Psalm 17
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
TITLE and SUBJECT. A prayer of David. David would not have been a man
after God's own heart, if he had not been a man of prayer. He was a master
in the sacred art of supplication. He flies to prayer in all times of need,
as a pilot speeds to the harbour in the stress of tempest. So frequent were
David's prayers that they could not be all dated and entitled; and hence
this simply bears the author's name, and nothing more. The smell of the
furnace is upon the present psalm, but there is evidence in the last verse
that he who wrote it came unharmed out of the flame. We have in the present
plaintive song, AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN from the persecutions of earth. A
spiritual eye may see Jesus here.
DIVISIONS. There are no very clear lines of demarcation between the parts;
but we prefer the division adopted by that precious old commentator, David
Dickson. In verses 1-4, David craves justice in the controversy between
him and his oppressors. In verses 5 and 6, he requests of the Lord grace to
act rightly while under the trial. From verse 7-12, he seeks protection
from his foes, whom he graphically describes; and in verses 13 and 14,
pleads that they may be disappointed; closing the whole in the most
comfortable confidence that all would certainly be well with himself at the
last.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. " Hear the right, O Lord." He that has the worst cause makes the
most noise; hence the oppressed soul is apprehensive that its voice may be
drowned, and therefore pleads in this one verse for a hearing no less than
three times. The troubled heart craves for the ear of the great Judge,
persuaded that with him to hear is to redress. If our God could not or
would not hear us, our state would be deplorable indeed; and yet some
professors set such small store by the mercy-seat, that God does not hear
them for the simple reason that they neglect to plead. As well have no
house if we persist like gipsies in living in the lanes and commons; as well
have no mercy-seat as be always defending our own cause and never going to
God. There is more fear that we will not hear the Lord than that the Lord
will not hear us. "Hear the right;" it is well if our case is good in
itself and can be urged as a right one, for right shall never be wronged by
our righteous Judge; but if our suit be marred by our infirmities, it is a
great privilege that we may make mention of the righteousness of our Lord
Jesus, which is ever prevalent on high. Right has a voice which Jehovah
always hears; and if my wrongs clamour against me with great force and fury,
I will pray the Lord to hear that still louder and mightier voice of the
right, and the rights of his dear Son. "Hear, O God, the Just One;" i.e.,
"hear the Messiah," is a rendering adopted by Jerome, and admired by Bishop
Horsley, whether correct or not as a translation, it is proper enough as a
plea. Let the reader plead it at the throne of the righteous God, even when
all other arguments are unavailing.
"Attend unto my cry." This shows the vehemence and earnestness of the
petitioner; he is no mere talker, he weeps and laments. Who can resist a
cry? A real hearty, bitter, piteous cry, might almost melt a rock, there
can be no fear of its prevalence with our heavenly Father. A cry is our
earliest utterance, and in many ways the most natural of human sounds; if
our prayer should like the infant's cry be more natural than intelligent,
and more earnest than elegant, it will be none the less eloquent with God.
There is a mighty power in a child's cry to prevail with a parent's heart.
"Give ear unto my prayer." Some repetitions are not vain. The
reduplication here used is neither superstition nor tautology, but is like
the repeated blow of a hammer hitting the same nail on the head to fix it
the more effectually, or the continued knocking of a beggar at the gate who
cannot be denied an alms. "That goeth not out of feigned lips."
Sincerity is a sine quà non in prayer. Lips of deceit are detestable to
man and much more to God. In intercourse so hallowed as that of prayer,
hypocrisy even in the remotest degree is as fatal as it is foolish.
Hypocritical piety is double iniquity. He who would feign and flatter had
better try his craft with a fool like himself, for to deceive the all-seeing
One is as impossible as to take the moon in a net, or to lead the sun into a
snare. He who would deceive God is himself already most grossly deceived.
Our sincerity in prayer has no merit in it, any more than the earnestness of
a mendicant in the street; but at the same time the Lord has regard to it,
through Jesus, and will not long refuse his ear to an honest and fervent
petitioner.
Verse 2. "Let my sentence come forth from thy presence." The psalmist
has now grown bold by the strengthening influence of prayer, and he now
entreats the Judge of all the earth to give sentence upon his case. He has
been libelled, basely and maliciously libelled; and having brought his
action before the highest court, he, like an innocent man, has no desire to
escape the enquiry, but even invites and sues for judgment. He does not ask
for secrecy, but would have the result come forth to the world. He would
have sentence pronounced and executed forthwith. In some matters we may
venture to be as bold as this; but except we can plead something better than
our own supposed innocence, it were terrible presumption thus to challenge
the judgment of a sin-hating God. With Jesus as our complete and
all-glorious righteousness we need not fear, though the day of judgment
should commence at once, and hell open her mouth at our feet, but might
joyfully prove the truth of our hymn writer's holy boast—
"Bold shall I stand in that great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
While, through thy blood, absolved I am,
From sin's tremendous curse and shame."
"Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal." Believers do not
desire any other judge than God, or to be excused from judgment, or even to
be judged on principles of partiality. No; our hope does not lie in the
prospect of favouritism from God, and the consequent suspension of his law;
we expect to be judged on the same principals as other men, and through the
blood and righteousness of our Redeemer we shall pass the ordeal unscathed.
The Lord will weigh us in the scales of justice fairly and justly; he will
not use false weights to permit us to escape, but with the sternest equity
those balances will be used upon us as well as upon others; and with our
blessed Lord Jesus as our all in all we tremble not, for we shall not be
found wanting. In David's case, he felt his cause to be so right that he
simply desired the Divine eyes to rest upon the matter, and he was confident
that equity would give him all that he needed.
Verse 3, "Thou hast proved mine heart." Like Peter, David uses the
argument, "Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee." It is a
most assuring thing to be able to appeal at once to the Lord, and call upon
our Judge to be a witness for our defence. "Beloved, if our heart condemn
us not, then have we confidence toward God." "Thou hast visited me in the
night." As if he had said, "Lord, thou hast entered my house at all hours;
and thou hast seen me when no one else was nigh; thou hast come upon me
unawares and marked my unrestrained actions, and thou knowest whether or no
I am guilty of the crimes laid at my door." Happy man who can thus remember
the omniscient eye, and the omnipresent visitor, and find comfort in the
remembrance. We hope we have had our midnight visits from our Lord, and
truly they are sweet; so sweet that the recollection of them sets us longing
for more of such condescending communings. Lord, if indeed, we had been
hypocrites, should we have had such fellowship, or feel such hungerings
after a renewal of it? "Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing."
Surely the Psalmist means nothing hypocritical or wicked in the sense in
which his slanderers accused him; for if the Lord should put the best of his
people into the crucible, the dross would be a fearful sight, and would make
penitence open her sluices wide. Assayers very soon detect the presence of
alloy, and when the chief of all assayers shall, at the last, say of us he
has found nothing, it will be a glorious hour indeed—"They are without
fault before the throne of God." Even here, as viewed in our covenant Head,
the Lord sees no sin in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel; even the
all-detecting glance of Omniscience can see no flaw where the great
Substitute covers all with beauty and perfection. "I am purposed that my
mouth shall not transgress." Oh those sad lips of ours! we had need
purpose to purpose if we would keep them from exceeding their bounds. The
number of diseases of the tongue is as many as the diseases of all the rest
of the man put together, and they are more inveterate. Hands and feet one
may bind, but who can fetter the lips? iron bands may hold a madman, but
what chains can restrain the tongue? It needs more than a purpose to keep
this nimble offender within its proper range. Lion-taming and
serpent-charming are not to be mentioned in the same day as tongue-taming,
for the tongue can no man tame. Those who have to smart from the falsehoods
of others should be the more jealous over themselves; perhaps this led the
Psalmist to register this holy resolution; and, moreover, he intended
thereby to aver that if he had said too much in his own defence, it was not
intentional, for he desired in all-respects to tune his lips to the sweet
and simple music of truth. Notwithstanding all this David was slandered, as
if to show us that the purest innocence will be bemired by malice. There is
no sunshine without a shadow, no ripe fruit unpecked by the birds.
Verse 4. "Concerning the works of men." While we are in the midst of men
we shall have their works thrust under our notice, and we shall be compelled
to keep a corner of our diary headed "concerning the works of men." To be
quite clear from the dead works of carnal humanity is the devout desire of
souls who are quickened by the Holy Spirit. "By the word of thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." He had kept the highway of
Scripture, and not chosen the bye-paths of malice. We should soon imitate
the example of the worst of men if the grace of God did not use the Word of
God as the great preservative from evil. The paths of the destroyer have
often tempted us; we have been prompted to become destroyers too, when we
have been sorely provoked, and resentment has grown warm; but we have
remembered the example of our Lord, who would not call fire from heaven upon
his enemies, but meekly prayed, "Father, forgive them." All the ways of sin
are the paths of Satan,—the Apollyon or Abaddon, both of which words
signify the destroyer. Foolish indeed are those who give their hearts to
the old murderer, because for the time he panders to their evil desires.
That heavenly Book which lies neglected on many a shelf is the only guide
for those who would avoid the enticing and entangling mazes of sin; and it
is the best means of preserving the youthful pilgrim from ever treading
those dangerous ways. We must follow the one or the other; the Book of
Life, or the way of death; the word of the Holy Spirit, or the suggestion of
the Evil Spirit. David could urge as the proof of his sincerity that he had
no part or lot with the ungodly in their ruinous ways. How can we venture
to plead our cause with God, unless we also can wash our hands clean of all
connection with the enemies of the Great King?
Verse 5. Under trial it is not easy to behave ourselves aright; a candle is
not easily kept alight when many envious mouths are puffing at it. In evil
times prayer is peculiarly needful, and wise men resort to it at once.
Plato said to one of his disciples, "When men speak ill of thee, live so
that no one will believe them;" good enough advice, but he did not tell us
how to carry it out. We have a precept here incorporated in an example; if
we would be preserved, we must cry to the Preserver, and enlist divine
support upon our side. "Hold up my goings" —as a careful driver holds
up his horse when going down hill. We have all sorts of paces, both fast
and slow, and the road is never long of one sort, but with God to hold up
our goings, nothing in the pace or in the road can cast down. He who has
been down once and cut his knees sadly, even to the bone, had need redouble