Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 131
The Hundred and Thirty Firſt PSALM.
A Song of Degrees of David.
The hundred thirty firſt is a profeſſion of humility, as that which beſt qualifies for God's mercy, and is the onelyonly ſure foundation of hope in him. It ſeems to have been firſt formed by David in the time of his diſtreſſes, to vindicate himſelf before God of the accuſation which Saul's ſycophants ſo ſtudiouſly threw upon him, that he deſigned miſchief to Saul, and thereby the kingdom to himſelf. And after it was appointed to be uſed at the return from captivity, no temper better becoming thoſe that have received the greateſt mercies, than that of humility and affiance.
1. LOrd, mine heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty; neither do I exerciſe my ſelf in great matters, or in things too high for me.
Paraphrase. 1. O Lord, I have always indeavoured to keep all pride and ambition out of my heart, not to meddle with things of weight and difficulty, and ſuch as are above my ſtrength to manage.
2. ‖ButSurely I have †or level'd and quieted my ſoul,behaved and quieted my ſelf, as a child that is weaned *with or toward foreignof his mother: my ſoul is ‖with me as — foreignas a weaned child.
Paraphrase. 2. But on the contrary to learn and practiſe humility, ſelf-denial, reſignation and ſubmiſſion to the will of God, to look on my ſelf as a moſt feeble impotent child, able to doe nothing of my ſelf, but wholly to be directed, ſupported, and inabled by him in all my undertakings, and ſo to wean my ſelf from my natural affections and deſires, as an infant is when he is eſtranged from his mothers breaſt.
3. O Iſrael, hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.
Paraphrase. 3. And the ſame temper I ſhall recommend to all pious men, as that which will for ever ſtand them in moſt ſtead, with an utter abrenunciation of all ſelf-truſts, or ſecular confidences, to roll and repoſe themſelves wholly upon God, who will undoubtedly anſwer and ſupply, and never be wanting to them that thus depend on him.
Annotations on Pſal. CXXXI.
foreignV. 2. Surely I have behaved] foreign is according to ſenſe to be rendred quin, but. The LXXII. attending to the letter, render it, foreign, if not. For foreign that follows from foreign to ſet, foreignor diſpoſe, the Chaldee reade foreign I put my hand upon my mouth (and the LXXII. to the ſame ſenſe, foreign I was humbly diſpoſed) and ſo moſt rationally it is to be rendred, if not by force of foreign, yet by virtue of foreign that follows, which notes impoſing ſilence upon himſelf; and then the putting preparative to that, muſt be the putting the hand upon the mouth: and ſo the Chaldees rendring may ſeem rather a ſupply of an Ellipſis, than by way of paraphraſe. But there is another notion of foreign to level, Iſa. 28.25. foreign when he hath made plain the face of the ground, a ſcheme which the Baptiſt uſes; for working ſuch a temper in the heart, as is qualified for the reception of piety, Luk. 3.5. To which that of the LXXII. comes nearer, humility and lowlineſs of mind being the plain meaning of that other more poetical phraſe. For foreign the LXXII.foreign ſeem to have read foreign and ſo render it foreign, but have elevated: but hereby they have varied the ſenſe little, their if I have not humbled, but exalted my ſoul, being all one in effect with I have not exalted, but humbled. The ſimilitude that follows,foreign foreign as a weanling with, or toward the mother, (ſo foreign ſignifies with or toward) is a denotation of the greateſt obedience and dependence and ſelf-denial and reſignation that can be; for ſo the weanling, though he begin to goe, and ſpeak, and live without the teat, yet wholly depends on the mothers aid, and teaching, and proviſion for each of theſe. And ſo in the application, my ſoul is foreign as a weanling with me; where yet the LXXII. render foreign as retributions, from another notion of foreign to retribute, which cannot belong to that place. The Jewiſh Arab reads, But I have equalled my ſoul, and made it like to a weanling, foreign that deſireth after his mother, as if foreign were of the ſame notion with foreign to be like, and foreign and that were much alike in ſignification. The ſenſe he gives in a note, I caſt my affairs on the Lord, as a child doth on his mother; and his repeating it, my ſoul is with me as a weaned child, is as much as to ſay, I have weaned it from tranſgreſſions.