Psalm 4
Exposition
Explanatory Notes and Quaint Sayings
Hints to the Village Preacher
Other Works
TITLE. This Psalm is apparently intended to accompany the third,
and make a pair with it. If the last may be entitled THE MORNING
PSALM, this from its matter is equally deserving of the title
of THE EVENING HYMN. May the choice words of the 8th verse be
our sweet song of rest as we retire to our repose!
"Thus with my thoughts composed to peace,
I'll give mine eyes to sleep;
Thy hand in safety keeps my days,
And will my slumbers keep."
The Inspired title runs thus: "To
the chief Musician on Neginoth, a Psalm of David." The chief
musician was the master or director of the sacred music of the
sanctuary. Concerning this person carefully read 1 Chronicles 6:31,
32; 15:16-22; 25: 1, 7. In these passages will be found much that is
interesting to the lover of sacred song, and very much that will
throw a light upon the mode of praising God in the temple. Some of
the titles of the Psalms are, we doubt not, derived from the names of
certain renowned singers, who composed the music to which they were
set.
On Neginoth, that is, on stringed
instruments, or hand instruments, which were played on with
the hand alone, as harps and cymbals. The joy of the Jewish church
was so great that they needed music to set forth the delightful
feelings of their souls. Our holy mirth is none the less overflowing
because we prefer to express it in a more spiritual manner, as
becometh a more spiritual dispensation. In allusion to these
instruments to be played on with the hand, Nazianzen says, "Lord, I
am an instrument for thee to touch." Let us lay ourselves open to the
Spirit's touch, so shall we make melody. May we be full of faith and
love, and we shall be living instruments of music.
Hawker says: "The Septuagint read the
word which we have rendered in our translation chief musician
Lamenetz, instead of Lamenetzoth, the meaning of which
is unto the end. From whence the Greek and Latin fathers
imagined, that all psalms which bear this inscription refer to the
Messiah, the great end. If so, this Psalm is addressed to
Christ; and well it may, for it is all of Christ, and spoken by
Christ, and hath respect only to his people as being one with Christ.
The Lord the Spirit give the reader to see this, and he will find it
most blessed.
DIVISION. In the first verse David pleads with God for help. In
the second he expostulates with his enemies, and continues to address
them to the end of verse 5. Then from verse 6 to the close he
delightfully contrasts his own satisfaction and safety with the
disquietude of the ungodly in their best estate. The Psalm was most
probably written upon the same occasion as the preceeding, and is
another choice flower from the garden of affliction. Happy is it for
us that David was tried, or probably we should never have heard these
sweet sonnets of faith.
EXPOSITION
Verse 1. This is another instance of David's common habit of pleading
past mercies as a ground for present favour. Here he reviews his
Ebenezers and takes comfort from them. It is not to be imagined that
he who has helped us in six troubles will leave us in the seventh.
God does nothing by halves, and he will never cease to help us until
we cease to need. The manna shall fall every morning until we cross
the Jordan.
Observe, that David speaks first to God
and then to men. Surely we should all speak the more boldly to men if
we had more constant converse with God. He who dares to face his
Maker will not tremble before the sons of men.
The name by which the Lord is here
addressed, "God of my righteousness," deserves notice, since
it is not used in any other part of Scripture. It means, Thou art the
author, the witness, the maintainer, the judge, and the rewarder of
my righteousness; to thee I appeal from the calumnies and harsh
judgments of men. Herein is wisdom, let us imitate it and always take
our suit, not to the petty courts of human opinion, but into the
superior court, the King's Bench of heaven.
"Thou hast enlarged me when I was in
distress." A figure taken from an army enclosed in a defile, and
hardly pressed by the surrounding enemy. God hath dashed down the
rocks and given me room; he hath broken the barriers and set me in a
large place. Or, we may understand it thus:— "God hath enlarged my
heart with joy and comfort, when I was like a man imprisoned by grief
and sorrow." God is a never-failing comforter.]
"Have mercy upon me." Though thou
mayest justly permit my enemies to destroy me, on account of my many
and great sins, yet I flee to thy mercy, and I beseech thee hear
my prayer , and bring thy servant out of his troubles. The best of
men need mercy as truly as the worst of men. All the deliverances of
saints, as well as the pardons of sinners, are the free gifts of
heavenly grace.
Verse 2. In this second division of the Psalm, we are led from the
closet of prayer into the field of conflict. Remark the undaunted
courage of the man of God. He allows that his enemies are great men
(for such is the import of the Hebrew words translated— sons of
men ), but still he believes them to be foolish men, and therefore
chides them, as though they were but children. He tells them that
they love vanity, and seek after leasing , that is, lying,
empty fancies, vain conceits, wicked fabrications. He asks them
how long they mean to make his honour a jest, and his fame a
mockery? A little of such mirth is too much, why need they continue
to indulge in it? Had they not been long enough upon the watch for
his halting? Had not repeated disappointments convinced them that the
Lord's anointed was not to be overcome by all their calumnies? Did
they mean to jest their souls into hell, and go on with their
laughter until swift vengeance should turn their merriment into
howling? In the contemplation of their perverse continuance in their
vain and lying pursuits, the Psalmist solemnly pauses and inserts a
Selah . Surely we too may stop awhile, and meditate upon the
deep-seated folly of the wicked, their continuance in evil, and their
sure destruction; and we may learn to admire that grace which has
made us to differ, and taught us to love truth, and
seek after righteousness.
Verse 3. "But know." Fools will not learn, and therefore they
must again and again be told the same thing, especially when it is
such a bitter truth which is to be taught them, viz.:—the fact that
the godly are the chosen of God, and are, by distinguishing grace,
set apart and separated from among men. Election is a doctrine which
unrenewed men cannot endure, but nevertheless, it is a glorious and
well-attested truth, and one which should comfort the tempted
believer. Election is the guarantee of complete salvation, and an
argument for success at the throne of grace. He who chose us for
himself will surely hear our prayer. The Lord's elect shall not be
condemned, nor shall their cry be unheard. David was king by divine
decree, and we are the Lord's people in the same manner: let us tell
our enemies to their faces, that they fight against God and destiny,
when they strive to overthrow our souls. O beloved, when you are on
your knees, the fact of your being set apart as God's own
peculiar treasure, should give you courage and inspire you with
fervency and faith. "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry
day and night unto him?" Since he chose to love us he cannot but
choose to hear us.
Verse 4. "Tremble and sin not." How many reverse this counsel
and sin but tremble not. O that men would take the advice of this
verse and commune with their own hearts. Surely a want of
thought must be one reason why men are so mad as to despite Christ
and hate their own mercies. O that for once their passions would be
quiet and let them be still, that so in solemn silence they
might review the past, and meditate upon their inevitable doom.
Surely a thinking man might have enough sense to discover the vanity
of sin and the worthlessness of the world. Stay, rash sinner, stay,
ere thou take the last leap. Go to thy bed and think upon thy
ways. Ask counsel of thy pillow, and let the quietude of night
instruct thee! Throw not away thy soul for nought! Let reason speak!
Let the clamorous world be still awhile, and let thy poor soul plead
with thee to bethink thyself before thou seal its fate, and ruin it
for ever! Selah. O sinner! pause while I question thee awhile
in the words of a sacred poet,—
"Sinner, is thy heart at rest?
Is thy bosom void of fear?
Art thou not by guilt oppress'd?
Speaks not conscience in thine ear?
Can this world afford thee bliss?
Can it chase away thy gloom?
Flattering, false, and vain it is;
Tremble at the worldling's doom!
Think, O sinner, on thy end,
See the judgment-day appear,
Thither must thy spirit wend,
There thy righteous sentence hear.
Wretched, ruin'd, helpless soul,
To a Saviour's blood apply;
He alone can make thee whole,
Fly to Jesus, sinner, fly!"
Verse 5. Provided that the rebels had obeyed the voice of the last
verse, they would now be crying,—"What shall we do to be saved?" And
in the present verse, they are pointed to the sacrifice, and
exhorted to trust in the Lord. When the Jew offered sacrifice
righteously, that is, in a spiritual manner, he thereby set forth the
Redeemer, the great sin-atoning Lamb; there is, therefore, the full
gospel in this exhortation of the Psalmist. O sinners, flee ye to the
sacrifice of Calvary, and there put your whole confidence and
trust, for he who died for men is the LORD JEHOVAH.
Verse 6. We have now entered upon the third division of the Psalm, in
which the faith of the afflicted one finds utterance in sweet
expressions of contentment and peace.
There were many, even among David's own
followers, who wanted to see rather than to believe. Alas!
this is the tendency of us all! Even the regenerate sometimes groan
after the sense and sight of prosperity, and are sad when darkness
covers all good from view. As for worldlings, this is their unceasing
cry. "Who will shew us any good?" Never satisfied, their
gaping mouths are turned in every direction, their empty hearts are