1._Hear this, all ye people. _Whoever may have been the penman of this psalm, it discusses one of the most important principles in divine philosophy, and there is a propriety in the elevated terms designed to awaken and secure attention, with which the Psalmist announces his purpose to discourse of... [ Continue Reading ]
3._My mouth shall speak of wisdom _The prophet was warranted in applying these commendatory terms to the doctrine which he was about to communicate. It is, no doubt, by plain appeals to observation that we find him reproving human folly; but the general principle upon which his instruction proceeds... [ Continue Reading ]
4._I will incline my ear _(214) _to a parable _The Hebrew word משל _, mashal, _(215) which I have translated _parable, _properly denotes a _similitude; _but it is often applied to any deep or weighty sayings, because these are generally embellished with figures and metaphors. The noun which follows,... [ Continue Reading ]
5._Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? _The Psalmist now enters upon the point on which he proposed to discourse, That the people of God must not yield to despondency even in the most distressing circumstances, when their enemies may seem to have enclosed them on every side, but must rest a... [ Continue Reading ]
6._They trust in their wealth. _We are now furnished with the reason why the suffering children of God should dismiss their apprehensions, and keep themselves from despondency, even when reduced to extremity by the violence and treachery of their enemies. Any boasted power which they possess is flee... [ Continue Reading ]
10_For he shall see that wise men die. _I consider the ninth and tenth verses to be connected, and that it is the intention of the Psalmist to censure the folly of those who dream of spending an eternity in this world, and set themselves seriously to establish a permanent settlement in it, though th... [ Continue Reading ]
12_And man shall not abide in honor _Having exposed the vain and delusory nature of the fancies entertained by the ungodly, he next shows that however fondly they may cherish them, they must experience the same fate with the beasts of the field. It is true that there is a great difference, so far as... [ Continue Reading ]
13_This their way is foolishness _As this verse has been variously rendered, I shall briefly, before giving my own sense of it, state the views which have been taken by others. As the Hebrew word כסל _, kesel, _which I have translated _foolishness, _occasionally means _the kidneys, _some refine upon... [ Continue Reading ]
14_Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed them _(227) The figure is striking. They go down into the grave as sheep are gathered into the fold by the shepherd. The entire world might not seem vast enough for men of a haughty spirit. They are so swollen with their vain imaginations, t... [ Continue Reading ]
15_But God will redeem my soul _The Hebrew particle, אך _, ach, _may be also translated, _surely, _or _certainly. _The psalmist had made a general assertion of the great truth, that the righteous shall have dominion in the morning, and now he applies it to himself for the confirmation of his own fai... [ Continue Reading ]
16_Be not thou afraid _The Psalmist repeats, in the form of an exhortation, the same sentiment which he had formerly expressed, that the children of God have no reason to dread the wealth and power of their enemies, or to envy their evanescent prosperity; and as the best preservative against despond... [ Continue Reading ]
18_For he will bless his soul in his lifetime _Various meanings have been attached to this verse. Some read, _He ought to have blessed his soul during his life _Others apply the first clause of the verse to the wicked, while they refer the second to believers, who are in the habit of praising God fo... [ Continue Reading ]
19_He shall come to the age of his fathers _He proceeds to show how false are the flatteries by which the wicked deceive themselves, and are deceived by others. Be they ever so intoxicated with the praises of the world, or with their own vain imaginations, yet they cannot live beyond the age of thei... [ Continue Reading ]
20_Man is in honor, and will not understand _(237) Here the prophet, that he may not be understood as having represented the present life, which in itself is a singular blessing of God, as wholly contemptible, corrects himself as it were, or qualifies his former statements by a single word, importin... [ Continue Reading ]