Annotations on Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon, Annotations 2 · Psalm 144 – Psalm 150
PSAL. CXLIV.
Verse 1. WHich teacheth my hands to warre, and my fingers to fight.] That is, gave him that skill, courage and successe in the warre, that he got a compleat victory.
Vers. 4. Man is like to vanity.] Adam damah la hebel, Adam is like to Habel manAdam is …s Abel, or Abels ma…e, for to the name of the two Patriarchs there is an alliosion in the original. to vanity. Adam the earthly man, what possession (Kyman) soever he gat, all is Habel vanity. Broughton of the first ten Fathers.
Vers. 8. Their right-hand is a right-hand of falshood.] Either referre it to their oaths to God, so Glassius. When they sware to him, they used to lift up their righthand, Revel. 10. 5. Or their Covenant with men, their manner was to give the right-hand when they made a Covenant, Ezek. 17. 8. men whom neither oath to God, nor their Covenant with men would hold.Ingenium respiciens non originem. Ut similitudo templi, id est, valde ornatae, ut amari solet à gentilibus idolum quod praecipue colitur in templo illorum. Menoc. de Repub. Heb. l. 4 c. 1.
Vers. 11. Deliver me from the hand of strange children.] The Jews.
Vers. 12. May be as corner stones polished after the similitude of a palace.] Or, Temple, so the LXX.
Vers. 13. Affording all manner of store.] The Chaldee Paraphrast paraphraseth it ab anno in annum, from one year to another. Ainsworth renders it from meat to meat, or from sort to sort, that is, all sorts and store of victuals.
Vers. 15. Happy is that people that is in such a case: yea happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.]
David having prayed for many temporal blessings in the behalf of his people, from vers. 12. to this verse, at length he windeth up all indeed with this Epiphonema or conclusion, Blessed be the people that are in such a case: but presently comes with an Epanorthosis, or a correcting of his former speech, Yea rather happy is that people whose God is the Lord; As if he had said, that indeed is a thing to happinesse in some kinde, but nothing to this, that is but temporal, this eternal.Sine summo bono nil bonum.
The Lord is said to be his peoples God two wayes:
1. Spiritually, when he takes them into Covenant with himself.
2. Visibly, when he takes them into Church-fellowship, so he was the God ofBlessednesses, all manner of blessedness lies in this. Israel.
PSAL. CXLV.
Verse 9. ANd his tender mercies are over all his works.] There is no work of his handsSee Lam. 3. 22. which receiveth not from him some mercy.
Vers. 10. All thy works praise thee, O Lord: and the Saints shall blesse thee.] To blesse and praise differ, praise declareth his excellency, blesse, that is, acknowledge his benefits.
Vers. 18. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.] Which intimates,
1. That there is a calling upon God, and not in truth.
2. That there is no losse of a prayer which is made in truth, for God is near.
In truth.] That is, in faith and confidence, that they shall obtain the thing which they pray for.
PSAL. CXLVI.
Verse 2. VVHile I live, will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God, while I have any being.] There is no phrase more usual in the Psalms then to sing forth praises unto God, and it is not used without a special emphasis. For it is one thing to praise, and another to sing praises, as this verse sheweth. This is to publish, to declare, to speak of abundantly, to utter the memory of Gods great goodnesse, that one generation may derive praises unto another, as the expressions are Psal. 145. 4, 7.
Vers. 3. Put not your trust in Princes, nor in the sonne of man, in whom there is no help.]
There are two reasons why David instanceth in Princes:
1. Because all are apt to idolize men in power, Regis ad exemplum, &c.
2. Because David himself had been miserably deceived, he trusted much in the Courtiers of Saul and Jonathan. It is applicable to all sorts of men, therefore it is added, Nor in the son of man.
PSAL. CXLVII.
HAllelujah.] That is, Praise ye Jah. See Psal. 135. 1.Psalmus iste non solum in titulo, sed & exordio Psalmi habet Halleluja. Ubi autem dicitur Laudate Dominum in Hebraeo dicitur Halcluja. Hieron. in loc.
Vers. 1. Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God: for it is pleasant, and praise is comely.] There are good things which are not pleasant, as afflictions, Heb. 12. 11. There are pleasant things which yet are not comely, as foolish jesting, Ephes. 5. 4. but singing of Psalms is good, pleasant and comely. Good in its own nature, pleasant to the hearers, and comely to the user.
Vers. 10. He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man.] Either because the strength of a man lies there, or his agility is manifested there.
Any indowments of a man that are not grace, as the opposition makes manifest,See Psal. 33. 16 vers. 11.
Vers. 11. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him.] In their personsMelius est unum timere, ut plures non timeas: quam plures timere, ut unum non timeas. Hieron. and services.
Vers. 13. For he hath strengthened the barres of thy Gates.] Against enemies.Quinque versus continui pulcherrimâ aliquâ allusione insignes singuli, primus istorum, v. sc. 13. Casaub. de lingua Hebraica.
Vers. 16. He giveth snow like wool.] Not only because of the likenesse in colour,1. Propter albedinem, The whiteness of it, Psal. 51. 7. Isa. 1. 16. 2. Propter utilitatem, For the benefit and warmth of it to the earth. but also because it warmeth the ground, and preserveth the corn that is sown, Qui dat nivem candidam sicut lanam. Chaldaeus.
PSAL. CXLVIII.
Verse 4. PRaise him ye heavens of heavens: and ye waters that be above the heavens.]Plures Coelos dicimus Apostolus usque ad tertium Coelum raptum se esse dicit. Hieron. Infimi Coeli, viz. Aër in quo spiramus, ut servus servorum est infimus & abjectissimus servus. Foord. in loc. Heavens of heavens.] That is, the highest heavens.
Ye waters that be above the heavens.] That is, the clouds praise him, as they are the wonderfull work of God, and give men matter to praise him.
Vers. …1. Kings of the earth, and all people: Princes, and all Judges of the earth.
12. Both young men and maidens, old men and children.]Ut omnes homines comprehendat, tres differentias enumerat potestatis, sexus & aetatis: omnes igitur sive principes, sive privati, sive viri, sive foeminae, sive senes, sive adolescentes laudent nomen Domini. Bellarm. in loc. Cajet. & Carthusianus.
He invites all men of every condition, age and sex, lest any should think himself exempt from this duty.
PSAL. CXLIX.
Verse 6. LEt the high praises of God be in their mouth.] When God puts forth high acts of grace, he expects high praises.
Vers. 9. To execute upon them the judgement written.] In the book of God theSee 1 Cor. 4. 6. Revel. 12. 28. Hoc est, Sumendo de iis▪ omnibus supplicium, de quo scriptum est, Deut. 32. 41. Simeon de Mu…. Lord hath declared against some enemies, as Amalek and the Antichristian party.
PSAL. CL.
Verse 2. ACcording to his excellent greatnesse.] So we reade, but the Hebrew and Greek according to the multitude of his greatnesse, and so Ainsworth.Secundum amplitudinem maximam ejus. Tremel. Secundum multitudinem magnitudinis ejus. Vulg. Lat.
Vers. 4. Organ.] Or, The Organon, as the Greek translateth it: The Hebrew nameMemorat Organa Musica plura quam ullo alio Psalmo: quo ipso quoque significat, se ad pleniorem nos hîc laudem Dei provocare. Bucer…s. signifieth a lovely (or delightfull) instrument: It is one of the ancientest of the world, invented by Jubal. Gen. 4. 23. and an instrument of joy, Job 21. 12. & 30. 31.