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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Matthew Henry |
H A B A K K U K.
CHAP. III.
Still the correspondence is kept up between God and his prophet. In the
he spoke to God, then God to him, and then he to God again; in the
God spoke wholly to him by the Spirit of prophecy; now, in
he speaks wholly to God by the Spirit of prayer, for he would not let
the intercourse drop on his side, like a genuine son of Abraham, who
“returned not to his place until God had left communing with him.”
The prophet’s prayer, in this chapter, is in imitation of David’s
psalms, for it is directed “to the chief musician,” and is set to
musical instruments. The prayer is left upon record for the use of the
church, and particularly of the Jews in their captivity, while they
were waiting for their deliverance, promised by the vision in the
foregoing chapter.
I. He earnestly begs of God to relieve and succour his people in
affliction, to hasten their deliverance, and to comfort them in the
mean time,
II. He calls to mind the experiences which the church formerly had of
God’s glorious and gracious appearances on her behalf, when he brought
Israel out of Egypt through the wilderness to Canaan, and there many a
time wrought wonderful deliverances for them,
III. He affects himself with a holy concern for the present troubles of
the church, but encourages himself and others to hope that the issue
will be comfortable and glorious at last, though all visible means fail,
| The Prophet’s Prayer. | B. C. 600. |
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1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.
2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD,
revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the
years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
This chapter is entitled a prayer of Habakkuk. It is a
meditation with himself, an intercession for the church. Prophets were
praying men; this prophet was so (He is a prophet, and he shall pray
for thee,
Gen. xx. 7);
and sometimes they prayed for even those whom they prophesied against.
Those that were intimately acquainted with the mind of God concerning
future events knew better than others how to order their prayers, and
what to pray for, and, in the foresight of troublous times, could lay
up a stock of prayers that might then receive a gracious answer, and so
be serving the church by their prayers when their prophesying was over.
This prophet had found God ready to answer his requests and complaints
before, and therefore now repeats his applications to him. Because
God has inclined his ear to us, we must resolve that
therefore we will call upon him as long as we live.
1. The prophet owns the receipt of God’s answer to his former
representation, and the impression it made upon him
(v. 2):
“O Lord! I have heard thy speech, thy hearing” (so some read
it), “that which thou wouldst have us hear, the decree that has gone
forth for the afflicting of thy people. I received thine, and it
is before me.” Note, Those that would rightly order their speech to God
must carefully observe, and lay before them, his speech to them. He
had said
(ch. ii. 1),
I will watch to see what he will say; and now he owns, Lord,
I have heard thy speech; for, if we turn a deaf ear to God’s word,
we can expect no other than that he should turn a deaf ear to our
prayers,
I heard it, and was afraid. Messages immediately from heaven
commonly struck even the best and boldest men into a consternation;
Moses, Isaiah, and Daniel, did exceedingly fear and quake. But,
besides that, the matter of this message made the prophet afraid, when
he heard how low the people of God should be brought, under the
oppressing power of the Chaldeans, and how long they should continue
under it; he was afraid lest their spirits should quite fail, and lest
the church should be utterly rooted out and run down, and, being kept
low so long, should be lost at length.
2. He earnestly prays that for the elect’s sake these days of
trouble might be shortened, or the trouble of these days
mitigated and moderated, or the people of God supported and comforted
under it. He thinks it very long to wait till the end of the
years; perhaps he refers to the seventy years fixed for the
continuance of the captivity, and therefore, “Lord,” says he, “do
something on our behalf in the midst of the years, those years
of our distress; though we be not delivered, and our oppressors
destroyed, yet let us not be abandoned and cast off.”
(1.) “Do something for thy own cause: Revive thy work, thy
church” (that is the work of God’s own hand, formed by him,
formed for him); “revive that, even when it walks in the
midst of trouble,
Ps. cxxxviii. 7, 8.
Grant thy people a little reviving in their bondage,
Ezra ix. 8; Ps. lxxxv. 6.
Preserve alive thy work” (so some read it); “though thy church
be chastened, let it not be killed; though it have not its liberty, yet
continue its life, save a remnant alive, to be a seed of another
generation. Revive the work of thy grace in us, by sanctifying
the trouble to us and supporting us under it, though the time be not
yet come, even the set time, for our deliverance out of it.
Whatever becomes of us, though we be as dead and dry bones, Lord, let
thy work be revived, let not that sink, and go back, and come to
nothing.”
(2.) “Do something for thy own honour: In the midst of the years
make known, make thyself known, for now verily thou art a God
that hidest thyself
(Isa. xlv. 15),
make known thy power, thy pity, thy promise, thy providence, in the
government of the world, for the safety and welfare of thy church.
Though we be buried in obscurity, yet, Lord, make thyself known;
whatever becomes of Israel, let not the God of Israel be forgotten in
the world, but discover himself even in the midst of the dark years,
before thou art expected to appear.” When in the midst of the
years of the captivity God miraculously owned the three children in
the fiery furnace, and humbled Nebuchadnezzar, this prayer was
answered, In the midst of the years make known.
(3.) “Do something for thy people’s comfort: In wrath remember
mercy, and make that known. Show us thy mercy, O Lord!”
They see God’s displeasure against them in their troubles, and that
makes them grievous indeed. There is wrath in the bitter cup; that
therefore they deprecate, and are earnest in begging that he is a
merciful God and they are vessels of his mercy. Note, Even those that
are under the tokens of God’s wrath must not despair of his mercy; and
mercy, mere mercy, is that which we must flee to for refuge, and rely
upon as our only plea. He does not say, Remember our merit, but, Lord,
remember thy own mercy.
| The Divine Majesty; Wonders Wrought for Israel. | B. C. 600. |
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3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran.
Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of
his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming
out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth
at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove
asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were
scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are
everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains
of the land of Midian did tremble.
8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger
against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou
didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the
tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with
rivers.
10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing
of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted
up his hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the
light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy
glittering spear.
12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst
thresh the heathen in anger.
13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even
for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of
the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the
neck. Selah.
14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his
villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their
rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through
the heap of great waters.
It has been the usual practice of God’s people, when they have been in
distress and ready to fall into despair, to help themselves by
recollecting their experiences, and reviving them, considering the
days of old, and the years of ancient times
and pleading with God in prayer, as he is pleased sometimes to plead
them with himself.
Then he remembered the days of old. This is that which the
prophet does here, and he looks as far back as the first forming of
them into a people, when they were brought by miracles out of Egypt,
a house of bondage, through the wilderness, a land of
drought, into Canaan, then possessed by mighty nations. He
that thus brought them at first into Canaan, through so much
difficulty, can now bring them thither again out of Babylon, how great
soever the difficulties are that lie in the way. Those works of
wonder, wrought of old, are here most magnificently described, for the
greater encouragement to the faith of God’s people in their present
straits.
I. God appeared in his glory, so as he never did before or since
(v. 3, 4):
He came from Teman, even the Holy One from Mount Paran. This
refers to the visible display of the glory of God when he gave the law
upon Mount Sinai, as appears by
whence these expressions are borrowed. Then the Lord came down
upon Mount Sinai in a cloud
and his glory was as the devouring fire, not only to enforce the
law he then gave them, but to avow the deliverance he had wrought for
them and to magnify it; for the first word he said there was, “I am
the Lord thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt. I
that appear in this glory am the author of that work.” Then his
glory covered the heavens, which shone with the reflection of that
glorious appearance of his; the earth also was full of his
praise, or of his splendour, as some read it. People at a
distance saw the cloud and fire on the top of Mount Sinai, and praised
the God of Israel. Or the earth was full of those works of God which
were to be praised. His brightness was as the light, as the
light of the sun when he goes forth in his strength; he had
horns, or bright beams (so it should be rendered), coming
out of his side or hand. Rays of glory were darted forth
around him; and with some rays borrowed thence it was that Moses’s face
shone when he came down from that mount of glory. Some by
the horns, the two horns (for the word is dual), coming out
of his hand, understand the two tables of the law, which
perhaps, when God delivered them to Moses, though they were tables of
stone, had a glory round them; those books were gilt with beams, and so
it agrees with
From his right hand went a fiery law for them. It is added,
And there was the hiding of his power; there was his hidden
power, in the rays that came out of his hand. The operations of his
power, compared with what he could have done, were rather the hiding of
it than the discovery of it; the secrets of his power, as well as of
his wisdom, are double to that which is,
Job xi. 6.
II. God sent plagues on Egypt, for the humbling of proud Pharaoh, and
the obliging of him to let the people go
(v. 5):
Before him went the pestilence, which slew all the first-born of
Egypt in one night; and burning coals went forth at his feet,
when, in the plague of hail, there was fire mingled with
hail–burning diseases (so the margin reads it), some think those
that wasted Egypt, others those with which the number of the Canaanites
was diminished before Israel was brought in up on them. These were
at his feet, that is, at his coming, for they are at his
command; he says to them, Go, and they go, Come, and they come, Do
this, and they do it.
III. He divided the land of Canaan to his people Israel, and expelled
the heathen from before them
(v. 6):
He stood, and measured the earth, measured that land, to assign
it for an inheritance to Israel his people,
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations that were in possession
of it; though they combined together against Israel, God dispersed and
discomfited them before Israel. Or he exerted such a mighty power as
was enough to shake in pieces all the nations of the earth. Then
the everlasting mountains were scattered, and the perpetual hills
did bow; the mighty princes and potentates of Canaan, that seemed
as high, as strong, and as firmly fixed, as the mountains and hills,
were broken to pieces; they and their kingdoms were totally subdued. Or
the power of God was so exerted as to shake the mountains and hills;
nay, and Sinai did tremble, and the adjacent hills; see
To this he adds, His ways are everlasting, that is, all the
motions of his providence are according to his eternal counsels; and he
is the same for ever, that which he was yesterday and to-day. His
covenant is unchangeable, and his mercy endures for ever. When
he drove asunder the nations of Canaan one might have seen the
tents of Cushan in affliction, the curtains of the land of Midian
trembling, and all the inhabitants of the neighbouring countries
taking the alarm; and though they were not in the commission given to
Israel to destroy, nor their land within the warrant given to Israel to
possess, yet they thought their own house in danger when their
neighbour’s house was on fire, and therefore they were in a great
fright,
v. 7.
Balak the king of Moab was so,
Some make the tents of Cushan to be in affliction when, in the days of
judge Othniel, God delivered Cushan-rishathaim into his hand
(Judg. iii. 8),
and the curtains of the land of Midian to tremble when, in the
days of judge Gideon, a barley cake, in a dream, overthrew the tent of
Midian,
IV. He divided the Red Sea and Jordan, when they stood in the way of
Israel’s progress, and yet fetched a river out of a rock when Israel
wanted it,
v. 8.
One would have thought that God was displeased with the rivers,
and that his wrath was against the sea, for he made them
give way and flee before him when he rode upon his horses and
chariots of salvation, as a general at the head of his forces,
mighty to save. Note, God’s chariots are not so much chariots of state
to himself as chariots of salvation to his people; it is his glory to
be Israel’s Saviour. This seems to be referred to again
(v. 15):
“Thou didst walk through the sea, through the Red Sea, with
thy horses, in the pillar of cloud and fire (that was his chariot
drawn by angels); thus thou didst walk secure, and so as to accommodate
thyself to the slow pace that Israel could go, as Jacob tenderly drove,
in consideration of his children and cattle: Thou didst walk through
the heap, or mud, of great waters; and Israel likewise was
led through the deep as a horse through the wilderness,”
When they came to enter Canaan the overflowing of the water passed
by, that is, Jordan, which at that time overflowed all his banks,
was divided,
Note, When the difficulties in the way of perfecting the salvation of
Israel seem most insuperable, when they rise to the height, and
overflow, yet then God can put them by, break through them, and get
over them. Then the deep uttered his voice, when, the Red Sea
and Jordan being divided, the waters roared and made a noise, as if
they were sensible of the restraint they were under from proceeding in
their natural course, and complained of it. They lifted up their
hands, or sides, on high (for the waters stood up on a
heap,
Jos. iii. 16),
as if they would have made opposition to the orders given them. They
lifted up their voice, lifted up their waves; but in vain.
The Lord on high was mightier than they,
Ps. xciii. 3, 4.
With the dividing of the sea and Jordan, notice is again taken of the
trembling of the mountains, as if the stop given to the waters gave a
shock to the adjacent hills; they are put together,
When the sea saw it and fled, and Jordan was driven back, the
mountains skipped like rams and the little hills like lambs. The
whole creation yielded; earth and waters trembled at the presence of
the Lord, at the presence of the mighty God of Jacob. But (as Mr.
Cowley paraphrases it)
| Fly where thou wilt, thou sea; and, Jordan’s current, cease.
Jordan, there is no need of thee; For at God’s word, whene’er he please, The rocks shall weep new waters forth instead of these. |
So here, Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers; channels were
made in the wilderness, such as seemed to cleave the earth, for the
waters to run in, which issued out of the rock, to supply the camp of
Israel, and which followed them in all their removes. Note, The God of
nature can alter and control the powers of nature, which way he
pleases, can turn waters into crystal rocks and rocks into crystal
streams.
V. He arrested the motion of the sun and moon, to befriend and complete
Israel’s victories
(v. 11):
The sun and moon stood still at the prayer of Joshua, that the
Canaanites might not have the benefit of the night to favour their
escape; they stood still in their habitation in the heaven
(Ps. xix. 4),
but with an eye to Gibeon and the valley of Ajalon, where God’s
work was in the doing, and of which they, though at so vast a distance,
attended the motions. At the light, at the direction, of thy
arrows, they went, and at the shining of thy glittering
spear; they followed Israel’s arms, to favour them; according to
the intimation of the arrows God shot (as Jonathan’s arrows,
and which way soever his spear pointed (the glittering light of which
they acknowledged to outshine theirs) that way they directed their
influences, benign to Israel and malignant against their enemies, as
when the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. Note, The
heavenly bodies, as well as earth and seas, are at God’s command, and,
when he pleases, at Israel’s service too.
VI. He carried on and completed Israel’s victories over the nations of
Canaan and their kings; he slew great kings and famous,
Ps. cxxxvi. 17, 18.
This is largely insisted upon here, as a proper plea with God to
enforce the present petition, that he would restore them again to that
land which they were, at the expense of so many lives, so many
miracles, first put in possession of.
1. Many expressions are here used to set forth the conquest of Canaan.
(1.) God’s bow was made quite naked, taken out of the case, to
be employed for Israel; we should say, his sword was quite
unsheathed, not drawn out a little way, to frighten the enemy, and
then put up again, but quite drawn out, not to be returned till they
are all cut off.
(2.) He marched through the land from end to end, in
indignation, as scorning to let that wicked generation of
Canaanites any longer possess so good a land. He marched cum
fastidio–with distaste (so some), despising their confederacies.
(3.) He threshed the heathen in anger, trod them down, nay, he
trod them out, as corn in the floor, to give them, and what they had,
to be meat to his people Israel,
(4.) He wounded the heads out of the house of the wicked; he
destroyed the families of the Canaanites, and wounded their princes,
the heads of their families; nay, he cut off the heads, and so
discovered the foundations of them, even to the neck. Are
they a building? They are razed even to the foundation. Are they a
body? They are plunged into deep mire even to the neck, so that they
cannot get out, or help themselves. He broke the heads of leviathan
in pieces,
Ps. lxxiv. 14.
Some apply this to Christ’s victories over Satan and the powers of
darkness, in which he wounded the heads over many countries,
Ps. cx. 6.
(5.) He struck through with his staves the head of the villages
(v. 14);
with Israel’s staves God struck through the head of the
villages of the enemies, whether Egypt or Canaan. Staves shall do
the same execution as swords when God pleases to make use of them. The
enemy came out with the utmost force and fury, as a whirlwind to
scatter me (says Israel); for many a time have they thus
afflicted me, thus attacked me, from my youth,
Ps. cxxix. 1.
Pharaoh, when he pursued Israel to the Red Sea, came out as a
whirlwind; so did the kings of Canaan in their confederacies
against Israel. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor
secretly; they were as confident of success in their enterprise as
ever any great man was of devouring a poor man, that was no way a match
for him; and his design against him was carried on with secrecy. But
God disappointed them, and their pride did but make their fall the more
shameful and God’s care of his poor the more illustrious.
(6.) He walked to the sea with his horses (so some read it,
v. 15),
that is, he carried Israel’s victories to the Great Sea, which was
opposite to that side of Canaan at which they entered, so that they
went quite through it, and made themselves masters of it all, or rather
God made them so, for they got it not by their own sword,
Ps. xliv. 3.
Now,
2. There were three things that God had a eye to, in giving Israel so
many bloody victories over the Canaanites:–
(1.) He would hereby make good his promise to the fathers; it was
according to the oaths of the tribes, even his word,
v. 9.
He had sworn to give this land to the tribes of Israel; it was
his oath to Isaac confirmed to Jacob, and repeated many a time
to the tribes of Israel, Unto thee will I give the land of
Canaan. This word God will accomplish, though Israel be ever so
unworthy
and their enemies ever so many and mighty. Note, What God does for his
tribes is according to the oaths of the tribes, according to what he
has said and sworn to them; for he is faithful that has
promised.
(2.) He would hereby show his kindness to his people, because of
their relation to him, and his interest in them: Thou wentest forth
for the salvation of thy people,
v. 13.
All the powers of nature are shaken, and the course of nature changed,
and every thing seems to be thrown into disorder, and all is for the
salvation of God’s people. There are a people in the world who are
God’s people, and their salvation is that which he has in his eye in
all the operations of his providence. Heaven and earth shall sooner
come together than any of the links in the golden chain of their
salvation shall be broken; and even that which seems most unlikely
shall by an overruling hand be made to work for their salvation,
(3.) He would hereby give a type and figure of the redemption of the
world by Jesus Christ. It is for salvation with thy anointed,
with Joshua, who led the armies of Israel and was a figure of him whose
name he bore, even Jesus our Joshua. What God did for his Israel of old
was done with an eye to his anointed, for the sake of the Mediator, who
was both the founder and foundation of the covenant made with them. It
was salvation with him, for in all the salvations wrought for
them, God looked upon the face of the anointed, and did them by
him.
| The Conquest of Canaan; Devout Confidence. | B. C. 600. |
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16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the
voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in
myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh
up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and
the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my
salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like
hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.
To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
Within the compass of these few lines we have the prophet in the
highest degree both of trembling and triumphing, such are the varieties
both of the state and of the spirit of God’s people in this world. In
heaven there shall be no more trembling, but everlasting triumphs.
I. The prophet had foreseen the prevalence of the church’s enemies and
the long continuance of the church’s troubles; and the sight made him
tremble,
Here he goes on with what he had said
v. 2,
“I have heard thy speech and was afraid. When I heard what sad
times were coming upon the church my belly trembled, my lips
quivered at the voice; the news made such an impression that it put
me into a perfect ague fit.” The blood retiring to the heart, to
succour that when it was ready to faint, the extreme parts were left
destitute of spirits, so that his lips quivered. Nay, he was so
weak, and so unable to help himself, that he was as if
rottenness had entered into his bones; he had no strength
left in him, could neither stand nor go; he trembled in himself,
trembled all over him, trembled within him; he yielded to his
trembling, and troubled himself, as our Savior did; his flesh
trembled for fear of God and he was afraid of his judgments,
Ps. cxix. 120.
He was touched with a tender concern for the calamities of the church,
and trembled for fear lest they should end at length in ruin, and the
name of Israel be blotted out. Nor did he think it any
disparagement to him, nor any reproach to his courage, but freely owned
he was one of those that trembled at God’s word, for to them he
will look with favour: I tremble in myself, that I might rest in the
day of trouble. Note, When we see a day of trouble approaching it
concerns us to provide accordingly, and to lay up something in store,
by the help of which we may rest in that day; and the best way to make
sure rest for ourselves in the day of trouble is to tremble within
ourselves at the word of God and the threatenings of that word. He that
has joy in store for those that sow in tears has rest in store
for those that tremble before him. Good hope through grace is
founded in a holy fear. Noah, who was moved with fear,
trembled within himself at the warning given him of the deluge coming,
had the ark for his resting place in the day of that trouble. The
prophet tells us what he said in his trembling. His fear is that,
when he comes up to the people, when the Chaldean comes up to
the people of Israel, he will invade them, will surround
them, will break in upon them, nay (as it is in the margin), He will
cut them in pieces with his troops; he cried out, We are all
undone; the whole nation of the Jews is lost and gone. Note, When
things look bad we are too apt to aggravate them, and make the worst of
them.
II. He had looked back upon the experiences of the church in former
ages, and had observed what great things God had done for them, and so
he recovered himself out of his fright, and not only retrieved his
temper, but fell into a transport of holy joy, with an express non
obstante–notwithstanding to the calamities he foresaw coming, and
this not for himself only, but in the name of every faithful
Israelite.
1. He supposes the ruin of all his creature comforts and enjoyments,
not only of the delights of this life, but even of the necessary
supports of it,
Famine is one of the ordinary effects of war, and those commonly feel
it first and most that sit still and are quiet; the prophet and his
pious friends, when the Chaldean army comes, will be plundered and
stripped of all they have. Or he supposes himself deprived of all by
blasting and unseasonable weather, or some other immediate hand of God.
Or though the captives in Babylon have not that plenty of all good
things in their own land.
(1.) He supposes the fruit-tree to be withered and become barren; the
fig-tree (which used to furnish them with much of their food;
hence we often read of cakes of figs) shall not so much as
blossom, nor shall fruit be in the vine, from which they had
their drink, that made glad the heart: he supposes the labour of the
olive to fail, their oil, which was to them as butter is to
us; the labour of the olive shall lie (so it is in the margin);
their expectations from it shall be disappointed.
(2.) He supposes the bread-corn to fail; the fields shall yield no
meat; and, since the king himself is served of the field, if
the productions of that be withdrawn, every one will feel the want of
them.
(3.) He supposes the cattle to perish for want of the food which the
field should yield and does not, or by disease, or being destroyed and
carried away by the enemy: The flock is cut off from the fold, and
there is no herd in the stall. Note, When we are in the full
enjoyment of our creature comforts we should consider that there may
come a time when we shall be stripped of them all, and use them
accordingly, as not abusing them,
2. He resolves to delight and triumph in God notwithstanding; when all
is gone his God is not gone
(v. 18):
“Yet will I rejoice in the Lord; I shall have him to rejoice in,
and will rejoice in him.” Destroy the vines and the fig-trees,
and you make all the mirth of a carnal heart to cease,
But those who, when they were full, enjoyed God in all, when they are
emptied and impoverished can enjoy all in God, and can sit down
upon a melancholy heap of the ruins of all their creature comforts and
even then can sing to the praise and glory of God, as the God of their
salvation. This is the principal ground of our joy in God, that he is
the God of our salvation, our eternal salvation, the salvation of the
soul; and, if he be so, we may rejoice in him as such in our greatest
distresses, since by them our salvation cannot be hindered, but may be
furthered. Note, Joy in God is never out of season, nay, it is in a
special manner seasonable when we meet with losses and crosses in the
world, that it may then appear that our hearts are not set upon these
things, nor our happiness bound up in them. See how the prophet
triumphs in God: The Lord God is my strength,
v. 19.
He that is the God of our salvation in another world will be our
strength in this world, to carry us on in our journey thither, and help
us over the difficulties and oppositions we meet with in our way. Even
when provisions are cut off, to make it appear that man lives not by
bread alone, we may have the want of bread supplied by the graces
and comforts of God’s Spirit and with the supplies of them.
(1.) We shall be strong for our spiritual warfare and work: The Lord
God is my strength, the strength of my heart.
(2.) We shall be swift for our spiritual race: “He will make my feet
like hinds’ feet, that with enlargement of heart I may run the way
of his commands and outrun my troubles.”
(3.) We shall be successful in our spiritual enterprises: “He will
make me to walk upon my high places; that is, I shall gain my
point, shall be restored unto my own land, and tread upon the high
places of the enemy,”
Thus the prophet, who began his prayer with fear and trembling,
concludes it with joy and triumph, for prayer is heart’s ease to a
gracious soul. When Hannah had prayed she went her way, and did eat,
and her countenance was no more sad. This prophet, finding it so,
publishes his experience of it, and puts it into the hand of the
chief singer for the use of the church, especially in the day of
our captivity. And, though then the harps were hung upon the
willow-trees, yet in the hope that they would be resumed, and their
right hand retrieve its cunning, which it had forgotten, he set his
song upon Shigionoth
(v. 1),
wandering tunes, according to the variable songs, and upon
Neginoth
(v. 19),
the stringed instruments. He that is afflicted, and has prayed
aright, may then be so easy, may then be so merry, as to sing
psalms.
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