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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
P S A L M S
PSALM CXVI.
This is a thanksgiving psalm; it is not certain whether David penned it
upon any particular occasion or upon a general review of the many
gracious deliverances God had wrought for him, out of six troubles and
seven, which deliverances draw from him many very lively expressions of
devotion, love, and gratitude; and with similar pious affections our
souls should be lifted up to God in singing it. Observe,
I. The great distress and danger that the psalmist was in, which almost
drove him to despair,
II. The application he made to God in that distress,
III. The experience he had of God’s goodness to him, in answer to
prayer; God heard him
(ver. 1, 2),
pitied him
(ver. 5, 6),
delivered him,
IV His care respecting the acknowledgments he should make of the
goodness of God to him,
1. He will love God,
2. He will continue to call upon him,
3. He will rest in him,
4. He will walk before him,
5. He will pay his vows of thanksgiving, in which he will own the
tender regard God had to him, and this publicly,
Lastly, He will continue God’s faithful servant to his life’s end,
These are such breathings of a holy soul as bespeak it very happy.
| Grateful Acknowledgments. | |
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1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my
supplications.
2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I
call upon him as long as I live.
3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat
hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech
thee, deliver my soul.
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is
merciful.
6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he
helped me.
7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt
bountifully with thee.
8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from
tears, and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
In this part of the psalm we have,
I. A general account of David’s experience, and his pious resolutions
(v. 1, 2),
which are as the contents of the whole psalm, and give an idea of it.
1. He had experienced God’s goodness to him in answer to prayer: He
has heard my voice and my supplications. David, in straits, had
humbly and earnestly begged mercy of God, and God had heard him, that
is, had graciously accepted his prayer, taken cognizance of his case,
and granted him an answer of peace. He has inclined his ear to
me. This intimates his readiness and willingness to hear prayer; he
lays his ear, as it were, to the mouth of prayer, to hear it, though it
be but whispered in groanings that cannot be uttered. He
hearkens and hears,
Jer. viii. 6.
Yet it implies, also, that it is wonderful condescension in God to hear
prayer; it is bowing his ear. Lord, what is man, that God should thus
stoop to him!–
2. He resolved, in consideration thereof, to devote himself entirely to
God and to his honour.
(1.) He will love God the better. He begins the psalm somewhat abruptly
with a profession of that which his heart was full of: I love the
Lord (as
and fitly does he begin with this, in compliance with the first and
great commandment and with God’s end in all the gifts of his bounty to
us. “I love him only, and nothing besides him, but what I love for
him.” God’s love of compassion towards us justly requires our love of
complacency in him.
(2.) He will love prayer the better: Therefore I will call upon
him. The experiences we have had of God’s goodness to us, in answer
to prayer, are great encouragements to us to continue praying; we have
sped well, notwithstanding our unworthiness and our infirmities in
prayer, and therefore why may we not? God answers prayer, to make us
love it, and expects this from us, in return for his favour. Why should
we glean in any other field when we have been so well treated in this?
Nay, I will call upon him as long as I live (Heb., In my
days), every day, to the last day. Note, As long as we continue
living we must continue praying. This breath we must breathe till we
breathe our last, because then we shall take our leave of it, and till
then we have continual occasion for it.
II. A more particular narrative of God’s gracious dealings with him and
the good impressions thereby made upon him.
1. God, in his dealings with him, showed himself a good God, and
therefore he bears this testimony to him, and leaves it upon record
(v. 5):
“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous. He is righteous, and did
me no wrong in afflicting me; he is gracious, and was very kind in
supporting and delivering me.” Let us all speak of God as we have
found; and have we ever found him otherwise than just and good? No;
our God is merciful, merciful to us, and it is of his mercies
that we are not consumed.
(1.) Let us review David’s experiences.
[1.] He was in great distress and trouble
(v. 3):
The sorrows of death compassed me, that is, such sorrows as were
likely to be his death, such as were thought to be the very pangs of
death. Perhaps the extremity of bodily pain, or trouble of mind, is
called here the pains of hell, terror of conscience arising from
sense of guilt. Note, The sorrows of death are great sorrows, and the
pains of hell great pains. Let us therefore give diligence to
prepare for the former, that we may escape the latter. These
compassed him on every side; they arrested him, got hold upon
him, so that he could not escape. Without were fightings,
within were fears. “I found trouble and sorrow; not only they found
me, but I found them.” Those that are melancholy have a great deal of
sorrow of their own finding, a great deal of trouble which they create
to themselves, by indulging fancy and passion; this has sometimes been
the infirmity of good men. When God’s providence makes our condition
bad let us not by our own imprudence make it worse.
[2.] In his trouble he had recourse to God by faithful and fervent
prayer,
v. 4.
He tells us that he prayed: Then called I upon the name of the
Lord; then, when he was brought to the last extremity, then he made
use of this, not as the last remedy, but as the old and only remedy,
which he had found a salve for every sore. He tells us what his prayer
was; it was short, but to the purpose: “O Lord! I beseech thee,
deliver my soul; save me from death, and save me from sin, for that
is it that is killing to the soul.” Both the humility and the fervency
of his prayer are intimated in these words, O Lord! I beseech
thee. When we come to the throne of grace we must come as beggars
for an alms, for necessary food. The following words
(v. 5),
Gracious is the Lord, may be taken as part of his prayer, as a
plea to enforce his request and encourage his faith and hope: “Lord
deliver my soul, for thou art gracious and
merciful, and that only I depend upon for relief.”
[3.] God, in answer to his prayer, came in with seasonable and
effectual relief. He found by experience that God is gracious and
merciful, and in his compassion preserves the simple,
v. 6.
Because they are simple (that is, sincere, and upright, and without
guile) therefore God preserves them, as he preserved Paul, who had his
conversation in the world not with fleshly wisdom, but in simplicity
and godly sincerity. Though they are simple (that is, weak, and
helpless, and unable to shift for themselves, men of no depth, no
design) yet God preserves them, because they commit themselves to him
and have no confidence in their own sufficiency. Those who by faith put
themselves under God’s protection shall be safe.
(2.) Let David speak his own experience.
[1.] God supported him under his troubles: “I was brought low,
was plunged into the depth of misery, and then he helped me,
helped me both to bear the worst and to hope the best, helped me to
pray, else desire had failed, helped me to wait, else faith had failed.
I was one of the simple ones whom God preserved, the poor man who
cried and the Lord heard him,”
Note, God’s people are never brought so low but that everlasting arms
are under them, and those cannot sink who are thus sustained. Nay, it
is in the time of need, at the dead lift, that God chooses to help,
[2.] God saved him out of his troubles
(v. 8):
Thou hast delivered, which means either the preventing of the
distress he was ready to fall into or the recovering of him from the
distress he was already in. God graciously delivered, First, His
soul from death. Note, It is God’s great mercy to us that we are
alive; and the mercy is the more sensible if we have been at death’s
door and yet have been spared and raised up, just turned to destruction
and yet ordered to return. That a life so often forfeited, and so often
exposed, should yet be lengthened out, is a miracle of mercy. The
deliverance of the soul from spiritual and eternal death is especially
to be acknowledged by all those who are now sanctified and shall be
shortly glorified. Secondly, His eyes from tears, that
is, his heart from inordinate grief. It is a great mercy to be kept
either from the occasions of sorrow, the evil that causes grief, or, at
least, from being swallowed up with over-much sorrow. When God comforts
those that are cast down, looses the mourners’ sackcloth and girds them
with gladness, then he delivers their eyes from tears, which yet
will not be perfectly done till we come to that world where God shall
wipe away all tears from our eyes. Thirdly, His feet from
falling, from falling into sin and so into misery. It is a great
mercy, when our feet are almost gone, to have God hold us by the
right hand
so that though we enter into temptation we are not overcome and
overthrown by the temptation. Or, “Thou hast delivered my feet from
falling into the grave, when I had one foot there already.”
2. David, in his returns of gratitude to God, showed himself a good
man. God had done all this for him, and therefore,
(1.) He will live a life of delight in God
(v. 7):
Return unto thy rest, O my soul!
[1.] “Repose thyself and be easy, and do not agitate thyself with
distrustful disquieting fears as thou hast sometimes done. Quiet
thyself, and then enjoy thyself. God has dealt kindly with thee, and
therefore thou needest not fear that ever he will deal hardly with
thee.”
[2.] “Repose thyself in God. Return to him as thy rest, and seek not
for that rest in the creature which is to be had in him only.” God is
the soul’s rest; in him only it can dwell at ease; to him
therefore it must retire, and rejoice in him. He has dealt
bountifully with us; he has provided sufficiently for our comfort
and refreshment, and encouraged us to come to him for the benefit of
it, at all times, upon all occasions; let us therefore be satisfied
with that. Return to that rest which Christ gives to the weary and
heavy-laden,
Matt. xi. 28.
Return to thy Noah; his name signifies rest, as the dove, when
she found no rest, returned to the ark. I know no word more proper to
close our eyes with at night, when we go to sleep, nor to close them
with at death, that long sleep, than this, Return to thy rest, O my
soul!
(2.) He will live a life of devotedness to God
(v. 9):
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, that is,
in this world, as long as I continue to live in it. Note,
[1.] It is our great duty to walk before the Lord, to do all we
do as becomes us in his presence and under his eye, to approve
ourselves to him as a holy God by conformity to him as our sovereign
Lord, by subjection to his will, and, as a God all-sufficient, by a
cheerful confidence in him. I am the almighty God; walk before
me,
Gen. xvii. 1.
We must walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing.
[2.] The consideration of this, that we are in the land of the living,
should engage and quicken us to do so. We are spared and continued in
the land of the living by the power, and patience, and tender mercy of
our God, and therefore must make conscience of our duty to him. The
land of the living is a land of mercy, which we ought to be
thankful for; it is a land of opportunity, which we should improve.
Canaan is called the land of the living
and those whose lot is cast in such a valley of vision are in a special
manner concerned to set the Lord always before them. If God has
delivered our soul from death, we must walk before him. A new life must
be a new life indeed.
| Grateful Acknowledgments; Devout Resolutions. | |
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10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly
afflicted:
11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.
12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits
toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of
the LORD.
14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all
his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his
saints.
16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and
the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will
call upon the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all
his people,
19 In the courts of the LORD‘s house, in the midst of thee, O
Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.
The Septuagint and some other ancient versions make these verses a
distinct psalm separate from the former; and some have called it the
Martyr’s psalm, I suppose for the sake of
Three things David here makes confession of:–
I. His faith
(v. 10):
I believed, therefore have I spoken. This is quoted by the
apostle
with application to himself and his fellow-ministers, who, though they
suffered for Christ, were not ashamed to own him. David believed the
being, providence, and promise of God, particularly the assurance God
had given him by Samuel that he should exchange his crook for a
sceptre: a great deal of hardship he went through in the belief of
this, and therefore he spoke, spoke to God by prayer
(v. 4),
by praise,
Those that believe in God will address themselves to him. He spoke to
himself; because he believed, he said to his soul, Return to thy
rest. He spoke to others, told his friends what his hope was, and
what the ground of it, though it exasperated Saul against him and he
was greatly afflicted for it. Note, Those that believe with the heart
must confess with the mouth, for the glory of God, the encouragement of
others, and to evidence their own sincerity,
Rom. x. 10; Acts ix. 19, 20.
Those that live in hope of the kingdom of glory must neither be afraid
nor ashamed to own their obligation to him that purchased it for them,
II. His fear
(v. 11):
I was greatly afflicted, and then I said in my haste
(somewhat rashly and inconsiderately–in my amazement (so some),
when I was in a consternation–in my flight (so others), when
Saul was in pursuit of me), All men are liars, all with whom he
had to do, Saul and all his courtiers; his friends, who he thought
would stand by him, deserted him and disowned him when he fell into
disgrace at court. And some think it is especially a reflection on
Samuel, who had promised him the kingdom, but deceived him; for, says
he, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul,
1 Sam. xxvii. 1.
Observe,
1. The faith of the best of saints is not perfect, nor always alike
strong and active. David believed and spoke well
(v. 10),
but now, through unbelief, he spoke amiss.
2. When we are under great and sore afflictions, especially if they
continue long, we are apt to grow weary, to despond, and almost to
despair of a good issue. Let us not therefore be harsh in censuring
others, but carefully watch over ourselves when we are in trouble,
3. If good men speak amiss, it is in their haste, through the surprise
of a temptation, not deliberately and with premeditation, as the wicked
man, who sits in the seat of the scornful
(Ps. i. 1),
sits and speaks against his brother,
Ps. l. 19, 20.
4. What we speak amiss, in haste, we must by repentance unsay again (as
David,
and then it shall not be laid to our charge. Some make this to be no
rash word of David’s. He was greatly afflicted and forced to fly, but
he did not trust in man, nor make flesh his arm. No: he said, “All
men are liars; as men of low degree are vanity, so men of
high degree are a lie, and therefore my confidence was in God only,
and in him I cannot be disappointed.” In this sense the apostle seems
to take it.
Let God be true and every man a liar in comparison with God. All
men are fickle and inconstant, and subject to change; and therefore let
us cease from man and cleave to God.
III. His gratitude,
&c. God had been better to him than his
fears, and had graciously delivered him out of his distresses; and, in
consideration hereof,
1. He enquires what returns he shall make
(v. 12):
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards
me? Here he speaks,
(1.) As one sensible of many mercies received from God–all his
benefits. This psalm seems to have been penned upon occasion of
some one particular benefit
(v. 6, 7),
but in that one he saw many and that one brought many to mind, and
therefore now he thinks of all God’s benefits towards him. Note, When
we speak of God’s mercies we should magnify them and speak highly of
them.
(2.) As one solicitous and studious how to express his gratitude:
What shall I render unto the Lord? Not as if he thought he could
render any thing proportionable, or as a valuable consideration for
what he had received; we can no more pretend to give a recompense to
God than we can to merit any favour from him; but he desired to render
something acceptable, something that God would be pleased with as the
acknowledgment of a grateful mind. He asks God, What shall I
render? Asks the priest, asks his friends, or rather asks himself,
and communes with his own heart about it. Note, Having received many
benefits from God, we are concerned to enquire, What shall we
render?
2. He resolves what returns he will make.
(1.) He will in the most devout and solemn manner offer up his praises
and prayers to God,
[1.] “I will take the cup of salvation, that is, I will offer
the drink-offerings appointed by the law, in token of my thankfulness
to God, and rejoice with my friends in God’s goodness to me;” this is
called the cup of deliverance because drunk in memory of his
deliverance. The pious Jews had sometimes a cup of blessing, at
their private meals, which the master of the family drank first of,
with thanksgiving to God, and all at his table drank with him. But some
understand it not of the cup that he would present to God, but of the
cup that God would put into his hand. I will receive, First, The
cup of affliction. Many good interpreters understand it of that
cup, that bitter cup, which is yet sanctified to the saints, so that to
them it is a cup of salvation.
This shall turn to my salvation; it is a means of spiritual
health. David’s sufferings were typical of Christ’s, and we, in ours,
have communion with his, and his cup was indeed a cup of salvation.
“God, having bestowed so many benefits upon me, whatever cup he shall
put into my hands I will readily take it, and not dispute it; welcome
his holy will.” Herein David spoke the language of the Son of David.
The cup that my Father has given me, shall I not take it and
drink it? Secondly, The cup of consolation: “I will receive the
benefits God bestows upon me as from his hand, and taste his love in
them, as that which is the portion not only of my
inheritance in the other world, but of my cup in this.”
[2.] I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, the
thank-offerings which God required,
&c. Note, Those whose hearts are truly thankful will express their
gratitude in thank-offerings. We must first give our ownselves
to God as living sacrifices
(Rom. xii. 1, 2 Cor. viii. 5),
and then lay out of what we have for his honour in works of piety and
charity. Doing good and communicating are
sacrifices with which God is well pleased
and this must accompany our giving thanks to his name. If God
has been bountiful to us, the least we can do in return is to be
bountiful to the poor,
Why should we offer that to God which costs us nothing?
[3.] I will call upon the name of the Lord. This he had promised
(v. 2)
and here he repeats it,
and again
If we have received kindness from a man like ourselves, we tell him
that we hope we shall never trouble him again; but God is pleased to
reckon the prayers of his people an honour to him, and a delight, and
no trouble; and therefore, in gratitude for former mercies, we must
seek to him for further mercies, and continue to call upon
him.
(2.) He will always entertain good thoughts of God, as very tender of
the lives and comforts of his people
(v. 15):
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, so
precious that he will not gratify Saul, nor Absalom, nor any of David’s
enemies, with his death, how earnestly soever they desire it. This
truth David had comforted himself with in the depth of his distress and
danger; and, the event having confirmed it, he comforts others with it
who might be in like manner exposed. God has a people, even in this
world, that are his saints, his merciful ones, or men of mercy, that
have received mercy from him and show mercy for his sake. The saints of
God are mortal and dying; nay, there are those that desire their death,
and labour all they can to hasten it, and sometimes prevail to be the
death of them; but it is precious in the sight of the Lord; their
life is so
their blood is so,
God often wonderfully prevents the death of his saints when there is
but a step between them and it; he takes special care about their
death, to order it for the best in all the circumstances of it; and
whoever kills them, how light soever they may make of it, they shall be
made to pay dearly for it when inquisition is made for the blood of the
saints,
Though no man lays it to heart when the righteous perish,
God will make it to appear that he lays it to heart. This should make
us willing to die, to die for Christ, if we are called to it, that our
death shall be registered in heaven; and let that be precious to us
which is so to God.
(3.) He will oblige himself to be God’s servant all his days. Having
asked, What shall I render? here he surrenders himself, which
was more than all burnt-offerings and sacrifice
(v. 16):
O Lord! truly I am thy servant. Here is,
[1.] The relation in which David professes to stand to God: “I am
thy servant; I choose to be so; I resolve to be so; I will live and
die in thy service.” He had called God’s people, who are dear to him,
his saints; but, when he comes to apply it to himself, he does
not say, Truly I am thy saint (that looked too high a title for
himself), but, I am thy servant. David was a king, and yet he
glories in this, that he was God’s servant. It is no disparagement, but
an honour, to the greatest kings on earth, to be the servants of the
God of heaven. David does not here compliment God, as it is common
among men to say, I am your servant, Sir. No; “Lord, I am
truly thy servant; thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I am
so.” And he repeats it, as that which he took pleasure in the
thoughts of and which he was resolved to abide by: “I am thy
servant, I am thy servant. Let others serve what master they will,
truly I am they servant.”
[2.] The ground of that relation. Two ways men came to be
servants:–First, by birth. “Lord, I was born in thy house; I am
the son of thy handmaid, and therefore thine.” It, is a great
mercy to be the children of godly parents, as it obliges us to duty and
is pleadable with God for mercy. Secondly, By redemption. He
that procured the release of a captive took him for his servant.
“Lord, thou hast loosed my bonds; those sorrows of death that
compassed me, thou hast discharged me from them, and therefore I am
thy servant, and entitled to thy protection as well as obliged to
thy work.” The very bonds which thou hast loosed shall tie me faster
unto thee. Patrick.
(4.) He will make conscience of paying his vows and making good what he
had promised, not only that he would offer the sacrifices of praise,
which he had vowed to bring, but perform all his other engagements to
God, which he had laid himself under in the day of his affliction
(v. 14):
I will pay my vows; and again,
(v. 18),
now in the presence
of all his people. Note, Vows are debts that must be paid, for it
is better not to vow than to vow and not pay. He will pay his vows,
[1.] Presently; he will not, like sorry debtors, delay the payment of
them, or beg a day; but, “I will pay them now,”
[2.] Publicly; he will not huddle up his praises in a corner, but what
service he has to do for God he will do it in the presence of all
his people; nor for ostentation, but to show that he was not
ashamed of the service of God, and that others might be invited to join
with him. He will pay his vows in the courts of the tabernacle, where
there was a crowd of Israelites attending, in the midst of
Jerusalem, that he might bring devotion into more reputation.
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