Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_627.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-31 | 7KB | 134 lines

\*Ver. 3. \\He restoreth my soul\\, &c.] Either when
backslidden, and brings it back again when led or
driven away, and heals its backslidings; or rather,
when fainting, swooning, and ready to die away, he
fetches it back again, relieves, refreshes, and comforts
with the discoveries of his love, with the promises of
his word, and with the consolations of his spirit, and
such like reviving cordials, \\see Gill on "Ps 19:7"\\;
\*\\he leadeth, he in the paths of righteousness\\; in the
plain paths of truth and holiness, in which men, though
fools, shall not err; in right ones, though they sometimes
seem rough and rugged to Christ's sheep, yet are
not crooked; there is no turning to the right hand or
the left; they lead straight on to the city of habitation;
and they are righteous ones, as paths of duty are, and
all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord be;
moreover, Christ leads his by faith, to walk on in him
and in his righteousness, looking through it, and on
account of it, for eternal life; see \\#Pr 8:20\\; and
all this he does
\*\\for his name's sake\\; for his own glory
and the praise of his grace, and not for any merits or
deserts in men.

\*Ver. 4. \\Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death\\,
&c.] Which designs not a state of
spiritual darkness and ignorance, as sitting in the shadow
of death sometimes does, since the psalmist cannot
be supposed to be at this time or after in such a
condition; see \\#Isa 9:2 Mt 4:13, 16 Lu 1:79\\;
nor desertion or the hidings of God's face, which is
sometimes the case of the people of God, and was the
case of the psalmist at times; but now he expressly
says the Lord was with him; but rather, since the
grave is called the land of the shadow of death, and
the distresses persons are usually in, under apprehensions
of immediate death, are called the terrors of the
shadow of death; see \\#Job 10:21,22 38:17
24:17\\; the case supposed is, that should his
soul draw nigh to the grave, and the sorrows of death
compass him about, and he should be upon the brink
and borders of eternity, he should be fearless of evil,
and sing, %O death! where is thy sting? O grave! where
is thy victory%? \\#1Co 15:55\, though
it seems best of all to interpret
it of the most severe and terrible affliction or dark
dispensation of Providence it could be thought he
should ever come under, \\#Ps 44:19 107:10,14 Jer 13:16\\.
The Targum interprets it of captivity,
and Jarchi and Kimchi of the wilderness of Ziph,
in which David was when pursued by Saul; and the
latter also, together with Ben Melech, of the grave,
and of a place of danger and of distress, which is like
unto the grave, that is, a place of darkness; and Aben
Ezra of some grievous calamity, which God had decreed
to bring into the world. Suidas {w} interprets this
phrase of danger leading to death; afflictions attend
the people of God in this life; there is a continued
series of them, so that they may be said to walk in
them; these are the way in which they walk
heaven, and through which they enter the kingdom;
for though they continue long, and one affliction
comes after another, yet there will be an end at last;
they will walk and wade through them, and come out
of great tribulations; and in the midst of such dark
dispensations, comparable to a dark and gloomy valley,
covered with the shadow of death, the psalmist
intimates what would be the inward disposition of
his mind, and what his conduct and behaviour:
\*\\I will fear no evil\\; neither the evil one Satan, who is the
wolf that comes to the flock to kill and to destroy,
and the roaring lion that seeks whom he may devour,
since the Lord was his shepherd, and on his side: nor
evil men, who kill the body and can do no more, \\#Ps
27:1-3\\; nor any evil thing, the worst calamity
that could befall him, since every thing of this kind is
determined by God, and comes not without his knowledge
and will, and works for good, and cannot separate
from the love of Christ; see \\#Ps 46:1-4\\;
\*\\for thou
[art] with me\\; sheep are timorous creatures, and so are
Christ's people; but when he the shepherd is
them, to sympathize with them under all their afflictions,
to revive and comfort them with the cordials of
his love and promises of his grace, to bear them up
and support them with his mighty arm of power, to
teach and instruct them by every providence, and
sanctify all unto them; their fears are driven away, and
they pass through the dark valley, the deep waters,
and fiery trials, with courage and cheerfulness; see
\\#Isa 41:10 43:1,2\\;
\*\\thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me\\; not the rod of afflictions and chastisements,
which is the sense of some Jewish {x} as well as
Christian interpreters; though these are in love, and
the saints have often much consolation under them;
but these are designed by the valley of the shadow of
death, and cannot have a place here, but rather the
rod of the word, called the rod of Christ's strength,
and the staff of the promises and the provisions of God's
house, the whole stuff and stay of bread and water,
which are sure unto the saints, and refresh and comfort
them. The Targum interprets the rod and staff of
the word and law of God; and those interpreters who
explain the rod of afflictions, yet by the staff understand
the law; and Jarchi expounds it, of the mercy
of God in the remission of sin, in which the psalmist
trusted: the allusion is to the shepherd's crook or staff,
as in other places; see \\#Mic 7:14 Zec 11:7\\; which
was made use of for the telling and numbering of the
sheep, \\#Le 27:32 Jer 13:33 Eze 20:37\\; and it
is no small comfort to the sheep of Christ that they
have passed under his rod, who has told them, and
that they are all numbered by him; not only their
persons, but the very hairs of their head; and that they
are under his care and protection: the shepherd with
his rod, staff, or crook, directs the sheep where to go,
pushes forward those that are behind, and fetches
back those that go astray; as well as drives away dogs,
wolves, bears, &c. that would make a prey of the
flock; and of such use is the word of God, attended
with the power of Christ and his Spirit; it points out
the path of faith, truth, and holiness, the saints should
walk in; it urges and stirs up those that are negligent
to the discharge of their duty, and is the means of reclaiming
backsliders, and of preserving the flock from
the ravenous wolves of false teachers: in a word, the
presence, power, and protection of Christ, in and by
is Gospel and ordinances, are what are here intended,
and which are the comfort and safety of his people, in
the worst of times and cases.

{w} In voce \~skia\~.
{x} Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 9. 2. Jarchi & Kimchi in loc.