Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 2 · Psalm 44
PSAL. XLIV.
IN this Pſalm is lively expreſſed the Sufferings, the Complaints, the Aſſurances, the Petitions which are offered to God by good men, who ſuffer together with other in the common afflictions that God brings on his people.
The parts are two:The Arguments to perſwade his Petitions.
1. A Petition, from ver. 24. to the end.
2. The Arguments by which the Petition is quickned, from ver. 1. to 24.
First, He begins with the Arguments; of which,
1. The firſt part.The firſt is drawn from Gods goodneſs, of which he gives in particular; viz. his Benefits and Miracles done for their Fathers; 1Arg. From Gods goodneſs to his people.as if he had ſaid, This thou didſt for them, why art thou ſo eſtranged from us?
1. We have heard with our ears, O God, and our Fathers have told us, what Works thou didſt in their dayes, Ver. 1 and in the times of old? The particulars of which are:
1. Ver. 2 How thou didſt drive out the Heathen; viz. the Canaanites.
2. How thou plantedſt them.
3. How thou didſt afflict the people, and caſt them out, ver. 2.
2. This we acknowledge to be thy work; which he expreſſeth:
1. Ver. 3 foreign, Negatively, by remotion of what ſ…e might imagine: They got not the Land in poſſeſſion by their own Sword, neither was it their own arm that helped them, ver. 3. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy Name be the praiſe.
2. foreign, Poſitively; for it was thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light of thy countenance, a meer gratuito, becauſe thou hadſt a favour unto them, no other reaſon can be aſſigned, but that, ver. 3.
3. Ver. 4 Upon this conſideration, by an Apoſtrophe, he turns his ſpeech to God, and ſings an foreign, For which he ſings an foreign.of which the ſtreins are:
1. An open confeſſion, Thou art my King, O God.
2. A Petition, Send help unto Jacob, ver. 4.
3. A confident perſwaſion of future victory; but ſtill with Gods help and aſſiſtance, Ver. 5 ver. 5, 6, 7.
1. Through thee will we puſh down our enemies.
2. Through thee will we tread them under that riſe up against us; all through thee, in thy Name, by thy Power.
4. An abrenunciation of his own power or arm: For I will not truſt in my Bowe, Ver. 6 neither ſhall my Sword ſave me.
5. A reiteration, or a ſecond aſcription of the whole victory to God: But thou haſt ſaved us from our enemies, Ver. 7 Thou haſt put them to ſhame that hated us, ver. 7.
6. Ver. 8 A grateful return of thanks, which is indeed the Tribute God expects, and we are to pay upon any deliverance: In God we boast all the day long, The ſecond Argument, the preſent miſery the Church was in.and praiſe thy Name for ever, Selah.
Secondly, The ſecond Argument by which he wings his Petition, is drawn from the condition in which for the preſent Gods people were in; before he had done wonders for their deliverance, but now he had delivered them to the will of their enemies: This would move a man to think that his good will was changed toward them. Ver. 9
But thou haſt caſt us off, The conſequent lamentable.and put us to ſhame, and goeſt not forth with our Armies,
Of which the conſequences are many and grievous, although we acknowledge that all is from thee, and comes from thy hand and permiſſion.
1. Ver. 10 The firſt is, Thou makeſt us to turn back from the enemy, ver. 10.
2. The ſecond, we become a prey: They which hate us, spoil for themſelves, v. 10.
3. Ver. 11 The third, we are devoured: Thou hast given us as ſheep appointed for meat, killed cruelly, when, and as they pleaſe, ver. 11.
4. The fourth, we are driven from out Countrey, and made to dwell where they will plant us: Thou haſt ſcattered us among the Heathen; inter Gentes, Ver. 12 and that's a great diſcomfort, to live among people, without God in the World.
5. The fifth, we are become ſlaves, ſold and bought as Beaſts, and that for any price, upon any exchange: Thou ſelleſt thy people for nought, and doſt not increaſe thy wealth by their price, ver. 12. puts them off as worthleſs things.
6. The ſixth, we are made a ſcorn, a mock, and to whom? to our enemies; nay, for that might be born; but even to our friends and neighbours: Ver. 13 Thou makeſt us a reproach to our neighbours, a ſcorn and deriſion to them that are round about us; and this he amplifies: Ver. 14
1. From the circumſtances: 1. That they were a Proverb of reproach: The Aggravation by an excellent incrementum, or foreign.Thou makeſt us a by-word among the Heathen:
2. That in ſcorn any one that would, uſed a ſcornful geſture toward them: We are become a ſhaking of the head among the people.
3. That this inſultation is continual: My confuſion is daily before me. Ver. 15
4. It is ſuperlative; ſhame ſo great, that he had not what to ſay to it: The ſhame of my face hath covered me. Ver. 16
5. It is publick, their words and geſtures are not concealed, they ſpeak out what they pleaſe; Aſham'd I am for the voyce of him that reproacheth and blaſphemeth, for the enemy and avenger.
Thirdly, And yet he uſeth a third Argument, The third Argument, from the conſtancy of the Church under the Croſsthat the Petition may be the more grateful, and more eaſily granted; drawn it is, from the conſtancy and perſeverance of Gods people in the profeſſion of the Truth, notwithſtanding this heavy croſs, perſecution, and affliction.
All this is come upon us: Thus we are oppreſſed, devoured, baniſhed, ſold, Ver. 17 derided; Yet▪ we continue to be thy ſervants ſtill, we retain our faith, hope, ſervice.
1. We have not forgotten thee; not forgotten that thou art our God.
2. We have not dealt falſly in thy Covenant; we have not bogled and jugled in thy Service, daubing with any ſide for our advantage, renouncing our integrity. Ver. 18
3. Our heart is not turned back; our heart is upright, not turned back to the Idols our Fathers worſhipped.
4. Our steps are not gone out of thy way: Slip we may, but not revolt; no not though great calamities are come upon us: 1. Broken: 2. Ver. 19 Broken in the place of Dragons; i. e. enemies fierce as Dragons: 3. Their appeal.Though covered with the ſhadow of death.
Now that all this is true, we call thee our God to witneſs, Ver. 20 who knoweſt the very ſecrets of the heart, and art able to revenge it.
If we have forgotten the Name of our God, or ſtretched out our hands to, &c. Ver. 21 Shall not God ſearch it out? for he knows the very ſecret of the heart.
Fourthly, But the laſt Argument is more preſſing than the other three; The fourth Argument, from their profeſſion of truth.it is not for any wrong we have done thoſe who thus oppreſs us, that we are thus perſecuted by them; it is for thee, it is becauſe we profeſs thy Name, and riſe up in defence of thy Truth.
Yea, for thy ſake are we killed all the day long, Ver. 22 for thy ſake are we counted as ſheep for the ſlaughter.
The ſum then is, ſince thou haſt been a good God to our Fathers, ſince we ſuffer ſo great things under bitter Tyrants, ſince notwithſtanding all our ſufferings, we are conſtant to thy Truth, ſince theſe our ſufferings are for thee, for thy ſake, His Petition.thy truth; therefore awake, ariſe, help us; for upon theſe grounds he commenceth his Petition.The ſecond part.
This is the ſecond part of the Pſalm, which begins, ver. 23. and continues to the end; in which Petition there be theſe degrees.
1. That God, Ver. 23 who to fleſh and blood in the calamities of his Church ſeems to ſleep, would awake, and ſet a ſtop to their trouble: Awake, why ſleepeſt thou, O Lord, ver. 23.
2. That he would ariſe, and judge their cauſe, and not ſeem to neglect them as abjects: Ariſe, caſt us not off for ever, ver. 23.
3. That he would ſhew them ſome favour, Ver. 24 and not ſeem to forget their miſeries: Wherefore hideſt thou thy face, and forgetteſt our affliction and oppreſſion?
4. Laſtly, That he would be their Helper, and actually deliver them: Ariſe for our help, Ver. 26 and redeem us for thy mercies ſake.
Which Petition, that it might be the ſooner and eaſier granted, he briefly repeats the ſecond Argument: Ver. 25 ver. 25. For our ſoul is bowed down to the duſt, our belly cleaveth to the Earth; brought we are, as low as low may be, even to the duſt, to death, to the grave.
The Prayer collected out of the forty fourth Pſalm.
O God the Father of mercy, Ver. 1 Thou haſt called thoſe thy people which were not a people, and choſen them to be thy children, who were aliens and ſtrangers to thy Covenant: Ver. 2 We have heard with our ears, and our Fathers have declared unto us, That thou haſt gathered thy Church out of all Nations, that thou haſt driven out thine own people, the Jewes, and planted us Gentiles in their room: Thou haſt called us by thy Goſpel, redéemed us by thy Blood, purified us by thy Spirit, and that not for any merit that was in us, or goodneſs, or power, Ver. 3 to which we could lay claim: For we got not a poſſeſſion in thy Church, by our own Sword, neither was it out own arm that could ſave us; but it was thy right hand, and thy arm, and the light and favour of thy countenance; no other reaſon can be given of this wonderful kindneſs, but becauſe thou hadſt a favour, and boreſt a good will unto us.
But now, O Lord, Thou haſt caſt us off, and put us to ſhame, Thou haſt not gone forth with our Armies: Ver. 9 Thou haſt made us turn our backs upon our enemies, and they that hate us, ſpoile us, our habitations, our goods, and thy Temples at their pleaſure; deſlined we are, like ſimple and harmleſs ſhéep, to be ſlaughtered and devoured by theſe gréedy woldes, ſcattered and diſperſed whether they pleaſe, and forced out of our Countrey, to dwell among another people: As ſlaves, they have made merchandize of us, and ſold us at ſo baſe a rate, as if we were of no value; as if the moſt contemptible thing were price good enough for us. To our neighbours we are become a reproach; to thoſe round about us, a ſcorn, a deriſion, a proverb; our miſery is their mirth, and at the ſight of us, in a ſcoff they ſhake their heads; every day we méet with what doth amaze and confound us; and for ſhame, in every place we come, we hide and cover our faces; for our enemies lift up their voyces and revile us; petulant they are, and take their revenge by reproaches and blaſphemies.
Thou, Lord, knoweſt the ſecret of the heart; Thou, Lord, knoweſt that 'tis for thy ſake we are killed all day long, and accounted no better than ſheep appointed to be ſlain: Ver. 21 All this is come upon us for thee, theſe ſcorns and calamities we ſuffer for the profeſſion of thy Truth, and yet we are patient under the Croſs; Yet we have not forgotten thee, thy Worſhip, thy Service, nor dealt falſly and hypocritically in thy Covenant; our heart is yet ſincere and upright, we have not turned our backs upon thee, Ver. 17 neither have our ſteps gone out of the right and ſtrait way; we have not forgotten our God, nor holden up our hands to any ſtrange god: No, not when thou haſt ſmitten us in a land of captivity, where we converſe with Dragons in the ſhape of men, and every hour preſents us with the face of death. Should any ſuch wickedneſs be in our hands, it could not be hid from thée, Thou, Lord, wouldſt ſearch it out; for thou knoweſt the ſecret of the heart.
And now, Lord, what is our hope? truly our hope is then in thée: Thou art our King, O God, command deliverance for Jacob: Give us power by thée, to puſh down our enemies, and through thy Name, to tread them down that riſe up againſt us: We will not truſt in our Bowe, neither ſhall our Sword ſave us; it is thou alone, thou alone, O Lord, who muſt ſave us from our enemies, who muſt put them to ſhame and confuſion that hate us.
At this time we are in great diſtreſs, Ver. 25 our ſoul is bowed down to the duſt, our belly cleaveth to the ground: Awake therefore, O Lord, why ſleepeſt thou, ariſe, and caſt us not off for ever? Wherefore hideſt thou thy face, and forgetteſt our affliction and oppreſſion? Ariſe for us, and help us, and redeem us for thy mercy ſake; then in God will we boaſt all the day long, and praiſe thy Name for ever: Ver. 8 Thy mercy will appear to be ſo wonderful and ſignal in our delivery, that we will give thée perpetual and eternal thanks, celebrate and extoll thy loving kindneſs from Generation to Generation.