Davids Harp Strung and Tuned, Book 1 · Psalm 34
PSAL. XXXIV. foreign.
THIS Pſalm is compoſed with great art: which muſt be obſerv'd by him who will rightly Analyſe it. The Scope of it is to praiſe God, and inſtruct in his fear. The parts in General are,
1. He praiſeth God himſelf, and calls upon others by his example, to do ſo, from verſ. 1. to 8.
2. He ſets himſelf in the place of a Maſter, inſtructs and teacheth in the fear of God, from verſ. 8. to the laſt.
1. David praiſeth God. The firſt part.He praiſeth God himſelf, which he profeſſeth thus,
1. I will bleſs the Lord. 2. His praiſe ſhall be. 3. He would boaſt in it.
2. Vers. 1 He would not ceaſe in it, it ſhould be done all his dayes. Continually.
3. Expreſſed it ſhould be by his mouth, Vers. 2 but by a tongue affected by the heart; My …oul ſhall make her boaſt in the Lord.
4. And ſo long he would continue in it, till others were moved to do the like; The humble ſhall hear thereof, and will be glad.
2. Upon which he provokes others to join with him to praiſe God alſo, And incites others to it.O magnifie the Lord with me, and let us exalt his Name together: Vers. 3 And that he may the eaſilier encourage them unto it, In that God heard his prayer, and will hear others alſo.he propoſeth his own example of Gods dealing to him, I ſought the Lord, and he heard me, and deliver'd me from all my fears.
Yea, but perhaps it may be ſaid, This was a ſingular mercy exhibited to David. To which he replies in effect, No, a Mercy it is, Vers. 4 that belongs to all that ſeek God. Vers. 5
They looked unto him and were lightned, and their faces were not aſhamed. Vers. 6
But it ſeems this did not ſatisfie neither. For they rejoin, And by his Angel deliver them.This poor man cryed, and the Lord heard him, that is, David, but he was in favour, and ſaved him out of all his troubles. Vers. 7 To which he replies by this general and undeniable Maxime, The ſecond part.The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. Be they who they will. He gives them counſel.And for this cauſe he perſwades them to join with him in the praiſe of God.
2. And thence he falls to his inſtructions. Now the Leſſons are two. Vers. 8
1. That they make a trial of Gods goodneſs: 1To relie on God.O taſte and ſee that the Lord is good: bleſſed is the man that truſteth in him. Vers. 9
2. That they become his Servants: O fear the Lord, ye his Saints, 2To fear him, for they ſhall not wanr.for there is no want to thoſe that fear him. Which he illuſtrates by a compariſon, The lyons lack, &c. But they that ſeek the Lord, ſhall not.
Theſe promiſes, and this bleſſing, belongs to none but ſuch as fear God. Vers. 10 That then no man deceive himſelf, conceiving that he ſhall have a ſhare in the bleſſing, when it belongs not to him, he enters upon, and diſcourſes of the common place, The Fear of God; and calls his Auditours to be attentive, 3This fear he teacheth.Come you Children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. That fear of the Lord, which, if a man be deſirous of life, and to ſee many dayes, Vers. 11 ſhall ſatisfie him; And if he be ambitious to ſee good, Vers. 12 the peace of a quiet ſoul and good conſcience ſhall lodge it with him.4And ſhews the qualities of the man in whom this fear is.
1. Let him be ſure to have a Lock upon his tongue: Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they speak no guile.
2. Let him bear no affection to injuſtice: Vers. 13 Decline and depart from evil.
3. Let him be charitable, ready to do good works: Do good. Vers. 14
4. Let him be a Peace-maker: Seek peace, and enſue it. Elſe, he fears not God.
Theſe be the Characters of thoſe that ſeek the Lord, and fear him, and theſe ſhall want no manner of thing that good is. Nothing that God ſees good for them.
Object. Yea, but are not the righteous expoſed to obloquies, ſcorn, injuries? &c. and do not the wicked flouriſh in wealth, power, and authority? &c.To theſe God is propitious.
Resp. Yes indeed, but they, the godly, are neither unhappy for this, nor the ungodly happy. For though the world deride them, and tread them underfoot, yet they are dear to God.
1. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, Vers. 15 and his ears are open to their cry.
2. But the face of the Lord is againſt thoſe that do evil, Vers. 16 to cut off the remembrance of them from off the earth.
And upon this point David makes his foreign, Which largely he declares.and comes over it in the reſt of the Pſalm.
1. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth him, Vers. 17 and delivereth him out of all his troubles, he hears him ad voluntatem, or ad ſalutem; and delivers him, either by taking them from him, or him from them.
2. Vers. 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and ſaveth ſuch as be of a contrite ſpirit. Conſolatur, confirmat, roborat.
3. I confeſs that many are the afflictions of the righteous. But deſerted they are not. But the Lord delivers him out of them all, becauſe he makes him patient, conſtant, able, cheerful in all, Superiour to all.
4. He keeps all his bones, ſo that not one of them is broken: Perhaps it refers to Chriſt, whoſe bones were not broken; or to the bones of the Saints in their graves, which ſhall come again together. Capilli capitis numerantur.
But as for the ungodly, But the wicked ſhall periſh for their malice.it is not ſo with them. Occidet impios malicia. The very root of their perdition is their malice. The firſt ſhew'd to God, the ſecond to good men.
1. Vers. 21 Evil ſhall ſlay the wicked.
2. And they that hate the righteous ſhall be deſolate.
And then David concludes this Pſalm with this excellent foreign. Though God ſuffers his Servants to come into trouble, yet he delivers them from thence. For that is the nature of Redemption, The godly delivered.to free one from miſery; for Redeem'd one cannot be, who is not under ſome hardſhip. This ſhall be done, ſaith David. The Lord redeemeth the ſouls of his ſervants, Vers. 22 and none of them that truſt in him ſhall be deſolate.
The Prayer collected out of the thirty fourth Pſalm.
MAny, Vers. 1 O Lord, are the troubles from which thou haſt delivered thy ſervant, therefore I will praiſe thy name at all times, and thy honour ſhall be continually in my mouth. It ſhall be the boaſt of my ſoul, and the joy of my heart, that when I ſought thée, thou haſt heard me, and deliver'd me from thoſe fears with which I was ſurpriſed. For behold I a poor afflicted wretch forſaken by all, contemn'd by all in the midſt of my miſeries, have implored thy help, and thou didſt hear me out of thy Holy Heaven, and cameſt down, and ſavedſt me from my troubles.
O let this thy mercy ſhew'd to me, raiſe the hearts of thy afflicted people; let all thoſe who are of a méek and patient ſpirit under the croſs, heat thereof, and be glad. Let them magnifie the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together, being fully perſwaded, that that God who ſent his Angel and deliver'd me, will alſo ſend his Angel to encamp round about them, and will deliver them. When their eyes are dejected, even then let them look up to thée; when their faces are clouded with ſorrow, then enlighten them with thy favourable countenance: Refreſh them with thy aſpect, as with a pleaſing light, and never ſuffer them to be aſhamed that they have relied, and put their truſt in thée. Though thoſe bruitiſh men, who prey and tear like Lions, may want and ſuffer hunger, yet let not thoſe, who ſéek thy name, want any manner of thing that is good, ſupply them with neceſſaries for this life, and in their penury teach them to be content, becauſe thou haſt made them to abound with the ſpiritual and true riches. O teach them to taſte and confeſs that the Lord is good, and that the man is bleſſed that truſts in him,
O Lord, let thy eyes be upon the righteous, and thy ears open to their cry; They are of broken hearts, be nigh unto them; they are of contrite ſpirits, O ſave them; they in their afflictions cry to thee, O hear them, and deliver them out of all their troubles. Thou haſt ſaid it, O make thy word good, That many are the troubles of the righteous, but do thou deliver him out of all.
And that we may be alwayes in thy favour, and under thy care, good God inſtruct-us ever in thy fear. Keep, O Lord, our tongue from evil, and our lips from ſpeaking guile. Teach us to depart from evil, and to do good. And becauſe it is a hard matter to have peace with all men, make us to live without offence, and to ſeek peace ſo much as in us lies, and to purſue it: So ſhall we have our deſires, and obtain what we love, long life, ſée many dayes, and much good.
O Lord, let thy face be againſt thoſe that do evil, and cut off the remembrance of them from off the earth. Let their own malice, if they perſiſt in it, ſlay the wicked, and their death be miſerable. And let them which hate the righteous, becauſe his life is not like theirs, but of another faſhion, be deſolate, adding ſin unto ſin to their deſtruction, being deſtitute of thy grace, deſtitute of thy favour, for which they are ſubject to thy anger in this world, and obnorious to eternal puniſhment.
But as for thoſe who ſerve thée with a ſingle heart, though they are expoſed to many troubles, and over-weakly yield to many temptations, yet, O Lord, redéem their ſouls from death, deliver them from the craft and violence of Satan, frée them from the dominion of ſin, and ſuffer them not to commit that great offence, for which thou in thy juſt diſpleaſure ſhouldſt caſt them off. Paſs by their weakneſſes, pardon their infirmities and negligences, renew them daily by the power of thy Spirit, increaſe their hope; confirm their ſaith, and becauſe they put their truſt only in thy mercy, forſake them not, leave them not, but let the riches of thy mercy guide and conduct them through the many afflictions and troubles of this ſinful world, to that place of everlaſting habitations, that they may live with thée, and reſt with thée in glory and perpetual felicity for ever and ever. And, O Lord, grant, that I, with thy Saints, may have this for my portion through the merits of my only Redéemer Ieſus Chriſt my Lord. Amen.