INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 39 TO THE CHIEF MUSICIAN, [EVEN] TO JEDUTHUN, A PSALM OF DAVID. Some take Jeduthun to be the name of a musical instrument, as Jarchi, on which, and others the first word of a song, to the tune of which, this psalm was sung, as Aben Ezra; though it seems best, with Kimchi and o... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAID,.... That is, in his heart; he purposed and determined within himself to do as follows; and he might express it with his mouth, and so his purpose became a promise; I WILL TAKE HEED TO MY WAYS; as every good man should; that is, to all his actions, conduct, and conversation: it becomes him t... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS DUMB WITH SILENCE,.... Quite silent, as if he had been a dumb man, and could not speak; so he was before men, especially wicked men, and under the afflicting hand of God; see Psalms 39:9; thus he put his resolution into practice; I HELD MY PEACE, [EVEN] FROM GOOD; that is, he said neither goo... [ Continue Reading ]
MY HEART WAS HOT WITHIN ME,.... Either with zeal for God; or rather with envy at the prosperity of wicked men, and with impatience at his own afflictions; WHILE I WAS MUSING THE FIRE BURNED; not the fire of the divine word, while he was meditating upon it, which caused his heart to burn within him;... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD, MAKE ME TO KNOW MINE END,.... Not Christ, the end of the law for righteousness, as Jerom interprets it; nor how long he should live, how many days, months, and years more; for though they are known of God, they are not to be known by men; but either the end of his afflictions, or his, latter e... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THOU HAST MADE MY DAYS [AS] AN HANDBREADTH,.... These words, with the following clause, are the psalmist's answer to his own inquiries; or rather a correction of his inquiry and impatience, showing how needless it was to ask such questions, and be impatient to die, when it was so clear and c... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY EVERY MAN WALKETH IN A VAIN SHOW,.... Or "in an image" z; not "in the image of the Lord", as the Targum; in the image in which God created man, for that is lost; nor in that which is stamped on men in regeneration; for every man does not walk in that; rather in the image of fallen man, in whi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW, LORD, WHAT WAIT I FOR?.... Look for, or expect, in this view of things? not long life, since the days of man are so short, and his age as nothing; not help from man, since he is altogether vanity; not riches and honour, since they are such poor, fading, perishing things; but the glories of... [ Continue Reading ]
DELIVER ME FROM ALL MY TRANSGRESSIONS,.... Which were the cause and occasion of all his distresses, inward and outward; and the deliverance prayed for includes a freedom from the dominion of sin, which is by the power of efficacious grace; and from the guilt of sin, which is by the application of th... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS DUMB, I OPENED NOT MY MOUTH,.... This refers either to his former silence, before he broke it, Psalms 39:1, or to what he after that came into again, when he had seen the folly of his impatience, the frailty of his life, the vanity of man, and all human affairs, and had been directed to place... [ Continue Reading ]
REMOVE THY STROKE AWAY FROM ME,.... The psalmist still considers his affliction as coming from the hand of God, as his stroke upon him, and which lay as a heavy burden on him, and which God only could remove; and to him he applies for the removal of it, who is to be sought unto by his people to do s... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THOU WITH REBUKES DOST CORRECT MAN FOR INIQUITY,.... The psalmist illustrates his own case, before suggested, by the common case and condition of men, when God corrects them; which he has a right to do, as the Father of spirits, and which he does with rebukes; sometimes with rebukes of wrath, w... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR MY PRAYER, O LORD,.... Which was, that he would remove the affliction from him that lay so hard and heavy upon him; AND GIVE EAR UNTO MY CRY; which shows the distress he was in, and the vehemency with which he put up his petition to the Lord; HOLD NOT THY PEACE AT MY TEARS; which were shed in... [ Continue Reading ]
O SPARE ME,.... Or "look from me" f; turn away thy fierce countenance from me; or "cease from me g, and let me alone"; as in Job 10:20; from whence the words seem to be taken, by what follows: THAT I MAY RECOVER STRENGTH; both corporeal and spiritual: BEFORE I GO HENCE; out of this world by death... [ Continue Reading ]