Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_200.lzh/4_247.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-08 | 6KB | 115 lines

which signifies they shall see peace; and it should be
prayed for that they might. The argument enforcing
this duty exhorted to follows: they shah prosper that
love thee; that love Jerusalem, the church of God; that
love Christ, her King; the saints, her citizens; her
laws and ordinances; and the word of the Lord that
goes out of her, and is  ministered in her: which is
shewn by an attendance with her on them, and by their
prayers for her prosperity and welfare: and such pro-
sper in their outward affairs, as Obed-edom and his
family were blessed for the sake of the ark he took in
and took care of; and in their spiritual affairs their
souls prosper, as Gaius's did,. and as such do who are
favoured with the discoveries of the love of God, with
an application of pardoning grace and mercy; have a
spiritual appetite for the word; when their graces are
in lively exercise, their corruptions are subdued, spi-
ritual light and zeal for truth are increased, inward
strength is renewed, communion with God is enjoyed,
and they are fruitful in every good work.
Vet. 7- Peace be within thy walls, &c.] The word
say might be supplied; for this, with the following,
seem to be petitions the psalmist puts into the mouths
of those he desires to pray for Jerusalem's peace; and
he directs them to pray in this manner, to take with
them such words as these, and pray to the Lord. Jeru-
salem was a walled city, and so is the church of God;
God himself is a wall of fire around her; salvation by
Christ is as walls and bulwarks to her; the power and
providence of God protect her: within these walls the
people of God have a place and a name; all the in-
habitants of Zion in common are included in this
petition, and peace is wished for them all; let their
condition and circumstances be what they may, be they
high or low, rich or poor, stronger or weaker believers,
children, young men, or fathers. Some render it, in
thine army, as the Targum, and other Jewish writers;
in the ehurch's militia, all saints being soldiers and in
a warfare state; and here success to their arms against
sin, Satan, and the world, is wished for. _And pro-
sperity within thy palaces: as there were pala.ces in
Jerusalem for the king, the nobles, and great men in
the land; so there are in the church of God, where he
is known, for a refuge; even the meaneat places in it
are preferable to the palaces of the greatest monarchs
see Paul. xlviii. 3. and lxxxiv. 10, And here indeed
all the saints are kings, and have their palaces; but
particularly there are some who are set in the/irst
place in the church, and over others in the Lord; who
are their guides and governors, and are in office-relation
to the church as pastors and deacons now, as there
were priests and Levitea before: and the prosperity of
these is to be prayed for, the good of the whole church
being involved therein.
Ver. 8. For my brethren and companions' sakes, &c.]
Who were regenerated by the spirit of God; adopted
into his family, and children of the same father;
stood in the same relation to Christ the first-born, and
members of the same church; and so brethren:
partners in the same blessings and promises of the
covenant; partakers of the same grace; joined together
in religious worship; shared in the same joys and
griefs; travellets together to the same heavenly coun-
try, and entitled to the same glory and happiness. So
David, though a king, reckoned his meanest subjects
as such, who were spiritual men; and for their sakes,
through the good will, love, and affection he bore
to them, he would set praying souls an example, and
by it enforce his own exhortation, as follows: I will now
say, peace be within thee; now and always put up this
petition, and not put it off to longer time; that peace
and prosperity may always attend the church of God,
as well as the city of Jerusalem, literally considered,
and the inhabitants of it.
Vet. 9. Because of the house of the Lord our God, &c.]
Not because of his own palace, nor because of his own
house and family; nor because of his own personal in-
terest; though all were concerned in the peace of Je,
rusalem: but chiefly because of the sanctuary of the
Lord, as the Targum; because of the worship and ser-
vice of God in it; because of his great love and zeal for
the house and church of the living God, which ate him
up, Paul. lxix. 9. I will seek thy good; the good of
Jerusalem, the good of the church of God; do all the
good he could to it both with his purse and prayers,
and by stirring up others to do the same; see Psal. li.
THIS psalm is not thought to be written by David,
but by some other person in after4imes; and at a time,
as is clear, when the people of God were much ex-
posed to the scorn and contempt of men. Dr. Patrick
thinks it was written by some pious person; perhaps
by Isaiah, in Hezekiah's time, when Rabshakeh poured
out his contempt on God, on the king and the people.
Others are of Opinion, it was wrote by one of the
Babylonish captvity, when. the Jews were jeered by the
Babylonians, and they tauntingly asked them to sing
one of the songs of Zion; and scornfully said of Jeru-
salem, Is this the city men call the perfection of beauty,
the joy of the whole earth ? So Aben Ezra says, the
psalmist speaks of a great man of the generation, which
was in captivity or in a siege; and Kimchi says, that
he speaks in the language of the children of the cap-
tivity; to which agrees the Syriac inscription, "it is
"said in the person of Zorobabel, the pripce of the
"captives." Others think it was composed in the
times of Antiochus, the little horn prophesied of by
Daniel, whose look was more stout than his fellows;
who magnified himself against God and his people,
profaned the sanctuary, and took away the daily sacri-
fice: and others are of opinion it was wrote a little
before the comingof Christ, in the person of those who
were waiting for it, and spiritual redemption and sal-
vation by it; and who were scorned and derided by the
proud Scribes and Pharisees.