Notes on the Book of Psalms, Psalm 22 – Psalm 23
The xxii. PSALM.
David as a type of Christ shews his faith in God, and Gods love and faithfulnes towards him, notwithstanding the despightful usage, and cruel persecution of his enemies, which he sets forth by metaphorical expressions, and hyperbolical allusions of his sufferings, to those, which Christ shall realy undergo, and for all his sufferings he tels how close he stuck to God in prayer-fulnes and praise-ful confidence, and how friendly and faithful he had ever found God to him in his most despicable and forlorn condition, as he will be to Christ whom he will highly favour in his greatest abasement, and exalt him to the highest dignitie of being the sole Saviour of his Church, and supream potentate of all the World.
Psalm xxii. To the chief musician upon Aijeleth-Shahar, A Psalm of David.To him that is most skilful upon the instrument Aijeleth-Shahar, which signifies the Hind of the morning; shewing Davids and Christs early and uncessant persecution (or hunting) till they came to their Kingdoms.
1MY God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring.1 THou that art my God, I am confident and well assured in special relation and affection to me, why then seemest thou to have forsaken me, and exposest me to such extream sufferings by mine enemies, as force from me grievous complaints, and yet find no relief, or audience, as unto ease, in these my sufferings, as shall befal Christ himself in the agony of his passion.
2 O God whom I must and cannot but own for mine,2O my God, I crie in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. night and day am I in continual vexation, and put up uncessant prayers unto thee accordingly, but am not heard.
3 But however thou delayest to answer,3But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. yet art thou holy and faithful of thy word and promise, and therefore Ile both trust and try thee to the uttermost. O thou that dwellest in thy sanctuarie where the wonderful praise-worthie works which thou hast done and doest for thy people Israel are acknowledged to thy glorie, & where I hope to praise thee, as well as others.
4 Our forefathers made thee their salvation,4Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. they believed in thy promises of protection, and thou didst not deceive them, but didst wonderfully preserve them, maugre all their powerful and spiteful enemies.
5 When they in their distresses put up their prayers to thee,5They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. thou heardest and answerest them with deliverance. They believed in thy faithfulnes and power to uphold and protect them, and sped accordingly, never having cause to be ashamed of their trust in thee.
6 And if it have been thy custom to shew them most good will and faithfulnes in their worst estate,6But I am a worm, and no man: a reproch of men, and despised of the people. why I am (as Christ shall be) brought as low as low can be imagined, reputed in the eye of the world an abject fellow, one, to whom most men offer all manner of scorn and despite.
7 None owns me for better than a laughing-stock7All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying, shewing all signs of contempt and disgrace to me, as they shall to him.
8He trusted on the Lord, that he would deliver him: let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him.8 And all, because I have trusted in thee to carrie on the busines of the Kingdom that thou hast engaged me in, they blasphemously mock at my faith as a vain and fruitles thing, and at thy power as if it were not able to deliver; and at thy favour also, wherein its true I have boasted my self; as if it were a delusion or meer imaginarie thing, of no realitie or benefit to them that have it, more than to them that have it not; The like whereof they shall do to Christ.
9But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope, when I was upon my mothers breasts.9 But say they what they will in mockage of my trust and thy favour, yet thou hast been my God from the very first, and so shalt be to the last, and from thee and thy good grace and providence do I own all my subsistence and being, and what good soever hath been by any contributed to me I ascribe it all to thee, even that which the mid-wife or my mother did for me in my very infancie.
10I was cast upon thee from the womb; thou art my God from my mothers belly.10 I have had all my preservation from thee, both in, and ever since my birth, hast thou shewed thy manifold love and care to me.
11Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.11 And thou that hast kept me hitherto, I hope wilt not now cast me of in time off need, nor expose me to undergo my troubles without thee, who art mine onelyonly helper.
12Many buls have compassed me: strong buls of Bashan have beset me round.12 Many enemies of great wrath and furie have combined themselves against me, as they will against Christ; yea, men of greatest power and violence have begirt me to procure my ruin, like so many high fed buls in the fat pastures of Bashan.
13 They have shewed all signs of hatred and cruelty to me,13They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and roaring Lion. and would even Lion-like tear me in pieces, for the indignation they have against me, were I in their hands to prey upon.
14 I am a man dissolved in tears by reason of my great extremities,14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joynt: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. nor have I any ease, but by reason of mine uncessant sorrows am like a man in perpetual rack and torture, in type sustaining the very agonies of Christ; mine heart is enfeebled, and as it were wasted and consumed within me, by reason of mine inward grief and earnings.
15 All my spirits are spent through sorrow,15My strength is dried up like a pot-sheard: and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; & thou hast brought me into the dust of death. and I am become like a broken pot-sheard, without any natural moisture left in me, wherewith life and strength should be maintained, it being quite wasted and dried up: yea, that which feeds and facilitates the motion of the tongue in speech, is exhausted, and my tongue is put to silence, and made useless through want of its supply. All manner of moisture is so spent, and my bodie so dried up and parched with the excessive sorrows thou hast heaped upon me, that it seems, as if it would dissolve into dust, as when it is in the grave.
16 For I am persecuted and endangered by unreasonable men of fierce implacable minds;16For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I am in extream hazard by a multitude of impious and blasphemous wretches, that hate me as they will the Messiah for righteousness sake, and with endless vexations as it were crucifie me, as they will do him by a lingring death upon the cross.
17 Grief hath so pined me away,17I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. that my flesh is wasted from my bones, and I am become like an Anatomie, even to the wonderment of my pitiless enemies, so Christ shall be to his.
18They part my garments among them and cast lots for my vesture.18 They verily believe to make a prey of me, first to ruin me, and then to divide that which is mine as a spoil amongst them, as they shall the garments of Christ when they have put him to death.
19But be not thou far from me, O Lord; O …y strength, hast the… to help me.19 But though they be thus mischievously bent against me, yet Lord let me have thee on my side: Be not thou to seek in mine extremities, that art mine onelyonly trust and succour, but be ready at hand to help me in my need.
20Deliver my soul from the sword: my darling from the power of the dog.20 Let them not take away my life by the sword of violence and injustice, but preserve thou it from their power and malice, which is the choicest of all thy blessings bestowed upon me, as that wherein my very being consists, therefore let not the cruel-minded man that persecutes me for it ever obtein it.
21Save me from the Lions mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.21 My case is very desperate and full of danger, for I am ready to be devoured by my Lion-like enemies, but Lord, thou that canst deliver, do deliver me; in token of the resurrection of Christ even from death it self, and the rather, for that heretofore I have found favour and had audience, in as desperate a condition and as imminent peril of death by mighty enemies.
22I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.22 I will in Psalms of praise magnifie thy power and goodnes amongst thy people, who are my brethren, flesh of my flesh, as the regenerate are one with Christ in spirit. In the midst of all Israel met together at thy sanctuary to worship thee, shall thy praises be openly sung in Psalms of praise which I will dedicate to thee.
23 Stirring up thereby thy faithful and obedient people to praise thee with me,23Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorifie him, and fear him, all ye seed of Israel. and for me the Type, as thy Church and chosen ones will for Christ the Antitype. All ye who are Jacobs posteritie and resemble Gods peculiar and elect people, exalt the Lord for the great benefits he hath afforded me, and to you by me; Serve him with reverence and Godly fear, all you that are Israel and sprung of Israel, as shall do the children of the promise, or the spiritual Israel of God under the Government of the Messiah.
24 For he hath ever been mindful both of you and me in all our afflictions,24For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted: neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard. then when the world hath contemned and disdained you, as it will his Church, and me as it will Christ; yet hath he highly set by us and done for us, nor hath he ever withdrawn his grace and favour from me, in my worst estate, no more than he will from the Messiah in his, but when at such times I cried unto him he hath most of all expressed it, ever vouchsafing me a gracious answer, and relief, as he will to him and his in like condition.
25 Therefore will I pay my homage of praise and thanks unto thee of whom I have received all my welfare and happines,25My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. even before all Israel will I do it, to provoke them to do the like, who have like cause with me: I will at those times of most solemn and publick worship sing thy praise and offer my sacrifice of thanks-giving unto thee, that all may joyn with me, and take example by me.
26 They that meekly undergo their sufferings,26The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him; your heart shall live for ever. and do wait upon the Lord for deliverance, and the fulfilling of his gracious promises, shall be sure at last to have their hearts desire, and shall be feasted with their own peace-offerings, as Christ shall be in heaven after he hath endured the cross. They shall have cause of praise that faithfully seek to him by prayer in their distresses. Such men shall not need to be discouraged at no time, nor in no condition, but shall always have cause comfortably to enjoy themselves by faith in God.
27 The time shall come, when Christ is come, and after his sufferings is exalted into glorie,27All the ends of the world shall remember, and turn unto the Lord: and all the kinreds of the nations shall worship before thee. as contemptible as he seemeth to be, that all the world shall take notice of their lost estate. But for him whom God hath exalted to the office of a Saviour and Mediator, and shall thereupon willingly and with all their hearts renounce their errours and idols to serve the onelyonly true God in Christ; and the manifold nations of the Gentiles, who now are a separate bodie from the Church, shall then be incorporated into it, acknowledging the Lord Christ and worshipping him, who when he is lifted up shall draw all men after him.
28For the Kingdom is the Lords: and he is the Governour among the nations.28 For God hath put all power into his hands, and he will shew that his Kingdom is not confined to Israel alone, but that he is King over the Gentiles, whom he will also bring under his dominion and allegiance.
29All they that be fat upon earth, shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust, shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul.29 All sorts of people from all parts of the earth shall submit to Christs scepter and salvation. They that outwardly abound in wealth and honour, or inwardly with carnal confidence or self-righteousness, shall yet be glad to casheer such destructive principles and deceivable, and account it their greater safetie and felicitie to take their souls repast in Christ, whom they shall feed upon by faith, as their peace-offering, for whom, and by whom they shall thankfully adore and worship God; all also that are abject and poor, or that in self-despair apprehend themselves under the bondage and fear of death by sin, shall likewise humbly and thankfully take hold of him for their Saviour, and honour him as their onelyonly Redeemer. And thus it shall be made appear by the conviction of all mens consciences, that were it not for him, all the world were undone; for no man can be saved without him, by his own righteousnes; nor purchase heaven either by worldly affluence or voluntarie penurie and pennance of soul or bodie, but onelyonly by being Christs, and having Christ for his.
30 Not that all the whole world shall either serve him or be saved by him.30A seed shall serve him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for a Generation. But a holy seed, like Jacobs, chosen and called every where out of the world shall believe in him, and yield obedience to him, and they shall be counted to the Lord for children, and he to them for a Father, because of their faith in him and obedience to him, and his reciprocal love to them and care over them.
31 They by the Fathers drawing shall come to Christ,31They shall come, and shall declare his righteousnes unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this. and partake of his justifying righteousnes and grace, when he is raised and exalted out of his abased condition of humiliation to be the King and Saviour of his Church. Which in zeal to Christ himself, and in Christian charitie and dutie they shall promulgate and declare also to succeeding Generations, and teach it to their children and childrens children, that they in like manner may partake of his grace, and be begotten to God by believing in him. Even those great things shall they declare, which he hath done for Christ, and for his Church in and through Christ, like as he hath done for me, and for the people of Israel by me.
The xxiii. PSALM.
David from what God had done for him in bringing him to the Kingdom argues what he will do, and sets his seal of faith and assurance to it, so as that by reason of his past and present condition, no future dangers shall dismay him. But is confident he shall spend and end his life in happines, and promises constant praises, for perpetuated mercies.
Psalm xxiii. A Psalm of David.A Psalm made by David.
1THe Lord is my shepheard, I shall not want.1 THe Lord hath shewn himself as careful and tender over me as a shepheard over his sheep, which makes me confident of his gratious benignity to me for the time to come, that of his bounteous goodnes he will so see to me, that I shall lack nothing that is expedient for me.
2He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me besides the still waters.2 For present, he hath made large provision for me, and carved with a bountiful hand unto me of every good thing, he gives me peace and plentie, and hath brought me into a safe and happie condition void of danger, and full of inward and outward tranquillitie.
3He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousnes for his names sake.3 He hath as it were given me a resurrection from the dead by freeing me from mortal dangers which put my very life in peril, and caused much affliction of mind, he hath carried on all the course of his providence towards me in a way of truth and faithfulnes according to his promise▪ and that onelyonly for his own free-grace and mercies sake, therefore hath nothing failed of all that he promised me.
4 Yea,4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. I have had such large and unquestionable experience of thy love and faithfulnes, that though I should be brought into never so great danger, and lie never so long under it, yet will I not distrust thy deliverance at last, for because all that befals me is by thy permission, and makes not void thy grace and providence, which is then with me, when all things are against me. Thou hast a rod of offence for mine enemies, and a staff of defence and protection for thy sheep, and for me thy servant, which sustains my faith and courage against all fears and dangers.
5 Thou hast plentifully provided for me,5Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oyl, my cup runneth over. enriched me with the spoil of my very enemies, and made me master and owner of that was theirs to the great regret of those of them that live to see me so, as many of them do; Thou hast heaped such an abundance of all manner of affluence and beneficence both for honour, delight, and necessitie upon me, that thou hast made me overflow in blessings and benefits unto others, as shall Christ the head to his members.
6 I cannot but conclude from that goodnes and merciemercy I have already found according to thy promise,6Surely goodnes and merciemercy shall follow me all the dayes of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. that I shall ever whilest I live be a large sharer in thy free and bounteous beneficence and liberality. And I promise by Gods grace I will never so surfet of thy benefits, as to forget my benefactor, but will diligently frequent thy sanctuarie, and hold on a constant course of praise and thanks-giving therein, according to thy commandments, as thou shalt hold on a course of merciemercy and favour to me, according to promise, ending as I begin.