Some
call this the soldier's psalm, and think it was penned in the camp, when
David was hazarding his life in the high places of the field, and thus
trusted God to cover his head in the day of battle. Others call it the
traveller's psalm (for there is nothing in it of military dangers) and think
David penned it when he was going abroad, and designed it pro vehiculo--for
the carriage, for a good man's convoy and companion in a journey or
voyage. But we need not thus appropriate it; wherever we are, at home or
abroad, we are exposed to danger more than we are aware of; and this psalm
directs and encourages us to repose ourselves and our confidence in God, and
by faith to put ourselves under his protection and commit ourselves to his
care, which we must do, with an entire resignation and satisfaction, in
singing this psalm. I. David here assures himself of help from God, ver. 1,
2. II. He assures others of it, ver. 3-8.
A song of degrees.
1
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the LORD,
which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be
moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that
keepeth
Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD
is thy keeper: the LORD
is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not
smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD
shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8
The LORD
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and
even for evermore.
This psalm teaches us,
I. To stay ourselves upon
God as a God of power and a God all-sufficient for us. David did so and
found the benefit of it. 1. We must not rely upon creatures, upon men and
means, instruments and second causes, nor make flesh our arm: "Shall
I lift up my eyes to the hills?"--so some read it. "Does my
help come thence? Shall I depend upon the powers of the earth, upon the
strength of the hills, upon princes and great men, who, like hills, fill the
earth, and hold up their heads towards heaven? No; in vain is salvation
hoped for from hills and mountains, Jer. iii. 23. I never expect help to
come from them; my confidence is in God only." We must lift up our
eyes above the hills (so some read it); we must look beyond instruments
to God, who makes them that to us which they are. 2. We must see all our
help laid up in God, in his power and goodness, his providence and grace;
and from him we must expect it to come: "My help comes from the
Lord; the help I desire is what he sends, and from him I expect it in
his own way and time. If he do not help, no creature can help; if he do, no
creature can hinder, can hurt." 3. We must fetch in help from God, by
faith in his promises, and a due regard to all his institutions: "I
will lift up my eyes to the hills" (probably he meant the hills on
which the temple was built, Mount Moriah, and the holy hill of Zion, where
the ark of the covenant, the oracle, and the altars were); "I will have
an eye to the special presence of God in his church, and with his people
(his presence by promise) and not only to his common presence." When he
was at a distance he would look towards the sanctuary (Ps. xxviii. 2; xlii.
6); thence comes our help, from the word and prayer, from the
secret of his tabernacle. My help cometh from the Lord (so the word
is, v. 2), from before the Lord, or from the sight and
presence of the Lord. "This (says Dr. Hammond) may refer to Christ
incarnate, with whose humanity the Deity being inseparably united, God is
always present with him, and, through him, with us, for whom, sitting at
God's right hand, he constantly maketh intercession." Christ is called
the angel of his presence, that saved his people, Isa. lxiii. 9. 4.
We must encourage our confidence in God with this that he made heaven and
earth, and he who did that can do any thing. He made the world out of
nothing, himself alone, by a word's speaking, in a little time, and all
very good, very excellent and beautiful; and therefore, how great soever
our straits and difficulties are, he has power sufficient for our succour
and relief. He that made heaven and earth is sovereign Lord of all the hosts
of both, and can make use of them as he pleases for the help of his people,
and restrain them when he pleases from hurting his people.
II. To comfort ourselves in God when our
difficulties and dangers are greatest. It is here promised that if we put
our trust in God, and keep in the way of our duty, we shall be safe under
his protection, so that no real evil, no mere evil, shall happen to us, nor
any affliction but what God sees good for us and will do us good by. 1. God
himself has undertaken to be our protector: The Lord is thy keeper, v.
5. Whatever charge he gives his angels to keep his people, he has not
thereby discharged himself, so that, whether every particular saint has an
angel for his guardian or no, we are sure he has God himself for his
guardian. It is infinite wisdom that contrives, and infinite power that
works, the safety of those that have put themselves under God's protection.
Those must needs be well kept that have the Lord for their keeper.
If, by affliction, they be made his prisoners, yet still he is their keeper.
2. The same that is the protector of the church in general is engaged for
the preservation of every particular believer, the same wisdom, the same
power, the same promises. He that keepeth Israel (v. 4) is
thy keeper, v. 5. The shepherd of the flock is the shepherd of
every sheep, and will take care that not one, even of the little ones, shall
perish. 3. He is a wakeful watchful keeper: "He that keepeth Israel,
that keepeth thee, O Israelite! shall neither slumber nor sleep; he
never did, nor ever will, for he is never weary; he not only does not sleep,
but he does not so much as slumber; he has not the least inclination to
sleep." 4. He not only protects those whom he is the keeper of, but he
refreshes them: He is their shade. The comparison has a great deal of
gracious condescension in it; the eternal Being who is infinite substance is
what he is in order that he may speak sensible comfort to his people,
promises to be their umbra--their shadow, to keep as close to
them as the shadow does to the body, and to shelter them from the scorching
heat, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, Isa. xxxii. 2.
Under this shadow they may sit with delight and assurance, Cant. ii. 3. 5.
He is always near to his people for their protection and refreshment, and
never at a distance; he is their keeper and shade on their
right hand; so that he is never far to seek. The right hand is the
working hand; let them but turn themselves dexterously to their duty, and
they shall find God ready to them, to assist them and give them success, Ps.
xvi. 8. 6. He is not only at their right hand, but he will also keep the
feet of his saints, 1 Sam. ii. 9. He will have an eye upon them in their
motions: He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. God will provide
that his people shall not be tempted above what they are able, shall not
fall into sin, though they may be very near it (Ps. lxxiii. 2, 23), shall
not fall into trouble, though there be many endeavouring to undermine them
by fraud or over throw them by force. He will keep them from being
frightened, as we are when we slip or stumble and are ready to fall. 7. He
will protect them from all the malignant influences of the heavenly bodies (v.
6): The sun shall not smite thee with his heat by day nor the moon
with her cold and moisture by night. The sun and moon are great
blessings to mankind, and yet (such a sad change has sin made in the
creation) even the sun and moon, though worshipped by a great part of
mankind, are often instruments of hurt and distemper to human bodies; God by
them often smites us; but his favour shall interpose so that they shall not
damage his people. He will keep them night and day (Isa. xxvii. 3),
as he kept Israel in the wilderness by a pillar of cloud by day,
which screened them from the heat of the sun, and of fire by night,
which probably diffused a genial warmth over the whole camp, that they might
not be prejudiced by the cold and damp of the night, their father Jacob
having complained (Gen. xxxi. 40) that by day the drought consumed him
and the frost by night. It may be understood figuratively: "Thou
shalt not be hurt either by the open assaults of thy enemies, which are as
visible as the scorching beams of the sun, or by their secret treacherous
attempts, which are like the insensible insinuations of the cold by
night." 8. His protection will make them safe in every respect: "The
Lord shall preserve thee from all evil, the evil of sin and the evil of
trouble. He shall prevent the evil thou fearest, and shall sanctify, remove,
or lighten, the evil thou feelest. He will keep thee from doing evil (2 Cor.
xiii. 7), and so far from suffering evil that whatever affliction happens to
thee there shall be no evil in it. Even that which kills shall not
hurt." 9. It is the spiritual life, especially, that God will take
under his protection: He shall preserve thy soul. All souls are his;
and the soul is the man, and therefore he will with a peculiar care preserve
them, that they be not defiled by sin and disturbed by affliction. He will
keep them by keeping us in the possession of them; and he will preserve them
from perishing eternally. 10. He will keep us in all our ways: "He
shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in. Thou shalt be under his
protection in all thy journeys and voyages, outward-bound or homeward-bound,
as he kept Israel in the wilderness, in their removes and rests. He will
prosper thee in all thy affairs at home and abroad, in the beginning and in
the conclusion of them. He will keep thee in life and death, thy going out
and going on while thou livest and thy coming in when thou diest, going out
to thy labour in the morning of thy days and coming home to thy rest when
the evening of old age calls thee in," Ps. civ. 23. 11. He will
continue his care over us from this time forth and even for evermore.
It is a protection for life, never out of date. "He will be thy guide even
unto death, and will then hide thee in the grave, hide thee in heaven.
He will preserve thee in his heavenly kingdom." God will protect
his church and his saints always, even to the end of the world. The
Spirit, who is their preserver and comforter, shall abide with them for
ever.
