Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_628.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-31 | 6KB | 123 lines

\*Ver. 5. \\Thou preparest a table before me\\, &c.] In a
providential way granting a sufficiency, and even an
affluence of temporal good things; the providence of
God lays and spreads a table for his people in the wilderness,
and sets them down at it, and bids them welcome
to it; see \\#Ps 28:19\\; and in a way of grace,
the Lord making large provisions in his house for them,
called the goodness and fatness of his house, and a feast
of fat things; and under the Gospel dispensation, the
table of the Lord, on which are set his flesh and blood
for faith to feed upon; see \\#Pr 9:2\\; and also in
heaven, the joys of which are compared to a feast, and
the enjoyment of them to sitting at a table, and which
are prepared by the Lord for his people, from the
foundation of the world; and of which they have some
foresight and foretaste in this world; see \\#Lu 22:30\\; and all this
\*\\in the presence of my enemies\\; they
seeing and envying the outward prosperity of the saints,
whenever they enjoy it, and their liberty of worshipping
God, hearing his word, and attending on his
ordinances, none making them afraid; as they will
see, and envy, and be distressed at a more glorious
state of the church yet to come, \\#Re 11:12\\; and even,
as it should seem from the parable of the rich man and
Lazarus, the glory and happiness of the saints in the
other world will be seen, or by some way or other
known, by wicked men; which will be an affliction to
them, and an aggravation of their misery; though here
it seems chiefly to regard the present life. Some have
thought there is an allusion to princes, who, having
conquered others, eat and feast at a well-spread table
in the presence of the conquered, and they being under
it; see \\#Jud 1:7\\;
\*\\thou anointest my head with oil\\;
giving him an abundance of good things, not only for
necessity, but for pleasure and delight; especially
pouring out largely upon him the oil of gladness, the
spirit of God and his graces, the anointing which
teaches all things, and filling him with spiritual joy
and comfort; for this refers not to the anointing of
David with material oil for the kingdom, by Samuel,
whilst Saul was living, or by the men of Judah, and
afterwards by all the tribes of Israel, when Saul was
dead. The allusion is to the custom of the eastern
countries, at feasts, to anoint the heads of the guests
with oil; see \\#Ec 9:7,8 Mt 6:17\\. It was usual
to anoint the head, as well as other parts of the body,
on certain occasions; hence that of Propertius {y}: and
in the times before Homer {z} it was usual both to wash
and anoint before meals, and not the head only, but
the feet also; which, though Pliny {a} represents as luxurious,
was in use in Christ's time, \\#Lu 7:38,46\\; and
spoken of as an ancient custom by Aristophanes {b}
his Scholiast for daughters to anoint the feet of
their parents after they had washed them; which may
serve to illustrate the passage in the Gospel; see \\#Ec 9:8\\;
\*\\my cup runneth over\\; denoting an affluence of
temporal good things, and especially of spiritual ones,
which was David's case. Such who are blessed with
all spiritual blessings in Christ, to whom the grace of
the Lord has been exceeding abundant, and the Lord
himself is the portion of their cup, their cup may be
said to run over indeed.

\*Ver. 6. \\Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me\\,
&c.] Either the free grace, love, favour, and mercy
of God in Christ, which endures continually, and is
always the same from everlasting to everlasting; or
the effects of it; and these either temporal good things,
which flow from the goodness and mercy of God, and
not the merits of men; and which are in great mercy
and loving kindness bestowed on his people, and which
follow them: they do not anxiously seek after them;
but seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
these are added to them, they trusting in the Lord,
and he caring for them: or spiritual good things,
which arise from the mere grace and mercy of God;
such as the blessings of the covenant, the sure mercies
of David, the discoveries and instances of the love of
God, and the provisions of his house, which follow
 them, being undeserving of them; and even when they
have backslidden from the Lord, and in times of distress,
when his grace is sufficient for them; and of all
this the psalmist had a comfortable assurance, depending
upon the promise of God, arguing from the blessings
he had already bestowed, and from the constant care
he takes of his people, having in view his unchangeableness
and faithfulness, the firmness of his covenant,
and the irreversibleness of the blessings of it: the words
may be rendered %only goodness and mercy%, &c. {c} nothing
but mere mercy and kindness; for though afflictions do
attend the children of God, yet these are in mercy and
love; there is no fury in the Lord against them; there
is nothing comes in wrath to them, throughout the
whole course of their lives; wherefore it is added,
\*\\all the days of my life\\; the mercies of God are new every
morning, they continue all the day long; temporal
goodness abides as long as life lasts, and ends with it;
and spiritual blessings are for ever, they are the gifts
of God, which are without repentance;
\*\\and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord for ever\\; which may denote
his constant attendance on the public worship of God,
of which he had been deprived in time past, being
driven out from it, but now he enjoyed it, and believed
he ever should; or it may design his being a member
of the church of God, and a pillar in the house and
temple of the Lord, that should never go out; see
\\#Re 3:12\\; or it may regard the assurance he had of
dwelling in the house not made with hands, eternal,
in the heavens, Christ's father's house, in which are
many mansions, sure dwellings, and quiet resting places
for his people, and that to all eternity. The
Targum interprets it of the house of the sanctuary;
and Kimchi expounds the whole verse in a petitionary
way, %may goodness and mercy%, &c.

{y} %Terque lavet nostras spica cilissa comas%, l. 4. eleg. 6. v. 74.
{z} Iliad. 10. v. 577, 578. Odyss. l. 3. v. 466. & l. 8. v. 454. & l. 10.
v. 450.
{a} Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 3.
{b} Vespes, p. 473, 516, 517.
{c} \^Ka\^ %nil nisi%, Junius & Tremellius; %certe vel tantum%, Cocceius.