Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_599.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-28 | 6KB | 126 lines

\*Ver. 31. \\For who [is] God save the Lord\\? &c.] Or
Jehovah: there is but one God, and Jehovah is he;
there is none besides him, nor any like him: there are
many that are called gods, nominal deities, who are not
by nature gods; fictitious ones, the idols of the Gentiles,
made of gold, silver, brass, wood, and stone; but
there is but one true God: there are gods, in an improper
sense, as civil magistrates; but there is none
really and truly so but the Lord; which is to be understood,
not of Jehovah the Father, to the exclusion
of the Son and Spirit; for the Son is Jehovah, and the
Spirit is Jehovah; both are so called, as well as the
Father, and all three one God;
\*\\or who [is] a rock save
our God\\? to have recourse to for shelter and protection;
or to trust to, and build upon, for eternal life and
salvation. False gods are rocks; but not like ours, our
enemies themselves being judges, \\#De 32:31\\; so
Apollo at Delphos is called the Delphian rock {n}: the
words seem to be taken from, or at least there is in
them a reference to, \\#1Sa 2:2\\.

\*Ver. 32. \\[It is] God that girdeth me with strength\\, &c.]
For battle, as in \\#Ps 18:39\\; with strength of body and
fortitude of mind; both which are from the Lord, and
were in David; and were acknowledged by him as
bestowed on him by the Lord; and which confirms
what he had before said of him: or with spiritual
strength, with strength in his soul, against sin, Satan,
and the world; and to do the will and work of God:
saints are girt by the Lord with the whole armour of
God, and among the rest with the girdle of truth; and
are prepared and ready to every good work; see \\#1Sa
2:4\\. Hannah's song is again referred to: in \\#2Sa
22:33\\, the words are, %God is my strength [and] power%;
they are true of Christ, the man of God's right hand,
whom he promised to strengthen, and whom he has
made strong for himself, \\#Ps 80:17 89:21\\;
\*\\and maketh my way perfect\\; or safe, or prosperous.
God removed every impediment and obstacle out of
his way, and made it plain and easy, as Jarchi observes;
and succeeded him, and gave him victory over his
enemies; this has been verified in Christ, who has conquered
sin, Satan, the world, death, and the grave: for

this is not to be understood of the way and course of
David's life and conversation, which was not perfect and
unspotted, but had many blemishes and imperfections
in it, which he often owns, confesses, and bewails.

\*Ver. 33. \\He maketh my feet like hind's [feet]\\, &c.]
As light and swift as theirs, as the Targum; that is,
either to flee, when there was a necessity for it, as
Kimchi observes; or rather to pursue after the enemy,
to run through a troop, and leap over a wall, as before;
see \\#1Ch 12:8 2Sa 3:18,19\\; the same
phrase is used in \\#Hab 3:19\\; and may be understood
in a spiritual sense of that readiness and cheerfulness
with which the saints run the ways of God's commandments,
when their hearts are enlarged with his
love and grace; and may very well be applied to
Christ, who is often compared to a roe, or a young
hart, for swiftness; who readily and at once engaged
to come and do the will of God, and whose coming
in the flesh, at the appointed time, was swift; and who
made haste to do the work of God, in which he took the
utmost pleasure; and who is a speedy and present
help to his people in time of trouble; see \\#So 2:8,9,17 8:14\\;
\*\\and setteth me upon my high
places\\; the towers and fortresses, and strong and fortified
places, where he was safe from his enemies; and:
in a spiritual sense, may design the everlasting love
of God, the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises;
and Christ himself, with the fulness of grace
in him, on which believers may be said to be set,
when their faith is directed to them, and they live and
dwell upon them; see \\#Hab 3:19 Isa 33:16\\; and,
the words were fulfilled in Christ, when God highly
exalted him at his right hand, and set him above all
principalities and powers, and made him higher than
the heavens.

\*Ver. 34. \\He teacheth my hands to war\\, &c.] From
whence it appears, that war, in some cases, is lawful;
and that all the skilfulness and art in training
men for war, in the use of armour, in marshalling of
armies, in forming sieges, &c. is all from God; see
\\#Ps 144:1\\; and so is all that spiritual skill, in making
use of the whole armour of God against every enemy,
sin, Satan, and the world; and even the wisdom and
skill, counsel and instruction, which Christ as matt
and Mediator had, when it was the hour and power of
darkness; when he was engaged with principalities
and powers, and got the victory over them, were from
the Lord: see \\#Ps 16:7\\;
\*\\so that a bow of steel is
broken by mine arms\\; that is, the bow of an enemy
falling into his hands, which might be literally true of
David. It is in the Hebrew text, %a bow of brass%; and
so Apollinarius renders it; which Kimchi and Ben
Melech interpret strong iron, that is, steel; and so
the Targum; see \\#Job 20:24, Satan is an archer; his
temptations are darts, and fiery ones; and his strong
bow may be said to be broken by the arms of faith,
when his temptations, under the influence of divine
grace, are repelled and rendered ineffectual; and especially
his bow was broken by Christ, not only in the
wilderness, when he was vanquished by him; but in
the garden, and on the cross, when Satan could find
nothing in him, and get no other advantage over him,
but to bruise his heel; when he himself had his head
broke, his works ruined, and he himself destroyed.
Some render the words, %mine arms have bent a bow of
steel%: that is, such skill and strength were given him
that he was able to bend, draw, and shoot a bow or
steel: the Targum is, %and hath strengthened mine arm
as a bow of brass%, or %steel%; and so the Syriac and
Arabic versions; and to the same purpose the Septuagint,
Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions; or it may
be rendered, %my arms have bent%, or %made to descend {o}, a
bow of brass%; for when a bow is bent, the horns or
corners of it are made to descend towards a man.

{n} \~delfiv petra\~, Sophoclis Oedipus, v. 472.
{o} \^htxnw\^ %ut current%, Cocceius; so Michaelis; %ut descendat vel
deprimatur%, Gejerus; vid. Gussetii Comment. Ebr. p. 507. so Jarchi.