Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 4 [i.e. 5] · Psalm 119 · Stanza 7
7. ZAIN.
IN this Octoſtich the Prophet firſt prayes. The Contents.2. Next ſhewes his conſtancy to hope and truſt in God, notwithſtanding ſome diſcouragements. 3. Commends the Word of God, ſhewing what effects it wrought in him.
1. 1He prayes.In the firſt verſe, he begins with a prayer, Remember thy Word unto thy ſervant, in which thou haſt cauſed me to hope.
1. Ver. 1 Remember: Not as if God could forget his Promiſe, or change his Will, or retract his Word; That God would remember his promiſe, for two reaſons.but God is then ſaid to forget, when he defers to fulfil his promiſe. Remember then, ſignifies nothing elſe, than accompliſh and perfect thy promiſe made unto me thy ſervant. And though he will fulfil what he hath promiſed, yet he will be asked to fulfil; and prayer is one, and a chief of thoſe means that draws him to fulfil it.
2. 1Becauſe his ſervant.Remember thy promiſe made to thy ſervant: Which he uſeth as an Argument to perſwade God to remember his Word; he was his ſervant, and had in ſome meaſure done him ſincere ſervice, and ſo had performed his promiſe made to God; and therefore deſires, that God would remember his promiſe made to him. It is in vain to deſire God to remember his promiſes made to us, when we make no conſcience to perform our promiſes made to God.
3. 2For his Words ſake.Wherein thou haſt cauſed me to put my trust: This is another, and more forcible Argument to move the Lord to perform his Word: As if he had ſaid, it now ſtands with the honour of thy Truth to do ſo; I hope not upon preſumption, but it was thou Lord, that haſt cauſed me to hope, and I know the true God can no more beguile me, than fail in his Truth: Hope then I do.
2. Now out of this hope and confidence, he received comfort in his greateſt affliction, ver. 2. declined not from Gods Law, ver. 3. pitied and lamented the caſe of Atheiſtical men, ver. 4.
1. In great afflictions and troubles he was, but this hope kept him faſt to God, he deſpaired not. Ver. 2
1. This made him conſtant.This is my comfort in my affliction: This, thy Word and Promiſe, in which thou haſt cauſed me to hope.
2. For thy Word, thy Promiſe hath quickned me, brought me life and ſpirit, ſtrength and increaſe; the comforts of Gods Word to an afflicted ſoul, are far beyond all Philoſophical precepts or comforts.
2. Enemies he had, proud men and ſcoffers, that tempted me to let go my hope, and forſake thy Word.
1. Ver. 3 The proud have had me greatly in deriſion; which is a ſhrewd temptation to a generous ſpirit.
2. Yet have I not declined from thy Law: Thy promiſe put life and vigour into me.
3. For in my affliction, and their ſcorns and deriſions:
1. Ver. 4 I remembred thy judgments of old, how thou caſts down the proud, and exalt'ſt the humble, And comfortable in his afflictions.giving ample rewards to thoſe that kept thy Law, as to Abraham, Job, &c. and brought'ſt heavy puniſhments upon the Tranſgreſſors of it, as the old World, Sodom, Pharaoh, &c.
2. And in thoſe I have comforted my ſelf, believing, quod bonis benè, quod malis malè.
3. His aſſured hope of reward promiſed in Gods Word, made him to grieve for, and commiſerate the cauſe of thoſe that forſook Gods Law wilfully and ſtubbornly, becauſe they ſhould never be partakers of the Reward God had promiſed.
1. Horrour hath taken hold upon me. Totus homo, contremiſco. He was afraid, Ver. 5 and grieved at the ſins of the wicked that ſcorned him, 2He commiſerates the caſe of the diſobedient.becauſe the Law of God was contemned by them; not for the harm they ſuffered, but for the harm they did thereby unto themſelves.
2. For theſe men were Deſertores, Apoſtates, wicked men that forſook thy Law: And ſure many of this Age are guilty of it, though not in words, yet in deeds.
3. Nor his afflictions, nor the deriſion of profane men, no, 3Shewes the effects Gods Word wrought upon him.nor the ill example of Apoſtates, could any way move him from his hope in Gods Promiſe, conſtant he was to the Law of God ſtill; and profeſſeth, that though wicked men could find no ſavour nor ſweetneſs in it, yet to him, that knew how great a Reward was laid up for them that kept it, it was both a ſweet and an eaſie yoke.
1. He was as yet out of his Countrey, in the houſe of his Pilgrimage; for Gods ſervants eſteem themſelves no better, they are but Pilgrims and ſtrangers upon earth. Ver. 6
2. And yet he took ſuch delight in Gods Law, that they were his Muſick and his Song: 1Delight.Thy ſtatutes have been my ſongs in the houſe of my pilgrimage.
3. Yea, which was yet more, not in the day-time only he entertained his thoughts with them, but in the night-ſeaſon alſo. I have remembred thy Name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy Law. When others ſnort, are ſecure, or meditate iniquity on their beds, then I meditate how to keep thy Law.
4. And ſo he concludes with this comfortable Epiphonema, This I had: 2Obedience.This Reward from thee, that nor the ſcoffs of mine enemies, nor mine own afflictions, nor yet the lewd examples of wicked men have removed me from thy Law: And over and above, that the hope I had in thee, hath ſo comforted my heart, That thy statutes have been my ſongs in this my Pilgrimage; my meditations in the night-ſeaſon, and that I have kept thy precepts.
The Prayer.
O moſt merciful God, I have not from any other means conceived hope of ſalvation and deliverance in my afflictions, than from thy moſt faithful promiſes; for from them it is, that I muſt fetch my ſole comfort, Ver. 1 if at any time the fleſh and humane reaſon, the Devil, and wicked men do proudly and maliciouſly inſult over me: Remember then thy Word unto thy ſervant, upon which thou haſt cauſed me to hope. Nany are the troubles of my ſoul, Ver. 3 but yet I deſpair not; many are the ſcoffs and ſcorns that proud men have caſt upon me, from adhering to thée; but yet I have not declined from thy Law, Ver. 2 for thy promiſes have been my comfort, and thy Word hath quickned me, put life into me, and refreſhed me; and leſt I ſhould dye, and pine away with grief, hath kept me in life.
O Lord, I have called to my memory thy moſt righteous judgments, which from the beginning of the World thou haſt uſed toward juſt and impious men, Ver. 4 exalting the humble, and caſting down the proud; rewarding the good, and bringing heavy judgments upon the wicked; and from this I comforted my ſelf. And yet in this meditation, and the comfort that I received, Ver. 5 I was not ſo devaid of charity, that I did not lament and commiſerate the condition of the lewdeſt men; a horrour, a terrible trembling, even a defection of ſpirit overwhelmed my ſoul, even for the wicked. I grieved from the very ſoul, that they ſhould ſo careleſly neglect their own ſalvation, and ſo maliciouſly forſake thy Law.
They wilfully caſt it aſide, but I have born ſo ardent an affection to it, that in the place of my Baniſhment, Ver. 6 where I liv'd as a ſtranger; and in this World, where I live as a Pilgrim, thy ſtatutes have béen my hymns and my ſongs; with theſe I have eaſed the troubles and ſorrowes of my Pilgrimage, as Travellers are uſed to do; who, to remove the tediouſneſs of their journey, are wont to delight themſelves with ſome delightful ſong: Ver. 7 Neither have I only in the day-time béen buſted in the ſtudy of thy Law, but even in the night-ſeaſon I have called to mind thy Name, and examined my heart, how I have honoured it in the day before. Even in the night-ſeaſon, when men are moſt apt, Ver. 8 and procline to ſin, becauſe of the darkneſs, and temptations of evil ſpirits; I then upon the memory of thy Name, have diligently kept thy Law. O Lord, remember me for good, and let me have this reward of my obedience, that nor afflictions, nor deriſions move me from my duty, nor yet I be deprived of my hope; but ſo encouraged and quickned by thy promiſes, that I may with all diligence ſéek, and by ſéeking know; and when I know, kéep thy precepts. Grant this for thy Son Ieſus Chriſts ſake.