1_Praise ye Jehovah _In this passage we see that David does not merely in a private capacity render thanks to God, but that he loudly summons the people to engage in the common exercises of piety. This he does, not simply from his having been divinely appointed to be the captain and teacher of other... [ Continue Reading ]
5_I called upon God in my distress. _We have here a particular application of the doctrine we formerly mentioned, to the person of David; with which also is conjoined the rejoicing of the whole Church, for whose public welfare God made provision by upholding him. By his own example he establishes th... [ Continue Reading ]
6_Jehovah is with me among those who help me _Confiding solely in God’s help, he sets at defiance not a few enemies merely, but the whole world. “Defended by God’s hand, I may boldly and safely set at nought all the machinations of men.” When all the power of the universe is deemed as nothing, in co... [ Continue Reading ]
8_It is better to trust in Jehovah _He appears to state nothing but what is common-place, it being unanimously admitted, that when God and men come into comparison, he must be viewed as infinitely exalted above them, and therefore it is best to trust in him for the aid which he has promised to his o... [ Continue Reading ]
10._All nations compassed me _In these verses he relates the wonderful deliverance which he had received, that all might know that it was not of human but divine origin. Once and again he declares, that he was compassed not by a few persons, but by a vast multitude. The people, being all inflamed wi... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Thou hast sorely thrust at me. _He either now changes the person, or directs his discourse to Saul, his principal enemy. In the person of one, he sets at defiance all his enemies together. In saying that he _had been thrust at, _he admits that he did not withstand the onset by his own bravery, a... [ Continue Reading ]
15._The voice of shouting and salvation is in the tabernacles of the just. _He affirms that the kindness which God had conferred upon him was so extensive, that it would not do to render thanks to him privately. In the benefits which he had received, God’s power appeared both remarkable and memorabl... [ Continue Reading ]
17._I shall not die _David speaks like one emerging from the sepulcher. The very same person who says, _I shall not die, _acknowledges that he was rescued from death, to which he was near as one condemned to it. For a series of years his life was in imminent danger, exposed every moment to a thousan... [ Continue Reading ]
18._In chastising God has chastised me. _In these words David owns that his enemies assailed him unjustly, that they were employed by God to correct him, that this was fatherly chastisement, God not inflicting a deadly wound, but correcting him in measure and in mercy. He seems to anticipate the per... [ Continue Reading ]
19_Open unto me the gates of righteousness _(392) Under the influence of ardent zeal, David here sets himself to testify his gratitude, commanding the temple to be opened to him, as if the oblations were all already prepared. He now confirms what he said formerly, That he would render thanks to God... [ Continue Reading ]
22_The stone which the builders rejected _In these words David boldly pours contempt on the calumnies with which he was unjustly and undeservedly assailed. As there was something ominous in his being condemned by the entire assemblage of the nobles, and all those who were invested with authority, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_This, _says he, _is the doing of Jehovah _“Go and quarrel with God, all ye that strenuously endeavor to eject me from my throne, to which I have not been elevated accidentally, or by human policy, but by the manifest power of God.” This he confirms by all being constrained to wonder at what had occ... [ Continue Reading ]
24._This is the day which Jehovah made _He now speaks of that as a happy and pleasant day, on which he was at last established king over Israel, and the anointing of him by Samuel ratified by this event. Doubtless, all days were created alike by God, nevertheless David, by way of eminence, calls tha... [ Continue Reading ]
25_I beseech thee, O Jehovah! save me _As the term נא _, na, _in Hebrew is frequently used as an adverb of time, not a few render it, in this place, _now: _Save, I beseech thee, now. It is also often used in the form of asking, and this is the meaning I attach to it, and which accords very well with... [ Continue Reading ]
27._Jehovah is God _Here the prophet establishes what he said formerly, that God, out of compassion to his Church, dissipated the darkness, and introduced the light of his grace, when David mounted the throne, for that was the harbinger of the redemption which was anticipated to be effected in due t... [ Continue Reading ]