Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 3.djvu/632

624 them. Secondly, He is very ready to hear and answer the prayers of his people, v. 18, 19. In this appears the grace of his kingdom, that his subjects have not only liberty of petitioning, but all the encouragement that can be to petition. 1. The grant is very rich, that God will be nigh to all that call upon him; he will be always within call of their prayers, and they shall always find themselves within reach of his help. If a neighbour that is near is better than a brother afar off, (Prov. xxvii. 10.) much more a God that is near. Nay, he will not only be nigh to them, that they may have the satisfaction of being heard, but he will fulfil their desires; they shall have what they ask, and find what they seek. It was said, (v. 16. ) that he satisfies the desire of every living thing; much more will he fulfil the desire of them that fear him; for he that feeds his birds will net starve his babes. He will hear their call, and will save them; that is, hearing them to purpose, as he heard David, that is, saved him from the horn of the unicorn, xxii. 21. 2. The proviso is very reasonable; he will hear and help us, (1.) If we fear him, if we worship and serve him with a holy awe of him; for, otherwise, how can we expect that he should accept us? (2.) If we call upon him in truth; for he desires that in the inward part. We must be faithful to God, and sincere in our professions of dependence on him, and devotedness to him. In all devotions, inward impressions must be answerable to the outward expressions, else they are not performed in truth. (3.) He takes them under his special protection who have a confidence and complacency in him, v. 20. The Lord preserves all them that love him; they lie exposed in this world, but he, by preserving them in their integrity, will effectually secure them, that no real evil shall befall them.

3. If any are destroyed, they may thank themselves; All the wicked he will destroy, but they have, by their wickedness, fitted themselves for destruction. This magnifies his goodness in the protection of the righteous, that with their eyes they shall see the reward of the wicked, (xci. 8.) and God will, by this means, preserve his people, even by destroying the wicked that would do them a mischief.

Lastly, The psalmist concludes, (1.) With a resolution to give glory to God himself; (v. 21.) My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord. When we have said what we can, in praising God, still there is more to be said, and therefore we must not only begin our thanksgivings with this purpose, as he did, (v. 1.) but conclude them with it, as he does here, because we shall presently have occasion to begin again. As the end of one mercy is the beginning of another, so should the end of our thanksgiving be. While I have breath to draw, my mouth shall still speak God's praises. (2.) With a call to others to do so too; Let all flesh, all mankind, bless his holy name for ever and ever. Some of mankind shall be blessing God for ever; it is pity but that they should be all so engaged.

PSALM CXLVI

This, and all the rest of the psalms that follow, begin and end with Hallelujah, a word which puts much of God's praise into a little compass; for in it we praise him by his name Jah, the contraction of Jehovah. In this excellent psalm of praise, I. The psalmist engages himself to praise God, v. 1, 2. II. He engages others to trust in him, which is one necessary and acceptable way of praising him. 1. He shows why we should not trust in men, V. 3, 4. 2. Why we should trust in God, v. 5. Because of his power in the kingdom of nature, (v. 6.) his dominion in the kingdom of providence, (v. 7.) and his grace in the kingdom of the Messiah, (v. 8, 9.) that everlasting kingdom, (v. 10.) to which many of the Jewish writers refer this psalm, and to which therefore we should nave an eye in the singing of it.

1. PRAISE ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. 2. While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. 3. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. 4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish.

David is supposed to have penned this psalm ; and he was himself a prince, a mighty prince; as such, it might be thought,

1. That he should be exempted from the service of praising God, that it was enough for him to see that his priests and people did it, but that he needed not to do it himself in his own person. Michal thought it a disparagement to him to dance before the ark; but he was so far from being of this mind, that he will himself be first and foremost in the work, V. 1, 2. He thinks his dignity is so far from excusing him from it, that it rather obliged him to lead in it; and that it was so far from lessening him, that it really magnified him; there fore he stirs up himself to it, and to make a business of it; Praise the Lord, O my soul; and resolves to abide by it; "I will praise him with my heart, I will sing praises to him with my mouth. Herein I will have an eye to him as the Lord, infinitely blessed and glorious in himself, and as my God, m covenant with me." Then praise is most pleasant, when, in praising God, we have an eye to him as ours, whom we have an interest in, and stand in relation to. "This I will do constantly while I live, every day of my life, and to my life s end; nay, I will do it while I have any being, for when I have no being on earth, I hope to have a being in heaven, a better being, to be doing it better. That which is the great end of our being, ought to be our great employment and delight while we have any being; "In thee must cur time and powers be spent."

2. It might be thought that he himself, having been so great a blessing to his country, should be adored, according to the usage of the heathen nations, who deified their heroes; that they should all come and trust in his shadow, and make him their stay and strong hold. "No," says David, "Put not your trust in princes, (v. 3.) not in me, nor in any other; do not repose your confidence in them, do not raise your expectations from them. Be not too sure of their sincerity, some have thought they knew better how to reign by knowing how to dissemble; be not too sure of their constancy and fidelity, it is possible they may both change their minds and break their words." But though we suppose them wise and good as David himself, yet we must not be too sure of their ability and continuance, for they are sons of Adam, weak and mortal. There is indeed a Son of man in whom there is help, in whom there is salvation, and who will not fail those that trust in him. But all other sons of men are like the man they are sprung of, who, being in honour, did not abide.

(1.) We cannot be sure of their ability; even the power of kings may be so straitened, cramped, and weakened, that they may not be in a capacity to do that for us which we expect. David himself owned, (2 Sam. iii. 39.) I am this day weak, though anointed king. So that in the son of man there is often no help, no salvation; he is at a loss, at his wit's end, as a man astonished, and then, though a mighty man, he cannot save, Jer. xiv. 9.

(2.) We cannot be sure of their continuance. Suppose he has it in his power to help us while he lives, yet he may be suddenly taken off when we