child practically acts upon the declaration of Christ that "sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof," we, in this respect far less wise than he,
people the unknown with phantoms and speculations, and too often forget our
simple trust in God.
Philip Bennet Power.
Verse 4. "For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou
shalt prepare a table before me, against them that trouble me. Thou hast
anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full." Seeing thou art with
me, at whose power and will all troubles go and come, I doubt not but to
have the victory and upper hand of them, how many and dangerous soever they
are; for thy rod chasteneth me when I go astray, and thy staff stayeth me
when I should fall—two things most necessary for me, good Lord; the one
to call me from my fault and error, and the other to keep me in thy truth
and verity. What can be more blessed than to be sustained and kept from
falling by the staff and strength of the Most High? And what can be more
profitable than to be beaten with his merciful rod when we go astray? For
he chasteneth as many as he loveth, and beateth as many as he receiveth into
his holy profession. Notwithstanding, while we are here in this life, he
feeds us with the sweet pastures of the wholesome herbs of his holy word,
until we come to eternal life; and when we put off these bodies, and come
into heaven, and know the blessed fruition and riches of his kingdom, then
shall we not only be his sheep, but also the guests of his everlasting
banquet; which, Lord, thou settest before all them that love thee in this
world, and dost so anoint and make glad our minds with thine Holy Spirit,
that no adversities nor troubles can make us sorry. In this sixth part, the
prophet declares the old saying amongst wise men, "It is no less mastery to
keep the thing that is won, than it was to win it." King David perceives
right well the same; and, therefore, as before in the Psalm he said, the
Lord turned his soul, and led him into the pleasant pastures, where virtue
and justice reigned, for his name's sake, and not for any righteousness of
his own; so saith he now, that being brought into the pastures of truth, and
into the favour of the Almighty, and accounted and taken for one of his
sheep, it is only God that keeps and maintains him, in the same state,
condition, and grace. For he could not pass through the troubles and shadow
of death, as he and all God's elect people must do, but only by the
assistance of God, and, therefore, he saith, he passes through all peril
because he was with him.
John Hooper (martyr), 1495-1555.
Verse 4. By the way, I note that David amidst his green pastures, where
he wanted nothing, and in his greatest ease and highest excellency,
recordeth the valley of misery and shade of death which might ensue, if God
so would; and therewithal reckoneth of his safest harbour and firm repose,
even in God alone. And this is true wisdom indeed, in fair weather to
provide for a tempest; in health to think of sickness; in prosperity, peace,
and quietness, to forecast the worst, and with the wise emmet, in summer to
lay up for the winter following. The state of man is full of trouble, the
condition of the godly man more. Sinners must be corrected, and sons
chastised, there is no question. The ark was framed for the waters, the
ship for the sea; and happy is the mariner that knoweth where to cast
anchor; but, oh! blessed is the man that can take a right sanctuary, and
knoweth whereupon to rely, and in whom to trust in the day of his need. "I
will not fear, for thou art with me." In this Psalm, I take it, is rather
vouched not what the prophet always performed, but what in duty must be
performed, and what David's purpose was to endeavour unto for the time to
come. For after so many pledges of God's infinite goodness, and by the
guidance of his rod and stay of his sheep-hook, God willing, he would not
fear, and this is the groundwork of his affiance. Peter in the gospel by
our Saviour, in consideration of infirmity through fear denying his Master,
is willed after his conversion by that favourable aspect of our Saviour, to
confirm his brethren, and to train them in constancy; for verily God
requireth settled minds, resolute men, and confirmed brethren. So upon
occasions past, David found it true that he should not have been heretofore
at any time, and therefore professeth, that for the time to come he would be
no marigold-servant of the Lord, to open with the sun and shut with the dew
—to serve him in calmer times only, and at a need, to shoot neck out of
collar, fearfully and faithlessly to slip aside or shrink away. Good
people, in all heartless imperfections, mark, I pray you, that they who fear
every mist that ariseth, or cloud that appeareth—who are like the
mulberry tree, that never shooteth forth or showeth itself till all hard
weather be past—who, like standers-by and lookers on, neuters and
internimists—who, like Metius Suffetius, dare not venture upon, nor
enter into, nor endeavour any good action of greatest duty to God, prince,
or country, till all be sure in one side—are utterly reproved by this
ensample.
John Prime, 1588.
Verse 4. The death of those who are under sin, is like a malefactor's
execution: when he is panelled and justly convicted, one pulleth the hat
doggedly from him, another his band, a third bindeth his hands behind his
back; and the poor man, overcome with grief and fear, is dead before he die.
But I look for the death of the righteous, and a peaceable end, that it
shall be as a going to bed of an honest man: his servants with respect take
off his clothes and lay them down in order; a good conscience the playing
the page ordereth all, so that it confirmeth and increaseth his peace; it
biddeth good night to Faith, Hope, and such other attending graces and gifts
in the way—when we are come home to heaven there is no use of them—
but it directeth Love, Peace, Joy, and other home graces, that as they
conveyed us in the way, so they attend at death, and enter into the heavens
with us.
William Struther.
Verse 4. The Lord willeth us in the day of our troubles to call upon him,
adding this promise—that he will deliver us. Whereunto the prophet
David did so trust, feeling the comfortable truth thereof at sundry times in
many and dangerous perils, that he persuaded himself (all fear set apart),
to undergo one painful danger or other whatsoever; yea, if it were to "walk
in the valley of the shadow of death," that he should not have cause to
fear; comforting himself with this saying (which was God's promise made unto
all), "For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." Is
God's "staff" waxen so weak, that we dare not now lean too much thereon,
lest it should break? or is he now such a changeling, that he will not be
with us in our trouble according to his promise? Will he not give us this
"staff" to stay us by, and reach us his hand to hold us up, as he hath
been wont to do? No doubt but that he will be most ready in all extremity
to help, according to his promise. The Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and
he that formed thee, O Israel, saith thus; Fear not, for I will defend
thee," etc. Isaiah 43.
Thomas Tymme.
Verse 4. Not long before he died, he blessed God for the assurance of his
love, and said, He could now as easily die as shut his eyes; and added, Here
am I longing to be silent in the dust, and enjoying Christ in glory. I long
to be in the arms of Jesus. It is not worth while to weep for me. Then,
remembering how busy the devil had been about him, he was exceedingly
thankful to God for his goodness in rebuking him.
Memoir of James Janeway.
Verse 4. When Mrs. Hervey, the wife of a missionary in Bombay, was dying,
a friend said to her, that he hoped the Saviour would be with her as she
walked through the dark valley of the shadow of death. "If this," said she,
"is the dark valley, it has not a dark spot in it; all is light." She had,
during most of her sickness, bright views of the perfections of God. "His
awful holiness," she said, "appeared the most lovely of all his attributes."
At one time she said she wanted words to express her views of the glory and
majesty of Christ. "It seems," said she, "that if all other glory were
annihilated and nothing left but his bare self, it would be enough; it would
be a universe of glory!"
Verses 4, 5. A readiness of spirit to suffer gives the Christian the true
enjoyment of life. . . . The Christian, that hath this preparation of
heart, never tastes more sweetness in the enjoyment of this life, than when
he dips these morsels in the meditation of death and eternity. It is no
more grief to his heart to think of the remove of these, which makes way for
those far sweeter enjoyments, than it would be to one at a feast, to have
the first course taken off, when he had fed well upon it, that the second
course of all rare sweetmeats and banqueting stuff may come on, which it
cannot till the other be gone. Holy David, in this place, brings in, as it
were, a death's head with his feast. In the same breath almost, he speaks
of his dying (verse 4), and of the rich feast he at present sat at through
the bounty of God (verse 5), to which he was not so tied by the teeth, but
if God, that gave him this cheer, should call him from it, to look death in
the face, he could do it, and fear no evil when in the valley of the
shadow of it. And what think you of the blessed apostle Peter? Had not
he, think you, the true enjoyment of his life, when he could sleep so
sweetly in a prison (no desirable place), fast bound between two soldiers
(no comfortable posture), and this the very night before Herod would have
brought him forth, in all probability, to his execution? no likely time, one
would think, to get any rest; yet we find him, even there, thus, and then,
so sound asleep, that the angel, who was sent to give him his gaol
deliverance, smote him on the side to awaken him. Acts 12:6, 7. I question
whether Herod himself slept so well that night, as this his prisoner did.
And what was the potion that brought this holy man so quietly to rest? No
doubt this preparation of the gospel of peace— he was ready to die, and
that made him able to sleep. Why should that break his rest in this world,
which if it had been effected, would have brought him to his eternal rest in
the other?
William Gurnall.
Verses 4, 6. The psalmist expresseth an exceeding confidence in the midst
of most inexpressible troubles and pressures. He supposes himself "walking
through the valley of the shadow of death." As "death" is the worst of
evils, and comprehensive of them all, so the "shadow" of death is the most
dismal and dark representation of those evils into the soul, and the
"valley" of that shadow the most dreadful bottom and depth of that
representation. This, then, the prophet supposed that he might be brought
into. A condition wherein he may be overwhelmed with sad apprehensions of
the coming of a confluence of all manner of evils upon him—and that not
for a short season, but he may be necessitated to "walk" in them, which
denotes a state of some continuance, a conflicting with most dismal evils,
and in their own nature tending to death—is in the supposal. What,
then, would he do if he should be brought into this estate? Saith he, "Even
in that condition, in such distress, wherein I am, to my own and the eyes of
others, hopeless, helpless, gone, and lost, 'I will fear no evil.'" A noble
resolution, if there be a sufficient bottom and foundation for it, that it
may not be accounted rashness and groundless confidence, but true spiritual
courage and holy resolution. Saith he, "It is because the Lord is with me."
But alas! what if the Lord should now forsake thee in this condition, and
give thee up to the power of thine enemies, and suffer thee, by the strength
of thy temptations, wherewith thou art beset, to fall utterly from him?
Surely then thou wouldst be swallowed up for ever: the waters would go over
thy soul, and thou must for ever lie down in the shades of death. "Yea,"
saith he, "but I have an assurance to the contrary; 'Goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life.'
John Owen.
Verse 5. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies." God doth not at all depend upon wicked men in the benediction of