Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_536.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-24 | 6KB | 123 lines

\*Ver. 6. \\I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the
people\\, &c.] David was a man of courage from his
youth; the instances of his attacking the lion and the
bear, when he kept his father's sheep, his engaging
with Goliath, and his military exploits, show it; and
though there were now many thousands up in arms
against him, and his own son at the head of them; all
the tribes of Israel were revolting from him, and he
was only attended with a few of his friends, yet he
was not dismayed; for that he refers to this insurrection
appears by what follows,
\*\\that have set [themselves]
against me round about\\; and this was owing not to
himself; but to the Lord's sustaining of him; see
\\#Ps 27:1-3\\; and such courage and greatness
of soul did his antitype the Messiah express, and to a
greater degree, when Judas, with his band of soldiers,
and the multitude with clubs and staves, entered the
garden to apprehend him; and when the prince
of this world was marching towards him, and when
he was engaged with all the powers of darkness,
and when the sorrows of death compassed him
about, yet he failed not, nor was he discouraged:
and something of this spirit appears in true believers,
When they are in the exercise of faith, have
the presence of God, and the discoveries of his love;
they are then not afraid what man can do unto them;
nor are they afraid of devils themselves, but wrestle
against them; nor of any nor all their enemies,
they having victory over them, given by God through
Christ.

\*Ver. 7. \\Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God\\, &c.]
God sometimes, in the apprehension of his people,
seems to be as if he was asleep: when he does not
appear to them and for them, and does not exert
his power on their behalf, then they call to him to
awake and arise; see \\#Ps 44:23\\; and it may be
some respect is had to the words of Moses when the
ark set forward, \\#Nu 10:35\\; and it may be observed,
that though David enjoyed so much peace
and tranquillity of mind, and was in such high spirits
as not to be afraid of ten thousands of men, yet
he did not neglect the right means of deliverance
and safety, prayer to God, who he knew was his
God; and he addresses him as such, and uses his
covenant interest in him, as an argument with him
to arise and save him from his enemies, who was
able to do it, and to whom salvation belongs: so Christ,
his antitype, prayed to God as his God to save him,
and was heard by him in like manner; so the saints
call upon God in a day of trouble, cry to him in their

distresses, to be delivered out of them;
\*\\for thou hast smitten all mine enemies [upon] the cheekbone\\; to smite
any one upon the cheek is reckoned reproachful, and
is casting contempt upon them; see Job 16:10 and
the sense is, that God had poured contempt upon his
enemies in time past, and had brought them to shame
and confusion: hence he puts up the above prayer as
a prayer of faith for salvation, founded on past experience
of God's goodness; he prayed that his God
would arise and save him, and he believed he would
because he had hitherto appeared for him, and against
his enemies;
\*\\thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly\\;
who were like to beasts of prey, whose strength lies in
their teeth, whereby they do the mischief they do;
and the breaking of their teeth signifies the taking
away from them the power of hurting, and refers to
the victories which God had given David over the Philistines,
Edomites, Syrians, and others; and maybe
applied to Christ, and be expressive of sin, Satan, the
world, and death, being overcome and abolished by
him, and of the victory which the saints have through
him over the same enemies.

\*Ver. 8. \\Salvation [belongeth] unto the Lord\\, &c.] As
the author of it; temporal salvation is of him; all the
deliverances of the saints out of their troubles are from
him; and to him is owing their spiritual and eternal
salvation; this belongs to Jehovah, Father, Son, and
Spirit: Jehovah the Father resolved upon it, chose
men to it from everlasting, contrived the scheme of it
in his infinite wisdom, made a covenant with his Son,
in which he secured it, and appointed him to be the
author of it, and sent him in the fulness of time to
effect it; and Christ the Son of God, being qualified
for it, being mighty to save, came into this world for
that purpose, and is become the author of eternal salvation;
his own arm has brought it to him, though
there were many difficulties in the way; such as fulfilling
the law, satisfying justice, making an end of sin,
grappling with all the powers of darkness, and undergoing
an accursed death: and the Spirit of God, he
makes men sensible of their need of this salvation; he
brings it near to them, and works faith in them to lay
hold upon it, and shows them their interest in it; and
in consequence of all this the glory of salvation belongs
to the Lord, Father, Son, and Spirit, and should
be given to the Father as the contriver of it, to the Son
as the author of it, and to the Spirit as the applier of
it; see \\#Re 7:10\\;
\*\\thy blessing [is] upon thy people\\;
or it may be considered prayer wise, let
\*\\thy blessing [be] upon thy people\\ {b}; either upon those that
were on the side of David, or on those, as others interpret
it, who had imprudently joined themselves to Absalom;
which latter sense, if right, shows in what a
divine frame and disposition of mind the psalmist was,
to pray for his enemies: or the words are an assertion,
that the blessing of the Lord was come upon his covenant
people, and does descend upon them as they are
called by grace; even all spiritual blessings, the blessings
of a justifying righteousness, of pardon of sin, of
reconciliation and peace by the blood of Christ, of adoption,
and of eternal life; the blessing of grace, and the
blessing of glory.

\*\\Selah\\; on this word, \\see Gill on "Ps 3:2"\\.

{b} \^Ktkrb\^ %sit benedictio tua%, Junius & Tremellius, Tarnovius,
Gejerus, Michaelis.