Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_600_e.lzh/3_653.TXT

Text File | 1995-02-01 | 6KB | 123 lines

\\INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 31\\

\*\\<<To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David>>\\.
This psalm, according to Arama, was composed
by David when in Keiiah; but, according to Kimchi
and others, when the Ziphites proposed to deliver
him up into the hands of Saul; and who, upon their
solicitations, came down and surrounded him with his
army, from whom in haste he made his escape, and
to which he is thought to refer in \\#Ps 31:22\\. Theodoret
supposes it was written by David when he fled from
Absalom, and that it has some respect in it to his sin
against Uriah, in that verse.

\*Ver. 1. \\In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust\\, &c.]
Not in any creature, but in the Lord Jehovah; the
Targum, %in thy Word%; the essential Logos, or Word,
which was in the beginning with God, and was God,
and so an equal object of faith, trust, and confidence,
as Jehovah the Father: this act includes a trusting all
with God, body and soul, and the welfare of them, in
time, and to eternity; and a trusting him for all things,
both of providence and grace, and for both grace and
glory, and is a continued act; for the psalmist does
not say, %I have trusted%, or %I will trust%, but %I do%; and
this was a very consider able thing to do in this time of
his distress: the Lord is to be trusted in at all times;
\*\\let me never be ashamed\\; neither in this world, nor
in that to come. The believer has no reason to be
ashamed of any thing in this life but sin, and the imperfection
of his own righteousness, and his trust in
it; not of the Lord, in whom he trusts; nor of his
Word, or Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom he
believes as his Saviour and Redeemer; nor of the
Spirit, and his work of grace upon him; nor Of his
faith, hope, trust, and confidence in them; nor of the
Gospel, the means of faith, and of the support of it;
nor of, the reproaches, afflictions, and sufferings, he
endures for the sake of Christ and his Gospel; nor of
his ordinances and his people; nor will he be ashamed
hereafter at the coming of Christ, when he will appear
in his righteousness, be clothed with white robes,
have palms in his hands, and shall stand at his right
hand, and be received into glory;
\*\\deliver me in thy
righteousness\\; not in his own, by which he knew there
was no acceptance with God, no justification before
him, nor any deliverance and salvation from sin and
death; but by the righteousness of God, which the
Son of God has wrought out, God the Father accepts
of and imputes, and the Spirit of God reveals and applies;
by this there is deliverance from sin, its guilt,
and damning power, and from the curses and condemnation
of the law, and from wrath to come, and from
the second death.

\*Ver. 2. \\Bow down thine ear to me\\, &c.] Which is
said after the manner of men, who, when they give

attention, and listen to any thing, stoop, and incline
the ear; and this for God to do, as he sometimes does,
is wonderful condescending grace!
\*\\deliver me speedily\\;
which shows that he was in great danger, and his case
required haste: the Lord does help right early, and is
sometimes a present help in time of need, and delivers
at once, as soon as the mercy is asked for;
\*\\be thou my strong rock\\: for shelter and security from enemies,
as well as to build his everlasting salvation on, and to
stand firmly upon, and out of danger;
\*\\for an house
of defence to save me\\; both for an house to dwell in,
Lord being the dwelling place of his people in
all generations, and a strong habitation to which
they may continually resort; and for protection and
safety, their place of defence in him being the munition
of rocks, a strong hold, and a strong tower from
the enemy.

\*Ver. 3. \\For thou [art] my rock and my fortress\\, &c.]
What he prayed for he knew him to be, and to have
been in times past, and could claim his interest in
him; and therefore entreats that he would appear to
be to him what he was in himself, and what he had
been to him;
\*\\therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and
guide me\\; either as a shepherd does his flock, gently,
as they are able to bear it; into the green pastures of
the word and ordinances, and beside the still waters of
divine love, and to the overflowing fountain, and fulness
of grace in himself; or as a general leads and
guides his army; Christ being a Leader and Commander
of the people, and the great Captain of their salvation,
and who being at the head of them, they fear no
enemy; or as a guide leads and directs such as are ignorant,
and out of the way. The psalmist desires the
Lord would lead him in the way of truth and paths
of righteousness, according to his word; and guide
him with his counsel, and by his spirit, that so he
might walk in the way in which he should go; and
this he entreats he would do %for [his] name's sake%; not
for any merit or worthiness in him; but for the
glory of his own name, and for the honour of his
free grace and mercy, for which the Lord often
does many things; he defers his anger, he purges
away the sins of his people, he forgives their transgressions,
and remembers their sins no more, for his name's sake.

\*Ver. 4. \\Pull me out of the net that they have laid
privily for me\\, &c.] The Ziphites, and Saul, and his
men; the former intending treacherously to betray
him, and the latter encompassing him about in order
to take him; and such was his danger and difficulty,
that he saw none but God could deliver him; and he it
is that breaks the nets of men, and the snares of the
devil, which they secretly lay for the people of God,
that they may stumble, and fall, and be taken, and
delivers them out of them;
\*\\for thou [art] my strength\\;
the author, giver, and maintainer, both of his natural
and spiritual strength; and who was able, and was
only able, to pull him out of the net, and extricate him
out of the difficulties in which he was.