Psalms 9 commentary

If we would praise God acceptably, we must praise him in sincerity, with our whole heart. When we give thanks for some one particular mercy, we should remember former mercies. Our joy must not be in the gift, so much as in the Giver. The triumphs of the Redeemer ought to be the triumphs of the redeemed. The almighty power of God is that which the strongest and stoutest of his enemies are no way able to stand before. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth, and that with him there is no unrighteousness. His people may, by faith, flee to him as their Refuge, and may depend on his power and promise for their safety, so that no real hurt shall be done to them. Those who know him to be a God of truth and faithfulness, will rejoice in his word of promise, and rest upon that. Those who know him to be an everlasting Father, will trust him with their souls as their main care, and trust in him at all times, even to the end; and by constant care seek to approve themselves to him in the whole course of their lives. Who is there that would not seek him, who never hath forsaken those that seek Him?

Those who believe that God is greatly to be praised, not only desire to praise him better themselves, but desire that others may join with them. There is a day coming, when it will appear that he has not forgotten the cry of the humble; neither the cry of their blood, or the cry of their prayers. We are never brought so low, so near to death, but God can raise us up. If he has saved us from spiritual and eternal death, we may thence hope, that in all our distresses he will be a very present help to us. The overruling providence of God frequently so orders it, that persecutors and oppressors are brought to ruin by the projects they formed to destroy the people of God. Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves; the contentious bring mischief upon themselves: thus men's sins may be read in their punishment, and it becomes plain to all, that the destruction of sinners is of themselves. All wickedness came originally with the wicked one from hell; and those who continue in sin, must go to that place of torment. The true state, both of nations and of individuals, may be correctly estimated by this one rule, whether in their doings they remember or forget God. David encourages the people of God to wait for his salvation, though it should be long deferred. God will make it appear that he never did forget them: it is not possible he should. Strange that man, dust in his and about him, should yet need some sharp affliction, some severe visitation from God, to bring him to the knowledge of himself, and make him feel who and what he is.

Psalm 9

David, after having recounted the former victories which he had gained, and exalted in lofty strains the grace and power of God in their happy issue, now again, when he sees new enemies and dangers rising up, implores the protection of the same God by whom he had before been delivered, and beseeches him to overthrow the pride of his enemies.

To the chief musician Almuth Laben. A Psalm of David.

This inscription is variously explained. Some translate it, Upon the death of Laben, and are of opinion that he was one of the chief captains of David’s enemies. Others are inclined to think it was rather a fictitious name, and that Goliath is the person spoken of in this psalm. According to others, it was a musical instrument. But to me it seems a more correct, or, at least, (as I am accustomed to speak when the matter is obscure, “Comme on a accoustum de parler quand la chose est obscure.” — Fr. a more probable opinion, that it was the beginning of some well-known song, to the tune of which the psalm was composed. The disputes of interpreters as to what victory David here celebrates, in my judgment, are unnecessary, and serve no good purpose. In the first place, their opinion that it is a song of victory, in which David simply gives thanks to God, is confuted, and shown to be erroneous from the scope of the psalm. The greater part is indeed occupied in singing the praises of God, but the whole ought to be considered as a prayer; in which, for the purpose of elevating his mind to confidence in God, he calls to his remembrance, according to his usual manner, by what wonderful displays of the power of God he had formerly been delivered from the violence and power of his enemies. It is therefore a mistake to limit to one victory this thanksgiving, in which he intended to comprehend many deliverances.

Psalm 9:1-3

1. I will praise Jehovah with my whole heart; I will tell of thy marvellous works. 2. I will rejoice and exult Or, leap for joy. This is the precise meaning of the Hebrew word אעלצה The Septuagint render it ἀγαλλιάσομαι, which means the same thing. in thee; yea, I will celebrate in songs thy name, O thou Most High. 3. When my enemies are turned back, they fall down, and are put to flight “Et sont ruinez devant ta face.” — Fr. “And are overthrown before thy face.” at thy presence.

1. I will praise the Lord. David begins the psalm in this way, to induce God to succor him in the calamities with which he was now afflicted. As God continues his favor towards his own people without intermission, all the good he has hitherto done to us should serve to inspire us with confidence and hope, that he will be gracious and merciful to us in the time to come. “Doit servir pour nous asseurer et faire esperer qu’il nous sera propice et debonnaire, l’advenir.” — Fr. There is, indeed, in these words a profession of gratitude for the favors which he has received from God; “De la faveur qu’il a receu, de Dieu.” — Fr. but, in remembering his past mercies, he encourages himself to expect succor and aid in future emergencies; and by this means he opens the gate of prayer. The whole heart is taken for an upright or sincere heart, which is opposed to a double heart. Thus he distinguishes himself not only from gross hypocrites, who praise God only with their lips outwardly, without having their hearts in any way affected, but also acknowledges that whatever he had hitherto done which was commendable, proceeded entirely from the pure grace of God. Even irreligious men, I admit, when they have obtained some memorable victory, are ashamed to defraud God of the praise which is due to him; but we see that as soon as they have uttered a single expression in acknowledgement of the assistance God has afforded them, they immediately begin to boast loudly, and to sing triumphs in honor of their own valor, as if they were under no obligations whatever to God. In short, it is a piece of pure mockery when they profess that their exploits have been done by the help of God; for, after having made oblation to Him, they sacrifice to their own counsels, skill, courage, and resources. Observe how the prophet Habakkuk, under the person of one presumptuous king, wisely reproves the ambition which is common to all, (Habakkuk 1:16.) Yea, we see that the famous generals of antiquity, who, upon returning victorious from some battle, desired public and solemn thanksgivings “Processions.” — Fr. to be decreed in their name to the gods, thought of nothing less than of doing honor to their false deities; but only abused their names under a false pretense, in order thereby to obtain an opportunity of indulging in vain boasting, that their own superior prowess might be acknowledged. “Afin que leurs belles prouesses veissent en cognaissance.” — Fr. David, therefore, with good reason, affirms that he is unlike the children of this world, whose hypocrisy or fraud is discovered by the wicked and dishonest distribution which they make between God and themselves, “Qu’ils sont entre Dieu et eux.” — Fr. arrogating to themselves the greater part of the praise which they pretended to ascribe to God. He praised God with his whole heart, which they did not; for certainly it is not praising God with the whole heart when a mortal man dares to appropriate the smallest portion of the glory which God claims for himself. God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can.

I will tell of all thy marvellous works. Here David confirms what I have already said, that he does not treat in this psalm of one victory or one deliverance only; for he proposes to himself in general all the miracles which God had wrought in his behalf, as subjects of meditation. He applies the term marvellous not to all the benefits which he had received from God, but to those more signal and memorable deliverances in which was exhibited a bright and striking manifestation of the divine power. God would have us to acknowledge him as the author of all our blessings; but on some of his gifts he has engraven more evident marks in order the more effectually to awaken our senses, which are otherwise as if asleep or dead. David’s language, therefore, is an acknowledgement that he was preserved of God, not by ordinary means, but by the special power of God, which was conspicuously displayed in this matter; inasmuch as he had stretched forth his hand in a miraculous manner, and above the common and usual way.

PSALM 9

Psa 9:1-20. Upon Muthlabben, or, after the manner according to "death to the Son," by which some song was known, to whose air or melody the musician is directed to perform this Psalm. This mode of denoting a song by some prominent word or words is still common (compare Psa 22:1). The Psalmist praises God for deliverance from his enemies and celebrates the divine government, for providing security to God's people and punishment to the wicked. Thus encouraging himself, he prays for new occasions to recount God's mercies, and confident of His continued judgment on the wicked and vindication of the oppressed, he implores a prompt and efficient manifestation of the divine sovereignty.

1. Heartfelt gratitude will find utterance.

3-5. When ... are turned back--It is the result of God's power alone. He, as a righteous Judge (Psa 7:11), vindicates His people. He rebukes by acts as well as words (Psa 6:1; 18:15), and so effectually as to destroy the names of nations as well as persons.

6. Literally, "As to the enemy finished are his ruins for ever. Thou [God] hast destroyed," &c. (1Sa 15:3, 7; 27:8, 9). The wicked are utterly undone. Their ruins shall never be repaired.

7-8. God's eternal possession of a throne of justice is contrasted with the ruin of the wicked.

9-10. The oppressed, and all who know Him (Psa 5:3; 7:1), find Him a sure refuge.

11. (Compare Psa 2:6; 3:4).

12. for blood--that is, murders (Psa 5:6), including all the oppressions of His people.

maketh inquisition--(compare Ge 9:5). He will avenge their cause.

13. gates--or, "regions."

of death--Gates being the entrance is put for the bounds.

14. gates ... Zion--The enclosure of the city (compare Psa 48:12; Is 23:12), or, church, as denoted by this phrase contrasted with that of death, carries out the idea of exaltation as well as deliverance. Signal favors should lead us to render signal and public thanks.

15-16. The undesigned results of the devices of the wicked prove them to be of God's overruling or ordering, especially when those results are destructive to the wicked themselves.

17. shall be turned--or, "shall turn," retreating under God's vengeance, and driven by Him to the extreme of destruction, even hell itself. Those who forget God are classed with the depraved and openly profane.

18. (Compare Psa 13:1-6).

the needy--literally, "poor," as deprived of anything; hence miserable.

expectation of the poor--or, "meek," "humble," made so by affliction.

19. Arise--(compare Psa 4:7).

let not man--(Psa 8:4).

let ... be judged--and of course condemned.

20. By their effectual subjection, make them to realize their frail nature (Psa 8:4), and deter them from all conceit and future rebellion.

I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart - And it is only when the whole heart is employed in the work that God can look upon it with acceptance.

I will show forth - אספרה asapperah, "I will number out, or reckon up;" a very difficult task, נפלאותיך niphleotheycha, "thy miracles;" supernatural interventions of thy power and goodness. He whose eye is attentive to the operation of God's hand will find many of these. In the Vulgate this Psalm begins with Confitebor tibi, Domine, "I will confess unto thee, O Lord," which my old MS. above quoted translates thus: I sal schrife Lard, til the, in al my hert, I sal tel al twi wonders. On which we find the following curious paraphrase: "Here the prophete spekes agaynes that grucches with ese of il men: and the travel and anguis of gude men. I sal schrife til the Lard, that is, I sal lufe the in al my hert, hally gederant it til thi luf: and gyfand na party tharof tyl errour, na to covatyse: ne til fleschly luf. A vile errour it is that some men says, that God dose unrightwisly in mani thinges in erthe: for tham thynk that tay sold noght be done. Als I hard say noght lang sythem, of a man of religyon, and of grete fame, that qwen he was in tlle see, in poynte to peryshe, he said tyl Gode: Lard thu dos unryghtwysly if thou sofyr us to perysch here. God myght haf answered and said, My rightwysnes reches to sofer a beter man than thou ert to perisse here: for I hope, had he ben a ryghtwyse man, he had noght sayd swa: for al ar unryghtwyse, that hopes that any unrightwysnes may be in Godes wylle. Bot I sal luf the in al thi workes; and tel al thy wonders; that is, bathe that er sene, and that ar noght sene; visibels and invisibels."

I will be glad and rejoice in thee - I am glad that thou hast heard my prayer, and showed me mercy; and I will rejoice in thee, in having thee as my portion, dwelling and working in my heart.

When mine enemies are turned back - It is a sure sign of a nearly approaching complete conquest over sin, when, by resistance to its influences, it begins to lose its power. That is the time to follow on to know the Lord.

Thou hast rebuked the heathen - We know not what this particularly refers to, but it is most probably to the Canaanitish nations, which God destroyed from off the face of the earth; hence it is said, Thou hast put out their name for ever and ever, לעולם ועד leolam vaed, endlessly. Here עולם olam has its proper signification, without end. He who contends it means only a limited time, let him tell us where the Hivites, Perizzites, Jebusites, etc., now dwell; and when it is likely they are to be restored to Canaan.

Destructions are come to a perpetual end - Rather, "The enemy is desolated for ever; for thou hast destroyed their cities, and their memory is perished with them." Multitudes of the cities of the Canaanites have perished so utterly that neither name nor vestige remains of them.

But the Lord shall endure - All things shall have an end but God and holy spirits.

He shall judpe the world in righteousness - All the dispensations of God's providence are founded in righteousness and truth.

A refuge - משגב misgab, a high place, where their enemies can neither reach nor see them. He who has God for his portion has all safety in him.

They that know thy name - Who have an experimental acquaintance with thy mercy, will put their trust in thee, from the conviction that thou never hast forsaken, and never wilt forsake, them that trust in thee.

Declare among the people his doings - It is the duty of all those who have received the salvation of God, to recommend him and his salvation to the whole circle of their acquaintance, Christians, so called, when they meet, seldom speak about God! Why is this? Because they have nothing to say.

When he maketh inquisition for blood - This not only applies to the Canaanites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines, who shed the blood of God's people unjustly, but to all the nations of the earth who, to enlarge their territory, increase their wealth, or extend their commerce, have made destructive wars. For the blood which such nations have shed, their blood shall be shed. If man should make no inquisition for this iniquitously spilt blood, God will do it, for he remembers them; and the cry of the humbled, distressed people, driven to distraction and ruin by such wars, is not forgotten before him.

Have mercy upon me, O Lord - David, having laid down the preceding maxims, now claims his part in their truth. I also am in trouble through the unjust dealings of my enemies; I am brought to the gates of death; have mercy on me, and lift me up, that, being saved from the gates of death, I may show forth thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. The gates of death - an open grave, leading to a yawning hell. The gates of the daughter of Zion - all the ordinances of God, by which the soul is helped forward to heaven.

The heathen are sank down to the pit - See on Psa 7:15 (note).

The Lord is known by the judgment - It is not every casualty that can properly be called a judgment of God. Judgment is his strange work; but when he executes it, his mind is plainly to be seen. There are no natural causes to which such calamities can be legally attributed.

The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands - There is nothing that a wicked man does that is not against his own interest. He is continually doing himself harm, and takes more pains to destroy his soul than the righteous man does to get his saved unto eternal life. This is a weighty truth; and the psalmist adds: Higgaion, Selah. Meditate on this; mark it well. See on Psa 3:3 (note). Some think that it is a direction to the musicians, something like our Presto, Largo, Vivace, Allegro, "Play briskly and boldly; beat away; and let sense and sound accompany each other."

The wicked shall be turned into hell - לשאולה lisholah, headlong into hell, down into hell. The original is very emphatic.

All the nations that forget God - They will not live in his fear. There are both nations and individuals who, though they know God, forget him, that is, are unmindful of of him, do not acknowledge him in their designs, ways and works. These are all to be thrust down into hell. Reader, art thou forgetful of thy Maker, and of Him who died for thee?

The needy shall not alway be forgotten - The needy, and the poor, whose expectation is from the Lord, are never forgotten, though sometimes their deliverance is delayed for the greater confusion of their enemies, the greater manifestation of God's mercy, and the greater benefit to themselves.

Arise, O Lord - Let this be the time in which thou wilt deliver thy poor people under oppression and persecution.

Put them in fear - שיתה יהוה מורה להם shithah Yehovah morah lahem, "O Lord, place a teacher among them," that they may know they also are accountable creatures, grow wise unto salvation, and be prepared for a state of blessedness. Several MSS. read מורא morre, fear; but teacher or legislator is the reading of all the versions except the Chaldee. Coverdale has hit the sense, translating thus: O Lorde, set a Scholemaster over them; and the old Psalter, Sett Lorb a brynger of Law abouen tham.

That the nations may know themselves to be but men - אנוש enosh; Let the Gentiles be taught by the preaching of thy Gospel that they are weak and helpless, and stand in need of the salvation which Christ has provided for them. This may be the spirit of the petition. And this is marked by the extraordinary note Selah; Mark well, take notice. So the term may be understood. "This whole Psalm," says Dr. Horsley, "seems naturally to divide into three parts. The first ten verses make the First part; the six following, the Second; and the remaining four the Third. "The First part is prophetic of the utter extermination of the irreligious persecuting faction. The prophecy is delivered in the form of an Επινικιον, or song of victory, occasioned by the promise given in the fifteenth verse of the tenth Psalm; and through the whole of this song the psalmist, in the height of a prophetic enthusiasm, speaks of the threatened vengeance as accomplished. "The Second part opens with an exhortation to the people of God to praise him as the Avenger of their wrongs, and the watchful Guardian of the helpless, and, as if the flame of the prophetic joy which the oracular voice had lighted in the psalmist's mind was beginning to die away, the strain is gradually lowered, and the notes of triumph are mixed with supplication and complaint, as if the mind of the psalmist were fluttering between things present and to come, and made itself alternately present to his actual condition and his future hope. "In the Third part the psalmist seems quite returned from the prophetic enthusiasm to his natural state, and closes the whole song with explicit but cool assertions of the future destruction of the wicked, and the deliverance of the persecuted saints, praying for the event."

But - Though cities and people may perish, yet the Lord abides for ever. Which is sufficient for the terror of his enemies, and the comfort of his church.

Thy name - Thy infinite power and wisdom, and faithfulness and goodness. The name of God is frequently put for God. Put their trust - The experience of thy faithfulness to thy people in all ages, is a just ground for their confidence.

Zion - Whose special and gracious presence is there. People - To the heathen nations.

Blood - The bloodshed of his innocent and holy ones: which though he may not seem to regard for a season, yet he will certainly call the authors of it to a severe account. Them - The humble, as it follows, or the oppressed, ver.9, that trust in him, and seek to him, ver.10, whom he seemed to have forgotten.

Gates - In the great assemblies. These gates he elegantly opposes to the former. Of - Of the people who live or meet together in Zion. For cities are as it were mothers to their people, and the people are commonly called their daughters. So the names of the daughters of Egypt, Jer 46:11, and of Edom, Lam 4:21,22, and of Tyre, Psal 45:12, are put for the people of those places.

Higgaion - This is either a musical term, or a note of attention, intimating that the matter deserves deep meditation, or consideration, as the word signifies.

Forget - That do not regard God, nor his precepts, nor his threatenings and judgments.

1. I will praise thee, O LORD with my heart , I will shew forth all thy marvellons works .

(i. e.) With a sincere, and affectionate, and united Heart.

I will discourse in the general of thy manifold Wonders wrought for me, and for thy Church and People formerly. The Particle all is here, as it is oft elsewhere taken in a restrained Sence.

Marginal references: Or, I will praise the Lord.

2. I will be glad and rejoyce in thee : I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most high.

(i. e.) In thy favour and help vouchsafed to me.

3. When mine enemies are turned back , they shall fall and perish at thy presence .

(i. e.) Discomfited and put to Flight.

They shall not save themselves by Flight, and reserve themselves to do further Mischief, but shall stumble as it were at Gall-traps by thee laid in their way, and shall be pursued and overtaken, and cut off.

Upon thy appearance against them. One angry Look of thine is able to confound and destroy them. Heb. from thy face, because thou didst march in the head of our Armies, and against them. They could not stand before thee. So he ascribes the Honour of his Victories to God only, and to his Presence and assistance.

4. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause , thou satest in the throne judging right .

(i. k.) My righteous Cause against thine and mine Enemies.

Thou didst judg and give Sentence for me.

Or, O righteo[illegible: 1+ letters]s Iudg, or, as a just Iudg.

Marginal references: Heb. Thou hast made my judgment.; Heb. In righteo[illegible: 1+ letters]sness.

5. Thou hast rebuked the heathen , thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

(i. e.) Punished, as Psal. 6. 1. or destroyed, as it is explained in the next Clause.

To wit, the Philistins and other heathen Nations, who did from time to time molest David, or the People of Israel.

Either that Fame and Honour which they had gained by their former Exploits, but now utterly lost by their shameful Defeats: or their very Memorial, as it [illegible: 1+ letters]ared with Amalek.

6. O thou enemy , destructions are come to a perpetual end : and thou hast destroyed Cities, their memorial is perished with them .

This is a sudden Apostrophe to the Enemies of God's People, Philistins, Amorites, or other Nations, who had formerly made great Havock and Wast among them.

Thou hast destroyed the Israelitish Nation utterly and irrecoverably, and, as it follows, their defenced Cities, and their very Name and Memory, according to thy own desire. So it is a Sarcasme or Jrony, an usual Figure in Scripture and all Authors, whereby the quite contrary is signified. To wit, That they were not only frustrated of their Desires and Hopes of destroying the Israelites, but were also subdued, and in a great part destroyed by them. Or this verse may be understood of the great Wast and Ruine which God's Enemies had brought upon Israel before this time: which is here remembred, to make the Israelites more thankful for their later or present Deliverances. Or it may be taken as a Prophecy of the future Calamities which the Enemies should by God's Permission bring upon Israel, of which he speaks as of a thing past and done, after the manner of the Prophets. But this place is otherwise rendered in the Margent of our Bibles, and by divers others, The Destructions of the enemy (which may be understood either 1. Actively, which they caused. Or 2. Passively, which they felt) are come to a perpetual end, or, are fully and finally compleated.

Either 1. Thou, O God, who is oft understood and couched in a Pronoun in this manner, Thou hast destroyed their Cities. Or rather 2. Thou, O Enemy: as may be gathered both from the foregoing Clause, where it is so expressed; and from the next Verse, where it follows by way of opposition to this, But the Lord, &c.

The Places and People are utterly exstinct.

Marginal references: Or, the destructions of the enemy are [illegible: 1 word] to a perpetual end, and their cities hast [illegible: 1 word] destroyed, & [illegible: 1+ letters].

7. But the LORD shall endure for ever : he hath prepared his throne for judgment.

Though Cities and People may perish for ever, yet the Lord abides for ever. Which is sufficient for the Enemies Terror, and for the Comfort of his Church.

Or, established, by his immutable Purpose, and his irrevocable Promise.

8. And he shall judg the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

Not you onely, but all the Enemies of his People, and all the Men of the World.

Marginal references: Psal. 96. 13. & 98. 9.

9. The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed , a refuge in times of trouble.

God will not only judg the World at the last day, and then give Sentence for his People against their Enemies, but even at present he will give them his Protection.

Marginal references: Psal. 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 39. & 46. 1. & 91. 2.; Heb. At high place.; Gr. [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. Is trouble. So Gr.

10. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee .

(i. e.) That thoroughly understand and duly consider.

(i. e.) Thy Nature and Perfections, thy infinite Power and Wisdom, and Faithfulness and Goodness: which make a Person a most fit and proper Object for Trust. The name of God is most frequently put for God, as he hath manifested himself in his Word and Works, as Deut. 28. 58. Psal. 7. 17. and 20. 1. Prov. 18. 10. &c.

The experience of thy Faithfulness to thy People in all Ages, is a just ground for their Confidence.

(i. e.) That seek Help and Relief from thee by fervent Prayer, mixed with Faith, or trust in God, as is expressed in the former Clause.

11. Sing praises to the LORD which dwelleth in Zion : declare among the people his doings.

Whose special and gracious Presence is there; for there was the Ark at this time.

(i. e.) To the heathen Nations, that they also may be brought to the Knowledg and Worship of the true God.

12. When he maketh inquisition for blood , he remembreth them : he forgetteth not the cry of the humble .

Heb. Bloods. The bloodshed or murder of his innocent and holy ones: which though he may connive at for a season, yet he will certainly call the Authors of it to a very severe Account, and avenge it upon them.

Either 1. The Humble, as it follows, or the Oppressed, v. 9. That trust in him, and seek to him, v. 10. Whom he seemed to have forgotten. Or 2. The bloods last mentioned, for that Noun, and this Pronoun are both of the masculine Gender: and then remembring is put for revenging or punishing, as it is Deut. 25. 17, 19. Ne[illegible: 1+ letters]. 6. 14. Ier. 14. 10. and 44. 21. and oft elsewhere.

Or, [illegible: 1+ letters]eek, as this word which is used also Zech. 9. 9. is Translated Mat. 21. 5. Who do not, and cannot, and will not avenge themselves, but commit their Cause to me, as the God to whom Vengeance belongeth. Or afflicted, or oppressed ones.

Marginal references: Gen. 9. 5.; Or, Afflicted.

13. Have mercy upon me, O LORD, consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that li[illegible: 1+ letters]test me up from the gates of death :

To wit, Compassionately and effectually, so as to bring me out of it.

From the Brink or Mouth of the Grave into which I was dropping, being as near Death as a Man is to the City, that is come to the very Gates of it. And so the Phrase is used Psal. 107. 18. Isa. 38. 10. and in other Authors, [of whom see my Latin Synopsis.] Gates elsewhere signify Power and Policy, because the Gates of Cities were places both of Counsel and Strength; but the Gates of Death are never so taken in Scripture.

14. That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion : I will rejoyce in thy salvation.

(i. e.) In the great Assemblies, which were usually in the Gates. Comp. Prov. 31. 31. Isa. 3. 26. These Gates he elegantly opposeth to the former, and declareth that if he be brought off them he will go into these.

Either 1. Of Ierusalem, so called also Is[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1. 8. Zech. 9. 9. Because at this time it was subject to Zion; which at this time was the seat of the Kings Palace, and of the Ark. For Cities or Towns belonging or subject unto any Metropolis are commonly called its Daughters, as Ios. 15. 45. 2. Chron. [illegible: 1+ letters]3. 19. Psal. 48. 11. As the chief Cities are called Mothers, as 2. Sam. 20. 19. Gal. 4. 26. Or 2. Of the People who live in or belong to, or meet together for civil and religious Matters in Zion▪ For Cities are as it were Mothers to their People, giving them Birth and Breeding, and therefore the People are commonly called their Daughters. So the Name of the Daughter of Egypt, Ier. 46. 11. and of Edom, Lam. 4. 21, 22. and of Tyre, Psal. 45. 12. and of Babel, Psal. 137. 8. and of Ierusalem, Lam. 2. 13, 15. Mich. 4. 8. Are put for the People of those places.

To wit, with spiritual Joy and Thanksgiving: else it were no fit Motive to be used to God in Prayer.

15. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made : in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

Fallen into that Destruction which they designed to bring upon us.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 7. 15. [illegible: 1 word]. 6. [illegible: 1 word]. 22. 8.

16. The LORD is known , by the judgment which he executeth : the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands, Higgaion , Selah.

Or, hath mads himself known, or famous even among his Enemies, by his most wi[illegible: 1+ letters]e Counsels and wonderful Works.

Upon the Wicked as it followeth.

This is either a musical Term, or a Note of Attention, a kind of behold, intimating that the Matter deserves deep and frequent Meditation, or Consideration, as the word signifies.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 92. 3.

17. The wicked, shall be turned into hell , and all the nations that forget God .

Either 1. Into the Grave, which is oft called Sch[illegible: 1+ letters]ol, into which they are said to be turned, or to return, because they were made of, or taken out of the Dust, Eccles. 12. 7. Or 2. Into the place of eternal Perdition; which also is sometimes called Sch[illegible: 1+ letters]ol, as Prov. 15. 24. and elsewhere. For he seems to speak here of those Punishments which are peculiar to the Wicked, whereas the Grave is common to good and bad. And as v. 8. He seems to speak of the last and general Judgment of all the World, so this Verse may be understood of the general Punishment of all Persons and Nations consequent upon it. And into this place wicked Men may be said to be turned back, or to return, either 1. Because it is their own proper place, Act. 1. 25. to which they belong, and from which they have their Original and their wicked Qualities, as being of their Father the Devil, Iohn 8. 44. In which respect the Locusts (who are by all Interpreters understood to be living Men) are said to come out of the bottomless Pit, Revel. 9. 2, 3. Or 2. Because they had set themselves as it were in Battel-Array against God, and were beaten back and driven from his Presence into their Graves, and into Hell it self.

Whom their great Numbers and Power cannot protect from God's Wrath.

That do not consider nor regard God, nor his Precepts, nor his Thre[illegible: 1+ letters]tnings and Judgments, but go on securely and presumputously in their oppressive and wicked Courses.

18. For the needy shall not alway be forgotten : the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Though God for a time may seem to neglect or forget them, and suffer their Enemies to triumph over them.

Which negative Particle is fitly understood out of the former Clause, as it is Psal. 1. 5. and 44. 18. Isa. 23 4. and 28. 27, 28.

Marginal references: Psal. 12▪ [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

20. Put them in fear , O LORD, that the nations may know themselves to be but men . Selah.

Subdue their proud and insolent Spirits, and strike them with Terror, or with some terrible Judgment.

Heb. Weak, and miserable, and mortal Men, and therefore altogether unable to oppose the omnipotent and eternal God. This he saith, because wicked Men when they are advanced to great Power and Majesty are very prone to forget their own Frailty, and to carry themselves as if they were Gods. See Isa. 31. 3. Ezek. 30. 7, 8. Dan. 5. 21.

Hymn to the Righteous Judge after a Defeat of Hostile Peoples

Just as Ps 7 is placed after Psa 6:1-10 as exemplifying it, so Ps 9 follows Psa 8:1-9 as an illustration of the glorifying of the divine name on earth. And what a beautiful idea it is that Psa 8:1-9, the Psalm which celebrates Jahve’s name as being glorious in the earth, is introduced between a Psalm that closes with the words “I will sing of the name of Jahve, the Most High” (Ps 7:18) and one which begins: “I will sing of Thy name, O Most High!” (Psa 9:3).

The lxx translates the inscription על־מות לכן by ὑπὲρ τῶν κρυφίων τοῦ υἱοῦ (Vulg. pro occultis filii) as though it were על־עלמות. Luther’s rendering is still bolder: of beautiful (perhaps properly: lily-white) youth. Both renderings are opposed to the text, in which על occurs only once. The Targum understands בן of the duellist Goliath (= אישׁ הבּנים); and some of the Rabbis regard לבן even as a transposition of נבל: on the death of Nabal. Hengstenberg has revived this view, regarding נבל as a collective designation of all Nabal-like fools. All these and other curious conceits arise from the erroneous idea that these words are an inscription referring to the contents of the Psalm. But, on the contrary, they indicate the tune or melody, and that by means of the familiar words of the song, - perhaps some popular song, - with which this air had become most intimately associated. At the end of Psa 48:1-14 this indication of the air is simply expressed by על־מוּת. The view of the Jewish expositors, who refer לבּן to the musician בּן mentioned in 1Ch 15:18, has, therefore, some probability in its favour. But this name excites critical suspicion. Why may not a well-known song have begun מוּת לבּן “dying (is) to the son...,” or (if one is inclined to depart from the pointing, although there is nothing to render this suspicious) מות לבּן “Death makes white?”

Even Hitzig does not allow himself to be misled as to the ancient Davidic origin of Ps 9 and 10 by the fact of their having an alphabetical arrangement. These two Psalms have the honour of being ranked among the thirteen Psalms which are acknowledge by him to be genuine Davidic Psalms. Thus, therefore, the alphabetical arrangement found in other Psalms cannot, in itself, bring us down to “the times of poetic trifling and degenerated taste.” Nor can the freedom, with which the alphabetical arrangement is handled in Ps 9 and 10 be regarded as an indication of an earlier antiquity than these times. For the Old Testament poets, even in other instances, do not allow themselves to be fettered by forms of this character (vid., on Ps 145, cf. on Psa 42:2); and the fact, that in Psa 9:1 the alphabetical arrangement is not fully carried out, is accounted for otherwise than by the license in which David, in distinction from later poets, indulged. In reality this pair of Psalms shows, that even David was given to acrostic composition. And why should he not be? Even among the Romans, Ennius (Cicero, De Divin. ii. 54 §111), who belongs not to the leaden, but to the iron age, out of which the golden age first developed itself, composed in acrostics. And our oldest Germanic epics are clothed in the garb of alliteration, which Vilmar calls the most characteristic and most elevated style that the poetic spirit of our nation has created. Moreover, the alphabetical form is adapted to the common people, as is evident from Augustine’s Retract. i. 20. It is not a paltry substitute for the departed poetic spirit, not merely an accessory to please the eye, an outward embellishment - it is in itself indicative of mental power. The didactic poet regards the array of the linguistic elements as the steps by which he leads his pupils up into the sanctuary of wisdom, or as the many-celled casket in which he stores the pearls of the teachings of his wisdom. The lyric writer regards it as the keys on which he strikes every note, in order to give the fullest expression to his feelings. Even the prophet does not disdain to allow the order of the letters to exert an influence over the course of his thoughts, as we see from Nah 1:3-7.This observation is due to Pastor Frohnmeyer of Würtemberg.

Therefore, when among the nineThe Psalterium Brunonis (ed. by Cochleus, 1533) overlooks Ps 9-10, reckoning only seven alphabetical Psalms. alphabetical Psalms (Psa 9:1, Psa 10:1, Psa 25:1, Psa 34:1, Psa 37:1, Psa 111:1, Psa 112:1, Psa 119:1, Psa 145:1) four bear the inscription לדוד (Psa 9:1, Psa 25:1, Psa 34:1, Psa 145:1), we shall not at once regard them as non-Davidic just because they indicate an alphabetical plan which is more or less fully carried out.

This is not the place to speak of the relation of the anonymous Ps 10 to Ps 9, since Ps 9 is not in any way wanting in internal roundness and finish. It is thoroughly hymnic. The idea that Psa 9:14 passes from thanksgiving into supplication rests on a misinterpretation, as we shall presently see. This Psalm is a thoroughly national song of thanksgiving for victory by David, belonging to the time when Jahve was already enthroned on Zion, and therefore, to the time after the ark was brought home. Was it composed after the triumphant termination of the Syro-Ammonitish war? - The judgment of extermination already executed, Psa 9:8., harmonises with what is recorded in 2Sa 12:31; and the גוים, who are actually living within the borders of Israel, appear to be Philistines according to the annalistic passage about the Philistine feuds, 2Sa 21:15., cf. Psa 8:1 in connection with 1Sa 13:6.

Psa 9:1-2 (Hebrew_Bible_9:2-3) In this first strophe of the Psalm, which is laid out in tetrastichs-the normative strophe-the alphabetical form is carried out in the fullest possible way: we have four lines, each of which begins with א. It is the prelude of the song. The poet rouses himself up to a joyful utterance of Jahve’s praise. With his whole heart (Psa 138:1), i.e., all his powers of mind and soul as centred in his heart taking part in the act, will he thankfully and intelligently confess God, and declare His wondrous acts which exceed human desire and comprehension (Psa 26:7); he will rejoice and be glad in Jahve, as the ground of his rejoicing and as the sphere of his joy; and with voice and with harp he will sing of the name of the Most High. עליון is not an attributive of the name of God (Hitz.: Thine exalted name), but, as it is everywhere from Gen 14:18-22 onward (e.g., Psa 97:9), an attributive name of God. As an attributive to שׁמך one would expect to find העליון.

Psa 9:3-4 (Hebrew_Bible_9:4-5) The call upon himself to thanksgiving sounds forth, and the ב-strophe continues it by expressing the ground of it. The preposition בּ in this instance expresses both the time and the reason together (as in Psa 76:10; 2Ch 28:6); in Latin it is recedentibus hostibus meis retro. אחור serves to strengthen the notion of being driven back, as in Psa 56:10, cf. Psa 44:11; and just as, in Latin, verbs compounded of re are strengthened by retro. In Psa 9:4 finite verbs take the place of the infinitive construct; here we have futt. with a present signification, just as in 2Ch 16:7 we find a praet. intended as perfect. For the rendering which Hitzig adopts: When mine enemies retreat backwards, they stumble... is opposed both by the absence of any syntactic indication in Psa 9:4 of an apodosis (cf. Psa 27:2); and also by the fact that יכּשׁלוּ is well adapted to be a continuation of the description of שׁוּב אחור (cf. Joh 18:6), but is tame as a principal clause to the definitive clause בשוב אויבי אחור. Moreover, אחור does not signify backwards (which would rather be אחרנּית Gen 9:23; 1Sa 4:18), but back, or into the rear. The מן of מפּניך is the מן of the cause, whence the action proceeds. What is intended is God’s angry countenance, the look of which sets his enemies on fire as if they were fuel (Psa 21:10), in antithesis to God’s countenance as beaming with the light of His love. Now, while this is taking place, and because of its taking place, will be sing praise to God. From Psa 9:2 we see that the Psalm is composed directly after the victory and while the destructive consequences of it to the vanquished are still in operation. David sees in it all an act of Jahve’s judicial power. To execute any one’s right, משׁפּט (Mic 7:9), to bring to an issue any one’s suit or lawful demand, דּין (Psa 140:13), is equivalent to: to assist him and his good cause in securing their right. The phrases are also used in a judicial sense without the suffix. The genitive object after these principal words never denotes the person against whom, but the person on whose behalf, the third party steps forward with his judicial authority. Jahve has seated Himself upon His judgment-seat as a judge of righteousness (as in Jer 11:20), i.e., as a judge whose judicial mode of procedure is righteousness, justice,Also Pro 8:16 is probably to be read צדק כּל־שׁכּטי, with Norzi, according to the Targum, Syriac version, and old Codices; at any rate this is an old various reading, and one in accordance with the sense, side by side with כל־שׁפטי ארץ. and has decided in his favour. In ישׁב ל (as in Psa 132:11), which is distinguished in this respect from ישׁב על (Psa 47:9), the idea of motion, considere, comes prominently forward.

Psa 9:5-6 (Hebrew_Bible_9:6-7) The strophe with ג, which is perhaps intended to represent ד and ה as well, continues the confirmation of the cause for thanksgiving laid down in Psa 9:4. He does not celebrate the judicial act of God on his behalf, which he has just experienced, alone, but in connection with, and, as it were, as the sum of many others which have preceded it. If this is the case, then in Psa 9:6 beside the Ammonites one may at the same time (with Hengstenb.) think of the Amalekites (1Sa 8:12), who had been threatened since the time of Moses with a “blotting out of their remembrance” (Exo 17:14; Deu 25:19, cf. Num 24:20). The divine threatening is the word of omnipotence which destroys in distinction from the word of omnipotence that creates. רשׁע in close connection with גּוים is individualising, cf. Psa 9:18 with Psa 9:16, Psa 9:17. ועד is a sharpened pausal form for ועד, the Pathach going into a Segol (קטן פתח); perhaps it is in order to avoid the threefold a-sound in לעולם ועד (Nägelsbach §8 extr.). In Psa 9:7 האויב (with Azla legarme) appears to be a vocative. In that case נתשׁתּ ought also to be addressed to the enemy. But if it be interpreted: “Thou hast destroyed thine own cities, their memorial is perished,” destroyed, viz., at the challenge of Israel, then the thought is forced; and if we render it: “the cities, which thou hast destroyed, perished is the remembrance of them,” i.e., one no longer thinks of thine acts of conquest, then we have a thought that is in itself awkward and one that finds no support in any of the numerous parallels which speak of a blotting out and leaving no trace behind. But, moreover, in both these interpretations the fact that זכרם is strengthened by המּה is lost sight of, and the twofold masculine זכרם המּה is referred to ערים (which is carelessly done by most expositors), whereas עיר, with but few exceptions, is feminine; consequently זכרם המה, so far as this is not absolutely impossible, must be referred to the enemies themselves (cf. Psa 34:17; Psa 109:15). האויב might more readily be nom. absol.: “the enemy - it is at end for ever with his destructions,” but חרבּה never has an active but always only a neuter signification; or: “the enemy - ruins are finished for ever,” but the signification to be destroyed is more natural for תּמם than to be completed, when it is used of ruinae. Moreover, in connection with both these renderings the retrospective pronoun (חרבותיו) is wanting, and this is also the case with the reading חרבות (lxx, Vulg., Syr.), which leaves it uncertain whose swords are meant. But why may we not rather connect האויב at once with תּמּוּ as subject? In other instances תּמּוּ is also joined to a singular collective subject, e.g., Isa 16:4; here it precedes, like הארב in Jdg 20:37. חרבות לנצח is a nominative of the product, corresponding to the factitive object with verbs of making: the enemies are destroyed as ruins for ever, i.e., so that they are become ruins; or, more in accordance with the accentuation: the enemy, destroyed as ruins are they for ever. With respect to what follows the accentuation also contains hints worthy of our attention. It does not take נתשׁתּ (with the regular Pathach by Athnach after Olewejored, vid., on Psa 2:7) as a relative clause, and consequently does not require זכרם המה to be referred back to ערים.

We interpret the passage thus: and cities (viz., such as were hostile) thou hast destroyed (נתשׁ evellere, exstirpare), perished is their (the enemies') memorial. Thus it also now becomes intelligible, why זכרם, according to the rule Ges. §121, 3, is so remarkably strengthened by the addition of המּה (cf. Num 14:32; 1Sa 20:42; Pro 22:19; Pro 23:15; Eze 34:11). Hupfeld, whose interpretation is exactly the same as ours, thinks it might perhaps be the enemies themselves and the cities set over against one another. But the contrast follows in Psa 9:8 : their, even their memorial is perished, while on the contrary Jahve endures for ever and is enthroned as judge. This contrast also retrospectively gives support to the explanation, that זכרם refers not to the cities, but to האויב as a collective. With this interpretation of Psa 9:7 we have no occasion to read זכרם מהמּה (Targ.), nor זכר מהמּה (Paul., Hitz.). The latter is strongly commended by Job 11:20, cf. Jer 10:2; but still it is not quite admissible, since זכר here is not subjective (their own remembrance) but objective (remembrance of them). But may not ערים perhaps here, as in Psa 139:20, mean zealots = adversaries (from עיר fervere, zelare)? We reply in the negative, because the Psalm bears neither an Aramaising nor a North Palestinian impress. Even in connection with this meaning, the harshness of the ערים without any suffix would still remain. But, that the cities that are, as it were, plucked up by the root are cities of the enemy, is evident from the context.

Psa 9:7-8 (Hebrew_Bible_9:8-9) Without a trace even of the remembrance of them the enemies are destroyed, while on the other hand Jahve endureth for ever. This strophe is the continuation of the preceding with the most intimate connection of contrast (just as the ב-strophe expresses the ground for what is said in the preceding strophe). The verb ישׁב has not the general signification “to remain” here (like עמד to endure), but just the same meaning as in Psa 29:10. Everything that is opposed to Him comes to a terrible end, whereas He sits, or (which the fut. implies) abides, enthroned for ever, and that as Judge: He hath prepared His throne for the purpose of judgment. This same God, who has just given proof that He lives and reigns, will by and by judge the nations still more comprehensively, strictly, and impartially. תּכל, a word exclusively poetic and always without the article, signifies first (in distinction from ארץ the body of the earth and אדמה the covering or soil of the earth) the fertile (from יבל) surface of the globe, the οἰκουμένη. It is the last Judgment, of which all preceding judgments are harbingers and pledges, that is intended. In later Psalms this Davidic utterance concerning the future is repeated.

Psa 9:9-10 (Hebrew_Bible_9:10-11) Thus judging the nations Jahve shows Himself to be, as a second ו-strophe says, the refuge and help of His own. The voluntative with Waw of sequence expresses that which the poet desires for his own sake and for the sake of the result mentioned in Psa 9:11. משׂגּב, a high, steep place, where one is removed from danger, is a figure familiar to David from the experiences of his time of persecution. דּך (in pause דּך) is properly one who is crushed (from דּכך = דּכא, דּכה to crush, break in pieces, דקק to pulverize), therefore one who is overwhelmed to the extreme, even to being completely crushed. The parallel is לעתּות בצּרה with the datival ל (as probably also in Psa 10:1). עתּות from עת (time, and then both continuance, Psa 81:16, and condition) signifies the public relations of the time, or even the vicissitudes of private life, Psa 31:16; and בצּרה is not הצּרה with בּ (Böttch.), which gives an expression that is meaninglessly minute (“for times in the need”), but one word, formed from בּצּר (to cut off, Arab. to see, prop. to discern keenly), just like בּקּשׁה ekil  from בּקּשׁ, prop. a cutting off, or being cut off, i.e., either restraint, especially motionlessness (= בּצּרת, Jer 17:8, plur. בּצּרות Jer 14:1), or distress, in which the prospect of deliverance is cut off. Since God is a final refuge for such circumstances of hopelessness in life, i.e., for those who are in such circumstances, the confidence of His people is strengthened, refreshed, and quickened. They who know His name, to them He has now revealed its character fully, and that by His acts; and they who inquire after Him, or trouble and concern themselves about Him (this is what דּרשׁ signifies in distinction from בּקּשׁ), have now experienced that He also does not forget them, but makes Himself known to them in the fulness of His power and mercy.

Psa 9:11-12 (Hebrew_Bible_9:12-13) Thus then the z-strophe summons to the praise of this God who has done, and will still do, such things. The summons contains a moral claim, and therefore applies to all, and to each one individually. Jahve, who is to be praised everywhere and by every one, is called ישׁב ציּון, which does not mean: He who sits enthroned in Zion, but He who inhabiteth Zion, Ges. §138, 1. Such is the name by which He is called since the time when His earthly throne, the ark, was fixed on the castle hill of Jerusalem, Psa 76:3. It is the epithet applied to Him during the period of the typical kingship of promise. That Jahve’s salvation shall be proclaimed from Zion to all the world, even outside Israel, for their salvation, is, as we see here and elsewhere, an idea which throbs with life even in the Davidic Psalms; later prophecy beholds its realisation in its wider connections with the history of the future. That which shall be proclaimed to the nations is called עלילותיו, a designation which the magnalia Dei have obtained in the Psalms and the prophets since the time of Hannah’s song, 1Sa 2:3 (from עלל, root על, to come over or upon anything, to influence a person or a thing, as it were, from above, to subject them to one’s energy, to act upon them).

With כּי, quod, in Psa 9:13, the subject of the proclamation of salvation is unfolded as to its substance. The praett. state that which is really past; for that which God has done is the assumption that forms the basis of the discourse in praise of God on account of His mighty acts. They consist in avenging and rescuing His persecuted church-persecuted even to martyrdom. The אותם, standing by way of emphasis before its verb, refers to those who are mentioned afterwards (cf. Psa 9:20): the Chethîb calls them עניּים, the Keri ענוים. Both words alternate elsewhere also, the Kerî at one time placing the latter, at another the former, in the place of the one that stands in the text. They are both referable to ענה to bend (to bring low, Isa 25:5). The neuter signification of the verb ענה = ענו, Arab.. ‛nâ , fut o., underlies the noun ענו (cf. שׁלו), for which in Num 12:3 there is a Kerî עניו with an incorrect Jod (like שׁליו Job 21:23). This is manifest from the substantive ענוה, which does not signify affliction, but passiveness, i.e., humility and gentleness; and the noun עני is passive, and therefore does not, like ענו, signify one who is lowly-minded, in a state of ענוה, but one who is bowed down by afflictions, עני. But because the twin virtues denoted by ענוה are acquired in the school of affliction, there comes to be connected with עני - but only secondarily - the notion of that moral and spiritual condition which is aimed at by dispensations of affliction, and is joined with a suffering life, rather than with one of worldly happiness and prosperity, - a condition which, as Num 12:3 shows, is properly described by ענו (ταπεινός and πραΰ́ς). It shall be proclaimed beyond Israel, even among the nations, that the Avenger of blood, דּמים דּרשׁ, thinks of them (His דּרשׁים), and has been as earnest in His concern for them as they in theirs for Him. דּמים always signifies human blood that is shed by violence and unnaturally; the plur. is the plural of the product discussed by Dietrich, Abhandl. S. 40. דּרשׁ to demand back from any one that which he has destroyed, and therefore to demand a reckoning, indemnification, satisfaction for it, Gen 9:5, then absolutely to punish, 2Ch 24:22.

Psa 9:13-14 (Hebrew_Bible_9:14-15) To take this strophe as a prayer of David at the present time, is to destroy the unity and hymnic character of the Psalm, since that which is here put in the form of prayer appears in what has preceded and in what follows as something he has experienced. The strophe represents to us how the עניּים (ענוים) cried to Jahve before the deliverance now experienced. Instead of the form חנּני used everywhere else the resolved, and as it were tremulous, form חננני is designedly chosen. According to a better attested reading it is חננני (Pathach with Gaja in the first syllable), which is regarded by Chajug and others as the imper. Piel, but more correctly (Ewald §251, c) as the imper. Kal from the intransitive imperative form חנן. מרוממי is the vocative, cf. Psa 17:7. The gates of death, i.e., the gates of the realm of the dead (שׁאול, Isa 38:10), are in the deep; he who is in peril of death is said to have sunk down to them; he who is snatched from peril of death is lifted up, so that they do not swallow him up and close behind him. The church, already very near to the gates of death, cried to the God who can snatch from death. Its final purpose in connection with such deliverance is that it may glorify God. The form תּהלּתיך is sing. with a plural suffix just like שׂנאתיך Eze 35:11, אשׁמתימו Ezr 9:15. The punctuists maintained (as עצתיך in Isa 47:13 shows) the possibility of a plural inflexion of a collective singular. In antithesis to the gates of death, which are represented as beneath the ground, we have the gates of the daughter of Zion standing on high. ציּון is gen. appositionis (Ges. §116, 5). The daughter of Zion (Zion itself) is the church in its childlike, bride-like, and conjugal relation to Jahve. In the gates of the daughter of Zion is equivalent to: before all God’s people, Psa 116:14. For the gates are the places of public resort and business. At this period the Old Testament mind knew nothing of the songs of praise of the redeemed in heaven. On the other side of the grave is the silence of death. If the church desires to praise God, it must continue in life and not die.

Psa 9:15-16 (Hebrew_Bible_9:16-17) And, as this ט-strophe says, the church is able to praise God; for it is rescued from death, and those who desired that death might overtake it, have fallen a prey to death themselves. Having interpreted the ה-strophe as the representation of the earlier צעקת עניּים we have no need to supply dicendo or dicturus, as Seb. Schmidt does, before this strophe, but it continues the praett. preceding the ח-strophe, which celebrate that which has just been experienced. The verb טבע (root טב, whence also טבל) signifies originally to press upon anything with anything flat, to be pressed into, then, as here and in Psa 69:3, Psa 69:15, to sink in. טמנוּ זוּ (pausal form in connection with Mugrash) in the parallel member of the verse corresponds to the attributive עשׂוּ (cf. יפעל, Psa 7:16). The union of the epicene זוּ with רשׁת by Makkeph proceeds from the view, that זוּ is demonstrative as in Psa 12:8 : the net there (which they have hidden). The punctuation, it is true, recognises a relative זוּ, Psa 17:9; Psa 68:29, but it mostly takes it as demonstrative, inasmuch as it connects it closely with the preceding noun, either by Makkeph (Psa 32:8; Psa 62:12; Psa 142:4; Psa 143:8) or by marking the noun with a conjunctive accent (Psa 10:2; Psa 31:5; Psa 132:12). The verb לכד (Arabic to hang on, adhere to, IV to hold fast to) has the signification of seizing and catching in Hebrew.

In Psa 9:17 Ben Naphtali points נודע with ā: Jahve is known (part. Niph.); Ben Asher נודע, Jahve has made Himself known (3 pers. praet. Niph. in a reflexive signification, as in Eze 38:23). The readings of Ben Asher have become the textus receptus. That by which Jahve has made Himself known is stated immediately: He has executed judgment or right, by ensnaring the evil-doer (רשׁע, as in Psa 9:6) in his own craftily planned work designed for the destruction of Israel. Thus Gussetius has already interpreted it. נוקשׁ is part. Kal from נקשׁ. If it were part. Niph. from יקשׁ the ē, which occurs elsewhere only in a few עע verbs, as נמם liquefactus, would be without an example. But it is not to be translated, with Ges. and Hengst.: “the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands,” in which case it would have to be pointed נוקשׁ (3 praet. Niph.), as in the old versions. Jahve is the subject, and the suffix refers to the evil-doer. The thought is the same as in Job 34:11; Isa 1:31. This figure of the net, רשׁת (from ירשׁ capere), is peculiar to the Psalms that are inscribed לדוד. The music, and in fact, as the combination הגיון סלה indicates, the playing of the stringed instruments (Psa 92:4), increases here; or the music is increased after a solo of the stringed instruments. The song here soars aloft to the climax of triumph.

Psa 9:17-18 (Hebrew_Bible_9:18-19) Just as in Psa 9:8. the prospect of a final universal judgment was opened up by Jahve’s act of judgment experienced in the present, so here the grateful retrospect of what has just happened passes over into a confident contemplation of the future, which is thereby guaranteed. The lxx translates ישׁוּבוּ by αποστραφήτωσαν, Jer. convertantur, a meaning which it may have (cf. e.g., 2Ch 18:25); but why should it not be ἀναστραφήτωσαν, or rather: ἀναστραφήσονται, since Psa 9:19 shows that Psa 9:18 is not a wish but a prospect of that which is sure to come to pass? To be resolved into dust again, to sink away into nothing (redactio in pulverem, in nihilum) is man’s return to his original condition, - man who was formed from the dust, who was called into being out of nothing. To die is to return to the dust, Psa 104:29, cf. Gen 3:19, and here it is called the return to Sheôl, as in Job 30:23 to death, and in Psa 90:3 to atoms, inasmuch as the state of shadowy existence in Hades, the condition of worn out life, the state of decay is to a certain extent the renewal (Repristination) of that which man was before he came into being. As to outward form לשׁאולה may be compared with לישׁעתה in Psa 80:3; the ל in both instances is that of the direction or aim, and might very well come before שׁאולה, because this form of the word may signify both ἐν ᾅδου and εἰς ᾅδου (cf. מבּבלה Jer 27:16). R. Abba ben Zabda, in Genesis Rabba cap. 50, explains the double sign of the direction as giving intensity to it: in imum ambitum orci. The heathen receive the epithet of שׁכחי אלהים (which is more neuter than שׁכחי, Psa 50:22); for God has not left them without a witness of Himself, that they could not know of Him, their alienation from God is a forgetfulness of Him, the guilt of which they have incurred themselves, and from which they are to turn to God (Isa 19:22). But because they do not do this, and even rise up in hostility against the nation and the God of the revelation that unfolds the plan of redemption, they will be obliged to return to the earth, and in fact to Hades, in order that the persecuted church may obtain its longed for peace and its promised dominion. Jahve will at last acknowledge this ecclesia pressa; and although its hope seems like to perish, inasmuch as it remains again and again unfulfilled, nevertheless it will not always continue thus. The strongly accented לא rules both members of Psa 9:19, as in Psa 35:19; Psa 38:2, and also frequently elsewhere (Ewald §351, a). אביון, from אבה to wish, is one eager to obtain anything = a needy person. The Arabic ‛bâ, which means the very opposite, and according to which it would mean “one who restrains himself,” viz., because he is obliged to, must be left out of consideration.

Psa 9:19-20 (Hebrew_Bible_9:20-21) By reason of the act of judgment already witnessed the prayer now becomes all the more confident in respect of the state of things which is still continually threatened. From י the poet takes a leap to ק which, however, seems to be a substitute for the כ which one would expect to find, since the following Psalm begins with ל. David’s קוּמה (Psa 3:8; Psa 7:7) is taken from the lips of Moses, Num 10:35. “Jahve arises, comes, appears” are kindred expressions in the Old Testament, all of which point to a final personal appearing of God to take part in human history from which He has now, as it were, retired into a state of repose becoming invisible to human eyes. Hupfeld and others wrongly translate “let not man become strong.” The verb עזז does not only mean to be or become strong, but also to feel strong, powerful, possessed of power, and to act accordingly, therefore: to defy, Psa 52:9, like עז defiant, impudent (post-biblical עזּוּת shamelessness). אנושׁ, as in 2Ch 14:10, is man, impotent in comparison with God, and frail in himself. The enemies of the church of God are not unfrequently designated by this name, which indicates the impotence of their pretended power (Isa 51:7, Isa 51:12). David prays that God may repress the arrogance of these defiant ones, by arising and manifesting Himself in all the greatness of His omnipotence, after His forbearance with them so long has seemed to them to be the result of impotence. He is to arise as the Judge of the world, judging the heathen, while they are compelled to appear before Him, and, as it were, defile before Him (על־פּני), He is to lay מורה on them. If “razor” be the meaning it is equivocally expressed; and if, according to Isa 7:20, we associate with it the idea of an ignominious rasure, or of throat-cutting, it is a figure unworthy of the passage. The signification master (lxx, Syr., Vulg., and Luther) rests upon the reading אמת, which we do not with Thenius and others prefer to the traditional reading (even Jerome translates: pone, Domine, terrorem eis); for מורה rof , which according to the Masora is instead of מורא (like מכלה Hab 3:17 for מכלא), is perfectly appropriate. Hitzig objects that fear is not a thing which one lays upon any one; but מורא means not merely fear, but an object, or as Hitzig himself explains it in Mal 2:5 a “lever,” of fear. It is not meant that God is to cause them to be overcome with terror (על), nor that He is to put terror into them (בּ), but that He is to make them (ל( m in no way differing from Psa 31:4; Psa 140:6; Job 14:13) an object of terror, from which to their dismay, as the wish is further expressed in Psa 9:20, they shall come to know (Hos 9:7) that they are mortal men. As in Psa 10:12; Psa 49:12; Psa 50:21; Psa 64:6; Gen 12:13; Job 35:14; Amo 5:12; Hos 7:2, ידּעוּ is followed by an only half indirect speech, without כּי or אשׁר. סּלה has Dag. forte conj. according to the rule of the אתי מרחיק (concerning which vid., on Psa 52:5), because it is erroneously regarded as an essential part of the text.

Devout Acknowledgments.

1 I will praise thee, O Lord , with my whole heart; I will show forth all thy marvellous works. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. 3 When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. 4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever. 6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them. 7 But the Lord shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment. 8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. 9 The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. 10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord , hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

The title of this psalm gives a very uncertain sound concerning the occasion of penning it. It is upon Muth-labben, which some make to refer to the death of Goliath, others of Nabal, others of Absalom; but I incline to think it signifies only some tone, or some musical instrument, to which this psalm was intended to be sung; and that the enemies David is here triumphing in the defeat of are the Philistines, and the other neighbouring nations that opposed his settlement in the throne, whom he contested with and subdued in the beginning of his reign, 2 Sam. v. 8. In these verses,

I. David excites and engages himself to praise God for his mercies and the great things he had of late done for him and his government, v. 1, 2. Note, 1. God expects suitable returns of praise from those for whom he has done marvellous works. 2. If we would praise God acceptably, we must praise him in sincerity, with our hearts, and not only with our lips, and be lively and fervent in the duty, with our whole heart. 3. When we give thanks for some one particular mercy we should take occasion thence to remember former mercies and so to show forth all his marvellous works. 4. Holy joy is the life of thankful praise, as thankful praise is the language of holy joy: I will be glad and rejoice in thee. 5. Whatever occurs to make us glad, our joy must pass through it, and terminate in God only: I will be glad and rejoice in thee, not in the gift so much as in the giver. 6. Joy and praise are properly expressed by singing psalms. 7. When God has shown himself to be above the proud enemies of the church we must take occasion thence to give glory to him as the Most High. 8. The triumphs of the Redeemer ought to be the triumphs of the redeemed; see Rev. xii. 10; xix. 5; xv. 3, 4.

II. He acknowledges the almighty power of God as that which the strongest and stoutest of his enemies were no way able to contest with or stand before, v. 3. But, 1. They are forced to turn back. Their policy and their courage fail them, so that they cannot, they dare not, push forward in their enterprises, but retire with precipitation. 2. When once they turn back, they fall and perish; even their retreat will be their ruin, and they will save themselves no more by flying than by fighting. If Haman begin to fall before Mordecai, he is a lost man, and shall prevail no more; see Esther vi. 13. 3. The presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, are sufficient for the destruction of his and his people's enemies. That is easily done which a man does with his very presence; with that God confounds his enemies, such a presence has he. This was fulfilled when our Lord Jesus, with one word, I am he, made his enemies to fall back at his presence (John xviii. 6) and he could, at the same time, have made them perish. 4. When the enemies of God's church are put to confusion we must ascribe their discomfiture to the power, not of instruments, but of his presence, and give him all the glory.

III. He gives to God the glory of his righteousness, in his appearing on his behalf (v. 4): "Thou hast maintained my right and my cause, that is, my righteous cause; when that came on, thou satest in the throne, judging right." Observe, 1. God sits in the throne of judgment. To him it belongs to decide controversies, to determine appeals, to avenge the injured, and to punish the injurious; for he has said, Vengeance is mine. 2. We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth and that with him there is no unrighteousness. Far be it from God that he should pervert justice. If there seem to us to be some irregularity in the present decisions of Providence, yet these, instead of shaking our belief of God's justice, may serve to strengthen our belief of the judgment to come, which will set all to-rights. 3. Whoever disown and desert a just and injured cause, we may be sure that the righteous God will maintain it and plead it with jealousy, and will never suffer it to be run down.

IV. He records, with joy, the triumphs of the God of heaven over all the powers of hell and attends those triumphs with his praises, v. 5. By three steps the power and justice of God had proceeded against the heathen, and wicked people, who were enemies to the king God had lately set up upon his holy hill of Zion. 1. He had checked them: "Thou hast rebuked the heathen, hast given them real proofs of thy displeasure against them." This he did before he destroyed them, that they might take warning by the rebukes of Providence and so prevent their own destruction. 2. He had cut them off: Thou hast destroyed the wicked. The wicked are marked for destruction, and some are made monuments of God's vindictive justice and destructive power in this world. 3. He had buried them in oblivion and perpetual infamy, had put out their name for ever, that they should never be remembered with any respect.

V. He exults over the enemy whom God thus appears against (v. 6): Thou hast destroyed cities. Either, "Thou, O enemy! hast destroyed our cities, at least in intention and imagination," or "Thou, O God! hast destroyed their cities by the desolation brought upon their country." It may be taken either way; for the psalmist will have the enemy to know, 1. That their destruction is just and that God was but reckoning with them for all the mischief which they had done and designed against his people. The malicious and vexatious neighbours of Israel, as the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and Syrians, had made incursions upon them (when there was no king in Israel to fight their battles), had destroyed their cities and done what they could to make their memorial perish with them. But now the wheel was turned upon them; their destructions of Israel had come to a perpetual end; they shall now cease to spoil and must themselves be spoiled, Isa. xxxiii. 1. 2. That it is total and final, such a destruction as should make a perpetual end of them, so that the very memorial of their cities should perish with them, So devouring a thing is time, and much more such desolations do the righteous judgments of God make upon sinners, that great and populous cities have been reduced to such ruins that their very memorial has perished, and those who have sought them could not find where they stood; but we look for a city that has stronger foundations.

VI. He comforts himself and others in God, and pleases himself with the thoughts of him. 1. With the thoughts of his eternity. On this earth we see nothing durable, even strong cities are buried in rubbish and forgotten; but the Lord shall endure for ever, v. 7. There is no change of his being; his felicity, power, and perfection, are out of the reach of all the combined forces of hell and earth; they may put an end to our liberties, our privileges, our lives, but our God is still the same, and sits even upon the floods, unshaken, undisturbed, Ps. xxix. 10; xciii. 2. 2. With the thoughts of his sovereignty both in government and judgment: He has prepared his throne, has fixed it by his infinite wisdom, has fixed it by his immutable counsel. It is the great support and comfort of good people, when the power of the church's enemies is threatening and the posture of its affairs melancholy and perplexed, that God now rules the world and will shortly judge the world. 3. With the thoughts of his justice and righteousness in all the administrations of his government. He does all every day, he will do all at the last day, according to the eternal unalterable rules of equity (v. 8): He shall judge the world, all persons and all controversies, shall minister judgment to the people (shall determine their lot both in this and in the future state) in righteousness and in uprightness, so that there shall not be the least colour of exception against it. 4. With the thoughts of that peculiar favour which God bears to his own people and the special protection which he takes them under. The Lord, who endures for ever, is their everlasting strength and protection; he that judges the world will be sure to judge for them, when at any time they are injured or distressed (v. 9): He will be a refuge for the oppressed, a high place, a strong place, for the oppressed, in times of trouble. It is the lot of God's people to be oppressed in this world and to have troublous times appointed to them. Perhaps God may not immediately appear for them as their deliverer and avenger; but, in the midst of their distresses, they may by faith flee to him as their refuge and may depend upon his power and promise for their safety, so that no real hurt shall be done them. 5. With the thoughts of that sweet satisfaction and repose of mind which those have that make God their refuge (v. 10): "Those that know thy name will put their trust in thee, as I have done" (for the grace of God is the same in all the saints), "and then they will find, as I have found, that thou dost not forsake those that seek thee;" for the favour of God is the same towards all the saints. Note, (1.) The better God is known the more he is trusted. Those who know him to be a God of infinite wisdom will trust him further than they can see him (Job xxxv. 14); those who know him to be a God of almighty power will trust him when creature-confidences fail and they have nothing else to trust to (2 Chron. xx. 12); and those who know him to be a God of infinite grace and goodness will trust him though he slay them, Job xiii. 15. Those who know him to be a God of inviolable truth and faithfulness will rejoice in his word of promise, and rest upon that, though the performance be deferred and intermediate providences seem to contradict it. Those who know him to be the Father of spirits, and an everlasting Father, will trust him with their souls as their main care and trust in him at all times, even to the end. (2.) The more God is trusted the more he is sought unto. If we trust God we shall seek him by faithful and fervent prayer, and by a constant care to approve ourselves to him in the whole course of our conversations. (3.) God never did, nor ever will, disown or desert any that duly seek to him and trust in him. Though he afflict them, he will not leave them comfortless; though he seem to forsake them for a while, yet he will gather them with everlasting mercies.

A Call to Praise God; Certain Ruin of the Wicked.

11 Sing praises to the Lord , which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings. 12 When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. 13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord ; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: 14 That I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. 15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. 17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. 19 Arise, O Lord ; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight. 20 Put them in fear, O Lord : that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

In these verses,

I. David, having praised God himself, calls upon and invites others to praise him likewise, v. 11. Those who believe God is greatly to be praised not only desire to do that work better themselves, but desire that others also may join with them in it and would gladly be instrumental to bring them to it: Sing praises to the Lord who dwelleth in Zion. As the special residence of his glory is in heaven, so the special residence of his grace is in his church, of which Zion was a type. There he meets his people with his promises and graces, and there he expects they should meet him with their praises and services. In all our praises we should have an eye to God as dwelling in Zion, in a special manner present in the assemblies of his people, as their protector and patron. He resolved himself to show forth God's marvellous works (v. 1), and here he calls upon others to declare among the people his doings. He commands his own subjects to do it, for the honour of God, of their country, and of their holy religion; he courts his neighbours to do it, to sing praises, not, as hitherto, to their false gods, but to Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion, to the God of Israel, and to own among the heathen that the Lord has done great things for his people Israel, Ps. cxxvi. 3, 4. Let them particularly take notice of the justice of God in avenging the blood of his people Israel on the Philistines and their other wicked neighbours, who had, in making war upon them, used them barbarously and given them no quarter, v. 12. When God comes to make inquisition for blood by his judgments on earth, before he comes to do it by the judgment of the great day, he remembers them, remembers every drop of the innocent blood which they have shed, and will return it sevenfold upon the head of the blood-thirsty; he will give them blood to drink, for they are worthy. This assurance he might well build upon that word (Deut. xxxii. 43), He will avenge the blood of his servants. Note, There is a day coming when God will make inquisition for blood, when he will discover what has been shed secretly, and avenge what has been shed unjustly; see Isa. xxvi. 21; Jer. li. 35. In that day it will appear how precious the blood of God's people is to him (Ps. lxxii. 14), when it must all be accounted for. It will then appear that he has not forgotten the cry of the humble, neither the cry of their blood nor the cry of their prayers, but that both are sealed up among his treasures.

II. David, having praised God for former mercies and deliverances, earnestly prays that God would still appear for him; for he sees not all things put under him.

1. He prays, (1.) That God would be compassionate to him (v. 13): "Have mercy upon me, who, having misery only, and no merit, to speak for me, must depend upon mercy for relief." (2.) That he would be concerned for him. He is not particular in his request, lest he should seem to prescribe to God; but submits himself to the wisdom and will of God in this modest request, "Lord, consider my trouble, and do for me as thou thinkest fit."

2. He pleads, (1.) The malice of his enemies, the trouble which he suffered from those that hated him, and hatred is a cruel passion. (2.) The experience he had had of divine succours and the expectation he now had of the continuance of them, as the necessity of his case required: "O thou that liftest me up, that canst do it, that hast done it, that wilt do it, whose prerogative it is to lift up thy people from the gates of death!" We are never brought so low, so near to death, but God can raise us up. If he has saved us from spiritual and eternal death, we may thence take encouragement to hope that in all our distresses he will be a very present help to us. (3.) His sincere purpose to praise God when his victories should be completed (v. 14): "Lord, save me, not that I may have the comfort and credit of the deliverance, but that thou mayest have the glory, that I may show forth all thy praise, and that publicly, in the gates of the daughter of Zion;" there God was said to dwell (v. 11) and there David would attend him, with joy in God's salvation, typical of the great salvation which was to be wrought out by the Son of David.

III. David by faith foresees and foretels the certain ruin of all wicked people, both in this world and in that to come.

1. In this world, v. 15, 16. God executes judgment upon them when the measure of their iniquities is full, and does it, (1.) So as to put shame upon them and make their fall inglorious; for they sink into the pit which they themselves digged (Ps. vii. 15), they are taken in the net which they themselves laid for the ensnaring of God's people, and they are snared in the work of their own hands. In all the struggles David had with the Philistines they were the aggressors, 2 Sam. v. 17, 22. And other nations were subdued by those ward in which they embroiled themselves. The overruling providence of God frequently so orders it that persecutors and oppressors are brought to ruin by those very projects which they intended to be destructive to the people of God. Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves; the contentious bring mischief upon themselves. Thus men's sins may be read in their punishment, and it becomes visible to all that the destruction of sinners is not only meritoriously, but efficiently, of themselves, which will fill them with the utmost confusion. (2.) So as to get honour to himself: The Lord is known, that is, he makes himself known, by these judgments which he executes. It is known that there is a God who judges in the earth, that he is a righteous God, and one that hates sin and will punish it. In these judgments the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The psalmist therefore adds here a note extraordinary, commanding special regard, Higgaion; it is a thing to be carefully observed and meditated upon. What we see of present judgments, and what we believe of the judgment to come, ought to be the subject of our frequent and serious meditations.

2. In the other world (v. 17): The wicked shall be turned into hell, as captives into the prison-house, even all the nations that forget God. Note, (1.) Forgetfulness of God is the cause of all the wickedness of the wicked. (2.) There are nations of those that forget God, multitudes that live without God in the world, many great and many mighty nations, that never regard him nor desire the knowledge of his ways. (3.) Hell will, at last, be the portion of such, a state of everlasting misery and torment—Sheol, a pit of destruction, in which they and all their comforts will be for ever lost and buried. Though there be nations of them, yet they shall be turned into hell, like sheep into the slaughter-house (Ps. xlix. 14), and their being so numerous will not be any security or ease to them, nor any loss to God or the least impeachment of his goodness.

IV. David encourages the people of God to wait for his salvation, though it should be long deferred, v. 18. The needy may think themselves, and others may think them, forgotten for a while, and their expectation of help from God may seem to have perished and to have been for ever frustrated. But he that believes does not make haste; the vision is for an appointed time, and at the end it shall speak. We may build upon it as undoubtedly true that God's people, God's elect, shall not always be forgotten, nor shall they be disappointed of their hopes from the promise. God will not only remember them, at last, but will make it to appear that he never did forget them; it is impossible he should, though a woman may forget her sucking child.

V. He concludes with prayer that God would humble the pride, break the power, and blast the projects, of all the wicked enemies of his church: "Arise, O Lord! (v. 19), stir up thy self, exert thy power, take thy seat, and deal with all these proud and daring enemies of thy name, and cause, and people." 1. "Lord, restrain them, and set bounds to their malice: Let not man prevail; consult thy own honour, and let not weak and mortal men prevail against the kingdom and interest of the almighty and immortal God. Shall mortal man be too hard for God, too strong for his Maker?" 2. "Lord, reckon with them: Let the heathen be judges in thy sight, that is, let them be plainly called to an account for all the dishonour done to thee and the mischief done to thy people." Impenitent sinners will be punished in God's sight; and, when their day of grace is over, the bowels even of infinite mercy will not relent towards them, Rev. xiv. 10. 3. "Lord, frighten them: Put them in fear, O Lord! (v. 20), strike a terror upon them, make them afraid with thy judgments." God knows how to make the strongest and stoutest of men to tremble and to flee when none pursues, and thereby he makes them know and own that they are but men; they are but weak men, unable to stand before the holy God—sinful men, the guilt of whose consciences make them subject to alarms. Note, It is a very desirable thing, much for the glory of God and the peace and welfare of the universe, that men should know and consider themselves to be but men, depending creatures, mutable, mortal, and accountable.

In singing this psalm we must give to God the glory of his justice in pleading his people's cause against his and their enemies, and encourage ourselves to wait for the year of the redeemed and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion, even the final destruction of all anti-christian powers and factions, to which many of the ancients apply this psalm.

PSAL. IX.

To the Master of the Musicke upon Muth labben; a Psalme of David.

I Will confesse Iehovah with all my heart, I will tell all thy marvellous workes. I will rejoyce and shew gladnesse in thee, I will sing Psalme to thy name, O most high.

When mine enemies turned backward, they stumbled and perished from thy face.

For thou hast done my judgement and my doome, hast sitten on the throne, judge of justice. Thou hast rebuked the heathens, hast brought to perdition the wicked one; their name thou hast wiped out for ever and aye.

The desolations of the enemie are wholly ended to perpetuitie, and the cities thou hast pulled up, perished is the memoriall of them of them. And Iehovah shall sit for ever, he hath prepared his throne for judgement.

And he will judge the world with justice, will judge the peoples with righteousnesses.

And Iehovah will be an high refuge for the oppressed, an high refuge at times in distresse. And they that know thy name wil trust in thee, for thou for sakest not them that seeke thee Iehovah. Sing Psalme to Iehovah that dwelleth in Sion, shew forth among the peoples his doings. For he that seeketh out blouds remembreth them, forgetteth not the crie of the meeke afflicted. Be gracious to me, Iehovah, see mine affliction from my haters, lifting up mee from the gates of death. That I may tell all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion, may be glad in thy salvation. The heathens are sunke downe in the corrupting pit that they made; in the net that they hid caught is their foot.

Knowne is Iehovah, judgement hee hath done: in the worke of his hands insnared is the wicked one: Meditation Selah. The wicked shall turne into hell, all the heathens that forget God. For not to perpetuitie forgotten shall be the needie one, nor the expectation of the poore afflicted ones perish for aye. Rise up Iehovah, let not sory man be strong; let the heathens be judged before thy face. Put thou, Iehovah, a feare in them, let the heathens know that they be sory men Selah.

Annotations. VPon Muth labben] This, if it be referred to the musicke, seemeth to be a kinde of tune like that we call the Counter-tenour. Otherwise it may be read, For the death of Labben; but who he was, is uncertaine: some thinke it was Goliath; the Chaldee saith, for the death of the Sonne. It seemeth to me, as the former Psalme was of the propagation of Christs kingdome, so this is of the destruction of Antichrists. Vers. 2. marvellous works] or wonderfull things, miracles. The originall word signifieth high and hidden, such as mans power cannot performe, nor reason reach unto, and therefore are admired. Vers. 3. in thee] the Chaldee saith, in thy word. Vers. 4. when my enemies turned] This may be taken for a summe of his praise for deliverances past, or, in faith for like to come, and may be read, when my foes turne backe, they shall stumble and perish. from thy face] from before thee, because of thy presence, that is, for feare of thee, and shut out from thy face or presence. So after, Psal. 68. 2, 3, 9. So the Apostle speaketh of the wickeds perdition from the face of the Lord, 2 Thess. 1. 9. Vers. 5. done my judgement] that is, given sentence, and executed according to the right of my cause: See Psal. 7. 9. The Chaldee expoundeth it, my vengeance. sitten on the throne] or set thee downe on the throne, the seat of judgement or tribunall. This noteth both kingly authority, Psal. 132. 11, 12. and the acting or executing of the same, 2 Chron. 18. 18. Isay 6. 1. Dan. 7. 9. Rev. 20. 11. Vers. 6. hast rebuked] with rough and severe words: but this, when God doth it, commonly importeth confusion, as being to his enemies, and therfore joyned with the curse, Psalm. 119. 21. and 68. 31. and 76. 7. and 18. 16. Zach. 3. 2. So else-where he saith, at the rebuke of thy face they perish, Psalm. 80. 17. wiped out] or, wiped away, as with the hand. And this wiping out the name, noteth an utter abolishing with great wrath, Deut. 9. 14. and 29. 20. Psal. 109. 13. for ever and aye] or, for ever and yet; or, to eternitie and perpetuity. The Hebrew Ghned, yet, is added to eternity or ever, to increase the durance of it, and to note all eternities, Psal. 10. 16. and 21. 5. and 104. 5. and 145. 1, 2. taken from Moses, Exod. 15. 18. Vers. 7. The desolations] which the enemie made in spoiling our land; or the desolate places which the enemie builded for himselfe, as in Iob 3. 14. great men are said to build themselves desolate places. of the enemie] So the Greeke turned it. We may also reade it, O enemie, the desolations are quite ended (which thou madest;) or, are they ended? to perpetuitie] or, to victory, that is, so as it continueth for ever. Ever or Eternity hath the name Ghnolam in Hebrew, of being hid, and so unknowne: perpetuitie, Net sach, is so named of prevailing and getting victory by perpetuall durance. Hereupon that speech of the Prophet, he hath swallowed up death to perpetuity, or victorious aye, I say 25. 8. is translated by the Apostle, Death is swallowed up to victory, that is, for ever, as the same word in Amos 8. 7. and Lam. 5. 20. is also turned into Greeke by the LXXij. Interpreters. Pulled up] a similitude taken from trees, applied here to the pulling downe of cities: so planting and pulling up of a people, are set one against another, Ier. 24. 6. and 42. 10. and 45. 4. of them] twise repeated, for more vehemencie; meaning, all and every of them: or, with themselves, their memory is gone: the Greeke translateth, their memoriall is perished with a sound. Vers. 9. will judge] or give doome unto. Two severall words for judging are here used, as before, Psal. 7. 9. with righteousnesses] that is, all manner righteousnesse and equity, or, most righteously, most equally. See the like speech after, Psalm. 98. 9. and 96. 13. and often other where. Vers. 10. an high refuge] in Hebrew Misgab, which is, an exaltation, that is, an high place, tower, or fort to resist the enemie, Jer. 48. 1. wherein men are protected, and escape their foes invasion, Deut. 2. 36. for the oppressed] or, to the beaten downe; the poore is so called, as being pownded or s[illegible: 1 letter]amped by the adversary. So Psal. 10. 18. and 74. 21. at times] or in seasons, that is, seasonably at all times when they be in distresse. So Psal. 10. 1. Vers. 11. that know] or that acknowledge thy name: such are Gods people, Esay 52. 6. and shall by him be delivered and advanced, Psal. 91. 14. Vers. 12. dwelleth in Sion] or sitteth in Sion. The Chaldee saith, hath placed his divine habitation (or majestie) in Sion. Sitting is often used for dwelling, as is noted, Psal. 1. 1. The word in is many times omitted in Hebrew, but necessarily to be understood, as the text it selfe sheweth, as beth, house, for bebeth, in the house, 2 King. 14. 14. compared with 2 Chron. 25. 24. and 2 Chron. 26. 21. with 2 King. 15. 5. and 2 Chron. 34. 30. with 2 King. 23. 2. his doings] his practises, or wonted workes. The originall word signifieth actions done naturally, or purposely and studiously; designes, gests, or exercises enterprised advisedly, and prosecuted studiously, of naturall disposition and inclination, as Prov. 20. 11. 1 Sam. 25. 3. Vers. 13. seeketh out] or requireth blouds, that is, God, who followeth, findeth out, punisheth and avengeth bloudshed or murder, according to the law, Gen. 9. 5, 6. See the Annotations there. The Chaldee expoundeth it, he that requireth the bloud of the innocent, remembreth his just ones. meeke afflicted] The originall here hath a double reading, Ghnanaj[illegible: 1 letter]m, that is, afflicted, poore; and Ghnanavim, meeke, modest, lowly: for affliction often causeth meeknesse. Therefore also Ghnani, that is, afflicted, is translated. Praus, Meeke, Matth. 21. 5. from Zach. 9. 9. Vers. 14. from my haters] that is, which commeth upon me from them. lifting up] or, ô lifter up (exalter) of me. gates of death] This noteth present perill and feare of death, as being now neare at the very doore or gate thereof, Gen. 4. 7. Iudg. 5. 8. It noteth also power, strength, and jurisdiction which death hath; (even reigning, as the Apostle saith, Rom. 5. 14.) because Magistrates sate, and judgements were executed at the gates of cities, Deut. 22 15. Iob 31. 21. Amos 5. 10, 15. So in other Scriptures the gates of death and of hell denote their perill, strength and horrour, Psal. 107. 18. Isay 38. 10. Matth. 16. 18. Iob 38. 17. Vers. 15. gates of the daughter of Sion] these are opposed to the former gates of death, and mean the publike places where Gods people came together at Sion gates, where God sate, vers. 12. and which he loved most, Psal. 87. 2. The daughter of Sion signifieth the Church or Congregation there gathered; as also the Chaldee Paraphrase here sheweth, translating it the congregation of Sion, for every chiefe citie was counted as a mother, 2 Sam. 20. 19. (whereupon the Apostle calleth Ierusalem, the mother of us all, Gal. 4. 26.) the villages that were neere and pertained unto such cities, are called daughters, Ios. 15. 45. 2 Chron. 13. 19. Psal. 48. 12. and the inhabitants there seated, or assemblies of people resorting thither, are likewise named daughters; as being bred, borne, nourished there, and subiect therto. Such speeches are often in the Scripture, as, daughter of Ierusalem, Lam. 2. 19. daughter of Sion, Mat. 21. 5. from Zach. 9. 9. daughter of my people, Ier. 4. 11. daughter of Tirus, Psalm. 45. 13. daughter of Babel, Psal. 137. 8. and the like. Vers. 17. Iudgement hee hath done] or, by the judgement that he hath executed. his hands] or his palmes, the wickeds owne hands, called the palmes or hollowes, for the secret manner of working. So Psal. 7. 4. Meditation Selah] meaning that this is a matter of deepe meditation, worthy to be well minded, and spoken or sung with earnest consideration alwaies. Some retaine the Hebrew word, Higgajon Selah, for that it may import a kinde of Song or tune, (as the Greeke turneth it,) being found in this forme, onely here, and in Psal. 92. 4. The Chaldee interpreteth it, the just shall joyfully shout for ever. Vers. 18. into hell] into hell it selfe: for the word into is in effect twice put in the Hebrew for more vehemencie. forget God] the Chaldee addeth, that forget the feare of God. Vers. 19. needy one] two names are here given to the poore, Aebjon, needy and desirous, which importeth want of things needfull, to be supplied by liberalitie, Psal. 132. 15. and 112. 9. Ghnani, poore afflicted, which need helpe and deliverance from vexation, as before, vers. 13. yet this precise difference is not alwaies observed in Scripture. perish for aye] that is, shall never perish. Here the word not, set in the beginning, serveth for a deniall of all that followeth, shall not be forgotten, shall not perish, or be lost; So in Job 30. 20, 25. and 31. 20. And the Chaldee here repeateth the word not, for more plainnesse. Contrary to this is the wickeds hope and expectation, which shall perish, Prov. 10. 28. Job 8. 13. and 11. 20. be strong] or, strengthen, confirme and harden himselfe, and so prevaile. This is fitly opposed both to the name and nature of man, which is infirme, sorrowfull, and mortall. Vers. 21. Put a feare in them] The originall morah (used in this place onely) seemeth to be put for Mora, which is Feare or Terrour, Psal. 76. 12. these two Hebrew letters being often put one for another, as Amon, Ier. 52. 15. for Hamon, 2 King. 25. 11. Shinna, 2 King. 25. 29. for Shinnab, Ier. 52. 33. Or according to the Letters it may come of Horah, to teach, and signifie a law or doctrine, and this the Greeke favoureth, translating set a lawgiver (or teacher) over them. sory men] in Hebrew Aenosh, the proper name of Adams nephew, Gen. 4. 26. signifying Sorowfull; and is after commonly given to every man for his dolefull state and mortalitie, Psal. 8. 5. and here collectively is the name of mankinde.

PSAL. IX.

VPon Muth-Labbon] This was the name of a certain Inſtrument, ſay ſome; the beginning of a Song, ſay others, to the tune whereof this Pſalm was to bee ſung. Montanus, and many more hold it to be an Annagramatiſm, and render it, For the death of Nabal, viz. by a covert intimation, and inverſion of the Letters. So in the Title of Pſal. 7. Cuſh Benjemini, for Kiſh the Benjamite. This is,

Parcere nominibus, dicere de vitiis.

Verſ. 1. I will praiſe thee, O Lord, with my whole heart] This is a gratulatory Pſalm, wherein David ſhews his thankfulneſs,Cic. which a very Heathen calleth Maximam imò matrem omnium virtutum reliquaram, the Mother of all the reſt of the Vertues. True thankfulneſs, as one well obſerveth, is here and in the next verſe deſcribed,

1 By the matter of it.

2 By the manner.

Firſt, for matter, the Pſalmiſt delivereth it in Four parcels.Of [non-Latin text not transcribed] ſeems to come Cipher.

1 The acknowledging of God in all.

2 A Ciphering, and ſumming up of ſpecial Mercies.

3 An expreſſion of Spiritual joy in God, as well as in his Gifts.

4 A dedication of our Songs and ſelves to his Name.

Secondly, For the manner, he preſſeth

1 Integrity for the ſubject, and object, verſ. 1,

2 Sincerity for affection, and end, verſ. 2.

I will be glad and rejoyce in thee] Spiritual cheerfulneſs is the Mother of Thankfulneſs, Jam. 5.13. Birds when got in the air, or on the top of trees, and have taken up a ſtand to their mind, ſing moſt ſweetly.

O thou moſt High] God was ſo firſt called by Melchiſedeck, upon a like occaſion, as here by David, Gen. 14.19, 20. The Greeks might have their [non-Latin text not transcribed], for the Sun which they worſhipped, from this Hebrew Helion moſt High.

Verſ. 3. When mine enemies] This, Tremellius maketh to be the form of praiſe which the Pſalmiſt profeſſeth, that he will ſing to God, and rendereth it thus, That mine enemies returning back are fallen, &c.

And periſh at thy preſence] The victory is of God, and to him alone to be aſcribed. The Romans in their Triumphs preſented a Palm to Jupiter. The Graecians alſo thankfully aſcribed to Jupiter their deliverance from the Perſians, wrought by Themiſtocles, and there-hence called him [non-Latin text not transcribed], that is, Deliverer.

Verſ. 4. For thou haſt maintained my right] Heb. Thou haſt done me judgement. Locus hic in ſignis eſt, ſaith Polanus: this is an excellent place, and maketh much to the comfort of Gods poor people that are oppreſſed by the World [illegible: 1 letter] the righteous Judge will not fail to right them. See Luke 18.7, 8.

Verſ. 5. Thou haſt rebuked the Heathen, &c.] God firſt chideth the Churches Enemies by lighter Judgements; if theſe be not improved, he deſtroyeth them, Pſal. 119.21. and becauſe they ſought to obſcure and extirpate his name from amongſt men, therefore he puts out their name, that is, their fame and reputation for ever and yet, or for ever and a day, as we uſe to ſay: —Ingloria vita recedit, they go out in a ſnuff, as did the Primitive and Modern Perſecutors, of abhorred memory.

Verſ. 6. O thou enemy] The ſame whom he called Wicked one in the former verſe; where the word Wicked is of the ſingular number, q. d. O thou implacable Wretch, that wouldſt never be reconciled till thou waſt ruined; which now thou art, &c. Some read it interrogatively, and withall ironically, O enemy, are deſtructions come to an end? and Cities ſo waſted that they can never be repaired? q. d. So indeed thou haſt deſigned it, but art fairly diſappointed. And the like beſel Antiochus, Nero, Diocleſian, Philip the Second of Spain, Charls the Ninth of France, and other bloudy Perſecutors, with their devilliſh thoughts and threats; which they could never effect and accompliſh.

Their memorial is periſhed with them] Heb. Of them, of them (twice) for more vehemency. The vulgar (after the Greek) hath it cum ſonitu, with an humming noyſe, ſo that the ſound thereof ringeth all the World over. R. David rendreth it, Memoria eorum periit; ſuntne illi? Their memorial is periſhed; have they yet a being any where?

Verſ 7. But the Lord ſhall endure for ever] Vivit Chriſtus regnat que alioqui totus deſperaſſem, ſaid that good Dutch Divine, upon the view of the Churches enemies, i.e. Chriſt liveth and reigneth for ever, ſetting one foot on the earth, and the other on the ſea, as Lord of both; otherwiſe I ſhould have been altogether hopeleſs. Bleſſed bee God that he is God, was a learned Divines motto.

Verſ. 8. And he ſhall judge the world, &c.] See on verſ. 4.

Verſ. 9. The Lord alſo will be a refuge, &c.] Heb. An high tower, edita arx, wherein men are ſecured, and eſcape the impreſſions of an enemy. The very Lame and Blinde, thoſe moſt ſhiftleſs Creatures, when they had gotten the ſtrong Hold of Zion over their heads, thought that then they might ſecurely ſcorn David and his Hoſt, 2 Sam. 5.6, 7. yet their Hold failed them: So did the Tower of Shechem thoſe that ran into it. Not ſo the Almighty, his poor oppreſſed. Univerſal experience ſealeth to this truth; neither can one inſtance be given of the contrary; Higgaion, Selah. It is reported of the [non-Latin text not transcribed], that living in the Fens, and being vext with Gnats,Herod. Lib. 2. they uſe to ſleep in high Towers, whereby, thoſe Creatures not being able to ſoar ſo high, they are delivered from the biting of them: So would it be with us when bitten with cares and fears, did we but run to God for refuge, and reſt confident of his help.

Verſ. 10. And they that know thy name will put their truſt in thee] They can do no otherwiſe that ſavingly know Gods ſweet Attributes, and noble Acts for his people. We never truſt a man till we know him, and bad men are better known than truſted. Not ſo the Lord, for where his name is poured out as an oyntment, there the Virgins love him, fear him, rejoyce in him, repoſe upon him.

Them that ſeek thee] So they do it ſeriouſly, ſeaſonably, conſtantly.

Verſ. 11. Sing praiſes to the Lord, &c.] This is the guiſe of godly people, to provoke others to praiſe God, as being unſatisfiable in their deſires of doing him that ſervice, and as deeming that others ſee him as they do totum totum deſiderabilem, worthy to bee praiſed, Pſal. 18.3. highly to be admired, verſ. 1. of this Pſalm.

Verſ. 12. When he maketh inquiſition for bloud] for innocent bloud unjuſtly ſpilled; as he did for the bloud of Abel, Gen. 4.10. of Naboth (1 King. 9.26. ſurely I have ſeen yeſterday the bloud of Naboth; Murther ever bleeds freſh in the eyes of God) of Zechariah the Son of Barachiah, 2 Chron. 24.22. thoſe ungrateful Gueſts, who ſlew thoſe that came to call them; And when the King heard it (for Bloud cryes aloud) he was wroth, and deſtroyed thoſe Murtherers, Matth. 22.6, 7. Theſe ſhall have bloud to drink; for they are worthy, Revel. 16.6. God draws Articles of enquiry in this caſe as ſtrict, and as critical, as ever the Inquiſition of Spain doth; the proceedings whereof are with greateſt ſecrecy, and ſeverity.

He forgetteth not the cry of the Humble] Heb. of the poor, lowly, meek, afflicted. Humility and Meekneſs are Collactancae, twin-ſiſters, as Bernard hath it.

Verſ. 13. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, &c.] Theſe are the words (ſay ſome) of thoſe humble ones whom God forgetteth not; they were Gods remembrancers. See Iſa. 62.6. or, it is a prayer of David for further deliverances, according to that, I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praiſed, Pſal. 18.3. Betwixt prayſing and praying he divided his time, and drove an holy trade between Heaven and Earth.

Thou that lifteſt me up from the gates of death] i.e. Ex praeſentiſſimo & certiſſimo interitu, from deſperate and deadly dangers, ſuch as threaten preſent deſtruction; and ſhew a man the Grave even gaping for him. David was oft at this paſs; and God delivered Paul from ſo great a death, 2 Cor. 1.10. he commonly reſerveth his hand for a dead lift, and reſcueth thoſe who were even talking of their Graves.

Verſ. 14. That I may ſhew forth all thy praiſes] i.e. All that I can compaſs or attain unto: Alitèr omnes laudes Dei dici non poſſunt, quia plures ignorat home quàm novit, ſaith R. David here: for all the praiſes of God cannot be ſhewn forth; ſith thoſe wee know not are more than thoſe we know.

In the gates of the daughter of Zion.] Theſe are oppoſed to the Gates of Death, as Aben-Ezra here noteth; and betoken the moſt publick places, and beſt frequented.

Verſ. 15. The Heathen are ſunk down, &c.] Hoc eſt initium cantici Sanctorum, ſaith Aben-Ezra. This is the beginning of the Saints Song, knit to the former verſe thus: ſaying, The Heathen, &c.

In the Net which they bid, &c.] To Hunters, they are compared for cruelty, and to Fowlers for craft. But ſee their ſucceſs, they are ſunk down in their own pit, caught in their own Net. Thus it befell Pharaoh, Exod. 15.9, 10. Jabin, and Sicera, Judg, 4. Sennacherib, 2 Chron. 32. Antiochus Epiphanes, Maxentius the Tyrant,Euſeb. lib. cap.9.(who fell into the river Tiber, from his own falſe Bridge laid for Conſtantine) The Spaniſh Armado, our Powder-Papiſts, &c. See the Note on, Pſal. 7.15.

Verſ. 16. The Lord is known by the judgement, &c.] The Heathen Hiſtorian obſerved, that the ruine of Troy ſerved to teach men,Herod. that God puniſheth great ſinners with heavie plagues. Go up to Shiloh, &c.

The wicked is ſnared in the work of his own hands] Heb. Palms, hollows, noting the cloſe conveyance of his wicked plots and practiſes, but for his own miſchief.

Higgaion, Selah] Ainſworth rendreth it Meditation Selah; meaning that this is a matter of deep meditation, worthy to be well-minded, and ſpoken, or ſung with earneſt conſideration always. The word is found only here, and Pſal. 92.3. where alſo the wonderful works of God are diſcourſed. R. Solomons Note here is, Ultimum judicium debet eſſe continua meditatio. The laſt Judgement ſhould be continually thought upon.

Verſ. 17. The wicked ſhall be turned into Hell] Heb. into into Hell (twice) that is into the nethermoſt Hell, the loweſt Dungeon of Hell. The word L[illegible: 1 letter]ſh[illegible: 2 letters]lah hath a vehement inforcement from [non-Latin text not transcribed] locall, as Grammarians call it, and importeth, that they ſhall be caſt into outer darkneſs,Auguſt. In tenebras ex tenebris infelicitèr excluſi, infelicius excluden[illegible: 2 letters]. R. Solomons Note here is, They ſhall be carried away from Hell to Judgement, and from Judgement they ſhall be returned to the deepeſt Pit of Hell. This if men did but beleeve, they durſt not do as they do, as once Cato ſaid to Ceſar.

And all the Nations] The wicked be they never ſo many of them, they may not think to eſcape for their multitudes, as amongſt Mutineers in an Army, the tenth man ſometimes is puniſhed, the reſt go free.

Verſ. 18. For the needy ſhall not always be forgotten] Becauſe he that ſhall come will come, and will not tarry. The Lord is at hand to help thoſe that are forſaken of their hopes. Julian Lining was apprehended by Dale the Promooter (in Queen Maries days) who ſaid unto him, You hope, and hope, but your hope ſhall be aſlope. For though the Queen fail, ſhe that you hope for ſhall never come at it; for there is my Lord Cardinals Grace,Act. & Mon. 1871. and many others between her and it, &c. But the Cardinal dyed ſoon after the Queen, and (according to Father Latimers prayer) Elizabeth was crowned, and England yet once more looked upon.

Verſ. 19.Luther. Ariſe O Lord, let not man prevail] Prayers are the Churches Weapons, her Bombards & inſtrumenta bellica, whereby ſhe is terrible, as an Army with Banners; ſhe prays down her enemies.

Verſ. 20. Put them in fear O Lord] ſtrike them with a panick terrour, as once the Canaanites, Philistines, 2 Sam. 5. Syrians, 2 King. 7. Germans, in the War againſt the Huſſites, &c. Some read it, Put a Law upon them, bridle them, bound them as thou haſt done the Sea, Job 38.11. The Greek and Syriack favour this reading.

That the Nations may know themſelves to be but men] And not gods, as that proud Prince of Tyrus, Ezek. 27. and Antiochus, who would needs be ſtiled [non-Latin text not transcribed], to ſuch an height of pride will Perſecutors grow, if they proſper, and be not taken a link lower, as we ſay. Home, id eſt fracti, ſaith R. Obad. on this Text; Men, that is, broken crackt-creatures, Morbis morti que obnoxii, woful weights, ſorry and ſickly Caitives. This to know ſavingly, is the beginning of true Humility, ſaith Auguſtine here.

With a holy resolution the songster begins his hymn; I will praise thee, O Lord. It sometimes needs all our determination to face the foe, and bless the Lord in the teeth of his enemies; vowing that whoever else may be silent we will bless his name; here, however, the overthrow of the foe is viewed as complete, and the song flows with sacred fulness of delight. It is our duty to praise the Lord; let us perform it as a privilege. Observe that David's praise is all given to the Lord. Praise is to be offered to God alone; we may be grateful to the intermediate agent, but our thanks must have long wings and mount aloft to heaven. With my whole heart. Half heart is no heart. I will show forth. There is true praise to the thankful telling forth to others of our heavenly Father's dealings with us; this is one of the themes upon which the godly should speak often to one another, and it will not be casting pearls before swine if we make even the ungodly hear of the loving-kindness of the Lord to us. All thy marvellous works. Gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousands of others. One silver link in the chain draws up a long series of tender remembrances. Here is eternal work for us, for there can be no end to the showing forth of all his deeds of love. If we consider our own sinfulness and nothingness, we must feel that every work of preservation, forgiveness, conversion, deliverance, sanctification, etc., which the Lord has wrought for us, or in us is a marvellous work. Even in heaven, divine loving-kindness will doubtless be as much a theme of surprise as of rapture.

Gladness and joy are the appropriate spirit in which to praise the goodness of the Lord. Birds extol the Creator in notes of overflowing joy, the cattle low forth his praise with tumult of happiness, and the fish leap up in his worship with excess of delight. Moloch may be worshipped with shrieks of pain, and Juggernaut may be honoured by dying groans and inhuman yells, but he whose name is Love is best pleased with the holy mirth, and sanctified gladness of his people. Daily rejoicing is an ornament to the Christian character, and a suitable robe for God's choristers to wear. God loveth a cheerful giver, whether it be the gold of his purse or the gold of his mouth which he presents upon his altar. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High. Songs are the fitting expression of inward thankfulness, and it were well if we indulge ourselves and honoured our Lord with more of them. Mr. B. P. Power has well said, "The sailors give a cheery cry as they weigh anchor, the ploughman whistles in the morning as he drives his team; the milkmaid sings her rustic song as she sets about her early task; when soldiers are leaving friends behind them, they do not march out to the tune of the 'Dead March in Saul,' but to the quick notes of some lively air. A praising spirit would do for us all that their songs and music do for them; and if only we could determine to praise the Lord, we should surmount many a difficulty which our low spirits never would have been equal to, and we should do double the work which can be done if the heart be languid in its beating, if we be crushed and trodden down in soul. As the evil spirit in Saul yielded in olden time to the influence of the harp of the son of Jesse, so would the spirit of melancholy often take flight from us, if only we would take up the song of praise.

God's presence is evermore sufficient to work the defeat of our most furious foes, and their ruin is so complete when the Lord takes them in hand, that even flight cannot save them, they fall to rise no more when he pursues them. We must be careful, like David, to give all the glory to him whose presence gives the victory. If we have here the exultings of our conquering Captain, let us make the triumphs of the Redeemer the triumphs of the redeemed, and rejoice with him at the total discomfiture of all his foes.

One of our nobility has for his motto, "I will maintain it;" but the Christian has a better and more humble one, "Thou hast maintained it." "God and my right," are united by my faith: while God lives my right shall never be taken from me. If we seek to maintain the cause and honour of our Lord we may suffer reproach and misrepresentation, but it is a rich comfort to remember that he who sits on the throne knows our hearts, and will not leave us to the ignorant and ungenerous judgment of erring man.

God rebukes before he destroys, but when he once comes to blows with the wicked he ceases not until he has dashed them in pieces so small that their very name is forgotten, and like a noisome snuff their remembrance is put out for ever and ever. How often the word "thou" occurs in this and the former verse, to show us that the grateful strain mounts up directly to the Lord as doth the smoke from the altar when the air is still. My soul send up all the music of all thy powers to him who has been and is thy sure deliverance.

Here the Psalmist exults over the fallen foe. He bends as it were, over his prostrate form, and insults his once vaunted strength. He plucks the boaster's song out of his mouth, and sings it for him in derision. After this fashion doth our Glorious Redeemer ask of death, "Where is thy sting?" and of the grave, "Where is thy victory?" The spoiler is spoiled, and he who made captive is led into captivity himself. Let the daughters of Jerusalem go forth to meet their King, and praise him with timbrel and harp.

In the light of the past the future is not doubtful. Since the same Almighty God fills the throne of power, we can with unhesitating confidence, exult in our security for all time to come.

The enduring existence and unchanging dominion of our Jehovah, are the firm foundations of our joy. The enemy and his destructions shall come to a perpetual end, but God and his throne shall endure for ever. The eternity of divine sovereignty yields unfailing consolation. By the throne being prepared for judgment, are we not to understand the swiftness of divine justice. In heaven's court suitors are not worn out with long delays. Term-time lasts all the year round in the court of King's Bench above. Thousands may come at once to the throne of the Judge of all the earth, but neither plaintiff nor defendant shall have to complain that he is not prepared to give their cause a fair hearing.

Whatever earthly courts may do, heaven's throne ministers judgment in uprightness. Partiality and respect of persons are things unknown in the dealings of the Holy One of Israel. How the prospect of appearing before the impartial tribunal of the Great King should act as a check to us when tempted to sin, and as a comfort when we are slandered or oppressed.

He who gives no quarter to the wicked in the day of judgment, is the defence and refuge of his saints in the day of trouble. There are many forms of oppression; both from man and from Satan oppression comes to us; and for all its forms, a refuge is provided in the Lord Jehovah. There were cities of refuge under the law, God is our refuge-city under the gospel. As the ships when vexed with tempest make for harbour, so do the oppressed hasten to the wings of a just and gracious God. He is a high tower so impregnable, that the hosts of hell cannot carry it by storm, and from its lofty heights faith looks down with scorn upon her enemies.

Ignorance is worst when it amounts to ignorance of God, and knowledge is best when it exercises itself upon the name of God. This most excellent knowledge leads to the most excellent grace of faith. O, to learn more of the attributes and character of God. Unbelief, that hooting nightbird, cannot live in the light of divine knowledge, it flies before the sun of God's great and gracious name. If we read this verse literally, there is, no doubt, a glorious fulness of assurance in the names of God. We have recounted them in the "Hints for Preachers," and would direct the reader's attention to them. By knowing his name is also meant an experimental acquaintance with the attributes of God, which are every one of them anchors to hold the soul from drifting in seasons of peril. The Lord may hide his face for a season from his people, but he never has utterly, finally, really, or angrily forsaken them that seek him. Let the poor seekers draw comfort from this fact, and let the finders rejoice yet more exceedingly, for what must be the Lord's faithfulness to those who find if he is so gracious to those who seek.

"O hope of every contrite heart,

O joy of all the meek,

To those who fall how kind thou art,

How good to those who seek.

"But what to those who find, ah, this

Nor tongue nor pen can show

The love of Jesus what it is,

None but his loved ones know."

Being full of gratitude himself, our inspired author is eager to excite others to join the strain, and praise God in the same manner as he himself vowed to do in the first and second verses. The heavenly spirit of praise is gloriously contagious, and he that hath it is never content unless he can excite all who surround him to unite in his sweet employ. Singing and preaching, as means of glorifying God, are here joined together, and it is remarkable that, connected with all revivals of gospel ministry, there has been a sudden outburst of the spirit of song. Luther's Psalms and Hymns were in all men's mouths, and in the modern revival under Wesley and Whitefield, the strains of Charles Wesley, Cennick, Berridge, Toplady, Hart, Newton, and many others, were the outgrowth of restored piety. The singing of the birds of praise fitly accompanies the return of the gracious spring of divine visitation through the proclamation of the truth. Sing on brethren, and preach on, and these shall both be a token that the Lord still dwelleth in Zion. It will be well for us when coming up to Zion, to remember that the Lord dwells among his saints, and is to be had in peculiar reverence of all those that are about him.

When an inquest is held concerning the blood of the oppressed, the martyred saints will have the first remembrance; he will avenge his own elect. Those saints who are living shall also be heard; they shall be exonerated from blame, and kept from destruction, even when the Lord's most terrible work is going on; the man with the inkhorn by his side shall mark them all for safety, before the slaughtermen are permitted to smite the Lord's enemies. The humble cry of the poorest saints shall neither be drowned by the voice of the thundering justice nor by the shrieks of the condemned.

Memories of the past and confidences concerning the future conducted the man of God to the mercy seat to plead for the needs of the present. Between praising and praying he divided all his time. How could he have spent it more profitably? His first prayer is one suitable for all persons and occasions, it breathes a humble spirit, indicates self-knowledge, appeals to the proper attributes, and to the fitting person. Have mercy upon me, O Lord. Just as Luther used to call some texts little bibles, so we may call this sentence a little prayer-book; for it has in it the soul and marrow of prayer. It is multum in parvo, and like the angelic sword turns every way. The ladder looks to be short, but it reaches from earth to heaven.

What a noble title is here given to the Most High. Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death! What a glorious lift! In sickness, in sin, in despair, in temptation, we have been brought very low, and the gloomy portal has seemed as if it would open to imprison us, but, underneath us were the everlasting arms, and, therefore, we have been uplifted even to the gates of heaven. Trapp quaintly says, "He commonly reserveth his hand for a dead lift, and rescueth those who were even talking of their graves."

We must not overlook David's object in desiring mercy, it is God's glory: "that I may show forth all thy praise." Saints are not so selfish as to look only to self; they desire mercy's diamond that they may let others see it flash and sparkle, and may admire Him who gives such priceless gems to his beloved. The contrast between the gates of death and the gates of the New Jerusalem is very striking; let our songs be excited to the highest and most rapturous pitch by the double consideration of whence we are taken, and to what we have been advanced, and let our prayers for mercy be made more energetic and agonizing by a sense of the grace which such a salvation implies. When David speaks of his showing forth all God's praise, he means that, in his deliverance grace in all its heights and depths would be magnified. Just as our hymn puts it: —

"O the length and breadth of love!

Jesus, Saviour, can it be?

All thy mercy's height I prove,

All the depth is seen in me.

Here ends the first part of this instructive Psalm, and in pausing awhile we feel bound to confess that our exposition has only flitted over its surface and has not digged into the depths. The verses are singularly full of teaching, and if the Holy Spirit shall bless the reader, he may go over this Psalm, as the writer has done scores of times, and see on each occasion fresh beauties.

In considering this terrible picture of the Lord's overwhelming judgments of his enemies, we are called upon to ponder and meditate upon it with deep seriousness by the two untranslated words, Higgaion, Selah. Meditate, pause. Consider, and tune your instrument. Bethink yourselves and solemnly adjust your hearts to the solemnity which is so well becoming the subject. Let us in a humble spirit approach these verses, and notice, first, that the character of God requires the punishment of sin.

Jehovah is known by the judgment which he executeth; his holiness and abhorrence of sin is thus displayed. A ruler who winked at evil would soon be known by all his subjects to be evil himself, and he, on the other hand, who is severely just in judgment reveals his own nature thereby. So long as our God is God, he will not, he cannot spare the guilty; except through that one glorious way in which he is just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. We must notice, secondly, that the manner of his judgment is singularly wise, and indisputably just. He makes the wicked become their own executioners. "The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made," etc. Like cunning hunters they prepared a pitfall for the godly and fell into it themselves: the foot of the victim escaped their crafty snares, but the toils surrounded themselves: the cruel snare was laboriously manufactured, and it proved its efficacy by snaring its own maker. Persecutors and oppressors are often ruined by their own malicious projects. "Drunkards kill themselves; prodigals beggar themselves;" the contentious are involved in ruinous costs; the vicious are devoured with fierce diseases; the envious eat their own hearts; and blasphemers curse their own souls. Thus, men may read their sin in their punishment. They sowed the seed of sin, and the ripe fruit of damnation is the natural result.

The justice which has punished the wicked, and preserved the righteous, remains the same, and therefore in days to come, retribution will surely be meted out. How solemn is the seventeenth verse, especially in its warning to forgetters of God. The moral who are not devout, the honest who are not prayerful, the benevolent who are not believing, the amiable who are not converted, these must all have their own portion with the openly wicked in the hell which is prepared for the devil and his angels. There are whole nations of such; the forgetters of God are far more numerous than the profane or profligate, and according to the very forceful expression of the Hebrew, the nethermost hell will be the place into which all of them shall be hurled headlong. Forgetfulness seems a small sin, but it brings eternal wrath upon the man who lives and dies in it.

Mercy is as ready to her work as ever justice can be. Needy souls fear that they are forgotten; well, if it be so, let them rejoice that they shall not alway be so. Satan tells poor tremblers that their hope shall perish, but they have here the divine assurance that their expectation shall not perish for ever. "The Lord's people are a humbled people, afflicted, emptied, sensible of need, driven to a daily attendance on God, daily begging of him, and living upon the hope of what is promised;" such persons may have to wait, but they shall find that they do not wait in vain.

Prayers are the believer's weapons of war. When the battle is too hard for us, we call in our great ally, who, as it were, lies in ambush until faith gives the signal by crying out, "Arise, O Lord." Although our cause be all but lost, it shall be soon won again, if the Almighty doth but bestir himself. He will not suffer man to prevail over God, but with swift judgments will confound their gloryings. In the very sight of God the wicked will be punished, and he who is now all tenderness will have no bowels of compassion for them, since they had no tears of repentance while their day of grace endured.

One would think that men would not grow so vain as to deny themselves to be but men, but it appears to be a lesson which only a divine schoolmaster can teach to some proud spirits. Crowns leave their wearers but men, degrees of eminent learning make their owners not more than men, valour and conquest cannot elevate beyond the dead level of "but men;" and all the wealth of Croesus, the wisdom of Solon, the power of Alexander, the eloquence of Demosthenes, if added together, would leave the possessor but a man. May we ever remember this lest like those in the text, we should be put in fear.

Before leaving this Psalm, it will be very profitable if the student will peruse it again as the triumphal hymn of the Redeemer, as he devoutly brings the glory of his victories and lays it down at his Father's feet. Let us joy in his joy, and our joy shall be full.

Whole Psalm. We are to consider this song of praise, as I conceive, to be the language of our great Advocate and Mediator, "in the midst of the church giving thanks unto God," and teaching us to anticipate by faith his great and final victory over all the adversaries of our peace temporal and spiritual, with especial reference to his assertion of his royal dignity on Zion, his holy mountain. The victory over the enemy, we find by the fourth verse, is again ascribed to the decision of divine justice, and the award of a righteous judge, who has at length resumed his tribunal. This renders it certain, that the claim preferred to the throne of the Almighty, could proceed from the lips of none but our MELCHIZEDEC. John Fry, B.A., 1842.

"I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart." As a vessel by the scent thereof tells what liqour is in it, so should our mouths smell continually of that mercy wherewith our hearts have been refreshed: for we are called vessels of mercy. William Cowper, 1612.

"I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, I will shew forth all thy marvellous works." The words "With my whole heart," serve at once to show the greatness of the deliverance wrought for the psalmist, and to distinguish him from the hypocrites —the coarser, who praise the Lord for his goodness merely with the lips; and the more refined, who praise him with just half their heart, while they secretly ascribe the deliverance more to themselves than to him. "All thy wonders," the marvellous tokens of thy grace. The psalmist shows by this term, he recognized them in all their greatness. Where this is done, there the Lord is also praised with the whole heart. Half-heartedness, and the depreciation of divine grace, go hand in hand. The (Heb.) is the (Heb.) instrum. The heart is the instrument of praise, the mouth only its organ. E. W. Hengstenberg.

Verse 1 (second clause). When we have received any special good thing from the Lord, it is well, according as we have opportunities, to tell others of it. When the woman who had lost one of her ten pieces of silver, found the missing portion of her money, she gathered her neighbours and her friends together, saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost." We may do the same; we may tell friends and relations that we have received such-and-such a blessing, and that we trace it directly to the hand of God. Why have we not already done this? Is there a lurking unbelief as to whether it really came from God; or are we ashamed to own it before those who are perhaps accustomed to laugh at such things? Who knows so much of the marvellous works of God as his own people; if they be silent, how can we expect the world to see what he has done? Let us not be ashamed to glorify God, by telling what we know and feel he has done; let us watch our opportunity to bring out distinctly the fact of his acting; let us feel delighted at having an opportunity, from our own experience, of telling what must turn to his praise; and them that honour God, God will honour in turn; if we be willing to talk of his deeds, he will give us enough to talk about. P. B. Power, in 'I Wills' of the Psalms.

"I will confess unto thee, O Lord, with my whole heart," etc. Behold with what a flood of the most sweet affections he says that he "will confess," "show forth," "rejoice," "be glad," and "sing," being filled with ecstasy! He does not simply say, "I will confess," but, "with my heart," and "with my whole heart." Nor does he propose to speak simply of "works," but of the "marvellous works" of God, and of "all" those "works." Thus his spirit (like John in the womb) exults and rejoices in God his Saviour, who has done great things for him, and those marvellous things which follow. In which words are opened the subject of this Psalm: that is, that he therein sings the marvellous works of God. And these works are wonderful, because he converts, by those who are nothing, those who have all things, and, by the ALMUTH who live in hidden faith, and are dead to the world, he humbles those who flourish in glory, and are looked upon in the world. Thus accomplishing such mighty things without force, without arms, without labour, by the cross only and blood. But how will his saying, that he will show forth "all" his marvellous works, agree with that of Job 9:10, "which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number"? For, who can show forth all the marvellous works of God? We may say, therefore, that these things are spoken in that excess of feeling in which he said, (Psalm 6:6), "I will water my couch with my tears." That is, he hath such an ardent desire to speak of the wonderful works of God, that, as far as his wishes are concerned, he would set the "all" forth, though he could not do it, for love has neither bounds nor end: and, as Paul saith (1 Corinthians 13:7), "Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things;" hence it can do all things, and does do all things, for God looketh at the heart and spirit. Martin Luther.

"I will confess unto thee, O Lord, with my whole heart," etc. Behold with what a flood of the most sweet affections he says that he "will confess," "show forth," "rejoice," "be glad," and "sing," being filled with ecstasy! He does not simply say, "I will confess," but, "with my heart," and "with my whole heart." Nor does he propose to speak simply of "works," but of the "marvellous works" of God, and of "all" those "works." Thus his spirit (like John in the womb) exults and rejoices in God his Saviour, who has done great things for him, and those marvellous things which follow. In which words are opened the subject of this Psalm: that is, that he therein sings the marvellous works of God. And these works are wonderful, because he converts, by those who are nothing, those who have all things, and, by the ALMUTH who live in hidden faith, and are dead to the world, he humbles those who flourish in glory, and are looked upon in the world. Thus accomplishing such mighty things without force, without arms, without labour, by the cross only and blood. But how will his saying, that he will show forth "all" his marvellous works, agree with that of Job 9:10, "which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number"? For, who can show forth all the marvellous works of God? We may say, therefore, that these things are spoken in that excess of feeling in which he said, (Psalm 6:6), "I will water my couch with my tears." That is, he hath such an ardent desire to speak of the wonderful works of God, that, as far as his wishes are concerned, he would set the "all" forth, though he could not do it, for love has neither bounds nor end: and, as Paul saith (1 Corinthians 13:7), "Love beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things;" hence it can do all things, and does do all things, for God looketh at the heart and spirit. Martin Luther.

"When mine enemies are turned back," etc. Were turned back, repulsed, and put to flight. To render this in the present time, as our translators did, is certainly improper; it destroys the coherence, and introduces obscurity. Ainsworth saw this, and rendered in the past, "When mine enemies turned backward." "At thy presence." That is, by thine anger. For as God's presence or face denotes his favour to such as fear and serve him, so it denotes his anger towards the wicked. "The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil." B. Boothroyd, 1824.

"They shall fall and perish." It refers to those that either faint in a march, or are wounded in a battle, or especially that in flight meet with galling haps in their way, and so are galled and lamed, rendered unable to go forward, and so fall, and become liable to all the chances of pursuits, and as here, are overtaken and perish in the fall. Henry Hammond, D.D.

"Thou hast rebuked the heathen," etc. — Augustine applieth all this mystically, as is intimated (verse 1) that it should be applied, for, "I will speak," saith he, "of all thy wonderful works;" and what so wonderful as the turning of the spiritual enemy backward, whether the devil, as when he said, "Get thee behind me, Satan;" or the old man, which is turned backward when he is put off, and the new man put on? John Mayer.

"He shall judge the world in righteousness." In this judgment tears will not prevail, prayers will not be heard, promises will not be admitted, repentance will be too late; and as for riches, honourable titles, sceptres, and diadems, these will profit much less; and the inquisition shall be so curious and diligent, that not one light thought nor one idle word (not repented of in the life past), shall be forgotten. For truth itself hath said, not in jest, but in earnest, "Of every idle word which men have spoken, they shall give an account in the day of judgment." Oh, how many which now sin with great delight, yea, even with greediness (as if we served a god of wood or of stone, which seeth nothing, or can do nothing), will be then astonished, ashamed, and silent! Then shall the days of thy mirth be ended, and thou shalt be overwhelmed with everlasting darkness; and instead of thy pleasures, thou shalt have everlasting torments. Thomas Tymme.

"He shall judge the world in righteousness." Even Paul, in his great address on Mars' Hill, a thousand years after, could find no better words in which to teach the Athenians the doctrine of the judgment-day than the Septuagint rendering of this clause. William S. Plumer.

The guilty conscience cannot abide this day. The silly sheep, when she is taken, will not bleat, but you may carry her and do what you will with her, and she will be subject; but the swine, if she be once taken, she will roar and cry, and thinks she is never taken but to be slain. So of all things the guilty conscience cannot abide to hear of this day, for they know that when they hear of it, they hear of their own condemnation. I think if there were a general collection made through the whole world that there might be no judgment-day, then God would be so rich that the world would go a-begging and be a waste wilderness. Then the covetous judge would bring forth his bribes; then the crafty lawyer would fetch out his bags; the usurer would give his gain, and a double thereof. But all the money in the world will not serve for our sin, but the judge must answer his bribes, he that hath money must answer how he came by it, and just condemnation must come upon every soul of them; then shall the sinner be ever dying and never dead, like the salamander, that is ever in the fire and never consumed. Henry Smith.

It is reported of the Egyptians that, living in the fens, and being vexed with gnats, they used to sleep in high towers, whereby, those creatures not being able to soar so high, they are delivered from the biting of them: so would it be with us when bitten with cares and fear, did we but run to God for refuge, and rest confident of his help. John Trapp.

"They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." Faith is an intelligent grace; though there can be knowledge without faith, yet there can be no faith without knowledge. One calls it quicksighted faith. Knowledge must carry the torch before faith. 2 Timothy 1:12. "For I know whom I have believed." As in Paul's conversion a light from heaven "Shined round about him" (Acts 9:3), so before faith be wrought, God shines in with a light upon the understanding. A blind faith is as bad as a dead faith: that eye may as well be said to be a good eye which is without sight, as that faith is good without knowledge. Devout ignorance damns; which condemns the church of Rome, that thinks it a piece of their religion to be kept in ignorance; these set up an altar to an unknown God. They say ignorance is the mother of devotion; but sure where the sun is set in the understanding, it must needs be night in the affections. So necessary is knowledge to the being of faith, that the Scriptures do sometimes baptise faith with the name of knowledge. Isaiah 53:11. "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." Knowledge is put there for faith. Thomas Watson.

"They that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for, thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." The mother of unbelief is ignorance of God, his faithfulness, mercy, and power. They that know thee, will trust in thee. This confirmed Paul, Abraham, Sarah, in the faith. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." 2 Timothy 1:12. "He is faithful that promised," and "able also to perform." Hebrews 10:23, and 11:11; Romans 4:21. The free promises of the Lord are all certain, his commandments right and good, the recompense of reward inestimably to be valued above thousands of gold and silver; trust therefore in the Lord, O my soul, and follow hard after him. Thou hast his free promise, who never failed, who hath promised more than possibly thou couldst ask or think, who hath done more for thee than ever he promised, who is good and bountiful to the wicked and ungodly; thou doest his work, who is able and assuredly will bear thee out. There is a crown of glory proposed to thee above all conceit of merit; stick fast unto his word, and suffer nothing to divide thee from it. Rest upon his promises though he seem to kill thee; cleave unto his statutes though the flesh lust, the world allure, the devil tempt, by flatteries or threatenings to the contrary. John Ball, 1632.

"They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." They can do no otherwise who savingly know God's sweet attributes, and noble acts for his people. We never trust a man till we know him, and bad men are better known than trusted. Not so the Lord; for where his name is ointment poured forth, the virgins love him, fear him, rejoice in him, and repose upon him. John Trapp.

"When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them." There is a time when God will make inquisition for innocent blood. The Hebrew word doresh, from darash, that is here rendered inquisition, signifies not barely to seek, to search, but to seek, search, and enquire with all diligence and care imaginable. Oh, there is a time a-coming when the Lord will make a very diligent and careful search and enquiry after all the innocent blood of his afflicted and persecuted people, which persecutors and tyrants have spilt as water upon the ground; and woe to persecutors when God shall make a more strict, critical, and careful enquiry after the blood of his people than ever was made in the inquisition of Spain, where all things are carried with the greatest diligence, subtlety, secrecy, and severity. O persecutors, there is a time a-coming, when God will make a strict enquiry after the blood of Hooper, Bradford, Latimer, Taylor, Ridley, etc. There is a time a-coming, wherein God will enquire who silenced and suspended such-and-such ministers, and who stopped the mouths of such-and-such, and who imprisoned, confined, and banished such-and-such, who were once burning and shining lights, and who were willing to spend and be spent that sinners might be saved, and that Christ might be glorified. There is a time when the Lord will make a very narrow enquiry into all the actions and practices of ecclesiastical courts, high commissions, committees, assizes, etc., and deal with persecutors as they have dealt with his people. Thomas Brooks.

"When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them." There is vox sanguinis, a voice of blood; and "he that planted the ear, shall he not hear?" It covered the old world with waters. The earth is filled with cruelty; it was vox sanguinis that cried, and the heavens heard the earth, and the windows of heaven opened to let fall judgment and vengeance upon it. Edward Marbury, 1649.

"When he maketh inquisition for blood," etc. Though God may seem to wink for a time at the cruelty of violent men, yet will call them at last to a strict account for all the innocent blood they have shed, and for their unjust and unmerciful usage of meek and humble persons; whose cry he never forgets (though he doth not presently answer it), but takes a fit time to be avenged of their oppressors. Symon Patrick, D.D., 1626-1707.

"He maketh inquisition for blood." He is so stirred at this sin, that he will up, search out the authors, contrivers, and commissioners of this scarlet sin, he will avenge for blood. William Greenhill.

"He forgetteth not the cry of the humble." Prayer is a haven to the shipwrecked man, an anchor to them that are sinking in the waves, a staff to the limbs that totter, a mine of jewels to the poor, a healer of diseases, and a guardian of health. Prayer at once secures the continuance of our blessings, and dissipates the clouds of our calamities. O blessed prayer! thou art the unwearied conqueror of human woes, the firm foundation of human happiness, the source of ever-enduring joy, the mother of philosophy. The man who can pray truly, though languishing in extremest indigence, is richer than all beside, whilst the wretch who never bowed the knee, though proudly sitting as monarch of all nations, is of all men most destitute. Chrysostom.

"That I may show forth all thy praise," etc. To show forth all God's praise is to enter largely into the work. An occasional "God, I thank thee," is no fit return for a perpetual stream of rich benefits. William S. Plumer.

"The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made," etc. Whilst they are digging pits for others, there is a pit a-digging and a grave a-making for themselves. They have a measure to make up, and a treasure to fill, which at length will be broken open, which, methinks, should take off them which are set upon mischief from pleasing themselves in their plots. Alas! they are but plotting their own ruin, and building a Babel which will fall upon their own heads. If there were any commendation in plotting, then that great plotter of plotters, that great engineer, Satan, would go beyond us all, and take all the credit from us. But let us not envy Satan and his in their glory. They had need of something to comfort them. Let them please themselves with their trade. The day is coming wherein the daughter of Sion shall laugh them to scorn. There will be a time wherein it shall be said, "Arise, Sion, and thresh." Micah 4:13. And usually the delivery of God's children is joined with the destruction of his enemies; Saul's death, and David's deliverance; the Israelites' deliverance, and the Egyptians drowning. The church and her opposites are like the scales of a balance; when one goes up, the other goes down. Richard Sibbs.

It will much increase the torment of the damned, in that their torments will be as large and strong as their understandings and affections, which will cause those violent passions to be still working. Were their loss never so great, and their sense of it never so passionate, yet if they could but lose the use of their memory, those passions would die, and that loss being forgotten, would little trouble them. But as they cannot lay by their life and being, though then they would account annihilation a singular mercy, so neither can they lay aside any part of their being. Understanding, conscience, affections, memory, must all live to torment them, which should have helped to their happiness. And as by these they should have fed upon the love of God, and drawn forth perpetually the joys of his presence, so by these must they now feed upon the wrath of God, and draw forth continually the dolours of his absence. Therefore, never think, that when I say the hardness of their hearts, and their blindness, dulness, and forgetfulness shall be removed, that therefore they are more holy and happy than before: no, but morally more vile, and hereby far more miserable. Oh, how many times did God by his messengers here call upon them, "Sinners, consider whither you are going. Do but make a stand awhile, and think where your way will end, what is the offered glory that you so carelessly reject: will not this be bitterness in the end?" And yet, these men would never be brought to consider. But in the latter days, saith the Lord, they shall perfectly consider it, when they are ensnared in the work of their own hands, when God hath arrested them, and judgment is passed upon them, and vengeance is poured out upon them to the full, then they cannot choose but consider it, whether they will or no. Now they have no leisure to consider, nor any room in their memories for the things of another life. Ah! but then they shall have leisure enough, they shall be where they shall have nothing else to do but consider it: their memories shall have no other employment to hinder them; it shall even be engraven upon the tables of their hearts. God would have the doctrine of their eternal state to have been written on the posts of their doors, on their houses, on their hands, and on their hearts: he would have had them mind it and mention it, as they rise and lie down, and as they walk abroad, that so it might have gone well with them at their latter end. And seeing they rejected this counsel of the Lord, therefore shall it be written always before them in the place of their thraldom, that which way soever they look they may still behold it. Richard Baxter.

"The Lord is known by the judgments which he executeth." Now if the Lord be known by the judgment which he executeth; then, the judgment which he executeth must be known; it must be an open judgment; and such are very many of the judgments of God, they are acted as upon a stage. And I may give you an account in three particulars why the Lord will sometimes do justice in the place of beholders, or in the open sight of others. First, that there may be witnesses enough of what he doth, and so a record of it be kept, at least in the minds and memories of faithful men for the generations to come. Secondly, the Lord doth it not only that he may have witnesses of his justice, but also that his justice and the proceedings of it, may have an effect and a fruit upon those who did not feel it, nor fall under it. This was the reason why the Lord threatened to punish Jerusalem in the sight of the nations. Ezekiel 5:6, 7, 8, 14, 15. . . . . . God would execute judgment in Jerusalem, a city placed in the midst of the nations, that as the nations had taken notice of the extraordinary favours, benefits, deliverances, and salvations which God wrought for Jerusalem, so they might also take notice of his judgments and sore displeasure against them. Jerusalem was not seated in some nook, corner, or by-place of the world, but in the midst of the nations, that both the goodness and severity of God toward them might be conspicuous. . . . . . . God lets some sinners suffer, or punisheth them openly, both because he would have all others take notice that he dislikes what they have done, as also because he would not have others do the like, lest they be made like them, both in the matter and manner of their sufferings. 'Tis a favour as well as our duty, to be taught by other men's harms, and to be instructed by their strokes, to prevent our own . . . . . . Thirdly, God strikes some wicked men in open view, or in the place of beholders for the comfort of his own people, and for their encouragement. Psalm 58:10, 11. "The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance;" not that he shall be glad of the vengeance, purely as it is a hurt or a suffering to the creature; but the righteous shall be glad when he seeth the vengeance of God as it is a fulfilling of the threatening of God against the sin of man, and an evidence of his own holiness. . . . . . . It is said (Exodus 14:30, 31), that God having overwhelmed the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore: God did not suffer the carcases of the Egyptians to sink to the bottom of the sea, but caused them to lie upon the shore, that the Israelites might see them; and when Israel saw that dreadful stroke of the Lord upon the Egyptians, it is said, "The people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses." Thus they were confirmed in their faith by God's open judgments upon the Egyptians. They were smitten in the place of the beholders, or in the open sight of others. Condensed from Joseph Caryl.

"The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth;" when he lays his hand upon sinners, saints tremble, consider his power, majesty, greatness, the nature of his judgments, and so judge themselves, and remove out of the way whatever may provoke. . . . . . . As fire begets a splendour round about where it is, so do the judgments of God set out to the world his glory, justice, holiness. William Greenhill.

"Snared in the work of his own hands." The wages that sin bargains with the sinner are life, pleasure, and profit; but the wages it pays him with are death, torment, and destruction. He that would understand the falsehood and deceit of sin, must compare its promises and its payment together. Robert South, D.D., 1633-1716.

"Higgaion, Selah," that is, as Ainsworth renders it, "Meditation, Selah:" showing this ought to be seriously considered of. The word "Higgaion" is again had (Psalm 92:3); being mentioned among other musical instruments, whereby we may gather it to be one of them; for there is psaltery, nable, higgaion, and harp, John Mayer.

"The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands." Not only do we read it in the word of God, but all history, all experience, records the same righteous justice of God, in snaring the wicked in the work of their own hands. Perhaps the most striking instance on record, next to Haman on his own gallows, is one connected with the horrors of the French Revolution, in which we are told that, "within nine months of the death of the queen Marie Antoinette by the guillotine, every one implicated in her untimely end, her accusers, the judges, the jury, the prosecutors, the witnesses, all, every one at least whose fate is known, perished by the same instrument as their innocent victim." "In the net which they had laid for her was their own foot taken —into the pit which they digged for her did they themselves fall. Barton Bouchier, 1855.

The ungodly at death must undergo God's fury and indignation. "The wicked shall be turned into hell." I have read of a lodestone in Ethiopia which hath two corners, with one it draws the iron to it, with the other it puts the iron from it: so God hath two hands, of mercy and justice; with the one he will draw the godly to heaven, with the other he will thrust the sinner to hell; and oh, how dreadful is that place! It is called a fiery lake (Revelation 20:15); a lake, to denote the plenty of torments in hell; a fiery lake, to show the fierceness of them: fire is the most torturing element. Strabo in his geography mentions a lake in Galilee of such a pestiferous nature that it scaldeth off the skin of whatsoever is cast into it; but, alas! that lake is cool compared with this fiery lake into which the damned are thrown. To demonstrate this fire terrible, there are two most pernicious qualities in it. 1. It is sulphurous, it is mixed with brimstone (Revelation 21:8), which is unsavoury and suffocating. 2. It is inextinguishable; though the wicked shall be choked in the flames, yet not consumed (Revelation 20:10); "And the devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever." Behold the deplorable condition of all ungodly ones in the other world, they shall have a life that always dies, and a death that always lives: may not this affright men out of their sins, and make them become godly? unless they are resolved to try how hot the hell-fire is. Thomas Watson.

"The wicked shall be turned into hell," etc. By "the wicked" here we must understand unregenerate persons, whoever they are that are in a state of unregeneracy. . . . . . That person is here spoken of as a "wicked" man that "forgets God," who does not think of him frequently, and with affection, with fear and delight, and those affections that are suitable to serious thoughts of God. . . . . To forget God and to be a wicked person is all one. And these two things will abundantly evince the truth of this assertion: namely, that this forgetfulness of God excludes the prime and main essentials of religion, and also includes in it the highest and most heinous pieces of wickedness, and therefore must needs denominate the subject, a wicked person. . . . . . Forgetfulness of God excludes the principal and essential parts of religion. It implies that a man doth neither esteem nor value the all-sufficiency and holiness of God, as his happiness and portion, as his strength and support; nor doth he fear him, nor live in subjection to his laws and commands, as his rule; nor doth he aim at the glory of God as his end: therefore every one who thus forgets God, must certainly be a wicked person. . . . . . . To exclude God out of our thoughts and not to let him have a place there, not to mind, nor think upon God, is the greatest wickedness of the thoughts that can be. And, therefore, though you cannot say of such a one, he will be drunk, or he will swear, cozen, or oppress; yet if you can say he will forget God, or that he lives all his days never minding nor thinking upon God, you say enough to speak him under wrath, and to turn him into hell without remedy. John Howe, 1630 - 1705.

"The wicked shall be turned into hell." (Heb.); Lisholah —headlong into hell, down into hell. The original is very emphatic. Adam Clarke.

All wickedness came originally with the wicked one from hell; thither it will again be remitted, and they who hold on its side must accompany it on its return to that place of torment, there to be shut up for ever. The true state of "nations," and the individuals of which they are composed, is to be estimated from one single circumstance; namely, whether in their doings they remember, or "forget God." Remembrance of him is the well-spring of virtue; forgetfulness of him, the fountain of vice. George Horne, D.D.

Hell, their fit habitation, fraught with fire

Unquenchable, the house of woe and pain. John Milton, 1608-1674.

Will without power, the element of hell,

Abortive all its acts returning still

Upon itself;. . . . Oh, anguish terrible!

Meet guerdon of self-love, its proper ill!

Malice would scowl upon the foe he fears;

And he with lip of scorn would seek to kill;

But neither sees the other, neither hears —

For darkness each in his own dungeon bars,

Lust pines for dearth, and grief drinks its own tears —

Each in its solitude apart. Hate wars

Against himself, and feeds upon his chain,

Whose iron penetrates the soul it scars,

A dreadful solitude each mind insane,

Each its own place, its prison all alone,

And finds no sympathy to soften pain. J. A. Heraud.

"For the needy shall not alway be forgotten," etc. This is a sweet promise for a thousand occasions, and when pleaded before the throne in his name who comprehends in himself every promise, and is indeed himself the great promise of the Bible, it would be found like all others, yea and amen. Robert Hawker, D.D., 1820.

"The expectation of the poor shall not perish." A heathen could say, when a bird, scared by a hawk, flew into his bosom, I will not betray thee unto thy enemy, seeing thou comest for sanctuary unto me. How much less will God yield up a soul unto its enemy, when it takes sanctuary in his name, saying, Lord, I am hunted with such a temptation, dogged with such a lust; either thou must pardon it, or I am damned; mortify it, or I shall be a slave to it; take me into the bosom of thy love for Christ's sake; castle me in the arms of thy everlasting strength; it is in thy power to save me from, or give me up into the hands of my enemy; I have no confidence in myself or any other: into thy hands I commit my cause myself, and rely on thee. This dependence of a soul undoubtedly will awaken the almighty power of God for such a one's defence. He hath sworn the greatest oath that can come out of his blessed lips, even by himself, that such as thus fly for refuge to hope in him, shall have strong consolation. Hebrews 6:17. This indeed may give the saint the greater boldness of faith to expect kind entertainment when he repairs to God for refuge, because he cannot come before he is looked for; God having set up his name and promises as a strong tower, both calls his people into these chambers and expects they should betake themselves thither. William Gurnall.

As sometimes God is said to hear us in not hearing us, so we may say he should sometimes deny us if he did not delay us, It is (saith Chrysostom) like money, which lying long in the bank, comes home at last with a duck in its mouth, with use upon use; when money is out a great time, it makes a great return: we can stay thus upon men, and cannot we, shall not we, stay upon the Lord, and for the Lord, for a large return? God causeth us by delay to make the more prayers; and the more we pray, the longer we stay, the more comfort we shall have, and the more sure we are that we shall have it in the latter end. Distinguish between denying and delaying. . . . In God our Father are all dimensions of love, and that in an infinite degree; infinitely infinite: what if he defer us? so do we our children, albeit we mean no other but to give them their own asking, yet we love to see them wait, that so they may have from us the best things, when they are at the best, in the best time, and in the best manner: if a mother should forget her only boy, yet God hath an infinite memory, he nor can, nor will forget us; the expectation of the waiter shall not fail for ever, that is, never. Richard Capel.

"Arise, O Lord," etc. What does this mean? Are we to consider the psalmist as praying for the destruction of his enemies, as pronouncing a malediction, a curse upon them? No; these are not the words of one who is wishing that mischief may happen to his enemies; they are the words of a prophet, of one who is foretelling, in Scripture language, the evil that must befall them on account of their sins. Augustine.

"Put them in fear, O Lord," etc. We should otherwise think ourselves gods. We are so inclined to sin that we need strong restraints, and so swelled with a natural pride against God, that we need thorns in the flesh to let out the corrupt matter. The constant hanging the rod over us makes us lick the dust, and acknowledge ourselves to be altogether at the Lord's mercy. Though God hath pardoned us, he will make us wear the halter about our necks to humble us. Stephen Charnock.

"That the nations may know themselves to be but men." The original word is (Heb.), enosh; and therefore it is a prayer that they may know themselves to be but miserable, frail, and dying men. The word is in the singular number, but it is used collectively. John Calvin.

I. The only object of our praise —"thee, O Lord."

II. The abundant themes of praise —"all thy marvellous works."

III. The proper nature of praise —"with my whole heart." B. Davies.

"I will show forth." Endless employment and enjoyment.

"Thy marvellous works." Creation, Providence, Redemption, are all marvellous, as exhibiting the attributes of God in such a degree as to excite the wonder of all God's universe. A very suggestive topic.

Sacred song: its connection with holy gladness.

(1) The rights of the righteous are sure to be assailed, (2) but equally sure to be defended.

I. The great enemy.

II. The destruction he has caused.

III. The means of his overthrow.

IV. The rest which shall ensue.

Verse 7 (first clause). The eternity of God —the comfort of saints, the terror of sinners.

The justice of God's moral government, especially in relation to the last great day.

Needy people, needy times, all-sufficient provision.

I. All-important knowledge —"know thy name."

II. Blessed result —"will put their trust in thee."

III. Sufficient reason —"for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee." T. W. Medhurst.

Knowledge, Faith, Experience, the connection of the three.

The names of God inspire trust. JEHOVAH Jireh, Tsidkenu, Rophi, Shammah, Nissi, ELOHIM, SHADDAI, ADONAI, etc.

I. Zion, what is it?

II. Her glorious inhabitant, what doth he?

III. The twofold occupation of her sons —"sing praises," "declare among the people his doings."

IV. Arguments from the first part of the subject to encourage us in the double duty.

I. God on awful business.

II. Remembers his people; to spare, honour, bless, and avenge them.

III. Fulfils their cries, in their own salvation, and overthrow of enemies. A consolatory sermon for times of war or pestilence.

"Have mercy upon me, O Lord." The publican's prayer expounded, commended, presented, and fulfilled.

"Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death." Deep distresses, Great deliverances. Glorious exaltations.

"I will rejoice in thy salvation." Especially because it is thine, O God, and therefore honours thee. In its freeness, fulness, suitability, certainty, everlastingness. Who can rejoice in this? Reasons why they should always do so.

Lex talionis. Memorable instances.

Awful knowledge; a tremendous alternative as compared with verse 10.

A warning to forgetters of God.

Delays in deliverance.

I. Unbelief's estimate of the — "forgotten," "perish."

II. God's promise —"not always."

III. Faith's duty —wait.

"Let not man prevail." A powerful plea. Cases when employed in Scripture. The reason of its power. Times for its use.

A needful lesson, and how it is taught.