Psalms 17:15

Verse Psalms 17:15. As for me] I cannot be satisfied with such a portion.

I will behold thy face] Nothing but an evidence of thy approbation can content my soul.

In righteousness] I cannot have thy approbation unless I am conformed to thy will. I must be righteous in order that my heart and life may please thee.

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.] Nothing but God can satisfy the wishes of an immortal spirit. He made it with infinite capacities and desires; and he alone, the infinite Good, can meet and gratify these desires, and fill this all-capacious mind. No soul was ever satisfied but by God; and he satisfies the soul only by restoring it to his image, which, by the fall, it has lost.

I think there is an allusion here to the creation of Adam. When God breathed into him the breath of lives, and he became a living soul, he would appear as one suddenly awaked from sleep. The first object that met his eyes was his glorious Creator, and being made in his image and in his likeness, he could converse with him face to face - was capable of the most intimate union with him, because he was filled with holiness and moral perfection. Thus was he satisfied, the God of infinite perfection and purity filling all the powers and faculties of his soul. David sees this in the light of the Divine Spirit, and knows that his happiness depends on being restored to this image and likeness; and he longs for the time when he shall completely arise out of the sleep and death of sin, and be created anew after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness. I do not think that he refers to the resurrection of the body, but to the resurrection of the soul in this life; to the regaining the image which Adam lost.

The paraphrase in my old Psalter understands the whole of this Psalm as referring to the persecution, passion, death, and resurrection of Christ; and so did several of the primitive fathers, particularly St. Jerome and St. Augustine. I shall give a specimen from Psalms 17:11: -

Projicientes me, nunc circumdederunt me: oculos suos statuerunt declinare in terram.

Trans. Forth castand me now, thai haf umgyfen me: thair egheu thai sette to heelde in the erde.

Par. - Forth kasten me out of the cite, als the stede had bene fyled of me: now thai haf umgyfen me in the cros hyngand, als folk that gedyrs til a somer gamen: for thai sett thair eghen, that es the entent of thaire hert to heeld in the erde; that es, in erdly thynges to covayte tham, and haf tham. And thai wende qwen thai slew Crist that he had suffird al the ill, and thai nane.

Perhaps some of my readers may think that this needs translating, so far does our present differ from our ancient tongue.

Text. - They have now cast me forth; they have surrounded me: their eyes they set down to the earth.

Par. - They have cast me out of the city, as if the state were to be defiled by me: now they have surrounded me hanging on the cross, as people gathered together at summer games. For they set their eyes, that is, the intent of their heart, down to the earth; that is, earthly things, to covet them and to have them: and they thought, when they slew Christ, that he had suffered all the ill, and they none.

BY the slot or track of the hart on the ground, referred to in Psalms 17:11, experienced huntsmen can discern whether there have been a hart there, whether he has been there lately, whether the slot they see be the track of a hart or a hind, and whether the animal be young or old. All these can be discerned by the slot. And if the reader have that scarce book at hand, Tuberville on Hunting, 4to, 1575 or 1611, he will find all this information in chap. xxii., p. 63, entitled, The Judgment and Knowledge by the Slot of a Hart; and on the same page; a wood-cut, representing a huntsman with his eyes set, bowing down to the earth, examining three slots which he had just found. The cut is a fine illustration of this clause. Saul and his men were hunting David, and curiously searching every place to find out any track, mark, or footstep, by which they might learn whether he had been in such a place, and whether he had been there lately. Nothing can more fully display the accuracy and intensity of this search than the metaphor contained in the above clause. He who has been his late Majesty's huntsmen looking for the slot in Windsor Forest will see the strength and propriety of the figure used by the psalmist.

Ver. Psalms 17:12. Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey.] This is the picture of Saul. While his huntsmen were beating every bush, prying into every cave and crevice, and examining every foot of ground to find out a track, Saul is ready, whenever the game is started, to spring upon, seize, and destroy it. The metaphors are well connected, well sustained, and strongly expressive of the whole process of this persecution.

In the ninth verse the huntsmen beat the forest to raise and drive in the game. In the tenth they set their nets, and speak confidently of the expected success. In the eleventh, they felicitate themselves on having found the slot, the certain indication of the prey being at hand. And in the twelfth, the king of the sport is represented as just ready to spring upon the prey; or, as having his bow bent, and his arrow on the string, ready to let fly the moment the prey appears. It is worthy of remark, that kings and queens were frequently present, and were the chiefs of the sport; and it was they who, when he had been killed, broke up the deer: 1. Slitting down the brisket with their knife or sword; and, 2. Cutting off the head. And, as Tuberville published the first edition of his book in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, he gives a large wood-cut, p. 133, representing this princess just alighted from her horse-the stag stretched upon the ground - the huntsman kneeling, holding the fore foot of the animal with his left hand, and with his right presenting a knife to the queen for the purpose of the breaking up. As the second edition was published in the reign of James the First, the image of the queen is taken out and a whole length of James introduced in the place.

The same appears in Tuberville's Book of Falconrie, connected with the above. In p. 81, edition 1575, where the flight of the hawk at the heron is represented, the queen is seated on her charger: but in the edition of 1611 King James is placed on the same charger, the queen being removed.

The lion is the monarch of the forest; and is used successfully here to represent Saul, king of Israel, endeavouring to hunt down David; hemming him in on every side; searching for his footsteps; and ready to spring upon him, shoot him with his bow, or pierce him with his javelin, as soon as he should be obliged to flee from his last cover. The whole is finely imagined, and beautifully described.

ANALYSIS OF THE SEVENTEENTH PSALM

David's appeal to God in justification of himself; and his petition for defence against his enemies.

There are THREE parts in this Psalm: -

I. A petition. 1. For audience, Psalms 17:1; Psalms 17:6. 2. For perseverance in good, Psalms 17:5. 3. For special favour, Psalms 17:7. 4. For immediate deliverance, Psalms 17:13.

II. A narration; in which we meet with, 1. His appeal to God, and his own justification, Psalms 17:2. 2. The reasons of it; his enemies and their character, Psalms 17:9.

III. A conclusion; which has two parts. 1. One belonging to this life; and, 2. One belonging to the life to come, Psalms 17:15.

I. 1. He begins with petition for audience. And he urges it for two reasons: 1. The justness of his cause: "Hear the right, O Lord." 2. The sincerity of his heart: "That goeth not out of feigned lips."

2. Again, there were other reasons why he desired to be heard: 1. He felt himself prone to slip, and fall from God: "Hold up my goings," c. 2. He was in great danger, and nothing but a miracle could save him: "Show thy marvellous lovingkindness." 3. His enemies were insolent and mighty, and God's sword only could prevail against them: "Arise, O Lord," Psalms 17:13.

II. A narration: His appeal to God. Since a verdict must pass upon him, he desired that God should pronounce it: "Let my sentence come forth from thy presence." I know that thou art a righteous Judge, and canst not be swayed by prejudice: "Let thine eyes behold the thing that is equal," and then I know it must go well with me: "Thou hast proved my heart. Thou hast tried me before on this business, and hast found nothing.

1. Nothing in my HEART: "Thou hast proved my heart."

2. Nothing in my TONGUE: "For I am purposed that my mouth shall not offend."

3. Nothing in my HAND: "For, concerning the works of men," which are mischievous by the words of thy lips, I have had so great a regard to thy commandments that "I have kept myself from the paths of the wicked;" of him who, to satisfy his own desires, breaks all laws.

4. He confesses that he was poor and weak, and liable to fall, unless sustained by the grace of God: "Hold up my goings in thy paths."

And this first petition he renews, and takes courage from the assurance that he shall be heard: "I will call upon thee, for thou wilt hear me." And he puts in a special petition, which has two parts:-

1. "Show thy marvellous lovingkindness;" let me have more than ordinary help. And this he urges from the consideration that God saves them who trust in him from those who rise up against them.

2. That he would save him with the greatest care and vigilance, as a man would preserve the apple of his eye, or as a hen would guard her young: "Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me," c.

And to prevail in this special petition, he brings his arguments from his present necessity. He was encompassed with enemies, whom he describes:-

1. They were capital enemies they hemmed him in on every side.

2. They were powerful, proud, and rich: "Men enclosed in their own fat, speaking proudly with their tongues," Psalms 17:10.

3. Their counsels were fixed, and bent to ruin him: "They set their eyes, bowing down to the earth," Psalms 17:11.

4. They were such enemies as prospered in their designs, Psalms 17:14. 1. Men of the world. 2. They had their portion in this life, and sought for none other. 3. They fed themselves without fear: "Their bellies were full." 4. They had a numerous offspring, and therefore more to be dreaded because of their family connections. 5. They left much substance behind them, so that their plans might be all continued and brought to effect.

III. The conclusion, containing the expectation of David, opposed to his enemies' felicity.

1. In this life: "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness."

2. In the life to come: "When I awake," rise from the dead, "after thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it."

On each of these divisions the reader is referred to the notes.