PSALM 94 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "SUBJECT. The writer sees evil doers in power, and smarts under

their oppressions. His sense of the divine sovereignty, of which he had been singing

in the previous Psalm, leads him to appeal to God as the great Judge of the earth;

this he does with much vehemence and importunity, evidently tingling under the

lash of the oppressor. Confident in God's existence, and assured of his personal

observation of the doings of men, the psalmist rebukes his atheistic adversaries, and

proclaims his triumph in his God: he also interprets the severe dispensation of

Providence to be in very deed most instructive chastisements, and so he counts those

happy who endure them. The Psalm is another pathetic form of the old enigmaâ

€”"Wherefore do the wicked prosper?" It is another instance of a good man

perplexed by the prosperity of the ungodly, cheering his heart by remembering that

there is, after all, a King in heaven, by whom all things are overruled for good.

DIVISIO�S. In Psalms 94:1-7 the psalmist utters his complaint against wicked

oppressors. From Psalms 94:8-11 he reasons against their sceptical notion that God

did not notice the actions of men. He then shows that the Lord does bless his people

and will deliver them, though for a while they may be chastened, Psalms 94:12-15.

He again pleads for help in Psalms 94:16, and declares his entire dependence upon

God for preservation, Psalms 94:17-19; yet a third time urges his complaint, Psalms

94:20-21; and then concludes with the confident assurance that his enemies, and all

other wicked men, would certainly be made to reap the due reward of their deeds, â

€”"yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off."

ELLICOTT, "Psalms 94:5; Psalms 94:14, and, by implication, Psalms 94:10, show

that this psalm was the expression, not of individual, but of national, sense of wrong

and injustice. Yet the poet must, in his own person, have experienced the bitterness

of the trouble, from the reference he makes, towards the close, to his own

experiences. Apostate Jews may have been joined with the heathen oppressors. (See

�ote, Psalms 94:6.) There is no indication on which to found a conjecture as to date

or authorship. The poetical form is regular.

1 The Lord is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth.

BAR�ES, "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth ... - Margin, God of revenges The idea is, that it pertains to God to take vengeance, or to punish for crimes. See the notes at Rom_12:19. The appeal here is made to God in view of the crimes committed by others, and which are referred to in the subsequent part of the psalm. God is addressed as having the right to restrain and punish wicked people, and he is asked to interpose and assert that right in a case which clearly demanded it. The appeal is repeated to make it emphatic, or to denote “earnestness” in the petition.

Show thyself - Margin, as in Hebrew, “shine forth.” The meaning is, Manifest thyself; come forth as such a God; prove thy right; display thy power, and show that thou art a God opposed to crime and wrong. The same Hebrew word is used here which is found in Psa_80:1, and which is there rendered “shine forth.” See the notes at that passage.

CLARKE, "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth - God is the author of retributive justice, as well as of mercy. This retributive justice is what we often term vengeance, but perhaps improperly; for vengeance with us signifies an excitement of angry passions, in order to gratify a vindictive spirit, which supposes itself to have received some real injury; whereas what is here referred to is that simple act of justice which gives to all their due.

GILL, "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth,.... As it does to God, and to him only; not to Heathen deities, one of which has the name of Vengeance given it, Act_28:4, nor to Satan, the enemy and avenger, and his spiteful principalities and powers; nor to men, who are not to exercise private revenge on their fellow creatures; only to civil magistrates, to whom public revenge belongs, they being God's viceregents, and representing him; otherwise to God only it belongs, against whom sin is committed; and he will, in his own time and way, execute it; he is "the God of revenges" (e), as the words may be rendered; and this is applicable to Christ, who is the true Jehovah, and God over all: it was he that took vengeance on Sodom and Gomorrah, and rained from the Lord fire and brimstone on them; and who took vengeance on the inventions of the Israelites in the wilderness; and when he came in the flesh, he came with vengeance to destroy Satan and his works, as it was promised and prophesied he should, Isa_35:4, forty years after his death, resurrection, and ascension, he came in his power and kingdom, and took vengeance on the Jewish nation, for their unbelief and rejection of him, Luk_21:22, and at the opening of the sixth seal his wrath came upon Rome Pagan in a manner intolerable to them, for their cruel persecutions of his church and people; and the cry of the souls under the altar was much like what is uttered in this psalm; see Rev_6:9, and

at the time of his spiritual coming and reign he will avenge the blood of his saints on Rome Papal, or antichrist, whom he will destroy with the breath of his mouth, and the saints will be called upon to rejoice, and will rejoice, when they see the vengeance, Rev_18:20 and his personal coming will be in flaming fire, to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not his Gospel, and when all the wicked will suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, 2Th_1:8.

O God, to whom vengeance belongeth; which is repeated to observe the certainty of it, and to express the vehement and importunate desire of the psalmist, and those he represents, that he would show himself to be so, follows:

show thyself; or "shine forth" (f), as in Psa_80:1 either at his incarnation, when he appeared as the dayspring from on high; yea, as the sun of righteousness; or, in the ministry of the Gospel, the great light which shone first on the inhabitants of Judea and Galilee, and then on the Gentile world; or in his gracious presence with his people, which is expressed by causing his face to shine upon them, Psa_80:7, or in the protection of them, and destruction of their enemies; which is a showing himself strong on their behalf, an appearing to the joy of the one, and the confusion of the other; and in this manner will Christ show himself in the latter day.

HE�RY, "I. A solemn appeal to God against the cruel oppressors of his people, Psa_94:1, Psa_94:2. This speaks terror enough to them, that they have the prayers of God's people against them, who cry day and night to him to avenge them of their adversaries; and shall he not avenge them speedily? Luk_18:3, Luk_18:7. Observe here,

1. The titles they give to God for the encouraging of their faith in this appeal: O God! to whom vengeance belongeth; and thou Judge of the earth. We may with boldness appeal to him; for, (1.) He is judge, supreme judge, judge alone, from whom every man's judgment proceeds. He that gives law gives sentence upon every man according to his works, by the rule of that law. He has prepared his throne for judgment. He has indeed appointed magistrates to be avengers under him (Rom_13:4), but he is the avenger in chief, to whom even magistrates themselves are accountable; his throne is the last refuge (the dernier ressort, as the law speaks) of oppressed innocency. He is universal judge, not of this city or country only, but judge of the earth, of the whole earth: none are exempt from his jurisdiction; nor can it be alleged against an appeal to him in any court that it is coram non judice - before a person not judicially qualified. (2.) He is just. As he has authority to avenge wrong, so it is his nature, and property, and honour. This also is implied in the title here given to him and repeated with such an emphasis, O God! to whom vengeance belongs, who wilt not suffer might always to prevail against right. This is a good reason why we must not avenge ourselves, because God has said, Vengeance is mine; and it is daring presumption to usurp his prerogative and step into his throne, Rom_12:19. Let this alarm those who do wrong, whether with a close hand, so as not to be discovered, or with a high hand, so as not to be controlled, There is a God to whom vengeance belongs, who will certainly call them to an account; and let it encourage those who suffer wrong to bear it with silence, committing themselves to him who judges righteously.

2. What it is they ask of God. (1.) That he would glorify himself, and get honour to his own name. Wicked persecutors thought God had withdrawn and had forsaken the earth. “Lord,” say they, “show thyself; make them know that thou art and that thou art ready to show thyself strong on the behalf of those whose hearts are upright with thee.” The enemies thought God was conquered because his people were. “Lord,” say they, “lift up

thyself, be thou exalted in thy own strength. Lift up thyself, to be seen, to be feared; and suffer not thy name to be trampled upon and run down.” (2.) That he would mortify the oppressors: Render a reward to the proud; that is, “Reckon with them for all their insolence, and the injuries they have done to thy people.” These prayers are prophecies, which speak terror to all the sons of violence. The righteous God will deal with them according to their merits.

JAMISO�, "Psa_94:1-23. The writer, appealing to God in view of the oppression of enemies,

rebukes them for their wickedness and folly, and encourages himself, in the confidence that God will punish evildoers, and favor His people.

God’s revenge is His judicial infliction of righteous punishment.

show thyself — (Compare Margin).

K&D 1-3, "The first strophe prays that God would at length put a judicial restraint

upon the arrogance of ungodliness. Instead of חופיע� (a less frequent form of the

imperative for הופע�, Ges. §53, rem. 3) it was perhaps originally written הופיעה (Psa_80:2),

the He of which has been lost owing to the He that follows. The plural נקמות signifies not

merely single instances of taking vengeance (Eze_25:17, cf. supra Psa_18:48), but also intensively complete revenge or recompense (Jdg_11:36; 2Sa_4:8). The designation of

God is similar to אל��מלות in Jer_51:56, and the anadiplosis is like Psa_94:3, Psa_94:23,

Psa_93:1, Psa_93:3. ה�שא, lift Thyself up, arise, viz., in judicial majesty, calls to mind

Psa_7:7. השיב��מול is construed with על (cf. ל�, Psa_28:4; 59:18) as in Joe_3:4. With �אים

accidentally accord �γαυός and κύδει�γαίων in the epic poets.

CALVI�, "1O Jehovah! God of vengeances We know that the Jews were

surrounded by many neighbors who were not well affected towards them, and were

thus incessantly subject to the assaults and oppression of bitter enemies. As this

intestine persecution was even more afflictive than the rampant and unrestrained

violence of the wicked, we need not wonder that the Psalmist should earnestly

beseech God for deliverance from it. The expressions which he uses, calling upon

God to shine forth conspicuously, and lift himself up on high, amount in common

language to this, that God would give some actual manifestation of his character as

judge or avenger; for in that case he is seen ascending his tribunal to exact the

punishment due to sin, and demonstrate his power in preserving order and

government in the world. The phraseology is used only in reference to ourselves,

disposed as we are to feel as if he overlooked us, unless he stretched out his hand to

help us in some visible and open manner. In calling him twice successively the God

of vengeances, and then, judge of the earth, the Psalmist uses these titles as

applicable to the present situation in which he stood, reminding Him in a manner of

the office which belonged to him, and saying — O Lord! it is thine to take vengeance

upon sinners, and judge the earth — see how they take advantage of the impunity

which is extended to their guilt, and triumph audaciously in their wickedness! �ot

that God needs to be admonished of his duty, for he never resigns himself to

indifference, and even when he seems to delay his judgments, is only adjusting them

according to what he knows to be the best season; but his people conceive of him in

this way to themselves, and take occasion from this to embolden and stimulate

themselves to greater vehemency in prayer. (14) The same may be said of the

repetition which the Psalmist uses. When the wicked then indulge in unrestrained

excesses, we are to remember that God can never cease to assert his character as the

judge of the earth who takes vengeance upon iniquity. Does he seem in our carnal

apprehension to have at any time withdrawn and hidden himself? let us put up

without hesitation the prayer which is here taught us by the Holy Spirit, that he

would shine forth

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 1. O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; 0 God, to

whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself: or, God of retribution, Jehovah, God of

retribution, shine forth! A very natural prayer when innocence is trampled down,

and wickedness exalted on high. If the execution of justice be a right thing, —and

who can deny the fact? —then it must be a very proper thing to desire it; not out of

private revenge, in which case a man would hardly dare to appeal to God, but out of

sympathy with right, and pity for those who are made wrongfully to suffer, Who

can see a nation enslaved, or even an individual downtrodden, without crying to the

Lord to arise and vindicate the righteous cause? The toleration of injustice is here

attributed to the Lord's being hidden, and it is implied that the bare sight of him

will suffice to alarm the tyrants into ceasing their oppressions. God has but to show

himself, and the good cause wins the day. He comes, he sees, he conquers! Truly in

these evil days we need a manifest display of his power, for the ancient enemies of

God and man are again struggling for the mastery, and if they gain it, woe unto the

saints of God.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 1. 0 LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth. It may perhaps seem to accord

too little with a lover of piety, so strenuously to urge upon God to show himself an

avenger against the wicked, and to rouse Him as if He were lingering and

procrastinating. But this supplication must be regarded in its proper bearing; for

David does not pray, neither should we pray, that God would take vengeance on the

wicked in the same way that men, inflamed with anger and hatred, are wont often to

avenge themselves of their enemies, but that He would punish them after his own

divine manner and measure. The vengeance of God is for the most part a medicine

for the evil; but ours is at times destruction even to the good. Therefore truly the

Lord is alone the God of revenges. For we, when we think we have inflicted a

penalty upon our enemy, are often much mistaken. What injury to us was the body

of our enemy? in depriving him of which we nevertheless express all our bitterness.

What wounded thee and wrought thee harm and shame, was the spirit of thine

enemy, and that thou art not able to seize and hold, but God is able; and He alone

has such power that in no way can the spirit escape his strength and force. Leave

vengeance with Him, and He will repay. He admonishes us, that if we ourselves wish

to be avengers of our own pains and injuries we may hurt ourselves more deeply

than our enemy: for when we take vengeance on him, we indeed wound and do

violence to his body, which in itself is vile and of little regard; but in our own best

and most precious part, that is, in our spirit; we ourselves, by losing patience,

receive a deep stain, because when virtue and humanity have been expelled thence,

we meanwhile incur faults to be atoned for therein. Wherefore God is entreated to

become Himself the avenger of our injuries, for He alone knows aright and is able to

avenge; and to become such an avenger that only the very thing which injured us

may be punished. Some greedy man has cheated thee in money, may He punish

avarice in him. A proud man has treated thee with scorn, may He destroy his pride,

etc... This is vengeance most worthy to be inflicted of God, and by us to be sought.

Jacopo Sadoleto. 1477-1547.

Ver. 1. I do not think that we sufficiently attend to the distinction that exists

between revenge and vengeance. "Revenge, "says Dr. Johnson, "is an act of passion,

vengeance of justice; injuries are revenged, crimes avenged." And it is from not

attending to this essential distinction that the scorner has been led into such profane

remarks, as if there were a vindictive spirit in the Almighty, and as if he found

delight in wreaking vengeance on an adversary. The call which the psalmist here

makes on God as a God to whom vengeance belongeth, is no other than if he had

said, "O God, to whom justice belongeth!" Vengeance indeed is not for man,

because with man's feelings and propensities it would ever degenerate into revenge.

"I wilt be even with him, "says nature; "I will be above him, "says grace. Barton

Bouchier.

Ver. 1. The two divine names (El and Jehovah, —God and Lord) recognize God as

almighty, eternal, self existent, bound by covenant to his people, and alone entitled

to take vengeance. J. A. Alexander.

Ver. 1-6.

"Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold;

Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,

When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones,

Forget not: in thy book record their groans

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold

Slain by the bloody Piemontese that rolled

Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they

To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow

Over all the Italian fields, where still doth sway

The triple Tyrant; that from these may grow

A hundredfold, who having learned the way,

Early may fly the Babylonian woe." John Milton.

COFFMA�, "Verse 1

PSALM 94

ISRAEL CRIES OUT FOR GOD TO JUDGE THE WORLD

We are unable to assign either a date or an occasion for this psalm; the author is

also unknown. Apparently, the sufferings of Israel in view here were not the result

of oppression by a foreign power, but due to the gross wickedness of Israel's own

government. If so, then the times either of Zedekiah or Manasseh would have been

suitable for such a complaint as this.

As proposed by Delitzsch, there are six paragraphs in the psalm.

Amos had specifically warned Israel against their oft-repeated cry for the coming of

the Judgment Day.

"Woe unto you that desire the day of Jehovah! Wherefore would ye have the day of

Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear

met him; and he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent

bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light? even very dark,

and no brightness in it" (Amos 5:18-20)?

In spite of such a warning, it seems that Israel continued to cherish their illusions

about the Judgment Day.

Psalms 94:1-3

A PRAYER FOR GOD TO JUDGE RAMPA�T WICKED�ESS

"O Jehovah, thou God to whom vengeance belongeth,

Thou God to whom vengeance belongeth, shine forth.

Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth:

Render to the proud their desert.

Jehovah, how long shall the wicked,

How long shall the wicked triumph?"

"Shine forth" (Psalms 94:1). It is clear enough here that the psalmist is thinking of

the day of Jehovah, as indicated by this expression.

"Lift up thyself" (Psalms 94:2). This is a plea for, "God to rouse himself from

inaction, and to come and visit the earth as Judge."[1]

"How long shall the wicked triumph?" (Psalms 94:3). Although there is an element

of faith in such a cry, "It is a cry of weakness and impatience."[2] It also fails to

heed Amos' warning.

"This appeal has no sense of malice about it. It is a simple cry for recompense and a

plea that ungodly deeds should recoil upon the perpetrators."[3]

Verse 4

WHAT THE WICKED WERE DOI�G

"They prate; they speak arrogantly:

All the workers of iniquity boast themselves.

They break in pieces thy people, O Jehovah,

And afflict thy heritage.

They slay the widow and the sojourner,

And murder the fatherless.

And they say, Jehovah will not see,

�either will the God of Jacob consider."

During the long reign of Manasseh, the Scriptures tell us that, "Manasseh shed

innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another" (2

Kings 21:16).

"Throughout the �ear East, the protection of widows, orphans and strangers was

held to be the most sacred duty of leaders."[4]

"They prate" (Psalms 94:4). To prate is to speak idly, to chatter. The wicked were

indulging in almost endless arrogant and idle speech against the righteous.

"Jehovah will not see ... the God of Jacob will not consider" (Psalms 94:7). Delitzsch

thought that oppressors here were foreign powers, but as Maclaren pointed out,

"There is nothing here to indicate that these oppressors were foreigners."[5]

Furthermore, the appearance here of the expression "the God of Jacob" strongly

indicates Israelites as the practical atheists in view here. As a matter of fact, Psalms

94:8, below, speaks of these evil-doers as being "among the people," that is, among

God's people.

Adam Clarke remarked on Psalms 94:7 here that, "This is their impiety; this is their

blasphemy; this is their practical atheism, and the cause of all their injustice,

cruelty, tyranny and oppression."[6]

BE�SO�, "Verses 1-4

Psalms 94:1-4. O God, to whom vengeance belongeth — To whom, as the supreme

Judge of the world, the patron and protector of the righteous, and the declared

enemy of all wickedness and wicked men, and to whom alone it belongs to take

revenge on those who oppress thy people when they should protect them; show

thyself — Make thy justice conspicuous, by speedily avenging thine elect, and

rendering a recompense to their enemies. Lift up thyself — To punish thy proud

enemies. Be exalted in thine own strength, and let those proud men, who have acted

as if they thought none could control them, know that they have a superior. How

long shall they utter — Pour forth freely, constantly, abundantly, as a fountain doth

water, (so יביעו, jabbignu, signifies,) and speak hard things — Grievous, insolent,

and intolerable words against thee and thy people; and all the workers of iniquity

boast themselves — Of their invincible power, and prosperous success in their

wicked designs.

EBC, "THE theme of God the Judge is closely allied to that of God the King, as

other psalms of this group show, in which His coming to judge the world is the

subject of rapturous praise. This psalm hymns Jehovah’s retributive sway, for

which it passionately cries, and in which it confidently trusts. Israel is oppressed by

insolent rulers, who have poisoned the fountains of justice, condemning the

innocent, enacting unrighteous laws, and making a prey of all the helpless. These

"judges of Sodom" are not foreign oppressors, for they are "among the people";

and even while they scoff at Jehovah’s judgments they call Him by His covenant

names of "Jah" and "God of Jacob." There is no need, therefore, to look beyond

Israel for the originals of the dark picture, nor does it supply data for fixing the

period of the psalm.

The structure and course of thought are transparent. First comes an invocation to

God as the Judge of the earth (Psalms 94:1-2); then follow groups of four verses

each, subdivided into pairs, -the first of these (Psalms 94:3-6) pictures the doings of

the oppressors; the second (Psalms 94:7-11) quotes their delusion that their crimes

are unseen by Jehovah, and refutes their dream of impunity, and it is closed by a

verse in excess of the normal number. emphatically asserting the truth which the

mockers denied. The third group declares the blessedness of the men whom God

teaches, and the certainty of His retribution to vindicate the cause of the righteous

(Psalms 94:12-15). Then follow the singer’s own cry for help in his own need, as one

of the oppressed community, and a sweet reminiscence of former aid, which calms

his present anxieties. The concluding group goes back to description of the lawless

lawmakers and their doings, and ends with trust that the retribution prayed for in

the first verses will verily be dealt out to them, and that thereby both the singer, as a

member of the nation, and the community will find Jehovah, who is both "my God"

and "our God," a high tower.

The reiterations in the first two verses are not oratorical embellishments, but reveal

intense feeling and pressing need. It is a cold prayer which contents itself with one

utterance. A man in straits continues to cry for help till it comes, or till he sees it

coming. To this singer, the one aspect of Jehovah’s reign which was forced on him

by Israel’s dismal circumstances was the judicial. There are times when no thought

of God is so full of strength as that He is "the God of recompenses," as Jeremiah

calls Him, [Jeremiah 51:56] and when the longing of good men is that He would

flash forth, and slay evil by the brightness of His coming. They who have no

profound loathing of sin, or who have never felt the crushing weight of legalised

wickedness, may shrink from such aspirations as the psalmist’s, and brand them as

ferocious; but hearts longing for the triumph of righteousness will not take offence

at them.

PULPIT, "THIS psalm is primarily (Psalms 94:1-11) a "cry for vengeance on

Israel's oppressors, passing into an appeal for more faith to God's own people"

(Cheyne). In the latter half (Psalms 94:12-23) the psalmist comforts himself with the

thought that God will assuredly protect his own, and bring destruction upon the evil

doers (Psalms 94:12-23). Metrically, the psalm is made up of four strophes—the first

of seven verses (Psalms 94:1-7); the next of four (Psalms 94:8-11); the third of eight

(Psalms 94:12-19); and the last of four (Psalms 94:20-23).

Psalms 94:1-7

The cry for vengeance. Israel is suffering oppression—not, however, from foreign

enemies, but from domestic tyrants (Psalms 94:4-6). Innocent blood is shed; the

widow and the orphan are trodden down. God, it is supposed, will not see or will not

regard (Psalms 94:7). The psalmist, therefore, cries out to God to manifest himself

by taking signal vengeance on the evil doers (Psalms 94:1, Psalms 94:2).

Psalms 94:1

O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth (comp. Deuteronomy 32:35, "To me

belongeth vengeance and recompence;" and Jeremiah 51:56, where God is called

"the Lord God of reeompences," as he is here—literally—"the Lord God of

vengeances"). O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself; or, "shine

forth"—make thy justice to appear; show thyself in thy character of a God who will

by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:7).

BI 1-23, "O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth . . . show Thyself.

Persecutors and their victims

I. The awful condition of the wicked persecutor. The persecutors referred to (Psa_94:1-10) are represented as “proud,” speaking “hard things,” as “workers of iniquity,” as “breaking in pieces” the people of God, as “slaying the widow and the stranger,” and “murdering the fatherless.” Every age and country has abounded with such oppressors, they are rife even in this land of liberty.

1. They are prayed against by their godly victims (Psa_94:1-2).

2. They are understood by their godly victims, who saw in their hearts—

(1) Atheism (Psa_94:7).

(2) Brutality (Psa_94:8).

(3) Folly (Psa_94:8-10).

II. The blessed condition of their pious victims. These victims regarded their persecution—

1. As a Divine chastisement (Psa_94:12). All afflictions even when they come by the cruel persecution of men are employed by the Almighty Father as chastisements and corrections. Although He does not originate the evil He directs it and uses it for

good.

2. As a Divine chastisement that would come to an end (Psa_94:13). The afflictions will not continue for ever, a long and blessed repose will ensue. The persecutors will fall into the pit which they have dug. The sinner is ever his own destroyer; with every crime he is sinking his own dark bottomless pit into which he must fall.

3. As a chastisement under which they were guaranteed Divine support. The pious victims experienced

(1) Divine help (Psa_94:17-18).

(2) Divine consolation (Psa_94:19).

4. As a Divine chastisement that would end in the ruin of their enemies (Psa_94:20-23). (Homilist.)

2 Rise up, Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.

BAR�ES, "Lift up thyself - Be exalted or lifted up so as to be manifest in thy true character. The idea is that God was, as it were, sitting at his ease, or as if he were indifferent to what was occurring in the world. See the notes at Psa_3:7.

Thou Judge of the earth - Ruler of the world; to whom it pertains to exercise judgment over all classes of people, and in all circumstances. The meaning here is, that as he was the Ruler of the whole earth, this matter came without doubt under his jurisdiction. It was a case for his interposition.

Render a reward to the proud - A just recompence to the people who are confident in their own strength, and who are manifesting their pride in depriving others of their rights.

CLARKE, "Lift up thyself - Exert thy power.

Render a reward to the proud - To the Babylonians, who oppress and insult us.

GILL, "Lift up thyself, thou, O Judge of the earth,.... A title very proper to Christ, and which is given him by Abraham, Gen_18:25, who then appeared to him in an human

form, and with whom he was conversing; he judges his own people on earth, all judgment being committed to him by the Father; he judges and chastises them, that they may not be condemned with the world; he judges and distinguishes between them and the world; he protects and defends them, he pleads their cause, and avenges them on their enemies: and for this purpose he is requested to "lift up" himself; being in the apprehension of his people as one laid down and asleep, quite negligent and careless of them; and therefore they desire that he would awake and arise, and exert his power, and show himself higher than their enemies; that he would mount his throne, and execute justice and judgment on the wicked, agreeably to his character and office:

render a reward to the proud; an evil reward, as the Targum; to proud persecutors of the church, who through their pride persecute the poor saints; and to render tribulation to them is but just with the Lord; to antichrist, that exalts himself above all that is called God, and to all his haughty and ambitious dependents and followers, cardinals, bishops, priests, &c.

JAMISO�, "Lift up thyself — or, “Arise,” both figures representing God as heretofore indifferent (compare Psa_3:7; Psa_22:16, Psa_22:20).

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 2. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth. Ascend thy judgment

seat and be acknowledged as the ruler of men: and, moreover, raise thyself as men

do who are about to strike with all their might; for the abounding sin of mankind

requires a heavy blow from thy hand.

Render a reward to the proud, give them measure for measure, a fair retaliation,

blow for blow. The proud look down upon the gracious poor and strike them from

above, as a giant might hurl down blows upon his adversary; after the same

manner, O Lord, lift up thyself, and "return a recompense upon the proud, "and let

them know that thou art far more above them than they can be above the meanest of

their fellow men. The psalmist thus invokes the retribution of justice in plain speech,

and his request is precisely that which patient innocence puts up in silence, when

her looks of anguish appeal to heaven.

3 How long, Lord, will the wicked, how long will the wicked be jubilant?

BAR�ES, "Lord, how long shall the wicked ... - As if there were to be no end to their exaltation; their joy; their success. How long would God allow this? How long would he sit by and see it done? Was he disposed to let them go on forever? Would he

never interpose, and arrest them in their career? How often do we wonder that God does not interpose! How often does it seem inexplicable that a Being of almighty power and infinite goodness does not interfere with respect to the wickedness, the oppression, the slavery, the wrong, the cruelty, the fraud, the violence of the world - and put an end to it! Nay, how entirely are we overwhelmed at the thought that he does not put an end to iniquity in the universe altogether; that he never “will” thus interpose, and put an end to sin and sorrow! Such things are too high for us now; perhaps will be always so. Things on earth are not as we should suppose they would be; and we can only pause and adore where we cannot comprehend!

CLARKE, "How long shall the wicked triumph? - The wicked are often in prosperity; and this only shows us of how little worth riches are in the sight of God, when he bestows them on the most contemptible of mortals. But their time and prosperity have their bounds.

GILL, "Lord, how long shall the wicked,.... The reign of antichrist is thought long by the saints, being the space of forty two months, or 1260 days or years and this tries the faith and patience of the church of Christ, Rev_13:5.

how long shall the wicked triumph? in their prosperity, and in the ruins of the interest of Christ; the Targum is,

"how long shall they sit in tranquillity, or prosperity?''

the triumphing of the wicked may seem long, but it is but short, Job_20:5, the inhabitants of the Romish jurisdiction will triumph when the witnesses are slain, and send gifts to one another, as a token of their joy; but this will not last long, no more than three days, or three years and a half; and while antichrist is saying, I sit a queen, and shall know no sorrow, her plagues shall come upon her in one day, Rev_11:10.

HE�RY 3-6, " A humble complaint to God of the pride and cruelty of the oppressors, and an expostulation with him concerning it, Psa_94:3-6. Here observe,

1. The character of the enemies they complain against. They are wicked; they are workers of iniquity; they are bad, very bad, themselves, and therefore they hate and persecute those whose goodness shames and condemns them. Those are wicked indeed, and workers of the worst iniquity, lost to all honour and virtue, who are cruel to the innocent and hate the righteous.

2. Their haughty barbarous carriage which they complain of. (1.) They are insolent, and take a pleasure in magnifying themselves. They talk high and talk big; they triumph; they speak loud things; they boast themselves, as if their tongues were their own and their hands too, and they were accountable to none for what they say or do, and as if the day were their own, and they doubted not but to carry the cause against God and religion. Those that speak highly of themselves, that triumph and boast, are apt to speak hardly of others; but there will come a day of reckoning for all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against God, his truths, and ways, and people, Jud_1:15. (2.) They are impious, and take a pleasure in running down God's people because they are his (Psa_94:5): “They break in pieces thy people, O Lord! break their assemblies, their estates, their families, their persons, in pieces, and do all they can to afflict thy

heritage, to grieve them, to crush them, to run them down, to root them out.” God's people are his heritage; there are those that, for his sake, hate them, and seek their ruin. This is a very good plea with God, in our intercessions for the church: “Lord, it is thine; thou hast a property in it. It is thy heritage; thou hast a pleasure in it, and out of it the rent of thy glory in this world issues. And wilt thou suffer these wicked men to trample upon it thus?” (3.) They are inhuman, and take a pleasure in wronging those that are least able to help themselves (Psa_94:6); they not only oppress and impoverish, but they slay the widow and the stranger; not only neglect the fatherless, and make a prey of them, but murder them, because they are weak and exposed, and sometimes lie at their mercy. Those whom they should protect from injury they are most injurious to, perhaps because God has taken them into his particular care. Who would think it possible that any of the children of men should be thus barbarous?

JAMISO�, "In an earnest expostulation he expresses his desire that the insolent triumph of the wicked may be ended.

CALVI�, "3O Jehovah! how long shall the wicked? The Psalmist justifies himself in

this verse for the fervent importunity which he showed in prayer. There was need of

immediate help, when the wicked had proceeded to such an extent of audacity. The

necessity of our case may justly embolden us in our requests, which must be all the

more readily heard as they are reasonable; and here the Psalmist insists that his

complaints were not without cause, nor originated in trifling reasons, but were

extorted by injuries of the most flagrant description. �otice is taken of the length of

time during which their persecutions had lasted, as an aggravating circumstance.

They had become hardened under the long-continued forbearance of God, and had

in consequence contracted a shamelessness, as well as obstinacy of spirit, imagining

that he looked upon their wickedness with an eye of favor. The term how long twice

repeated, implies the extent of impunity which had been granted, that it was not as

if they had newly started upon their career, but that they had been tolerated for a

length of time, and had become outrageously flagitious. It was thus that in former

times wicked men tyrannized to such a degree over the Church, while yet God did

not interfere to apply a remedy; and we need not be surprised that he should subject

her now to protracted persecutions, nor should we conclude that, because he does

not immediately proceed to cure existing evils, he has utterly forsaken her. The term

triumph denotes that fullness of audacious and boasting exultation which the

wicked feel when they are intoxicated with continued prosperity, and conceive that

they may indulge in every excess without restraint.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 3. LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked

triumph? Shall wrong for ever rule? Are slavery, robbery, tyranny, never to cease?

Since there is certainly a just God in heaven, armed with almighty power, surely

there must be sooner or later an end to the ascendancy of evil, innocence must one

day find a defender. This "how long?" of the text is the bitter complaint of all the

righteous in all ages, and expresses wonder caused by that great enigma of

providence, the existence and predominance of evil. The sound "how long?" is very

akin to howling, as if it were one of the saddest of all the utterances in which misery

bemoans itself. Many a time has this bitter complaint been heard in the dungeons of

the Inquisition, at the whipping posts of slavery, and in the prisons of oppression. In

due time God will publish his reply, but the full end is not yet.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 3. How long shall the wicked, how long, etc. Twice he saith it, because the

wicked boast day after day, with such insolence and outrage, as if they were above

control. John Trapp.

Ver. 3. How long shall the wicked triumph? For "triumph, "the Hebrew word is

wzley which signifies to exalt. That is, they give themselves vain applause on account

of their prosperity, and declare their success both with words and with the gestures

of their body, like peacocks spreading their feathers. How long shall they utter? etc.

For "utter" the Hebrew is weyby, they shall flow, they shall cast forth. The

metaphor is taken from fountains springing out of the rock with a rush and

abundance of water. Where the abundance of words is noted, their rashness, their

waste and profusion, their sound and eagerness, their continuance and the difficulty

of obstructing them. Le Blanc.

Ver. 3. How long shall the wicked triumph? What answer shall we give, what date

shall we put to this, "How long?" The answer is given in Psalms 94:23, "He shall

bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness,

"etc. As if he had said, Except the Lord cut them off in their wickedness, they will

never leave off doing wickedly. They are men of such a kind that there is no curing

of them, they will never have done doing mischief until they be cut off by death,

therefore God threatens death to deter men from sin. A godly man saith, "If God

kill me, yet will I trust in him; "and some wicked men say (in effect, if not in the

letter), Till God kills us we will sin against him. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 3-4. Triumph, utter and speak, boast. In the very terms wherein the Psalmist

complains of the continued prevalence of the wicked, there is matter of comfort, for

we have three (rather four, as in the authorised version) words to denote speaking,

and only one, workers, to denote action, showing us that they are far more powerful

with their tongues than with their hands. Hugo Cardinalis, quoted by �eale.

EBC, "The first group (Psalms 94:3-6) lifts the cry of suffering Faith, which has

almost become impatience, but turns to, not from, God, and so checks complaints of

His delay, and converts them into prayer. "How long, O Lord?" is the burden of

many a tried heart; and the Seer heard it from the souls beneath the altar. This

psalm passes quickly to dilate on the crimes of the rulers which forced out that

prayer. The portrait has many points of likeness to that drawn in Psalms 73:1-28.

Here, as there, boastful speech and haughty carriage are made prominent, being put

before even cruelty and oppression. "They well out, they speak arrogance": both

verbs have the same object. Insolent self-exaltation pours from the fountain of their

pride in copious jets. "They give themselves airs like princes." The verb in this

clause may mean to say among themselves or to boast, but is now usually regarded

as meaning to behave like a prince-i.e., to carry oneself insolently. Vainglorious

arrogance manifest in boasting speech and masterful demeanour characterises

Eastern rulers, especially those who have risen from low origin. Every little village

tyrant gave himself airs, as if he were a king; and the lower his rank, the greater his

insolence. These oppressors were grinding the nation to powder, and what made

their crime the darker was that it was Jehovah’s people and inheritance which they

thus harassed. Helplessness should be a passport to a ruler’s care, but it had become

a mark for murderous attack. Widow; stranger, and orphan are named as types of

defencelessness.

4 They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting.

BAR�ES, "How long shall they utter and speak hard things? - The word rendered utter means to pour forth - as water from a fountain; to pour forth copiously. The meaning is, that they seemed to be full, and that they poured forth evil words as a fountain pours forth water. The phrase “hard things” means proud, unfeeling, insolent things; things which are unjust, unkind, severe, harsh.

And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? - Boast of their power and their success. How long shall they be permitted to have such success as may seem to justify them in their exultation?

CLARKE, "They utter and speak - yabbiu, their hearts get full of pride and יביאו

insolence; and then, from the abundance of such vile hearts, the mouth speaks; and the speech is of hard things, threatening which they are determined to execute, boastings of their power, authority, etc.

GILL, "How long shall they utter and speak hard things?,.... Against Christ, his person and offices, his ministers, his people, his truths and ordinances; this is very applicable to antichrist, who has a mouth speaking blasphemies, and which he opens, and with it blasphemes God, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in it, Rev_13:5. The Targum is,

"will they utter and speak reproachful words?''

contumelies or calumnies; and such are uttered by the antichristian party against the true professors of religion in great abundance, as water out of a fountain, as the first word (a) used signifies; see Jud_1:15,

and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves; the just character of the followers of antichrist, who work an abomination, and make a lie, and whose whole course of life, and even of religion, is a series of sin and iniquity, Rev_21:27, these lift up themselves against, the Lord, like the high branches of a tree, as Aben Ezra; or praise themselves, as Jarchi; being proud, they are boasters; boast of their antiquity and precedence, of their wealth and riches, of their power and authority, of infallibility, and works of supererogation, and the like.

K&D 4-7, "The second strophe describes those over whom the first prays that the

judgment of God may come. ה0יע� (cf. ה2יף) is a tropical phrase used of that kind of speech

that results from strong inward impulse and flows forth in rich abundance. The poet

himself explains how it is here (cf. Psa_59:8) intended: they speak עתק, that which is

unrestrained, unbridled, insolent (vid., Psa_31:19). The Hithpa. הת45ר Schultens

interprets ut Emiri (Arab. 'mı9r, a commander) se gerunt; but signifies in Hebrew the ;מיר

top of a tree (vid., on Isa_17:9); and from the primary signification to tower aloft,

whence too מר;, to speak, prop. effere = effari, הת45ר, like התי4ר in Isa_61:6, directly

signifies to exalt one's self, to carry one's self high, to strut. On וד<או cf. Pro_22:22; Isa_

3:15; and on their atheistical principle which places in closest connection with ו@אמרו

their mode of action, cf. Psa_10:11; Psa_59:8 extrem. The Dagesh in A@, distinct from the

Dag. in the same word in Psa_94:12, Psa_118:5, Psa_118:18, is the Dag. forte conjunct.

according to the rule of the so-called דחיק.

CALVI�, "4They pour forth, they speak hard things (15) He shows in still clearer

terms, how their fierceness in persecution was such that they did not scruple to

glory in their guilt. The Hebrew verb נבע, nabang, means more than to speak.

Literally it signifies to rush or boil forth, and comes to denote figuratively the

uttering of reckless or rash words. We see how wicked men are instigated by pride

and vain-glory, to demean and disgrace themselves so far as to boast vain-gloriously

of their power, breathing forth threatenings of bloodshed, violence, and monstrous

cruelty. It is to such ebullitions that the Psalmist refers, when men who are lost to all

sense of shame and modesty boast of the wickedness which they can perpetrate at

will. This is what he means by their speaking hard things, uttering discourse which

is under no restraint of fear, or prudential consideration, but which launches into

the most unbridled license. As the Lord’s people had formerly to endure the heavy

trial of seeing the Church subjected to this wild tyranny and misrule, we should

account it no strange thing to see the Church suffering still under miserable

misgovernment, or positive oppression, but should pray for help from God, who,

though he connives at wickedness for a time, eventually comes to the deliverance of

his children.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 4. How long shall they utter and speak hard things? The

ungodly are not content with deeds of injustice, but they add hard speeches,

boasting, threatening, and insulting over the saints. Will the Lord for ever endure

this? Will he leave his own children much longer to be the prey of their enemies?

Will not the insolent speeches of his adversaries and theirs at last provoke his justice

to interfere? Words often wound more than swords, they are as hard to the heart as

stones to the flesh; and these are poured forth by the ungodly in redundance, for

such is the force of the word translated utter; and they use them so commonly that

they become their common speech (they utter and speak them) —will this always

be endured?

And all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? —they even soliloquise and talk

to themselves, and of themselves, in arrogance of Spirit, as if they were doing some

good deed when they crush the poor and needy, and spit their spite on gracious men.

It is the nature of workers of iniquity to boast, just as it is a characteristic of good

men to be humble—will their boasts always be suffered by the great Judge, whose

ear hears all that they say? Long, very long, have they had the platform to

themselves, and loud, very loud, have been their blasphemies of God, and their

railings at his saints—will not the day soon come when the threatened heritage of

shame and everlasting contempt shall be meted out to them?

Thus the oppressed plead with their Lord, and shall not God avenge his own elect?

Will he not speak out of heaven to the enemy and say, "Why persecutest thou me"?

5 They crush your people, Lord; they oppress your inheritance.

BAR�ES, "They break in pieces thy people - They tread down; they grind; they crush. The Hebrew word is often used as meaning to crush under foot; to trample on; and hence, it means to oppress. Lam_3:34; Isa_3:15.

And afflict - To wit, by oppression and wrong. If this refers to foreigners, it means that they did this by invasion and by the ravages of war.

Thine heritage - Thy people, regarded as an inheritance or possession. See Psa_28:9, note; Psa_33:12, note; Psa_68:9, note; Psa_74:2, note; Isa_19:25, note; Isa_47:6, note; 1Pe_5:3, note.

CLARKE, "They break in pieces thy people - This was true af the Babylonians. Nehuchadnezzar slew many; carried the rest into captivity; ruined Jerusalem; overturned the temple; sacked, pillaged, and destroyed all the country.

GILL, "They break in pieces thy people, O Lord,.... Not the Israelites, as Kimchi; but the church of Christ, by their anathemas, cruel edicts, and persecutions; by confiscating their goods, imprisoning their persons, putting them to cruel deaths; and by such means think to "wear out" the saints of the most High, the Lord's covenant and peculiar people; which is mentioned as an aggravation of their sin, and as an argument with the Lord to arise on their behalf:

and afflict thine heritage; the church, styled God's heritage, 1Pe_5:3, whom the Lord has chosen for his inheritance; and are dear to him, as his portion, his jewels, and even as the apple of his eye; and yet these are afflicted all manner of ways by their persecuting enemies, as Israel was of old in Egypt.

JAMISO� 5-6, "thy people [and] thine heritage — are synonymous, the people being often called God’s heritage. As justice to the weak is a sign of the best government, their oppression is a sign of the worst (Deu_10:18; Isa_10:2).

CALVI�, "5They break in pieces thy people, O Jehovah! Having spoken of their

discourse or language as vain-glorious and shameless, he proceeds to speak of their

deeds, in cruelly persecuting the Church. It is hard that even the subjects of heathen

princes should be subjected to unjust persecution, but a more intolerable thing still,

that those who are God’s own people, his peculiar inheritance, should be trampled

under the foot of tyranny. The prayer before us is one which, as I have already

remarked, is given with the intention that we should prefer it ourselves, when we or

others may be persecuted by wicked men, and especially intestine enemies. Our

safety is dear to the Lord, not only as we are men, the workmanship of his hand, but

as we are his peculiar heritage; and this should lead us, when wronged at any time,

to betake ourselves to God with the more confidence. It is farther added — that they

spare not the widow, and the orphan, and murder the stranger God, while he has

commanded us in general to cultivate equity and justice in our common intercourse,

has commended the orphan, widow, and stranger, to our peculiar care, as being

more exposed to injury, and therefore more entitled to humanity and compassion.

To treat such objects with cruelty argues a singular degree of impiety, and contempt

of divine authority, and is not only an outrage of common justice, but the infraction

of a privilege of special protection which God has condescended to cast around

them. (16) They who are chargeable with such conduct, particularly provoke the

divine anger. As to little children especially, their helplessness and tender age will

even protect them from being attacked by dogs and wild beasts. And what shall we

think of the monstrous inhumanity of men, who would make them the objects of

their assault? We have here a specimen of the dreadful state of matters which must

then have prevailed in the Church of God. The law was there, and the ordinances of

divine appointment, yet we see to what an awful extent every species of wickedness

abounded. Let us beware lest we fall into a similar state of corruption, and should it

so happen under our own observation that men persecute the stranger, seize the

widow, and rob the fatherless, let us, in imitation of the Psalmist, who would have us

alleviate their misfortunes, pray God to undertake their defense.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 5. They break in pieces thy people, O LORD, grinding them

with oppression, crushing them with contempt. Yet the men they break in pieces are

God's own people, and they are persecuted because they are so; this is a strong plea

for the divine interposition.

And afflict thine heritage, causing them sorrowful humiliation and deep depression

of heart. The term, "thine heritage, "marks out the election of the saints, God's

peculiar interest and delight in them, his covenant relation, of long standing, to them

and their fathers; this also is a storehouse of arguments with their faithful God. Will

he not defend his own? Will a man lose his inheritance, or permit it to be

contemptuously despoiled? Those who are ground down, and trampled on, are not

strangers, but the choice and chosen ones of the Lord; how long will he leave them

to be a prey to cruel foes

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 5. They break in pieces thy people. They tread down; they grind; they crush.

The Hebrew word is often used as meaning to crush under foot; to trample on; and

hence it means to oppress. La 3:34, Isaiah 3:15. Albert Barnes.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:5-7. They afflict thy heritage — Those righteous persons

whom thou hast chosen for thy portion or inheritance. They slay the widow, &c. —

Whom common humanity obliged them to spare, pity, and relieve. Yet they say, The

Lord shall not see — Their meeting with impunity and prosperity in their impious

and barbarous practices makes them ready to doubt, or to deny, the providence of

God in the government of his church and of the world. �either doth the God of

Jacob regard it — Though there are such evident demonstrations of the divine

interpositions in favour of Jacob, and of his watchful care over them as his people,

yet, for all that, they fancy he does not regard, nor will call them to any account for

their doings.

6 They slay the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.

BAR�ES, "They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless - To do this is everywhere represented as a special crime, and as especially offensive to God from the fact that these classes are naturally feeble and unprotected. See the notes at Isa_1:17; Psa_68:5; Psa_82:3.

CLARKE, "They slay the widow - Nebuchadnezzar carried on his wars with great cruelty. He carried fire and sword every where; spared neither age, sex, nor condition. The widow, the orphan, and the stranger, persons in the most desolate condition of life, were not distinguished from others by his ruthless sword.

GILL, "They slay the widow and the stranger,.... Who are so both in a literal and figurative sense, such who are weak and feeble, helpless and friendless; or who are deprived of their faithful pastors, who were as husbands and fathers to them, and who profess themselves pilgrims and strangers here; these the followers of the man of sin have inhumanly put to death, supposing they did God good service:

and murder the fatherless; having slain the parents in a cruel and barbarous manner, murder their infants; or figuratively such who are as orphans, destitute of their spiritual fathers, who were the instruments of begetting them in Christ, and of nourishing them with the words of faith and good doctrine; with the blood of these the whore of Rome has often made herself drunk, and therefore blood shall be given her to drink, Rev_17:5.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 6. They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the

fatherless. They deal most arrogantly with those who are the most evident objects of

compassion. The law of God especially commends these poor ones to the kindness of

good men, and it is peculiar wickedness which singles them out to be the victims not

only of fraud but of murder. Must not such inhuman conduct as this provoke the

Lord? Shall the tears of widows, the groans of strangers, and the blood of orphans

be poured forth in vain? As surely as there is a God in heaven, he will visit those

who perpetrate such crimes; though he bear long with them, he will yet take

vengeance, and that speedily.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 6. Widow; fatherless. An old Jewish writer (Philo Judaeus) has pointed out

how aptly the titles of widow and orphan befitted the Hebrew nation, because it had

no helper save God only, and was cut off from all other people by its peculiar rites

and usages, whereas the Gentiles, by their mutual alliances and intercourse, had, as

it were, a multitude of kindred to help them in any strait. J. M. �eale.

7 They say, “The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice.”

BAR�ES, "Yet they say - By their conduct; or, they seem to say.

The Lord shall not see - In the original, יה Yâhh. This is an abbreviation of the

word יהוה Yahweh. See Psa_68:4, note; Psa_83:18, note. On the impious sentiment here

expressed, see the notes at Psa_10:11.

Neither shall the God of Jacob regard it - Implying that God was indifferent to the conduct of people; that he would not punish the wicked; that sinners have nothing to fear at his hand. This sentiment is very common still, either as an article in their creed, or as implied in their conduct. The doctrine of universal salvation is really founded on this opinion; and most people ACT as if it were their belief that the wicked are in no danger of being punished, and that there is no such attribute in God as justice.

CLARKE, "The Lord shall not see - This was either the language of infidelity or insult. Indeed, what could the Babylonians know of the true God? They might consider him as the God of a district or province, who knew nothing and did nothing out of his own territories.

GILL, "Yet they say, the Lord shall not see,.... The blood they shed, the murders they commit, the mischief they do, the wickedness they are guilty of, so flattering themselves with impunity; such atheism reigns at Rome, but God sees all their abominations, and he will let them know one day that he does behold them; see Psa_10:10,

neither shall the God of Jacob regard it; the same as before; this title of "the God of Jacob" may be considered either as put in by the psalmist, as an argument strengthening the faith of the church of God; that being their covenant God, he would take notice and care of them, and resent the injuries done them, and avenge them: or else as mentioned by their enemies, sneering at their confidence in God, whom they called their covenant God; that notwithstanding he would not regard or take any notice of what was done unto them, so as to appear in their behalf; all this has been said, if not openly with the mouth, yet secretly in the heart; the language of their actions has abundantly declared this gross atheism of antichrist, and his abettors, who are addressed as follows.

HE�RY, " A modest pleading with God concerning the continuance of the persecution: “Lord, how long shall they do thus?” And again, How long? When shall this wickedness of the wicked come to an end?

III. A charge of atheism exhibited against the persecutors, and an expostulation with them upon that charge.

1. Their atheistical thoughts are here discovered (Psa_94:7): Yet they say, The Lord shall not see. Though the cry of their wickedness is very great and loud, though they rebel against the light of nature and the dictates of their own consciences, yet they have the confidence to say, “The Lord shall not see; he will not only wink at small faults, but shut his eyes at great ones too.” Or they think they have managed it so artfully, under colour of justice and religion perhaps, that it will not be adjudged murder. “The God of

Jacob, though his people pretend to have such an interest in him, does not regard it either as against justice or as against his own people; he will never call us to an account for it.” Thus they deny God's government of the world, banter his covenant with his people, and set the judgment to come at defiance.

JAMISO�, "Their cruelty is only exceeded by their wicked and absurd presumption (Psa_10:11; Psa_59:7).

CALVI�, "7.And they have said, God shall not see When the Psalmist speaks of the

wicked as taunting God with blindness and ignorance, we are not to conceive of

them as just exactly entertaining this imagination of him in their hearts, but they

despise his judgments as much as if he took no cognisance of human affairs. Were

the truth graven upon men’s hearts that they cannot elude the eye of God, this

would serve as a check and restraint upon their conduct. When they proceed to such

audacity in wickedness as to lay the hand of violence upon their fellow-creatures, to

rob, and to destroy, it shows that they have fallen into a state of brutish security in

which they virtually consider themselves as concealed from the view of the

Almighty. This security sufficiently proves at least, that they act as if they never

expected to be called to an account for their conduct. (20) Though they may not then

be guilty of the gross blasphemy of asserting in so many words that God is ignorant

of what goes forward in the world, a mere nothing in the universe — the Psalmist

very properly charges them with denying God’s providential government, and,

indeed, avowedly stripping him of the power and function of judge and governor,

since, if they really were persuaded as they ought of his superintending providence,

they would honor him by feeling a reverential fear — as I have elsewhere observed

at greater length. He intends to express the lowest and most abandoned stage of

depravity, in which the sinner casts off the fear of God, and rushes into every excess.

Such infatuated conduct would have been inexcusable even in heathens, who had

never heard of a divine revelation; but it was monstrous in men who had been

brought up from infancy in the knowledge of the word, to show such mockery and

contempt of God.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 7. Yet they say, the Lord shall not see. This was the reason of

their arrogance, and the climax of their wickedness: they were blindly wicked

because they dreamed of a blind God. When men believe that the eyes of God are

dim, there is no reason to wonder that they give full license to their brutal passions.

The persons mentioned above not only cherished an infidel unbelief, but dared to

avow it, uttering the monstrous doctrine that God is too far away to take notice of

the actions of men.

�either shall the God of Jacob regard it. Abominable blasphemy and transparent

falsehood If God has actually become his people's God, and proved his care for

them by a thousand acts of grace, how dare the ungodly assert that he will not notice

the wrongs done to them? There is no limit to the proud man's profanity, reason

itself cannot restrain him; he has broken through the bounds of common sense.

Jacob's God heard him at the brook Jabbok; Jacob's God led him and kept him all

his life long, and said concerning him and his family, "Touch not mine anointed,

and do my prophets no harm; "and yet these brutish ones profess to believe that he

neither sees nor regards the injuries wrought upon the elect people! Surely in such

unbelievers is fulfilled the saying of the wise, that those whom the Lord means to

destroy he leaves to the madness of their corrupt hearts.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 7. They say, the Lord shall not see. As if they had said, Though God should set

himself to search us out, and would greatly wish to see what we are doing, yet he

shall not. We will carry it so closely and cunningly, that the eye of God shall not

reach us. Their works were so foul and bloody, that the sun might be ashamed to

look upon them, and they were so secret that they believed God could not look upon

them, or bring them to shame for them. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 7. The LORD... the God of Jacob. The divine names are, as usual, significant.

That the self existent and eternal God should not see, is a palpable absurdity; and

scarcely less so, that the God of Israel should suffer his own people to be slaughtered

without even observing it. The last verb means to mark, note, notice. J. A.

Alexander.

ELLICOTT, "7) The Lord.—In original, “Jah.” This carelessness of heaven to

injustice and crime, which, in the mouth of the heathen (or, perhaps, of apostate

Jews), appeared so monstrous to the Hebrews, was a doctrine of the philosophy of

ancient times. It appears in the saying of Seneca: “Stoicus deus nec cor nec caput

habet.” And in the Homeric hymn to Demeter men are represented as only enduring

the gifts of the gods because they are stronger, and give only grudgingly. (Comp.

Lucretius, .) The feeling has been well caught in Tennyson’s Lotus Eaters:

“Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind,

In the hollow Lotus-land to live and lie reclined,

On the hills like gods together, careless of mankind.”

EBC, "�othing in this strophe indicates that these oppressors are foreigners. �or

does the delusion that Jehovah neither saw nor cared for their doings. which the

next strophe (Psalms 94:7-11) states and confutes imply that they were so. Cheyne,

indeed, adduces the name "God of Jacob," which is put into their mouths, as

evidence that they are pictured as knowing Jehovah only as one among many tribal

or national deities; but the name is too familiar upon the lips of Israelites, and its

use by others is too conjectural, to allow of such a conclusion. Rather, the language

derives its darkest shade from being used by Hebrews, who are thereby declaring

themselves apostates from God as well as oppressors of His people. Their mad,

practical atheism makes the psalmist blaze up in indignant rebuke and impetuous

argumentation. He turns to them, and addresses them in rough, plain words,

strangely contrasted with their arrogant utterances regarding themselves. They are

"brutish" {cf. Psalms 73:22} and "fools." The psalmist, in his height of moral

indignation, towers above these petty tyrants, and tells them home truths very

profitable for such people, however dangerous to their utterer. There is no

obligation to speak smooth words to rulers whose rule is injustice and their religion

impiety. Ahab had his Elijah, and Herod his John Baptist. The succession has been

continued through the ages.

PULPIT, "Yet they say, The Lord shall not see (comp. Psalms 10:11, Psalms 10:13).

Foreign enemies did not suppose that Jehovah would not see, but trusted that their

own gods were stronger than he, and would protect them (2 Kings 18:33-35).

�either shall the God of Jacob regard it. "The God of Jacob" would not be a

natural expression in the mouth of Israel's foreign foes. They knew nothing of

Jacob. But it was an expression frequently used by Israelites (Genesis 49:24; Psalms

20:1; Psalms 46:7; Psalms 75:9; Psalms 76:6; Psalms 81:1, Psalms 81:4; Isaiah 2:3;

Isaiah 41:21; Micah 4:2, etc.).

8 Take notice, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?

BAR�ES, "Understand, ye brutish among the people - See Psa_73:22. The meaning here is, “You who are like the brutes; you who see and understand no more of the character and plans of God than the wild beasts of the desert.” The meaning is, that they did not employ their reason in the case; they acted like beasts, regardless of the consequences of their conduct - as if God would treat people as he does the beasts; as if there were no retribution in the future world.

And ye fools, when will ye be wise? - How long is this stupidity to continue? When will you attend to the truth; when will you act as immortal beings; when will you suffer your rational nature to lead you up to just views of God? It is implied that this folly had been manifested for a long period, and that it was time they should arouse from this condition, and act like people. With what propriety may this language be addressed still to the great mass of mankind! What numbers of the human race are there now, who in respect to God, and to the purpose for which they were made, evince no more wisdom than the brutes that perish! Oh, if people were truly wise, what a beautiful world would this be; how noble and elevated would be our now degraded race!

CLARKE, "Understand, ye brutish - These are the same expressions as in Psa_92:6 (note), on which see the note.

GILL, "Understand, ye brutish among the people,.... Or the most brutish and stupid of all people; especially that profess themselves to be the people of God, or Christians, as the Papists do; and who seem to be the persons here addressed: "brutish"; to murder the servants of the Lord, and drink their blood, till inebriated with it; stupid to the last degree to think that hereby they did God good service: hence the pope, the head of them, is represented both in his secular and ecclesiastical power by two beasts; the one rising out of the sea with seven heads and ten horns, a monster in nature, most like a leopard, his feet as a bear's, and his mouth as a lion's, having the fierceness and cruelty of them all; and the other coming out of the earth with two horns like a lamb, but spake like a dragon, Rev_13:1, the exhortation to these brutish creatures supposes them to be without understanding, like the beasts by whom they are represented; or, however, that they did not make use of those intellectual powers which God had given them; had they, they would have learned more humanity to their fellow creatures, and more religion towards God; they would have known more of him than to have said and done what is before declared; wherefore they are called upon to "consider" (so the word (b) is sometimes rendered, Psa_50:22) the reasonings about it to be laid before them:

and ye fools, when will ye be wise? "fools" they are to worship stocks and stones, the images of the Virgin Mary, and other saints; to give into the gross atheism they do; to disbelieve the omniscience of God and his providence, at least to behave as though they did; and think to do the vilest actions with impunity; wherefore it would be their wisdom to relinquish such stupid notions, and do no more such foolish and wicked actions.

HE�RY, " They are here convicted of folly and absurdity. He that says either that Jehovah the living God shall not see or that the God of Jacob shall not regard the injuries done to his people, Nabal is his name and folly is with him; and yet here he is fairly reasoned with, for his conviction and conversion, to prevent his confusion (Psa_94:8): “Understand, you brutish among the people, and let reason guide you.” Note, The atheistical, though they set up for wits, and philosophers, and politicians, yet are really the brutish among the people; if they would but understand, they would believe. God, by the prophet, speaks as if he thought the time long till men would be men, and show themselves so by understanding and considering: “You fools, when will you be wise, so wise as to know that God sees and regards all you say and do, and to speak and act accordingly, as those that must give account?” Note, None are so bad but means are to be used for the reclaiming and reforming of them, none so brutish, so foolish, but it should be tried whether they may not yet be made wise; while there is life there is hope. To prove the folly of those that question God's omniscience and justice the psalmist argues,

JAMISO�, "ye brutish — (Compare Psa_73:22; Psa_92:6).

K&D 8-11, "The third strophe now turns from those bloodthirsty, blasphemousoppressors of the people of God whose conduct calls forth the vengeance of Jahve, to those among the people themselves, who have been puzzled about the omniscience and indirectly about the righteousness of God by the fact that this vengeance is delayed. They

are called בערים and כסילים in the sense of Psa_73:21. Those hitherto described against

whom God's vengeance is supplicated are this also; but this appellation would be too

one-sided for them, and 0עם refers the address expressly to a class of men among the

people whom those oppress and slay. It is absurd that God, the planter of the ear (ה�טע,

like שסע in Lev_11:7, with an accented ultima, because the praet. Kal does not follow the

rule for the drawing back of the accent called נסוג�אחור) and the former of the eye (cf. Psa_

40:7; Exo_4:11), should not be able to hear and to see; everything that is excellent in the creature, God must indeed possess in original, absolute perfection.

(Note: The questions are not: ought He to have no ear, etc.; as Jerome pertinently observes in opposition to the anthropomorphites, membra tulit, efficientias dedit.)

The poet then points to the extra-Israelitish world and calls God יסר��וים, which cannot be

made to refer to a warning by means of the voice of conscience; יסר used thus without

any closer definition does not signify “warning,” but “chastening” (Pro_9:7). Taking his stand upon facts like those in Job_12:23, the poet assumes the punitive judicial rule of God among the heathen to be an undeniable fact, and presents for consideration the question, whether He who chasteneth nations cannot and will not also punish the oppressors of His church (cf. Gen_18:25), He who teacheth men knowledge, i.e., He who nevertheless must be the omnipotent One, since all knowledge comes originally from

Him? Jahve - thus does the course of argument close in Psa_94:11 - sees through (ידע� of

penetrative perceiving or knowing that goes to the very root of a matter) the thoughts of men that they are vanity. Thus it is to be interpreted, and not: for they (men) are vanity;

for this ought to have been י�הבל�ה4ה>, whereas in the dependent clause, when the

predicate is not intended to be rendered especially prominent, as in Ps 9:21, the pronominal subject may precede, Isa_61:9; Jer_46:5 (Hitzig). The rendering of the lxx

(1Co_3:20), Mτι�εOσQ�µάταιοι (Jerome, quoniam vanae sunt), is therefore correct; ה4ה,

with the customary want of exactness, stands for ה�ה. It is true men themselves are הבל; it

is not, however, on this account that He who sees through all things sees through their thoughts, but He sees through them in their sinful vanity.

CALVI�, "8Understand, ye stupid among the people As it was execrable impiety to

deny God to be Judge of the earth, the Psalmist severely reprimands their folly in

thinking to elude his government, and even succeed by artifices in escaping his view.

The expression, stupid among the people, is stronger than had he simply condemned

them as foolish. It rendered their folly more inexcusable, that they belonged to the

posterity of Abraham, of whom Moses said,

“What people is there so great, who have their gods so near unto them, as the Lord

thy God hath this day come down unto thee? For this is your understanding and

wisdom before all nations, to have God for your legislator.” (Deuteronomy 4:7)

(21) Perhaps, however, he may be considered as addressing the rulers and those who

were of higher rank in the community, and styling them degraded among the

people, that is, no better than the common herd of the vulgar. Proud men, who are

apt to be blinded by a sense of their importance, require to be brought down, and

made to see that in God’s estimation they are no better than others. He puts them on

a level with the common people, to humble their self-complacency; or we may

suppose that he hints with an ironical and sarcastic allusion to their boasted

greatness, that they were distinguished above others chiefly for pre-eminent folly —

adding, at the same time, as an additional aggravation, that they were obstinate in

their adherence to it; for as much is implied in the question, When will ye be wise?

We might consider it an unnecessary assertion of Divine Providence to put the

question to the wicked, Shall not he who made the ear hear? because there are none

so abandoned as openly to deny God’s cognisance of events; but, as I have observed

above, the flagrant audacity and self-security which most men display in

contradicting his will, is a sufficient proof that they have supplanted God from their

imaginations, and substituted a mere dead idol in his place, since, did they really

believe him to be cognisant of their actions, they would at least show as much regard

to him as to their fellow-creatures, in whose presence they feel some measure of

restraint, and are prevented from sinning by fear and respect. To arouse them from

this stupidity, the Psalmist draws an argument from the very order of nature,

inferring that if men both see and hear, by virtue of faculties which they have

received from God the Creator, it is impossible that God himself, who formed the

eye and the ear, should not possess the most perfect observation.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 8. Understand, ye brutish among the people. They said that

God did not note, and now, using the same word in the original, the psalmist calls on

the wicked to note, and have regard to the truth. He designates them as boors,

boarish, swinish men, and well was the term deserved; and he bids them understand

or consider, if they can. They thought themselves to be wise, and indeed the only

men of wit in the world, but he calls them "boars among the people": wicked men

are fools, and the more they know, the more foolish they become. "�o fool like a

learned fool" is a true proverb. When a man has done with God, he has done with

his manhood, and has fallen to the level of the ox and the ass, yea, beneath them, for

"the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib." Instead of being humbled

in the presence of scientific infidels, we ought to pity them; they affect to look clown

upon us, but we have far more cause to look down upon them.

And ye fools, when will ye be wise? Is it not high time? Ye know the ways of folly,

what profit have ye in them? Have ye no relics of reason left? no shreds of sense? If

as yet there lingers in your minds a gleam of intelligence, hearken to argument, and

consider the questions now about to be proposed to you.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 8-11. In these words the following particulars are to be observed. (1.) A certain

spiritual disease charged on some persons, viz. darkness, and blindness of mind,

appearing in their ignorance and folly. (2.) The great degree of this disease; so as to

render the subjects of it fools. Ye fools, when will ye be wise? And so as to reduce

them to a degree of brutishness. Ye brutish among the people. This ignorance and

folly were to such a degree as to render men like beasts. (3.) The obstinacy of this

disease; expressed in that interrogation, When will ye be wise? Their blindness and

folly were not only very great, but deeply rooted and established, resisting all

manner of cure. (4.) Of what nature this blindness is. It is especially in things

pertaining to God. They were strangely ignorant of his perfections, like beasts: and

had foolish notions of him, as though he did not see, nor know: and as though he

would not execute justice, by chastising and punishing wicked men. (5.) The

unreasonableness and sottishness of the notion they had of God, that he did not

hear, did not observe their reproaches of him and his people, is shown by observing

that he planted the ear. It is very unreasonable to suppose that he who gave power

of perceiving words to others, should not perceive them himself. And the sottishness

of their being insensible of God's all seeing eye, and particularly of his seeing their

wicked actions, appears, in that God is the being who formed the eye, and gave

others a power of seeing. The sottishness of their apprehension of God, as though he

did not know what they did, is argued from his being the fountain and original of all

knowledge. The unreasonableness of their expecting to escape God's just

chastisement and judgments for sin, is set forth by his chastising even the heathen,

who did not sin against that light, or against so great mercies, as the wicked in Israel

did; nor had ever made such a profession as they. (6.) We may observe, that this

dreadful disease is ascribed to mankind in general. The Lord knoweth the thoughts

of MA�, that they are vanity. The psalmist had been setting forth the vanity and

unreasonableness of the thoughts of some of the children of men; and immediately

upon it he observes, that this vanity and foolishness of thought is common and

natural to mankind. From these particulars we may fairly deduce the following

doctrinal observation: That there is an extreme and brutish blindness in things of

religion, which naturally possesses the hearts of mankind. Jonathan Edwards.

Ver. 8-15. God hath ability, bowels, verity. Ability, He that made the eye, cannot he

see? He that planted the ear, cannot he hear?, Psalms 94:8-11.

Bowels, He doth but chasten his, not cast them off, Psalms 94:12-14. Verity, this is

but until a pit be made for the wicked, Psalms 94:13. Mordecai is frowned upon, but

till a gallows be made for Haman, and then judgment returns unto righteousness.

�icholas Lockyer.

COFFMA�, "THE PRACTICAL ATHEISTS REFUTED

"Consider, ye brutish among the people;

And ye fools, when will ye be wise?

He that planted the ear, shall he not hear?

He that formed the eye, shall he not see?

He that chastiseth the nations, shall not he correct,

Even he that teacheth men knowledge?

Jehovah knoweth the thoughts of men,

That they are vanity."

"Consider, ye brutish ... and ye fools" (Psalms 94:8). The persons addressed here

are unmistakably the persons of Psalms 94:7 who thought that God could neither

hear nor see their crimes.

"Among the people" (Psalms 94:8). This identifies the practical atheists of this

passage as Israelites. The wrong-doers were not among the nations (Gentiles), but

among the people, that is, God's people.

The refutation here is thoroughly conclusive. The argument is that God who made

both eyes and ears is most certainly not devoid of the ability both to see and to hear

what evil men say and do.

"Shall not he correct, even he that teacheth men knowledge?" (Psalms 94:10). This

is a third argument, shall not the all-wise God who teaches men knowledge, shall he

not correct stubborn, godless Israelites who disobey him?

"That they are vanity" (Psalms 94:11). These evil men do not appear to God as they

appear to themselves. "They are vain and foolish. That is their character, and to

know them truly is to know this of them."[7]

ELLICOTT, "Verses 8-10

(8-10) The reality of a Divine Providence is proved both from nature and history—

from the physical constitution of man and the moral government of the world. The

psalmist’s question is as powerful against modern atheism, under whatever

philosophy it shelters itself, as against that of his day. Whatever the source of

physical life or moral sense, their existence proves the prior existence of an original

mind and will.

BE�SO�, "Verse 8-9

Psalms 94:8-9. Understand, ye brutish — Hebrew, בערים, bognarim; ye who are

governed by your lusts and appetites, as the word signifies; who have only the

shape, but not the understanding, reason, or judgment of men in you, or are not

directed and governed thereby; who, though you think yourselves the wisest of men,

yet, in truth, are the most brutish of all people; he that planted the ear — The word

planted (Hebrew, נשע, notang) is very emphatical, signifying the excellent structure

of the ear, or of the several organs belonging to the sense of hearing, and the wise

position of all those parts in their proper places; shall he not hear? — He must

necessarily hear. The truth of the inference depends upon that evident and

undeniable principle in reason, that nothing can give to another that which it hath

not either formally or more eminently in itself, and that no effect can exceed the

virtue of its cause. He that formed the eye, &c. — By the word formed, (Hebrew, יצר

, jotzer, concerning which see note on Genesis 2:7,) he seems to intimate the accurate

and most curious workmanship of the eye, which is observed by all who write on the

subject.

EBC, "Delitzsch and others, who take the oppressors to be foreigners, are obliged to

suppose that the psalmist turns in Psalms 94:8 to those Israelites who had been led

to doubt God by the prosperity of the wicked; but there is nothing, except the

exigencies of that mistaken supposition, to show that any others than the deniers of

God’s providence who have just been quoted are addressed as "among the people."

Their denial was the more inexcusable, because they belonged to the people whose

history was one long proof that Jehovah did see I and recompense evil. Two

considerations are urged by the psalmist, who becomes for the moment a

philosophical theologian, in confutation of the error in question. First, he argues

that nothing can be in the effect which is not in the cause, that the Maker of men’s

eyes cannot be blind, nor the Planter of their ears deaf. The thought has wide

applications. It hits the centre, in regard to many modern denials as well as in

regard to these blunt, ancient ones. Can a universe plainly full of purpose have come

from a purposeless source? Can finite persons have emerged from an impersonal

Infinity? Have we not a right to argue upwards from man’s make to God his maker,

and to find in Him the archetype of all human capacity. We may mark that, as has

been long ago observed, the psalm avoids gross anthropomorphism, and infers not

that the Creator of the ear has ears, but that He hears. As Jerome (quoted by

Delitzsch) says, "Membra sustulit, efficientias dedit."

9 Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?

BAR�ES, "He that planted the ear - He that made the ear. The word here used in the original is a participle. “Shall not he planting the ear;” that is, the “planter” of the ear. The idea seems to have been taken from the act of making a “hole” in the ground when we set out a plant - as if, in like manner, a “hole” had been made in the side of the head to insert the ear.

Shall he not hear? - He could not have created the faculty of hearing, without possessing it himself. Or, it is reasonable to suppose that he who has made man capable of hearing, must be able to hear himself. We have nothing in our nature which is not possessed in an infinitely higher measure by God.

He that formed the eye - This, too, is a participle: “He forming the eye;” that is, the Former of the eye. The word used here is frequently employed in reference to a “potter;” and the idea is that God has moulded or formed the eye as the potter fashions the clay. The more the eye is studied in its structure, the more deeply shall we be impressed with the wonderful skill and wisdom of God. See this beautifully illustrated in Paley’s Natural Theology.

Shall he not see? - He that made the eye to see must himself be able to see. He must

see all that the eye itself can see; he must see all that all eyes see; he must have the power of sight far beyond what there is in the mere organ which he has made.

CLARKE, "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? - This is allowed to be an unanswerable mode of argumentation. Whatever is found of excellence in the creature, must be derived from the Creator, and exist in him in the plenitude of infinite excellence. God, says St. Jerome, is all eye, because he sees all; he is all hand, because he does all things; he is all foot, for he is every where present. The psalmist does not say, He that planted the ear, hath he not an ear? He that formed the eye, hath he not eyes? No; but, Shall he not hear? Shall he not see! And why does he say so? To prevent the error of humanizing God, of attributing members or corporeal parts to the infinite Spirit. See Calmet.

GILL, "He that planted the ear,.... In the human body, with so much art and skill, in so convenient a place, so capacious of receiving sounds, and fitted it with organs suited for such a purpose:

shall he not hear? the atheism spoke in the heart, in the actions and by the mouths of such blasphemers of him; the hard speeches spoken against his Son, his person and offices; and against his Spirit, his being, and operations; and against his people, the saints of the most High; in short, all those blasphemies and evil speakings of God, of his tabernacle, and those that dwell therein: it would be monstrous stupidity to imagine, that that God, that communicates a faculty of hearing to his creatures, should not hear himself; for none can give that which they have not:

he that formed the eye: in so curious a manner, with such exquisite parts; with such fine humours, nerves, and tunics; so adapted to receive all objects, and take the impress of them in so wonderful a manner:

shall he not see? all persons and things, all the ways and actions of men; certainly he must: clouds, rocks, and hills, are no obstruction to him; the darkness and the light are both alike to him; his eyes are everywhere, and all things are naked and open before him: it is the height of madness and folly to think that that God cannot see what men are doing here below, who has given to men eyes to see the heavens above, and all their host; and in this so small a compass to take in the sight of the largest mountains, as well as the most minute things: since the seeing eye, and the hearing ear, are both from the Lord, it may be most strongly concluded that he hears all that is said, and sees all that is done, against him and his people; see Pro_20:12. A Heathen (c) could say,

"truly there is a God, who hears and sees all that we do.''

HE�RY, "From the works of creation (Psa_94:9), the formation of human bodies, which as it proves that there is a God, proves also that God has infinitely and transcendently in himself all those perfections that are in any creature. He that planted the ear (and it is planted in the head, as a tree in the ground) shall he not hear? No doubt he shall, more and better than we can. He that formed the eye (and how curiously it is formed above any part of the body anatomists know and let us know by their dissections) shall he not see? Could he give, would he give, that perfection to a creature which he has not in himself? Note, [1.] The powers of nature are all derived from the

God of nature. See Exo_4:11. [2.] By the knowledge of ourselves we may be led a great way towards the knowledge of God - if by the knowledge of our own bodies, and the organs of sense, so as to conclude that if we can see and hear much more can God, then certainly by the knowledge of our own souls and their noble faculties. The gods of the heathen had eyes and saw not, ears and heard not; our God has no eyes nor ears, as we have, and yet we must conclude he both sees and hears, because we have our sight and hearing from him, and are accountable to him for our use of them.

JAMISO�, "The evidence of God’s providential government is found in His creative power and omniscience, which also assure us that He can punish the wicked in regard to all their vain purposes.

SBC, "We know what the eye and ear of man are, what it is to have the eye or ear of a friend near to us, or the eye and the ear of a master watching over us. What a difference does it make at once in all our thoughts and feelings! Especially suppose it is a friend or a master whom we love and reverence very much, what a vast difference does his presence make! It is only for want of due attention and consideration that we do not thus think of Almighty God at all times. For, as the Psalmist asks, "He that made the ear, shall He not hear? He that made the eye, shall He not see?"

Notice some points in which a reflection on the great truth which is contained in these words may be of use to us.

I. With regard to the many confusions that abound in the world, the manifold disorders of the times, which affect so seriously both the Church and nation, and perhaps every closer circle of life in which each of us is placed. What a reason for deep quietness of soul, for awful stillness and listening regard, is the consciousness of Him who is in the midst of us, though we see Him not!

II. The awful doctrine of God’s omnipresent ear and eye may greatly assist us in the work of self-amendment. It is the thought of this which makes the saints of God always remarkable for profound humility. Whatever else there may be in common in good men, there never was a man accepted of God but that acceptance was in proportion to his humility.

III. As our ideas of God’s knowledge and watchfulness are taken from the eyes and ears of men, so may we apply also to the same matter human affections also, which are often signified by these. Thus it is said that "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers." What is there in the world so encouraging, so consoling, so supporting, as the eye and ear of a friend? It was in thus looking upon God as their sure and present Friend that the faith of the patriarchs and of that noble army of martyrs, and prophets, and saints mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews consisted, in that, as is there said of Moses, they endured "as seeing Him who is invisible."

Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times" vol. ii., p. 224.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 9. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He fashioned that

marvellous organ, and fixed it in the most convenient place near to the brain, and is

he deaf himself? Is he capable of such design and invention, and yet can he not

discern what is done in the world which he made? He made you hear, can he not

himself hear? Unanswerable question! It overwhelms the sceptic, and covers him

with confusion.

He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He gives us vision; is it conceivable that he

has no sight himself? With skilful hand he fashioned the optic nerve, and the

eyeball, and all its curious mechanism, and it surpasses all conception that he can

himself be unable to observe the doings of his creatures. If there be a God, he must

be a personal intelligent being, and no limit can be set to his knowledge.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 9. He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? etc. The psalmist does not say, He

that planteth the ear, hath he not an ear? He that formed the eye, hath he not eyes?

�o; but, Shall he not hear? Shall he not see? And why does he say so? To prevent

the error of humanizing God, of attributing members or corporeal parts to the

infinite Spirit. Adam Clarke.

Ver. 9. Planted the ear. The mechanism of the ear, like a root planted in the earth, is

sunk deep into the head, and concealed from view. Bagster's Comprehensive Bible.

Ver. 9. The planting or deep seated position of the ear, as well as its wonderful

construction, are illustrated by the following extract: —"The organ or instrument

of hearing is in all its most important parts so hidden within the head, that we

cannot perceive its construction by a mere external inspection. What in ordinary

language we call the ear, is only the outer porch or entrance vestibule of a curious

series of intricate, winding passages, which, like the lobbies of a great building, lead

from the outer air into the inner chambers. Certain of these passages are full of air;

others are full of liquid; and their membranes are stretched like parchment curtains

across the corridors at different places, and can be thrown into vibration, or made

to tremble, as the head of a drum or the surface of a tambourine does when struck

with a stick or the fingers. Between two of these parchment like curtains, a chain of

very small bones extends, which serves to tighten or relax these membranes, and to

communicate vibrations to them. In the innermost place of all, rows of fine threads,

called nerves, stretch like the strings of a piano from the last points to which the

tremblings or thrillings reach, and pass inwards to the brain. If these threads or

nerves are destroyed, the power of hearing as infallibly departs as the power to give

out sound is lost by a piano or violin when its strings are broken."

We know far less, however, of the ear than of the eye. The eye is a single chamber

open to the light, and we can see into it, and observe what happens there. But the

ear is many chambered, and its winding tunnels traversing the rock like bones of the

skull are narrow, and hidden from us as the dungeons of a castle are, like which,

also, they are totally dark. Thus much, however, we know, that it is in the innermost

recesses of these unilluminated ivory vaults, that the mind is made conscious of

sound. Into these gloomy cells, as into the bright chamber of the eye, the soul is ever

passing and asking for news from the world without; and ever and anon, as of old in

hidden subterranean caverns where men listened in silence and darkness to the

utterance of oracles, reverberations echo along the surrounding walls, and responses

come to the waking spirit, while the world lifts up its voice and speaks to the soul.

The sound is that of a hushed voice, a low but clear whisper; for as it is but a dim

shadow of the outer world we see; so it is but a faint echo of the outer world we

hear. George Wilson, in "The Five Gateways of Knowledge, "1861.

Ver. 9. He that planted the ear, &c. Shall the Author of these senses be senseless?

Our God is not as that Jupiter of Crete, who was pictured without ears, and could

not be at leisure to attend upon small matters. He is onv kai nou; he is also

olofyalmov, all eye, all ear. We read of a people called Panotii;God only is so, to

speak properly John Trapp.

Ver. 9. Formed the eye. The term used of the creation of the eye, is not merely

"made, "as the Prayer Book version reads, but "formed, "plasav, finxit, directing

our attention to the wonderful mechanism of the organs of sight, and thence to the

marvellous skill of the Artificer. J. M. �eale.

Ver. 9. He that formed the eye. The word here used is frequently employed in

reference to a potter;and the idea is that God has moulded or formed the eye as the

potter fashions the clay. The more the eye is studied in its structure, the more deeply

shall we be impressed with the wonderful skill and wisdom of God. Albert Barnes.

Ver. 9. The eye. As illustrating the wisdom displayed in the eye we have selected the

following. "Our physical good demands that we should have the power of

comprehending the world in all the respects in which it is possible for matter or its

forces to affect our bodies." The senses completely meet this want... We are too apt

to confine ourselves to the mere mechanism of the eye or ear, without considering

how the senses supplement each other, and without considering the provision made

in the world that it may be a fit place for the exercise of the senses. The eye would be

useless without all the properties of light; the ear would have no power in a world

without an atmosphere. Sight enables us to avoid danger, and seek distant needful

objects. What a vast length of time and wearisome labour would it require for a

blind man to learn what one glance of the eye may give to one blessed with sight. A

race of blind men could not exist on this globe.

The sense of sight alone, as a means of adapting us to the world, would strike us as

wonderful in its results, and worthy of the conception of the highest intelligence in

adapting means to ends, if we knew nothing of the adjustments by which sight is

secured. We can conceive of the power of sight as direct perception, without the aid

of light, or of a special organ corresponding to the eye. But constituted as we are, we

see only through the agency of light; and we perceive light only by a special organ;

and objects only in consequence of a peculiar structure of that organ. Of all these

relationships of light to objects, and of light to the eye, and of the parts of the eye to

each other, not one of them is a necessary condition of matter. The arrangement of

so many things by which this wonderful power of perceiving distant objects is

secured, is the only one that will secure the end desired, out of an endless number of

arrangements that can be conceived of... Whoever contrived the organ through

which we are to perceive, understood perfectly all the properties of light, and the

wants of the being that was to use it. The eye of man, though limited in its power to

a certain range, gives all that the common wants of life demand. And if man needs

greater range of vision, he has but to study the eye itself, and fashion instruments to

increase its power; as he is able when the proper time has come in his civilization, to

increase by science and art the efficacy of nearly all his physical powers. For the

ordinary purposes of life, neither telescopic nor microscopic adjustment of the eye is

needful.

But the eye has not only the power of vision so necessary to man, but it is an

instrument of power, an instrument made up of distinct parts, of solids and liquids,

of transparent and opaque tissues, of curtains, and lenses, and screens. Its

mechanism can be accurately examined and the use of each part as perfectly

understood as any of the works of man. We examine every part of it as we would a

microscope. We have first the solid case which is to hold all the machinery, and

upon which are to be fastened the cords and pulleys of its skilful mounting. This

covering, opaque, white, and glistening, like silver on the back and sides of the eye,

in front, where the light must enter, suddenly becomes transparent as the clearest

crystal. Within this is a second coating that coming to the front changes just as

suddenly into an opaque screen, through the tissues of which no ray of light can

pass. That screen is self adjusting, with a network that no art of man ever equalled.

Whether expanding or contracting, its opening in the centre always remains a

perfect circle, adapted in size to the intensity of the light. How much light shall enter

the eye it determines without aid from us. �ext there must be connection with the

brain, the seat of the being for whom the provision is made. These two coatings are

pierced upon the back part of the eye, and a thread draw out from the brain is

passed through this opening and spread out within the eye as a delicate screen upon

which all impressions are to be made. To fill the larger portion of the cavity, there is

packed into it a clear jelly, and imbedded in this a lens, fashioned with a skill that

no artist can equal, to refract the light and throw the image on the perceptive

screen. In front of this lens is another humour, not like jelly as the other, because in

this, that delicate fringe the iris, is to float, and nothing but a watery fluid will

answer its purpose. Here then we have a great variety of materials all brought

together, of the exact quality and in the quantity needed, placed in the exact position

which they ought to occupy, so perfectly adjusted that the most that man can do is

to imitate the eye without ever hoping to equal it.

�or is the curious structure of the eye itself all that is worthy of our attention. The

instrument when finished must be mounted for use. A cavity is formed in solid bone,

with grooves and perforations for all the required machinery. The eye, when placed,

is packed with soft elastic cushions and fastened by strings and pulleys to give it

variety and rapidity of motion. Its outer case is to cover it when not in use, and

protect it when in danger. The delicate fringe upon its border never needs clipping;

and set like a well arranged defence, its points all gracefully turned back, that no

ray of light may be obstructed. Above the protecting brow is another defence to turn

aside the acrid fluids from the forehead, while near the eye is placed a gland that

bathes the whole organ with a clear soothing fluid, to prevent all friction and keep

its outward lens free from dust, and polished for constant use. When we consider all

this, the perfect adaptation of the eye to our wants, the arrangement of every part of

its structure on strict mechanical and optical principles, and all the provisions for its

protection, we pronounce the instrument perfect, the work of a Being like man, but

raised immeasurably above the most skilful human workman. What shall we say

when we learn that this instrument was prepared in long anticipation of its use; that

there is a machinery within it to keep it in constant repair; that the Maker not only

adjusted the materials, but that he was the chemist who formed all these substances

from the dust of the earth? We may be told that the architect found this dust ready

at hand, existing from all eternity. We may not be able to prove the contrary, nor do

we need to do so for this argument. It is enough for our present purpose to know

that the eyes with which we now see, these wonderfully complex and perfect

instruments, were not long since common earth, dust upon which we perchance

have trod.

We can understand the mechanism of the eye, we can comprehend the wisdom that

devised it; but the preparation of materials, and the adjustment of parts, speak of a

power and skill to which man can never hope to attain. When he sees his most

cunning workmanship surpassed both in plan and execution, shall he fail to

recognise design? "Shall we fail to recognise a builder when we contemplate such a

work?" P. A. Chadbourne, in "Lectures on �atural Theology"; or, �ature and the

Bible from the same Author. �ew York, 1867.

Ver. 9. Shall he not see? A god or a saint that should really cast the glance of a pure

eye into the conscience of the worshipper would not long be held in repute. The

grass would grow again around that idol's shrine. A seeing god would not do: the

idolater wants a blind god. The first cause of idolatry is a desire in an impure heart

to escape from the look of the living God, and none but a dead image would serve

the turn. William Arnot.

Ver. 9. He who made the sun itself, and causes it to revolve, being a small portion of

his works, if compared with the whole, is he unable to perceive all things? Epictus.

Ver. 9. That is wise counsel of the Rabbins, that the three best safeguards against

falling into sin are to remember, first, that there is an ear which hears everything;

secondly, that there is an eye which sees everything; thirdly, that there is a hand

which writes everything in the Book of Knowledge, which shall be opened at the

Judgment. J. M. �eale.

Ver. 9-10. It was no limited power that could make this eye to see, this ear to hear,

this heart to understand; and, if that eye which he hath given us, can see all things

that are within our prospect, and that ear, that he hath planted, can hear all sounds

that are within our compass, and that heart, that he hath given us, can know all

matters within the reach of our comprehension; how much more shall the sight, and

hearing, and knowledge of that Infinite Spirit, which can admit of no bounds,

extend to all the actions and events of all the creatures, that lie open before him that

made them! Joseph Hall.

Ver. 10. He that teacheth man knowledge. The question posts midway (for the words

in Italics are not Scripture), the point of application being too obvious to need

mention. "He that teacheth man all his knowledge." (Fill out the rest yourselves;

think, What then?) Henry Cowles.

EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO�ARY, "

These verses assert that in due time God will Acts , for He cannot be otherwise than

a God of knowledge, deep in whose heart counsels of inviolable righteousness lie

hidden. He is always cognisant of what goes on in the world, and especially heedful

of the cries and supplications of His own people. These acts of oppression, done to

the fatherless and the widow, do not elude His notice. Drop by drop He counts the

innocent blood that falls upon the green world He has made and bends His ear to

each sigh of the downtrodden. There is a spiritual property in every sense with

which the human body is informed, and that property has its immeasurable

counterpart in the nature of the Godhead.

I. These words imply that if man possesses the attributes of personality, man"s

Maker must also possess them in an enhanced degree. Hence arises the sure

confidence that a Divine judgment draws nigh which will banish the wrongs under

which the faithful groan. It has ever been so in the past. Righteous acts that are not

the outcome of a living and a righteous personality are inconceivable. The power

that makes for righteousness must see and hear and know, and then set itself to

unflinching judgment.

II. The Psalmist affirms that the distinction between right and wrong which God

imprints upon the nations through the providences of history has its primal type in

the mind of God Himself. The agelong discipline of the generations is the sign of an

intense moral life in the Great King of the earth which vitalizes that discipline.

Many of us habitually disregard the conscience, and yet at the same time feel that it

is the truest and most trustworthy of all the faculties with which our beings have

been equipped.

III. We need to indoctrinate ourselves with the argument of the Psalmist, for there is

a tendency to depersonalize God, sometimes on grounds directly opposite to those

which influence the advocates of a materialistic philosophy. Many thinkers assume

that the special attribute of personality is here in the body rather than in the spirit,

and that we make God less than infinite by adopting these anthropomorphic modes

of speech. It is true our knowledge of God is approximate, but if we negative our

approximations by saying that God is neither personal nor impersonal, we make the

conception absolutely powerless, futile as a random guess. The lowliest and most

limited creature into whom the qualities of personality have come is greater than

galaxies of impersonal suns.

IV. The man who has become honestly and intelligently possessed with the truth

that God is a person will find every subsequent article of the Christian Creed

comparatively easy of acceptance. We cannot go far wrong in our theology if we

hold that God is a person, and he who thinks the world can do without theology is a

trifler whose folly is beyond ordinary expletives. �ot a little obscurity has its

beginnings in looseness upon this cardinal subject. Admit that God is a free,

conscious, intelligent, self-determining person, and if you have the logical outlook, it

will soon be evident that you have committed yourself to the sum and substance of

the Christian faith.

—T. G. Selby, The God of the Frail, p22.

Psalm 94:9-10

"He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not

see? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not He know?" These verses made a

strong impression on the mind of Sophia the Electress of Hanover, a woman of

decided mental power, and were adopted with approbation by her friend the

philosopher Leibnitz in his opposition to Atheism. The principle on which he

reasoned was, that as the stream cannot rise above its fountain, intelligence in man

implies an intelligent source. Thought must come from thought. Descartes had

already given expression to the same idea in his Meditations, III.: "�ow it is

manifest by the light of nature that there must be as much reality in the efficient

cause as in the effect; for whence could the effect draw its reality but from the

cause? And how could the cause communicate the power to it, if it had it not in

itself? And from this it follows, not only that nothing can be produced from nothing,

but also that what is more perfect cannot be a result of, and dependent on, what is

less perfect."

—J. K.

References.—XCIV:12.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii. p219. Bishop

Temple, Rugby Sermons (2Series), p39. XCIV:16.—J. Budgen, Parochial Sermons,

vol. ii. p219.

PULPIT, "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall

he not see? This argument for a real, personal, intelligent God appears here, for the

first time. It is of irresistible force. "Can it be possible that God, who planned and

made the curious mechanism of hearing and vision, is himself without those

faculties, or something analogous to them? Must he not hear those cries, and see

those outrages, which men, who are his creatures, see and hear? Is it conceivable

that he can be an unobservant and apathetic God?" (Cheyne).

10 Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?

BAR�ES, "He that chastiseth the heathen - More literally, “Shall not the Reprover of nations - shall he not chastise - he that teaches man knowledge?” The idea is, that God exercises a government over the nations of the earth; that he has them under his control; that he brings heavy judgments on them; that he thus conveys great lessons to man. And shall not such a Being, in individual cases, reprove and correct for sin? It is assumed here that God, in fact, brings judgments on nations; that he does this by fire, flood, famine, pestilence; that these things are proofs that he presides over the nations of the earth; and the question here is, whether he that does this on the large scale must not be expected to do it in individual cases, so that the offender will not escape.

Shall not he correct? - Shall he not chastise, or bring judgments on offenders?

He that teacheth man knowledge ... - The idea in our translation, that he who

imparts knowledge to mankind must himself possess intelligence, is a true one, but it is probably not that which is in the original. The sense is probably merely that God is the great Teacher, and this is the impression which it is intended should be impressed on the mind, leaving the consequences of this to be supplied by the reader: “He that teaches man all the knowledge that he has!” - reflect on the consequences of this, or what must follow from this! Such a Being cannot be ignorant; he must understand all things; he must, therefore, see human conduct everywhere as it is. The consequence - the result - of this is staffed in the next verse, that he must see the thoughts of man, and understand his real character.

CLARKE, "He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? - You, who are heathens, and heathens of the most abandoned kind.

He that teacheth man knowledge - We here supply shall not he know? But this is not acknowledged by the original, nor by any of the Versions.

Indeed it is not necessary; for either the words contain a simple proposition, “It is he who teacheth man knowledge,” or this clause should be read in connection with Psa_94:11 : “Jehovah, who teacheth man knowledge, knoweth the devices of man, that they are vanity.” As he teaches knowledge to man, must he not know all the reasonings and devices of the human heart?

GILL, "He that chastiseth the Heathen,.... As he did the old world, by bringing a flood upon it, and sweeping away its inhabitants at once; and Sodom and Gomorrah, by raining fire and brimstone upon them, and consuming them from off the earth; and the old inhabitants of Canaan, by ejecting them out of their land for their abominations, with other similar instances:

shall he not correct? such audacious wretches, guilty of such atrocious crimes, such horrid murders, and gross atheism? certainly he will, as he has both a right and power to do it. The Targum is,

"is it possible that he should give the law to his people, and, when they have sinned, should they not be corrected?''

and if these are corrected and chastised, then surely such daring and insolent wretches shall not go unpunished: or, "he that instructeth the Heathen" (d); by the light of nature in things civil and moral, and therefore has a right to punish such who act contrary to it; see Rom_2:12,

he that teacheth man knowledge; that has given him the light of nature; inspired him with reason and understanding; taught him more than the beasts of the field, and made him wiser than the fowls of the heaven; from whom he has the knowledge of all arts and sciences, liberal and mechanic, those of the lower as well as of the higher class; see Joh_1:9. The Targum is,

"has not the Lord taught the first man knowledge?''

that more perfect knowledge of things, which Adam had in innocence, was from the Lord; and therefore,

shall not he know? all persons and things? verily he does; he is a God of knowledge, of all knowledge; his knowledge and understanding is infinite; it reaches to all persons, and to all their thoughts, words, and actions: this clause is not in the Hebrew text; but is understood, and rightly supplied; see 2Sa_5:8, compared with 1Ch_11:6.

HE�RY, "From the works of providence (Psa_94:10): He that chastises the heathenfor their polytheism and idolatry, shall not he much more correct his own people for their atheism and profaneness? He that chastises the children of men for oppressing and wronging one another, shall not he correct those that profess to be his own children, and call themselves so, and yet persecute those that are really so? Shall not we be under his correction, under whose government the whole world is? Does he regard as King of nations, and shall he not much more regard as the God of Jacob? Dr. Hammond gives another very probably sense of this: “He that instructs the nations (that is, gives them his law), shall not he correct, that is, shall not he judge them according to that law, and call them to an account for their violations of it? In vain was the law given if there will not be a judgment upon it.” And it is true that the same word signifies to chastise and to instruct, because chastisement is intended for instruction and instruction should go along with chastisement.

CALVI�, "10.He that chastiseth the nations, shall not he correct? He would have

them argue from the greater to the less, that if God did not spare even whole

nations, but visits their iniquity with punishment, they could not imagine that he

would suffer a mere handful of individuals to escape with impunity. The

comparison intended, however, may possibly be between the Gentiles and the Jews.

If God punished the heathen nations, who had not heard his word, with much

severity, the Jews might expect that they, who had been familiarised to instruction

in his house, would receive still sharper correction, and that he would vindicate his

justice most in that nation over which he had chosen to preside. Still the former

sense of the passage appears to me preferable, That it is folly in any number of

individuals to flatter themselves with impunity, when they see God inflicting public

punishment upon collective people. Some think there is an exclusive allusion to the

signal and memorable instances of Divine judgment recorded in Scripture, as in the

destruction of Sodom with fire from heaven, (Genesis 19:0.) and of the whole human

family by the flood, (Genesis 7:0.) But the simpler meaning is best, That it were the

height of madness in individuals to think that they could escape when nations

perish. In adding that God teacheth men knowledge, (22) the Psalmist glances at the

overweening confidence of such as despise God, and pride themselves in their

acuteness and shrewdness, as we find Isaiah denouncing a woe against those crafty

enemies of God who dig deep, that they may hide themselves from his sight, (Isaiah

29:15.) It is a disease prevalent enough in the world still. We know the refuges under

covert of which both courtiers and lawyers take occasion to indulge in shameless

mockery of God. (23) It is as if the Psalmist had said — You think to elude God

through the confidence which you have in your acute understandings, and would

pretend to dispute the knowledge of the Almighty, when, in truth, all the knowledge

which is in the world is but as a drop from his own inexhaustible fullness.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 10. He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? He

reproves whole nations, can he not reprove individuals? All history shows that he

visits national sin with national judgment, and can he not deal with single persons?

The question which follows is equally full of force, and is asked with a degree of

warmth which checks the speaker, and causes the inquiry to remain incomplete. It

begins,

He that teacheth man knowledge, and then it comes to a pause, which the

translators have supplied with the words, shall not he know? but no such words are

in the original, where the sentence comes to an abrupt end, as if the inference were

too natural to need to be stated, and the writer had lost patience with the brutish

men with whom he had argued. The earnest believer often feels as if he could say,

"Go to, you are not worth arguing with! If you were reasonable men, these things

would be too obvious to need to be stated in your hearing. I forbear." Man's

knowledge comes from God. Science in its first principles was taught to our

progenitor Adam, and all after advances have been due to divine aid; does not the

author and revealer of all knowledge himself know?

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 10. He that teacheth man knowledge. What knowledge have we but that which

is derived from himself or from the external world? — and what is that world, but

his Creation? —and what is creation, but the composition, structure, and

arrangement of all things according to his previous designs, plans, intentions, will,

and mandate? In studying creation in any of its departments, we therefore study his

mind: and all that we can learn from it must be his ideas, his purposes, and his

performances. �o author, in his compositions—no artificer, in his mechanisms, can

more truly display their talents and ideas to others, than the unseen Creator

manifests his thoughts and intelligence to us in the systems and substances which he

has formed, and presents to our continual contemplation. In this sense, �ature is an

unceasing revelation of them to us. Sharon Turner.

Psalms 94:11*

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:10. He that chastiseth — Or, He that instructeth, or teacheth,

or reproveth (as the word יסר, jasar, often signifies, and is rendered Proverbs 9:7 ;

Isaiah 8:11, &c.) the heathen, the Gentiles, or nations of the world: not only the

Jews, but all other people, all mankind, as the next clause explains it; shall not he

correct? — He who, when he pleases, can and does punish the nations of the world,

is he not able to punish you for your wicked speeches and actions? Or, He that

reproveth, and therefore discerneth their evil words and works, shall he not discern

and reprove yours, who sin against greater light, and more privileges and

advantages, and whose sins therefore are more aggravated? He that teacheth man

knowledge — That giveth him understanding, and the knowledge of many excellent

things by the light of nature; shall not he know — �amely, men’s thoughts, as in the

next verse, and of consequence their whole conduct? These words are not in the

Hebrew text, but are easily understood out of the foregoing clause. The meaning of

the verse, in substance, is, “He that instructeth the nations, and supplieth them with

all the knowledge they have, can he want means of discovering what they are

contriving and doing, or of finding them out? Will not he be able to trace them out

in all their machinations?” Or, as Dr. Horne paraphraseth the words, “It is God

who hath instructed the world, by his revelations, in religious knowledge, and,

consequently, without all doubt, he cannot be ignorant of the use and abuse which

men make of that unspeakable gift.”

PULPIT, "He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? i.e. if God does not

leave even the heathen without rebukes and chastisements, shall he not much more

punish those among his own people who do amiss? He that teacheth man

knowledge, shall not he know? Our version supposes an ellipse, which it fills up with

great boldness, producing a very excellent sense. But the insertion made does not

appear necessary (see the Revised Version).

11 The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.

BAR�ES, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man - That is, He who teaches people all that they know Psa_94:10, must understand all that there is in the mind. See the notes at 1Co_3:20.

That they are vanity - That is, that they are foolish, vain, unwise, wicked. The knowledge of the thoughts themselves carries with it also the knowledge that they are vain and foolish - for that is their character, and to know them truly is to know this of them. They do not appear to him as they do to people themselves. They are to his view stripped of all that is flattering and illusive, and are seen to be vain and foolish.

GILL, "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man,.... He not only hears their words, and sees their actions; but he knows their thoughts, the secret thoughts of their hearts, though he is afar off from them, and, they from him; he is the searcher of the hearts and trier of the reins of the children of men; see Psa_139:2, and so is Christ, who is the omniscient God, and is the Jehovah all along spoken to and of in this psalm; he knows the thoughts of men, and is a critical discerner of them, Mat_9:3.

that they are vanity; either that their thoughts are vanity; the object of them is vanity, the riches and honours of this world, which are all vanity and vexation of spirit; and sinful lusts and pleasures, which are vain and useless, yea, pernicious and hurtful: and so they are in their issue and event; they come to nothing, they are without effect; the

Lord disappoints men's devices, and frustrates their designs; they think of this and the other, form schemes, but cannot execute them: or else the sense is, that they themselves are vanity, as man in his best estate is; even every man, whether of high or low degree; see Psa_39:5. The Syriac version is, "for they are a vapour"; with which compare Jam_4:14. Thales, an Heathen philosopher (e), being asked whether men's deeds could be hid from God, answered, no, nor their thoughts.

HE�RY, "From the works of grace: He that teaches man knowledge, shall he not know? He not only, as the God of nature, has given the light of reason, but, as the God of grace, has given the light of revelation, has shown man what is true wisdom and understanding; and he that does this, shall he not know? Job_28:23, Job_28:28. The flowing of the streams is a certain sign of the fulness of the fountain. If all knowledge is from God, no doubt all knowledge is in God. From this general doctrine of God's omniscience, the psalmist not only confutes the atheists, who said, “The Lord shall not see (Psa_94:7), he will not take cognizance of what we do;” but awakens us all to consider that God will take cognizance even of what we think (Psa_94:11): The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. [1.] He knows those thoughts in particular, concerning God's conniving at the wickedness of the wicked, and knows them to be vain, and laughs at the folly of those who by such fond conceits buoy themselves up in sin. [2.] He knows all the thoughts of the children of men, and knows them to be, for the most part, vain, that the imaginations of the thoughts of men's hearts are evil, only evil, and that continually. Even in good thoughts there is a fickleness and inconstancy which may well be called vanity. It concerns us to keep a strict guard upon our thoughts, because God takes particular notice of them. Thoughts are words to God, and vain thoughts are provocations.

CALVI�, "11.Jehovah knoweth the thoughts of men, etc. He again insists upon the

folly of men in seeking to wrap themselves up in darkness, and hide themselves from

the view of God. To prevent them from flattering themselves with vain pretexts, he

reminds them that the mists of delusion will be scattered at once when they come to

stand in God’s presence. �othing can avail them, so long as God from heaven

stamps vanity upon their deepest counsels. The Psalmist’s design in citing them

before the Judge of all, is to make them thoroughly search and try their own hearts;

for the great cause of their self-security lay in failing to realize God, burying all

distinction between right and wrong, and, so far as that was possible, hardening

themselves against all feeling. They might contrive to soothe their minds by means

like these, but he tells them that God ridiculed all such trifling. The truth may be a

plain one, and well known; but the Psalmist states a fact which many overlook, and

which we would do well to remember, That the wicked, when they attempt to hide

themselves under subtile refuges, cannot deceive God, and necessarily deceive

themselves. Some read — They (that is, men themselves) are vanity; but this is a

forced rendering, and the form of expression is one which both in the Greek and

Hebrew may be translated, God knows that the thoughts of men are vain.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 11. Whether men admit or deny that God knows, one thing is

here declared, namely, that

The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. �ot their words alone

are heard, and their works seen, but he reads the secret motions of their minds, for

men themselves are not hard to be discerned of him, before his glance they

themselves are but vanity. It is in the Lord's esteem no great matter to know the

thoughts of such transparent pieces of vanity as mankind are, he sums them up in a

moment as poor vain things. This is the sense of the original, but that given in the

authorised version is also true—the thoughts, the best part, the most spiritual

portion of man's nature, even these are vanity itself, and nothing better. Poor man!

And yet such a creature as this boasts, plays at monarch, tyrannises over his fellow

worms, and defies his God! Madness is mingled with human vanity, like smoke with

the fog, to make it fouler but not more substantial than it would have been alone.

How foolish are those who think that God does not know their actions, when the

truth is that their vain thoughts are all perceived by him! How absurd to make

nothing of God when in fact we ourselves are as nothing in his sight.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 11. The LORD knoweth the thoughts. The thoughts of man's heart—what

millions are there of them in a day! The twinkling of the eye is not so sudden a thing

as the twinkling of a thought; yet those thousands and thousands of thoughts which

pass from thee, that thou canst not reckon, they are all known to God. Anthony

Burgess.

Ver. 11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. What a

humbling thought is here suggested to us! Let us examine it.

1. If vanity had been ascribed to the meaner parts of the creation —if all inanimate

and irrational beings, whose days are as a shadow, and who know not whence they

came nor whither they go, had thus been characterized—it had little more than

accorded with our own ideas. But the humiliating truth belongs to man, the lord of

the lower creation—to man, that distinguished link in the chain of being which

unites in his person mortality and immortality, heaven and earth. "The LORD

knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity."

2. Had vanity been ascribed only to the exercise of our sensual or mortal part, or of

that which we possess in common with other animals, it had been less humiliating.

But the charge is pointed at that which is the peculiar glory of man the intellectual

part, his thoughts. It is here, if anywhere, that we excel the creatures which are

placed around us. We can contemplate our own existence, dive into the past and the

future, and understand whence we came and whither we go. Yet in this tender part;

we are touched. Even the "thoughts" of man are vanity.

3. If vanity had been ascribed merely to those loose and trifling excursions of the

imagination which fall not under the influence of choice, a kind of comers and goers,

which are ever floating in the mind, like insects in the air on a summer's evening, it

had been less affecting. The soul of man seems to be necessarily active. Everything

we see, hear, taste, feel, or perceive, has some influence upon thought, which is

moved by it as leaves on the trees are moved by every breeze of wind. But

"thoughts" here include those exercises of the mind in which it is voluntarily or

intensely engaged, and in which we are in earnest; even all our schemes,

contrivances, and purposes. One would think, if there were anything in man to be

accounted of, it should be those exercises in which his intellectual faculty is seriously

and intensely employed. Yet the Lord knoweth that even these are vanity.

4. If during our state of childhood and youth only vanity had been ascribed to our

thoughts, it would have been less surprising. This is a truth of which numberless

parents have painful proof; yea, and of which children themselves, as they grow up

to maturity, are generally conscious. Vanity at this period, however, admits of some

apology. The obstinacy and folly of some young people, while they provoke disgust,

often excite a tear of pity. But the charge is exhibited against man. "Man at his best

estate is altogether vanity."

5. The decision proceeds from a quarter from which there can be no appeal. "The

LORD knoweth" it. Opinions dishonourable to our species may sometimes arise

from ignorance, sometimes from spleen and disappointment, and sometimes from a

gloomy turn of mind, which views mankind through a distorted medium. But the

judgment given in this passage is the decision of Him who cannot err; a decision

therefore to which, if we had no other proof, it becomes us to accede. Andrew

Fuller.

Ver. 11. They are vanity. The Syriac version is, For they are a vapour. Compare

James 4:14. John Gill.

HI�TS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER.

Ver. 11.

1. With respect to the present world, consider what multitudes of thoughts are

employed in vain.

(a) In seeking satisfaction where it is not to be found.

(b) In poring on events which cannot be recalled.

(c) In anticipating evils which never befall us.

(d) To these may be added the valuing ourselves on things

of little or no account.

(e) In laying plans which must be disconcerted.

2. Let us see what are man's thoughts with regard to religion, and the concerns of a

future life. (a) What are the thoughts of the heathen world about religion? (b) What

are all the thoughts of the Christian world, where God's thoughts are neglected? (c)

What is all that practical atheism which induces multitudes to act as if there were no

God? (d) What are all the unbelieving, self flattering imaginations of wicked men, as

though God were not in earnest in his declarations and threatenings? (e) What are

the conceits of the self righteous, by which they buoy up their minds with vain

hopes, and refuse to submit to the righteousness of God? Andrew Fuller.

Ver. 11. God's intimate knowledge of man. A startling truth. A humiliating truth.

ELLICOTT, "(11) That they are vanity—The literal rendering, “for they are

breath,” referring not to thoughts, but to man collectively, gives equally good sense,

and would, notwithstanding the order of the words, be natural, since the masculine

pronoun is used. But the LXX. stands as the Authorised Version, and is so quoted

by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 3:20), with the substitution of wise men for men.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:11. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man — This is an

answer to the foregoing question, Shall not he know? Yes, he knoweth all things,

yea, even the most secret things, as the thoughts of men; and in particular your

thoughts, and much more your practices, which you supposed he did not see, Psalms

94:6-7. And he knows that they are generally vain and foolish; and that, while you

applaud yourselves in such thoughts, you do not benefit, but only delude yourselves

with them.

EBC, "The teaching of the strophe is gathered up in Psalms 94:11, which exceeds

the normal number of four verses in each group, and asserts strongly the conclusion

for which the psalmist has been arguing. The rendering of b is, "For (not That) they

(i.e. men) are but a breath." "The ground of the Omniscience which sees the

thoughts of men through and through is profoundly laid in the vanity, i.e. the

finiteness, of men, as the correlative of the Infiniteness of God" (Hupfeld).

PULPIT, "The appeal to Israel. The oppressors thought that their conduct would

not be observed by God, or would not be taken into account. The psalmist appeals to

them not to be so brutish and foolish (Psalms 94:8), and argues, from the first

principles of natural theology, that God must see and hear (Psalms 94:9). If he

chastises the heathen, why should he not also punish them (Psalms 94:10)?

12 Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord, the one you teach from your law;

BAR�ES, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord - “Happy the man;” or “Oh the blessedness of the man.” See the notes at Psa_1:1. The word here rendered “chastenest” does not mean to chasten in the sense of afflicting or punishing. It means here to instruct; to warn; to admonish; to exhort. So the word is employed in Pro_9:7; Job_4:3; Psa_16:7. The meaning here is, that the man is blessed or happy whom God so “instructs, warns, or teaches,” that he understands the principles of the divine administration. Such a man will see reasons for confidence in him in trouble, and for calmness of mind until punishment is brought upon his enemies.

And teachest him out of thy law - Causest him, from thy word, to understand the great principles of thy government.

CLARKE, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest - ,teyasserennu תיסרנו

whom thou instructest; and teachest him out of thy law. Two points here are worthy of our most serious regard:

1. God gives knowledge to man: gives him understanding and reason.

2. He gives him a revelation of himself; he places before that reason and

understanding his Divine law.

This is God’s system of teaching; and the human intellect is his gift, which enables man to understand this teaching. We perhaps may add a third thing here; that as by sin the understanding is darkened, he gives the Holy Spirit to dispel this darkness from the intellect, in order that his word may be properly apprehended and understood. But he gives no new faculty; he removes the impediments from the old, and invigorates it by his Divine energy.

GILL, "Psalms 94:12Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord,.... Much more happy now, and hereafter, than the proud insulting persecutor of him; he is chastened of the Lord, that he might not be condemned with the world; he is chastened not in wrath, but in love; not with the chastisement of a cruel one, nor indeed of a magistrate nor a master; but of a tenderhearted father, who always does it for his profit and advantage, and therefore is he "blessed", or happy; for these chastenings are tokens of God's love, evidences of sonship, or of a man's being an adopted child of God; are for, and do work for good, either temporal, spiritual, or eternal, and even in every sense; and, besides, the Lord grants his presence in them, supports under them, and teaches by them, as follows:

and teachest him out of thy law; or "doctrine" (f); and may be understood of the doctrine of the Gospel, as well as of the law; the Lord teaches by his Spirit, his word, and providences; and, even by afflictive ones, he teaches men their sins and transgressions, and shows them wherein they have exceeded; brings them to a sense and confession of them, repentance and reformation; he teaches them hereby their duty, both to himself and all men, which they have neglected, and departed from; he teaches many lessons of faith, patience, humility, self-denial, and submission to his will in the school of affliction; here they learn much of God, of his power and faithfulness, truth, goodness, grace, and love, and of evangelical doctrines; of his everlasting love, of eternal election, the covenant of grace, the righteousness of Christ, and salvation by him; which the Lord makes known unto them at such seasons, and on which account they are pronounced blessed, or happy persons.

HE�RY, "The psalmist, having denounced tribulation to those that trouble God's people, here assures those that are troubled of rest. See 2Th_1:6, 2Th_1:7. He speaks comfort to suffering saints from God's promises and his own experience.

I. From God's promises, which are such as not only save them from being miserable, but secure a happiness to them (Psa_94:12): Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest.Here he looks above the instruments of trouble, and eyes the hand of God, which gives it another name and puts quite another color upon it. The enemies break in pieces God's people (Psa_94:5); they aim at no less; but the truth of the matter is that God by them chastens his people, as the father the son in whom he delights, and the persecutors are only the rod he makes use of. Howbeit they mean not so, neither doth their heart think so, Isa_10:5-7. Now it is here promised,

1. That God's people shall get good by their sufferings. When he chastens them he will teach them, and blessed is the man who is thus taken under a divine discipline, for none teaches like God. Note, (1.) The afflictions of the saints are fatherly chastenings, designed for their instruction, reformation, and improvement. (2.) When the teachings of the word and Spirit go along with the rebukes of Providence they then both manifest

men to be blessed and help to make them so; for then they are marks of adoption and means of sanctification. When we are chastened we must pray to be taught, and look into the law as the best expositor of Providence. It is not the chastening itself that does good, but the teaching that goes along with it and is the exposition of it.

JAMISO�, "On the other hand He favors though He chastens, the pious, and will teach and preserve them till the prosperous wicked are overthrown.

K&D 12-15, "The fourth strophe praises the pious sufferer, whose good cause God will at length aid in obtaining its right. The “blessed” reminds one of Psa_34:9; Psa_40:5, and more especially of Job_5:17, cf. Pro_3:11. Here what are meant are sufferings like those bewailed in Psa_94:5., which are however, after all, the well-meant dispensations of God. Concerning the aim and fruit of purifying and testing afflictions God teaches the sufferer out of His Law (cf. e.g., Deu_8:5.), in order to procure him rest, viz., inward rest (cf. Jer_49:23 with Isa_30:15), i.e., not to suffer him to be disheartened and tempted by days of wickedness, i.e., wicked, calamitous days (Ew. §287, b), until (and it will inevitably come to pass) the pit is finished being dug into which the ungodly

falls headlong (cf. Psa_112:7.). A@ has the emphatic Dagesh, which properly does not

double, and still less unite, but requires an emphatic pronunciation of the letter, which might easily become inaudible. The initial Jod of the divine name might easily lose it

consonantal value here in connection with the preceding toneless û,

(Note: If it is correct that, as Aben-Ezra and Parchon testify, the ו, as being

compounded of o (u) + i, was pronounced ü like the u in the French word pur by the

inhabitants of Palestine, then this Dagesh, in accordance with its orthophonic

function, is the more intelligible in cases like תיסרנו�@ה and קראתי�@ה, cf. Pinsker,

Einleitung, S. 153, and Geiger, Urschrift, S. 277. In אוZקומו�, Gen_19:14; Exo_12:31,

Deu_2:24, Tsade and Samech have this Dagesh for the same reason as the ,קומו�]עו

Sin in תשביתו�\אור, Exo_12:15 (vid., Heidenheim on that passage), viz., because there

is a danger in all these cases of slurring over the sharp sibilant. Even Chajug' (vid., Ewald and Dukes' Beiträge, iii. 23) confuses this Dag. orthophonicum with the Dag. forte conjunctivum.)

and the Dag. guards against this: cf. Psa_118:5, Psa_118:18. The certainty of the issue

that is set in prospect by עד is then confirmed with י>. It is impossible that God can

desert His church - He cannot do this, because in general right must finally come to His

right, or, as it is here expressed, i.e., the right that is now ,צדק must turn to מש[ט subdued

must at length be again strictly maintained and justly administered, and “after it then all who are upright in heart,” i.e., all such will side with it, joyously greeting that which has

been long missed and yearned after. מש[ט is fundamental right, which is at all times

consistent with itself and raised above the casual circumstances of the time, and צדק, like

in Isa_42:3, is righteousness (justice), which converts this right into a practical truth אמת

and reality.

SBC, "I. The highest love is marked by its severity, for the absolute condition of it is that

it will never rest till it has lifted up the man whom it reaches to a level with itself. The lower love will often shrink from giving pain, nay will rightly do so unless it knows that the pain will purify, but not so the love of God. His love cannot be content to leave us to be mere creatures of our own appetites and passions, of the whim of the moment, or of the besetting sin which has fastened on our souls, or of a mere worldly purpose. There is no such thing as forgiveness without cleansing, and the cleansing is in itself the punishment of the sin which it cleans.

II. Human love must be controlled ever by such love as this. No human love is true which puts the lower above the higher, or drags down what it loves from the path of honour or of duty.

III. Those who have been most touched with a sense of this have not prayed to be spared, but rather the contrary. Anything, everything, is welcome to those men which makes them more and more the true sons of God, which refines them to that purity which they themselves delight in. So, too, do men most deeply feel what is the meaning of the death of Christ. He suffered for us, indeed, but that suffering is all strange to us till we begin to suffer too.

Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 2nd series, p. 39.

CALVI�, "12Blessed is the man whom thou hast instructed, O God! The Psalmist

now passes from the language of censure to that of consolation, comforting himself

and others of the Lord’s people with the truth, that though God might afflict them

for a time, he consulted their true interests and safety. At no period of life is this a

truth which it is unnecessary to remember, called as we are to a continued warfare.

God may allow us intervals of ease, in consideration of our weakness, but would

always have us exposed to calamities of various kinds. The audacious excesses to

which the wicked proceed we have already noticed. Were it not for the comfortable

consideration that they are a blessed people whom God exercises with the cross, our

condition would be truly miserable. We are to consider, that in calling us to be his

people, he has separated us from the rest of the world, to participate a blessed peace

in the mutual cultivation of truth and righteousness. The Church is often cruelly

oppressed by tyrants under color of law — the very case of which the Psalmist

complains in this psalm; for it is evident that he speaks of domestic enemies,

pretending to be judges in the nation. Under such circumstances, a carnal judgment

would infer, that if God really concerned himself in our welfare he would never

suffer these persons to perpetrate such enormities. To prevent this, the Psalmist

would have us distrust our own ideas of things, and feel the necessity of that wisdom

which comes from above. I consider the passage to mean that it is only in the Lord’s

school we can ever learn to maintain composure of mind, and a posture of patient

expectation and trust under the pressure of distress. The Psalmist declares that the

wisdom which would bear us onward to the end, with an inward peace and courage

under long-continued trouble, is not natural to any of us, but must come from God.

(26) Accordingly, he exclaims, that those are the truly blessed whom God has

habituated through his word to the endurance of the cross, and prevented from

sinking under adversity by the secret supports and consolations of his own Spirit.

The words with which the verse begins, Blessed is the man whom thou hast

instructed, have no doubt a reference to chastisements and experience of the cross,

but they also comprehend the gift of inward illumination; and afterwards the

Psalmist adds, that this wisdom, which is imparted by God inwardly, is, at the same

time, set forth and made known in the Scriptures. (27) In this way he puts honor

upon the use of the written word, as we find Paul saying, that all things

“were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the

Scriptures, might have hope” (Romans 15:4)

This shows from what quarter we are to derive our patience — the oracles of God,

which supply us with matter of hope for the mitigation of our griefs. In short, what

the Psalmist means is summarily this: Believers must, in the first place, be exhorted

to exercise patience, not to despond under the cross, but wait submissively upon

God for deliverance; and next, they must be taught how this grace is to be obtained,

for we are naturally disposed to abandon ourselves to despair, and any hope of ours

would speedily fail, were we not taught from above that all our troubles must

eventually issue in salvation. We have here the Psalmist’s testimony to the truth,

That the word of God provides us with abundant ground of comfort, and that none

who rightly avails himself of it need ever count himself unhappy, or yield himself to

hopelessness and despondency. One mark by which God distinguishes the true from

the false disciple is, that of his being ready and prepared to bear the cross, and

waiting quietly for the Divine deliverance, without giving way to fretfulness and

impatience. A true patience does not consist in presenting an obstinate resistance to

evils, or in that unyielding stubbornness which passed as a virtue with the Stoics,

but in a cheerful submission to God, based upon confidence in his grace. On this

account it is with good reason that the Psalmist begins by laying it down as a

fundamental truth, necessary to be learned by all the Lord’s people, That the end of

those temporary persecutions, to which they are subjected, is their being brought at

last to a blessed rest after their enemies have done their worst. He might have

contented himself with saying, that the truly blessed were those who had learned

from God’s word to bear the cross patiently, but that he might the more readily

incline them to a cheerful acquiescence in the Divine disposals, he subjoined a

statement of the consolation which tends to mitigate the grief of their spirits. Even

supposing that a man should bear his trials without a tear or a sigh, yet if he champ

the bit in sullen hopelessness — if he only hold by such principles as these, “We are

mortal creatures,” “It is vain to resist necessity, and strive against fate,” “Fortune is

blind” — this is obstinacy rather than patience, and there is concealed opposition to

God in this contempt of calamities under color of fortitude. The only consideration

which will subdue our minds to a tractable submission is, that God, in subjecting us

to persecutions, has in view our being ultimately brought into the enjoyment of a

rest. Wherever there reigns this persuasion of a rest prepared for the people of God,

and a refreshment provided under the heat and turmoil of their troubles, that they

may not perish with the world around them, — this will prove enough, and more

than enough, to alleviate any present bitterness of affliction.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD. The

psalmist's mind is growing quiet. He no longer complains to God or argues with

men, but tunes his harp to softer melodies, for his faith perceives that with the most

afflicted believer all is well. Though he may not feel blessed while smarting under

the rod of chastisement, yet blessed he is; he is precious in God's sight, or the Lord

would not take the trouble to correct him, and right happy will the results of his

correction be. The psalmist calls the chastened one a "man" in the best sense, using

the Hebrew word which implies strength. He is a man, indeed, who is under the

teaching and training of the Lord.

And teachest him out of thy law. The book and the rod, the law and the chastening,

go together, and are made doubly useful by being found in connection. Affliction

without the word is a furnace for the metal, but there is no flux to aid the purifying:

the word of God supplies that need, and makes the fiery trial effectual. After all, the

blessing of God belongs far rather to those who suffer under the divine hand than to

those who make others suffer: better far to lie and cry out as a "man" under the

hand of our heavenly Father, than to roar and rave as a brute, and to bring down

upon one's self a death blow from the destroyer of evil. The afflicted believer is

under tuition, he is in training for something higher and better, and all that he

meets with is working out his highest good, therefore is he a blessed man, however

much his outward circumstances may argue the reverse.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 12. Blessed is the man, &e. I shall show the various benefits of affliction, when

it is sanctified by the Spirit of God to those persons who are exercised by it. (1.) The

Great God has made affliction the occasion of converting sinners, and bringing

them into a spiritual acquaintance with Christ his Son. See Isaiah 48:10. (2.) God

not only makes affliction the occasion of converting sinners at first, but after

conversion he sanctifies an afflicted state to the saints, to weaken the remains of

indwelling sin in them, and make them afraid of sinning against him in future time.

(3.) God, in afflicting the saints, increases that good work of grace, which his Spirit

has implanted in them. God causes his saints to grow in grace, when he corrects

them with the rod of sorrow; God assimilates and makes the saints like unto himself,

in a greater degree, by temporal troubles and distresses. Hebrews 12:10-11. (4.) God

afflicts the saints for the improvement of their knowledge in divine things. The

Psalmist says, in the words of the text, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O

LORD, and teachest him out of thy law. See also Psalms 119:71. (5.) The great God,

by afflicting the saints, brings them unto him with greater nearness and frequency,

by prayer and supplication. (6.) God afflicts the saints, to make them better

acquainted with the perfections of his nature. (7.) To make them more conformed to

Christ his Son. (8.) To subdue the pride of their hearts, and make them more

humble. (9.) God oftentimes discovers to the saints, in the season of their affliction,

in a clearer manner, that grace which he has implanted in them, and refreshes their

souls with the consolations of his Spirit. (10.) God afflicts the saints, to divide their

hearts more from the love of the world, and to make them more meet for heaven.

Outline of a Sermon by John Farmer, 1744.

Ver. 12. Here observe generally, what it is which afflictions, or God by afflictions,

teacheth his children; even the self same thing which he teacheth in his word; as the

schoolmaster teacheth his scholars the same thing by the rod, which he teacheth by

words. The word, then, is the storehouse of all instruction. Look not for any new

diverse doctrine to be taught thee by affliction, which is not in the word. For, in

truth, herein stands our teaching by affliction, that it fits and prepares us for the

word, by breaking and subdividing the stubbornness of our hearts, and making

them pliable, and capable of the impression of the word. Wherefore, as the Apostle

saith, that the law is our schoolmaster to Christ, Galatians 3:24. Because the law, by

showing unto us our disease, forces us to the physician. So likewise it may be said

that afflictions are schoolmasters to the law. For whilst we are at ease and in

prosperity, though the sons of thunder terrify never so much with the fearful cracks

of legal menaces, yet are we as deaf men, nothing moved therewith. But when we are

humbled and meekened by affliction, then is there way made for the terrors of the

law; then do we begin with some reverence of attention to listen and give ear unto

them. When therefore God sends us any affliction, we must know that then he sends

us to the law and to the testimony. For he teaches us indeed in our affliction, but it is

in his law. And therefore if in our affliction we will learn anything, we must take

God's book into our hands, and carefully and seriously peruse it. And hereby shall it

appear that our afflictions have been our teachers, if by them we have felt ourselves

stirred up to greater diligence, zeal, and reverence in reading and hearing the

word... After that the prophet had preferred his complaint to the Lord against the

adversaries of the church, from the first verse to the eighth, he leaveth God, and in a

sudden conversion of speech, turns himself from the party complained unto, to the

parties complained of, the cruel oppressors of the church, terrifying them by those

just judgments of God, which in fine must overtake them, and so consequently

cheering and comforting the distressed church. But because the distress of the

church's enemies of itself could be no sufficient matter of comfort unto her,

therefore a second argument of further and that far more effectual consolation is

added in this twelfth verse, drawn from the happy condition of the church, even

while she is thus overborne with those tigerly and tyrannical persecutors. And the

argument is propounded by the prophet, not directing his speech to the church, but

rather in his own person, bringing in the church suddenly turning her speech from

her enemies, with whom she was expostulating, to God himself, and breaking forth

into this pathetic expostulation, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD,

and teachest him out of thy law. From the coherence of which words with the

former, we may observe, that the outward miseries of our enemies is but cold

comfort, unless withal we have a persuasion of our own inward happiness... It would

do the child little good to see the rod cast into the fire, if he himself should be cast in

after it. Therefore the church having in this place meditated of the just judgments of

God, which should in due time befall her adversaries, and not finding sufficiency of

comfort therein, here in this verse proceedeth to a further meditation of her own

case and condition. Wherein she seemeth thus to reason to herself. What though

these mine enemies be brought to their deserved ends? what though I know they be

reserved for shame and confusion? What ease can this bring to my mind now

dejected, and happy thinking itself as miserable as these my foes? �ow these

doubtful thoughts something disquieting her, further comfort is ministered unto her

by the Spirit of God in this verse, whereby she is enabled to answer that objection

she made against herself, namely, that she is assured, that as her adversaries' case is

wretched, so is her own most happy and blessed. Daniel Dyke, in "The Schoole of

Affliction, "1633.

Ver. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, etc. If by outward afflictions thy

soul be brought more under the inward teachings of God, doubtless thy afflictions

are in love. All the chastening in the world, without divine teaching, will never make

a man blessed; that man that finds correction attended with instruction, and lashing

with learning, is a happy man. If God, by the affliction that is upon thee, shall teach

thee how to loathe sin more, how to trample upon the world more, and how to walk

with God more, thy afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions how

to die to sin more, and how to die to thy relations more, and how to die to thy self

interest more, thy afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions how to

live to Christ more, how to lift up Christ more, and how to long for Christ more, thy

afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions to get assurance of a

better life, and to be still in a gracious readiness and preparedness for the day of thy

death, thy afflictions are in love. If God shall teach thee by afflictions how to mind

heaven more, and how to fit for heaven more, thy afflictions are in love. If God by

afflictions shall teach thy proud heart how to lie more low, and thy hard heart how

to grow more humble, and thy censorious heart how to grow more charitable, and

thy carnal heart how to grow more spiritual, and thy froward heart how to grow

more quiet, &c., thy afflictions are in love. Pambo, an illiterate dunce, as the

historian terms him, was learning that one lesson, "I said I will take heed to my

ways, that I sin not with my tongue, "nineteen years, and yet had not learned it. Ah!

it is to be feared that there are many who have been in this school of affliction above

this nineteen years and yet have not learned any saving lesson all this while. Surely

their afflictions are not in love, but in wrath. Where God loves, he afflicts in love,

and wherever God afflicts in love, there he will first and last teach such souls such

lessons as shall do them good to all eternity.

If you enjoy the special presence of God with your spirits in your affliction, then

your affliction is in love. Hast thou a special presence of God with thy spirit,

strengthening of that, stilling of that, satisfying of that, cheering and comforting of

that? "In the multitude of my thoughts, "—that is, of my troubled, intricate,

ensnared, intertwined, and perplexed thoughts, as the branches of a tree by some

strong wind are twisted one within another, as the Hebrew word properly signifies,

—"Thy comforts delight my soul." Here is a presence of God with the soul, here

are comforts and delights that reach the soul, here is a cordial to strengthen the

spirit. Thomas Brooks.

Ver. 12. You may and ought to get especial rejoicing faith out of sanctified

afflictions. Thus: "Whom God doth correct and teach, him he loves, he is blessed:

(Psalms 94:12, Hebrews 12:6 :) but God doth so to me: ergo." Here are bills and

prayers for mercies; but who looks after the issue, the teaching, the holy use?

Sanctified afflictions are very good evidences, and so very comfortable. There are

those who would not have lost their sufferings, temptations, afflictions, for any good.

The blessed Spirit hath taught them that way many a divine truth by heart out of

the word; they are sensible of it, and from it conclude the love of God in Christ to

them; and thence they have joy and comfort, —that joy that angels cannot give,

and devils cannot take. Sanctified troubles are tokens of special love. Christopher

Fowler (1610-1678), in "The Morning Exercises."

Ver. 12. If we have nothing but the rod, we profit not by the rod; yea, if we have

nothing but the word, we shall never profit by the word. It is the Spirit given with

the word, and the Spirit given with the rod, by which we profit under both, or

either. Chastening and divine teaching must go together, else there will be no profit

by chastening. Joseph Caryl.

Ver. 12. God sees that the sorrows of life are very good for us; for, as seeds that are

deepest covered with snow in winter flourish most in spring; or as the wind by

beating down the flame raiseth it higher and hotter; and as when we would have

fires flame the more, we sprinkle water upon them; even so, when the Lord would

increase our joy and thankfulness, he allays it with the tears of affliction. H. G.

Salter.

Ver. 12. And teachest. Teaching implies both a schoolmaster, a teacher, instructing

and lessons taught. In this teaching both these points are here noted out. And for the

first, namely, the schoolmaster, it is twofold: 1. The outward affliction and

chastisement, "Whom you chastise, teach, "that is, whom by chastising you teach. 2.

God himself, who is the chief and principal head schoolmaster, the other being but

an inferior and subordinate one: "Whom thou teachest." And for the second point,

the lessons taught, they are included generally in those words, "in thy law." To

begin then with the schoolmasters, and first with the first.

The first schoolmaster is affliction. A sharp and severe and swingeing schoolmaster

indeed, and so much the fitter for such stout and stubborn scholars as we are; who

because we will not be overcome by fair means, must needs therefore be dealt withal

by foul. For God doth not willingly afflict us, but being necessarily thereunto

enforced, by that strength of corruption in us, which otherwise will not be subdued.

So physicians and surgeons are constrained to come to cutting, lancing, and

burning, when milder remedies will not prevail. Let us therefore hereby take notice

of the hardness of our hearts, the fallow ground whereof cannot be broken up but

by this sharp plough of affliction. See what dullards and blockheads we are, how

slow to understand spiritual things, not able to conceive of them by the instruction

of words, unless they be even beaten and driven into our brains by blows. So thick

and brawny is that foreskin which is drawn over our uncircumcised ears and hearts,

that no doctrine can enter, unless it be pegged, and hammered, and knocked into us

by the fists of this sour and crabbed schoolmaster.

The second schoolmaster is God himself. Afflictions of themselves, though severe

schoolmasters, yet can do us no good, unless God come by his Spirit, and teach our

hearts inwardly. Let us therefore pray that as in the ministry of God's word, so also

of his works and judgments, we may be all taught of God. For it is his Spirit that

quickens and animates the outward means, which otherwise are a dead letter. And

this is the reason that many men have rather grown worse by their afflictions, than

anything better; because God's Spirit hath not gone with the affliction, to put life

and spirit into it, as Moses observed in the Israelites, De 29:24. David Dyke.

COFFMA�, "Verse 12

PRAISE OF THE PIOUS SUFFERER

"Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Jehovah,

And teachest out of thy law;

That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,

Until the pit be digged for the wicked.

For Jehovah will not cast off his people,

�either will he forsake his inheritance.

For judgment shall return unto righteousness;

And all the upright in heart shall follow it."

"Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest" (Psalms 94:12). Some of the sufferers

mentioned earlier, no doubt, were allowed to pass through such difficult experiences

by the Lord. "The affliction was for their betterment. This is one of the most

beneficial forms of experience that the Lord lets men live through."[8] In the �ew

Testament, Hebrews 12 stresses the benefit and the necessity of such chastening.

(For a fuller discussion of this see Vol. 10 of our �ew Testament Series of

Commentaries (Hebrews), pp. 293-296.)

"Rest from adversity ... until the pit be digged for the wicked" (Psalms 94:13). Two

great blessings are mentioned here for the sufferers: (1) God will give them "peace"

and "rest" spiritually, even during their afflictions; and (2) meanwhile, the pit is

being digged for the wicked into which they shall surely fall. It is evident that God's

punishment of evil-doers, while inevitable and certain, in many instances must wait

(a) until their wickedness has run its course, or (b) until God's preparation for their

punishment is complete.

"For Jehovah will not cast off his people ... nor forsake his inheritance" (Psalms

94:14). This was not an "unconditional promise," despite the fact of Racial Israel's

treating it exactly that way. What is meant here is that "God will never cast off his

faithful people." Romans 11:15 speaks of the "casting away" of many in Israel; yet

Paul declares God has not "cast off his people," because he himself and others in the

service of Jesus Christ are indeed the "True Israel" which was not cast off.

"Judgment shall return unto righteousness" (Psalms 94:15). The RSV seems to be

clearer. "Justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow

it." Martin Luther translated it, "For right must remain right, and the upright in

heart shall walk in it."[9]

In addition to these options, we like the proposal of Addis, who rendered this

difficult verse, "Authority shall return to the righteous man, and all the upright in

heart shall follow him."[10] The practical meaning was that whoever the wicked

king on the throne of Israel might have been, he would be succeeded by one who

would honor God's law.

ELLICOTT, "(12, 13) Blessed.—A far higher note than one of mere complaint, or

even of trust in God, is struck here. The beatitude of suffering could not be made

altogether plain in the Old Testament, though in Job the spirit of it is nearly

reached. Here the poet sees thus far, that he who is the victim of misfortunes may be

congratulated if he may stand aside and calmly watch the course of Divine

Providence involving evil men in punishment. What he has himself endured has

chastened him, and caused him to be quiet from the evil days—i.e., has calmed him

in viewing evil circumstances. It would, however, but for the next clause, be more

natural to understand, “shall deliver him from evil days.”

Pit.—Comp. Psalms 9:15.,

BE�SO�, "Verse 12-13

Psalms 94:12-13. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest — �ot he that prospers

in his wickedness is happy, but he whom the Lord chasteneth when he acts amiss,

and thereby teaches to study and obey his law with the greater care and diligence.

That thou mayest give him rest, &c. — For the present and short troubles of the

righteous prepare them for, and lead them to, true rest and blessedness, while the

seeming felicity of the wicked makes way for those tremendous judgments which

God hath prepared for them.

EBC, "In the strophe Psalms 94:12-15 the psalmist turns from the oppressors to

their victims, the meek of the earth, and changes his tone from fiery remonstrance to

gracious consolation. The true point of view from which to regard the oppressors’

wrong is to see in it part of God’s educational processes. Jehovah, who "instructs"

all men by conscience, "instructs" Israel, and by the Law "teaches" the right

interpretation of such afflictive providences. Happy he who accepts that higher

education! A further consolation lies in considering the purpose of the special

revelation to Israel, which will be realised in patient hearts that are made wise

thereby-namely, calm repose of submission and trust, which are not disturbed by

any stormy weather. There is possible for the harassed man "peace subsisting at the

heart of endless agitation."

If we recognise that life is mainly educational, we shall neither be astonished nor

disturbed by sorrows. It is not to be wondered at that the schoolmaster has a rod,

and uses it sometimes. There is rest from evil even while in evil, if we understand the

purpose of evil. Yet another consolation lies in the steadfast anticipation of its

transiency and of the retribution measured to its doers. That is no unworthy source

of comfort. And the ground on which it rests is the impossibility of God’s forsaking

His people, His inheritance. These designations of Israel look back to Psalms 94:5,

where the crushed and afflicted are designated by the same words. Israel’s relation

to Jehovah made the calamities more startling; but it also makes their cessation, and

retribution for them on their inflicters more certain. It is the trial and triumph of

Faith to be sure, while tyrants grind and crush, that Jehovah has not deserted their

victims. He cannot change His purpose; therefore, sorrows and prosperity are but

divergent methods, concurring in carrying out His unalterable design. The

individual sufferer may take comfort from his belonging to the community to which

the presence of Jehovah is guaranteed forever. The singer puts his convictions as to

what is to be the upshot of all the perplexed riddles of human affairs into

epigrammatic form, in the obscure, gnome-like saying, "To righteousness shall

judgment return," by which he seems to mean that the administration of justice,

which at present was being trampled under foot, "shall come back to the eternal

principle of all judicial action, namely, righteousness,"-in shorter words, there shall

be no schism between the judgments of earthly tribunals and justice. The psalmist’s

hope is that of all good men and sufferers from unjust rulers. All the upright in

heart long for such a state of things and follow after it, either in the sense of delight

in it ("Dem Recht mussen alle frommen Herzen zufallen"-Luther), or of seeking to

bring it about. The psalmist’s hope is realised in the King of Men, whose own

judgments are truth, and who infuses righteousness and the love of it into all who

trust in Him.

PULPIT, "Psalms 94:12-19

The blessedness of the righteous. The psalmist proceeds to console and comfort

himself by considering in how many ways the righteous man is blessed.

1. God chastises him.

2. God teaches him.

3. God gives him a time of rest.

4. God never forsakes him.

5. God judges him righteously.

6. God helps him against evil doers (Psalms 94:16, Psalms 94:17).

7. God upholds him when he is in danger of falling.

8. God inwardly comforts his soul.

PULPIT, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord. The blessedness of

chastening appears in Deuteronomy 7:5; 2 Samuel 7:14, 2 Samuel 7:15; Job 5:17;

Psalms 89:32, Psalms 89:33; Proverbs 3:12; and is the main point of Elihu's teaching

in Job 33:15-30. It is not, as some have argued, entirely a �ew Testament doctrine.

Unassisted human reason might discover it. Greek poets noted the connection

between παθεῖν and µαθεῖν. Our own great dramatist draws upon his experience

when he says-

"Sweet are the uses of adversity;

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,

Bears yet a precious jewel in his head."

And teachest him out of thy Law. The existence of "the Law," and the general

knowledge of it by God's people, is assumed here, as elsewhere in the Psalms (see

especially Psalms 119:1-176.). Also it is assumed that "the Law" is a revelation from

God.

13 you grant them relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked.

BAR�ES, "That thou mayest give him rest - Mayest make his mind quiet and calm; mayest save him from murmuring, from despondency, from impatience, by just confidence in thee, and in thy government.

From the days of adversity - Or, in the days of evil; the time of calamity and trouble. That his mind may then be composed and calm.

Until the pit be digged for the wicked - Until the wicked be punished; that is, while the preparations are going on, or while God seems to delay punishment, and the wicked are suffered to live as if God did not notice them, or would not punish them. The idea is, that the mind should not be impatient as if their punishment would not come, or as if God were unconcerned; and that just views of the divine administration would tend to make the mind calm even when the wicked “seemed” to prosper and triumph. See the notes at Psa_73:16-22. The phrase “until the pit be digged” is derived from the method of hunting wild beasts by digging a pit into which they might fall and be taken. See the notes at Psa_7:15.

CLARKE, "That thou mayest give him rest - He whom God instructs is made wise unto salvation; and he who is thus taught has rest in his soul, and peace and confidence in adversity.

GILL, "That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,.... Or "evil" (c); or "in the evil days", as the Arabic version; for through teaching men under afflictions, they become tranquil and quiet in them; they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them; such men patiently bear them; and quietly submit to the will of God in them, and are still, and know that he is God, that does all things well and wisely:

moreover, the Lord does not always chasten his people; when he has taught them by his rod, and the affliction has answered its end, he gives them rest or intermission from those days of affliction: God does not always suffer the rod of the wicked, or persecution, to be upon the lot of the righteous; he gives his churches rest at times: in all ages there have been some intervals of respite; and after the slaying of the witnesses, and their rising, there will be no more of those days of adversity; but the

times of refreshing, or rest, will come, which will make up the spiritual reign of Christ; and there remains a "rest", or "sabbatism", for the people of God, which will last a thousand years; and, after that, an eternal rest in heaven, which the light afflictions of the saints here are working, and are the means of making them meet for it: "until the pit be digged for the wicked"; hell, the pit of destruction, the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: this pit and lake is dug and prepared by the sovereign will and unchangeable purpose and decree of God, for all wicked and Christless sinners; particularly for the beast and false prophet, and his followers, who shall be cast into it, and be tormented in it day and night, and have no rest; while the saints they here persecuted will be in the greatest repose, and utmost felicity; and when it will appear who are the blessed and happy persons, and who not.

HE�RY, "That they shall see through their sufferings (Psa_94:13): That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity. Note, (1.) There is a rest remaining for the people of God after the days of their adversity, which, though they may be many and long, shall be numbered and finished in due time, and shall not last always. He that sends the trouble will send the rest, that he may comfort them according to the time that he has afflicted them. (2.) God therefore teaches his people by their troubles, that he may prepare them for deliverance, and so give them rest from their troubles, that, being reformed, they may be relieved, and that the affliction, having done its work, may be removed.

3. That they shall see the ruin of those that are the instruments of their sufferings, which is the matter of a promise, not as gratifying any passion of theirs, but as redounding to the glory of God: Until the pit is digged (or rather while the pit is digging) for the wicked, God is ordering peace for them at the same time that he is ordaining his arrows against the persecutors.

CALVI�, "Byevil days, or days of evil, the Psalmist might thus mean the everlasting

destruction which awaits the ungodly, whom God has spared for a certain interval.

Or his words may be expounded as signifying, that the man is blessed who has

learned to be composed and tranquil under trials. The rest intended would then be

that of an inward kind, enjoyed by the believer even during the storms of adversity;

and the scope of the passage would be, that the truly happy man is he who has so far

profited, by the word of God, as to sustain the assault of evils from without, with

peace and composure. But as it is added, whilst (28) the pit is digged for the wicked,

it would seem necessary, in order to bring out the opposition contained in the two

members of the sentence, to suppose that the Psalmist rather commends the wisdom

of those who reckon that God afflicts them with a view to saving them from

destruction, and bringing them eventually to a happy issue. It was necessary to state

this second ground of comfort, because our hearts cannot fail to be affected with the

most intense grief when we see the wicked triumph, and no Divine restraint put

upon them. The Psalmist meets the temptation by appropriately reminding us that

the wicked are left upon earth, just as a dead body which is stretched out upon a

bed, till its grave be dug. Here believers are warned that, if they would preserve

their constancy, they must mount their watchtower, as Habakkuk says, (Habakkuk

2:1) and take a view in the distance of God’s judgments. They shall see worldly men

rioting in worldly delights, and, if they extend their view no farther, they will give

way to impatience. But it would moderate their grief, would they only remember

that those houses which are nominally appropriated to the living, are, in fact, only

granted to the dead, until their grave be digged; and that, though they remain upon

earth, they are already devoted to destruction. (29)

“To produce ease for him out of the days of adversity, Whilst the pit is digging for

the impious.”

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 13. That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity,

until the pit be digged for the wicked. The chastening hand and instructive book are

sanctified to us, so that we learn to rest in the Lord. We see that his end is our

everlasting benefit, and therefore abide quiet under all trying providences and

bitter persecutions, waiting our time. The Mighty Hunter is preparing the pit for the

brutish ones; they are prowling about at this time, and tearing the sheep, but they

will soon be captured and destroyed, therefore the people of the Lord learn to rest in

days of adversity, and tarry the leisure of their God. Wicked men may not yet be

ripe for punishment, nor punishment ready for them: hell is a prepared place for a

prepared people; as days of grace ripen saints for glory, so days of wantonness help

sinners to rot into the corruption of eternal destruction.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 13. That thou mayest give him rest. Here usually, but hereafter certainly. Mors

aerumnarum requies, was Chaucer's motto: those that die in the Lord shall rest

from their labours. Meanwhile they are chastened of the Lord, that they may not be

condemned with the world. 1 Corinthians 11:32. John Trapp.

Ver. 13. To give him rest. This is the end of God's teaching, that his servant may

wait in patience, unmoved by, safe from, the days of evil (comp. Psalms 49:5) seeing

the evil all round lifting itself up, but seeing also the secret, mysterious retribution,

slowly but surely accomplishing itself. In this sense the "rest" is the rest of a calm,

self possessed spirit, as Isa 7:4 30:15 32:17 57:20; and "to give him" signifies "that

thou mayest give him." J. J. S. Perowne.

Ver. 13. Rest. Let there be a revival of the passive virtues. Mr. Hume calls them the

"monkish virtues." Many speak of them slightingly, especially as compared with the

dashing qualities so highly esteemed in the world. But quietness of mind and of

spirit, like a broken heart, is of great price in the sight of God. Some seem to have

forgotten that silence and meekness are graces. William S. Plumer.

Ver. 13. Rest from the days of adversity. To rest from the days of adversity is not to

be disturbed by them to such an extent as to murmur, or despond in spirit, but to

trust in God, and in silence of the mind and affections expect from God deliverance.

See Isaiah 7:4; Isaiah 26:20, &c. Moreover he says not ymyk in, but ymym from the

days of adversity, an expression of greater elegancy and wider range of meaning.

For there is a reference to the primary form of the verb vqv to sink, to settle down,

as when the dregs of disturbed liquor fall to the bottom; when it is applied to the

mind when shaken with a great agitation of cares, and full of bitterness. The dregs,

therefore, sprung from the days of adversity, are pointed out as settling down.

Besides, not only is rest of mind while the evils continue indicated, but also while

they are ceasing, since m, from, has here, as not infrequently elsewhere, a negativ

force. Venema.

Ver. 13. Until the pit be digged for the wicked. Behold, thou hast the counsel of God,

and the reason why he spareth the wicked; the pit is being digged for the sinner.

You wish to bury him at once: the pit is as yet being dug for him: do not be in haste

to bury him. Augustine.

14 For the Lord will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance.

BAR�ES, "For the Lord will not cast off his people ... - He will interpose in their behalf though the wicked seem now to triumph. The certainty of this would give consolation; this would make the mind calm in the days of trouble. Compare 1Sa_12:22; 1Ki_6:13; Deu_31:6. See the notes at Rom_11:1-2.

CLARKE, "The Lord will not cast off his people - Though they are now suffering under a grievous and oppressive captivity, yet the Lord hath not utterly cast them off. They are his inheritance, and he will again restore them to their own land.

GILL, "For the Lord will not cast off his people,.... The people whom he has foreknown, his chosen people, whether among Jews or Gentiles, Rom_11:1, his covenant people, whom he has given to Christ, and who are redeemed by his blood, and called by his Spirit and grace: these, though he may not arise immediately for their help; though he may withdraw his presence from them for a time, may afflict them, and suffer them to be afflicted by others, Psa_94:5, he will not cast them off, at least for ever, so as to be removed out of his sight, or off of his heart, or from his covenant, or out of the hands of his Son, or from being a part of his family, or so as to perish eternally; they are a people near and dear unto him; he takes pleasure in them, and will not eternally reject them; whoever casts them off, he will not:

neither will he forsake his inheritance; which he has chosen, and values and esteems as a goodly one; he will not give up his title to it, nor drop his claim upon it, nor relinquish his hold and use of it; he will not forsake his people for this reason, because

they are his inheritance, as well as because he has promised that he will not: he may seem to forsake them, and they may think they are forsaken by him; but he will not forsake neither their persons in youth nor in old age, nor his work upon their hearts: the church, in the wilderness, and under the persecution of antichrist, might seem to be cast off and forsaken; yet is not, being nourished there for a time and times, and half a time, Rev_12:14, the note of Arama is,

"at the coming of the Messiah all this good shall be.''

HE�RY, "That, though they may be cast down, yet certainly they shall not be cast off, Psa_94:14. Let God's suffering people assure themselves of this, that, whatever their friends do, God will not cast them off, nor throw them out of his covenant or out of his care; he will not forsake them, because they are his inheritance, which he will not quit his title to nor suffer himself to be disseised of. St. Paul comforted himself with this, Rom_11:1.

JAMISO�, "This results from His abiding love (Deu_32:15), which is further evinced by His restoring order in His government, whose right administration will be approved by the good.

CALVI�, "14Surely Jehovah will not cast off his people He enforces the same truth

which he had stated above in still clearer terms, denying it to be possible that God

should cast off his people, whom he had chosen in a manner to be his inheritance.

When assailed by afflictions, we should fly to this consideration, as a sanctuary of

refuge, that we are God’s people, gratuitously adopted into his family, and that he

must necessarily have a most intimate and tender regard for our safety, having

promised to watch as carefully over his Church as if it were his own heritage. We

are thus again taught that our patience will soon give way and fail, unless the tumult

of carnal suggestions be allayed by a knowledge of the Divine favor shining in upon

our souls.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 14. For the LORD will not cast off his people. He may cast them

down, but he never can cast them off. During fierce persecutions the saints have

been apt to think that the Lord had left his own sheep, and given them over to the

wolf; but it has never been so, nor shall it ever be, for the Lord will not withdraw his

love,

neither will he forsake his inheritance. For a time he may leave his own with the

design of benefiting them thereby, yet never can he utterly desert them.

"He may chasten and correct,

But he never can neglect;

May in faithfulness reprove,

But he never can cease to love."

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:14-15. The Lord will not cast off his people — Though he

may for a time correct, yet he will not utterly destroy, his true and obedient people,

as he will their enemies, but will, in due time, put an end to all their calamities. But

judgment shall return unto righteousness — Although the world is now full of

unrighteous judgments, and even God himself seems not to judge and administer

things justly, because he suffers his people to be oppressed, and the wicked to

triumph over them, yet the state of things will, at the proper season, be otherwise

ordered; God will show himself to be a righteous judge, and will advance and

establish justice in the earth, and especially among his people. And all the upright in

heart shall follow it — �amely, just judgment restored; they will all approve of and

imitate this justice of God in all their actions, whereas the wicked shall still do

wickedly, as is said Daniel 12:10, and in a land and state of uprightness will deal

unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord, Isaiah 26:10. Or, as אחריו,

acharaiv, may be rendered, shall go after, or follow HIM, namely, the Lord, whose

act it is to bring judgment to justice. While the wicked forsake God, these will cleave

to him, as being confident that, how much soever he may suffer them to be

oppressed for a season, yet he will, in due time, plead their cause, and bring forth

their righteousness.

PULPIT, "For the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his

inheritance (comp. Deuteronomy 4:31; 1 Samuel 12:22; 1 Kings 6:13; Isaiah 41:17).

However long God's chastisements continue (see Psalms 94:3), the faithful may be

sure that God has not forsaken, and never will forsake, them, since "he forsaketh

not his saints, but they are preserved forever" (Psalms 37:28). The promise is made

equally to the faithful individuals ("his saints") and to faithful Churches ("his

people," "his inheritance").

15 Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

BAR�ES, "But judgment shall return unto righteousness - That is, The exercise of judgment shall be so manifest to the world - as if it “returned” to it - as to show that there is a righteous God. The truth here taught is, that the “results” of God’s interposition in human affairs will be such as to show that he is on the side of righteousness, or such as to vindicate and maintain the cause of righteousness in the earth.

And all the upright in heart shall follow it - Margin, shall be after it. The meaning is, that all who are upright in heart - all who are truly righteous - will follow on in the path of justice; that they will regard what God does as right, and will walk in that

path. The fact that what occurs is done by God, will be to them a sufficient revelation of what ought to be done; and they will follow out the teachings properly suggested by the divine dealings as their rules of life. In other words, the manifested laws of the divine administration will be to them an indication of what is right; and they will embrace and follow the lessons thus made known to them by the dealings of Divine Providence as the rules of their own conduct.

CLARKE, "But judgment shall return unto righteousness - If we read יושב

yosheb, shalt sit, for ישוב yashub, shall return, which is only placing the ו vau before the ש

shin instead of after it, we have the following sense: Until the just one shall sit in

judgment, and after him all the upright in heart. Cyrus has the epithet צדק tsedek, the

just one, in different places in the Prophet Isaiah. See Isa_41:2, Isa_41:10; Isa_45:8; Isa_51:5. It was Cyrus who gave liberty to the Jews, who appeared as their deliverer and conductor to their own land, and they are all represented as following in his train.

GILL, "But judgment shall return unto righteousness,.... Which may be understood either of the judgment and righteousness of God, which seemed to be parted, and stand at a distance from each other; his conduct and government of the world from his justice; the righteous being persecuted and afflicted, and wicked men suffered to prosper; which sometimes makes it difficult to reconcile the judgment of God, or his government of the world, to his justice; see Jer_12:1, but as this has been made manifest in the destruction of the Jews, and in the downfall of Rome Pagan, the first persecutors of the Christians; so it will be seen in Rome Papal, when the judgments of God will be manifest, and appear to be just and true; and these two, judgment and justice, will openly come together, in the sight of all; as they also will at the last judgment; see Rev_15:4 or else of the righteousness of men, which, in times of general corruption, seems to be fled from them, and to stand at a distance, from their conduct and behaviour; as in the old world before the flood, and in the times Isaiah beautifully describes, Isa_59:14, and in the times of Christ and his apostles; and in the persecuting times of Rome Pagan and Papal; and as it will be at the time of the slaying of the witnesses; but upon the rising of them, which will not be long after, there will be a great pouring down of the Spirit, and a general reformation will follow throughout the world; all the Lord's people will be righteous, not only nominally, but really; every pot in Jerusalem shall be holy; and holiness shall be so common as that it is said it shall be upon the bells of the horses; and in the new heavens and new earth will dwell none but righteous persons; and then judgment and righteousness will come together indeed:

and all the upright in heart shall follow it; either judgment, as Jarchi; or righteousness, as Kimchi; not the righteousness of the law, but the righteousness of faith; or rather practical righteousness, works of righteousness, which both the grace wrought in them, and the doctrine of grace received by them, will teach, influence, and engage to pursue after with eagerness: or else the meaning is, that such who are "upright in heart"; who have new hearts and right spirits formed in them; who have the truth of grace, and the root of the matter, in them; whose hearts, words, and actions, agree; who are sincere souls, Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile; these will approve and applaud the righteous judgments of God upon antichrist; they shall follow the justice of God with

their commendations and praises; see Rev_15:3. The words may be rendered, "and all the upright in heart shall be after him" (d), the Lord; they shall follow him whithersoever he goes, as sheep follow the shepherd, servants their masters, and soldiers their general; they shall follow him in his own ways, observe his commands, and obey his orders; see the description of such that will be with Christ, and follow him, before and at the time of antichrist's ruin, Rev_14:4. The Targum is,

"after him shall be redeemed all the upright in heart.''

HE�RY, " That, bad as things are, they shall mend, and, though they are now out of course, yet they shall return to their due and ancient channel (Psa_94:15): Judgment shall return unto righteousness; the seeming disorders of Providence (for real ones there never were) shall be rectified. God's judgment, that is, his government, looks sometimes as if it were at a distance from righteousness, while the wicked prosper, and the best men meet with the worst usage; but it shall return to righteousness again, either in this world or at the furthest in the judgment of the great day, which will set all to-rights. Then all the upright in heart shall be after it; they shall follow it with their praises, and with entire satisfaction; they shall return to a prosperous and flourishing condition, and shine forth out of obscurity; they shall accommodate themselves to the dispensations of divine Providence, and with suitable affections attend all its motions. They shall walk after the Lord, Hos_11:10. Dr. Hammond thinks this was most eminently fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem first, and afterwards of heathen Rome, the crucifiers of Christ and persecutors of Christians, and the rest which the churches had thereby. Then judgment returned even to righteousness, to mercy and goodness, and favour to God's people, who then were as much countenanced as before they had been trampled on.

CALVI�, "15.But judgment will return unto righteousness In the dark season of

affliction, it is not easy to recognize the secret love which God even then bears to his

own children, and the Psalmist adduces another ground of comfort, in the

consideration that God will eventually put an end to the confusions which perplex

them, and reduce matters to order. The form of expression used by the Psalmist is a

little obscure, and this has led some to read the first part of the verse, as if it

contained two distinct clauses — justice will return at the end, and then, judgment

will return This is a violent wresting of the context. I have no doubt the Psalmist

meant to say that judgment would be fitted or conformed to justice. And by

judgment here is meant, as in many other places, the government or public state of

matters. The confusion which prevails in the world, seems to argue some defect or

unrighteousness of administration; and he holds out to us that it shall be well in the

issue. More is said than merely that men who indulged in reckless oppression would

be brought back to equitable dealing. A deeper meaning is intended, That God,

when he interposed to restore the condition of his people, would bring forth openly

to the light his justice which had lain concealed; by which we are not to understand

that he ever deviates the least in his providence from the strictest rectitude, only

there is not always that harmony and arrangement which might make his

righteousness apparent to man’s view, and the correction of this inequality is here

called justice of government. (30) As the sun’s light is hid from view at night, or at a

cloudy season, so when the wicked persecute the righteous, and are allowed to

indulge in iniquity without restraint, the Divine justice is obscured by the clouds

which are thus interposed between us and the providence of God, and judgment is

in a manner separated from justice. But when things are brought back again to

their proper state, justice and government are seen to harmonize perfectly together

in the equality which prevails. (31) Faith no doubt, should enable us to discern the

justice of God even when things are most dark and disordered; but the passage

speaks of what would be obvious to sense and actual observation, and asserts that

the justice of God would shine as the sky when all is calm and serene.

And all that are upright in heart after him Some read, after it, that is, after

righteousness; but as by righteousness here we are to understand the equal and

harmonious government which prevails when God takes vengeance upon the wicked

and delivers his own people, this rendering will scarcely suit. It would rather seem

that God himself is to be understood, so that the relative is here without an

antecedent. In the Hebrew, when mention is made of God, the relative is not

unfrequently put instead of the name. The words then mean, that upon God’s

restoring order in the world, his people would be encouraged to follow him with

greater alacrity. Even when called to bear the cross, they sigh after him under their

troubles and distresses, but it binds them more closely to his service when they see

his hand stretched forth in this visible manner, and sensibly experience his

deliverance.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 15. But judgment shall return unto righteousness. The great

Judge will come, the reign of righteousness will commence, the course of affairs will

yet be turned into the right channel, and then all the godly will rejoice. The chariot

of right will be drawn in triumph through our streets,

and all the upright in heart shall follow it, as in happy procession. A delightful hope

is here expressed in poetic imagery of much beauty. The government of the world

has been for a while in the hands of those who have used it for the basest and most

vicious ends; but the cry of prayer will bring back righteousness to the throne, and

then every upright heart will have its portion of joy.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 15. My text contains two parts; the providence of God to his

people, and the prosperity of the providence among them. The providence of God to

his people lies much in after games: God seems to go away from his, and then the

wicked have the better: anon he returns, and then his people carry the day.

Judegment shall return unto righteousness; or justice shall return unto judgment; a

phrase of speech frequent in the Old Testament to note retaliation, quid for quo,

like for like. The term is distinct as well as the phrase, and helps to give the sense of

the Spirit of God here; qru from qru, se asseruit, justice shall assert herself; Christ

shall assert his people, his promises, his threatenings. "Shall return, "retro-agi:what

evil men do to good shall be redone to them, done back again upon them by God. Or

this root, here rendered "return, "may be rendered to abide and rest. In Psalms

23:6, it is so rendered: "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Justice doth,

as it were, go from home sometimes, when it visits the saints; but it returns to its

home and dwelling, i.e., the wicked. Justice is, as it were, from home, till it returns to

the wicked, there it abides and dwells. "Justice shall dwell and rest in judgment,

"i.e., in the execution of punishments upon wicked men. jpvm, from jpv, judicium

exercuit, notes the exercise and execution of justice: a thing rests in its end; justice

dwells and rests in judgment, i.e., in its execution, in its end for which, and unto

which and whom it is appointed. �icholas Lockyer, 1612-1684-5.

Ver. 15. Shall follow it. The right reading is in the margin, — shall be after it, or

after that;that is, (1) shall observe it. "He poureth contempt upon princes; he setteth

the poor on high from affliction; whose is wise shall observe these things, "etc.,

Psalms 107:43 : this Scripture, I think, in part explains the text. (2) "Shall be after

it, "that is, shall confess and acknowledge it. It is not a small thing to bring men to

confess the justice of God in his dealings. (3) "Shall be after it, "that is, shall

triumph in it, and so to be compared with and opened by Psalms 58:10-11. (4)

"Shall be after it; "that is, the works of God shall be of effectual operation, to bring

such as are upright in heart more to love and obey God, and so it is to be compared

with Psalms 31:23. �icholas Lockyer.

ELLICOTT, "(15) But.—Better, For; literally, for to righteousness judgment shall

turn, and after it all upright in heart—i.e., there shall no longer be the seeming

contradiction in things. God’s righteousness will triumph over the injustice under

which Israel groans; His ways will be vindicated, so that all the upright in heart will

acknowledge that “there is a reward for the righteous, a God who judges in the

earth” (Psalms 58:11). Luther’s fine paraphrase, “For Right must, whatever

happens, remain Right,” expresses the feeling; but, better still, the question, “Shall

not the Lord of all the earth do right?” The phrase, “shall after it,” is a common one

for expressing attachment and adherence to a party or cause (Exodus 23:2; 2

Samuel 2:10; Psalms 49:13), and specially of adherence to Jehovah (1 Samuel 12:14;

1 Kings 14:8).

PULPIT, "But judgment shall return unto righteousness. "Judgment," i.e. God's

actual award of good and evil upon the earth, which has seemed to be divorced from

justice, while the ungodly have prospered and the pious been afflicted (Psalms 94:3-

6), shall in the end "return unto righteousness," i.e. once more, evidently, conform

to it and coincide with it. And all the upright in heart shall follow it; i.e. "and then

all honest hearted men shall recognize the fact, see it, and rejoice in it."

16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

BAR�ES, "Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?... - This is the language of the psalmist. It is what he had said in the circumstances referred to in the first part of the psalm, when the wicked seemed to triumph; when they had come in upon the land, and laid waste the heritage of God, Psa_94:3-6. At that time, full of anxiety and trouble, and deeply impressed with a sense of danger, he had anxiously looked around for help, and had asked with deep concern who would stand up for him and defend him. The following verses Psa_94:17-18 show what was then his reliance, and in what way confidence in God had kept him from falling into despair.

CLARKE, "Who will rise up for me - Who is he that shall be the deliverer of thy people? Who will come to our assistance against these wicked Babylonians?

GILL, "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?.... These are the words of the psalmist, representing the church of God, under sore persecutions from the antichristian party; called "evildoers", because of their thefts, murders, idolatries, sorceries, and all manner of wickedness committed by them, Rev_9:21, intimating that she had looked all around her, and could not observe any that she could hope for assistance from, to fight her battles for her with the enemy, and deliver her out of his hands: the Targum is,

"who will rise up, for me, to make war with the evildoers?''

what the church here seems to say in a despairing way, the followers of antichrist say in a triumphant and insulting manner; "who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him?" Rev_13:4, or "who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" to contend or strive with them, as the Targum; suggesting, that she had no friends to appear for her, that had either courage or strength to engage in such a warfare; her case was like that of the oppressed, Solomon speaks of, Ecc_4:1, or the Apostle Paul's, when none stood with him; but all forsook him, excepting the Lord, 2Ti_4:16 and so here the church had none to rise up, and stand by her, but the Lord; Michael, the great Prince that stands for the children and people of God, and who is a match for all the enemies of his church; and he will rise and stand up for them, and fight their battles; and overcome the beast and false prophet, with the kings of the earth, Dan_12:1.

HE�RY, " From his own experiences and observations.

1. He and his friends had been oppressed by cruel and imperious men, that had power in their hands and abused it by abusing all good people with it. They were themselves evil-doers and workers of iniquity (Psa_94:16); they abandoned themselves to all manner of impiety and immorality, and then their throne was a throne of iniquity, Psa_94:20. Their dignity served to put a reputation upon sin, and their authority was employed to support it, and to bring about their wicked designs. It is a pity that ever a throne, which should be a terror to evil-doers and a protection and praise to those that do well, should be the seat and shelter of iniquity. That is a throne of iniquity which by the policy of its council frames mischief, and by its sovereignty enacts it and turns it into a law. Iniquity is daring enough even when human laws are against it, which often prove too weak to

give an effectual check to it; but how insolent, how mischievous, is it when it is backed by a law! Iniquity is not the better, but much the worse, for being enacted by law; nor will it excuse those that practise it to say that they did but do as they were bidden. These workers of iniquity, having framed mischief by a law, take care to see the law executed;for they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, who dare not keep the statutes of Omri nor the law of the house of Ahab; and they condemn the innocent blood for violating their decrees. See an instance in Daniel's enemies; they framed mischief by a law when the obtained an impious edict against prayer (Dan_6:7), and, when Daniel would not obey it, they assembled together against him (Psa_94:11) and condemned his innocent blood to the lions. The best benefactors of mankind have often been thus treated, under colour of law and justice, as the worst of malefactors.

JAMISO�, "These questions imply that none other than God will help (Psa_60:9),

K&D 16-19, "In the fifth strophe the poet celebrates the praise of the Lord as his sole,but also trusty and most consolatory help. The meaning of the question in Psa_94:16 is, that there is no man who would rise and succour him in the conflict with the evil-doers;

עם as in Exo_14:25; Jdg_6:31, and ל� (without נלחם or the like) in the sense of contra, as

in Psa_55:19, cf. 2Ch_20:6. God alone is his help. He alone has rescued him from death.

:if He had not been, or :לולי is to be supplied to היה if He were not; and the apodosis is:

then very little would have been wanting, then it would soon have come to this, that his soul would have taken up its abode, etc.; cf. on the construction Psa_119:92; Psa_124:1-

5; Isa_1:9, and on מעט> with the praet. Psa_73:2; Psa_119:87; Gen_26:10 (on the other

hand with the fut. Psa_81:15). ומהd is, as in Psa_115:17, the silence of the grave and of

Hades; here it is the object to שכנה, as in Psa_37:3, Pro_8:12, and frequently. When he

appears to himself already as one that has fallen, God's mercy holds him up. And whenthoughts, viz., sad and fearful thoughts, are multiplied within him, God's comforts delight him, viz., the encouragement of His word and the inward utterances of His

Spirit. שרע[ים, as in Psa_139:23, is equivalent to ,Arab. š‛b, to split ,סעף ,שעף from ,שע[ים

branch off (Psychology, S. 181; tr. p. 214). The plural form ישעשעו, like the plural of the

imperative in Isa_29:9, has two Pathachs, the second of which is the

“independentification” of the Chateph of ישעשע.

CALVI�, "16.Who will rise up for me against my adversaries? Here the Psalmist

points out, in a lively and graphic manner, how destitute he was of all human aid.

As if at the moment in danger, he cries out — Who will stand up for me? Who will

oppose himself to my enemies? And immediately afterwards he replies, that had not

God helped him, he must have despaired of safety. In declaring that he had been

thus miraculously rescued from death, when deserted by all the world, he

commends the more God’s kindness and grace. When men aid us, they are only

instruments by which the grace of God works; but we are apt not to recognize God’s

hand when we see any subordinate agency in the deliverance. He speaks of his life

dwelling in silence, (verse 17) for the dead lie in the grave without feeling or

strength. Thus the Psalmist owns that there was no means by which his life could

have been preserved, had not God interposed without delay.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 16. �otwithstanding the psalmist's persuasion that all would be

well eventually, he could not at the time perceive any one who would stand side by

side with him in opposing evil; no champion of the right was forthcoming, the

faithful failed from among men. This also is a bitter trial, and a sore evil under the

sun; yet it has its purpose, for it drives the heart still more completely to the Lord,

compelling it to rest alone in him. If we could find friends elsewhere, it may be our

God would not be so dear to us; but when, after calling upon heaven and earth to

help, we meet with no succour but such as comes from the eternal arm, we are led to

prize our God, and rest upon him with undivided trust. �ever is the soul safer or

more at rest than when, all other helpers failing, she leans upon the Lord alone. The

verse before us is an appropriate cry, now that the church sees error invading her

on all sides, while faithful ministers are few, and fewer still are bold enough to

"stand up" and defy the enemies of truth. Where are our Luthers and our Calvins?

A false charity has enfeebled the most of the valiant men of Israel. Our John Knox

would be worth a mint at this hour, but where is he? Our grand consolation is that

the God of Knox and Luther is yet with us, and in due time will call out his chosen

champions.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 16. Who will rise up, etc. I think we ought to look upon David here in a public

capacity, as a prince or magistrate; and then as such he deplores the increase and

confidence of the wicked; and having fortified himself in God by prayer, he resolves,

in the words of the text, to do the duty of his station, to employ all the power God

had given him for the extirpation of wickedness, and the reformation of an impious

people; and earnestly invites and calls in to his assistance all that had either heart or

ability for such a work, as being well aware of the great difficulty of it. This is the

sense I prefer, because it best becomes the zeal and faith of David, best suits the

spirit and genius of several other parallel psalms, and seems plainly to me, to have

the countenance of the Targum and the Septuagint.

In the words thus explained we have these three things: 1. The deplorable state of

Israel. This is easily to be collected from the form and manner of David's expressing

himself here, Who will stand up for me? or who will take my part? As if he should

have said, Such is the number and power of the wicked, that how much soever my

heart is set upon a reformation, I can hardly hope to effect it, without the

concurrence and joint endeavours of good men. And yet, alas! how little is the

assistance I can reasonably expect of this kind? How few are the sincere friends of

goodness? How great and how general is the coldness and indifference which

possesses men in the things of God? 2. The duty of the magistrate. This is plainly

implied here, and is, to curb and restrain wickedness, and to promote a general

reformation. 3. The duty of all good people. Which is, as far as in them lies, to assist

and encourage the magistrate in this good work. Richard Lucas, 1697.

Ver. 16. Who will rise up for me against the wicked? In all ages, men who neither

feared God nor regarded man have combined together and formed confederacies, to

carry on the works of darkness. And herein they have shown themselves wise in

their generation, for by this means they more effectually promoted the kingdom of

their father the devil, than otherwise they could have done. On the other hand, men

who did fear God, and desire the happiness of their fellow creatures, have in every

age found it needful to join together in order to oppose the works of darkness, to

spread the knowledge of God their Saviour, and to promote his kingdom upon

earth. Indeed he himself instructed them so to do. From the time that men were

upon the earth, he hath taught them to join together in his service, and has united

them in one body by one Spirit. And for this very end he has joined them together,

"that he might destroy the works of the devil; "first in them that are already united,

and by them that are round about them. John Wesley, in a Sermon on these words,

preached before the Society for Reformation of Manners, Jan. 30, 1763.

COFFMA�, "Verse 16

PRAISE OF THE LORD AS MA�'S SOLE HELP

"Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?

Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?

Unless Jehovah had been my help,

My soul had soon dwelt in silence.

When I said, My foot slippeth;

Thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, held me up.

In the multitude of my thoughts within me

The comforts delight my soul."

"Who will rise up ... Who will stand up?" (Psalms 94:16). "These questions mean

that, "�o man would rise up and succor him in his conflict with evil-doers."[11]

"My soul had soon dwelt in silence" (Psalms 94:17). "Silence" is one of many

synonyms for Sheol, the Pit, Abbadon, or Destruction. The meaning is that his

enemies would have killed him, if God had not aided him.

"I said, "My foot slippeth" ... Jehovah held me up" (Psalms 94:18). Every child of

God can bear witness to similar providential help in the midst of assailing

temptations.

"In the multitude of my thoughts within me" (Psalms 94:19). This is very difficult to

understand, as it appears here; but Barnes gave the meaning.

"The idea seems to be that in the great number of thoughts that passed through his

mind, many of them perplexing, vain, profitless, or having no aim or purpose, there

was one class of thoughts that gave him comfort; and those were the ones which

pertained to God."[12]

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:16. Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? — Have I

any friend that, in love to me, will appear for me? Hath justice any friend that, in a

pious indignation at unrighteousness, will plead my injured cause? He looked, but

there was none to save, there was none to uphold. On the side of the oppressor there

was power, and therefore the oppressed had no comforter. God alone helped him, as

he says in the next verse.

EBC, "The singer comes closer to his own experience in the next strophe (Psalms

94:16-19), in which he claims his share in these general sources of rest and patience,

and thankfully thinks of past times, when he found that they yielded him streams in

the desert. He looks out upon the multitude of "evildoers," and, for a moment, asks

the question which faithless sense is ever suggesting and pronouncing

unanswerable: "Where shall I find a champion?" As long as our eyes range along

the level of earth, they see none such. But the empty earth should turn our gaze to

the occupied throne. There sits the Answer to our almost despairing question.

Rather, there He stands, as the proto-martyr saw Him, risen to His feet in swift

readiness to help His servant. Experience confirms the hope of Jehovah’s aid; for

unless in the past He had been the singer’s help, he could not have lived till this

hour, but must have gone down into the silent land. �o man who still draws breath

is without tokens of God’s sufficient care and ever-present help. The mystery of

continued life is a witness for God. And not only does the past thus proclaim where

a man’s help is, but devout reflection on it will bring to light many times when

doubts and tremors were disappointed. Conscious weakness appeals to confirming

strength. If we feel our foot giving, and fling up our hands towards Him, He will

grasp them and steady us in the most slippery places. Therefore, when divided

thoughts (for so the picturesque word employed in Psalms 94:19 means) hesitate

between hope and fear, God’s consolations steal into agitated minds, and there is a

great calm.

17 Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death.

BAR�ES, "Unless the Lord had been my help - At the time referred to. If I had not had a God to whom I could have gone - if my mind had not been directed to him - if I had not actually found him a refuge and strength, I should have despaired altogether. There was no other one to whom I could go; there was nothing else but the help of God

on which I could rely.

My soul had almost dwelt in silence - Margin, quickly. The original is, “It was as it were but little;” that is, there was little lacking to bring this about; a little heavier pressure - a little added to what I was then suffering - a little longer time before relief was obtained - would have brought me down to the land of silence - to the grave. The Latin Vulgate renders this, “My soul had dwelt in inpherno.” The Septuagint, “in Hades”

- τg�hδi tō Hadē. See Psa_31:17. The grave is represented as a place of silence, or as the

land of silence: Psa_115:17 : “The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.” Compare Amo_8:3.

CLARKE, "Unless the Lord had been my help - Had not God in a strange manner supported us while under his chastising hand, we had been utterly cut off.

My soul had almost dwelt in silence - The Vulgate has in inferno, in hell or the

infernal world; the Septuagint, τm�nδi, in the invisible world.

GILL, "Unless the Lord had been my help,.... Against her enemies, which were so many and mighty, and her friends so few and feeble, and having no heart to defend her cause; especially this will be the case at the time of the slaying of the witnesses; but the Lord will appear, and help her; the Spirit of life, from him, shall enter into them, and cause them to live again, and to ascend up to heaven; and shall destroy great numbers of their enemies, and the rest shall be frightened, and give glory to God, Rev_11:11,

my soul had almost dwelt in silence; or "within a little", or "must quickly" (e); not only have been, but must have dwelt, continued in silence, in the grave; see Psa_115:17his case being desperate, like that of the apostles, when they had the sentence of death within themselves, 2Co_1:10, this is to be understood not of the soul precisely, and abstractly considered, which dies not, nor is it silent after death; but of the whole person, being a part for the whole; and of the person, with respect to the mortal part, the body, which only dies, and while in a state of separation, or in the grave, is silent, and ceases from all operations of life: perhaps this may have some respect to the silencing of the witnesses, which is a principal thing meant by the slaying of them; a stop put to their ministrations, partly by the edicts of their enemies, and partly by the discouragement of their friends, their shyness, and negligence of them; and which silence will be almost total, if not altogether; though it will last but for a short time; they shall not dwell or continue in silence, but will open their mouths again; signified by the angel flying through the midst of heaven, with the everlasting Gospel, Rev_14:6.

HE�RY, " The oppression they were under bore very hard upon them, and oppressed their spirits too. Let not suffering saints despair, though, when they are persecuted, they find themselves perplexed and cast down; it was so with the psalmist here: His soul had almost dwelt in silence (Psa_94:17); he was at his wits' end, and knew not what to say or do; he was, in his own apprehensions, at his life's end, ready to drop into the grave, that land of silence. St. Paul, in a like case, received a sentence of death within himself, 2Co_1:8, 2Co_1:9. He said, “My foot slippeth (Psa_94:18); I am going irretrievably; there is no remedy; I must fall. I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul. My hope fails me; I do not find such firm footing for my faith as I have sometimes found.” Psa_73:2. He had a

multitude of perplexed entangled thoughts within him concerning the case he was in and the construction to be made of it, and concerning the course he should take and what was likely to be the issue of it.

JAMISO�, "a fact fully confirmed by his past experience.

dwelt in silence — as in the grave (Psa_31:17).

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 17. Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost

dwelt in silence. Without Jehovah's help, the psalmist declares that he should have

died outright, and gone into the silent land, where no more testimonies can be borne

for the living God. Or he may mean that he would not have had a word to speak

against his enemies, but would have been wrapped in speechless shame. Blessed be

God, we are not left to that condition yet, for the Almighty Lord is still the helper of

all those who look to him. Our inmost soul is bowed down when we see the victories

of the Lord's enemies—we cannot brook it, we cover our mouths in confusion; but

he will yet arise and avenge his own cause, therefore have we hope.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 17. Had been my help. The word signifieth not only help, but summum et

plenum auxilium, an helpfulness, or full help:the Hebrew hath a letter more than

ordinary, to increase the signification, as learned Mr. Leigh observeth: there is the

sufficiency of help. �athaniel Whiting, in "The Saints' Dangers, Deliverances, and

Duties, "1659.

Ver. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts, etc. That is, just when they were come to

their height and extremity in me. The comforts of God are seasonable, and observe

the proper time for their coming, neither too soon, nor too late but, "in, "that is, just

in the very point and nick of time. There is another thing here spoken of. In the

"thoughts, "and in the "multitude" of the "thoughts; "not in the indifference of

thoughts, but in the perplexity; not in the paucity of thoughts, but in the plurality:

our extremity is God's opportunity. "In the mount will the Lord be seen, "when we

have thought and thought and thought all we could, and know not what to think

more, then does God delight to tender and exhibit his comforts to us...

In the words "within me" we have, next, the intimacy or closeness, of this grief. The

Hebrew word is ykzrk, in medio mei. The Arabic be-kalbi, in corde meo. And so

likewise the Septuagint, en th kardia mou, in my very heart. This is added by way of

further intention and aggravation of the present evil and distress. First, To show the

secrecy of this grief. Those evils which are external, and in the body, every one is

ready to bemoan them, and to bewail them, and to take notice of them, and to shew

a great deal of bowels towards those which are afflicted with them; but these griefs

which are inward, and in the mind, they are such as are known but to God himself.

"The heart knoweth his own bitterness, "saith Solomon, Proverbs 14:10.

Secondly, Here is hereby denoted the settledness and radication of this evil: it was

within him and it was within his heart, that is, it was deeply rooted and fastened,

and such as had a strong groundwork and foundation in him, such were these

troublesome "thoughts, "they were got into his very inwards and bowels, and so

were not easily got out again. Thirdly, Here is hereby also signified the impression

which they had upon him, and the sense which he himself had of them. They were

such as did grievously afflict him, and pierce him, and went near unto him, they

went to his very heart, and touched him, as it were, to the quick, through the

grievousness of them, as he speaks in another place concerning the reproaches of his

enemies, Psalms 42:10 : "As with a sword (or killing) in my bones mine enemies

reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?"

�ow what are these "comforts" of God which the psalmist does more especially

intend here in this place? In a word, they are the comforts which do flow from our

communion with him. The comforts of his attributes, and the comforts of his

promises, and the comforts of his gracious presence drawing near unto our souls,

when it pleases him to shine upon us, and to express his

18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me.

BAR�ES, "When I said, My foot slippeth - I can no longer stand. My strength is gone; and I must sink into the grave. The original here is, “If I say, My foot slippeth,” etc. The statement is general; that if at any time he had been, or should be, in such circumstances, then God would interpose. The general remark, however, is founded on his interposition on this particular occasion. His aid was then so marked and timely, that he felt that he could make the declaration general in regard to his whole life - to all circumstances in which he would ever be placed.

Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up - By thy merciful interposition thou didst keep me from falling. It was strength put forth as the expression of “mercy;” not strength to which he had any claim. How often in life may we say this of ourselves, that when just ready to sink; when our strength was almost gone; when a little severer pressure would have brought us to the grave, God by his mercy and his power interposed and saved us! Every such act of mercy - every new interposition in this manner - is a new gift of life, and lays us under obligation as if we had been just created, for it is just so much more of life given us by God.

CLARKE, "When I said, My foot slippeth - When I found myself so weak and my enemy so strong, that I got first off my guard, and then off my center of gravity, and my fall appeared inevitable: -

Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up - yisadeni, propped me. It is a metaphor יסעדני

taken from any thing falling, that is propped, shored up, or buttressed. How often does the mercy of God thus prevent the ruin of weak believers, and of those who have been unfaithful!

GILL, "When I said, my foot slippeth,.... There is no ground for me to stand upon; all is over with me; there is no hope nor help for me; I am just falling into ruin and destruction: such will be the desperate case of the church, at the time before referred to:

thy mercy, O Lord, held me up; the extremity of his people is the Lord's opportunity; then is his set time to arise, and have mercy on them; then mercy steps in, lays a solid ground and foundation for hope, and holds up in its arms a sinking people, and revives a dying cause.

HE�RY, "They found succour and relief in God, and in him only. When other friends failed, in him they had a faithful and powerful friend; and it is recommended to all God's suffering saints to trust in him. (1.) God helps at a dead lift (Psa_94:17): “When I had almost dwelt in silence, then the Lord was my help, kept me alive, kept me in heart; and unless I had made him my help, by putting my trust in him and expecting relief from him, I could never have kept possession of my own soul; but living by faith in him has kept my head above water, has given me breath, and something to say.” (2.) God's goodness is the great support of sinking spirits (Psa_94:18): “When I said, My foot slipsinto sin, into ruin, into despair, then thy mercy, O Lord! held me up, kept me from falling, and defeated the design of those who consulted to cast me down from my excellency,” Psa_62:4. We are beholden not only to God's power, but to his pity, for spiritual supports: Thy mercy, the gifts of thy mercy and my hope in thy mercy, held me up. God's right hand sustains his people when they look on their right hand and on their left and there is none to uphold; and we are then prepared for his gracious supports when we are sensible of our own weakness and inability to stand by our own strength, and come to God, to acknowledge it, and to tell him how our foot slips

CALVI�, "18.If I said, My foot has fallen What is said in this verse confirms the

preceding statement. The more to commend God’s kindness and power, he declares

that it was no common danger from which he had been rescued, but in a manner

from present death. The import of the language is, that death stared him so full in

view, that he despaired of himself; as Paul speaks of having had the message of

death in himself, when his condition was desperate, and he had given up hope of life,

(2 Corinthians 1:9.) The fact of the Psalmist having been delivered after he had

considered death certain, made the Divine interposition the more conspicuous. If we

understand him as speaking of temporal death only in the expression, My foot has

fallen — there is nothing unaccountable in the circumstance of his having despaired,

(37) as God often prolongs the life of his people in the world, when they had lost

hope, and were preparing for their departure. Possibly, however, the Psalmist only

means that this was the language of sense; and this is the more probable, because we

have already seen that he never ceased praying to God — a proof that he had still

some hope. The next verse affords still further proof, for there he tells us that his

afflictions were always mixed with some comfort. By thoughts, he means anxious

and perplexing cares, which would have overwhelmed him had not consolation been

communicated to him from above. We learn this truth from the passage, That God

interposes in behalf of his people, with a due regard to the magnitude of their trials

and distresses, and at the very moment which is necessary, enlarging them in their

straits, as we find stated in other places. The heavier our calamities grow, we should

hope that Divine grace will only be the more powerfully manifested in comforting us

under them, (Psalms 4:1,) But should we through weakness of the flesh be vexed and

tormented by anxious cares, we must be satisfied with the remedy which the

Psalmist here speaks of in such high terms. Believers are conscious of two very

different states of mind. On the one hand, they are afflicted and distressed with

various fears and anxieties; on the other, there is a secret joy communicated to them

from above, and this in accommodation to their necessity, so as to preserve them

from being swallowed up by any complication or force of calamity which may assail

them.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 18. When I said, My foot slippeth —is slipping even now: I

perceived my danger, and cried out in horror, and then, at the very moment of my

extremity, came the needed help,

thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. Often enough is this the case, we feel our

weakness, and see our danger, and in fear and trembling we cry out. At such times

nothing can help us but mercy;we can make no appeal to any fancied merit, for we

feel that it is our inbred sin which makes our feet so ready to fail us; our joy is that

mercy endureth for ever, and is always at hand to pluck us out of the danger, and

hold us up, where else we should fall to our destruction. Ten thousand times has this

verse been true in relation to some of us, and especially to the writer of this

comment. The danger was imminent, it was upon us, we were going; the peril was

apparent, we saw it, and were aghast at the sight; our own heart was failing, and we

concluded that it was all over with us; but then came the almighty interposition: we

did not fail, we were held up by an unseen hand, the devices of the enemy were

frustrated, and we sang for joy. O faithful Keeper of our souls, be thou extolled for

ever and ever. We will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in

our mouths.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:18. When I said, My foot slippeth — I am now upon the point

of falling into mischief and utter destruction; thy mercy, O Lord, held me up — A

merciful, gracious, and powerful hand was immediately stretched out to support my

steps, and establish my goings. Observe, reader, we are beholden, not only to God’s

power but to his pity, for spiritual supports, and we are then prepared to receive

those supports, when we are sensible of our own weakness and inability to stand by

our own strength, and come to God to acknowledge it, and to tell him how our foot

slippeth.

19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

BAR�ES, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “In the multitude of my griefs within me,” etc. DeWette renders it, “Bei meinen vielen Sorgen,” “in my many cares.” The Hebrew word, however, properly means “thoughts;” and the idea seems to be that in the great number of thoughts which passed through his mind, so many of them perplexing, anxious, burdensome - so many of them vain and profitless - so many of them that seemed to come and go without any aim or object, there was one class that gave him comfort. They were those which pertained to God. In those thoughts he found calmness and peace. However much he might be disturbed by other thoughts, yet here he found rest and peace. In God - in his character, in his law, in his government - he had an unfailing source of consolation; and whatever trouble he might have from the cares of life, and from the evil imaginings in his own mind, yet here his soul found repose.

God was an unfailing refuge; and meditation on him and his perfections made the mind calm. How many thoughts pass through our minds in a single day or a single hour! Who can tell from where they come, or by what laws they are linked together! How many of them seem to have no connection with any that went before! How many of them seem to be thrown into our minds when we would avoid them! How many are vain and frivolous; how many are skeptical; how many are polluted and polluting! How many come into the mind which we would not for worlds disclose to our best friends! How few of us would walk abroad if we were conscious that all whom we meet could look into our bosoms, and see all that is passing there! What a consolation it is to us that they cannot see it! What a world of confusion and blushes would this be if, in the streets of a crowded city, or when man meets his fellow man anywhere, all that is in his bosom were known! And yet, in this multitude of thoughts - so empty, so foolish, so sinful, so vexing, so skeptical, so polluting - there are others - there are thoughts of God, of Christ, of heaven, of hope, of faith, of love, of benevolence; thoughts within us, when the divine promises come to the heart, and the prospect of heaven warms the soul. These give “comfort;” these fill the soul with “delight.” Happy he who can find in his bosom, amidst the multitude of thoughts within him, those which pertain to God; to a higher life; to heaven!

CLARKE, "In the multitude of my thoughts - Of my griefs, (dolorum, Vulgate);

my sorrows, (οδυνων, Septuagint). According to the multitude of my trials and

distresses, have been the consolations which thou hast afforded me. Or, While I have been deeply meditating on thy wondrous grace and mercy, Divine light has broken in upon my soul, and I have been filled with delight.

GILL, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me,.... The word for thoughts is used of branches of trees, thick and entwined, and so denotes perplexed and distressing thoughts; such as good men sometimes have concerning God; his awful and tremendous majesty; the perfections of his nature, particularly his power, purity, and holiness; concerning their relation to him, his presence with them, and good will towards them, which, because of their sins, they are ready to doubt of: thoughts concerning sin; that there are no sins like theirs, attended with such aggravated circumstances; that they are

such as will not be forgiven; or they fear their corruptions will be too many for them, and they shall perish by them; or that they shall so fall as to bring dishonour on the ways of God; and sometimes that they have sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost: thoughts concerning the law of God their sins are a violation of, of the holiness and spirituality of it; by comparing themselves with which, they find they are very deficient, and very carnal; and ready to fear that all the curses of it belong to them, and the condemnation of it will light upon them: thoughts concerning Christ, the Saviour; that he is the Saviour of others, but not of them; that he is able to save, but they cannot think he is willing to save such vile sinners as they are: thoughts concerning the work of the Spirit of God upon them; calling it in question, fearing it was never begun, because of the power and prevalence of sin and corruption in them: thoughts concerning their present and future state; how it is with them now, and how it will be with them hereafter; how they shall pass through the troubles and difficulties of this world, and pass over Jordan's river, or get through the valley of the shadow of death; and how they shall appear before the judgment seat of God; and how things will be with them to all eternity: these are some of the perplexing and distressing thoughts, a multitude of which rise up at times in the minds of God's people, who yet are favoured with the same gracious experience the psalmist was, expressed as follows:

thy comforts delight my soul; such as flow from the love of God, is shed abroad in the heart; from the presence of God enjoyed; from the exceeding great and precious promises of the Gospel; from Christ, and the things of Christ, shown, brought home, and applied by the Spirit; his person, offices, fulness, righteousness, blood, and sacrifice; all which are a fund of divine consolation to a distressed mind: these are the consolations of God, of which he is the provider, author, and giver, and therefore called "the God of all comfort"; they come from Christ, the "consolation of Israel", and by the Spirit the Comforter, who sheds abroad the love of God in the heart; reveals Christ, and the things of Christ; opens and applies the promises; wherefore these comforts are called the "comforts of the Holy Ghost"; and they are usually enjoyed by means of the word and ordinances, which are "breasts of consolation"; and these are not small, but strong, and even everlasting, and which "delight the soul"; worldly comforts may delight the animal part, and please the senses, but not delight the soul, especially a wounded spirit, a distressed mind; but these will satiate the weary soul, and replenish the sorrowful soul with a joy unspeakable, and full of glory: the psalmist may here represent the church in the latter day, when in the midst of her troubles, and having many distressing thoughts concerning the issue of things; the comforts of God, from his promises, will delight her; Psa_94:14, that he will not cast off his people, nor forsake his inheritance; but judgment shall return to righteousness; that he will keep her in the hour of temptation, and avenge the blood of her slain.

HE�RY, "Divine consolations are the effectual relief of troubled spirits (Psa_94:19): “In the multitude of my thoughts within me, which are noisy like a multitude, crowding and jostling one another like a multitude, and very unruly and ungovernable, in the multitude of my sorrowful, solicitous, timorous thoughts, thy comforts delight my soul;and they are never more delightful than when they come in so seasonably to silence my unquiet thoughts and keep my mind easy.” The world's comforts give but little delight to the soul when it is hurried with melancholy thoughts; they are songs to a heavy heart. But God's comforts will reach the soul, and not the fancy only, and will bring with them that peace and that pleasure which the smiles of the world cannot give and which the frowns of the world cannot take away.

JAMISO�, "my thoughts — or, anxious cares.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me. When I am

tossed to and fro with various reasonings, distractions, questions, and forebodings, I

will fly to my true rest, for

thy comforts delight my soul. From my sinful thoughts, my vain thoughts, my

sorrowful thoughts, my griefs, my cares, my conflicts, I will hasten to the Lord; he

has divine comforts, and these will not only console but actually delight me. How

sweet are the comforts of the Spirit! Who can muse upon eternal love, immutable

purposes, covenant promises, finished redemption, the risen Saviour, his union with

his people, the coming glory, and such like themes, without feeling his heart leaping

with joy? The little world within is, like the great world without full of confusion

and strife; but when Jesus enters it, and whispers "Peace be unto you, "there is a

calm, yea, a rapture of bliss. Let us turn away from the mournful contemplation of

the oppression of man and the present predominance of the wicked, to that

sanctuary of pure rest which is found in the God of all comfort. Good will to us, and

to give us some evidence and assurance of his love and favour towards us; these are

his comforts.

"Delight." This is a transcendant expression, which the Holy Ghost in the pen of the

prophet David comes up unto. It had been a great matter to have said, they satisfy

my soul, or, they quiet me, no more but so, that is the highest pitch which a

perplexed spirit can wish to itself. Those which are in great pain, they would be glad

if they might have but ease, they cannot aspire so high as pleasure and delight, this

is more than can be expected by them; but see here now the notable efficacy of these

Divine comforts; they do not only pacify the mind, but they joy it; they do not only

satify it, but ravish it; they not only quiet, but delight it. Thy comforts delight my

soul. That is, not only take away the present grief, but likewise put in the room and

place of it most unspeakable comfort and consolation; as the sun does not only

dispel darkness, but likewise brings in a glorious light in the stead of it.

"My soul." We showed before how the grief was in the mind, and therefore the

comfort must be so also, that the remedy may answer the malady. Bodily pleasure

will not satisfy for mind distraction: nothing will ease the soul but such comforts as

are agreeable to itself, and such are these present comforts of God, they delight the

soul. Thomas Horton.

Ver. 19. Thoughts considered simply in themselves do not contain any matter of

grief or evil; they are the proper and natural issue and emanations of the soul which

come from it with a great deal of easiness, and with a great deal of delight; but it is

the exorbitance and irregularity of them which is here intended, when they do not

proceed evenly and fairly, as they ought to do, but with some kind of

interruption;and so the word which is here used in the text seems to import; the

Hebrew sagnaphim carrying an affinity with segnaphim, which is derived from a

root which signifies properly a bough. �ow we know that in a bough there are two

things especially considerable, as pertinent to our present purpose. First, there's the

perplexity of it. And, secondly, there's the agitation. Boughs usually catch, and

entangle one another, and boughs they are easily shaken, and moved up and down

by the wind. If there be never so little air or breath stirring abroad, the boughs

presently discover it, and are made sensible of it. So that this expression does serve

very well to imitate and set forth unto us the perplexity and inconstancy of thoughts,

which David was now troubled withal, and whereof he now complains, as grievous

and offensive to him. They were not thoughts in any consideration, but thoughts of

distraction, such thoughts as did bring some grief and trouble with them. This the

Septuagint translators were so fully apprehensive of, that they quite leave out

thoughts, and render it only by griefs, kata to pkhyov twn odunwn mou: according

to the multitude of my sorrows. But it is more full and agreeable to the word to put

them both together—my grievous and sorrowful thoughts —such thoughts as in

regard of the carriage and ordering of them, do bring grief and sorrow with them.

And here we may by the way observe thus much, that God need not go far to punish

and afflict men when he pleases; he can do it even with their own thoughts, no more

but so. He can gather a rod of these boughs, and make a scourge of these twistings,

wherewith to lash them, and that to purpose. If he does but raise a tempest in the

mind, and cause these thoughts to bluster and bustle one with another, there will be

trouble and affliction enough, though there were nothing else. It is no matter

whether there be any ground or occasion for it in the things themselves; it is enough

that there be so but in the conceit and apprehension. God can so use a fancy, a mere

toy and imagination itself, and so set it on upon the soul, that there shall be no quiet

nor rest for it. Thomas Horton.

Ver. 19. Observe the greatness of this man's distress. This is forcibly expressed in

the text, though in our translation it is scarcely obvious. The word in it rendered

"thoughts, "scholars tell us, signifies originally the small branches of trees. The idea

in the psalmist's mind appears to be this: `Look at a tree, with its branches shooting

in every direction, entangling and entwining themselves one with another; let the

wind take them—see how they feel it, how restless they become and confused,

beating against and striving one with another. �ow my mind is like that tree. I have

a great many thoughts in it; and thoughts which are continually shifting and

changing; they are perplexed and agitated thoughts, battling one with another'.

There is no keeping the mind quiet under them; they bring disorder into it as well as

sorrow. And mark the word "multitude" in the text; there is exactly the same idea

in that. It signifies more than number; confusion. Think of a crowd collected and

hurrying about: `so, 'says the psalmist, `are my thoughts. I have a crowd of them in

my mind, and a restless confused crowd. One painful thought is bad enough, but I

have many; a multitude of them; and almost countless, a disturbed throng.' We

now, then, understand the case we have before us. The man's sorrow arose, at this

time, from disquieting thoughts within his own breast; and his sorrow was great,

because these thoughts were many, and at the same time tumultuous. When the

psalmist says, "Thy comforts, "he means more than comforts of which God is the

author or giver. God is the author and giver of all our comforts—of all the earthly

comforts that surround us; they are all the work and gift of his gracious hand... We

are to understand here such comforts as are peculiarly and altogether God's, such

as flow at once from God; not from him through creatures to us, but from him

immediately to us without the intervention of creatures. The comforts that we get

from his attributes—from meditating on, and what we call realising them; the

comforts we get from his promises—believing and hoping in him; and the comforts

of his presence, he drawing near to our souls and shining into them—we knowing

he is near us, conscious of it by the light and happiness and renewed strength within

us. "Thy comforts" —the comforts we get from the Lord Jesus Christ; from

looking at him, considering him; thinking of his person, and offices, and blood, and

righteousness, and intercession, and exaltation, and glory, and his second coming;

our meeting him, seeing him, being like him. "Thy comforts" —the comforts which

come from the Holy Spirit, "the Comforter": when he opens the Scriptures to us, or

speaks through ceremonies and ordinances, or witnesses within us of our adoption

of God; shining in on his own work of grace in our hearts; enabling us to see that

work, and to see in it God's peculiar, eternal love to us; not opening to us the book

of life, anal showing us our names there, but doing something that makes us almost

as joyful as though that book were opened to us; showing us the hand of God in our

own souls—his converting, saving hand—his hand apprehending us as his own;

making us feel as it were, his grasp of love, and feel, too, that it is a grasp which he

will never loosen. Charles Bradley.

Ver. 19. Thy comforts delight my soul Xerxes offered great rewards to him that

could find out a new pleasure; but the comforts of the Spirit are satisfactory, they

recruit the heart. There is as much difference between heavenly comforts and

earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and one that is painted on the wall.

Thomas Watcom.

Ver. 19. Thy comforts. Troubles may be of our own begetting; but true comforts

come only from that infinite fountain, the God of consolation; for so he hath styled

himself. Thomas Adams.

Ver. 19. Delight my soul. The original word wevevy, signifies "to cause to leap or

dance for joy; "but the English language will not bear an application of this image

to the soul; though we say "to make the heart leap for joy." Samuel Horsley.

Ver. 19. Because the malignant host is first entered into the ground of my text,

consider with me: 1. The rebels, or mutineers, "thoughts." 2. The number of them,

no less than a "multitude." 3. The captain whose colours they bear; a disquieted

mind; "my thoughts." 4. The field where the battle is fought; in the heart; apud me,

"within me." In the other army we find, 1. Quanta, how puissant they are; comforts.

2. Quota, how many they are; indefinitely set down; abundant comfort.

3. Cujus, whose they are; the Lord's, he is their general; thy comforts. 4. Quid

operantur, what they do; they delight the soul. In the nature of them being comforts,

there is tranquillity; in the number of them, being many comforts, there is

sufficiency; in the owner of them, being thy comforts, there is omnipotence; and in

the effect of them, delighting the soul, there is security. From Thomas Adams'

Sermon entitled "Man's comfort."

Ver. 19. A text of this kind shows us forcibly the power of Divine grace in the human

heart: how much it can do to sustain and cheer the heart. The world may afflict a

believer, and pain him; but if the grace which God has given him is in active

exercise in his soul, the world cannot make him unhappy. It rather adds by its ill

treatment to his happiness; for it brings God and his soul nearer together—God

the fountain of all happiness, the rest and satisfaction of his soul.

This psalm was evidently written by a deeply afflicted man. The wicked, he says,

were triumphing over him; and had been so for a long while. He could find no one

on earth to take his part against them. Who will rise up for me against the

evildoers? he asks in Psalms 94:16; or who will stand up for me against the workers

of iniquity? And it seemed, too, as though God had abandoned him. His enemies

thought so, and he seems to have been almost ready to think so himself. But what

was the fact? All this time the Lord was secretly pouring consolation into his soul,

and in the end made that consolation abundant. In appearance a wretched, he was

in reality a happy man; suffering, yet comforted; yea, the text says delighted —

Thy comforts delight my soul. Charles Bradley, 1845.

ELLICOTT, "(19) Thoughts.—Properly, dividing—i.e., “perplexing” or “anxious”

thoughts. (See Job 4:13; Job 20:2.) LXX. and Vulg., “griefs.”

We may compare the Virgilian “animum nunc huc celerem, nunc dividit illuc,”

imitated by Tennyson:

This way and that dividing his swift mind,

In act to throw.”

Delight.—Literally, stroke, and so soothe. The Hebrew word is used in Isaiah 66:11

of a mother quieting her child with the breast, and in Jeremiah 16:7 of the cup of

consolation given to mourners at funerals.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me — While my

heart is filled with various and perplexing thoughts, as the original word signifies,

and tormented with cares and fears about my future state; thy comforts delight my

soul — Thy promises, contained in thy word, and the remembrance of my former

experience of thy care and kindness to me, afford me such consolation as revives my

dejected mind.

EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO�ARY, "The Christian"s Hidden Sources of Delight

Psalm 94:19

Our thoughts form the hidden sources of our lives, whether for good or for evil.

I. I am sure it will be good for us if we can find the track along which ran David"s

thoughts which gave him such great power and such sources of delight that his

wonderful career was possible. The first of these thoughts of David he makes very

clear to us in this Psalm. It was the thought of an immanent God in the world, one

who hears and sees and cares. "He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that

formed the eye, shall He not see?" Here is the starting-point of David"s hidden

source of joy. God is in his world. He made it and He rules it. Here is the source of

courage that will never grow weary.

II. Another thought that was a constant source of delight to David was the

conviction that God was the defender of those who trusted Him. He cries out in this

Psalm , "The Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His

inheritance. But judgment shall return unto unrighteousness: and all the upright in

heart shall follow it." And in another one of his great Psalm , having this same

thought in mind, David says, "The Lord shall keep thee from all evil; He shall keep

thy soul".

III. Another thought that gave David great delight was his discovery that much of

the sorrow and trial which he experienced was not punishment, but chastening and

discipline. David had got hold of this great thought of God"s chastening love, and it

was a source of delight to him; and it cannot help but be a source of perpetual

delight to us if we will treasure this thought in our hearts and keep it to live by day

and day.

IV. Another thought that gave David delight in his hour of darkness, so far as his

outward circumstances were concerned, was the thought which he cherished that in

the time of great emergency he could depend upon God"s mercy. His heart rejoiced

in the mercy of the God who comes to the rescue of the man in peril, whose feet have

slipped and will go to disaster without help. It is the glory of our Christianity that it

has a word about mercy to the man whose feet have slipped.

—L. R. Banks, Sermons Which Have Won Souls, p231.

The Cure for Care

Psalm 94:19

This Psalm is a cry for help against the insolence and cruelty of Israel"s oppression,

evidently at a time when the nation has been under the heel of heathen conquerors.

There is a Divine purpose to be wrought out through all the struggles and the

sorrow, a purpose of moral discipline.

I. The Psalmist questions his soul by his comforting faith. With spiritual insight he

sees something of the meaning of discipline, and sees the hand of God in the dark

passage through the cloud as well as in the brightness of the ultimate deliverance.

He sees that if the Lord had not been his help all would have been ended long since.

"When I said, My foot hath slipped, Thy mercy, O Lord, was holding me up." It is a

vivid figure of compassing grace. Amid wickedness, rampant and triumphant,

enmity without and trouble within, he entered into peace through the assurance of

God"s presence.

II. Times alter and circumstances change, but the essentials of life remain, and this

cry of a wounded heart is the human cry, and we can interpret the Psalm for our

own individual needs and personal situation. The way to peace for us today, as in

this echo of a long past time, is in the assurance of God. This is the one need of

man"s heart. There can be no abiding consolation and no complete solution of the

riddle of life, no safe refuge, except somewhere within where the soul can find rest.

If life is meaningless, empty of any spiritual purpose, the world is a place of despair

as much to us as the terrible situation depicted by the Psalmist of old. We, like him,

and as much as him, need the comfort of God"s love for the multitude of our cares.

There is nothing the heart of man needs more than a message of courage and hope

and confidence. And where is such a message possible except as a message of faith?

The world is built as if for discipline, and its one need is comfort of some sort.

III. The only cure for care is the cure of faith. What is this faith which has such

magical power? It simply means to fall back upon God, to trust to His love and live

in the secret of His presence. We learn to cast our care upon God when we know

that He cares for us, and this is the meaning of our Communion. It has many a

message and many a lesson, but its deepest message and sweetest lesson is that of

comfort. The deepest lesson of Holy Communion, however we interpret it, is the

Real Presence of Christ. What trouble or distress is there in life that will not be

dissipated by the light of that faith? The remedy for care is to know the love of God

in Christ, and that remedy is open to us, not fitfully and casually, but always and

everywhere.

—Hugh Black, Christ"s Service of Love, p42.

�ISBET, "GOOD THOUGHTS I� BAD TIMES

‘The multitude of my thoughts within me.’

Psalms 94:19

This psalm opens with two verses of introduction, in which God is asked to lift up

Himself and to show Himself. For the time, He seemed to be far off or asleep.

Apparently He had allowed the government of the world to slip from His fingers.

Accordingly, the psalm calls Him back.

I. The evils of misgovernment (Psalms 94:3-7).—In the preface to one of his volumes

on the Psalter, Mr. Spurgeon confesses that in the interpretation of one of the

imprecatory psalms he had completely stuck, so remote did the sentiment seem to be

from Christianity; but just at that time the news of the Bulgarian atrocities came

out, and so stirred was his soul with indignation that he finished his comment

without difficulty.

II. The uses of adversity (Psalms 94:8-11).—In these desperate circumstances deep

thoughts came to the writer of this psalm; for adversity is a notable teacher. It has

been acknowledged by some of the most eminent thinkers of the world that there are

few thoughts more profound than these which these four verses contain.

III. The peace of faith (Psalms 94:12-15).—Any one who obtains such thoughts as

have just been faintly indicated even at the expense of much suffering could not but

be a gainer; and this is the thought of these verses. The Psalmist had not only come

through the chastening of misfortune, but he had enjoyed at the same time the light

of God’s law on his experiences, and so he had found rest in his trouble.

IV. The struggle between the flesh and the spirit (Psalms 94:16-19).—Apparently

the enigma is already solved; but in these verses the struggle begins again. In the

man’s breast there are two contending voices, the one the voice of unbelief, and the

other the voice of faith. The timid voice asks who will stand up to vindicate the

weak; the believing voice replies that many a time before now when he was on the

point of extinction the Lord had come to his help.

V. The triumph of faith (Psalms 94:20-23).—This short delay only makes the final

triumph more decided. In the last four verses all the threads of the psalm are

gathered together. Once more we see on the one hand the powerful enemies. They

have the throne on their side—the throne of iniquity. Perhaps they have the Church,

too, for the clergy have often been on the side of oppression; and yet that is no

guarantee of the partnership of God. They have the law-makers as well as the

clergy; for injustice has been decreed by law. It is a common boast of enemies of the

commonwealth that the law of the land is on their side, and that their business is a

legal one; but human law may be entirely opposed to real justice; laws have often

been evil, hence the proverb, ‘Summum jus, summa injuria.’ They had numbers on

their side; and numbers gave confidence; many believe that the voice of the majority

is the voice of God; but never was there a greater mistake. All these were on the one

side; but on the other side was the Lord, the defence and refuge of His people; and

He will bring upon the oppressors their own iniquity, and cut them off by means of

their own wickedness.

SIMEO�, "COMFORT I� GOD

Psalms 94:19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my

soul.

TO judge of the efficacy of Divine grace, we should see it in actual exercise, and

under circumstances calculated to display its power. The writer of this psalm,

whoever he was, (for respecting the author or the occasion of it we have no certain

information,) was sorely oppressed under the sanction and authority of legal

enactments. But he committed his cause to God; and warned his oppressors that

they should give an account of their conduct before another tribunal, where their

atheistical impiety would receive its just reward [�ote: ver. 5–10, 20–23.]. At the

same time, he declared that he had heartfelt consolations, of which it was not in

their power to deprive him: for that “in the multitude of his thoughts, which their

cruelty excited within him, God’s comforts delighted his soul.”

In these words we see,

I. The fluctuations of mind to which the saints are exposed—

When men become saints, they are not raised above the feelings of mortality: they

still have the common sensibilities of men, and consequently are exposed to great

fluctuations of mind:

1. In reference to their temporal concerns—

[As members of society, they must be engaged in earthly occupations of some kind;

and must depend, not on themselves only, but on others also, for their prosperity in

the world. The misfortunes of others may involve them; and, without any fault of

their own, they may be drawn into circumstances of most painful embarrassment.

In such a predicament, it would ill become them to be careless and unconcerned.

They must of necessity have many thoughts, how to extricate themselves from their

trouble, and to maintain their good character before men — — —

In a domestic relation, too, the saint cannot be insensible to the welfare of his wife

and children: their health, their honour, their happiness, must of necessity occupy a

deep interest in his mind, and be sources of much anxiety within him — — —

Religion is not intended to destroy these feelings, but only to regulate them, and to

render them subservient to his spiritual welfare — — —]

2. In reference to the concerns of their souls—

[The very intent of piety is, to make every thing that relates to eternity interesting to

the soul. �ow the saint, in this present state of warfare, cannot always preserve the

same state of sublime and spiritual affection: there will be seasons of comparative

darkness and deadness, and seasons too of temptation, when Satan has gained some

advantage over him. �ow, such ought to be seasons of deeper humiliation to the

soul: and, together with contrition, there will often arise doubts and fears, which

will fill the soul with most distressing perplexity. David himself sometimes had his

fears, lest God should have cast him off for ever [�ote: Psalms 77:7-10.]: and similar

apprehensions are experienced by the Lord’s people, in every age and in every place

— — —]

But in the example before us we see,

II. The consolations which God administers to them in their troubles—

Truly they have comforts which the world knows not of: they have for their

refreshment and delight,

1. The comforts of God’s word—

[The Scriptures are a “well of salvation, from whence they draw water with joy.” In

them they behold the character of God, exhibited as it were at full length, in all the

dispensations of his providence and grace. There they see how God has dealt with

his people in every age, ordering every thing according to the counsels of his

unerring wisdom, and overruling every thing for their eternal good. There they

behold him as a refiner, regulating the furnace into which he puts his vessels; and

watching the process, in order to bring them forth in due season, fit for the master’s

use. There they see the “covenant ordered in all things and sure [�ote: 2 Samuel

23:5.];” and there they find promises without number, exactly suited to their state.

These are as marrow and fatness to their souls; and, nourished by these, they not

only bear with patience, but glory and exult in, all their trials — — — Encouraged

by these promises, they are content to go into the furnace, assured that they shall

come forth, at last, purified as gold.]

2. The comforts of his Spirit—

[Afflictions are seasons when God for the most part manifests himself to the souls of

his people. The Son of man then walks most visibly with them, when they are put

into the furnace for his sake. In the mount of difficulty and trial he will be seen. In

his people’s extremity he vouchsafes to them his richest communications, imparting

to them his Holy Spirit, as a Comforter, to witness their adoption into his family,

and to seal them unto the day of redemption. Yea, so abundantly does he sometimes

“shed abroad his love in their hearts,” that they are fearful of losing their trials, lest

they should lose at the same time their consolations also. Such were the comforts

administered to the Apostle Paul [�ote: 2 Corinthians 1:5.]; and such shall be the

portion of all who take the Lord for their God.]

See—

1. How highly the saint is favoured above all other people upon earth!

[What source of comfort can the worldling find, in his trials? The whole creation is

to him but “a broken cistern that can hold no water.” It is the saint alone that has a

never-failing source of joy and bliss — — —]

2. How desirable it is to acquaint ourselves with God!

[It is in God, as reconciled to us in Christ Jesus, that this blessedness is to be found.

To those who seek him not in Christ Jesus, God himself is only “a consuming fire:”

but to his believing people he is “a very present help,” and “an eternal great

reward.”]

20 Can a corrupt throne be allied with you— a throne that brings on misery by its decrees?

BAR�ES, "Shall the throne of iniquity - The throne established in iniquity; or, sustaining iniquity. The allusion is probably to what was referred to in the former part of the psalm - the powers that were spreading desolation through the land - wicked princes

or rulers, Psa_94:3-7. Their thrones were established on evil; they defended wickedness and wrong by their authority; they abused their power, and employed it to overthrow the rights of others. The “phrase” would be applicable to any unjust government, or to any laws that are designed to uphold that which is wrong. Such are all the laws which authorize or uphold slavery, gaming, lotteries, the traffic in intoxicating drinks, etc.

Have fellowship with thee - With God. Shall they be united with thee; be sustained by thee; be regarded as a part of thine administration? Wilt thou sanction them? Wilt thou give to them thy patronage, as if they met with thine approbation? The Hebrew word means to be associated with, or allied to, and would be properly applied to a partnership, or anything where there is fellowship or alliance. The interrogative form here strongly implies that this “cannot be.” Such laws - such purposes - “cannot” be in accordance with the laws and authority of God; or, in other words, God does not sit on the same throne with those who authorize and by law sustain slavery, intemperance, and gambling. There can be no partnership here.

Which frameth mischief by a law - The word rendered “mischief” usually means labor, toil; and then, trouble, vexation, sorrow. It may, however, be used to denote evil of any kind - crime, or wrong. The word rendered frameth means to form, to fashion, to make, as a potter does clay; Gen_2:7-8, Gen_2:19; or as a workman does statues, Isa_44:9-10, Isa_44:12; or as one makes weapons, Isa_54:17. It is often applied to God as the Creator. See the notes at Psa_94:9 : “he that formed the eye.” The word law here means a rule or statute; and the idea is, that the iniquity referred to was not the result of an irregular and fitful impulse; or of passion; of sudden excitement; or of mere “will” in a particular case; but was reduced to statute, and sustained by law. The expression would apply to all those cases where evil is upheld by the government or by civil authority, or where those who are engaged in it can plead in their defense the sanction of law. The statement here is, that such acts “cannot” have fellowship with God, or receive his approval. It is an insult to God to suppose that he has ever appointed legislators or magistrates for the purpose of making or upholding such enactments. Yet there are many such laws in the world; and a main reason why it is so difficult to remove such evils as have been above referred to is the fact that they are sustained by law, and that they who hold slaves, or open gambling-houses, or sell intoxicating drinks, can plead the authority of the law; or, in other words, that the laws have done all they can to place such things on a level with those which “ought” to be protected by statute. Many a man in his business looks no further than to the laws of the land, and if he has their sanction, in vain is the attempt to induce him to abandon a business that leads to oppression, or that scatters woe and sorrow through a community.

CLARKE, "Shall the throne of iniquity - No wicked king, judge, or magistrate shall ever stand in thy presence. No countenance shall such have from thy grace or providence.

Which frameth mischief - Devise, plan, and execute, as if they acted by a positive law, and were strictly enjoined to do what they so much delighted in.

GILL, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee,.... Or "be joined with thee", be "partner with thee" (f), as antichrist affects to be; who may well be called "the throne of iniquity", since the dragon, the old serpent, and Satan, gave him his power, seat, or throne, and great authority: his coming is after the working of Satan,

with all deceivableness of unrighteousness; he sits and enacts, practices and countenances, all manner of iniquity; he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he was God; he claims all power in heaven and in earth; takes upon him to dispense with the laws of God and men, and makes new laws, and binds the consciences of men with them; presumes to forgive sin, which none but God can do; and to open the gates of heaven to whom he pleases; see Rev_13:2, but can these things be allowed of shall not such pride and arrogance, and horrible iniquity be punished with the utmost severity? doubtless it will:

which frameth mischief by a law? does all manner of mischief to men, without control, as if he had a law for doing it; or makes a law that all men shall worship him, or receive his mark in their right hand, or forehead; or else shall not buy or sell, yea, be killed; see Rev_13:15, or "against law" (g); against the laws of God and man; for

antichrist is ο�ανοµους, "the lawless one", spoken of in 2Th_2:8.

JAMISO�, "throne — power, rulers.

iniquity [and] mischief — both denote evils done to others, as Psa_94:21 explains.

K&D 20-23, "In the sixth strophe the poet confidently expects the inevitable divine

retribution for which he has earnestly prayed in the introduction. יחברך� is erroneously

accounted by many (and by Gesenius too) as fut. Pual = יח0ר�ע4ך� = יח0רך�, a vocal

contraction together with a giving up of the reduplication in favour of which no example

can be advanced. It is fut. Kal = יחברך�, from with the same regression of the ,יח0ר = יח0ר

modification of the vowel

(Note: By means of a similar transposition of the vowel as is to be assumed in אהבוp

, Pro_1:22, it also appears that מוס0ין = מדו0ין (lying upon the table, �νακείµενοι) of the

Pesach-Haggada has to be explained, which Joseph Kimchi finds so inexplicable that he regards it as a clerical error that has become traditional.)

as in יחנך� = יחנך� in Gen_43:29; Isa_30:19 (Hupfeld), but as in verbs primae gutturalis, so

also in תבם ,<תבם>, inflected from תב>, Ew. §251, d. It might be more readily regarded as

Poel than as Pual (like כלנו;p, Job_20:26), but the Kal too already signifies to enter into

fellowship (Gen_14:3; Hos_4:17), therefore (similarly to יגרך�, Psa_5:5) it is: num

consociabitur tecum. א[> is here the judgment-seat, just as the Arabic cursi directly

denotes the tribunal of God (in distinction from Arab. 'l-‛arš, the throne of His majesty).

With reference to הוות vid., on Psa_5:10. Assuming that חק is a divine statute, we obtain

this meaning for עלי־חק: which frameth (i.e., plots and executes) trouble, by making the

written divine right into a rightful title for unrighteous conduct, by means of which theinnocent are plunged into misfortune. Hitzig renders: contrary to order, after Pro_17:26,

where, however, על־ישר is intended like uνεκεν�δικαιοσύνης, Mat_5:10. Olshausen

proposes to read just as ,יגוdו instead of (Psa_56:7; Psa_59:4) יגורו conversely Aben-Ezra

in Psa_56:7 reads וdיגו. But וד ,�דד�, has the secured signification of scindere, incidere (cf.

Arab. jdd, but also chd, supra, p. 255), from which the signification invadere can be

easily derived (whence �דוד, a breaking in, invasion, an invading host). With reference to

d vid., Psychology, S. 243 (tr. p. 286): because the blood is the soul, that is said ofם�נקי

the blood which applies properly to the person. The subject to יגודו are the seat of

corruption (by which a high council consisting of many may be meant, just as much as a

princely throne) and its accomplices. Prophetic certainty is expressed in ויהי and ו@שב.

The figure of God as מש�ב is Davidic and Korahitic. צור�מח]י _is explained from Psa צור

18:2. Since השיב designates the retribution as a return of guilt incurred in the form of

actual punishment, it might be rendered “requite” just as well as “cause to return;” עליהם,

however, instead of להם (Psa_54:7) makes the idea expressed in Psa_7:17 more natural.

On ברעתם Hitzig correctly compares 2Sa_14:7; 2Sa_3:27. The Psalm closes with an

anadiplosis, just as it began with one; and אלהינו affirms that the destruction of the

persecutor will follow as surely as the church is able to call Jahve its God.

CALVI�, "20Shall the throne of iniquities have fellowship with thee? He again

derives an argument for confidence from the nature of God, it being impossible that

he should show favor to the wicked, or sanction their evil devices. With God for

their enemy, how could they escape being destroyed? The words have greater force

from being thrown into the form of a question, to show how completely opposed all

sin is to the divine nature. The term throne is used, because those against whom the

present charge is brought were not common robbers or assassins, who are

universally recognized as infamous, but tyrants who persecuted the Lord’s people

under color of law. These, although occupying the throne which has been

consecrated to God, have stained and polluted it with their crimes, and therefore

have nothing in common with it. The meaning is brought out more clearly in the

subsequent clause of the verse, where they are declared to be persons utterly

estranged from God, who frame molestation for law, or, as the Hebrew word חק,

chok, signifies, decree of law, or statute order. The Psalmist aims at those profligate

judges who, under pretense of pursuing the strict course of office, perpetrate the

worst species of enormities. Judges of this abandoned character, as we know, with

no other view than to retain possession of a specious name for integrity, invent

various excuses to defend their infamous oppressions. The meaning of the Psalmist

is apparent then; and it is this, that honorable as a throne may be, so far as the

name goes, it ceases to have any worth or estimation with God when abused by

wicked men; for iniquity can never meet with his approbation.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? Such

thrones there are, and they plead a right divine, but their claim is groundless, a

fraud upon mankind and a blasphemy of heaven. God enters into no alliance with

unjust authority, he gives no sanction to unrighteous legislation.

Which frameth mischief by a law? They legalise robbery and violence, and then

plead that it is the law of the land; and so indeed it may be, but it is a wickedness for

all that. With great care men prepare enactments intended to put down all protests,

so as to render wrong-doing a permanent institution, but one element is necessary to

true Conservatism, viz., righteousness; and lacking that, all their arrangements of

the holders of power must come to an end, and all their decrees must in process of

time be wiped out of the statute book. �othing can last for ever but impartial right.

�o injustice can be permanent, for God will not set his seal upon it, nor have any

fellowship with it, and therefore down it must come, and happy shall be the day

which sees it fall.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 20. The throne of iniquity... which frameth mischief by a law. The first pretext

of wicked men to colour their proceedings against innocent men is their throne; the

second is the law; and the third is their council. What tyrant could ask more? But

God has prepared an awful hell for impenitent tyrants, and they will be in it long

before they now expect to leave the world. William �icholson.

Ver. 20. The throne of iniquity... which frameth mischief by a law. If there never

had been such thrones in the world, there would not have been that mention made

of them in the Scripture. But such there have been. That of Jeroboam was one, who

would not suffer the people, according to the divine command, to go up to Jerusalem

to worship God, who had there placed his name; but spread, for them that went,

nets upon Mizpah, and set snares upon Mount Tabor. (Hosea 5:1) And such thrones

there have been since, too many of them. Well saith the Psalmist, Shall they have

fellowship with thee? �o, no; God keeps his distance from them. Those that we call

"stinking dunghills" are not so offensive to God as thrones of iniquity are, which

shall neither be approved by him nor secured. Stay a while, Christians, and "in

patience possess your souls; "for the world shall see that in due time he will

overturn them all. Samuel Slater, in "The Morning Exercises."

Ver. 20. Which frameth mischief by a law, i.e., frame wicked laws, or under the

colour of law and justice, oppress the innocent. Summum jus, summa injuria, the

higher the law, the greater the injustice, and injuries may and are too often done ex

prava interpretatione legis, from a wicked interpretation of the law. With those who

do injustice with the sword of justice, God will have no fellowship. William

�icholson.

COFFMA�, "Verse 20

REJOICI�G I� THE PROSPECT OF A�SWERED PRAYER

In this final division, "The poet expects the inevitable divine retribution for which

he had earnestly prayed in the introduction."[13]

"Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with thee,

Which frameth mischief by statute?

They gather themselves together against

the soul of the righteous,

And condemn the innocent blood.

But Jehovah hath been my high tower;

And my God the rock of my refuge.

And he hath brought upon them their own iniquity,

And will cut them of in their own wickedness;

Jehovah our God will cut them off."

"Which frameth mischief by statute" (Psalms 94:20). This most certainly speaks of

one of Israel's wicked kings; of these, of course, there were many; but the

condemnation of "the innocent" (Psalms 94:21) strongly suggests the wicked reign

of Manasseh.

"Jehovah hath been my high tower" (Psalms 94:22). The psalmist here identifies

himself as being among the "true seed" of Abraham. "An Israelite in whom there is

no guile," as Jesus said of �athaniel. Throughout the history of Israel, such persons

were always a small minority, called by Isaiah, "The Righteous Remnant." It was

because of them that God was able, eventually, to bring into mankind the Dayspring

from on High via the Seed of Abraham, as he had promised.

"He hath brought upon them their own iniquity" (Psalms 94:23). This is prophetic

tense, setting forth what God "will do," as indicated in the parallel verse adjacent to

it. "Jehovah our God will cut them off."

ELLICOTT, "(20) Throne of iniquity.—This is an apt expression for an oppressive

and unjust government. The word rendered “iniquity” might mean “calamity” or

“destruction” (see Psalms 57:1, and comp. Psalms 91:3 : “noisome”), but in

Proverbs 10:3 it seems to mean “lawless desire,” which best suits this passage.

Have fellowship—i.e., be associated in the government. Could the theocracy admit

to a share in it, not merely imperfect instruments of justice, but even those who

perverted justice to evil ends?

Which frameth mischief by a law?—i.e., making legislation a means of wrong.

Others, however, render, “against the law.” But the former explanation best suits

the next verse.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? —

Wilt thou take part with the unrighteous powers of the world, who oppress thy

people? Wilt thou countenance and support these tyrants in their wickedness? We

know thou wilt not; but wilt manifest thy justice and displeasure against them. A

throne has fellowship with God, when it is a throne of justice, and answers the end

of its being erected; for by him kings reign; and when they reign for him their

judgments are his, and he owns them as his ministers; and whoever resist them, or

rise up against them, shall receive to themselves condemnation; but when it becomes

a throne of iniquity, it has no longer fellowship with God. Far be it from the just

and holy God that he should be the patron of unrighteousness, even in princes and

those that sit on thrones; yea, though they be the thrones of the house of David.

Which frameth mischief by a law — Who devise wicked devices, and lay heavy

burdens upon men by virtue of those unrighteous decrees which they have made in

form of laws; or by false pretences of law. Or, against law, against all right, and the

laws, both of God and men.

CO�STABLE, "Verses 20-23

The power of the wicked could not endure because God"s power will prevail-even

though His enemies made alliances with other evil men to oppress the innocent. The

psalm closes with a reaffirmation of the writer"s commitment to Yahweh. He would

trust in the Lord until God executed vengeance on the wicked.

This psalm is a good example of not taking vengeance but waiting for God to take it

in His own time and way ( Deuteronomy 32:35; 1 Samuel 24-26; Romans 12:19; et

al.). The writer committed the situation to God in prayer, called on Him to judge

righteously, and continued to trust and obey the Lord. He did not take vengeance

himself.

EBC, "The last strophe (Psalms 94:20-23) weaves together in the finale, as a

musician does in the last bars of his composition, the main themes of the psalm-the

evil deeds of unjust rulers, the trust of the psalmist, his confidence in the final

annihilation of the oppressors and the consequent manifestation of God as the God

of Israel. The height of crime is reached when rulers use the forms of justice as

masks for injustice, and give legal sanction to "mischief." The ancient world

groaned under such travesties of the sanctity of Law; and the modern world is not

free from them. The question often tortures faithful hearts, "Can such doings be

sanctioned by God, or in any way be allied to Him?" To the psalmist the worst part

of these rulers’ wickedness was that, in his doubting moments, it raised the terrible

suspicion that God was perhaps on the side of the oppressors. But when such

thoughts came surging on him, he fell back, as we all have to do, on personal

experience and on an act of renewed trust. He remembered what God had been to

him in past moments of peril, and he claimed Him for the same now, his own refuge

and fortress. Strong in that individual experience and conviction, he won the

confidence that all which Jehovah had to do with the throne of destruction was, not

to connive at its evil, but to overthrow it and root out the evildoers, whose own sin

will be their ruin. Then Jehovah will be known, not only for the God who belongs to,

and works for, the single soul, but who is "our God," the refuge of the community,

who will not forsake His inheritance.

PULPIT, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee? The interrogative

is here, as so often, an emphatic negative. By "the throne of iniquity" is meant

iniquity in high places, wickedness enthroned upon the judgment seat, and thence

delivering its unjust sentences. Oppressors in Israel made a large use of the

machinery of the law to crush and ruin their victims (see Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 10:1,

Isaiah 10:2; Amos 5:7; Amos 6:12, etc.). Which frameth mischief by a law; i.e. which

effects its mischievous purposes by means of the decrees of courts.

21 The wicked band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

BAR�ES, "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous - Against the life of the righteous; that is, to take their lives. The Hebrew word rendered “gather together,” means to press or crowd upon anyone; to rush in crowds or troops. It would refer particularly to a tumultuous gathering - “a mob” - intent on accomplishing its purpose.

And condemn the innocent blood - literally, make guilty; that is, they hold that blood to be guilty; or, they treat the innocent as if they were guilty.

CLARKE, "They gather themselves together - In every thing that is evil, they are in unity. The devil, his angels, and his children, all join and draw together when they have for their object the destruction of the works of the Lord. But this was particularly the case with respect to the poor Jews among the Babylonians: they were objects of their continual hatred, and they labored for their destruction.

This and the following verses have been applied to our Lord, and the treatment he met with both from his own countrymen and from the Romans. They pretended to “judge him according to the law, and framed mischief against him;” they “assembled together against the life of the righteous one,” and “condemned innocent blood;” but God evidently interposed, and “brought upon them their own iniquity,” according to their horrible imprecation: “His blood be upon us and upon our children!” God “cut them off in their own iniquity.” All this had, in reference to him, a most literal fulfillment.

GILL, "They gather themselves together,.... As "in troops" (h), as the word signifies; in great armies; so the antichristian kings and states will, at the instigation of Popish emissaries; see Rev_16:17,

against the soul of the righteous; or "the life" of them; in order to take away their lives; to cut them off, root and branch, and destroy at once the whole interest of Christ; for it will be to make war with him, and them his followers, who are the righteous here meant, made so by his righteousness, that they will be gathered together in such great numbers:

and condemn the innocent blood; condemn innocent persons to death, shed their blood, and drink it, and to such a degree as to be drunk with it; for in them will be found the blood of the prophets and saints, and of all that are slain on earth, Rev_17:6.

"CALVI�, "21.They will gather together against the soul of the righteous As the

Hebrew word גדד , gadad, or גוד , gud, (39) signifies to collect forces or a band of

men, the Psalmist evidently intimates that he had to do with leading persons of

influence, and not with those merely in private station. The term implies too, that it

was not merely one or two private individuals who persecuted him, and others of the

Lord’s people, but a public convention. Melancholy and disgraceful must the state

of matters have been, when the wicked thus ruled in lawful assembly, and those who

formed the college of judges were no better than a band of robbers. The case

becomes doubly vexatious, when the innocent victims of oppression are not only

injured, but have a stigma fixed upon their character. And what more unseemly

spectacle, than when the whole course of judicial administration is just a foul

conspiracy against good and innocent men? (40) The instance here recorded should

prepare us for a like emergency, if it chance to occur in our own day, when the

wicked may be permitted, in the providence of God, to mount the seat of judgment,

and launch destruction upon the upright and the righteous, under color of law.

Intolerable as it might seem at first sight, that persons innocent of any crime should

meet with cruel persecution, even from the hands of judges, so as to be loaded with

ignominy, we see that God tried his children in other times by this double species of

oppression, and that we must learn to bear submissively not only with unrighteous

violence, but with charges most injurious to our character, and most undeserved.

(41)

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 21. They gather themselves together against the soul of the

righteous, so many are there of them that they crowd their assemblies, and carry

their hard measures with enthusiasm; they are the popular party, and are eager to

put down the saints. In counsel, and in action, they are unanimous; their one resolve

is to hold their own tyrannical position, and put down the godly party.

And condemn the innocent blood. They are great at slander and false accusation,

nor do they stick at murder; no crime is too great for them, if only they can trample

on the servants of the Lord. This description is historically true in reference to

persecuting times; it has been fulfilled in England, and may be again if Popery is to

advance in future time at the same rate as in the past few years. The dominant sect

has the law on its side, and blasts that it is the national church; but the law which

establishes and endows one religion rather than another is radically an injustice.

God has no fellowship with it, and therefore the synagogue of Ritualism will yet be a

stench in the nostrils of all sane men. What evil times are in store for us it is not for

us to prophesy; it is ours to leave the matter in the hands of him who cannot be in

fellowship with an oppressive system, and will not always endure to be insulted to

his face by Popish idols, and their priests.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 94:21-23. They gather themselves against the soul of the

righteous — Against the life, as the word here rendered soul commonly signifies,

and as the next clause explains it. They are not satisfied with the spoils of the estates

of the righteous, but do also thirst after their lives. And condemn the innocent blood

— They shed the blood of those innocent persons whom they have wickedly

condemned. Innocent blood is here put for the blood of innocent persons. But the

Lord is my defence — Let them decree what they please, and be too hard for all

laws; the Lord, who hates unrighteousness, will be my defence; he, who hath long

been very gracious to me, will secure me from their violence. He is the rock of my

refuge — In the clefts of which I may take shelter, and on the top of which I may set

my feet, and be out of the reach of danger. He shall bring upon them their own

iniquity — The fruit and punishment of their iniquity. He shall deal with them

according to their desert; and that very mischief which they designed against God’s

people shall be brought upon themselves. He shall cut them off in their own

wickedness — Either in the midst of their sins, or by their own wicked devices, the

mischief whereof he will cause to fall upon their own heads. The Lord our God —

The God of Jacob, of whom they said, he did not see, nor regard them, shall cut

them off — And they shall find themselves mistaken in their false views and

expectations of impunity, to their sorrow; he shall cut them off out of the land of the

living; shall cut them off from any fellowship with himself, and so shall make them

completely miserable; and their pomp and power shall stand them in no stead.

22 But the Lord has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.

BAR�ES, "But the Lord is my defense ... - In all these purposes of the wicked; in all that they do - whether under the form and sanction of law Psa_94:20, or by the excitement of passion - my trust is still in God. He is able to interpose in either case, and I may confidently commit my cause to him. On the language used here, as well as the sentiment, see the notes at Psa_18:2.

CLARKE, "The rock of my refuge - Alluding to those natural fortifications among rocks, which are frequent in the land of Judea.

GILL, "But the Lord is my defence,.... The defence of his church and people, of all the righteous, against those great armies of their enemies that gather together against them: the Targum, in the king's Bible is,

"the Word of the Lord shall be my weapon:''

and my God is the rock of my refuge; to whom recourse is had for shelter from the enemy, and against which the gates of hell cannot prevail: both characters, rock and refuge, agree with Christ, the essential Word of the Lord.

HE�RY 22-23, "God is, and will be, as a righteous Judge, the patron and protector of right and the punisher and avenger of wrong; this the psalmist had both the assurance of and the experience of. (1.) He will give redress to the injured (Psa_94:22): “When none else will, nor can, nor dare, shelter me, the Lord is my defence, to preserve me from the evil of my troubles, from sinking under them and being ruined by them; and he is the rock of my refuge, in the clefts of which I may take shelter, and on the top of which I may set my feet, to be out of the reach of danger.” God is his people's refuge, to whom they may flee, in whom they are safe and may be secure; he is the rock of their refuge, so strong, so firm, impregnable, immovable, as a rock: natural fastnesses sometimes exceed artificial fortifications. (2.) He will reckon with the injurious (Psa_94:23): He shall render to them their own iniquity; he shall deal with them according to their deserts, and that very mischief which they did and designed against God's people shall be brought upon themselves: it follows, He shall cut them off in their wickedness. A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him if God visit it upon him: it will cut him in the remembrance of it; it will cut him off in the recompence of it. This the psalm concludes with the triumphant assurance of: Yea, the Lord our God, who takes our part and owns us for his, shall cut them off from any fellowship with him, and so shall make them completely miserable and their pomp and power shall stand them in no stead.

JAMISO�, "Yet he is safe in God’s care.

defence — (Psa_59:9).

rock of ... refuge — (Psa_9:9; Psa_18:2).

CALVI�, "22But Jehovah has been my fortress The Psalmist declares, that great as

were the extremities to which he had been reduced, he had found sufficient help in

the single protection of God; thus passing a new commendation upon his power,

which had been such as alone, and unaided, to put down the mightiest endeavors —

all the force and the fury of his numerous enemies. He does more than say that God

was a fortress, where he might hide with safety, and from the top of which he could

bid defiance to every assault. Having congratulated himself upon the divine

protection, he proceeds to denounce destruction upon his enemies; for it is to be

considered as God’s special prerogative to make the evil which his enemies devise

against his people recoil upon their own heads. The mere defeating, and frustrating

their attempts, would afford no inconsiderable display of divine justice; but the

judgment of God is far more marvellously manifested when they fall into the pit

which they themselves had prepared, when all the subtle plans which they have

adopted for ruining the innocent end in their being destroyed by their own

craftiness, and when having done their utmost, they fall by their own sword. We are

slow to believe that this shall be the issue, and accordingly it is said twice — he shall

cut them off — the Lord our God shall cut them off It may be noticed also, that the

Psalmist in using the expression our God, holds out a ground of encouragement to

the faithful, reminding us of what he had said above, that God will not forget his

own inheritance, even his people whom he has brought unto the faith of himself.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 22. Let the wicked gather as they may, the psalmist is not

afraid, but sweetly sings,

The Lord is my defence, and my God is the rock of my refuge. Firm as a rock is

Jehovah's love, and there do we betake ourselves for shelter. In him, even in him

alone, we find safety, let the world rage as it may; we ask not aid from man, but are

content to flee into the bosom of omnipotence.

Psalms 94:23*

EXPOSITIO�.

Ver. 23. The natural result of oppression is the destruction of the despot; his own

iniquities crush him ere long. Providence arranges retaliations as remarkable as

they are just. High crimes in the end bring on heavy judgments, to sweep away evil

men from off the face of the earth; yea, God himself interposes in a special manner,

and cuts short the career of tyrants while they are in the very midst of their crimes.

Wicked men are often arrested by the pursuivants of divine justice red handed, with

the evidences of their guilt upon them.

He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own

wickedness. While the stolen bread is in their mouths wrath slays them, while the ill

gotten wedge of gold is yet in their tent judgment overtakes them. God himself

conspicuously visits them, and reveals his own power in their overthrow,

yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.

Here, then, the matter ends; faith reads the present in the light of the future, and

ends her song without a trembling note.

EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GS.

Ver. 23. He shall bring upon them their own iniquity, etc. It is an ill work wicked

ones are about, they make fetters for their own feet, and build houses for to fall

upon their own heads; so mischievous is the nature of sin that it damnifies and

destroys the parents of it. William Greenhill.

23 He will repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness; the Lord our God will destroy them.

BAR�ES, "And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity - The consequences of their sin. He shall punish them as they deserve. See the notes at Psa_7:16.

And shall cut them off in their own wickedness - As the result of their wickedness, and while they are engaged in perpetrating acts of sin.

Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off - Expressing, by the repetition of the sentiment, the utmost confidence that this would be so. This is in accordance with the prayer with which the psalm opens, and is expressive of entire faith that God will deal justly with the children of men. However the wicked may seem to prosper and to triumph, yet the day of vengeance is approaching, and all which they have deserved will come upon them.

CLARKE, "Shall cut them off - This is repeated, to show that the destruction of the Babylonians was fixed and indubitable: and in reference to the Jews, the persecutors and murderers of our Lord and his apostles, it was not less so. Babylon is totally destroyed; not even a vestige of it remains. The Jews are no longer a nation; they are scattered throughout the world, and have no certain place of abode. They do not possess even one village on the face of the earth.

The last verse is thus translated and paraphrased in the old Psalter: -

Trans. And he sal yelde to thaim thair wickednes, and in thair malice he sall skater thaim: skater thaim sal Lorde oure God.

Par - Alswa say efter thair il entent, that thai wil do gude men harme; he sall yelde thaim pyne, and in thair malice thai sal be sundred fra the hali courte of hevene, and skatred emang the wiked fendes of hell.

For different views of several parts of this Psalm, see the Analysis.

GILL, "And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity,.... The just punishment of it; or cause the mischief they designed to others to fall upon themselves; or make retaliation to them; that whereas they had drank the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, blood should be given them to drink; or their own blood should be shed, Rev_16:6, the Jews (i) say, that the Levites stood on their desks, and recited this passage, both at the precise time of the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and of the second by the Romans:

and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; in the midst of it, while slaying the witnesses, and triumphing over them, Rev_18:7, yea,

the Lord our God shall cut them off; the God of Jacob, who, they said, did not see nor regard what they did, Psa_94:7, and so this latter part of the psalm fulfils the former, and proves that God is a God of vengeance, to whom it belongs; and he will

exercise it in due time.

JAMISO�, "bring ... iniquity — (Compare Psa_5:10; Psa_7:16).

in their ... wickedness — while they are engaged in evil doing.

PULPIT, "And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity. Most manifestly when

he makes them fall into their own snare (Psalms 7:15; Psalms 35:8; Psalms 57:6;

Psalms 141:9, Psalms 141:10), but really also whenever he punishes them for their

sins. And shall cut them off; or, "destroy," "exterminate" them. In their own

wickedness; or, "by their wickedness." The wicked man is often "hoist with his own

petard." Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. The repetition, like that in

Psalms 94:1, is emphatic, and solemnly confirms the entire section (Psalms 94:20-

23).