This psalm was penned when
the
church
of
God
was under hatches, oppressed and persecuted;
and it is an appeal to God, as the judge of heaven and earth, and an address
to him, to appear for his people against his and their enemies. Two things
this psalm speaks:-- I. Conviction and terror to the persecutors (ver.
1-11), showing them their danger and folly, and arguing with them. II.
Comfort and peace to the persecuted (ver. 12-23), assuring them, both from
God's promise and from the psalmist's own experience, that their troubles
would end well, and God would, in due time, appear to their joy and the
confusion of those who set themselves against them. In singing this psalm we
must look abroad upon the pride of oppressors with a holy indignation, and
the tears of the oppressed with a holy compassion; but, at the same time,
look upwards to the righteous Judge with an entire satisfaction, and look
forward, to the end of all these things, with a pleasing hope.
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Appeal
to God against Persecutors; The Folly of Atheists and Oppressors.
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1
O LORD
God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show
thyself. 2 Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a
reward to the proud. 3 LORD,
how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? 4 How
long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the
workers of iniquity boast themselves? 5 They break in pieces thy
people, O LORD,
and afflict thine heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the
stranger, and murder the fatherless. 7 Yet they say, The LORD
shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8 Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye
be wise? 9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that
formed the eye, shall he not see? 10 He that chastiseth the
heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not
he know? 11 The LORD
knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
In these verses we have,
I. A solemn appeal to God
against the cruel oppressors of his people, v. 1, 2. This speaks
terror enough to them, that they have the prayers of God's people against
them, who cry day and night to him to avenge them of their adversaries; and
shall he not avenge them speedily? Luke xviii. 3, 7. Observe here,
1. The titles they give to
God for the encouraging of their faith in this appeal: O God! to whom
vengeance belongeth; and thou Judge of the earth. We may with
boldness appeal to him; for, (1.) He is judge, supreme judge, judge alone,
from whom every man's judgment proceeds. He that gives law gives sentence
upon every man according to his works, by the rule of that law. He has
prepared his throne for judgment. He has indeed appointed magistrates to be
avengers under him (Rom. xiii. 4), but he is the avenger in chief, to whom
even magistrates themselves are accountable; his throne is the last refuge
(the dernier ressort, as the law speaks) of oppressed innocency. He
is universal judge, not of this city or country only, but judge of the
earth, of the whole earth: none are exempt from his jurisdiction; nor
can it be alleged against an appeal to him in any court that it is coram
non judice--before a person not judicially qualified. (2.) He is just.
As he has authority to avenge wrong, so it is his nature, and property, and
honour. This also is implied in the title here given to him and repeated
with such an emphasis, O God! to whom vengeance belongs, who wilt not
suffer might always to prevail against right. This is a good reason why we
must not avenge ourselves, because God has said, Vengeance is mine;
and it is daring presumption to usurp his prerogative and step into his
throne, Rom. xii. 19. Let this alarm those who do wrong, whether with a
close hand, so as not to be discovered, or with a high hand, so as not to be
controlled, There is a God to whom vengeance belongs, who will certainly
call them to an account; and let it encourage those who suffer wrong to bear
it with silence, committing themselves to him who judges righteously.
2. What it is they ask of
God. (1.) That he would glorify himself, and get honour to his own
name. Wicked persecutors thought God had withdrawn and had forsaken the
earth. "Lord," say they, "show thyself; make them know that
thou art and that thou art ready to show thyself strong on the behalf of
those whose hearts are upright with thee." The enemies thought God
was conquered because his people were. "Lord," say they, "lift
up thyself, be thou exalted in thy own strength. Lift up thyself, to be
seen, to be feared; and suffer not thy name to be trampled upon and run
down." (2.) That he would mortify the oppressors: Render a reward to
the proud; that is, "Reckon with them for all their insolence, and
the injuries they have done to thy people." These prayers are
prophecies, which speak terror to all the sons of violence. The righteous
God will deal with them according to their merits.
II. A humble complaint to
God of the pride and cruelty of the oppressors, and an expostulation with
him concerning it, v. 3-6. Here observe,
1. The character of the
enemies they complain against. They are wicked; they are workers of
iniquity; they are bad, very bad, themselves, and therefore they hate
and persecute those whose goodness shames and condemns them. Those are
wicked indeed, and workers of the worst iniquity, lost to all honour
and virtue, who are cruel to the innocent and hate the righteous.
2. Their haughty barbarous
carriage which they complain of. (1.) They are insolent, and take a pleasure
in magnifying themselves. They talk high and talk big; they triumph; they
speak loud things; they boast themselves, as if their tongues were their own
and their hands too, and they were accountable to none for what they say or
do, and as if the day were their own, and they doubted not but to carry the
cause against God and religion. Those that speak highly of themselves, that
triumph and boast, are apt to speak hardly of others; but there will come a
day of reckoning for all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have
spoken against God, his truths, and ways, and people, Jude 15. (2.) They are
impious, and take a pleasure in running down God's people because they are
his (v. 5): "They break in pieces thy people, O Lord!
break their assemblies, their estates, their families, their persons, in
pieces, and do all they can to afflict thy heritage, to grieve them, to
crush them, to run them down, to root them out." God's people are his
heritage; there are those that, for his sake, hate them, and seek their
ruin. This is a very good plea with God, in our intercessions for the
church: "Lord, it is thine; thou hast a property in it. It is thy
heritage; thou hast a pleasure in it, and out of it the rent of thy glory in
this world issues. And wilt thou suffer these wicked men to trample upon it
thus?" (3.) They are inhuman, and take a pleasure in wronging those
that are least able to help themselves (v. 6); they not only oppress
and impoverish, but they slay the widow and the stranger; not only
neglect the fatherless, and make a prey of them, but murder them, because
they are weak and exposed, and sometimes lie at their mercy. Those whom they
should protect from injury they are most injurious to, perhaps because God
has taken them into his particular care. Who would think it possible that
any of the children of men should be thus barbarous?
3. A modest pleading with
God concerning the continuance of the persecution: "Lord, how long
shall they do thus?" And again, How long? When shall this
wickedness of the wicked come to an end?
III. A charge of atheism
exhibited against the persecutors, and an expostulation with them upon that
charge.
1. Their atheistical
thoughts are here discovered (v. 7): Yet they say, The Lord shall
not see. Though the cry of their wickedness is very great and loud,
though they rebel against the light of nature and the dictates of their own
consciences, yet they have the confidence to say, "The Lord shall
not see; he will not only wink at small faults, but shut his eyes at
great ones too." Or they think they have managed it so artfully, under
colour of justice and religion perhaps, that it will not be adjudged murder.
"The God of Jacob, though his people pretend to have such an interest
in him, does not regard it either as against justice or as against his own
people; he will never call us to an account for it." Thus they deny
God's government of the world, banter his covenant with his people, and set
the judgment to come at defiance.
2. They are here convicted
of folly and absurdity. He that says either that Jehovah the living God
shall not see or that the God of Jacob shall not regard the injuries done to
his people, Nabal is his name and folly is with him; and yet here he
is fairly reasoned with, for his conviction and conversion, to prevent his
confusion (v. 8): "Understand, you brutish among the people,
and let reason guide you." Note, The atheistical, though they set up
for wits, and philosophers, and politicians, yet are really the brutish
among the people; if they would but understand, they would believe. God,
by the prophet, speaks as if he thought the time long till men would be men,
and show themselves so by understanding and considering: "You fools,
when will you be wise, so wise as to know that God sees and regards all
you say and do, and to speak and act accordingly, as those that must give
account?" Note, None are so bad but means are to be used for the
reclaiming and reforming of them, none so brutish, so foolish, but it should
be tried whether they may not yet be made wise; while there is life there is
hope. To prove the folly of those that question God's omniscience and
justice the psalmist argues,
(1.) From the works of
creation (v. 9), the formation of human bodies, which as it proves
that there is a God, proves also that God has infinitely and transcendently
in himself all those perfections that are in any creature. He that
planted the ear (and it is planted in the head, as a tree in the ground)
shall he not hear? No doubt he shall, more and better than we can. He
that formed the eye (and how curiously it is formed above any part of
the body anatomists know and let us know by their dissections) shall he
not see? Could he give, would he give, that perfection to a creature
which he has not in himself? Note, [1.] The powers of nature are all derived
from the God of nature. See Exod. iv. 11. [2.] By the knowledge of ourselves
we may be led a great way towards the knowledge of God--if by the knowledge
of our own bodies, and the organs of sense, so as to conclude that if we can
see and hear much more can God, then certainly by the knowledge of our own
souls and their noble faculties. The gods of the heathen had eyes and saw
not, ears and heard not; our God has no eyes nor ears, as we have, and yet
we must conclude he both sees and hears, because we have our sight and
hearing from him, and are accountable to him for our use of them.
(2.) From the works of
providence (v. 10): He that chastises the heathen for their
polytheism and idolatry, shall not he much more correct his
own people for their atheism and profaneness? He that chastises the children
of men for oppressing and wronging one another, shall not he correct those
that profess to be his own children, and call themselves so, and yet
persecute those that are really so? Shall not we be under his correction,
under whose government the whole world is? Does he regard as King of
nations, and shall he not much more regard as the God of Jacob? Dr. Hammond
gives another very probably sense of this: "He that instructs the
nations (that is, gives them his law), shall not he correct, that
is, shall not he judge them according to that law, and call them to an
account for their violations of it? In vain was the law given if there will
not be a judgment upon it." And it is true that the same word signifies
to chastise and to instruct, because chastisement is intended for
instruction and instruction should go along with chastisement.
(3.) From the works of
grace: He that teaches man knowledge, shall he not know? He not only,
as the God of nature, has given the light of reason, but, as the God of
grace, has given the light of revelation, has shown man what is true wisdom
and understanding; and he that does this, shall he not know? Job xxviii. 23,
28. The flowing of the streams is a certain sign of the fulness of the
fountain. If all knowledge is from God, no doubt all knowledge is in God.
From this general doctrine of God's omniscience, the psalmist not only
confutes the atheists, who said, "The Lord shall not see (v.
7), he will not take cognizance of what we do;" but awakens us all to
consider that God will take cognizance even of what we think (v. 11):
The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. [1.] He
knows those thoughts in particular, concerning God's conniving at the
wickedness of the wicked, and knows them to be vain, and laughs at the folly
of those who by such fond conceits buoy themselves up in sin. [2.] He knows
all the thoughts of the children of men, and knows them to be, for the most
part, vain, that the imaginations of the thoughts of men's hearts are evil,
only evil, and that continually. Even in good thoughts there is a fickleness
and inconstancy which may well be called vanity. It concerns us to
keep a strict guard upon our thoughts, because God takes particular notice
of them. Thoughts are words to God, and vain thoughts are provocations.
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Comfort
to Suffering Saints; God the Defence of His People.
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12
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD,
and teachest him out of thy law; 13 That thou mayest give him
rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the
wicked. 14 For the LORD
will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in
heart shall follow it. 16 Who will rise up for me against the
evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of
iniquity? 17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD,
held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy
comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquity have
fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? 21 They
gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn
the innocent blood. 22 But the LORD
is my defence; and my God is the rock of my refuge. 23
And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in
their own wickedness; yea, the LORD
our God shall cut them off.
The psalmist, having
denounced tribulation to those that trouble God's people, here assures those
that are troubled of rest. See 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. He speaks comfort to
suffering saints from God's promises and his own experience.
I. From God's promises,
which are such as not only save them from being miserable, but secure a
happiness to them (v. 12): Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest.
Here he looks above the instruments of trouble, and eyes the hand of God,
which gives it another name and puts quite another color upon it. The
enemies break in pieces God's people (v. 5); they aim at no less; but
the truth of the matter is that God by them chastens his people, as the
father the son in whom he delights, and the persecutors are only the rod he
makes use of. Howbeit they mean not so, neither doth their heart think
so, Isa. x. 5-7. Now it is here promised,
1. That God's people shall
get good by their sufferings. When he chastens them he will teach them, and
blessed is the man who is thus taken under a divine discipline, for none
teaches like God. Note, (1.) The afflictions of the saints are fatherly
chastenings, designed for their instruction, reformation, and improvement.
(2.) When the teachings of the word and Spirit go along with the rebukes of
Providence they then both manifest men to be blessed and help to make them
so; for then they are marks of adoption and means of sanctification. When we
are chastened we must pray to be taught, and look into the law as the best
expositor of Providence. It is not the chastening itself that does good, but
the teaching that goes along with it and is the exposition of it.
2. That they shall see
through their sufferings (v. 13): That thou mayest give him rest
from the days of adversity. Note, (1.) There is a rest remaining for the
people of God after the days of their adversity, which, though they may be
many and long, shall be numbered and finished in due time, and shall not
last always. He that sends the trouble will send the rest, that he may
comfort them according to the time that he has afflicted them. (2.) God therefore
teaches his people by their troubles, that he may prepare them for
deliverance, and so give them rest from their troubles, that, being
reformed, they may be relieved, and that the affliction, having done its
work, may be removed.
3. That they shall see the
ruin of those that are the instruments of their sufferings, which is the
matter of a promise, not as gratifying any passion of theirs, but as
redounding to the glory of God: Until the pit is digged (or rather
while the pit is digging) for the wicked, God is ordering peace for
them at the same time that he is ordaining his arrows against the
persecutors.
4. That, though they may
be cast down, yet certainly they shall not be cast off, v. 14. Let
God's suffering people assure themselves of this, that, whatever their
friends do, God will not cast them off, nor throw them out of his covenant
or out of his care; he will not forsake them, because they are his
inheritance, which he will not quit his title to nor suffer himself to be
disseised of. St. Paul comforted himself with this, Rom. xi. 1.
5. That, bad as things
are, they shall mend, and, though they are now out of course, yet they shall
return to their due and ancient channel (v. 15): Judgment shall
return unto righteousness; the seeming disorders of Providence (for real
ones there never were) shall be rectified. God's judgment, that is, his
government, looks sometimes as if it were at a distance from righteousness,
while the wicked prosper, and the best men meet with the worst usage; but it
shall return to righteousness again, either in this world or at the furthest
in the judgment of the great day, which will set all to-rights. Then all
the upright in heart shall be after it; they shall follow it with their
praises, and with entire satisfaction; they shall return to a prosperous and
flourishing condition, and shine forth out of obscurity; they shall
accommodate themselves to the dispensations of divine Providence, and with
suitable affections attend all its motions. They shall walk after the
Lord, Hos. xi. 10. Dr. Hammond thinks this was most eminently fulfilled
in the destruction of Jerusalem first, and afterwards of heathen Rome, the
crucifiers of Christ and persecutors of Christians, and the rest which the
churches had thereby. Then judgment returned even to righteousness,
to mercy and goodness, and favour to God's people, who then were as much
countenanced as before they had been trampled on.
II. From his own
experiences and observations.
1. He and his friends had
been oppressed by cruel and imperious men, that had power in their hands and
abused it by abusing all good people with it. They were themselves evil-doers
and workers of iniquity (v. 16); they abandoned themselves to
all manner of impiety and immorality, and then their throne was a throne
of iniquity, v. 20. Their dignity served to put a reputation upon
sin, and their authority was employed to support it, and to bring about
their wicked designs. It is a pity that ever a throne, which should be a
terror to evil-doers and a protection and praise to those that do well,
should be the seat and shelter of iniquity. That is a throne of iniquity
which by the policy of its council frames mischief, and by its
sovereignty enacts it and turns it into a law. Iniquity is daring enough
even when human laws are against it, which often prove too weak to give an
effectual check to it; but how insolent, how mischievous, is it when it is
backed by a law! Iniquity is not the better, but much the worse, for being
enacted by law; nor will it excuse those that practise it to say that they
did but do as they were bidden. These workers of iniquity, having framed
mischief by a law, take care to see the law executed; for they gather
themselves together against the soul of the righteous, who dare not keep
the statutes of Omri nor the law of the house of Ahab; and they condemn
the innocent blood for violating their decrees. See an instance in
Daniel's enemies; they framed mischief by a law when they obtained an
impious edict against prayer (Dan. vi. 7), and, when Daniel would not obey
it, they assembled together against him (v. 11) and condemned
his innocent blood to the lions. The best benefactors of mankind have
often been thus treated, under colour of law and justice, as the worst of
malefactors.
2. The oppression they
were under bore very hard upon them, and oppressed their spirits too. Let
not suffering saints despair, though, when they are persecuted, they find
themselves perplexed and cast down; it was so with the psalmist here: His soul
had almost dwelt in silence (v. 17); he was at his wits' end, and
knew not what to say or do; he was, in his own apprehensions, at his life's
end, ready to drop into the grave, that land of silence. St. Paul, in a like
case, received a sentence of death within himself, 2 Cor. i. 8, 9. He
said, "My foot slippeth (v. 18); I am going
irretrievably; there is no remedy; I must fall. I shall one day
perish by the hand of Saul. My hope fails me; I do not find such firm
footing for my faith as I have sometimes found." Ps. lxxiii. 2. He had
a multitude of perplexed entangled thoughts within him concerning the case
he was in and the construction to be made of it, and concerning the course
he should take and what was likely to be the issue of it.
3. In this distress they
sought for help, and succour, and some relief. (1.) They looked about for it
and were disappointed (v. 16): "Who will rise up for me
against the evil-doers? Have I any friend who, in love to me, will
appear for me? Has justice any friend who, in a pious indignation at
unrighteousness, will plead my injured cause?" He looked, but there was
none to save, there was none to uphold. Note, When on the side of the
oppressors there is power it is no marvel if the oppressed have no
comforter, none that dare own them, or speak a good word for them, Eccl. iv.
1. When St. Paul was brought before Nero's throne of iniquity no man
stood by him, 2 Tim. iv. 16. (2.) They looked up for it, v. 20.
They humbly expostulate with God: "Lord, shall the throne of
iniquity have fellowship with thee? Wilt thou countenance and support
these tyrants in their wickedness? We know thou wilt not." A throne has
fellowship with God when it is a throne of justice and answers the end of
the erecting of it; for by him kings reign, and when they reign for him
their judgments are his, and he owns them as his ministers, and whoever
resist them, or rise up against them, shall receive to themselves damnation;
but, when it becomes a throne of iniquity, it has no longer
fellowship with God. Far be it from the just and holy God that he should be
the patron of unrighteousness, even in princes and those that sit in
thrones, yea, though they be the thrones of the house of David.
4. They found succour and
relief in God, and in him only. When other friends failed, in him they had a
faithful and powerful friend; and it is recommended to all God's suffering
saints to trust in him. (1.) God helps at a dead lift (v. 17):
"When I had almost dwelt in silence, then the Lord was my
help, kept me alive, kept me in heart; and unless I had made him my
help, by putting my trust in him and expecting relief from him, I could
never have kept possession of my own soul; but living by faith in him has
kept my head above water, has given me breath, and something to say."
(2.) God's goodness is the great support of sinking spirits (v. 18):
"When I said, My foot slips into sin, into ruin, into despair,
then thy mercy, O Lord! held me up, kept me from falling, and
defeated the design of those who consulted to cast me down from my
excellency," Ps. lxii. 4. We are beholden not only to God's power,
but to his pity, for spiritual supports: Thy mercy, the gifts of thy
mercy and my hope in thy mercy, held me up. God's right hand sustains
his people when they look on their right hand and on their left and there is
none to uphold; and we are then prepared for his gracious supports when we
are sensible of our own weakness and inability to stand by our own strength,
and come to God, to acknowledge it, and to tell him how our foot slips.
(3.) Divine consolations are the effectual relief of troubled spirits (v.
19): "In the multitude of my thoughts within me, which are noisy
like a multitude, crowding and jostling one another like a multitude, and
very unruly and ungovernable, in the multitude of my sorrowful, solicitous,
timorous thoughts, thy comforts delight my soul; and they are never
more delightful than when they come in so seasonably to silence my unquiet
thoughts and keep my mind easy." The world's comforts give but little
delight to the soul when it is hurried with melancholy thoughts; they are
songs to a heavy heart. But God's comforts will reach the soul, and not the
fancy only, and will bring with them that peace and that pleasure which the
smiles of the world cannot give and which the frowns of the world cannot
take away.
5. God is, and will be, as a righteous Judge,
the patron and protector of right and the punisher and avenger of wrong;
this the psalmist had both the assurance of and the experience of. (1.) He
will give redress to the injured (v. 22): "When none else will,
nor can, nor dare, shelter me, the Lord is my defence, to preserve me
from the evil of my troubles, from sinking under them and being ruined by
them; and he is the rock of my refuge, in the clefts of which I may
take shelter, and on the top of which I may set my feet, to be out of the
reach of danger." God is his people's refuge, to whom they may flee, in
whom they are safe and may be secure; he is the rock of their refuge, so
strong, so firm, impregnable, immovable, as a rock: natural fastnesses
sometimes exceed artificial fortifications. (2.) He will reckon with the
injurious (v. 23): He shall render to them their own iniquity;
he shall deal with them according to their deserts, and that very mischief
which they did and designed against God's people shall be brought upon
themselves: it follows, He shall cut them off in their wickedness. A
man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him if God
visit it upon him: it will cut him in the remembrance of it; it will cut him
off in the recompence of it. This the psalm concludes with the triumphant
assurance of: Yea, the Lord our God, who takes our part and owns us
for his, shall cut them off from any fellowship with him, and so
shall make them completely miserable and their pomp and power shall stand
them in no stead.
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