Verse 9. "Therefore my heart is glad," etc. That is, I am all over in
very good plight, as well as heart can wish, or require; I do over-abound
exceedingly with joy; "God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness
of so great glory" (as that martyr said): "In all the days of my life I was
never so merry as now I am in this dark dungeon," etc. Wicked men rejoice
in appearance, and not in heart (2 Corinthians 5:12); their joy is but skin
deep, their mirth frothy and flashy, such as wetteth the mouth, but warmeth
not the heart. But David is totus totus, quantus quantus exultabundus;
his heart, glory, flesh, (answerable, as some think to that of the
apostle, 1 Thessalonians 5:23; spirit, soul, and body ) were all overjoyed.— John Trapp.
Verse 9. "My flesh shall rest in hope." If a Jew pawned his
bed-clothes, God provided mercifully that it should be restored before
night: "For," saith he, "that is his covering: wherein shall he sleep?"
Exodus 22:27. Truly, hope is the saint's covering, wherein he wraps
himself, when he lays his body down to sleep in the grave: "My flesh,"
saith David, "shall rest in hope." O Christian, bestir thyself to redeem
thy hope before this sun of thy temporal life goes down upon thee, or else
thou art sure to lie down in sorrow. A sad going to the bed of the grave he
hath who hath no hope of a resurrection to life.— William Gurnall.
Verse 9. "My flesh shall rest in hope." That hope which is grounded on
the word, gives rest to the soul; 'tis an anchor to keep it steady. Hebrews
6:13. Which shows the unmovableness of that which our anchor is fastened
to. The promise sustains our faith, and our faith is that which supports
us. He that hopes in the Word as David did (Psalm 119:81), lays a mighty
stress upon it; as Samson did when he leaned upon the pillars of the house,
so as to pull it down upon the Philistines. A believer throws the whole
weight of all his affairs and concernments, temporal, spiritual, and
eternal, upon the promises of God, like a man resolved to stand or fall with
them. He ventures himself, and all that belongs to him, entirely upon this
bottom, which is in effect to say, if they will not bear me up, I am content
to sink; I know that there shall be a performance of those things which have
been told me from the Lord, and therefore I will incessantly look for it.— Timothy Cruso.
Verse 10. "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell," etc. The title of
this golden text may be— The embalming of the dead saints: the force
whereof is to free the souls from dereliction in the state of death, and to
secure the bodies of God's saints from corruption in the grave. It is the
art which I desire to learn, and at this time, teach upon this sad
occasion [ A Funeral Sermon ], even the preparing of this confection against our burials.— George Hughes, 1642.
Verse 10. Many of the elder Reformers held that our Lord in soul actually
descended into hell, according to some of them to suffer there as our
surety, and according to others to make a public triumph over death and
hell. This idea was almost universally, and as we believe, most properly
repudiated by the Puritans. To prove this fact, it may be well to quote
from Corbet's witty itinerary of,
"Foure clerkes of Oxford, doctors two, and two
That would be doctors."
He laments the secularisation of church appurtenances at Banbury, by the
Puritans, whom he described as,
———————"They which tell
That Christ hath nere descended into Hell,
But to the grave."
—C. H. S. The quotation is from Richard Corbet's Poems, 1632.
Verse 10. "My soul in hell." Christ in soul descended into hell, when
as our surety he submitted himself to bear those hellish sorrows (or
equivalent to them), which we were bound by our sins to suffer for ever.
His descension is his projection of himself into the sea of God's wrath
conceived for our sins, and his ingression into most unspeakable straits and
torments in his soul, which we should else have suffered for ever in hell.
This way of Christ's descending into hell is expressly uttered in the person
of David, as the type of Christ. Psalm 86:13; 116:3; 69:1-3. Thus the
prophet Isaiah saith, "His soul was made an offering." Isaiah 53:10. And
this I take it David means, when he said of Christ, "Thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell." Psalm 16; Acts 2. And thus Christ descended into hell when
he was alive, not when he was dead. Thus his soul was in hell when in the
garden he did sweat blood, and on the cross when he cried so lamentably, "My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matthew 26:38.— Nicholas Byfield's "Exposition of the Creed," 1676.
Verse 10. "In hell." Sheol here, as hades in the New Testament,
signifies the state of the dead, the separate state of souls after death,
the invisible world of souls, where Christ's soul was, though it did not
remain there, but on the third day returned to its body again. It seems
best of all to interpret this word of the grave as it is rendered; Genesis
42:38; Isaiah 38:18.— John Gill.
Verse 10. "Thine Holy One." Holiness preserves the soul from
dereliction, in the state of death, and the body of the saint from
corruption in the grave. If it be desired by any that doubt of it, to see
the clear issue of this from the text, I shall guide them to read this text
with a great accent upon that term, "Thine Holy One," that they may take
special notice of it, even the quality of that man exempted from these
evils. In this the Spirit of God puts an emphasis on holiness, as
counter-working and prevailing over death and the grave. It is this and
nothing but this, that keeps the man, dead and buried, from desertion in
death, and corruption in the grave.— George Hughes.
Verse 10. The great promise to Christ is, that though he took a
corruptible body upon him, yet he should "not see corruption," that is,
partake of corruption: corruption should have no communion with, much less
power over him.— Joseph Caryl.
Verse 10. Quoted by the apostle Peter (Acts 2:27); on which Hackett
(Com. in loc.) observes:—"The sense then may be expressed thus: Thou
wilt not give me up as prey to death; he shall not have power over me, to
dissolve the body and cause it to return to dust."
Verse 11. In this verse are four things observable:
1. A Guide , THOU.
2. A Traveller, ME.
3. A Way, THE PATH.
4. The End, LIFE, described after. For that which follows is but the description of this life.
This verse is a proper subject for a meditation. For, all three are
solitary. The guide is but one, the traveller, one; the way one; and
the life, the only one. To meditate well on this is to bring all
together; and at last make them all but one. Which that we may do, let us
first seek our Guide.
The Guide. Him we find named in the first verse—Jehovah. Here we
may begin, as we ought in all holy exercises, with adoration. For "unto
him all knees shall bow;" nay, unto his name. For holy is his name.
Glory be to thee, O God! He is Deus, therefore holy; he is Deus
fortis, therefore able. "For the strength of the hills is his;" and if
there be a way on earth, he can "show" it; for in his hands are all the
corners of the earth. But is he willing to "show?" Yes, though he be
Deus, holy (which is a word terrible to poor flesh and blood), yet he is
Deus meus, my holiness. That takes away servile fear. He is meus, we
have a property in him; and he is willing: "Thou wilt show," etc. And
that you may know he will guide, David shows a little above, how
diligently he will guide. First, he will go before, he will lead the way
himself: if I can but follow, I shall be sure to go right. And he that hath
a guide before him, and will not follow, is worthy to be left behind. But
say, I am willing, I do desire to go, and I do follow: what if, through
faintness in the long way, I fall often? or, for want of care step out of
the way, shall I not then be left behind? Fear not; for "He is at my right
hand, so that I shall not slip." Verse 8. This is some comfort indeed.
But we are so soon weary in this way, and do fall and err so often, that it
would weary the patience of a good guide to lead us but one day. Will he
bear with us, and continue to the end? Yes, always; or this text deceives
us; for all this is found in the eighth verse. We must have him or none;
for he is one, and the only one. So confessed Asaph: "Whom have I on earth
but thee? Seek this good Guide, he is easy to be found: "Seek, and ye
shall find." You shall find that he is first holy; secondly, able;
thirdly, willing; fourthly, diligent; and fifthly, constant. O my
soul! to follow him, and he will make thee both able to follow to the end;
and holy in the end.
The traveller. Having found the Guide, we shall not long seek for
one that wants him; for, see, here is a man out of his way. And that will
soon appear if we consider his condition. For, he is a stranger ( "Thou
wilt show me" ); and what am I? "I am a stranger, and a sojourner, as all
my fathers were," says he, in another place. But this was in the old time
under the law; what, are we, their sons in the gospel, any other? Peter
tells us no: that we are strangers and pilgrims too; that is, travellers.
We travel, as being out of our country; and we are strangers to those we
converse with. For neither the natives be our friends, nor anything we
possess truly our own. It is time we had animum revertendi; and surely so
we have if we could but pray on the way, Converte nos Domine. But it is
so long since we came hither, we have forgot the way home: obliti sunt
montis mei . Yet still we are travelling; and, we think, homewards. For
all hope well: oculi omnium sperant in te. But right, like pilgrims, or
rather wanderers. For we scarce know if we go right; and, what is worse,
have little care to enquire.
"Me." David still keeps the singular number. As there is but one
guide, so he speaks in the person but of one traveller. There is
somewhat, peradventure, in that. It is to show his confidence. The
Lord's prayer is in the plural, but the creed is in the singular. We may
pray that God would guide all; but we can be confident for none but
ourselves. "Thou wilt show," or thou dost, or hast, as some translate:
all is but to show particular confidence. "Thou wilt show me;" me, not
us, a number indefinite wherein I may be one; but me in particular
that am out of the way; that am myself alone; that must walk in "the
path" alone. Either I must follow, or go before others; I must work for
myself alone; believe for myself alone; and be saved by one alone. The
way in this text that I must walk is but one; nay, it is but a "path"
where but one can go: this is no highway, but a way of sufferance by
favour: it is none of ours. It is no road; you cannot hurry here, or
gallop by troops: it is but semita, a small footpath for one to go alone
in. Nay, as it is a way for one alone, so it is a lonely way:
preparate vias ejus in solitudine, saith John, and he knew which way God
went, who is our Guide in solitudine: there is the sweetness of
solitariness, the comforts of meditation. For God is never more familiar
with man than when man is in solitudine, alone, in his path by himself.
Christ himself came thus, all lonely; without troop, or noise, and ever
avoided the tumultuous multitude, though they would have made him a king.
And he never spake to them but in parables; but to his that sought him,
in solitudine, in private, he spake plain; and so doth he still love to do
to the soul, in private and particular. Therefore well said David, "Thou
wilt show me," in particular, and in the singular number. But how shall I
know that I, in particular, shall be taught and showed this way? This
prophet, that had experience, will tell us: mites docebit , the humble he
will teach. Psalm 25:9. If thou canst humble thyself, thou mayst be sure
to see thy guide; Christ hath crowned this virtue with a blessing:
"Blessed are the meek;" for them he will call to him and teach. But thou
must be humble then. For heaven is built like our churches, high-roofed
within, but with a strait low gate; they then that enter there must stoop,
ere they can see God. Humility is the mark at every cross, whereby thou
shalt know if thou be in the way: if any be otherwise minded, God also shall
reveal it unto you, for, "Thou wilt show."