Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 108
The Hundred and Eighth PSALM.
A Song or Pſalm of David.
Paraphrase. The hundred and eighth Pſalm is compiled and very little changed from two branches of two former Pſalms, Pſal. 57. v. 8, 9, 10, 11. and Pſal. 60. v. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. and i… a ſolemn commemoration of God's mercies to David in the victories obtained by him over his enemies round about, particularly at the taking of Rabba, 2 Sam. 12.29. together with a prayer for continuance of all God's mercies.
1. O God, my heart is ‖prepared, foreign ſee Pſal. 57.7.fixed; I will ſing and give praiſe, even with my glory.
2. Awake Pſaltery and Harp; †I will foreignI my ſelf will awake early.
Paraphrase. 1, 2. Bleſſed Lord, how am I ingaged to bleſs and praiſe thy holy name, to imploy my tongue and all the inſtruments of muſick, and every faculty of my ſoul, in commemorating thy goodneſs and ſignal mercies to me? This is the leaſt that can be deemed incumbent on me; and this I ſhall moſt readily, heartily and chearfully perform (ſee Pſal. 57.7, 8.)
3. I will praiſe thee, O Lord▪ among the people, and I will ſing praiſes to thee among the nations.
Paraphrase. 3. And 'tis not fit that ſo great dignations ſhould be acknowledged in the cloſet or privacy onelyonly; 'tis moſt decent that our tribute of praiſe for them ſhould be in the midſt of the aſſembly, with the greateſt poſſible ſolemnity, calling all others to take part in ſo important an office (Pſal. 57.9.)
4. For thy mercy is great ‖from aboveabove the heavens, and thy truth †unto foreignreacheth unto the *skyes: ſee note on Pſal. 57. c.clouds.
Paraphrase. 4. For thy mercy and fidelity have been magnified toward me in a moſt eminent manner, and are each of them infinitely great (ſee Pſal. 57.10.)
5. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory ‖or, uponabove all the earth.
Paraphrase. 5. For which therefore bleſſed be for ever thy glorious majeſty in the higheſt degree that is poſſible for us finite and infirm creatures, (ſee Pſal. 57.11.)
6. That thy beloved may be delivered, ſave with thy right hand and anſwer me.
Paraphrase. 6. Who have received ſuch ſignal aſſiſtances from thee, evidences of thy ſpecial favour, and interpoſition of thine own right hand, in return and anſwer to the prayers which we have addreſt to thee. (See Pſal. 60.5.)
7. God hath ſpoken in his holineſs, I will rejoyce, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.
8. Gilead is mine, Manaſſeh is mine: Ephraim alſo is the ſtrength of my head, Judah is my lawgiver.
Paraphrase. 7, 8. God made me a moſt ſure promiſe, which he hath now moſt ſignally performed, and ſo given me matter of all triumph, and rejoycing and thankſgiving, that I am not onelyonly fully and quietly poſſeſt of all the kingdom both of Iſrael and Judah, and delivered from the aſſaults which were made againſt me by my malicious neighbours (ſee Pſal. 60.6, 7. note d.)
9. Moab is my waſhpot, over Edom will I †caſt my—caſt out my ſhooe, over Phililiſtia will I *ſ…ittriumph.
Paraphrase. 9. But even that they that thus aſſaulted me are themſelves brought down in ſubjection to me; by name the Moabites, the Idumaeans, and the Philiſtims, (ſee Pſal. 60.8. and note d.)
10. Who will bring me into the ſtrong city? who will lead me into Edom?
Paraphrase. 10. And now let the Ammonites caſt us in the teeth, reproach us as if we ſhould doe nothing of all this, as if their cities were impregnable, or our armies utterly unſufficient to vanquiſh and ſubdue them;
11. Wilt not thou, O God, who ‖Hadſthaſt caſt us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hoſts?
Paraphrase. 11. That God which for our ſins had formerly withdrawn his aſſiſtance (and ſo long we muſt needs be improſperous, having no means left to accompliſh any victories) hath now been graciouſly pleaſed to return to us, and aſſiſt us, and manage the whole buſineſs for us, to give us this laſt victory over the Regal City and King of the Ammonites, and ſo to teſtifie by this happy ſucceſs his ſignal preſence with us.
12. Give us help from †diſtreſs foreigntrouble, for vain is the help of man.
Paraphrase. 12. To him therefore alone is our reſort in the greateſt diſtreſs, from him muſt come the relief, or we ſhall be loſt; all other aſſiſtances, beſide that of heaven, being utterly unſufficient, (ſee Pſal. 60.11.)
13. Through God we ſhall doe valiantly, for it is he that ſhall tread down our enemies.
Paraphrase. 13. If he interpoſe his power on our ſide, no enemy ſhall be able to ſtand before us. It is he, and not any ſtrength of ours, that ſhall work all our victories for us (ſee Pſal. 60.12.) And on this we will confidently depend, through his goodneſs and mercy to us.
Annotations on Pſal. CVIII.
V. 4. Above the heavens] Among the few variations which are made in this Pſalm from the ſeveral parcels of Pſal. 57. and 60. of which it is compoſed, it may be obſerved, that inſtead of foreign to the heavens, Pſal. 57.10. 'tis here foreign from above the heavens;foreign which being deſigned as an expreſſion to ſet out the greatneſs of the extent of God's mercies, Firſt, it doth that very perfectly, and ſignifies the infiniteneſs of it, not onelyonly above the heavens, but from thence continuedly down to us, foreign from above, to the loweſt and meaneſt of us, and to all betwixt: and Secondly, it confirms our rendring foreign both there and here, not clouds, but skyes, meaning the bodies of the heavens, thoſe pure aethereal orbs, where the Sun and Moon and Stars are (ſee note on Pſal. 57. c.) for taking foreign for the regions of the air, and foreign for the celeſtial bodies, theſe two phraſes will perfectly accord, foreign from above the lower of them, the aiery regions, and foreign to, or the higher of them, the celeſtial orbs; onelyonly with this difference, that the former phraſe notes the deſcent from thence hither (not foreign above, but foreign from above) and the latter the aſcent from us foreign to, or as far as to that: the former notes the foreign or depth, the latter the foreign or height of it.
foreignV. 9. Will I triumph] Here is another variation betwixt this Pſalm and the copy whence 'tis tranſſcribed, Pſal. 60.8. Here 'tis foreign over the Philiſtims I will ſhout, foreign I will jubulate, ſaith the Chaldee, foreign I will cry or make a noiſe, give a ſhout, ſaith the Syriack, but the LXXII. by way of paraphraſe, foreign, the Philiſtims are ſubjected unto me, the full intimation of that ſhouting over them. But Pſal. 60.8. 'tis foreign. Of that place we have already ſhewed (ſee Pſal. 60. note c.) that foreign is not to be rendred over me, but ſimply over, viz. (joyned with that which next follows) over the Philiſtims; and that foreign ſhout thou, was to be applied either as ſpeaking to himſelf, ſhout thou, my ſoul, or to the congregation of Iſrael, ſhout thou, ye Iſraelites, over Philiſtia. And then, as that was there according to ſenſe rendred by the Syriack, over the Philiſtims foreign will I ſhout, ſo here the Hebrew hath it moſt expreſly, to ſecure us of the truth of that interpretation there, in both thoſe particulars; there being as little difference between foreign I will ſhout, and foreign ſhout thou, my ſoul, as betwixt foreign, which is acknowledged to ſignifie no more than over (a bare prepoſition) and foreign which hath the ſame letters, though it be otherwiſe pointed. The Jewiſh Arab, Pſal. 60. reads foreign the Philiſtims ſhall be ſmitten down by me, and here foreign I will ſmite down the Philiſtims, as if he took the Hebrew foreign in the notion of breaking, in theſe places. R. Solomon here takes it in the notion of ſhouting, but in the other Pſalm in a different, expounding it, joyn thy ſelf to my kingdom, by becoming ſubject to me.
V. 11. Wilt not thou, O God, foreign] This paſſage though in words (all but foreign thou) the very ſame with Pſal. 60.10. muſt yet be underſtood in ſomewhat a diſtant ſenſe. And 'tis no news in ſacred compoſitions, eſpecially thoſe that are poetical, to apply words ſpoken upon one ſubject to another, to which however they were not at firſt deſigned, yet they may be commodiouſly referred. The occaſion of this Pſalm ſeems to be the taking of Rabba, 2 Sam. 12.30. as the ſubject of Pſal. 60. was the atchievements of Joab, mentioned in the title of it, which all were praeludia and preparative to this great ſucceſs, the taking a fortified Metropolis, and therewith the King, and poſſeſſing the Crown of the conquered nation. So that now all that was ſaid Pſal. 60. but in vote, by way of addreſs to God in prayer for his relief and aſſiſtance, is here repeated by way of juſt and ſolemn triumph, and religious boaſting: God hath ſpoken, v. 7. yea and hath now ſignally performed; Who will bring me, v. 10. Let them now ask that queſtion, which formerly they did ask by way of ſcorn, but now have little reaſon for; Wilt not thou, O God, who hadſt caſt us off? It is now apparent by the event, that though for a time God withheld his proſpering hand, went not out with our armies, yet he is now graciouſly pleaſed to eſpouſe our cauſe, to give us this great and ſignal victory. And herein the word foreign thy beloved, foreignv. 6. may poſſibly glance on the name of Solomon, who by the Prophets direction was at this time ſtyled Jedidiah, 2 Sam. 12.25. the beloved of the Lord, becauſe of the Lord, or becauſe God was now graciouſly pleaſed to be propitiated to David, for his ſin with Bathſhebah, Solomon's mother, and to proſper his military attempts. The fifty ſeventh Pſalm, from which the former part of this Pſalm was taken, was compoſed by him in the time of his greateſt exigence, his flight from Saul; and therefore he being now in a ſtate quite contrary to that, in his higheſt exaltation, 'twill be moſt reaſonable to underſtand thoſe words here, ver. 5. that were then petition and prayer, Pſal. 57.5. and 11. in the notion of lauds and gratefull retribution. Kimchi and Jarchi refer it to the days of the Meſſiah.