Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/4_200.lzh/4_299.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-08 | 7KB | 128 lines

is just and faithfut to forgive sin, the blessing the
psalmist wanted, as appears from the following verse.
Vet. 2. And enter not into judgment with thy servant,
&c.] The house of judgment, as the Targum, or
court of judicature; God is a Judge, and there is and
will be a judgment, universal, righteous, and eternal;
and there is a day fixed for it, and a judgment-seat
before which all must stand, and a law according to
which all must be judged; but the psalmist knew he
was but a man, and could not contend with God; and
a sinful creature, and could not answer him for one of
a thousand faults committed by him; and though his
servant, yet an unprofitable one; his nature, his heart,
his thoughts, words, and actions, would not bear ex-
amining, nor stand the test of the holy law of God;
nor was he able to answer the demands of divine justice
in his own person; and therefore pleads for pardon
and acceptance through Christ and his righteousness,
and entreats that God would not proceed against him
in a judicial way, now nor hereafter. For in thy sight
shall no man living be justified; in a law-sense, so as to
be acquitted in open court, and not condemned; that
is, by the deeds of the law, as the apostle explains
it, Rom. iii. 20. by obedience to it, by a man's own
works of righteousness; because these are imperfect,
are opposed to the grace of God, and would disannul
the death of Christ, and encourage boasting; and much
less in the sight of God; for, however men may be jus
titled hereby in their own sight, and before men, m
their esteem and account, yet not before God, the om-
niscient God; who sees not as man sees, and judges
not according to the outward appearance, and is per-
fectly holy and strictly just; and none but the righte-
ousness of Christ can make men righteous, or justify
them before him; and this can and does, and presents
men unblamable and irreprovable in his sight.
Vet. 3. For the enemy hath persecuted my soul, &c.]
Which is to be connected with yet. 1. and is a reason
why he desires his prayer might be answered, seeing
his enemy, either Saul, or Absalom Iris own son, per-
secuted him, or pursued him in order to take away his
soul, or life; or Satan, the enemy and avertget, who
goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour; or persecuting men, who are his emissaries
and instruments, whom he instigates to persecute the
Lord's people, and employs them therein. He hath
smitten my life down to the ground: brought him into
a low, mean, and abject state, and near to death; had
with a blow struck him to the ground, and left him
wallowing in the mire and dirt, just ready to expire.
The phrase is expressive of a very distressing state and
condition. Some render it my company {r}; meaning the
men that were with him, his soldiers, who were re-
duced to a low condition with him, and greatly en-
feebled and dispirited. He hath made me to dwell in
darkness: in the sides of the cave, as Kimchi; see
2 Sam. xxiv. 3. or in great affliction of body and mind,
frequently signified by darkness, as prosperity is by
light; he was not only obliged by his enemy to hide
himself in woods and wildernesses, and in caves and
dens, but was filled with gloomy apprehensions of
things, Psal. lxxxviii. 6. As those that have been long
dead; or of old{S}, an age or two ago, who are out of
mind and forgotten, and of whom there is no hope of
their coming to life again until the resurrection; or
who are dead for everY; will remain so till that time
comes; signifying hereby his hopeless, helpless, and
forlorn state and condition; see Psal. xxxi. 12. and
lxxxviii. 4, 5.
Ver. 4. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me,
&c.] Covered over with grief, borne down with sorrow,
ready to sink and fail; see the note on Psal. cxlii. 3.
My heart within me is desolate; destitute of the spirit
and presence of God, and with respect to the exer-
cise of grace, and filled with fears and misgivings; or
astonished {u}, at the providence he was under, like one
stunned and filled with sore amazement, not knowing
what to make of things, or what the issue of them
would be; so David's antitype was sore amazed in the
garden, when his troubles and agonies came upon him,
Mark xiv.
Ver. 5. I remember the days of old, &c.] Former
times he had read and heard of, in which the Lord ap-
peared for his people that trusted in him; or the former
part of his own life, his younger days, when the Lord
delivered him from the lion and bear, and from the un-
circumcised Philistine, whom he slew; and made him
victorious in battles, and preserved him from the rage
and malice of Saul. If this was written on account of
Absalom, those times of deliverance he called to mind,
in order to encourage his faith and hope, and cheer
his drooping spirits. I roedilate on all thy works; I
muse on the work of thy hands; the works of creation
and providence, in order to observe the instances of di-
vine power, wisdom, and goodness in them; and from
thence fetch arguments, to engage his trust and confi-
dence in the Lord: he both thought of these things
within himself, and he talkedwof them to his friends
that were with him, as the last of these words used
may signify; and all this he did to cheer his own spi-
rit, and the spirits of the men that were with him, in
the time of distress and danger.
Ver. 6. I stretch forth my hands unto thee, &c.] In
prayer, as the Targum adds; for this is a prayer-ges-
ture, 1 Kings viii. 38. Isa. i. 15. both hands were
stretched forth, earnestly imploring help, and ready to
receive and embrace every blessing bestowed with
thankfulness. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirs'ty
land. Selah. As a dry land, which wants water, gapes,
and as it were thirsts for rain, which is very refreshing
to it; so his soul thirsted after God, after his word and
ordinances, after communion with him in them, after
his grace and fresh supplies of it; particularly after
pardoning grace and mercy, after the coming of Christ,
and the blessings of grace by him; as reconciliation,
atonement, righteousness, and salvation; after more
knowledge of God and Christ, and divine truths; and
after the enjoyment of them in heaven to all eternity.

{r} \^ytyx\^ catervam meam, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{s} \^Mlwe\^ olim, Tigurine version, Vatablus, Junius Tremellius,
Piscator, Cocceius.
    So Syriac and Arabic versions.
{u} \^Mmwtvy\^ attonitum est, Vatablus; stupuit, Tigurine version;
stupet, Cocceius, Michaelis; obstupuit, Gejerus.
{w} \^xxwva\^ loquor, Piscator; sermocinatus sum, Cocceius; aut col-
loquor, Gejerus, Michaelis.