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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
P S A L M S
PSALM XXXI.
It is probable that David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by
Saul; some passages in it agree particularly to the narrow escapes he
had, at Keilah
then in the wilderness of Maon, when Saul marched on one side of the
hill and he on the other, and, soon after, in the cave in the
wilderness of En-gedi; but that it was penned upon any of those
occasions we are not told. It is a mixture of prayers, and praises, and
professions of confidence in God, all which do well together and are
helpful to one another.
I. David professes his cheerful confidence in God, and, in that
confidence, prays for deliverance out of his present troubles,
II. He complains of the very deplorable condition he was in, and, in
the sense of his calamities, still prays that God would graciously
appear for him against his persecutors,
III. He concludes the psalm with praise and triumph, giving glory to
God, and encouraging himself and others to trust in him,
| Prayer for Deliverance; Profession of Confidence in God. | |
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To the chief musician. A psalm of David.
1 In thee, O LORD,
do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy
righteousness.
2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my
strong rock, for a house of defence to save me.
3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy
name’s sake lead me, and guide me.
4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me:
for thou art my strength.
5 Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O
LORD God of truth.
6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in
the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast
considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;
8 And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast
set my feet in a large room.
Faith and prayer must go together. He that believes, let his pray–I
believe, therefore I have spoken: and he that prays, let him
believe, for the prayer of faith is the prevailing prayer. We have both
here.
I. David, in distress, is very earnest with God in prayer for succour
and relief. This eases a burdened spirit, fetches in promised mercies,
and wonderfully supports and comforts the soul in the expectation of
them. He prays,
1. That God would deliver him
(v. 1),
that his life might be preserved from the malice of his enemies, and
that an end might be put to their persecutions of him, that God, not
only in his mercy, but in righteousness, would deliver him, as a
righteous Judge betwixt him and his unrighteous persecutors, that he
would bow down his ear to his petitions, to his appeals, and deliver
him,
v. 2.
It is condescension in God to take cognizance of the case of the
greatest and best of men; he humbles himself to do it. The psalmist
prays also that he would deliver him speedily, lest, if the deliverance
were long deferred, his faith should fail.
2. That if he did not immediately deliver him out of his troubles, yet
he would protect and shelter him in his troubles; “Be thou my strong
rock, immovable, impregnable, as a fastness framed by nature, and
my house of defence, a fortress framed by art, and all to
save me.” Thus we may pray that God’s providence would secure to us
our lives and comforts, and that by his grace we may be enabled to
think ourselves safe in him,
3. That his case having much in it of difficulty, both in respect of
duty and in respect of prudence, he might be under the divine guidance:
“Lord, lead me and guide me
(v. 3),
so order my steps, so order my spirit, that I may never do any thing
unlawful and unjustifiable–against my conscience, nor unwise and
indiscreet–against my interest.” Those that resolve to follow God’s
direction may in faith pray for it.
4. That his enemies being very crafty, as well as very spiteful, God
would frustrate and baffle their designs against him
(v. 4):
“Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me, and
keep me from the sin, the trouble, the death, they aim to entrap me
in.”
II. In this prayer he gives glory to God by a repeated profession of
his confidence in him and dependence on him. This encouraged his
prayers and qualified him for the mercies he prayed for
(v. 1):
“In thee, O Lord! do I put my trust, and not in myself, or any
sufficiency of my own, or in any creature; let me never be
ashamed, let me not be disappointed of any of that good which thou
hast promised me and which therefore I have promised myself in thee.”
1. He had chosen God for his protector, and God had, by his promise,
undertaken to be so
(v. 3):
“Thou art my rock and my fortress, by thy covenant with me and
my believing consent to that covenant; therefore be my strong
rock,”
v. 2.
Those that have in sincerity avouched the Lord for theirs may expect
the benefit of his being so; for God’s relations to us carry with them
both name and thing. Thou art my strength,
v. 4.
If God be our strength, we may hope that he will both put his strength
in us and put forth his strength for us.
2. He gave up his soul in a special manner to him
(v. 5):
Into thy hands I commit my spirit.
(1.) If David here looks upon himself as a dying man, by these words he
resigns his departing soul to God who gave it, and to whom, at death,
the spirit returns. “Men can but kill the body, but I trust in God to
redeem my soul from the power of the grave,”
He is willing to die if God will have it so; but let my soul fall
into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great. With these
words our Lord Jesus yielded up the ghost upon the cross, and made his
soul an offering, a free-will offering for sin, voluntarily laying down
his life a ransom. By Stephen’s example we are taught in, our dying
moment, to eye Christ at God’s right hand, and to commit our spirits to
him: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. But,
2. David is here to be looked upon as a man in distress and trouble.
And,
[1.] His great care is about his soul, his spirit, his better part.
Note, Our outward afflictions should increase our concern for our
souls. Many think that while they are perplexed about their worldly
affairs, and Providence multiplies their cares about them, they may be
excused if they neglect their souls; whereas the greater hazard our
lives and secular interests lie at the more we are concerned to look to
our souls, that, though the outward man perish, the inward man may
suffer no damage
and that we may keep possession of our souls when we can keep
possession of nothing else,
[2.] He thinks the best he can do for the soul is to commit it into the
hand of God, and lodge that great trust with him. He had prayed
(v. 4)
to be plucked out of the net of outward trouble, but, as not insisting
upon that (God’s will be done), he immediately lets fall that petition,
and commits the spirit, the inward man, into God’s hand. “Lord, however
it goes with me, as to my body, let it go well with my soul.” Note, It
is the wisdom and duty of every one of us solemnly to commit our
spirits into the hands of God, to be sanctified by his grace, devoted
to his honour, employed in his service, and fitted for his kingdom.
That which encourages us to commit our spirits into the hand of God is
that he has not only created, but redeemed, them; the particular
redemptions of the Old-Testament church and the Old-Testament saints
were typical of our redemption by Jesus Christ,
The redemption of the soul is so precious that it must have ceased for
ever if Christ had not undertaken it; but, by redeeming our souls, he
has not only acquired an additional right and title to them, which
obliges us to commit them to him as his own, but has shown the
extraordinary kindness and concern he has for them, which encourages us
to commit them to him, to be preserved to his heavenly kingdom
(2 Tim. i. 12):
“Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth! redeem me according
to a promise which thou wilt be true to.”
III. He disclaimed all confederacy with those that made an arm of flesh
their confidence
(v. 6):
I have hated those that regard lying vanities–idolaters (to
some), who expect aid from false gods, which are vanity and a
lie–astrologers, and those that give heed to them, so others. David
abhorred the use of enchantments and divinations; he consulted not, nor
even took notice of, the flight of birds or entrails of beasts, good
omens or bad omens; they are lying vanities, and he not only did not
regard them himself, but hated the wickedness of those that did. He
trusted in God only, and not in any creature. His interest in the court
or country, his retreats or strongholds, even Goliath’s sword
itself–these were lying vanities, which he could not depend upon, but
trusted in the Lord only. See
IV. He comforted himself with his hope in God, and made himself, not
only easy, but cheerful, with it,
v. 7.
Having relied on God’s mercy, he will be glad and rejoice in it; and
those know not how to value their hope in God who cannot find joy
enough in that hope to counterbalance their grievances and silence
their griefs.
V. He encouraged himself in this hope with the experiences he had had
of late, and formerly, of God’s goodness to him, which he mentions to
the glory of God; he that has delivered doth and will.
1. God had taken notice of his afflictions and all the circumstances of
them: “Thou hast considered my trouble, with wisdom to suit
relief to it, with condescension and compassion regarding the low
estate of they servant.”
2. He had observed the temper of his spirit and the workings of his
heart under his afflictions: “Thou hast known my soul in
adversities, with a tender concern and care for it.” God’s eye is
upon our souls when we are in trouble, to see whether they be humbled
for sin, submissive to the will of God, and bettered by the affliction.
If the soul, when cast down under affliction, has been lifted up to him
in true devotion, he knows it.
3. He had rescued him out of the hands of Saul when he had him safe
enough in Keilah
“Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy, but set me
at liberty, in a large room, where I may shift for my own
safety,”
v. 8.
Christ’s using those words
(v. 5)
upon the cross may warrant us to apply all this to Christ, who trusted
in his Father and was supported and delivered by him, and (because he
humbled himself) highly exalted, which it is proper to think of when we
sing
as also therein to acknowledge the experience we have had of God’s
gracious presence with us in our troubles and to encourage ourselves to
trust in him for the future.
| Sorrowful Complaints; Humble and Believing Prayer. | |
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9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is
consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing:
my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are
consumed.
11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially
among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that
did see me without fled from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken
vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every
side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised
to take away my life.
14 But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.
15 My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, and from them that persecute me.
16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy
mercies’ sake.
17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee:
let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous
things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.
In the
David had appealed to God’s righteousness, and
pleaded his relation to him and dependence on him; here he appeals to
his mercy, and pleads the greatness of his own misery, which made his
case the proper object of that mercy. Observe,
I. The complaint he makes of his trouble and distress
(v. 9):
“Have mercy upon me, O Lord! for I am in trouble, and need thy
mercy.” The remembrance he makes of his condition is not much unlike
some even of Job’s complaints.
1. His troubles had fixed a very deep impression upon his mind and made
him a man of sorrows. So great was his grief that his very soul was
consumed with it, and his life spent with it, and he was continually
sighing,
Herein he was a type of Christ,–who was intimately acquainted with
grief and often in tears. We may guess by David’s complexion, which was
ruddy and sanguine, by his genius for music, and by his daring
enterprises in his early days, that his natural disposition was both
cheerful and firm, that he was apt to be cheerful, and not to lay
trouble to his heart; yet here we see what he is brought to: he has
almost wept out his eyes, and sighed away his breath. Let those that
are airy and gay take heed of running into extremes, and never set
sorrow at defiance; God can find out ways to make them melancholy if
they will not otherwise learn to be serious.
2. His body was afflicted with the sorrows of his mind
(v. 10):
My strength fails, my bones are consumed, and all because of
my iniquity. As to Saul, and the quarrel he had with him, he could
confidently insist upon his righteousness; but, as it was an affliction
God laid upon him, he owns he had deserved it, and freely confesses his
iniquity to have been the procuring cause of all his trouble; and the
sense of sin touched him to the quick and wasted him more than all his
calamities.
3. His friends were unkind and became shy of him. He was a fear to
his acquaintance, when they saw him they fled from him,
v. 11.
They durst not harbour him nor give him any assistance, durst not show
him any countenance, nor so much as be seen in his company, for fear of
being brought into trouble by it, now that Saul had proclaimed him a
traitor and outlawed him. They saw how dearly Ahimelech the priest had
paid for aiding and abetting him, though ignorantly; and therefore,
though they could not but own he had a great deal of wrong done him,
yet they had not the courage to appear for him. He was forgotten by
them, as a dead man out of mind
(v. 12),
and looked upon with contempt as a broken vessel. Those that
showed him all possible respect when he was in honour at court, now
that he had fallen into disgrace, though unjustly, were strange to him.
Such swallow-friends the world is full of, that are gone in winter. Let
those that fall on the losing side not think it strange if they be thus
deserted, but make sure a friend in heaven, that will not fail them,
and make use of him.
4. His enemies were unjust in their censures of him. They would not
have persecuted him as they did if they had not first represented him
as a bad man; he was a reproach among all his enemies, but
especially among his neighbours,
v. 11.
Those that had been the witnesses of his integrity, and could not but
be convinced in their consciences that he was an honest man, were the
most forward to represent him quite otherwise, that they might curry
favour with Saul. Thus he heard the slander of many; every one
had a stone to throw at him, because fear was in every side;
that is, they durst not do otherwise, for he that would not join with
his neighbours to accuse David was looked upon as disaffected to Saul.
Thus the best of men have been represented under the worst characters
by those that resolved to give them the worst treatment.
5. His life was aimed at and he went in continual peril of it. Fear was
on every side, and he knew that, whatever counsel his enemies took
against him, the design was not to take away his liberty, but to take
away his life
(v. 13),
a life so valuable, so useful, to the good services of which all Israel
owed so much, and which was never forfeited. Thus, in all the plots of
the Pharisees and Herodians against Christ, still the design was to
take away his life, such are the enmity and cruelty of the serpent’s
seed.
II. His confidence in God in the midst of these troubles. Every thing
looked black and dismal round about him, and threatened to drive him to
despair: “But I trusted in thee, O Lord!
(v. 14)
and was thereby kept from sinking.” His enemies robbed him of his
reputation among men, but they could not rob him of his comfort in God,
because they could not drive him from his confidence in God. Two things
he comforted himself with in his straits, and he went to God and
pleaded them with him:–
1. “Thou art my God; I have chosen thee for mine, and thou hast
promised to be mine;” and, if he be ours and we can by faith call him
so, it is enough, when we can call nothing else ours. “Thou art my God;
and therefore to whom shall I go for relief but to thee?” Those need
not be straitened in their prayers who can plead this; for, if God
undertake to be our God, he will do that for us which will answer the
compass and vast extent of the engagement.
2. My times are in thy hand. Join this with the former and it
makes the comfort complete. If God have our times in his hand, he can
help us; and, if he be our God, he will help us; and then what can
discourage us? It is a great support to those who have God for their
God that their times are in his hand and he will be sure to order and
dispose of them for the best, to all those who commit their spirits
also into his hand, to suit them to their times, as David here,
v. 5.
The time of life is in God’s hands, to lengthen or shorten, embitter or
sweeten, as he pleases, according to the counsel of his will. Our times
(all events that concern us, and the timing of them) are at God’s
disposal; they are not in our own hands, for the way of man is not in
himself, not in our friends’ hands, nor in our enemies’ hands, but in
God’s; every man’s judgment proceedeth from him. David does not,
in his prayers, prescribe to God, but subscribe to him. “Lord, my times
are in thy hand, and I am well pleased that they are so; they could not
be in a better hand. Thy will be done.”
III. His petitions to God, in this faith and confidence,
1. He prays that God would deliver him out of the hand of his enemies
(v. 15),
and save him
(v. 16),
and this for his mercies’ sake, and not for any merit of his own. Our
opportunities are in God’s hand (so some read it), and therefore he
knows how to choose the best and fittest time for our deliverance, and
we must be willing to wait that time. When David had Saul at his mercy
in the cave those about him said, “This is the time in which God
will deliver thee,”
“No,” says David, “the time has not come for my deliverance till it can
be wrought without sin; and I will wait for that time; for it is God’s
time, and that is the best time.”
2. That God would give him the comfort of his favour in the mean time
(v. 16):
“Make they face to shine upon thy servant; let me have the
comfortable tokens and evidences of thy favour to me, and that shall
put gladness in my heart in the midst of all my griefs.”
3. That his prayers to God might be answered and his hopes in God
accomplished
(v. 17):
“Let me not be ashamed of my hopes and prayers, for I have
called upon thee, who never saidst to thy people, Seek in vain, and
hope in vain.”
4. That shame and silence might be the portion of wicked people, and
particularly of his enemies. They were confident of their success
against David, and that they should run him down and ruin him. “Lord,”
says he, “let them be made ashamed of that confidence by the
disappointment of their expectations,” as those that opposed the
building of the wall about Jerusalem, when it was finished, were
much cast down in their own eye,
Neh. vi. 16.
Let them be silent in the grave. Note, Death will silence the
rage and clamour of cruel persecutors, whom reason would not silence.
In the grave the wicked cease from troubling. Particularly, he prays
for (that is, he prophesies) the silencing of those that reproach and
calumniate the people of God
(v. 18):
Let lying lips be put to silence, that speak grievous things proudly
and contemptuously against the righteous. This is a very good
prayer which,
(1.) We have often occasion to put up to God; for those that set their
mouth against the heavens commonly revile the heirs of heaven.
Religion, in the strict and serious professors of it, are every where
spoken against,
[1.] With a great deal of malice: They speak grievous things, on
purpose to vex them, and hoping, with what they say, to do them a real
mischief. They speak hard things (so the word is), which bear
hard upon them, and by which they hope to fasten indelible characters
of infamy upon them.
[2.] With a great deal of falsehood: They are lying lips, taught
by the father of lies and serving his interest.
[3.] With a great deal of scorn and disdain: They speak proudly and
contemptuously, as if the righteous, whom God has honoured, were
the most despicable people in the world, and not worthy to be set with
the dogs of their flock. One would think they thought it no sin to tell
a deliberate lie if it might but serve to expose a good man either to
hatred or contempt. Hear, O our God! for we are despised.
(2.) We may pray in faith; for these lying lips shall be put to
silence. God has many ways of doing it. Sometimes he convinces the
consciences of those that reproach his people, and turns their hearts.
Sometimes by his providence he visibly confutes their calumnies, and
brings forth the righteousness of his people as the light. However,
there is a day coming when God will convince ungodly sinners of the
falsehood of all the hard speeches that have spoken against his people
and will execute judgment upon them,
Jude 14, 15.
Then shall this prayer be fully answered, and to that day we should
have an eye in the singing of it, engaging ourselves likewise by
well-doing, if possible, to silence the ignorance of foolish
men,
1 Pet. ii. 15.
| Triumphant Praise. | |
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19 Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up
for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that
trust in thee before the sons of men!
20 Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the
pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from
the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the LORD: for he hath showed me his marvellous
kindness in a strong city.
22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes:
nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I
cried unto thee.
23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD
preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud
doer.
24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all
ye that hope in the LORD.
We have three things in these verses:–
I. The believing acknowledgment which David makes of God’s goodness to
his people in general,
1. God is good to all, but he is, in a special manner, good to Israel.
His goodness to them is wonderful, and will be, to eternity, matter of
admiration: O how great is thy goodness! How profound are the
counsels of it! how rich are the treasures of it! how free and
extensive are the communications of it! Those very persons whom men
load with slanders God loads with benefits and honours. Those who are
interested in this goodness are described to be such as fear God and
trust in him, as stand in awe of his greatness and rely on his grace.
This goodness is said to be laid up for them and wrought for
them.
(1.) There is a goodness laid up for them in the other world, an
inheritance reserved in heaven
(1 Pet. i. 4),
and there is a goodness wrought for them in this world, goodness
wrought in them. There is enough in God’s goodness both for the
portion and inheritance of all his children when they come to their
full age, and for their maintenance and education during their
minority. There is enough in bank and enough in hand.
(2.) This goodness is laid up in his promise for all that fear God, to
whom assurance is given that they shall want no good thing. But it is
wrought, in the actual performance of the promise, for those that trust
in him–that by faith take hold of the promise, put it in suit, and
draw out to themselves the benefit and comfort of it. If what is laid
up for us in the treasures of the everlasting covenant be not wrought
for us, it is our own fault, because we do not believe. But those that
trust in God, as they have the comfort of his goodness in their own
bosoms, so they have the credit of it (and the credit of an estate goes
far with some); it is wrought for them before the sons of men.
God’s goodness to them puts an honour upon them and rolls away their
reproach; for all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they
are the seed which the Lord hath blessed,
Isa. lxi. 9.
2. God preserves man and beast; but he is, in a special manner, the
protector of his own people
(v. 20):
Thou shalt hide them. As his goodness is hid and reserved for
them, so they are hid and preserved for it. The saints are God’s hidden
ones. See here,
(1.) The danger they are in, which arises from the pride of man and
from the strife of tongues; proud men insult over them and would
trample on them and tread them down; contentious men pick quarrels with
them; and, when tongues are at strife, good people often go by the
worst. The pride of men endangers their liberty; the strife of tongues
in perverse disputings endangers truth. But,
(2.) See the defence they are under: Thou shalt hide them in the
secret of thy presence, in a pavilion. God’s providence shall keep
them safe form the malice of their enemies. He has many ways of
sheltering them. When Baruch and Jeremiah were sought for the Lord
hid them,
Jer. xxxvi. 26.
God’s grace shall keep them safe from the evil of the judgments that
are abroad; to them they have no sting; and they shall hidden in the
day of the Lord’s anger, for there is no anger at them. His comforts
shall keep them easy and cheerful; his sanctuary, where they have
communion with him, shelters then from the fiery darts of terror and
temptation; and the mansions in his house above shall be shortly, shall
be eternally, their hiding-place from all danger and fear.
II. The thankful returns which David makes for God’s goodness to him in
particular,
Having admired God’s goodness to all the saints, he here owns how good
he had found him.
1. Without were fightings; but God had wonderfully preserved his life:
“He has shown me his marvellous loving-kindness, he has given me
an instance of his care for me and favour to me, beyond what I could
have expected.” God’s loving-kindness to his people, all things
considered, is wonderful; but some instances of it, even in this world,
are in a special manner marvelous in their eyes; as this here, when God
preserved David from the sword of Saul, in caves and woods, as safe as
if he had been in a strong city. In Keilah, that strong city, God
showed him great mercy, both in making him an instrument to rescue the
inhabitants out of the hands of the Philistines and then in rescuing
him from the same men who would have ungratefully delivered him up into
the hand of Saul,
This was marvellous loving-kindness indeed, upon which he writes, with
wonder and thankfulness, Blessed be the Lord. Special
preservations call for particular thanksgivings.
2. Within were fears; but God was better to him than his fears,
He here keeps an account,
(1.) Of his own folly, in distrusting God, which he acknowledges, to
his shame. Though he had express promises to build upon, and great
experience of God’s care concerning him in many straits, yet he had
entertained this hard and jealous thought of God, and could not forbear
telling it him to his face. “I am cut off before thy eyes; thou
hast quite forsaken me, and I must not expect to be looked upon or
regarded by thee any more. I shall one day perish by the hand of
Saul, and so be cut off before thy eyes, be ruined while thou
lookest on,”
This he said in his flight (so some read it), which denotes the
distress of his affairs. Saul was just at his back, and ready to seize
him, which made the temptation strong. In my haste (so we read
it), which denotes the disturbance and discomposure of his mind, which
made the temptation surprising, so that it found him off his guard.
Note, It is a common thing to speak amiss when we speak in haste and
without consideration; but what we speak amiss in haste we must repent
of at leisure, particularly that which we have spoken distrustfully of
God.
(2.) Of God’s wonderful goodness to him notwithstanding. Though his
faith failed, God’s promise did not: Thou hearest the voice of my
supplication, for all this. He mentions his own unbelief as a foil
to God’s fidelity, serving to make his loving-kindness the more
marvellous, the more illustrious. When we have thus distrusted God he
might justly take us at our word, and bring our fears upon us, as he
did on Israel,
But he has pitied and pardoned us, and our unbelief has not made his
promise and grace of no effect; for he knows our frame.
III. The exhortation and encouragement which he hereupon gives to all
the saints,
1. He would have them set their love on God
(v. 23):
O love the Lord! all you his saints. Those that have their own
hearts full of love to God cannot but desire that others also may be in
love with him; for in his favour there is no need to fear a rival. It
is the character of the saints that they do love God; and yet they must
still be called upon to love him, to love him more and love him better,
and give proofs of their love. We must love him, not only for his
goodness, because he preserves the faithful, but for his
justice, because he plentifully rewards the proud doer (who
would ruin those whom he preserves), according to their pride. Some
take it in a good sense; he plentifully rewards the magnificent (or
excellent) doer, that is daringly good, whose heart, like
Jehoshaphat’s, is lifted up in the ways of the Lord. He rewards him
that does well, but plentifully rewards him that does excellently well.
2. He would have them set their hope in God
(
v. 24):
“Be of good courage; have a good heart on it; whatever
difficulties or dangers you may meet with, the God you trust in shall
by that trust strengthen your heart.” Those that hope in God have
reason to be of good courage, and let their hearts be strong, for, as
nothing truly evil can befal them, so nothing truly good for them shall
be wanting to them.
In singing this we should animate ourselves and one another to proceed
and persevere in our Christian course, whatever threatens us, and
whoever frowns upon us.
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