Psalm 20
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
Other Work
SUBJECT. We have before us a National Anthem, fitted to be sung at the
outbreak of war, when the monarch was girding on his sword for the fight.
If David had not been vexed with wars, we might never have been favoured
with such psalms as this. There is a needs be for the trials of one saint,
that he may yield consolation to others. A happy people here plead for a
beloved sovereign, and with loving hearts cry to Jehovah, "God save the
King." We gather that this song was intended to be sung in public, not only
from the matter of the song, but also from its dedication "To the Chief
Musician." We know its author to have been Israel's sweet singer, from the
short title, "A Psalm of David." The particular occasion which suggested
it, it would be mere folly to conjecture, for Israel was almost always at
war in David's day. His sword may have been hacked, but it was never
rusted. Kimchi reads the title, concerning David, or, for David, and it
is clear that the king is the subject as well as the composer of the song.
It needs but a moment's reflection to perceive that this hymn of prayer is
prophetical of our Lord Jesus, and is the cry of the ancient church on
behalf of her Lord, as she sees him in vision enduring a great fight of
afflictions on her behalf. The militant people of God, with the great
Captain of salvation at their head, may still in earnest plead that the
pleasure of the Lord may prosper in his hand. We shall endeavour to keep to
this view of the subject in our brief exposition, but we cannot entirely
restrict out remarks to it.
DIVISION. The first four verses are a prayer for the success of the king.
Verses 5, 6, and 7 express unwavering confidence in God and his Anointed;
verse 8 declares the defeat of the foe, and verse 9 is a concluding appeal
to Jehovah.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. "The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble." All loyal subjects
pray for their king, and most certainly citizens of Zion have good cause to
pray for the Prince of Peace. In times of conflict loving subjects redouble
their pleas, and surely in the sorrows of our Lord his church could not but
be in earnest. All the Saviour's days were days of trouble, and he also
made them days of prayer; the church joins her intercession with her Lord's,
and pleads that he may be heard in his cries and tears. The agony in the
garden was especially a gloomy hour, but he was heard in that he feared. He
knew that his Father heard him always, yet in that troublous hour no reply
came until thrice he had fallen on his face in the garden; then sufficient
strength was given in answer to prayer, and he rose a victor from the
conflict. On the cross also his prayer was not unheard, for in the
twenty-second Psalm he tells us, "thou hast heard me from the horns of the
unicorns." The church in this verse implies that her Lord would be himself
much given to prayer; in this he is our example, teaching us that if we are
to receive any advantage from the prayers of others, we must first pray for
ourselves. What a mercy that we may pray in the day of trouble, and what
a still more blessed privilege that no trouble can prevent the Lord from
hearing us! Troubles roar like thunder, but the believer's voice will be
heard above the storm. O Jesus, when thou pleadest for us in our hour of
trouble, the Lord Jehovah will hear thee. This is a most refreshing
confidence, and it may be indulged in without fear.
"The name of the God of Jacob defend thee;" or, as some read it, "set
thee in a high place." By "the name" is meant the revealed character and
Word of God; we are not to worship "the unknown God," but we should seek to
know the covenant God of Jacob, who has been pleased to reveal his name and
attributes to his people. There may be much in a royal name, or a learned
name, or a venerable name, but it will be a theme for heavenly scholarship
to discover all that is contained in the divine name. The glorious power of
God defended and preserved the Lord Jesus through the battle of his life and
death, and exalted him above all his enemies. His warfare is now
accomplished in his own proper person, but in his mystical body, the church,
he is still beset with dangers, and only the eternal arm of our God in
covenant can defend the soldiers of the cross, and set them on high out of
the reach of their foes. The day of trouble is not over, the pleading
Saviour is not silent, and the name of the God of Israel is still the
defence of the faithful. The name, "God of Jacob," is suggestive; Jacob
had his day of trouble, he wrestled, was heard, was defended, and in due
time was set on high, and his God is our God still, the same God to all his
wrestling Jacobs. The whole verse is a very fitting benediction to be
pronounced by a gracious heart over a child, a friend, or a minister, in
prospect of trial; it includes both temporal and spiritual protection, and
directs the mind to the great source of all good. How delightful to believe
that our heavenly Father has pronounced it upon our favoured heads!
Verse 2. "Send thee help from the sanctuary." Out of heaven's sanctuary
came the angel to strengthen our Lord, and from the precious remembrance of
God's doings in his sanctuary our Lord refreshed himself when on the tree.
There is no help like that which is of God's sending, and no deliverance
like that which comes out of his sanctuary. The sanctuary to us is the
person of our blessed Lord, who was typified by the temple, and is the true
sanctuary which God has pitched, and not man: let us fly to the cross for
shelter in all times of need and help will be sent to us. Men of the world
despise sanctuary help, but our hearts have learned to prize it beyond all
material aid. They seek help out of the armoury, or the treasury, or the
buttery, but we turn to the sanctuary. "And strengthen thee out of Zion."
Out of the assemblies of the pleading saints who had for ages prayed for
their Lord, help might well result to the despised sufferer, for praying
breath is never spent in vain. To the Lord's mystical body the richest
comes in answer to the pleadings of his saints assembled for holy worship as
his Zion. Certain advertisers recommend a strengthening plaster, but
nothing can give such strength to the loins of a saint as waiting upon God
in the assemblies of his people. This verse is a benediction befitting a
Sabbath morning, and may be the salutation either of a pastor to his people,
or of a church to its minister. God in the sanctuary of his dear Son's
person, and in the city of his chosen church is the proper object of his
people's prayers, and under such a character may they confidently look to
him for his promised aid.
Verse 3. "Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice.
Selah." Before war kings offered sacrifice, upon the acceptance of which
the depended for success; our blessed Lord presented himself as a victim,
and was a sweet savour unto the Most High, and then he met and routed the
embattled legions of hell. Still does his burnt sacrifice perfume the
courts of heaven, and through him the offerings of his people are received
as his sacrifices and oblations. We ought in our spiritual conflicts to
have an eye to the sacrifice of Jesus, and never venture to war until first
the Lord has given us a token for good at the altar of the cross, where
faith beholds her bleeding Lord. "Selah." It is well to pause at the
cross before we march onward to battle, and with the psalmist cry "Selah."
We are too much in a hurry to make good haste. A little pausing might
greatly help our speed. Stay, good man, there is a haste which hinders;
rest awhile, meditate on the burnt sacrifice, and put thy heart right for
the stern work which lieth before thee.
Verse 4. "Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy
counsel." Christ's desire and counsel were both set upon the salvation of
his people; the church of old desired for him good speed in his design, and
the church in these latter days, with all her heart desires the complete
fulfilment of his purpose. In Christ Jesus sanctified souls may appropriate
this verse as a promise; they shall have their desire, and their plans to
glorify their Master shall succeed. We may have our own will, when our will
is God's will. This was always the case with our Lord, and yet he said,
"not as I will, but as thou wilt." What need for submission in our case; if
it was necessary to him, how much more for us?
Verse 5. "We will rejoice in thy salvation." In Jesus there is
salvation; it is his own, and hence it is called thy salvation; but it is
ours to receive and ours to rejoice in. We should fixedly resolve that come
what may, we will rejoice in the saving arm of the Lord Jesus. The people
in this psalm, before their king went to battle, felt sure of victory, and
therefore began to rejoice beforehand; how much more ought we to do this who
have seen the victory completely won! Unbelief begins weeping for the
funeral before the man is dead; why should not faith commence piping before
the dance of victory begins? Buds are beautiful, and promises not yet
fulfilled are worthy to be admired. If joy were more general among the
Lord's people, God would be more glorified among men; the happiness of the
subjects is the honour of the sovereign. "And in the name of our God we
will set up our banners." We lift the standard of defiance in the face of
the foe, and wave the flag of victory over the fallen adversary. Some
proclaim war in the name of one king, and some of another, but the faithful
go to war in Jesu's name, the name of the incarnate God, Immanuel, God with
us. The times are evil at present, but so long as Jesus lives and reigns in
his church we need not furl our banners in fear, but advance them with
sacred courage.
"Jesu's tremendous name
Puts all our foes to flight;
Jesus, the meek, the angry Lamb
A lion is in fight."
The church cannot forget that Jesus is her advocate before the throne,
and therefore she sums up the desires already expressed in the short
sentence, "The Lord fulfil all thy petitions." Be it never forgotten that
among those petitions is that choice one, "Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me be with me where I am."
Verse 6. "Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed." We live and
learn, and what we learn we are not ashamed to acknowledge. He who thinks
he knows everything will miss the joy of finding out new truth; he will
never be able to cry, "now know I," for he is so wise in his own conceit
that he knows all that can be revealed and more. Souls conscious of
ignorance shall be taught of the Lord, and rejoice as they learn. Earnest
prayer frequently leads to assured confidence. The church pleaded that the
Lord Jesus might win the victory in his great struggle, and now by faith she
sees him saved by the omnipotent arm. She evidently finds a sweet relish in
the fragrant title of "anointed;" she thinks of him as ordained before all
worlds to his great work, and then endowed with the needful qualifications
by being anointed of the Spirit of the Lord; and this is evermore the
choicest solace of the believer, that Jehovah himself hath anointed Jesus to
be a Prince and a Saviour, and that our shield is thus the Lord's own
anointed. "He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength
of his right hand." It is here asserted confidently that God's holiness
and power would both come to the rescue of the Saviour in his conflict, and
surely these two glorious attributes found congenial work in answering the
sufferer's cries. Since Jesus was heard, we shall be; God is in heaven, but
our prayers can scale those glorious heights; those heavens are holy, but
Jesus purifies our prayers, and so they gain admittance; our need is great,
but the divine arm is strong, and all its strength is "saving strength;"
that strength, moreover, is in the hand which is most used and which is used
most readily—the right hand. What encouragements are these for pleading
saints!
Verse 6. Contrasts frequently bring out the truth vividly, and here the
church sets forth the creature confidences of carnal men in contrast with
her reliance upon the Prince Immanuel and the invisible Jehovah. "Some