disease, is very pleasant and wholesome, but unto the same eyes, when they
are feeble, sore, and weak, is very troublesome and hurtful, yet the sun is
ever all one and the selfsame that was before; so God, who hath ever shown
himself benign and bountiful to those who are kind and tender-hearted
towards his saints, and are merciful to those who show mercy. But unto the
same men, when they fall into wickedness and grow to be full of beastly
cruelty, the Lord showeth himself to be very wrathful and angry, and yet is
one and the same immutable God from everlasting to everlasting.— Robert Cawdray.
Verse 25. "With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an
upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright." "An upright" —the same
word is oft translated "perfect," he is good throughout, though not
thoroughly; not one that personates religion, but that is a religious
person. He is perfect, because he would be so. So Noah is termed (Genesis
6:9); "Noah was a just man and perfect ( i.e. , upright) in his generation:"
he was a good man in a bad age. He was like a glowing spark of fire in a
sea of water, which is perfect goodness; and therefore the Holy Ghost doth
so hang upon his name, as if he could not give over—it is an excellent
preacher's observation—verse 8, "But Noah was a just man and perfect in
his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. These are the generations of Noah: Noah begat three sons."
Noah, Noah, Noah, I love the sound of thy name; and so are all your names
precious to God, though hated by men, if the name of God be dear and sweet
to you. 'Tis also sometimes translated "plain." Genesis 25:27. Jacob was
(Hebrew), "a plain," that is, an upright man, "dwelling in tents." Esau was
"a cunning hunter," but Jacob was a plain man without welt or gard; you
might well know his heart by his tongue, save once when Rebekah put a
cunning trick into his head, otherwise he was a most "upright," downright
man. And the plain meaning of it is, a simple, cordial, unfeigned, and
exact man: this is the man we are looking for.
"Man." This substansive the Hebrews use to drown in the adjective, but
here the Holy Ghost exhibits a word, and a choice one too, signifying a
strong, valiant man; the same word (Psalm 45:3), "O mighty man!" that's
meant of our Lord Christ, who was a most strong and valiant man, that could
meet the wrath of God, the malice of the devil, and the sin of man, in the
face, and come off with triumph. And so the Dutch translate this clause in
2 Samuel 22.: "With the right valiant person, thou behavest thyself
upright." In short, if the words were literally translated, they run
thus:— a man of uprightness: that is, every way you behold him, an upright
man: like an even die, cast him which way you will he will be found square
and right; a stiff and strong man to tread down both lusts within and
temptations without; an Athanasius contra mundum, a Luther contra Roman;
this is a man of an excellent spirit, and such is our upright man. "Thou
wilt shew thyself upright," or, "wilt be upright with him;" for one word in
the Hebrew makes all these six, "Thou wilt upright it with him." If men
will deal plainly with God, he will deal plainly with them. He that is
upright in performing his duty shall find God upright in performing his
promises. It is God's way to carry to men as they carry to him. If thou
hast a design to please him, he will have a design to please thee; if thou
wilt echo to him when he calls, he'll echo to thee when thou callest. On
the other side; if a man will wrestle with God, he will wrestle with him; if
thou wilt be fast and loose with him, and walk frowardly towards him, thou
shalt have as good as thou bringest; if thou wilt provoke him with
never-ending sins, he will pursue thee with never-ending torments; if thou
wilt sin in tuo eterno , thou must suffer in suo eterno , and every man
shall find like for like. . . . An upright heart is single without
division. Unto an hypocrite there be "gods many and lords many," and he
must have an heart for each; but to the upright there is but one God the
Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, and one heart will serve them both. He
that fixes his heart upon the creatures, for every creature he must have an
heart, and the dividing of his heart destroys him. Hosea 10:2. Worldly
profits knock at the door, he must have an heart for them; carnal pleasures
present themselves, he must have an heart for them also; sinful preferments
appear, they must have an heart too— Necessariorum numerus parvus,
opinionum nullus; of necessary objects the number is few, of needless
vanities the number is endless. The upright man hath made choice of God
and hath enough.— Richard Steele.
Verse 25. "With the merciful," etc. In Jupiter's hall-floor there are
set two barrels of gifts, the one of good gifts or blessings, the other of
evil gifts or plagues. Thus spake Homer falsely of Jupiter; it may truly be
spoken of the true God, Jehovah; that he hath in his hand two cups, the one
of comforts, the other of crosses, which he poureth out indifferently for
the good and for the bad; "with the kind (or merciful) he will shew himself
kind, and with the froward, froward." Now this is not to make God the
author of evil, but of justice, which is good; qrorum deus non est author
eorum est justus ultor, saith Augustine; "God is not the author of sin, but
he punisheth the sinner justly."— Miles Smith (Bishop), 1632.
Verse 26. "With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure," etc. But doth
the Lord take colour from every one he meets, or change his temper as the
company changes? That's the weakness of sinful man: he cannot do so with
whom there is no variableness nor shadow of changing. God is pure and
upright with the unclean and hypocritical, as well as with the pure and
upright, and his actions show him to be so. God shows himself froward with
the froward when he deals with him as he hath said he will deal with the
froward—deny them and reject them. God shows himself pure with the
pure, when he deals with them as he hath said he will—hear them and
accept them. Though there be nothing in purity and sincerity which
deserveth mercy, yet we cannot expect mercy without them. Our comforts are
not grounded upon our graces, but our comforts are the fruits or
consequences of our graces.— Joseph Caryl.
Verse 26. "The froward one." Here, as in the first promise, the two
combatants stand contrasted—the seed of the woman and the serpent—
the benignantly bountiful, perfect, pure One, and the froward one, whose
works he came to destroy, and who made it his great business to circumvent
him whom he feared. The literal meaning of the word is "tortuous," or
"crooked," and both the ideas of perversity and cunning which the figure
naturally suggests, are very applicable to "that old serpent the devil."
From the concluding part of the sentence, I think there is no doubt that it
is the latter idea that is intended to be conveyed. God cannot deal
perversely with any one; but he outwits the wise, and takes the cunning in
their own craftiness.— John Brown.
Verse 26. "With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward." The
Hebrew word in the root signifieth to wrest or writhe a thing, or to wrest
or turn a thing, as wrestlers do their bodies. Hence by a trope, it is
translated often to wrestle, because a cunning man in wrestling, turneth and
windeth his body, and works himself in and out every way, to get an
advantage of his adversary any way; therefore your cunning-headed men, your
crafty men, are fitly presented under this word; they are like wrestlers who
turn and wind themselves in and out, and lie for all advantages; or as we
speak, they "lie at catch." A man knows not where to have them, or what
they mean when they speak plainest, or swear solemnest; when we think we see
their faces, we see but their vizards; all their promises and performances
too are under a disguise. . . . And this word is applied to the Lord
himself, "With the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward;" that is, if
men will be winding and turning, and thinking to catch others, or over-reach
the Lord himself with tricks and turnings of wit, the Lord will meet and
answer them in their own kind; he can turn as fast as they, he can put
himself into such intricate labyrinths of infinite wisdom and sacred craft,
as shall entangle and ensnare the most cunning wrestler or tumbler of them
all. He will Cretize the Cretians, supplant the supplanters of his people.— Joseph Caryl.
Verse 26. "Wilt shew thyself froward." It is a similitude taken from
wrestlers, and noteth a writhing of one's self against an adversary.
Compare herewith Deuteronomy 32:5. "They are a perverse and a crooked
generation," the same two words that are here in this text; the latter
importeth that they wriggled and writhed after the manner of wrestlers that
wave up and down, and wind the other way, when one thinks to have him here
or there. But all will not serve their turn to save them from punishment.
God will be sure to meet with them, his Word will lay hold on them, and
their sins shall find them out.— John Trapp.
Verse 27. "The afflicted people." The word rendered "afflicted,"
properly signifies "poor," or "needy." The persons spoken of are obviously
afflicted ones, for they need to be saved or delivered; but it is not their
affliction, so much as their poverty, that is indicated by the epithet here
given them; and, from the poor being contrasted, not with the wealthy, but
with the proud—for that is the meaning of the figurative expression,
"the man of high looks"—it seems plain that, though the great body of
the class referred to have always been found among the comparatively "poor
in this world," the reference is to those poor ones whom our Lord represents
as "poor in spirit."— John Brown.
Verse 27. "High looks:" namely, the proud; the raising up of the
eyebrows being a natural sign of that vice. Psalm 101:5; Proverbs 6:17.— John Diodati.
Verse 28. "For thou wilt light my candle," etc. The psalmist speaks in
this place of artificial light; "a candle," or "lamp;" which has been
supposed to be illustrated by the custom prevailing in Egypt of never
suffering their houses to be without lights, but burning lamps even
throughout the night, so that the poorest people would rather retrench part
of their food than neglect it. Supposing this to have been the ancient
custom, not only in Egypt, but in the neighbouring countries of Arabia and
Judaea, "the lighting of the lamp" in this passage may have had a special
allusion. In the parallel passage, 2 Samuel 22:29, Jehovah is figuratively
styled the "lamp" of the psalmist, as above.— Richard Mant.
Verse 28 ( first clause ). "Thou also shalt" —when none else can.
And notice, too, how here, and often elsewhere, the psalmist begins with
speaking of God, and ends with speaking to him. So the bride in the
Canticles, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love
is better than wine."— Dionysius the Carthusian (1471), quoted by J. M. Neale.
Verse 29. "By thee have I run through a troop," etc. David ascribes
his victories to God, declaring that, under his conduct, he had broken
through the wedges or phalanxes of his enemies, and had taken by storm
their fortified cities. Thus we see that, although he was a valiant
warrior, and skilled in arms, he arrogates nothing to himself.— John Calvin.
Verse 29. "By my God have I leaped over a wall;" or, "taken a fort."— Henry Hammond.
Verse 29. "Leaped over a wall." This probably refers to his having
taken some remarkable town by scaling the ramparts.— John Kitto, in "The Pictorial Bible."
Verse 31. "For who is God save the Lord?" Here first in the Psalms,
occurs the name Eloah, rendered God. It occurs more than fifty times
in the Scriptures, but only four times in the Psalms. It is the singular
of Elohim. Many have supposed that this name specially refers to God as an
object of religious worship. That idea may well be prominent in this place.— William S. Plumer
Verse 32. "It is God that girdeth me with strength." One of the few
articles of Eastern dress which I wore in the East, was the girdle , which
was of great use as a support to the body in the long and weary camel-rides
through the Desert. The support and strengthening I received in this way,
gave me a clearer idea than I had before of the meaning of the psalmist.— John Anderson, in "Bible Light from Bible Lands," 1856.
Verse 33. "He maketh my feet like hinds' feet, and setteth me upon my
high places:" that is, he doth give swiftness and speed to his church; as
Augustine interpreteth it, transcendendo spinosa, et umbrosa implacamenta
hujus saeculi, passing lightly through the thorny and shady incumbrances of
this world. "He will make me walk upon my high places." David saith, "He
setteth me upon high places." For, consider David, as he then was, when he
composed this Psalm, it was at the time when God had delivered him from the