Psalm 59:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Spurgeon
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
Psalm 59
Complete Concise
This psalm is of the same nature and scope with six or seven
foregoing psalms; they are all filled with David's complaints of the malice of
his enemies and of their cursed and cruel designs against him, his prayers and
prophecies against them, and his comfort and confidence in God as his God. The
first is the language of nature, and may be allowed; the second of a prophetical
spirit, looking forward to Christ and the enemies of his kingdom, and therefore
not to be drawn into a precedent; the third of grace and a most holy faith,
which ought to be imitated by every one of us. In this psalm, I. He prays to God
to defend and deliver him from his enemies, representing them as very bad men,
barbarous, malicious, and atheistical (v. 1-7). II. He foresees and foretels the
destruction of his enemies, which he would give to God the glory of (v. 8-17).
As far as it appears that any of the particular enemies of God's people fall
under these characters, we may, in singing this psalm, read their doom and
foresee their ruin.
To the chief musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when Saul
sent and they watched the house to kill him.
Verses 1-7
The title of this psalm acquaints us particularly with the
occasion on which it was penned; it was when Saul sent a party of his guards to
beset David's house in the night, that they might seize him and kill him; we
have the story 1 Sa. 19:11. It was when his hostilities against David were newly
begun, and he had but just before narrowly escaped Saul's javelin. These first
eruptions of Saul's malice could not but put David into disorder and be both
grievous and terrifying, and yet he kept up his communion with God, and such a
composure of mind as that he was never out of frame for prayer and praises;
happy are those whose intercourse with heaven is not intercepted nor broken in
upon by their cares, or griefs, or fears, or any of the hurries (whether outward
or inward) of an afflicted state. In these verses,
I. David prays to be delivered out of the hands of his enemies,
and that their cruel designs against him might be defeated (v. 1, 2):
"Deliver
me from my enemies, O my God! thou art
God, and cast deliver me,
my
God, under whose protection I have put myself; and thou hast promised me to be a
God all-sufficient, and therefore, in honour and faithfulness, thou wilt deliver
me. Set me on high out of the reach of the power and malice of those that rise
up against me, and above the fear of it. Let me be safe, and see myself so, safe
and easy, safe and satisfied. O deliver me! and save me." He cries out as
one ready to perish, and that had his eye to God only for salvation and
deliverance. He prays (v. 4),
"Awake to help me, take cognizance of
my case, behold that with an eye of pity, and exert thy power for my relief."
Thus the disciples, in the storm, awoke Christ, saying,
Master, save us, we
perish. And thus earnestly should we pray daily to be defended and delivered
form our spiritual enemies, the temptations of Satan, and the corruptions of our
own hearts, which war against our spiritual life.
II. He pleads for deliverance. Our God gives us leave not only
to pray, but to plead with him, to order our cause before him and to fill our
mouth with arguments, not to move him, but to move ourselves. David does so
here.
1. He pleads the bad character of his enemies. They are
workers
of iniquity, and therefore not only his enemies, but God's enemies; they
are
bloody men, and therefore not only his enemies, but enemies to all
mankind. "Lord, let not the workers of iniquity prevail against one that is
a worker of righteousness, nor bloody men against a merciful man."
2. He pleads their malice against him, and the imminent danger
he was in from them, v. 3. "Their spite is great; they aim at my soul, my
life, my better part. They are subtle and very politic:
They lie in wait,
taking an opportunity to do me a mischief. They are all mighty, men of honour
and estates, and interest in court and country. They are in a confederacy; they
are united by league, and actually
gathered together
against me,
combined both in consultation and action. They are very ingenious in their
contrivances, and very industrious in the prosecution of them (v. 4):
They
run and prepare themselves, with the utmost speed and fury, to do me a
mischief." He takes particular notice of the brutish conduct of the
messengers that Saul sent to take him (v. 6):
"They return at evening
from the posts assigned them in the day, to apply themselves to their works of
darkness (their night-work, which may well be their day-shame), and then
they
make a noise like a hound in pursuit of the hare." Thus did David's
enemies, when they came to take him, raise an out cry against him as a rebel,
and traitor, a man not fit to live; with this clamour they went
round about
the city, to bring a bad reputation upon David, if possible to set the mob
against him, at least to prevent their being incensed against them, which
otherwise they had reason to fear they would be, so much was David their
darling. Thus the persecutors of our Lord Jesus, who are compared to dogs (Ps.
22:16), ran him down with noise; for else they could not have taken him, at
least
no on the feast-day, for there would have been an uproar among the
people. They belch out with their mouth the malice that boils in their
hearts, v. 7.
Swords are in their lips; that is, reproaches that would my
heart with grief (Ps. 42:10), and slanders that stab and wound my reputation.
They were continually suggesting that which drew and whetted Saul's sword
against him, and the fault is laid upon the false accusers. The sword perhaps
would not have been in Saul's hand if it had not been first in their lips.
3. He pleads his own innocency, not as to God (he was never
backward to own himself guilty before him), but as to his persecutors;. what
they charged him with was utterly false, nor had he ever said or done any thing
to deserve such treatment from them (v. 3):
"Not for my transgression,
nor for my sin, O Lord! thou knowest, who knowest all things." And
again (v. 4),
without my fault. Note, (1.) The innocency of the godly
will not secure them from the malignity of the wicked. Those that are harmless
like doves, yet, for Christ's sake, are hated of all men, as if they were
noxious like serpents, and obnoxious accordingly. (2.) Though our innocency will
not secure us from troubles, yet it will greatly support and comfort us under
our troubles. The testimony of our conscience for us that we have behaved
ourselves well towards those that behave themselves ill towards us will be very
much our rejoicing in the day of evil. (3.) If we are conscious to ourselves of
our innocency, we may with humble confidence appeal to God and beg of him to
plead our injured cause, which he will do in due time.
4. He pleads that his enemies were profane and atheistical, and
bolstered themselves up in their enmity to David, with the contempt of God:
For
who, say they,
doth hear? v. 7. Not God himself, Ps. 10:11; 94:7.
Note, It is not strange if those regard not what they say who have made
themselves believe the God regards not what they say.
III. He refers himself and his cause to the just judgment of
God, v. 5. "The Lord, the Judge, be Judge between me and my persecutors."
In this appeal to God he has an eye to him as
the Lord of hosts, that has
power to execute judgment, having all creatures, even hosts of angels, at his
command; he views him also as
the God of Israel, to whom he was, in a
peculiar manner, King and Judge, not doubting that he would appear on the behalf
of those that were upright, that were Israelites indeed. When Saul's hosts
persecuted him, he had recourse to God as
the Lord of all hosts; when
those maligned him who in spirit were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel he
had recourse to God as
the God of Israel. He desires (that is, he is very
sure) that God will
awake to visit all the nations, will make an early
and exact enquiry into the controversies and quarrels that are among the
children of men; there will be a day of visitation (Isa. 10:3), and to that day
David refers himself, with this solemn appeal,
Be not merciful to any wicked
transgressors. Selah—Mark that. 1. If David had been conscious to himself
that he was a wicked transgressor, he would not have expected to find mercy;
but, as to his enemies, he would say he was no transgressor at all (v. 3, 4):
"Not
for my transgression, and therefore thou wilt appear for me." As to
God, he could say he was no
wicked transgressor; for, though he had
transgressed, he was a penitent transgressor, and did not obstinately persist in
what he had done amiss. 2. He knew his enemies were wicked transgressors, wilful,
malicious, and hardened in their transgressions both against God and man, and
therefore he sues for justice against them, judgment without mercy. Let not
those expect to find mercy who never showed mercy, for such are wicked
transgressors.
Verses 8-17
David here encourages himself, in reference to the threatening
power of his enemies, with a pious resolution to wait upon God and a believing
expectation that he should yet praise him.
I. He resolves to wait upon God (v. 9):
"Because of his
strength" (either the strength of his enemies, the fear of which drove
him to God, or because of God's strength, the hope of which drew him to God)
"Will
I wait upon thee, with a believing dependence upon thee and confidence in
thee." It is our wisdom and duty, in times of danger and difficulty, to
wait upon God; for he is our defence, our high place, in whom we shall be safe.
He hopes, 1. That God will be to him a God of mercy (v. 10):
"The God of
my mercy shall prevent me with the blessings of his goodness and the gifts
of his mercy, prevent my fears, prevent my prayers, and be better to me than my
own expectations." It is very comfortable to us, in prayer, to eye God, not
only as the God of mercy, but as the God of our mercy, the author of all good in
us and the giver of all good to us. Whatever mercy there is in God, it is laid
up for us, and is ready to be laid out upon us. Justly does the psalmist call
God's mercy
his mercy, for all the blessings of the new covenant are
called
the sure mercies of David (Isa. 55:3); and they are
sure to all
the seed. 2. That he will be to his persecutors a God of vengeance. His
expectation of this he expresses partly by way of prediction and partly by way
of petition, which come all to one; for his prayer that it might be so amounts
to a prophecy that it shall be so. Here are several things which he foretels
concerning his enemies, or observers, that sought occasions against him and
opportunity to do him a mischief, in all which he should see his desire, not a
passionate or revengeful desire, but a believing desire upon them, v. 10. (1.)
He foresees that God would expose them to scorn, as they had indeed made
themselves ridiculous, v. 8. "They think
God does not hear them,
does not heed them;
but thou, O Lord! shalt laugh at them for their
folly, to think that he who planted the ear shall not hear, and
thou shalt
have not them only, but all such other heathenish people that live without
God in the world,
in derision." Note, Atheists and persecutors are
worthy to be laughed at and had in derision. See Ps. 2:4; Prov. 1:26; Isa.
37:22. (2.) That God would make them standing monuments of his justice (v. 11):
Slay
them not; let them not be killed outright,
lest my people forget. If
the execution be soon done, the impressions of it will not be keep, and
therefore will not be durable, but will quickly wear off. Swift destructions
startle men for the present, but they are soon forgotten, for which reason he
prays that this might be gradual:
"Scatter them by thy power, and
let them carry about with them, in their wanderings, such tokens of God's
displeasure as may spread the notice of their punishment to all parts of the
country." Thus Cain himself, though a murderer, was not slain, lest the
vengeance should be forgotten, but was sentenced to be
a fugitive and a
vagabond. Note, When we think God's judgments come slowly upon sinners we
must conclude that God has wise and holy ends in the gradual proceedings of his
wrath. "So scatter them as that they may never again unite to do mischief,
bring
them down, O Lord, our shield!" If God has undertaken the protection of
his people as their shield, he will doubtless humble and abase all those that
fight against them. (3.) That they might be dealt with according to their
deserts (v. 12):
For the sin of their mouth, even for the words of their lips
(for every word they speak has sin in it),
let them for this
be taken
in their pride, even for their cursing others and themselves (a sin Saul was
subject to, 1 Sa. 14:28, 44), and lying. Note, There is a great deal of
malignity in tongue-sins, more than is commonly thought of. Note, further,
Cursing, and lying, and speaking proudly, are some of the worst of the sins of
the tongue; and that man is truly miserable whom God deals with according to the
deserts of these,
making his own tongue to fall on him. (4.) That God
would glorify himself, as Israel's God and King, in their destruction (v. 13):
"Consume them in wrath, consume them; that is, follow them with one
judgment after another, till they be utterly ruined; let them be sensibly, but
gradually wasted, that they themselves, while they are in the consuming, may
know, and that the standers-by may likewise draw this inference form it,
That
God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth." Saul and his party
think to rule and carry all before them, but they shall be made to know that
there is a higher than they, that there is one who does and will overrule them.
The design of God's judgments is to convince men that the Lord reigns, that he
fulfils his own counsels, gives law to all the creatures, and disposes all
things to his own glory, so that the greatest of men are under his check, and he
makes what use he pleases of them. He
rules in Jacob; for there he keeps
his court; there it is known, and his name is great. But he
rules to the end
of the earth; for all nations are within the territories of his kingdom. He
rules
to the ends of the earth, even over those that know him not, but he
rules
for Jacob (so it may be read); he has an eye to the good of his church in
the government of the world; the administrations of that government, even to the
ends of the earth, are
for Jacob his servant's sake and for Israel's his
elect, Isa. 45:4. (5.) That he would make their sin their punishment, v. 14,
compare v. 6. Their sin was their hunting for David to make a prey of him; their
punishment should be that they should be reduced to such extreme poverty that
they should hunt about for meat to satisfy their hunger, and should miss of it
as they missed of David. Thus they should be, not cut off at once, but scattered
(v. 11), and gradually consumed (v. 13); those that die by famine die by inches,
and feel themselves die, Lam. 4:9. He foretels that they should be forced to beg
their bread from door to door. [1.] That they should do it with the greatest
regret and reluctancy imaginable.
To beg they are ashamed (which makes it
the greater punishment to them), and therefore they do it at evening, when it
begins to be dark, that they may not be seen, at the time when other beasts of
prey creep forth, Ps. 104:20. [2.] That yet they should be very clamorous and
loud in their complaints, which would proceed from a great indignation at their
condition, which they cannot in the least degree reconcile themselves to:
They
shall make a noise like a dog. When they were in quest of David they made a
noise like an angry dog snarling and barking; now, when they are in quest of
meat, they shall make a noise like a hungry dog howling and wailing. Those that
repent of their sins
mourn, when in trouble,
like doves; those
whose hearts are hardened make a noise, when in trouble, like dogs,
like a
wild bull in a net, full of the fury of the Lord. See Hos. 7:14,
They
have not cried unto me with their heart when they howled on their beds for corn
and wine. [3.] That they should meet with little relief, but the hearts of
people should be very much hardened towards them, so that they should
go
round about the city, and
wander up and down for meat (v. 15), and
should get nothing but by dint of importunity (according to our marginal
reading,
If they be not satisfied, they will tarry all night), so that
what people do give them is not with good-will, but only to get rid of them,
lest by their continual coming they weary them. [4.] That they should be
insatiable, which is the greatest misery of all in a poor condition.
They are
greedy dogs which can never have enough (Isa. 56:11), and
they grudge if
they be not satisfied. A contented man, if he has not what he would have,
yet does not grudge, does not quarrel with Providence, nor fret within himself;
but those whose God is their belly, if that be not filled and its appetites
gratified, fall out both with God and themselves. It is not poverty, but
discontent, that makes a man unhappy.
II. He expects to praise God, that God's providence would find
him matter for praise and that God's grace would work in him a heart for
praise, v. 16, 17. Observe,
1. What he would praise God for. (1.) He would praise his power
and his mercy; both should be the subject-matter of his song. Power, without
mercy, is to be dreaded; mercy, without power, is not what a man can expect much
benefit from; but God's power by which he is able to help us, and his mercy by
which he is inclined to help us, will justly be the everlasting praise of all
the saints. (2.) He would praise him because he had, many a time, and all along,
found him his defence and his refuge in the day of trouble. God brings his
people into trouble, that they may experience his power and mercy in protecting
and sheltering them, and may have occasion to praise him. (3.) He would praise
him because he had still a dependence upon him and a confidence in him, as his
strength to support him and carry him on in his duty, his defence to keep him
safe from evil, and the God of his mercy to make him happy and easy. He that is
all this to us is certainly worthy of our best affections, praises, and
services.
2. How he would praise God. (1.) He would
sing. As that
is a natural expression of joy, so it is an instituted ordinance for the
exerting and exciting of holy joy and thankfulness. (2.) He would
sing aloud,
as one much affected with the glory of God, that was not ashamed to own it, and
that desired to affect others with it. He will sing of God's power, but he
will sing aloud of his mercy; the consideration of that raises his affections
more than any thing else. (3.) He would sing aloud
in the morning, when
his spirits were most fresh and lively. God's compassions are new every
morning, and therefore it is fit to begin the day with his praises. (4.) He
would
sing unto God (v. 17), to his honour and glory, and with him in his
eye. As we must direct our prayers to God, so to him we must direct our praises,
and must look up, making melody to the Lord.
Psalm 59:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Spurgeon
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 Job Proverbs
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
Classic Bible CommentariesCourtesy of E-Word Today
Copyright 2000-2009 BibleClassics.com
