This
is a psalm of thanksgiving for the great deliverances which God had wrought
for David, penned upon occasion of the dedicating of his house of cedar, and
sung in that pious solemnity, though there is not any thing in it that has
particular reference to that occasion. Some collect from divers passages in
the psalm itself that it was penned upon his recovery from a dangerous fit
of sickness, which might happen to be about the time of the dedication of
his house. I. He here praises God for the deliverances he had wrought for
him, ver. 1-3. II. He calls upon others to praise him too, and encourages
them to trust in him, ver. 4, 5. III. He blames himself for his former
security, ver. 6, 7. IV. He recollects the prayers and complaints he had
made in his distress, ver. 8-10. With them he stirs up himself to be very
thankful to God for the present comfortable change, ver. 11, 12. In singing
this psalm we ought to remember with thankfulness any like deliverances
wrought for us, for which we must stir up our selves to praise him and by
which we must be engaged to depend upon him.
A psalm and song at
the dedication of the house of David.
1 I will extol thee, O LORD;
for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over
me. 2 O LORD
my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 O LORD,
thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I
should not go down to the pit. 4 Sing unto the LORD,
O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his
holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his
favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh
in the morning.
It was the laudable practice of the pious Jews, and, though not expressly
appointed, yet allowed and accepted, when they had built a new house, to dedicate
it to God, Deut. xx. 5. David did so when his house was built, and he
took possession of it (2 Sam. v. 11); for royal palaces do as much need
God's protection, and are as much bound to be at his service, as ordinary
houses. Note, The houses we dwell in should, at our first entrance upon
them, be dedicated to God, as little sanctuaries. We must solemnly commit
ourselves, our families, and all our family affairs, to God's guidance and
care, must pray for his presence and blessing, must devote ourselves and all
ours to his glory, and must resolve both that we put away iniquity far from
our tabernacles and that we and our houses will serve the Lord both in the
duties of family worship and in all instances of gospel obedience. Some
conjecture that this psalm was sung at the re-dedication of David's house,
after he had been driven out of it by Absalom, who had defiled it with his
incest, and that it is a thanksgiving for the crushing of that dangerous
rebellion. In these verses,
I. David does himself give God thanks for the great deliverances he had
wrought for him (v. 1): "I will extol thee, O Lord! I
will exalt thy name, will praise thee as one high and lifted up, I will do
what I can to advance the interest of thy kingdom among men. I will extol
thee, for thou hast lifted me up, not only up out of the pit in which I was
sinking, but up to the throne of Israel." He raiseth up the poor out
of the dust. In consideration of the great things God has done to exalt
us, both by his providence and by his grace, we are bound, in gratitude, to
do all we can to extol his name, though the most we can do is but little.
Three things magnify David's deliverance:-- 1. That it was the defeat of his
enemies. They were not suffered to triumph over him, as they would have done
(though it is a barbarous thing) if he had died of this sickness or perished
in this distress: see Ps. xli. 11. 2. That it was an answer to his prayers (v.
2): I cried unto thee. All the expressions of the sense we have of
our troubles should be directed to God, and every cry be a cry to him; and
giving way, in this manner, to our grief, will ease a burdened spirit.
"I cried to thee, and thou hast not only heard me, but healed
me, healed the distempered body, healed the disturbed and disquieted
mind, healed the disordered distracted affairs of the kingdom." This is
what God glories in, I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exod. xv. 26),
and we must give him the glory of it. 3. That it was the saving of his life;
for he was brought to the last extremity, dropping into the grave, and ready
to go down into the pit, and yet rescued and kept alive, v. 3.
The more imminent our dangers have been, the more eminent our deliverances
have been, the more comfortable are they to ourselves and the more
illustrious proofs of the power and goodness of God. A life from the dead
ought to be spent in extolling the God of our life.
II. He calls upon others to join with him in praise, not only for the
particular favours God has bestowed upon him, but for the general tokens of
his good-will to all his saints (v. 4): Sing unto the Lord, O you
saints of his! All that are truly saints he owns for his. There is a
remnant of such in this world, and from them it is expected that they sing
unto him; for they are created and sanctified, made and made saints, that
they may be to him for a name and a praise. His saints in heaven sing to
him; why should not those on earth be doing the same work, as well as they
can, in concert with them? 1. They believe him to be a God of unspotted
purity; and therefore let them sing to him; "Let them give thanks at
the remembrance of his holiness; let them praise his holy name, for
holiness is his memorial throughout all generations." God is a holy
God; his holiness is his glory; that is the attribute which the holy angels,
in their praises, fasten most upon, Isa. vi. 3; Rev. iv. 8. We ought to be
much in the mention and remembrance of God's holiness. It is a matter of joy
to the saints that God is a holy God; for then they hope he will make them
holy, more holy. None of all God's perfections carries in it more terror to
the wicked, nor more comfort to the godly, than his holiness. It is a good
sign that we are in some measure partakers of his holiness if we can
heartily rejoice and give thanks at the remembrance of it. 2. They have
experienced him to be a God gracious and merciful; and therefore let them
sing to him. (1.) We have found his frowns very short. Though we have
deserved that they should be everlasting, and that he should be angry with
us till he had consumed us, and should never be reconciled, yet his anger
endureth but for a moment, v. 5. When we offend him he is angry;
but, as he is slow to anger and not soon provoked, so when he is angry, upon
our repentance and humiliation his anger is soon turned away and he is
willing to be at peace with us. If he hide his face from his own children,
and suspend the wonted tokens of his favour, it is but in a little wrath,
and for a small moment; but he will gather them with everlasting
kindness, Isa. liv. 7, 8. If weeping endureth for a night, and it
be a wearisome night, yet as sure as the light of the morning returns after
the darkness of the night, so sure will joy and comfort return in a short
time, in due time, to the people of God; for the covenant of grace is as
firm as the covenant of the day. This word has often been fulfilled to us in
the letter. Weeping has endured for a night, but the grief has been soon
over and the grievance gone. Observe, As long as God's anger continues so
long the saints' weeping continues; but, if that be but for a moment, the
affliction is but for a moment, and when the light of God's countenance is
restored the affliction is easily pronounced light and momentary. (2.) We
have found his smiles very sweet; In his favour is life, that is, all
good. The return of his favour to an afflicted soul is as life from the
dead; nothing can be more reviving. Our happiness is bound up in God's
favour; if we have that, we have enough, whatever else we want. It is the
life of the soul, it is spiritual life, the earnest of life eternal.
6 And in my prosperity I said, I shall never
be moved. 7 LORD,
by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide
thy face, and I was troubled. 8 I cried to thee, O LORD; and unto the LORD
I made supplication. 9 What profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy
truth? 10 Hear, O LORD,
and have mercy upon me: LORD,
be thou my helper. 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into
dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be
silent. O LORD
my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
We have, in these verses, an account of three several states that David was
in successively, and of the workings of his heart towards God in each of
those states--what he said and did, and how his heart stood affected; in the
first of these we may see what we are too apt to be, and in the other two
what we should be.
I. He had long enjoyed prosperity, and then he grew secure and
over-confident of the continuance of it (v. 6, 7): "In my
prosperity, when I was in health of body and God had given me rest
from all my enemies, I said I shall never be moved; I never thought
either of having my body distempered or my government disturbed, not had any
apprehensions of danger upon any account." Such complete victories had
he obtained over those that opposed him, and such a confirmed interest had
he in the hearts of his people, such a firmness of mind and such a strong
constitution of body, that he thought his prosperity fixed like a mountain;
yet this he ascribes, not to his own wisdom or fortitude, but to the divine
goodness. Thou, through thy favour, hast made my mountain to stand
strong, v. 7. He does not look upon it as his heaven (as
worldly people do, who make their prosperity their felicity), only his mountain;
it is earth still, only raised a little higher than the common level. This
he thought, by the favour of God, would be perpetuated to him, imagining
perhaps that, having had so many troubles in the beginning of his days, he
had had his whole share and should have none in his latter end, or that God,
who had given him such tokens of his favour, would never frown upon him.
Note, 1. We are very apt to dream, when things are well with us, that they
will always be so, and never otherwise. To-morrow shall be as this day.
As if we should think, when the weather is once fair, that it will be even
fair; whereas nothing is more certain than that it will change. 2. When we
see ourselves deceived in our expectations, it becomes us to reflect, with
shame, upon our security, as our folly, as David does here, that we may be
wiser another time and may rejoice in our prosperity as though we rejoiced
not, because the fashion of it passes away.
II. On a sudden he fell into trouble, and then he prayed to God, and pleaded
earnestly for relief and succour.
1. His mountain was shaken and he with it; it proved, when he grew secure,
that he was least safe: "Thou didst hide thy face and I was
troubled, in mind, body, or estate." In every change of his
condition he still kept his eye upon God, and, as he ascribed his prosperity
to God's favour, so in his adversity he observed the hiding of God's face,
to be the cause of it. If God hide his face, a good man is certainly
troubled, though no other calamity befal him; when the sun sets night
certainly follows, and the moon and all the stars cannot make day.
2. When his mountain was shaken he lifted up his eyes above the hills.
Prayer is a salve for every sore; he made use of it accordingly. Is any
afflicted? Is any troubled? Let him pray. Though God hid his face
from him, yet he prayed. If God, in wisdom and justice, turn from us, yet it
will be in us the greatest folly and injustice imaginable if we turn from
him. No; let us learn to pray in the dark (v. 8): I cried to thee,
O Lord! It seems God's withdrawings made his prayers the more vehement.
We are here told, for it seems he kept account of it,
(1.) What he pleaded, v. 9. [1.] That God would be no gainer by his
death: What profit is there in my blood? implying that he would
willingly die if he could thereby do any real service to God or his country
(Phil. ii. 17), but he saw not what good could be done by his dying in the
bed of sickness, as might be if he had died in the bed of honour.
"Lord," says he, "wilt thou sell one of thy own people for
nought and not increase thy wealth by the price?" Ps. xliv. 12. Nay
[2.] That, in his honour, God would seem to be a loser by his death: Shall
the dust praise thee? The sanctified spirit, which returns to God, shall
praise him, shall be still praising him; but the dust, which returns to the
earth, shall not praise him, nor declare his truth. The services of God's
house cannot be performed by the dust; it cannot praise him; there is none
of that device or working in the grave, for it is the land of silence. The
promises of God's covenant cannot be performed to the dust.
"Lord," says David, "if I die now, what will become of the
promise made to me? Who shall declare the truth of that?" The best
pleas in prayer are those that are taken from God's honour; and then we ask
aright for life when we have that in view, that we may live and praise him.
(2.) What he prayed for, v. 10. He prayed for mercy to pardon (Have
mercy upon me), and for grace to help in time of need--Lord, be thou
my helper. On these two errands we also may come boldly to the throne of
grace, Heb. iv. 16.
III. In due time God delivered him out of his troubles and restored him to
his former prosperity. His prayers were answered and his mourning was
turned into dancing, v. 11. God's anger now endured but for a
moment, and David's weeping but for a night. The sackcloth with which, in a
humble compliance with the divine Providence, he had clad himself, was
loosed; his griefs were balanced; his fears were silenced; his comforts
returned; and he was girded with gladness: joy was made his ornament, was
made his strength, and seemed to cleave to him, as the girdle cleaves to the
loins of a man. As David's plunge into trouble from the height of
prosperity, and then when he least expected it, teaches us to rejoice as
though we rejoiced not, because we know not how near trouble may be, so his
sudden return to a prosperous condition teaches us to weep as though we wept
not, because we know not how soon the storm may become a calm and the
formidable blast may become a favourable gale. But what temper of mind was
he in upon this happy change of the face of his affairs? What does he say
now? He tells us, v. 12. 1. His complaints were turned into praises.
He looked upon it that God girded him with gladness to the end that he might
be the sweet psalmist of Israel (2 Sam. xxiii. 1), that his glory
might sing praise to God, that is, his tongue (for our tongue is our
glory, and never more so than when it is employed in praising God) or his
soul, for that is our glory above the beasts, that must be employed in
blessing the Lord, and with that we must make melody to him in singing
psalms. Those that are kept from being silent in the pit must not be silent
in the land of the living, but fervent, and constant, and public, in
praising God. 2. These praises were likely to be everlasting: I will give
thanks unto thee for ever. This bespeaks a gracious resolution that he
would persevere to the end in praising God and a gracious hope that he
should never want fresh matter for praise and that he should shortly be
where this would be the everlasting work. Blessed are those that dwell in
God's house; they will be still praising him. Thus must we learn to
accommodate ourselves to the various providences of God that concern us, to
want and to abound, to sing of mercy and judgment, and to sing unto God for
both.
