Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_644.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-01 | 7KB | 139 lines

\*Ver. 12. \\Deliver me not over unto the will of mine
enemies\\, &c.] It is a dreadful thing for a man to be
given up to his own heart's lusts, and to be delivered
up into the hands of Satan; who would fain have even
the people of God themselves in his hands, that he
might distress them at pleasure, if not destroy them;
and also to be suffered to fall into the hands of wicked
men, whose tender mercies are cruel;
\*\\for false witnesses are risen up against me\\;
laying to his charge,
that he sought to take away from Saul his crown and
kingdom, and even his life, \\#1Sa 24:9\\;
\*\\and such as breathe out cruelty\\; as Doeg the Edomite, whose
tongue was as a sharp razor, and by whose hands four
score and five priests were slain, on account of David's
being supplied with bread by Ahimelech; the word is
in the singular number; see \\#Ps 52:1-4 1Sa
22:18\\; compare with this clause \\#Ac 9:1\\; and
Horace's phrase, %Spirabat amores% {l}.

\*Ver. 13. \\[I had fainted]\\, &c.] When false witnesses
rose up against him, and threatened to take away his
life, and the life of his friends, in the most barbarous
and cruel manner: the people of God are subject to
faintings, in the present state of things; by reason of
afflictions; because of the nature, number, and continuance
of them; and especially when they apprehend
them to be in wrath and sore displeasure: and on account
of their sins, and the corruptions of their hearts;
fearing lest there should be no pardon for them; or
that the true work of grace is not in them; or that they
shall fall, to the dishonour of the name of God, and to
the reproach of his, cause and interest; or that they
shall perish eternally: likewise, by reason of Satan's
temptations, which are sometimes so grievous, that if
Christ did not pray for them, their faith would fail;
and also on account of the hidings of God's face, which
they cannot bear:they are sometimes ready to faint
in the way of their duty, in the course of their profession,
because of the difficulties and discouragements,
reproaches and persecutions, they meet with; and sometimes
in the expectation of blessings; and of the fulfilment
of promises, and of answers of prayer, which
have been long deferred. This clause is not in the original
text, but is a supplement of our translators; and
it is generally agreed there is a defect of expression,
which must be supplied in some way or other: the
Jewish interpreters generally refer it to the preceding
words; one supplies thus {m}, %those false witnesses would
have rose up against me, and consumed me%; another {n}
after this manner, %mine enemies had almost got the dominion
over me%; a third {o}, %I had almost perished at their
sayings%: and a fourth {p}, %and they would have destroyed
me%. Perhaps it may be as well supplied from \\#Ps 119:92\\;
%I should then have perished in mine affliction%;
it follows,
\*\\unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land
of\\ \\the living\\: both the providential
goodness of the Lord, in supplying him with the, necessaries
of life, and in delivering him out of the hands
of his enemies; and his special goodness, which he
has laid up in his covenant, and in his son; even all
spiritual blessings in Christ, in whom he causes all his
goodness to pass before his people. The psalmist believed
that he should %see%; that is, enjoy all these, or
whatever was needful for him; all the good things of
life, all special favours; as supports under afflictions,
views of pardoning grace under a sense of sin, strength
against Satan's temptations, and deliverance out of
them; the discoveries of the love of God, and the light
of his countenance, after desertions, and divine refreshments
in his house, from his word and ordinances;
and at last all the glories of the other world; and faith
in these things is the best antidote against faintings.
By %the land of the living% may be meant either the land
of Canaan, where the living God was worshipped, and
living saints dwelt, in opposition to other lands, the
habitations of men dead in sins; and at a distance from
which David now might be; or else the world in general,
in opposition to the place and state of the dead;
or, as some think, heaven, or he life of the world to
come, as Kimchi expresses it; and so Apollinarius
paraphrases it,
\*"I shall see the blessed God with my
"eyes in the land of the blessed."\*
\*The word \^alwl\^, rendered %unless%, is one of the fifteen words which are
extraordinarily pointed in the Hebrew Bible.

\*Ver. 14. \\Wait on the Lord\\, &c.] This, with what
follows, is spoken by the psalmist either to himself or
to others, or it may be to both, upon the rich experience
he declares in \\#Ps 27:13\\: it becomes
believers to wait on the Lord for the common blessings
of life, for even the eyes of all wait upon him for their
daily food; and for the light of his countenance, when
it is withdrawn from them, for he will return again at
the set time; and for answers of prayer, which will be
given sooner or later; and for the performance of his
promises, which are yea and amen in Christ: they
should wait upon him in his house and ordinances constantly,
with reverence and godly fear; they should
wait upon him as servants on their masters, observe
his orders, and diligently execute them; and, as beggars
for their alms, they should knock and wait at
Wisdom's gates, tell their case and wait, take repulses
and wait, and, when they succeed, give thanks. It is
good to wait upon the Lord; many are the favours and
blessings such receive now, and eye has not seen what
God has prepared for them that wait for him;
\*\\be of good courage\\; the saints have need of courage,
considering the enemies they have to grapple with; the
corruptions of their own hearts, the enemies of a man's
own house; the worst of all, Satan, and his principalities
and powers; and men of the world, and a world of
them: and they have great reason, notwithstanding,
be of good courage, since God is for them; Christ
is the Captain of their salvation; the Holy Spirit, that
is in them, is greater than he that is in the world; angels
encamp around them; they are provided with the
whole armour of God; they are engaged in a good
cause, are sure of victory, and shall wear the crown of
righteousness; and it follows,
\*\\and he shall strengthen
thine heart\\; that is, the Lord will do it, as he has
promised to them that wait on him, \\#Isa 40:31 41:10\\;
or %let thine heart be strengthened%: as the Septuagint
render it; and so the Chaldee paraphrase, %strengthen
thine heart%; taking it for an exhortation; as indeed it
seems to be by what goes before and follows; see \\#Jos
1:6,9\\;
\*\\wait, I say, on the Lord\\; this is repeated, to
express the importance of this duty, and to encourage
to it.

{l} Carmin. l. 4. Ode. 13. v. 19.
{m} Jarchi.
{n} Aben Ezra.
{o} Kimchi.
{p} Abendana, Not. in Miclol Yophi in loc.