Psalm 11
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
SUBJECT. Charles Simeon gives an excellent summary of this Psalm
in the following sentences:—"The Psalms are a rich repository of
experimental knowledge. David, at the different periods of his life,
was placed in almost every situation in which a believer, whether
rich or poor, can be placed; in these heavenly compositions he
delineates all the workings of the heart. He introduces, too, the
sentiments and conduct of the various persons who were accessory
either to his troubles or his joys; and thus sets before us a
compendium of all that is passing in the hearts of men throughout the
world. When he penned this Psalm he was under persecution from Saul,
who sought his life, and hunted him 'as a partridge upon the
mountains.' His timid friends were alarmed for his safety, and
recommended him to flee to some mountain where he had a hiding-place,
and thus to conceal himself from the rage of Saul. But David, being
strong in faith, spurned the idea of resorting to any such
pusillanimous expedients, and determined confidently to repose his
trust in God."
To assist us to remember this short,
but sweet Psalm, we will give it the name of "THE SONG OF THE
STEADFAST."
DIVISION. From 1 to 3, David describes the temptation with which
he was assailed, and from 4 to 7, the arguments by which his courage
was sustained.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. These verses contain an account of a temptation to distrust
God, with which David was, upon some unmentioned occasion, greatly
exercised. It may be, that in the days when he was in Saul's court,
he was advised to flee at a time when this flight would have been
charged against him as a breach of duty to the king, or a proof of
personal cowardice. His case was like that of Nehemiah, when his
enemies, under the garb of friendship, hoped to entrap him by
advising him to escape for his life. Had he done so, they could then
have found a ground of accusation. Nehemiah bravely replied, "Shall
such a man as I flee?" and David, in a like spirit, refuses to
retreat, exclaiming, "In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my
soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?" When Satan cannot
overthrow us by presumption, how craftily will he seek to ruin us by
distrust! He will employ our dearest friends to argue us out of our
confidence, and he will use such plausible logic, that unless we once
for all assert our immovable trust in Jehovah, he will make us like
the timid bird which flies to the mountain whenever danger presents
itself.
Verse 2. How forcibly the case is put! The bow is bent, the arrow is
fitted to the string: "Flee, flee, thou defenceless bird, thy safety
lies in flight; begone, for thine enemies will send their shafts into
thy heart; haste, haste, for soon wilt thou be destroyed!" David
seems to have felt the force of the advice, for it came home to
his soul; but yet he would not yield, but would rather dare the
danger than exhibit a distrust in the Lord his God. Doubtless the
perils which encompassed David were great and imminent; it was quite
true that his enemies were ready to shoot privily at
him.
Verse 3. It was equally correct that the very foundations of
law and justice were destroyed under Saul's unrighteous
government: but what were all these things to the man whose trust was
in God alone? He could brave the dangers, could escape the enemies,
and defy the injustice which surrounded him. His answer to the
question, "What can the righteous do?" would be the counter-question,
"What cannot they do?" When prayer engages God on our side, and when
faith secures the fulfillment of the promise, what cause can there be
for flight, however cruel and mighty our enemies? With a sling and a
stone, David had smitten a giant before whom the whole hosts of
Israel were trembling, and the Lord, who delivered him from the
uncircumcised Philistine, could surely deliver him from King Saul and
his myrmidons. There is no such word as "impossibility" in the
language of faith; that martial grace knows how to fight and conquer,
but she knows not how to flee.
Verse 4. David here declares the great source of his unflinching
courage. He borrows his light from heaven—from the great central orb
of deity. The God of the believer is never far from him; he is not
merely the God of the mountain fastnesses, but of the dangerous
valleys and battle plains.
"Jehovah is in his holy temple."
The heavens are above our heads in all regions of the earth, and so
is the Lord ever near to us in every state and condition. This is a
very strong reason why we should not adopt the vile suggestions of
distrust. There is one who pleads his precious blood in our behalf in
the temple above, and there is one upon the throne who is never deaf
to the intercession of his Son. Why, then, should we fear? What plots
can men devise which Jesus will not discover? Satan has doubtless
desired to have us, that he may sift us as wheat, but Jesus is in the
temple praying for us, and how can our faith fail? What attempts can
the wicked make which Jehovah shall not behold? And since he is in
his holy temple, delighting in the sacrifice of his Son, will he not
defeat every device, and send us a sure deliverance?
"Jehovah's throne is in the
heavens;" he reigns supreme. Nothing can be done in heaven, or
earth, or hell, which he doth not ordain and over-rule. He is the
world's great Emperor. Wherefore, then, should we flee? If we trust
this King of kings, is not this enough? Cannot he deliver us without
our cowardly retreat? Yes, blessed be the Lord our God, we can salute
him as Jehovah-nissi; in his name we set up our banners, and instead
of flight, we once more raise the shout of war.
"His eyes behold." The eternal
Watcher never slumbers; his eyes never know a sleep. "His eyelids
try the children of men:" he narrowly inspects their actions,
words, and thoughts. As men, when intently and narrowly inspecting
some very minute object, almost close their eyelids to exclude every
other object, so will the Lord look all men through and through. God
sees each man as much and as perfectly as if there were no other
creature in the universe. He sees us always; he never removes his eye
from us; he sees us entirely, reading the recesses of the soul as
readily as the glancings of the eye. Is not this a sufficient ground
of confidence, and an abundant answer to the solicitations of
despondency? My danger is not hid from him; he knows my extremity,
and I may rest assured that he will not suffer me to perish while I
rely alone on him. Wherefore, then, should I take wings of a timid
bird, and flee from the dangers which beset me?
Verse 5. "The Lord trieth the righteous:" he doth not hate
them, but only tries them. They are precious to him, and therefore he
refines them with afflictions. None of the Lord's children may hope
to escape from trial, nor, indeed, in our right minds, would any of
us desire to do so, for trial is the channel of many blessings.
"Tis my happiness below
Not to live without the cross;
But the Saviour's power to know,
Sanctifying every loss.
* * * * * * * *
Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to his feet—
Lay me low, and keep me there.
Did I meet no trials here—
No chastisement by the way—
Might I not, with reason, fear
I should prove a cast-away?
Bastards may escape the rod,
Sunk in earthly vain delight;
But the true-born child of God
Must not—would not, if he might."
William Cowper.
Is not this a very cogent reason why we should not distrustfully
endeavour to shun a trial?—for in so doing we are seeking to avoid a
blessing.
Verse 6. "But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul
hateth:" why, then, shall I flee from these wicked men? If God
hateth them, I will not fear them. Haman was very great in the palace
until he lost favour, but when the king abhorred him, how bold were
the meanest attendants to suggest the gallows for the man at whom
they had often trembled! Look at the black mark upon the faces of our
persecutors, and we shall not run away from them. If God is in the
quarrel as well as ourselves, it would be foolish to question the
result, or avoid the conflict. Sodom and Gomorrah perished by a fiery
hail, and by a brimstone shower from heaven; so shall all the
ungodly. They may gather together like Gog and Magog to battle, but
the Lord will rain upon them "an overflowing rain, and great
hailstones, fire, and brimstone:" Ezekiel 38:22. Some expositors
think that in the term "horrible tempest," there is in the Hebrew an
allusion to that burning, suffocating wind, which blows across the
Arabian deserts, and is known by the name of Simoom. "A burning
storm," Lowth calls it, while another great commentator reads it
"wrathwind;" in either version the language is full of terrors. What
a tempest will that be which shall overwhelm the despisers of God!
Oh! what a shower will that be which shall pour out itself for ever
upon the defenceless heads of impenitent sinners in hell! Repent, ye
rebels, or this fiery deluge shall soon surround you. Hell's horrors
shall be your inheritance, your entailed estate, "the portion of your
cup." The dregs of that cup you shall wring out, and drink for ever.
A drop of hell is terrible, but what must a full cup of torment be?
Think of it—a cup of misery, but not a drop of mercy. O people of
God, how foolish is it to fear the faces of men who shall soon be
faggots in the fire of hell! Think of their end, their fearful end,
and all fear of them must be changed into contempt of their
threatenings, and pity for their miserable estate.
Verse 7. The delightful contrast of the last verse is well worthy of
our observation, and it affords another overwhelming reason why we
should be stedfast, unmoveable, not carried away with fear, or led to
adopt carnal expedients in order to avoid trial. "For the
righteous Lord loveth righteousness." It is not only his office
to defend it, but his nature to love it. He would deny himself if he
did not defend the just. It is essential to the very being of God
that he should be just; fear not, then, the end of all your trials,
but "be just, and fear not." God approves, and, if men oppose, what
matters it? "His countenance doth behold the upright." We need
never be out of countenance, for God countenances us. He observes, he
approves, he delights in the upright. He sees his own image in them,