Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/572

564 him to render railing for railing, and will with all his heart sit down silent. He will go on in his duty with constancy and resolution; "Let them say what they will, I will keep thy precepts, and not dread their reproach."

2. He did not envy their prosperity, nor was he by it allured from his duty; Their heart is as fat as grease. The proud are at ease; (cxxiii. 4.) they are full of the world, and the wealth and pleasures of it; and this makes them, (1.) Senseless, secure, and stupid; they are past feeling; thus the phrase is used, (Isa. vi. 10.) Make the heart of this people fat. They are not sensible of the touch of the word of God, or his rod. (2.) Sensual and voluptuous; "Their eyes stand out with fatness; (Ps. lxxiii. 7.) they roll themselves in the pleasures of sense, and take up with them as their chief good; and much good may it do them, I would not change conditions with them; I delight in thy law; I build my security upon the promises of God's word, and have pleasure enough in communion with God, infinitely preferable to all their delights." The children of God, who are acquainted with spiritual pleasures, need not envy the children of this world their carnal pleasures.

71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

See here, 1. That it has been the lot of the best saints to be afflicted. The proud and the wicked live in pomp and pleasure, while David, though he kept close to God and his duty, was still in affliction. Waters of a full cup are wrung out to God's people, lxxiii. 10.

2. That it has been the advantage of God's people to be afflicted. David could speak experimentally; It was good for me; many a good lesson he had learnt by his afflictions, and many a good duty he had been brought to, which otherwise had been unlearnt and undone. Therefore God visited him with affliction, that he might learn God's statutes; and the intention was answered, the afflictions had contributed to the improvement of his knowledge and grace. He that chastened him taught him. The rod and reproof give wisdom.

72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

This is a reason why David reckoned, that, when by his afflictions he learned God's statutes, and the profit did so much balance the loss, he was really a gainer by them; for God's law, which he got acquaintance with by his affliction, was better to him than all the gold and silver which he lost by his affliction.

1. David had but a little of the word of God, in comparison with what we have, yet see how highly he valued it; how inexcusable then are we, who have both the Old and New Testament complete, and yet account them as a strange thing! Observe, Therefore he valued the law, because it is the law of God's mouth, the revelation of his will, and ratified by his authority.

2. He had a great deal of gold and silver, in comparison with what we have, yet see how little he values it; his riches increased, and yet he did not set his heart upon them, but upon the word of God. That was better to him, yielded him better pleasures, and better maintenance, and a better inheritance, than all the treasures he was master of. Those that have read, and believe, David's Psalms and Solomon's Ecclesiastes, cannot but prefer the word of God far before the wealth of this world.

10. JOD. 73. Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

Here, 1. David adores God as the God of nature, and the Author of his being; Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, Job x. 8. Every man is as truly the work of God's hands as the first man was, Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16. "Thy hands have not only made me, and given me a being, otherwise I had never been, but fashioned me, and given me this being, this noble and excellent being, endued with these powers and faculties;" and we must own that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. 2. He addresses himself to God as the God of grace, and begs he will be the Author of his new and better being. God made us to serve him and enjoy him; but by sin we have made ourselves unable for his service, and indisposed for the enjoyment of him; and we must have a new and divine nature, otherwise we had the human nature in vain; therefore David prays, "Lord, since thou hast made me by thy power for thy glory, make me anew by thy grace, that I may answer the ends of my creation, and live to some purpose; give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments." The way in which God recovers and secures his interest in men, is, by giving them an understanding; for by that door he enters into the soul, and gains possession of it.

74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.

Here is, 1. The confidence of this good man in the hope of God's salvation; I have hoped in thy word; and I have not found it in vain to do so; it has not failed me, nor have I been disappointed in my expectations from it. It is a hope that maketh not ashamed; but is present satisfaction, and fruition at last.

2. The concurrence of other good men with him in the joy of that salvation; "They that fear thee, will be glad when they see me relieved by my hope in thy word, and delivered according to my hope." The comforts which some of God's children have in God, and the favours they have received from him, should be matter of joy to others of them. St. Paul often expressed the hope that for God's grace to him thanks would be rendered by many, 2 Cor. i. 11.—iv. 15. Or it may be taken more generally; good people are glad to see one another; they are especially pleased with those (and, as I may say, proud of them) who are eminent for their hope in God's word.

75. I know,, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Still David is in affliction, and, being so, he owns, 1. That his sin was justly corrected; I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, are righteousness itself. However God is pleased to afflict us, he does us no wrong, nor can we charge him with any iniquity, but must acknowledge that it is less than we have deserved. We know that God is holy in his nature, and wise and just in all the acts of his government, and therefore we cannot but know, in the general, that his judgments are right, though, in some particular instances, there may be difficulties which we cannot easily resolve.

2. That God's promise was graciously performed. The former may silence us under our afflictions, and forbid us to repine, but this may satisfy us, and enable us to rejoice; for afflictions are in the covenant, and therefore they are not only not meant for our hurt, but they are really intended for