Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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P S A L M S

PSALM CXX.

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This psalm is the first of those fifteen which are here put together

under the title of “songs of degrees.” It is well that it is not

material what the meaning of that title should be, for nothing is

offered towards the explication of it, no, not by the Jewish writers

themselves, but what is conjectural. These psalms do not seem to be

composed all by the same hand, much less all at the same time. Four of

them are expressly ascribed to David, and one is said to be designed

for Solomon, and perhaps penned by him; yet

cxxvi. and cxxix.

seem to be of a much later date. Some of them are calculated for the

closet (as

cxx. and cxxx.),

some for the family (as

cxxvii. and cxxviii.),

some for the public assembly (as

cxxii. and cxxxiv.),

and some occasional, as

cxxiv., and cxxxii.

So that it should seem, they had not this title from the author, but

from the publisher. Some conjecture that they are so called from their

singular excellency (as the song of songs, so the song of degrees, is a

most excellent song, in the highest degree), others from the tune they

were set to, or the musical instruments they were sung to, or the

raising of the voice in singing them. Some think they were sung on the

fifteen steps or stairs, by which they went up from the outward court

of the temple to the inner, others at so many stages of the people’s

journey, when they returned out of captivity. I shall only observe,

1. That they are all short psalms, all but one very short (three of

them have but three verses apiece), and that they are placed next to

Ps. cxix.,

which is by much the longest of all. Now as that was one psalm divided

into many parts, so these were many psalms, which, being short, were

sometimes sung all together, and made, as it were, one psalm, observing

only a pause between each; as many steps make one pair of stairs.

2. That, in the composition of them, we frequently meet with the

figure they call climax, or an ascent, the preceding word repeated, and

then rising to something further, as 120, “With him that hated peace. I

peace.” 121, “Whence cometh my help; my help cometh.” “He that keepeth

thee shall not slumber; he that keepeth Israel.” 122, “Within thy

gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is builded.” 123, “Until that he have

mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us.” And the like in most of them, if

not all. Perhaps for one of these reasons they are called songs of

degrees.

     

This psalm is supposed to have been penned by David upon occasion of

Doeg’s accusing him and the priests to Saul, because it is like 52,

which was penned upon that occasion, and because the psalmist complains

of his being driven out of the congregation of the Lord and his being

forced among barbarous people.

I. He prays to God to deliver him from the mischief designed him by

false and malicious tongues,

ver. 1, 2.

II. He threatens the judgments of God against such,

ver. 3, 4.

III. He complains of his wicked neighbours that were quarrelsome and

vexatious,

ver. 5-7.

In singing this psalm we may comfort ourselves in reference to the

scourge of the tongue, when at any time we fall unjustly under the lash

of it, that better than we have smarted from it.

Confession and Complaints.

A song of degrees.

     

1 In my distress I cried unto the LORD,

and he heard me.

  2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a

deceitful tongue.

  3 What shall be given unto thee? or what shall be done unto

thee, thou false tongue?

  4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.

     

Here is,

I. Deliverance from a false tongue obtained by prayer. David records

his own experience of this.

     

1. He was brought into distress, into great distress, by lying lips

and a deceitful tongue. There were those that sought his ruin, and

had almost effected it, by lying.

(1.) By telling lies to him. They flattered him with professions and

protestations of friendships, and promises of kindness and service to

him, that they might the more securely and without suspicion carry on

their designs against him, and might have an opportunity, by betraying

his counsels, to do him a mischief. They smiled in his face and kissed

him, even when they were aiming to smite him under the fifth rib. The

most dangerous enemies, and those which it is most hard to guard

against, are such as carry on their malicious designs under the colour

of friendship. The Lord deliver every good man from such lying lips.

(2.) By telling lies of him. They forged false accusations against him

and laid to his charge things that he knew not. This has often

been the lot not only of the innocent, but of the excellent ones, of

the earth, who have been greatly distressed by lying lips, and have not

only had their names blackened and made odious by calumnies in

conversation, but their lives, and all that is dear to them in this

world, endangered by false-witness-bearing in judgment. David was

herein a type of Christ, who was distressed by lying lips and deceitful

tongues.

     

2. In this distress he had recourse to God by faithful and fervent

prayer: I cried unto the Lord. Having no fence against false

tongues, he appealed to him who has all men’s hearts in his hand, who

has power over the consciences of bad men, and can, when he pleases,

bridle their tongues. His prayer was, “Deliver my soul, O Lord! from

lying lips, that my enemies may not by these cursed methods work my

ruin.” He that had prayed so earnestly to be kept from lying

(Ps. cxix. 29)

and hated it so heartily in himself

(v. 163)

might with the more confidence pray to be kept from being belied by

others, and from the ill consequences of it.

     

3. He obtained a gracious answer to this prayer. God heard him; so that

his enemies, though they carried their designs very far, were baffled

at last, and could not prevail to do him the mischief they intended.

The God of truth is, and will be, the protector of his people from

lying lips,

Ps. xxxvii. 6.

     

II. The doom of a false tongue foretold by faith,

v. 3, 4.

As God will preserve his people from this mischievous generation, so he

will reckon with their enemies,

Ps. xii. 3, 7.

The threatening is addressed to the sinner himself, for the awakening

of his conscience, if he have any left: “Consider what shall be

given unto thee, and what shall be done unto thee, by the righteous

Judge of heaven and earth, thou false tongue.” Surely sinners

durst not do as they do if they knew, and would be persuaded to think,

what will be in the end thereof. Let liars consider what shall be given

to them: Sharp arrows of the Almighty, with coals of juniper,

that is, they will fall and lie for ever under the wrath of God, and

will be made miserable by the tokens of his displeasure, which will fly

swiftly like arrows, and will strike the sinner ere he is aware and

when he sees not who hurts him. This is threatened against liars,

Ps. lxiv. 7.

God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be

wounded. They set God at a distance from them, but from afar his

arrows can reach them. They are sharp arrows, and arrows of the mighty,

the Almighty; for they will pierce through the strongest armour and

strike deep into the hardest heart. The terrors of the Lord are his

arrows

(Job vi. 4),

and his wrath is compared to burning coals of juniper, which do not

flame or crackle, like thorns under a pot, but have a vehement heat,

and keep fire very long (some say, a year round) even when they seem to

be gone out. This is the portion of the false tongue; for all that love

and make a lie shall have their portion in the lake that burns

eternally,

Rev. xxii. 15.

Mournful Complaints.

     

5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the

tents of Kedar!

  6 My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.

  7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

     

The psalmist here complains of the bad neighbourhood into which he was

driven; and some apply the

two foregoing verses

to this: “What shall the deceitful tongue give, what shall it do to

those that lie open to it? What shall a man get by living among such

malicious deceitful men? Nothing but sharp arrows and coals

of juniper,” all the mischiefs of a false and spiteful tongue,

Ps. lvii. 4.

Woe is me, says David, that I am forced to dwell among such,

that I sojourn in Mesech and Kedar. Not that David dwelt in the

country of Mesech or Kedar; we never find him so far off from his own

native country; but he dwelt among rude and barbarous people, like the

inhabitants of Mesech and Kedar: as, when we would describe an ill

neighbourhood, we say, We dwell among Turks and heathens. This made him

cry out, Woe is me!

1. He was forced to live at a distance from the ordinances of God.

While he was in banishment, he looked upon himself as a sojourner,

never at home but when he was near God’s altars; and he cries out,

“Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged, that I cannot get

home to my resting-place, but am still kept at a distance!” So some

read it. Note, A good man cannot think himself at home while he is

banished from God’s ordinances and has not them within reach. And it is

a great grief to all that love God to be without the means of grace and

of communion with God: when they are under a force of that kind they

cannot but cry out, as David here, Woe to me!

2. He was forced to live among wicked people, who were, upon many

accounts, troublesome to him. He dwell in the tents of Kedar,

where the shepherds were probably in an ill name for being litigious,

like the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot. It is a very grievous burden to a

good man to be cast into, and kept in, the company of those whom he

hopes to be for ever separated from (like Lot in Sodom;

2 Pet. ii. 8);

to dwell long with such is grievous indeed, for they are thorns,

vexing, and scratching, and tearing, and they will show the old enmity

that is in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the

woman. Those that David dwelt with were such as not only hated him,

but hated peace, and proclaimed war with it, who might write on their

weapons of war not Sic sequimur pacem–Thus we aim at peace, but

Sic persequimur–Thus we persecute. Perhaps Saul’s court was the

Mesech and Kedar in which David dwelt, and Saul was the man he meant

that hated peace, whom David studied to oblige and could not, but the

more service he did him the more exasperated he was against him. See

here,

(1.) The character of a very good man in David, who could truly say,

though he was a man of war, I am for peace; for living peaceably

with all men and unpeaceably with none. I peace (so it is in the

original); “I love peace and pursue peace; my disposition is to peace

and my delight is in it. I pray for peace and strive for peace, will do

any thing, submit to any thing, part with any thing, in reason, for

peace. I am for peace, and have made it to appear that I am so.”

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable.

(2.) The character of the worst of bad men in David’s enemies, who

would pick quarrels with those that were most peaceably disposed:

“When I speak they are for war; and the more forward for war the

more they find me inclined to peace.” He spoke with all the respect and

kindness that could be, proposed methods of accommodation, spoke

reason, spoke love; but they would not so much as hear him patiently,

but cried out, “To arms! to arms!” so fierce and implacable were they,

and so bent to mischief. Such were Christ’s enemies: for his love they

were his adversaries, and for his good words, and good works, they

stoned him. If we meet with such enemies, we must not think it strange,

nor love peace the less for our seeking it in vain. Be not overcome

of evil, no, not of such evil as this, but, even when thus

tried, still try to overcome evil with good.

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Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

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