Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 116
The Hundred and Sixteenth PSALM.
The hundred and ſixteenth is a gratefull acknowledgment of God's ſeaſonable deliverances, and gracious returns to the prayers of his afflicted diſtreſſed ſervant, which are to be anſwered with vows of new obedience, and intire affiance in God. It is thought to have been compoſed by David upon his delivery from the rebellion of Abſolom, after which he immediately had the liberty to return to the ſanctuary and publick aſſembly at Jeruſalem, v. 14. and 18, and 19. but may poſſibly, and not unfitly, belong to the return from the captivity (ſee note a.
1. ‖I deſired that the Lord would hear my voice, myI Love the Lord, becauſe he hath heard my voice and my ſupplications.
2. †That he would inclineBecauſe he hath inclined his ear unto me, *and in my days I will call upon him.therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
Paraphrase. 1, 2. I made my prayer to the Lord the God of heaven, that he would in his good time give audience to my cryes which I daily poured out before him, that he would at length be graciouſly pleaſed to conſider my diſtreſs. When calamities approach or ſeize upon me, I have nothing to apply my ſelf to, but my prayers to heaven, and thoſe I ſhall not fail to pour out before God:
3. The ſorrows of death compaſſed me, and the pains of hell ‖found me foreigngate hold upon me: I found trouble and ſorrow.
4. Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beſeech thee deliver my ſoul.
Paraphrase. 3, 4. At this time my dangers were very great, I was purſued cloſe, and incompaſſed with my enemies, who were purpoſely ſent as the meſſengers of death unto me; and having no way of reſcue from any humane means, I then addreſt my ſelf to the overruling help and providence of God, and to him I humbly and importunately came, beſeeching this ſeaſonable deliverance from him.
5. Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yea our God is mercifull.
Paraphrase. 5. And thus I concluded with my ſelf, that whatever my preſſures were, yet God was both mercifull and faithfull, and would certainly make good his promiſed mercy to me;
6. The Lord preſerveth the †or little ones foreignſimple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
Paraphrase. 6. That 'twas his proper attribute to be the ſupporter of the weak, the reliever of them that are in diſtreſs: and accordingly ſo hath he dealt with me in my greateſt deſtitution.
7. Return unto thy reſt, O my ſoul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
8. For thou haſt delivered my ſoul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Paraphrase. 7, 8, 9. And now being thus reſcued by him, and delivered out of the ſad condition that incompaſſed me, I have nothing to doe, but to ſerve God in all ſincerity and integrity of converſation, chearfully and conſtantly, all my days which God ſhall afford me in this world; at the preſent devoutly return to the Ark, the place where God is pleaſed to preſentiate himſelf, and there in great tranquility to celebrate that mercy which hath afforded me this ſignal deliverance.
10. I believed, therefore have I ſpoken: I was greatly afflicted.
11. I ſaid in my *flight (ſee note on Pſal. 31.….)haſte, All men are liars.
Paraphrase. 10, 11. I had a full truſt and repoſe and affiance in God, and therefore I did and ſpake thus: When my afflictions were at the greateſt (ſee 2 Cor. 4.13.) when I was in my flight, I was ſufficiently convinced that the arm of fleſh was unable to yield me any relief (Pſal. 108.12.) men might promiſe, and either prove falſe (as thoſe how did that David had moſt reaſon to depend on, his own ſon, Achitophel, &c.) or impotent: there was, I know, but one ſure hold, to which it is tolerably prudent to reſort, the never-failing omnipotent hand of God, and to that I betook my ſelf intirely, and from that I received my deliverance.
12. What ſhall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
13. I will take the cup of ſalvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
14. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the preſence of all his people.
15. Precious in the ſight of the Lord is the death of his ſaints.
Paraphrase. 12, 13, 14, 15. For this and all other the abundant mercies which I have received from God, I am now by all obligations concerned to make my moſt thankfull acknowledgments, and to doe it in the ſolemneſt manner, in the preſence of the whole aſſembly, by way of publick feſtival, bleſſing and magnifying his holy name, that he hath not permitted my enemies to have their will of me, that he hath preſerved my life, and not delivered it up into their hands, that he hath kept it as a jewel of his own cabinet, as being by me humbly depoſited with and intruſted to him. And thus he always deals with thoſe that rely and depend on him (ſee note b. on Pſal. 86.)
16. O Lord, ‖I pray thee foreigntruly I am thy ſervant, I am thy ſervant, and the ſon of thy handmaid; thou haſt looſed my bands.
17. I will offer to thee the ſacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
18. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the preſence of all his people,
19. In the courts of the Lord's houſe, in the mids of thee O Jeruſalem. Praiſe ye the Lord.
Paraphrase. 16, 17, 18, 19. O bleſſed Lord, how am I obliged to thee by all the bonds that any ingagement can lay upon me? No ſervant bought with a price or born in a man's houſe can be more cloſely bound to him, than I who have been reſcued from the utmoſt danger by thee. What remains but that I ſhould return to thee the humbleſt offerings of praiſe and prayer, ſpend my whole life as a vow'd oblation to thy ſervice, render thee all poſſible praiſe in the publick aſſembly, in thy ſanctuary, in the ſolemneſt manner that is poſſible? Bleſſed be the name of the Lord.
Annotations on Pſal. CXVI.
V. 1. I love the Lord] For the right underſtanding of the two firſt verſes, we muſt obſerve one ſpecial uſe of foreign (when it ſtands by it ſelf abſolutely without any noun after it,foreign as here it doth) for wiſhing or deſiring. So Amos 4.5. for ſo foreign ye have deſired. So Jer. 5.31. my people foreign wiſhed, deſired it ſo. Thus foreign, by which the LXXII. render it in all theſe places, ſignifies in Greek to deſire; foreign, ſaith Phavorinus. Hence foreign, 'tis a verb of wiſhing. And then foreign will be beſt rendred, I wiſht that the Lord would hear; and ſo I ſuppoſe the LXXII. meant by foreign, I deſired that (not becauſe) he will or would hear. Accordingly the Syriack renders it foreign, and the Chaldee foreign from foreign, which is of the ſame importance with foreign, I wiſht that the Lord would hear. So the Jewiſh Arab, I deſire not but that the Lord would hear my voice, and my ſupplication, and that he would hearken unto me when I call, in or by reaſon of what I find (or meet with) in my days. And then v. 2. follows currently, foreign that he would incline his ear to me; the Syriack reads, foreign, and that he would incline his ear to me, in conjunction with the former verſe.foreign Then follows foreign and in my days will I call, by days, I ſuppoſe, ſignifying calamities, as Pſal. 31.12. his day is coming, i. e. his diſtreſs, foreign the day of his calamity, ſaith the Targum. So Obad. 12. the day of thy brother is the time of their being carried captive, v. 11. So the day of Jeruſalem, Pſal. 137.7. So Iſa. 13.22. foreign his days ſhall not be removed far, his time is come, is the time of his contrition, ſaith the Targum. The Syriack indeed leave out the ד there, as redundant, and reade foreign in the (not my) day wherein I call him. In which alſo they depart from the Hebrew punctation of foreign. Without either of thoſe changes the rendring will be moſt facile, I wiſhed or deſired that the Lord would hear foreign my voice; or perhaps the voice (ſo foreign may be rendred, the ד being oft redundant, and ſo both the Syriack and the LXXII. underſtands it, foreign and foreign, the voice) foreign of my ſupplications, in the genitive caſe; or by appoſition, my voice, my ſupplications, that he would incline his ear unto me, In my days will I invoke or call upon him. The rendring theſe verſes in the praeter ſenſe, he hath heard, he hath inclined, is quite contrary to the following verſes, which mention the diſtreſſes as approaching, and growing ſtill more and more upon him, v. 3, 4. To what times this refers, and what were thoſe his days muſt be uncertain, and onelyonly matter of conjecture. 'Tis ordinarily thought to be a Pſalm of David, and then it moſt probably belongs to the time of his flight from Abſalom, to which his haſte, or ſpeed, or flight, ver. 11. probably determins it; and then ver. 14, 18, 19. muſt refer to his return to the ſanctuary at Jeruſalem, after the quelling of that rebellion: and to this, as being the moſt received ſenſe, I have ſet the paraphraſe. Yet ſome indications there are which make it probable to have been written after the Captivity (and then the days here muſt be like the day of thy brother, and of Jeruſalem forementioned, denoting the Captivity, and ſo their flight alſo v. 9. their being carried captive, and v. 14, 18, 19. the celebrating of their return to the ſervice of God in the Temple) viz. the Chaldee idiome obſervable v. 7. in the words foreign, and foreign, and v. 12. in foreign, where the Chaldee or Syriack ſuffix foreign is viſible.
V. 13. foreignCup of ſalvation] foreign the cup of deliverances, for which the Chaldee reade foreign the cup of redemptions. This was either more ſolemn in the Temple, by the Prieſt, or more private in the family. The former the drink-offering, or ſtrong wine poured out in the holy place, Numb. 28.7. Of this R. Sol. Jarchi interprets it, foreign, &c. I will bring the drink-offering of praiſe which I vowed. And to this of the Temple the Praiſe may moſt reaſonably be applied, becauſe, as the Jewiſh Doctors tell us, foreign the Levites repeat not the ſong of the oblation, but onelyonly over the drink-offering. Yet there was alſo the more private in their families, the cup of thankſgiving or commemoration of any deliverance received. This the maſter of the family was wont to begin, and was followed by all his gueſts. S. Paul calls it foreign, the cup of bleſſing, that which was drank as a ſymbol of thankſgiving and bleſſing, and had forms of commemoration and praiſe joyned with it; and ſo by the Fathers, Juſtin Martyr, &c. (uſed of the Sacrament) is called foreign, the wine that hath thanksgiving ſaid over it. The uſe of it was either daily after each meal, or more ſolemn at a feſtival. In the daily uſe of it, they had this form, foreign, Bleſſed be our God the Lord of the world, who hath created the fruit of the vine. But on feſtival days there was joyned with it an hymn proper for the day (as upon the Paſſeover, for the deliverance out of Aegypt) as we ſee, Matt. 26.30. where the Paſchal commemoration or poſtcoenium, advanced by Chriſt into the Sacrament of his bloud, was concluded after the Jewiſh cuſtom, with an hymn. And ſo here with the cup of ſalvation is joyned foreign, a calling upon the name of the Lord. And both the more private and the ſolemn performance of this, with all the magnificent rites of ſolemnity belonging to it, is called the paying of vows to the Lord, that thankſgiving and acknowledgment which men in diſtreſs may be ſuppoſed to promiſe, upon condition of deliverance, or if they promiſe not, are however bound to perform, as a due return or payment for their deliverance.
V. 15.…. foreign Precious] The notion of foreign in this place for rare or precious, muſt be ſo taken, as not to ſignifie that which is ſpoken of to be deſirable to, or in the preſence of the Lord, for it is the life, not the death of his ſervants, that is precious in that ſenſe to God the preſerver of their lives. But for their death to be precious is in effect no more, than that it is ſo conſidered, rated at ſo high a price by God, as that he will not eaſily grant it to any one that moſt deſires it of him. Abſalom here hoſtilely purſued David, and deſired his death, he would have been highly gratified with it, taken it for the greateſt boon that could have befallen him: but God would not thus gratifie him; nor will he grant this deſire eaſily to the enemies of godly men, eſpecially of thoſe that commit themſelves to his keeping, as David here did, and therefore is called God's foreign (ſee note b. on Pſal. 86.) for to ſuch his moſt ſignal preſervations do belong peculiarly. The Jewiſh Arab here reads, Precious with the Lord foreign the putting to death his ſaints, or giving up to death.