Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/234

226 thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. 16. The is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. 17., thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear; 18. To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

David here, upon the foregoing representation of the inhumanity and impiety of the oppressors, grounds an address to God: Wherein observe,

I. What he prays for; 1. That God would himself appear; (v. 12.) "Arise, Lord; O God, lift up thine hand, manifest thy presence and providence in the affairs of this lower world. Arise, O Lord, to the confusion of those who say that thou hidest thy face. Manifest thy power, exert it for the maintaining of thine own cause, lift up thine hand to give a fatal blow to these oppressors; let thine everlasting arm be made bare." 2. That he would appear for his people; "Forget not the humble, the afflicted, that are poor, that are made poorer, and are poor in spirit. Their oppressors, in their presumption, say that thou hast forgotten them; and they, in their despair, are ready to say the same; Lord, make it to appear that they are both mistaken." 3. That he would appear against their persecutors, v. 15. (1.) That he would disable them to do any further mischief; Break thou the arm of the wicked, take away his power, that the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared, Job xxxiv. 30. We read of oppressors whose dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged, (Dan. vii. 12.) that they might have time to repent. (2.) That he would deal with them for the mischief they had done; "Seek out his wickedness; let that be all brought to light, which he thought should for ever lie undiscovered; let that be all brought to account, which he thought should for ever go unpunished; bring it out till thou find none, till none of his evil deeds remain unreckoned for, none of his evil designs undefeated, and none of his partisans undestroyed.

II. What he pleads, for the encouraging of his own faith in these petitions.

1. He pleads the great affronts which these proud oppressors put upon God himself; "Lord, it is thine own cause that we beg thou wouldest appear in, the enemies have made it so, and therefore it is not for thy glory to let them go unpunished;" (v. 13.) Wherefore do the wicked contemn God? He does so; for he says, "Thou wilt not require it; thou wilt never call us to an account for what we do;" than which they could not put a greater indignity upon the righteous God. The psalmist here speaks with astonishment, (1.) At the wickedness of the wicked; "Why do they speak so impiously, why so absurdly?" It is a great trouble to good men, to think what contempt is cast upon the holy God by the sin of sinners, upon his precepts, his promises, his threatenings, his favours, his judgments; all are despised and made light of. Wherefore do the wicked thus contemn God? It is because they do not know him. (2.) At the patience and forbearance of God toward them; "Why are they suffered thus to contemn God? Why does he not immediately vindicate himself, and take vengeance on them?" It is because the day of reckoning is yet to come, when the measure of their iniquity is full.

2. He pleads the notice God took of the impiety and iniquity of these oppressors; (v. 14. ) "Do the persecutors encourage themselves with a groundless fancy, that thou wilt never see it? Let the persecuted encourage themselves with a well-grounded faith, not only that thou hast seen it, but that thou dost behold it, even all the mischief that is done by the hands, and all the spite and malice that lurk in the hearts, of these oppressors; it is all known to thee, and observed by thee; nay, not only thou hast seen it, and dost behold it, but thou wilt requite it, wilt recompense it into their bosoms, by thy just and avenging hand."

3. He pleads the dependence which the oppressed had upon him; "The poor commits himself unto thee, each of them does so, I among the rest. They rely on thee, as their Patron and Protector, they refer themselves to thee as their Judge, in whose determination they acquiesce, and at whose disposal they are willing to be. They leave themselves with thee," (so some read it,) "not prescribing, but subscribing, to thy wisdom and will. They thus give thee honour, as much as their oppressors dishonour thee. They are thy willing subjects, and put themselves under thy protection; therefore protect them."

4. He pleads the relation in which God is pleased to stand to us. (1.) As a great God, he is King for ever and ever, v. 16. And it is the office of a king to administer justice for the restraint and terror of evil-doers, and the protection and praise of them that do well. To whom should the injured subjects appeal, but to the sovereign? Help, my Lord, O King; Avenge me of mine adversary. "Lord, let all that pay homage and tribute to thee as their King, have the benefit of thy government, and find thee their Refuge. Thou art an everlasting King, which no earthly prince is, and therefore canst and wilt, by an eternal judgment, dispense rewards and punishments in an everlasting state, when time shall be no more; and to that judgment the poor refer themselves." (2.) As a good God; he is the Helper of the fatherless, (v. 14.) of those who have no one else to help them, and have many to injure them. He has appointed kings to defend the poor and fatherless, (lxxxii. 3.) and therefore much more will he do it himself; for he has taken it among the titles of his honour, to be a Father to the fatherless, (lxviii. 5.) a Helper of the helpless.

5. He pleads the experience which God's church and people had had of God's readiness to appear for them. (1.) He had dispersed and extirpated their enemies; (v. 16.) The heathen are perished out of his land; the remainders of the Canaanites, the seven devoted nations, which have long been as thorns in the eyes, and goads in the sides, of Israel, are now, at length, utterly rooted out; and that is an encouragement to us to hope that God will, in like manner, break the arm of the oppressive Israelites, that were, in some respects, worse than heathens. (2.) He had heard and answered their prayers; (v. 17.) "Lord, thou hast many a time heard the desire of the humble, and never saidst to a distressed supplicant, Seek, in vain. Why may not we hope for the continuance and repetition of the wonders, the favours, which our fathers told us of?

6. He pleads their expectations from God, pursuant to their experience of him, "Thou hast heard, therefore thou wilt cause thine ear to hear, as vi. 9. Thou art the same, and thy power, and promise, and relation, to thy people the same; and the work and workings of grace are the same in them; why therefore may we not hope that he who has been, will still be, will ever be, a God hearing prayer?" But observe, (1.) In what method God hears prayer. He first prepares the heart of his people, and then gives them an answer of peace; nor may