Psalms 141:5

Verse 1 I cried unto the Lord - See on Psa 141:1 (note). Verse 3 Then thou knewest my path - When Saul and his army were about the cave in which I was hidden, thou knewest my path - that I had then no way of escape but by miracle: but thou didst not permit them to know that I was wholly in their power. Verse 4 There was no man, that would know me - This has been applied to the time in which our Lord was deserted by his disciples. As to the case of David in the cave of En-gedi, he had no refuge: for what were the handful of men that were with him to Saul and his army? Verse 5 Thou art my refuge - Even in these most disastrous circumstances, I will put my trust in thee. Verse 6 I am brought very low - Never was I so near total ruin before. Deliver me from my persecutors - They are now in full possession of the only means of my escape. They are stronger than I - What am I and my men against this well-appointed armed multitude, with their king at their head. Verse 7 Bring my soul out of prison - Bring נפשי naphshi, my life, out of this cave in which it is now imprisoned; Saul and his men being in possession of the entrance. The righteous shall compass me about - יכתרו yachtiru, they shall crown me; perhaps meaning that the pious Jews, on the death of Saul, would cheerfully join together to make him king, being convinced that God, by his bountiful dealings with him, intended that it should be so. The old Psalter, which is imperfect from the twenty-frst verse of Psalm 119 to the end of Psa 141:1-10, concludes this Psalm thus: "Lede my saule oute of corruption of my body; that corrupcion is bodely pyne, in whilk my saule is anguyst; after that in Godes house, Sal al be louyng (praising) of the." Introduction The psalmist prays for mercy, and deprecates judgment, Psa 143:1, Psa 143:2. His persecutions, Psa 143:3. His earnest prayer for deliverance, Psa 143:4-9. Prays for God's quickening Spirit, Psa 143:10, Psa 143:11. And for the total discomfiture of his adversaries, Psa 143:12 The Hebrew and all the Versions attribute this Psalm to David; and the Vulgate, Septuagint, Ethiopic and Arabic state that it was composed on the rebellion of his son Absalom: nor is there any thing in the Psalm that positively disagrees with this inscription. This is the last of the seven Psalms styled penitential. Verse 1 In thy faithfulness answer me - Thou hast promised to support me in my difficulties, and, though my children should forsake me, never to withdraw thy loving-kindness from me. See the present unnatural rebellion of my son. Lord, undertake for me! Verse 2 Enter not into judgment - אל תבוא al tabo. Do not come into court, either as a Witness against me, or as a Judge, else I am ruined; for thou hast seen all my ways that they are evil, and thy justice requires thee to punish me. Nor can any soul that has ever lived be justified in the sight of thy justice and righteousness. Had I my desert from thee, I should have worse than even my unnatural son intends me. O what a relief is Jesus crucified to a soul in such circumstances! Verse 3 He hath made me to dwell in darkness - Literally, in dark places. This may be understood of David's taking refuge in caves and dens of the earth, to escape from his persecuting son; yea, even to take refuge in the tombs, or repositories of the dead. Verse 4 Therefore is my spirit - I am deeply depressed in spirit, and greatly afflicted in body. My heart within me is desolate - It has no companion of its sorrows, no sympathetic friend. I am utterly destitute of comfort. Verse 5 I remember the days of old - Thou hast often helped me, often delivered me. I will therefore trust in thee, for thy mercy is not clean gone from me. Verse 6 I stretch forth my hands - This is a natural action. All in distress, or under the influence of eager desire, naturally extend their hands and arms, as if to catch at help and obtain succor. As a thirsty land - Parched and burned by the sun, longs for rain, so does my thirsty soul for the living God. Verse 7 Hear me speedily - מהר maher, make haste to answer me. A few hours, and my state may be irretrievable. In a short time my unnatural son may put an end to my life. Verse 8 Cause me to hear thy Loving-kindness in the morning - This petition was probably offered in the night-season. David had despatched his messengers in all directions; and prays to God that he might by the morning get some good news. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk - Absalom and his partisans are in possession of all the country. I know not in what direction to go, that I may not fall in with them: point out by thy especial providence the path I should take. Verse 9 I flee unto thee to hide me - That I may not be found by my enemies, who seek my life to destroy it. Verse 10 Teach me to do thy will - רצונך retsonecha, thy pleasure. To be found doing the will of God is the only safe state for man. Thy Spirit is good - The Author of every good desire and holy purpose. Lead me - Let it lead me by its continued inspirations and counsels. Into the land of uprightness - "Into a right land," Chaldee. Into the place where I shall be safe. The old Psalter has, Thi goste gude sal lede me into rygt lande. Verse 11 Quicken me - I am as a dead man, and my hopes are almost dead within me. Verse 12

Smite - By reproofs. Break - Not hurt, but heal and greatly refresh me. Calamities - In the calamities of those righteous persons who reproved him. When they came into such calamities as those wherein he was involved he would pity them and pray for them.

Reproofs of the Righteous; Complaints and Petitions. 5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. 6 When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet. 7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth. 8 But mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute. 9 Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity. 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. Here, I. David desires to be told of his faults. His enemies reproached him with that which was false, which he could not but complain of; yet, at the same time, he desired his friends would reprove him for that which was really amiss in him, particularly if there was any thing that gave the least colour to those reproaches ( v. 5 ): let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness. The righteous God (so some); "I will welcome the rebukes of his providence, and be so far from quarrelling with them that I will receive them as tokens of love and improve them as means of grace, and will pray for those that are the instruments of my trouble." But it is commonly taken for the reproofs given by righteous men; and it best becomes those that are themselves righteous to reprove the unrighteousness of others, and from them reproof will be best taken. But if the reproof be just, though the reprover be not so, we must make a good use of it and learn obedience by it. We are here taught how to receive the reproofs of the righteous and wise. 1. We must desire to be reproved for whatever is amiss in us, or is done amiss by us: "Lord, put it into the heart of the righteous to smite me and reprove me. If my own heart does not smite me, as it ought, let my friend do it; let me never fall under that dreadful judgment of being let alone in sin." 2. We must account it a piece of friendship. We must not only bear it patiently, but take it as a kindness; for reproofs of instruction are the way of life ( Prov. vi. 23 ), are means of good to us, to bring us to repentance for the sins we have committed, and to prevent relapses into sin. Though reproofs cut, it is in order to a cure, and therefore they are much more desirable than the kisses of an enemy ( Prov. xxvii. 6 ) or the song of fools, Eccl. vii. 5 . David blessed God for Abigail's seasonable admonition, 1 Sam. xxv. 32 . 3. We must reckon ourselves helped and healed by it: It shall be as an excellent oil to a wound, to mollify it and close it up; it shall not break my head, as some reckon it to do, who could as well bear to have their heads broken as to be told of their faults; but, says David, "I am not of that mind; it is my sin that has broken my head, that has broken my bones, Ps. li. 8 . The reproof is an excellent oil, to cure the bruises sin has given me. It shall not break my head, if it may but help to break my heart." 4. We must requite the kindness of those that deal thus faithfully, thus friendly with us, at least by our prayers for them in their calamities, and hereby we must show that we take it kindly. Dr. Hammond gives quite another reading of this verse: " Reproach will bruise me that am righteous, and rebuke me; but that poisonous oil shall not break my head (shall not destroy me, shall not do me the mischief intended), for yet my prayer shall be in their mischiefs, that God would preserve me from them, and my prayer shall not be in vain." II. David hopes his persecutors will, some time or other, bear to be told of their faults, as he was willing to be told of his ( v. 6 ): " When their judges " (Saul and his officers who judged and condemned David, and would themselves be sole judges) " are overthrown in stony places, among the rocks in the wilderness, then they shall hear my words, for they are sweet. " Some think this refers to the relentings that were in Saul's breast when he said, with tears, Is this thy voice, my son David? 1 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; xxvi. 21 . Or we may take it more generally: even judges, great as they are, may come to be overthrown. Those that make the greatest figure in this world do not always meet with level smooth ways through it. And those that slighted the word of God before will relish it, and be glad of it, when they are in affliction, for that opens the ear to instruction. When the world is bitter the word is sweet. Oppressed innocency cannot gain a hearing with those that live in pomp and pleasure, but when they come to be overthrown themselves they will have more compassionate thoughts of the afflicted. III. David complains of the great extremity to which he and his friends were reduced ( v. 7 ): Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, out of which they are thrown up, so long have we been dead, or into which they are ready to be thrown, so near are we to the pit; and they are as little regarded as chips among the hewers of wood, which are thrown in neglected heaps: As one that cuts and cleaves the earth (so some read it), alluding to the ploughman who tears the earth in pieces with his plough-share, Ps. cxxix. 3 . Can these dry bones live? IV. David casts himself upon God, and depends upon him for deliverance: " But my eyes are unto thee ( v. 8 ); for, when the case is ever so deplorable, thou canst redress all the grievances. From thee I expect relief, bad as things are, and in thee is my trust. " Those that have their eye towards God may have their hopes in him. V. He prays that God would succour and relieve him as his necessity required. 1. That he would comfort him: " Leave not my soul desolate and destitute; still let me see where my help is." 2. That he would prevent the designs of his enemies against him ( v. 9 ): " Keep me from being taken in the snare they have laid for me; give me to discover it and to evade it." Be the gin placed with ever so much subtlety, God can and will secure his people from being taken in it. 3. That God would, in justice, turn the designs of his enemies upon themselves, and, in mercy, deliver him from being ruined by them ( v. 10 ): let the wicked fall into their own net, the net which, intentionally, they procured for me, but which, meritoriously, they prepared for themselves. Nec lex est justioir ulla quam necis artifices arte perire sua—No law can be more just than that the architects of destruction should perish by their own contrivances. All that are bound over to God's justice are held in the cords of their own iniquity. But let me at the same time obtain a discharge. The entangling and ensnaring of the wicked sometimes prove the escape and enlargement of the righteous.