INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 116 Theodoret applies this psalm to the distresses of the Jews in the times of the Maccabees under Antiochus Epiphanes; and R. Obadiah interprets some passages in it of the Grecians of those times; but it rather seems to have been written by David on account of some troubles o... [ Continue Reading ]
I LOVE THE LORD,.... As the Messiah, David's antitype, did; of which he gave the fullest proof by his obedience to his will; and as David, the man after God's own heart, did, and as every good man does; and the Lord is to be loved for the perfections of his nature, and especially as they are display... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE HE HATH INCLINED HIS EAR UNTO ME,.... Not as hard of hearing, for his ear is not heavy that it cannot hear; he is quick of hearing, and his ears are always open to the righteous; it rather denotes his readiness to hear; he hearkens and hears, he listens to what his people say, and hears them... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SORROWS OF DEATH COMPASSED ME,.... Christ, of whom David was a type, was a man of sorrows all his days; and in the garden he was surrounded with sorrow; exceeding sorrowful even unto death, in a view of the sins of his people imputed to him, and under a sense of wrath for them, he was about to b... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN CALLED I UPON THE NAME OF THE LORD,.... Upon the Lord himself in prayer for speedy deliverance; or "in the name of the Lord" h, in the name of the Messiah, the only Mediator between God and man; "saying", as follows, and which word may be supplied, O LORD, I BESEECH THEE, DELIVER MY SOUL; from... [ Continue Reading ]
GRACIOUS IS THE LORD,.... So the psalmist found him, calling upon him; so he is in Christ, the author and giver of all grace, to help in time of need. AND RIGHTEOUS; faithful to his promises, just in every dispensation of his providence, even in afflictive ones; righteous in punishing the enemies o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD PRESERVETH THE SIMPLE,.... Such as have but a small degree of understanding, either in things natural or spiritual, in comparison of others; babes, as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it, so in the Talmud i; see Matthew 11:25. Such who are sensibl... [ Continue Reading ]
RETURN UNTO THY REST, O MY SOUL,.... To a quiet and tranquil state after much distress k; a soliloquy, an address to his own soul to return to God his resting place, as Kimchi; or to Christ, whose rest is glorious, and which lies in a cessation from a man's own works; not from doing them, but from d... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST DELIVERED MY SOUL FROM DEATH,.... From a corporeal death, when his life was in danger, surrounded by Saul's army, in the hand of the Philistines at Gath, and when his son rebelled against him; and from a spiritual death in regeneration, which is a passing from death to life; and from a... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL WALK BEFORE THE LORD IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. As in the sight of the omniscient God, according to his word and will, and in such manner as to please him. So Enoch's walking with God is by the apostle explained of pleasing him; compare Genesis 5:22, and so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and... [ Continue Reading ]
I BELIEVED, THEREFORE HAVE I SPOKEN,.... Here the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, begin a new psalm, but without any foundation in the original; nor is it countenanced by the Targum; and is manifestly against the connection with the preceding verses. David expresses his fai... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAID IN MY HASTE, ALL MEN [ARE] LIARS. The sin of lying is common to man; there is a natural proneness and propensity to it: men go astray from the womb, speaking lies; yet such who have received the grace of God "put [it] off" with the rest of "the deeds of the old man", and are "children that wi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL I RENDER UNTO THE LORD?.... He considers the Lord only as the author and giver of his mercies, and has nothing to say of his own merits, nor of other persons, who might be instruments of good to him; but is for giving all the glory to God: not as though he could render anything proportion... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL TAKE THE CUP OF SALVATION,.... Or "salvations" n; not the eucharistic cup, or the cup in the Lord's supper, which the apostle calls "the cup of blessing", 1 Corinthians 10:16; though some so think, and that the psalmist represents the saints under the Gospel dispensation; nor the cup of affli... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PAY MY VOWS UNTO THE LORD NOW, IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL HIS PEOPLE. Make good the resolutions and determinations he made in the strength of divine grace, in the time of his troubles; that should the Lord deliver him out of them, he would give him all the glory, and offer thanksgiving and praise... [ Continue Reading ]
PRECIOUS IN THE SIGHT OF THE LORD [IS] THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS. The Lord has his saints or sanctified ones, who are sanctified or set apart by God the Father from all eternity; who are sanctified in Christ, their head and representative; who are sanctified by his blood, shed for the expiation of the... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, TRULY I [AM] THY SERVANT, I [AM] THY SERVANT,.... Not merely by creation, and as obliged by providential favours; but by the grace of God, which made him a willing one: and he was so, not nominally only, but in reality; not as those who say Lord, Lord, but do not the will of God; whereas he... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL OFFER TO THEE THE SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING,.... For deliverance from afflictions and death; for loosing his bonds, in every sense; for all mercies, temporal and spiritual; see Romans 6:17; Such sacrifices are according to the will of God; are well pleasing to him, when offered up through Chr... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PAY MY VOWS UNTO THE LORD,.... Psalms 116:14. And the Targum here, as there, paraphrases the latter clause, NOW IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL HIS PEOPLE, thus; "I will then declare his signs (or wonders) to all his people;'' the marvellous things he had done for him.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE COURTS OF THE LORD'S HOUSE,.... This is added by way of explanation of Psalms 116:18, what he meant by "the presence of all his people"; the assembly of the saints met together in the house of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle, in the courts of it, where the people got together to worsh... [ Continue Reading ]