Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_552.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-25 | 7KB | 140 lines

\*Ver. 9. \\Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to
an end\\, &c.] Which will not be till the measure of it
is fully up, and that will not be till the wicked are no
more; for, as long as they are in the world they will
be committing wickedness, and like the troubled sea
continually cast up the mire and dirt of sin; and they
will remain to the end of the world, till the new Jerusalem
church state shall take place, when all the Lord's
people will be righteous, and there will not be a Canaanite
in the house of the Lord of hosts, nor a pricking
brier or grieving thorn in all the land; for, in the
new earth will no sinner be, but righteous persons only;
and for this state the psalmist may be thought to pray;
however by this petition and the following he expresses
his hatred of sin and love of righteousness: some
choose to render the words {c}, %let wickedness now consume
the wicked%; as in the issue it will, unless the
grace of God takes place; some sins consume the
bodies, others the estates of wicked men, and some
both; and all are the means of destroying both body
and soul in hell, if grace prevent not; this may be considered
as a declaration of what will be, being a prophetic
petition {d};
\*\\but establish the just\\; or righteous
one; meaning himself, and every other who is made
righteous, not by his own righteousness, but by the
righteousness of Christ imputed to him; and who needs
not to have his righteousness established, which is in
itself stable, firm, and sure, and cannot be more so;
it is an everlasting one, and cannot be abolished, but
abides for ever, and will answer for him in a time to
come; but his faith to be established more and more
in its exercise on this righteousness: nor do the persons
of the just need establishing, or can they be more
stable than they are, as considered in Christ, as they
are the objects of God's everlasting love, secured in the
covenant of grace, and built on Christ the foundation;
but the graces of faith, hope, and love, need daily
establishing on their proper object, they being weak,
fickle, and inconstant in their acts; and the saints
need more and more establishing in the doctrines of the
Gospel, and in their adherence to the cause of God and
Christ and true religion; and it is God's work to
establish them, to whom the psalmist applies; see
\\#1Pe 5:10\\;
\*\\for the righteous God trieth the hearts
and reins\\; he is righteous himself in his nature, and
in all his works, and he knows who are righteous and
who are wicked; he knows the hearts, thoughts, affections,
and inward principles of all men, and the
springs of all their actions; he looks not at outward
appearances, but at the heart; and as he can distinguish
between the one and the other, he is capable of punishing
the wicked and of confirming the righteous, consistent
with the truth of his perfections.

\*Ver. 10. \\My defence [is] of God\\, &c.] Or %my shield
[is] in% or %of God% {e}; God was his shield, his protector
and defender; see \\#Ps 3:3\\; or %my shield [is] with God%;
that is, Christ, who was the shield his faith made use
of against every spiritual enemy, was with God; he
was with him as the Word and Son of God from all
eternity, and as the living Redeemer of his people before
his incarnation; and he is now with him as their
intercessor and advocate, who pleads in defence of
them, and opposes himself, his blood and righteousness,
to all the charges and accusations of Satan;
\*\\which saveth the upright in heart\\: who have the truth
of grace in them, wisdom in the hidden part; who are
sincere in their affections, purposes, and designs, in
their faith, hope, and love; and act from real principles
of truth and love, in the integrity of their souls;
for these light and gladness are sown, to them grace
and glory are given, and no good thing is withheld
from them; they are saved by God from sin, Satan,
the world, death, and hell, and every enemy, with a
spiritual and everlasting salvation.

\*Ver. 11. \\God judgeth the righteous\\, &c.] Not all
that are thought to be righteous, or think themselves
to be so, are such; nor is any man naturally righteous,
or of himself, nor by virtue of his obedience to the law
of works; but such only are righteous who are made
so by the obedience of Christ; these God governs and
protects, arenas their injuries and defends their persons;
some render the words, %God is a righteous
Judge% {f}; he is so now in the administrations of his government
of the universe, and he will be so hereafter
in the general judgment of the world;
\*\\and God is
angry [with the wicked] every day\\; wicked men are
daily sinning, and God is always the same in his nature,
and has the same aversion to sin continually;
and though he is not always making men examples of
his wrath, yet his wrath is revealed from heaven against
all unrighteousness of men; and there are frequent
stances of it; and when he is silent he is still angry,
and in his own time will stir up all his wrath, and rebuke
in his hot displeasure.

\*Ver. 12. \\If he turn not\\, &c.] Not God, but the
enemy, or the wicked man, spoken of \\#Ps 7:5,9,11\\;
if he turn not from his wicked course of life, to the
Lord to live to him, and according to his will; unless
he is converted and repents of his sin, and there is a
change wrought in him, in his heart and life; the Septuagint,
Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions
read, %if ye turn not%, or %are not converted%, an apostrophe
to the wicked;
\*\\he will whet his sword\\: God is a man
of war, and he is sometimes represented as accoutred
with military weapons; see \\#Isa 59:17,18\\; and among
the rest with the sword of judgment, which he may
be said to whet, when he prepares sharp and sore judgments
for his enemies, \\#Isa 27:1 De 32:41\\;
\*\\he hath bent his bow, and made it ready\\; drawn his
bow of vengeance, and put it on the full stretch, and
made it ready with the arrows of his wrath, levelled
against the wicked, with whom he is angry; which is
expressive of their speedy and inevitable ruin, in case
of impenitence; see \\#La 2:4 3:12,13\\; or %trod
his bow%, as is the usual phrase elsewhere; see \\#Ps 11:2
La 2:4 3:12\\; which was done by the feet,
and was necessary when the bow was a strong one, as
Jarchi on \\#Ps 11:2\\; observes; and so the Arabs, as
Suidas {g} relates, using arrows the length of a man, put
their feet on the string of the bow instead of their
hands.

{c} \^Myevr er an rwmgy\^ %consumat nunc vel quaeso malum impios%,
Muscuius, Vatablus, so Jarchi, Kimchi, & Ben Melech.
{d} %Consumat nunc malum impios%, Pagninus, Montanus, Hammond;
so Obadiah Gaon.
{e} \^Myhla le\^ %in Deo%, Musculus, Tigurine version, Junius &
Tremellius, Muis, Ainsworth; %apud Deum%, Lutherus, Piscator, Gejerus,
Cocceius, Michaelis.
{f} Vid. Aben Ezra & Abendana not. in Miclol. Yophi in loc.
\^qydu jpwv Myhla\^ %Deus judex justus%, V. L. Munster, Musculus,
Montanus, Piscator, Gejerus, Michaelis; so Ainsworth.
{g} In voce \~arabev\~.