs he inserted prayers; for a psalm will admit the expression of any pious and devout affections. But it is observable how very plain the language of this psalm is, and how little there is in it of poetical flights or figures, in comparison with some other psalms; for the flourishes of wit are not the proper ornaments of prayer. —Matthew Henry.

Title. —There was much, very much, of God's peculiar character, his glorious name, brought to view in the close of the last Psalm. This may account for its being followed by another, A Prayer of David, almost equally full of the character of Jehovah. The key note of this Psalm is Jehovah's name. —Andrew A. Bonar.

Whole Psalm. Christ prays throughout the whole of this Psalm. All the words are spoken exclusively by Christ, who is both God and man. —Psalt. Cassiodori, 1491.

Whole Psalm. In this Psalm Christ the Son of God and Son of Man, one God with the Father, one man with men, to whom we pray as God, prays in the form of a servant. For he prays for us, and he prays in us, and he is prayed to by us. He prays for us as our Priest. He prays in us as our Head. He is prayed to by us as our God. —Psalt. Pet. Lombard. 1474.

Bow down thine ear, O Lord. As the careful physician doth to his feeble patient: so Basil glosseth here. —John Trapp.

Verses 1-4. Poor, holy, trusteth, I cry. The petitioner is first described as poor, then holy, next trusting, after that crying, finally, lifted up to God. And each epithet has its fitting verb; bow down to the poor, preserve the holy, save the trusting, be merciful to him who cries, rejoice the lifted up. It is the whole gamut of love from the Incarnation to the Ascension; it tells us that Christ's humiliation will be our glory and joy. —Neale and Littledale's Commentary.

Holy. The word has been variously translated: —Godly, De Muis, Ainsworth and others; charitable, or beneficent, Piscator; merciful or tenderhearted, Mariana; diligently or earnestly compassionate, Vatablus; meek, Calvin; a beloved one, Version of American Bible Union; one whom thou lovest, Perowne; a devoted or dedicated man, —Weiss.

For I am Holy. Some have objected to David's pleading his own good character; but if he did not go beyond the truth, and the occasion called for it, there was nothing wrong in his so doing. Job, David, Peter, John and Paul all did it, Job 27:5 Ps 116:16 Joh 21:15-17 Re 1:10 1Co 9:1. Nor is it presumptuous to ask God to show mercy to us for we show it to others; or to forgive us for we forgive others, Mt 5:7 6:14-15. —William S. Plumer.

I am holy...thy servant which trusteth in thee. They that are holy, yet must not trust in themselves, or in their own righteousness, but only in God and his grace. —Matthew Henry.

Save thy servant that trusteth in thee. When God saves his servant, he saves what belongs to himself; and, when he saves him that trusts in him, he shows himself to be just and faithful, in carrying out what he promised. —Bellarmine.

Verses 2-5. The aspirations after holiness which are found in this Psalm, coupled with its earnest invocation of mercy from the God with whom there is forgiveness, render it peculiarly applicable to those whose daily access is to a throne of needed grace. Christians know that while their standing is the blameless perfection of the Lord their righteouness, they are in many things offenders still. Nor do we ever fully prove the preciousness of Jesus as our portion, except we are drawn to him by that Spirit which reveals to us a nakedness and poverty within ourselves, which his blessed fulness can alone redress. There is a consciousness of personal sanctification through faith (Ps 86:2) associated with an acutely sensitive perception of intrinsic worthlessness, such as only finds relief in the remembrance of unaltered grace (Ps 86:5), which, to the exercised spirit of one really growing in the knowledge of God, will address itself with an especial acceptance. —Arthur Pridham.

Be merciful unto me. Lest any should by the former words, ("I am holy", )suspect him to be a merit monger, he beggeth mercy with instancy and constancy of request. —John Trapp.

I cry unto thee daily. A great difference between saints and sinners in prayer is that sinners who pray at all, pray only when they are in trouble, whereas saints cry daily unto God. Compare Job 27:10. —William S. Plumer.

Rejoice the soul of thy servant, etc. As I have not found rest in anything created, I have raised up my soul on the wings of thought and desire to thee my Creator. Love bears one's soul up; and it has been truly said, that the soul is more where it loves, than where it actually is. Thought and desire are the wings of love; for he that loves is borne on to, and abides in, what he loves, by thinking constantly on, and longing for, the object of his love. Whoever truly, and from his heart, loves God, by thinking on him and longing for him lifts up his soul to God; while, on the contrary, whoever loves the earth, by thinking on and coveting the things of the earth, lets his soul down to its level. —Bellarmine.

Unto thee, Lord, do I lift my soul. If thou hadst corn in thy rooms below, thou wouldest take it up higher, lest it should grow rotten. Wouldest thou remove thy corn, and dost thou suffer thy heart to rot on the earth? Thou wouldest take thy corn up higher: lift up thy heart to heaven. And how can I, dost thou say? What ropes are needed? What machines? What ladders? Thy affections are the steps; thy will the way. By loving thou mountest, by neglect thou descendest. Standing on the earth thou art in heaven, if thou lovest God. For the heart is not so raised as the body is raised: the body to be lifted up changes its place: the heart to be lifted up changes its will. —Augstine.

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift my soul, intimates that he had brought himself to the Lord as a living sacrifice, even as the heave offering in the tabernacle —to show that it belonged to God and to his altar, and, that man had no part in it —was lifted up by the hands of the priests. —Benjamin Weiss.

—I lift up my soul. It denotes the devotion, fervency, heartiness, and sincerity of his prayer; the doing of it with a true heart, the lifting up of the heart with the hands unto God, La 3:41; or by way of offering unto the Lord, not the body only, but the soul or heart also; or as a deposition committed into is hands. —John Gill.

Lord. Here, and in all the verses in this psalm where ynda Adonai, occurs, many MSS read hwhy, Yehovah. The Jews, out of reverence to the incommunicable name Jehovah pronounce ynda where hwhy is in the text. It is, therefore, not improbable that hwhy is in the true reading in all these places. —Note to Calvin in loc.

For thou, Lord, art good, and whither should beggars go but to the door of the good house keeper? —Matthew Henry.

Ready to forgive. The mercy of God is a ready mercy, and his pardons are ready for his people; his pardons and mercies are not to seek, he hath them at hand, he is good and ready to forgive. Whereas most men, though they will forgive, yet they are not ready to forgive, they are hardly brought to it, though they do it at last. But God is "ready to forgive"; he hath, as it were, pardons ready drawn (as a man who would be ready to do a business, he will have such writings as concern the passing of it ready); there is nothing to do but to put in the date and the name; yea indeed, the date and the name are put in from all eternity. Thus the Scripture speaks to show how forward God is to do good; he needs not set his heart to it; his heart is ever in the exactest fitness. —Joseph Caryl.

Plenteous in mercy. It is a thing marvellously satisfactory and pleasing to the heart of a man to be still taking from a great heap; and upon this ground are those proverbial sayings, There is no fishing like to a fishing in the sea; no service like the service of a king: because in one there is the greatest plenty and abundance of that kind of pleasure that fishers look after; and for them that serve, and must live by their service, there is none like that of princes, because they have abundance of reward and opportunity whereby to recompense the services of those that do wait and attend upon them. . . . And upon the same ground is it that the Scriptures, in several places, do not only assert and testify that God is merciful and gracious, but abundant in mercy and full of grace; and not simply that there is redemption in him, but plenteousness of redemption: Ps 103:8 130:7 Isa 55:7; "Let the wicked forsake his way", etc.; "Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy; and unto our God, for lie will abundantly pardon." The commodity which we stand in need of is mercy and the pardon of our sins, in case we have been unholy and ungodly creatures; this commodity is abundantly in God. There it is treasured up as waters are in the store house of the sea; there is no end of the treasures of his grace, mercy, pardon, and compassion. There is no man, being in want, but had ten times rather go to a rich man's door to be relieved, than to the door of a poor man, if he knoweth the rich man to be as liberal and bountifully disposed as the poor man can be. —John Goodwin.

Supplications ytwnwxt, deprecations. The Psalmist forms a peculiar Hebrew word, feminine plural, not found elsewhere, to convey more impressively the idea of suppliant weakness. —A.R. Fausset.

Verses 8-10. —There are two kinds of doubt which are wont in the hour of temptation to assail the soul: the doubt as to God's willingness, and the doubt as to God's power to succour. The first of these the Psalmist has already put from him; he now shows that he has overcome the second. God is able as well as willing to help, and every being on the face of the earth who receives help, receives it from the hand of Him who is the only God, and who shall one day be recognized (so speaks the strong prophetic hope within him, Ps 86:9) as the only God. —J.J.S. Perowne.

Verses 9-10. All nations shall worship before thee, because as King of Nations, thou art great, thy sovereignty absolute and incontestable, thy Majesty terrible and unsupportable, thy power universal and irresistible, thy riches vast and inexhaustible, thy dominion boundless and unquestionable; and for the proof of this, thou doest wondrous things, which all nations admire, and from whence they might easily infer that thou art God alone; not only none like thee, but none beside thee. —Matthew Henry.

Teach me thy way: I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart. Here is the "Via, Veritas, Vita" of the Gospel (Joh 14:6). "Via tua, Veritas tua, Vita tua, Christus." Christ is our Way, Truth, and Life, because he is Man united to God, and is one substance with the Father. —Christopher Wordsworth.

Teach me. There is no point on which the world is more dark than that of its own ignorance —we might truly say, "it is ignorant of its ignorance" —it knows enough when it learns by rote a few first principles of religion; it comforts itself that it is not atheistical because it believes that there is a God; but as to knowing his ways, laws, mind, or any such things, with them it has nothing at all to do. The people of the world do not care for enlightenment; they feel no pressing need for it; in all probability they have an instinctive feeling that if enlightened they would know a little more than they wish to know, that their newly acquired knowledge would interfere with their old habits and ways, and this is one reason why all spiritual teaching which goes beneath the surface is distasteful to the majority of men. They cannot bear to be brought into contact with God, in anything but a general way; the particulars of his character may not agree over well with the particulars of their lives! It is the fashion in the present day to talk of man's enlightenment, and to represent human nature as upheaving under its load, as straining towards a knowledge of truth; such is not in reality the case, and whenever there is an effort in the mind untaught of the Spirit, it is directed towards God as the great moral and not as the great spiritual Being. A man untaught of the Holy Ghost may long to know a moral, he can never desire to know a spiritual Being. —John Hyatt, 1767-1826.

Teach. The common version of the verb here is too vague, as it fails to bring out the peculiar suitableness of the term to express the kind of teaching here specifically meant. The original meaning of the Hebrew word is to point out or mark the way. —J.A. Alexander.

I will walk in thy truth. Conform to Scripture. Let us lead Scripture lives. Oh that the Bible might be seen to be printed in our lives! Do what the Word commands. Obedience is an excellent way of commenting upon the Bible. Let the Word be the sun dial by which you set your life. What are we the better for having the Scriptures, if we do not direct all our speeches and actions according to it? What is a carpenter better for his rule about him, if he sticks it at his back, and never makes use of it for measuring and squaring? So, what are we the better for the rule of the Word, if we do not make use of it, and regulate our lives by it? —Thomas Watson.

I will walk in thy truth. Walking, in the Scripture, takes in the whole of our conversation or conduct: and to walk in anything, intends a fulness of it. For a man to walk in pride, is something more than to be proud: it says, that pride is his way, his element; that he is wholly under the influence of it. —William Jay.

Unite my heart to fear thy name. The end which he desired to secure was that he might truly fear God, or properly reverence and honour him; the means which he saw to be necessary for this was that his "heart" might be "united" in this one great object; that is, that his heart might be single in its views and purposes; that there might be no distracting purposes; that one great aim might be always before him. The word rendered unite —dxy, yahhad —occurs as a verb only in three places. In Ge 49:6 it is rendered united: "Unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united." In Isa 14:20 it is translated joined: "Thou shalt not be joined unto them." The adverb —dxy ya-hhad —occurs often, and is rendered together, Ge 13:6 22:6,8,19 36:7; et soepe. The idea is that of union, or conjunction; of being together; of constituting one; and this is accomplished in the heart when there is one great ruling object before the mind which nothing is allowed to interfere with. It may be added, that there is no more appropriate prayer which a man can offer than that his heart may have such unity of purpose, and that nothing may be allowed to interfere with that one supreme purpose. —Albert Barnes.

Unite my heart, etc. Sincerity drives but one design, and that is to please and enjoy God; and what can more establish and fix the soul in the hour of temptation than this? The reason why the hypocrite is unstable in all his ways, is given us by the apostle: he is "a double minded man", a man of two souls in one body; as a profane wretch once boasted, that he had one soul for God, and another for anything. But all the designs of a gracious heart are united in one; and so the entire stream of his affections runs strong. It is base by ends and self interests, that, like a great many ditches cut out of the bank of a river, draw away the stream out of its proper channel, and make its waters fail. But if the heart be united for God, then we may say of such a Christian, as was said of a young Roman, "What he does is done with all his might." A man of only one design, puts out all his strength to carry it; nothing can stand before him. Sincerity brings a man's will into subjection to the will of God; and this being done, the greatest danger and difficulty is over with such a man. This is that holy oil which makes the wheels of the soul run nimbly, even in the difficult paths of obedienee. —John Flavel.

Unite my heart.

Give me thine heart but as I gave it thee:

Or give it me at least as I

Have given mine

To purchase thine.

I halved it not when I did die;

But gave myself wholly to set thee free.

The heart I gave thee was a living heart;

And when thy heart by sin was slain,

I laid down mine

To ransom thine,

That thy dead heart might live again,

And live entirely perfect, not in part.

But whilst thine heart's divided, it is dead;

Dead unto me, unless it liveTo me alone,

It is all one

To keep all, and a part to give:

For what's a body worth without an head!

Yet, this is worse, that what thou keepest from me

Thou dost bestow upon my foes

And those not mine

Alone, but thine;

The proper causes of thy woes,

From whom I gave my life to set thee free.

Have I betrothed thee to myself, and shall

The devil, and the world, intrude

Upon my right,

Eeen in my sight?

Think not thou canst me so delude:

I will have none, unless I may have all.

I made it all, I gave it all to thee,

I gave all that I had for it:

If I must lose,

I would rather choose

Mine interest in all to quit:

Or keep it whole, or give it whole to me. —Francis Quarles, in "The School of the Heart."

Unite my heart to fear thy name.

In knotts, to be loosed never,

Knitt my heart to thee forever,

That I to thy name may beare

Fearful love and loving feare. —Francis Davison.

I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name. We glorify God by praising him. Doxology, or praise, is a God exalting work. Ps 50:23. "Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me." The Hebrew word, Bara, to create, and Barak, to praise, are little different, because the end of creation is to praise God. Though nothing can add to God's essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. When we praise God, we spread his fame and renown, we display the trophies of his excellency. In this manner the angels glorify him; they are the choristers of heaven, and do trumpet forth his praise. Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. Believers are called "temples of God", 1Co 3:16. When our tongues praise, then the organs of God's spiritual temple are sounding. How sad it is that God hath no more glory from us in this way! Many are full of murmuring and discontent, but seldom bring glory to God, by giving him the praise due to his name. We read of the saints having harps in their hands, the emblems of praise. Many have tears in their eyes and complaints in their mouths, but few have harps in their hands, blessing and glorifying God. Let us honour God this way. Praise is the quit rent we pay to God: while God renews our lease, we must renew our rent. —Thomas Watson.

I will praise thee, O Lord, &c. Such a soul as David was is enlarged to talk high of God: I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore. Alas! poor creature, how canst thou proclaim him "for evermore"? A soul fired with desire to praise God, burns after both more perfect things and more lasting than it is able to perform. "To will is present with it", etc. See but the reachings and longings of such a soul, how it swells in desires to glorify God! —Thomas Goodwin.

With all my heart. When my heart is united to fear thy name, then shall I praise thee with my whole heart. —Adam Clarke.

Hell is put metaphorically for great and extreme dangers, or miseries which seem irrecoverable and remediless; these are figuratively called hell, because hell, properly taken, is a place from whence there is no recovery. There's no release from the chains of darkness: all changes are on earth; heaven and hell know none. When David praises the Lord for delivering his soul from the lowest hell, he meaneth an estate on earth of the lowest and deepest danger imaginable: mercy helped him at the worst. To be as low as hell, is to be at the lowest. —Joseph Caryl.

The lowest hell. According to Jewish traditions, there are seven different regions, in the abode of departed souls. —Daniel Creswell.

Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. Someone having a troublesome cause was to be sent to prison: another comes and defends him; what does he say when he thanks him? Thou hast delivered my soul out of prison. A debtor was to be tortured: his debt is paid; he is said to be delivered from being tortured. They were not in all these evils; but because they were in such due course towards them, that unless aid had been brought, they would have been in them, they rightly say that they are delivered from thence, whither they were not suffered by their deliverers to be taken. —Augustine.

There is no stronger argument of God's infallible readiness to grant our requests, than the experience of his former concessions. So David reasons, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine", 1Sa 17:37. This is the argument a priori, the voice of a strong faith, that persuades the conscience God will be gracious to him, because he hath been gracious. The prophet thus often comforted his soul: "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress"; therefore, "have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer", Ps 4:1. So, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell; therefore, O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me. Let the justiciaries deduce arguments from their own present merits, my soul from God's former mercies. Thou, O Lord, madest me good, restoredst me when I was evil; therefore have mercy upon me, miserable sinner, and give me thy salvation. Thus Paul grounded his assurance: because the Lord had stood with him, and delivered him out of the lion's mouth; therefore the Lord shall deliver me still, from every evil work, and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom. 2 Ti 4:17-18. —Thomas Adams.

There is no stronger argument of God's infallible readiness to grant our requests, than the experience of his former concessions. So David reasons, "The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine", 1Sa 17:37. This is the argument a priori, the voice of a strong faith, that persuades the conscience God will be gracious to him, because he hath been gracious. The prophet thus often comforted his soul: "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress"; therefore, "have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer", Ps 4:1. So, Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell; therefore, O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me. Let the justiciaries deduce arguments from their own present merits, my soul from God's former mercies. Thou, O Lord, madest me good, restoredst me when I was evil; therefore have mercy upon me, miserable sinner, and give me thy salvation. Thus Paul grounded his assurance: because the Lord had stood with him, and delivered him out of the lion's mouth; therefore the Lord shall deliver me still, from every evil work, and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom. 2 Ti 4:17-18. —Thomas Adams.

Thou, O Lord, Adonai, art a God; El, the strong God, full of compassion; the same words as Moses useth. Instead of Jehovah, Adonai is used, "O Lord"; but then El, strong God, is the same word. The meaning is, let all the strength and power thou the strong God hast in thee be for my advantage. Now, is it not a bold request to say, Lord, wilt thou give me all thy strength to help me? A very bold request indeed; but his mercy moves him to grant it. Thus then petition him: Thou art a God merciful and gracious, give thy strength to me! Thou, O God, givest all thy attributes up to thy children, to serve their advantage, as well as to serve thy own glory; give me thy strength! —Thomas Goodwin.

Full of compassion. The original word Rachum is very emphatical; it signifies such tenderness as parents have toward their children when their bowels yearn within them. —"Critical and Practical Exposition of the Pentateuch." 1748.

Save the son of thine handmaid. Deliver me, who am as completely thy property, as the offspring of a female slave born in her master's house, and which belongs of right to him. Ge 14:14 Jer 2:14. —William Keatinge Clay.

Shew me a token for good. These words do not, as some think, necessarily imply David's asking for some specific or miraculous token; he regards deliverance itself as a token. We ask whether it be not true, that in the same measnre as we recognise the mysteriously governing influence of God in every day events, we regard those things as signs and miracles, which to others appear common place? —Augustus F. Tholuck.

Perhaps, the token for good means that spiritual joy which he asked for in the beginning of the Psalm, when he said, "Rejoice the soul of thy servant" for such joy to a holy soul in tribulation is the clearest sign of the grace of God, and on the sight of it all manner of persecutors are confounded; and then the meaning would be, "shew me a token for good"; give me the grace of that spiritual joy that will appear exteriorily in my countenance, "that they which hate me may see" such calmness and tranquillity of soul, "and be confounded"; for thou, O Lord, hast helped me in the struggle, consoled me in my sorrow, and hast already converted my sadness into interior joy and gladness. —Robert Bellarmine.

Shew me a token for good, may be rendered "make me a sign for good." Weiss paraphrases it, "make of me such a sign or monument of good that all my enemies may be arrested by it, and be daunted at injuring a man so assisted by the Lord."

Hast holpen me, in struggle; and comforted me, in sorrow. —Augustine.

1. A singular request —that the Lord should bow his ear.

2. A singular plea —"I am poor and needy."

3. The singular grace of God will answer the request, because singular grace has made the petitioner feel his need.

1. The blessing sought is present, spiritual, complete and final preservation.

2. Our reasons for expecting it are —

(a) Our belonging to God —"I am holy." (b) God's belonging to us —"my God." (c) Our faith, which has the promise.

(d) Our fruits, which prove our faith —"thy servant"

—Importunity.

1. When she pleads —"daily." 2. How she pleads —"I cry." 3. To whom she pleads —"unto thee." 4. For what she pleads —"be merciful."

—I will cry daily for pardoning, sanctifying, assisting, preserving, providing and guiding mercy. —William Jay.

1. The believer's joy is from God —"Rejoice", &c.

2. The believer's joy is in God —"unto thee", &c. —G.R.

1. The great lift.

2. The heavy weight —"my soul". 3. The weak worker —"I lift". 4. The great height —"unto thee". 5. The appointed machinery —means of grace; and,

6. The expected aid —"Rejoice", etc.

—Encouraging thoughts of God.

1. He has goodness in his essence.

2. He has forgiveness in readiness.

3. He has mercy in action, flowing forth from him plenteously.

4. His very discrimination is gracious —"all them that call upon him."

The praying man desires above all things an answer. Objections to such an expectation. Grounds for continuing to expect, and duties incumbent upon those who realise such expectations.

The voice of supplication. It is the voice of weakness, of penitence, of faith, of hope, of the new nature, of knowledge, &c.

1. Help needed.

2. Help sought.

3. Help found. —G.R.

1. A time to be expected —"day of my trouble." 2. A resolve to be practised —"I will call upon thee." 3. A result to be experienced —"thou wilt answer me."

—Prayer is the design of trouble, the evidence that it is sanctified, its solace, and the medium of deliverance from it. —William Jay.

1. God is one; the only God: characters of false gods inferior far.

2. His works are unique. Nature, providence, grace, all peculiar in many respects. A good theme for a thoughtful preacher.

The certain conversion of the world as opposed to modern theories.

1. God is "great", therefore great things may be expected of him.

2. He is unsearchable, therefore "wondrous things" may be expected of him.

3. He is irresistible, therefore impossibihties to others may be expected of him: "Thou art God alone". —G.R.

In the disposition of mind which is expressed in these words, the believer stands opposed to four descriptions of character.

1. The ignorant and thoughtless sinner, who neither regards his way nor his end.

2. The Antinomian, who is zealous for doctrines, and averse from the practice of religion.

3. The Pharisee, who disregards religious sentiment, and makes practice all in all.

4. The hypocrite, who appears to be divided between religion and the world. —John Hyatt, 1811.

The Christian as a scholar, a man of action, and a man of devotion.

Verse 11. Holiness taught, truth practised, God adored; and thus the life perfected.

(middle clause). We should walk in the belief of the truth, its practice, enjoyment, and profession. —William Jay.

(third clause). The necessity, benefit, and reasonableness of whole heartedhess in religion.

—The art of praising God by heart.

1. Where I might have been —"the lowest hell." 2. What thou hast done for me —"hast delivered." 3. What thou art doing —"great is thy mercy."

(first clause). —God's mercy great in election, redemption, calling, pardon, upholding, etc. It is so, at this very moment, in supplying my needs, preserving from danger, consoling in sorrow, etc. Great is thy mercy towards me —so great a sinner, with such needs, so provoking, so full of doubts, etc.

Verses 13-15. The three verses describe salvation, consequent persecution, and all sufficient consolation.

The shades of the light of love. Compassion upon suffering, grace towards unworthiness, long suffering to provocation, mercy towards sin, truth towards the promise.

1. My pedigree —"son of thine handmaid." 2. My occupation —"thy servant."

3. My character —needing "mercy." 4. My request "turn unto me."

In what respects a servant of God may be girt with divine power.

What inward feelings and outward providences are "tokens for good."