the throne of God, there to rule and reign as sovereign Lord and King, till
he come in the clouds to judge both quick and dead. Here, then, is both
matter of comfort and consolation unto the godly, and likewise for fear and
astonishment unto the wicked and ungodly.— Henry Airway, 1560-1616.
Verse 5 ( last clause ). Christ was "a man of sorrows" on earth, but he
is full of joy in heaven. He that "wipes away all tears from the eyes of
his people," surely has none in his own. There was a joy set before him
before he suffered, and doubtless it was given him, when he sat down at
God's right hand. We may take the latter to be an actual donation of the
former; the joy he had in prospect when he suffered he had in possession
when he came to his throne. This is the time of his receiving the Father's
public approbation, and the tokens of his love, before the whole heavenly
assembly, which must be matter of great joy to him who so much valued and
delighted in his Father's love.— John Hurrion, 1675-1731.
Verse 5. Happy he who hath a bone, or an arm, to put the crown upon the
head of our highest King, whose chariot is paved with love. Were there ten
thousand millions of heavens created above these highest heavens, and again
as many above them, and as many above them, till angels were wearied with
counting, it were but too low a seat to fix the princely throne of that Lord
Jesus (whose ye are) above them all.— Samuel Rutherford.
Verse 6. "Thou hast made him exceeding glad:" literally, "brightened
him," possibly in allusion to the brightness of Moses' face.
Dalman Hapstone, M.A., in "The Ancient Psalms. . . . A Literal—Translation and Notes," etc., 1867.
Verse 6. "Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance."
Though this be metamorphically used for favour, yet is the speech not all
metaphor, and that well-experienced Christians will tell you.— Zachary Bogan, in "The Mirth of a Christian Life," 1653.
Verse 6 ( first clause ). Literally, as in the Bible marginal
translation, "Thou hast set him to be blessings for ever." Most truly
said of the King in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed.— Richard Mant.
Verse 8. "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
shall find out those that hate thee." By a kind of climax in the form of
expression, "hand," is followed by "right hand," a still more emphatic
sign of active strength. To "find," in this connection, includes the
ideas of detecting and reaching. Compare 1 Samuel 23:17; Isaiah 10:10; in
the latter of which places the verb is construed with a preposition (Heb.),
as it is in the first clause of the verse before us, whereas in the other
clause it governs the noun directly. If any difference of meaning was
intended, it is probably not greater than that between find and find out
in English.— Joseph Addison Alexander.
Verse 8. "Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
shall find out those that hate thee." Saul killed himself, for fear of
falling into the hands of his enemies, and thought death less terrible than
the shame that he would have endured in seeing himself in their power. What
will it be then "to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31),
of an offended God? of God unchangeably determined to be avenged? "Who can
stand before his indignation?" says the prophet Nahum (chap. 1:6). Who will
dare look on him? Who will dare show himself? "Who may abide the day of
his coming" (Malachi 3:2) without shuddering and fainting for fear? If
Joseph's brethren were so terrified that they "could not answer him," when
he said, "I am Joseph your brother," how will it be with sinners, when they
shall hear the voice of the Son of God, when he shall triumph over them in
his wrath, and say unto them, "I am he" whom ye despised; "I am he" whom ye
have offended; "I am he" whom ye have crucified? If these words, "I am he,"
overthrew the soldiers in the garden of Olives (John 18:6), though spoken
with extreme gentleness, how will it be when his indignation bursts forth,
when it falls upon his enemies like a thunderbolt, and reduces them into
dust? Then will they cry out in terror, and say to the mountains, "Fall on
us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from
the wrath of the Lamb." Revelation 6:16.— James Nouet.
Verse 8. "Thine hand shall find out," etc. It is not meant only of a
discovery of a person (though it be a truth, that the Lord will discover all
that are his enemies), but thine hand shall find them out, is, it shall
take hold of them, grasp them, and arrest them. "Thine hand shall find out"
all "thine enemies," though close, though covert enemies; not only thy
above-ground enemies, but thy under-ground enemies; as well those that
undermine thee, as those that assault thee.— Joseph Caryl.
Verse 9. "Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall
devour them." How then shall it fare with sinners, when, after all, shall
come that general fire so often foretold, which shall either fall from
heaven, or ascend out of hell, or (according to Albertus Magnus), proceed
from both, and shall devour and consume all it meets with? Whither shall
the miserable fly, when that river of flames, or (to say better), that
inundation and deluge of fire shall so encompass them, as no place of surety
shall be left; where nothing can avail but a holy life; when all besides
shall perish, in that universal ruin of the whole world? What lamentations
were in Rome, when it burnt for seven days together! What shrieks were
heard in Troy, when it was wholly consumed with flames! What howling and
astonishment in Pentapolis, when those cities were destroyed with fire from
heaven! What weeping there was in Jerusalem, when they beheld the house of
God, the glory of their kingdom, the wonder of the world, involved in fire
and smoke! Imagine what these people felt; they saw their houses and goods
on fire, and no possibility of saving them; when the husband heard the
shrieks and cries of his dying wife; the father, of his little children;
and, unawares, perceived himself so encompassed with flames, that he could
neither relieve them, nor free himself. What shall it then profit the
worldlings, to have rich vessels of gold and silver, curious embroideries,
precious tapestries, pleasant gardens, sumptuous palaces, and all what the
world now esteems, when they shall with their own eyes, behold their costly
palaces burnt, their rich and curious pieces of gold melted, and their
flourishing and pleasant orchards consumed, without power to preserve them
or themselves? All shall burn, and with it the world, and all the memory
and fame of it shall die; and that which mortals thought to be immortal,
shall then end and perish.— Jeremy Taylor.
Verse 9. "Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
anger." They shall not only be cast into a furnace of fire (Matthew
13:42), but he shall make them themselves as a fiery oven or furnace, they
shall be their own tormentors, the reflections and terrors of their own
consciences will be their hell. Those that might have had Christ to rule
and save them, but rejected him, and fought against him, even the
remembrance of that will be enough to make them to eternity a fiery oven to
themselves.— Matthew Henry.
Verse 9. "Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven:" thou shalt make them
on fire within, by the consciousness of their ungodliness: "In the time of
thy countenance;" in the time of thy manifestation.— Augustine.
Verse 9. "As a fiery oven," where the burning is extremely hot, the
heat striking upon what is in it from all sides, above, below, and about, on
all hands, and the door closed from going out, or from suffering any cool
refreshment to come in.— David Dickson.
Verse 9. "As a fiery oven." Shall make them like a vault of fire,
literally, "an oven," as in our translation, or "furnace of fire." Bishop
Horsley remarks, "It describes the smoke of the Messiah's enemies perishing
by fire, ascending like the smoke of a furnace. 'The smoke of their
torments shall ascend for ever and ever.'" How awfully grand is that
description of the ruins of the cities of the plain, as the prospect struck
on Abraham's eye on the fatal morning of their destruction! "And he looked
toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld,
and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace."
Milton puts it—
"Overhead the dismal hiss
Of fiery darts in flaming volleys flew,
And flying vaulted either host with fire."
Richard Mant.
Verse 9. The Chaldee reads:—"The fire of Gehenna, or hell."— John Morison.
Verse 9. "The time of thine anger." If God be willing to pour out his
heavy displeasure upon those that displease him, what can hinder his mighty
arm from performing? Creatures indeed may be angry, but oftentimes, like
drones without stings, cannot hurt; as cannons charged with powder without
shot only make a roaring; like the Pope's Bulls, threaten many, hurt none
but those whose conscience is enslaved. Saul may be angry at David, but
cannot find him out; but from God's all-piercing eye none can hide himself.
Satan may desire to kill Job, Jonah may be angry till death for Nineveh's
preservation; yet God puts a bit in both their mouths, who, if he be angry,
nothing can be holden out of his reach. Princes, if they take captives, may
have them rescued from them again, as Lot was from the King of Sodom; bought
with a price, as Joseph of the Ishmaelites. But no power can rescue us from
God's anger, no ransom but Christ's blood redeem us. God's will being set
afoot, all his attributes follow; if his will say, Be angry, his eye seek
out the object of his anger, and finds it; his wisdom tempers the cup, his
hand whets the sword, his arm strikes the blow. Thus you see there is a
time of God's anger for sin, because he will have it so.— John Cragge.
Verse 9. "The fire shall devour them." Being troubled by the vengeance
of the Lord, after the accusation of their conscience, they shall be given
up to eternal fire to be devoured.— Augustine.
Verse 9. I have read that a frown of Queen Elizabeth killed Sir
Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor of England. What then shall the
frowns of the King of nations do? If the rocks rend, the mountains melt,
and the foundations of the earth tremble under his wrath; how will the
ungodly sinner appear when he comes in all his royal glory to take vengeance
on all that knew him not, and that obeyed not his glorious gospel?— Charles Bradbury.
Verse 10. "Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed
from among the children of men." A day is coming when all the "fruits"
of sin, brought forth by sinners in their words, their writings, and their
actions shall be "destroyed;" yea, the tree itself, which had produced
them, shall be rooted up, and cast into the fire. The "seed" and
posterity of the wicked, if they continue in the way of their forefathers,
will be punished like them. Let parents consider, that upon their
principles and practices may depend the salvation or destruction of
multitudes after them. The case of the Jews, daily before their eyes,
should make them tremble.— George Horne.
Verse 11. "They intended," or warped. Hebrew, have bent or
stretched. A similitude taken from weavers, who warp their yarn before
they weave: or from archers, who, when they have bent their bow and put in
their arrow, do take their aim.— John Diodati.
Verse 12. "Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back," or thou
shalt set them as a butt, "when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy
strings against the face of them." The judgments of God are called his
"arrows," being sharp, swift, sure and deadly. What a dreadful situation,
to be set as a mark and "butt" at which these arrows are directed! View
Jerusalem encompassed by the Roman armies without, and torn to pieces by the
animosity of desperate and bloody factions within! No farther commentary is
requisite upon this verse.— George Horne.
HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER
Verse 1. The joy of Jesus and of his people in the strength and salvation
of God.
Verses 1, 2. The doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus Christ contained
in the text, may be considered under three heads:
I. As an answer to prayer.
II. His joy therein—even in the resurrection.
III. As a necessary appendage to