Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/226

218 death, (James i. 15.) that is, falsehood. [2.] By the pains of a labouring man, that works hard to dig a pit, and then falls into it, and perishes in it. First, This is true, in a sense, of all sinners; they prepare destruction for themselves, by preparing themselves for destruction; loading themselves with guilt, and submitting themselves to their corruptions. Secondly, It is often remarkably true of those who contrive mischief against the people of God, or against their neighbours; by the righteous hand of God it is made to return upon their own heads; what they designed for the shame and destruction of others proves to be their own confusion.

Nec lex est justior ulla, Quàm, Necis artifices arte perire suâ.

There is not a juster law than, That the author of a murderous contrivance should perish by it. Some apply it to Saul, who fell upon his sword.

In singing this psalm, we must do as David here does; (v. 17.) praise the Lord according to his righteousness; give him the glory of that gracious protection under which he takes his afflicted people, and of that just vengeance with which he will pursue them that afflict them; thus we must sing to the praise of the Lord most high, who, when his enemies deal proudly, shows that he is above them.

PSALM VIII.

This psalm is a solemn meditation on, and adoration of, the glory and greatness of God, of which we are all concerned to think highly and honourably. It begins and ends with the same acknowledgment of the transcendent excellency of God's name. It is proposed for proof, (v. 1.) That God's name is excellent in all the earth! And then it is repeated, as proved, (with a quod erat demonstrandum—which was to be demonstrated,) in the last verse. For the proof of God's glory, he gives instances of his goodness to man; for God's goodness is his glory. God is to be glorified, I. For making known himself and his great name to us, v. 1. II. For making use of the weakest of the children of men, by them to serve his own purposes, v. 2. III. For making even the heavenly bodies useful to man, v. 3, 4. IV. For making him to have dominion over the creatures in this lower world, and thereby placing him but little lower than the angels, v. 5..8. This psalm is, in the New Testament, applied to Christ, and the work of our redemption which he wrought out; the honour given by the children of men to him. (v. 2. Matt. xxi. 16.) and the honour put upon the children of men by him, both in his humiliation, when he was made little lower than the angels, and in his exaltation, when he was crowned with glory and honour, v. 5, 6. Heb. ii. 6..8. 1 Cor. xv. 27. When we are observing the glory of God in the kingdom of nature and Providence, we should be led by that, and through that, to the contemplation of his glory in the kingdom of grace.

To the chief musician upon Gittith. A psalm of David.

LORD our, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies; that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

The psalmist here sets himself to give to God the glory due to his name. Dr. Hammond grounds a conjecture upon the title of this psalm, concerning the occasion of penning it. It is said to be upon Gittith, which is generally taken for the tune, or musical instrument, with which this psalm was to be sung; but he renders it upon the Gittite, that is, Goliath the Gittite, whom he vanquished and slew; (1 Sam. xvii.) that enemy was stilled by him who was, in comparison, but a babe and a suckling. The conjecture would be probable enough, but that we find two other psalms with the same title, lxxxi. and lxxxiv.

Two things David here admires,

I. How plainly God displays his glory himself, v. 1. He addresses himself to God with all humility and reverence, as the Lord, and his people's Lord; O Lord, our Lord. If we believe that God is the Lord, we must avouch and acknowledge him to be ours. He is ours, for he made us, protects us, and takes special care of us. He must be ours, for we are bound to obey him, and submit to him; we must own the relation, not only when we come to pray to God, as a plea with him to show us mercy, but when we come to praise him, as an argument with ourselves to give him glory: and we shall never think we can do that with affection enough, if we consider,

1. How bright God's glory shines even in this lower world; How excellent is his name in all the earth! The works of creation and Providence evince and proclaim to all the world, that there is an infinite Being, the Fountain of all being, power, and perfection, the sovereign Ruler, powerful Protector, and bountiful Benefactor, of all the creatures. How great, how illustrious, how magnificent, is his name in all the earth! The light of it shines in men's faces every where; (Rom. i. 20.) if they shut their eyes against it, that is their fault. There is no speech or language, but the voice of God's name either is heard in it, or may be. But this looks further, to the gospel of Christ, by which the name of God, as it is notified by divine revelation, which, before, was great in Israel only, came to be so in all the earth, the utmost ends of which have thus been made to see God's great salvation, Mark xvi. 15, 16.

2. How much brighter it shines in the upper world; Thou hast set thy glory above the heavens. (1.) God is infinitely more glorious and excellent than the noblest of creatures, and those that shine brightest. (2.) Whereas we on this earth only hear God's excellent name, and praise that, the angels and blessed spirits above see his glory, and praise that, and yet he is exalted far above even their blessing and praise. (3.) In the exaltation of the Lord Jesus to the right hand of God, who is the Brightness of his Father's glory, and the express Image of his person, God set his glory above the heavens, far above all principalities and powers.

II. How powerfully he discovers it by the weakest of his creatures; (v. 2.) Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength, or perfected praise, the praise of thy strength, Matth. xxi. 16. This bespeaks the glory of God, 1. In the kingdom of nature. The care God takes of little children, (when they first come into the world, the most helpless of all animals,) the special protection they are under, and the provision nature has made for them, ought to be acknowledged by every one of us, to the glory of God, as a great instance of his power and goodness; and the more sensibly, because we have all had the benefit of it, for to this we owe it, that we died not from the womb, that the knees then prevented us, and the breasts, that we should suck. "This is such an instance of thy goodness, as may for ever put to silence the enemies of thy glory, who say, There is no God." 2. In the kingdom of Providence; in the government of this lower world he makes use of the children of men, some that know him, and others that do not, (Isa. xlv. 4.) and these such as have been babes and sucklings; nay, sometimes he is pleased to serve his own purposes by the ministry of such as are still, in wisdom and strength, little better than babes and sucklings. 3. In the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of the Messiah. It is here foretold, that, by the apostles, who were looked upon but as babes, unlearned and ignorant men, (Acts iv. 13.) mean and despicable, and