1 Samuel 24
Matthew Poole · Citado em PreceptAustin
1 Samuel 24
Poole says David "prudently and modestly translates the fault from Saul to his followers and evil counsellors." Whether that was actually true or not is unclear.
1 Samuel 24
Poole has an interesting note asking “How then could David destroy so many of Saul’s sons, 2 Samuel 21:8-9? David could bind himself by his oaths, but he could not bind God, to whose good pleasure all promises, vows, and oaths must in all reason be submitted; and that was done by God’s command, and God was well pleased with it, 2 Samuel 21:14.” QUESTION - Was the killing of Saul’s descendants a just response to Saul’s killing of the Gibeonites? ANSWER - Second Samuel 21:9 says that David gave seven of Saul’s descendants (two sons and five grandsons) “over to the Gibeonites, who killed them and exposed their bodies on a hill before the LORD. All seven of them fell together; they were put to death during the first days of the harvest, just as the barley harvest was beginning.” The grisly proceedings were obviously sanctioned by David. Did God also approve of the slaughter? The background for the slaying of Saul’s descendants was this: years before, King Saul had tried to eradicate the Gibeonites from Israel; however, his action violated the covenant Joshua had made with Gibeon in Joshua 9. As a direct result of Israel’s breaking their covenant, God sent a famine upon Israel for three years. After Saul’s time, David had the responsibility to provide justice for the Gibeonites. When he asked them what they would require to make things right, the Gibeonites requested the lives of seven of Saul’s sons, and David handed them over. It seems that Saul’s seven descendants who were killed were no better men than Saul had been: the fruit had not fallen far from the tree. Reading 2 Samuel 21:1, we see that “during the reign of David there was a famine for three successive years, and David sought the face of the LORD. And the LORD said, ‘It is because of the blood shed by Saul and his family, because he killed the Gibeonites’” (emphasis added). Notice that the famine was not simply because of Saul’s sin but because of “his bloody house” (NASB). Seven of Saul’s descendants were killed because of their own bloodguilt. Perhaps they had aided Saul in some manner in the slaughter of the Gibeonites. As the NLT says, “The famine has come because Saul and his family are guilty of murdering the Gibeonites.” In short, David (and God) saw the killings as justice against the “bloody house” of Saul. Yes, God did approve of the killing of the guilty in this case, because it was a just punishment for their involvement in the prior murder of innocent men. GotQuestions.org 1 Samuel 24:22 David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. BGT 1 Samuel 24:23 (Numbering in the Hebrew Bible) καὶ ὤμοσεν Δαυιδ τῷ Σαουλ καὶ ἀπῆλθεν Σαουλ εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ Δαυιδ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὴν Μεσσαρα στενήν LXE 1 Samuel 24:22 So David swore to Saul: and Saul departed to his place, and David and his men went up to the strong-hold of Messera. KJV 1 Samuel 24:22 And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold. NET 1 Samuel 24:22 David promised Saul this on oath. Then Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the stronghold. CSB 1 Samuel 24:22 So David swore to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to the stronghold. ESV 1 Samuel 24:22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. NIV 1 Samuel 24:22 So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold. NLT 1 Samuel 24:22 So David promised this to Saul with an oath. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their stronghold. NRS 1 Samuel 24:22 So David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold. NJB 1 Samuel 24:23 (Numbering in the Hebrew Bible) This David swore to Saul, and Saul went home while David and his men went back to the stronghold. NAB 1 Samuel 24:23 (Numbering in the Hebrew Bible) David gave Saul his oath and Saul returned home, while David and his men went up to the refuge. YLT 1 Samuel 24:22 And David sweareth to Saul, and Saul goeth unto his house, and David and his men have gone up unto the fortress. GWN 1 Samuel 24:22 So David swore to Saul. Then Saul went home, and David and his men went to their fortified camp. David and: Pr 26:24,25 Mt 10:16,17 Joh 2:24 the hold: 1Sa 23:29 1 Samuel 24 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries DAVID SWEARS TO PROTECT SAUL'S DESCENDANTS David swore (shaba from sheba = seven, so David in a sense "sevened") to Saul - David of course had already made a covenant with Saul's son Jonathan and now is willing to make essentially the same promise to Saul (although they did not cut a covenant). Saul knew that David's word was as good as gold after his righteous behavior on this fateful day. Brian Bell rightly observes that "it was Saul’s sins, not David’s revenge, that destroyed his family. Saul’s concern was for his own name and descendants, not the spiritual welfare of the people." Bergen - David would later fulfill this commitment by giving sanctuary—indeed a position of honor and a generous inheritance—to Mephibosheth (cf. 2 Sam 9:1–13; 19:29; 21:7). (Borrow NAC - 1,2 Samuel) And Saul went to his home - As you consider this scene, it is amazing that Saul did not turn on David. After all, he had David with his back against the wall, still in front of a cave with presumably no outlet for escape. The fact that Saul left instead of attacking must be a reflection of the supernatural intervention of the LORD in protecting His anointed! but - Term of contrasts mark a change of direction, in this case a literal change of direction. David and his men went up to the stronghold (mesudah; Lxx = Messera) - David was not fooled by Saul's "softened" response and knew that in his heart, Saul had only thoughts of murder which is why he goes back to the stronghold. Robert Vannoy on stronghold - An inaccessible place (note on 1Sa 22:4 = "Perhaps a specific fortress, but more likely a reference to a geographic area in which it was easy to hide 1Sa 23:14; 2Sa 5:17; 23:14"). From previous experience David did not place any confidence in Saul’s words of repentance..(Borrow NIV Study Bible) Brian Bell - David had won many battles, but one of his greatest victories occurred in that cave when he restrained himself & his men from killing Saul. Pr16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. What a good example for all of us to follow! W. Revenge is as old as human nature (think Cain & Abel). If you’re plotting revenge, however small and insignificant you may think it to be, surrender it now! - Release your grip on your get even scheme, and place the control in God’s hands. Stronghold (fortress)(04686) mesudah from tsud = to hunt) means a fastness, stronghold. Mesudah (mesuda) refers to a wilderness or mountainous places for hiding, defense, and gathering supplies for battle (1Sa 22:4, 5; 24:22) especially David's city when he captured the "stronghold of Zion" (2Sa 5:7, 9). Job 39:28 gives us a good word picture of the meaning of this word describing the home of the eagle "On the cliff he dwells and lodges, Upon the rocky crag, an inaccessible place (mesudah)." John Hartley adds "Apparently related to meṣād which means "mountain-height" or "summit"; then "fortress, castle" (Arabic maṣādun) so Masada, the fortress-palace plateau of Herod near the Dead Sea. In the rocky crag the eagle makes his stronghold (Job 39:28). But man erects his fortress out of stone or brick to protect himself from external dangers. Nevertheless with great strategy a stronghold may be taken; e.g. David captured the stronghold of Zion (2 Samuel 5:7). For the believer, especially David, God himself was the stronghold in whom he trusted throughout his trials (Psalm 18:2; Psalm 91:2)." (online TWOT ) Mesudah - 17v - 1 Sam. 22:4; 1 Sam. 22:5; 1 Sam. 24:22; 2 Sam. 5:7; 2 Sam. 5:9; 2 Sam. 5:17; 2 Sam. 22:2; 2 Sam. 23:14; 1 Chr. 11:5; 1 Chr. 11:16; Job 39:28; Ps. 18:2; Ps. 31:2; Ps. 31:3; Ps. 71:3; Ps. 91:2; Ps. 144:2 Charles Swindoll in David - A Man of Passion and Destiny - TOUGH PRINCIPLES TO PRACTICE - revenge is as old as human nature. And, while not all vengeance creates a tragedy as bitter as Cain and Abel's, it all makes a travesty of God's plan for our lives. If you're plotting revenge, however small and insignificant you may think it to be, surrender it now! Release your grip on your "get-even" scheme, and place the control in God's hands. Let's reflect on some principles that will help us relinquish our desire for revenge. SINCE HUMANITY IS DEPRAVED, EXPECT TO BE MISTREATED! The same human nature that beat in Saul's heart beats in all our hearts. Trouble comes when we expect, and then demand, too much from others. People are fallible; hurt feelings are par for the course. SINCE MISTREATMENT BY OTHERS IS INEVITABLE, WE CAN ANTICIPATE OUR DESIRES FOR REVENGE. Acknowledging the urge to get even is not the same as retaliating. Rather, when we're aware of what's going on inside, we have time to feel and pray and think and then choose a course of action that reflects our trust in God. SINCE THE TEMPTATION TOWARD REVENGE IS PREDICTABLE, REFUSE TO FIGHT IN THE FLESH (ED: Only one was to make this refusal = Be continually filled with the Spirit and walk by the Spirit for then you will not fulfill the desires of the fallen flesh - Eph 5:18+, Gal 5:16+). We can make up our minds ahead of time (ED: See where this desire and power to "make up our minds" comes from - Php 2:13NLT+ Don't try to "make up your mind" by depending on your fallen flesh to accomplish this goal! Flesh will never cast out flesh, so to speak!) to leave things in God's hands, which will make us less likely to impulsively lass back when we're wronged. We're not responsible for how others behave, but we are responsible for making sure we're not mistreating others in return (cf Ro 12:17-21+). A PSALM OF DAVID Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will recompense the evil to my foes; Destroy them in Your faithfulness. Willingly I will sacrifice to Thee; I will give thanks to Thy name, O LORD, for it is good. For He has delivered me from all trouble, And my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies. -- Ps 54:4-7 PSALM 57 1 For the choir director; set to >Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge Until destruction passes by. 2 I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me. 3 He will send from heaven and save me; He reproaches him who tramples upon me. Selah. God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth. 4 My soul is among lions; I must lie among those who breathe forth fire, Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows And their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; My soul is bowed down; They dug a pit before me; They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah. 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. 9 I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. 10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds. 11 Be exalted above the heavens, O God; Let Your glory be above all the earth. Bowed down (03721) kapap means literally to bow down but is used figuratively of humbling oneself (Isa 58:5, bowing in worship - Mic 6:6). In the psalms it is used metaphorically of one's as “bowed down” under some form of oppression. As oppressed by one's enemies in Ps 57:6. It speaks of distress in Ps 145:14, Ps 146:8. It is used primarily in the passive voice with the underlying sense of “being cast down,” or overwhelmed with grief (cf. Ps 57:6; 145:14; 146:8). In the two latter references, the psalmist is raised up and consoled by God. In Ps 57:6 kapap is translated in the Lxx with the verb katakampto (not in NT) which means to bend down and is used only one other place to translate "greatly bowed down" in Ps 38:6. Gilbrant - This verb is a byform of kāphāh (HED #3836). It may be an Aramaic loanword. It is attested in all branches of Semitic, with the primary nuance of "to bend." Three of the five biblical appearances of the verb kāphaph are found in the book of Psalms. Not surprisingly, then, each use has a figurative or metaphorical use of the literal definition "to bend" or "to bow down." The term's figurative uses connote being "bent low" or "bowed down" in distress, humiliation, or in worship. In Mic. 6:6, a Niphal form is used to explain how one seeking after God and his righteousness might speak to himself when approaching the Lord. Psalms 145:14 and 146:8 are identical in word construction and in meaning: the Lord raises those who "are bowed down." The context does not indicate that these individuals have bowed themselves before God, but rather, oppression, hunger and difficult circumstances have forced them to be bent over. When circumstances of life cause us to be bowed down and crushed, the psalmist offers the exhortation to praise and glorify God because He will lift us up. Likewise, when enemies "spread a net" for our feet and cause us to be bowed down (Ps. 57:6), God sees to it that they themselves will fall into it. In the title of this Psalm there is a statement that David wrote this poem "when he had fled from Saul into the cave." Even in times of great affliction, we can say with the psalmist: "Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth" (v. 5, NIV). (Complete Biblical Library) Kapap - 6v - Ps. 57:6; Ps. 145:14; Ps. 146:8; Isa. 58:5; Mic. 6:6 TITLE. To the Chief Musician. So glad a song as this becomes ere it closes, should be in the keeping of the most skilled of all the temple minstrels. Altaschith, i.e., DESTROY NOT. This petition is a very sententious prayer, as full as it is brief, and well worthy to be the motto for a sacred song. David had said, "destroy not, "in reference to Saul, when he had him in his power, and now he takes pleasure in employing the same words in supplication to God. We may infer from the spirit of the Lord's prayer, that the Lord will spare us as we spare our foes. There are four of these "Destroy not" Psalms, namely, the 57th, 58th, 59th, and 75th. In all of them there is a distinct declaration of the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of the righteous, and they all have probably a reference to the overthrow of the Jews, on account of their persecution of the great Son of David: they will endure heavy chastisement, but concerning them it is written in the divine decree, "Destroy them not." Michtam of David. For quality this Psalm is called golden, or a secret, and it well deserves the name. We may read the words and yet not know the secret joy of David, which he has locked up in his golden casket. When he fled from Saul in the cave. This is a song from the bowels of the earth, and, like Jonah's prayer from the bottom of the sea, it has a taste of the place. The poet is in the shadow of the cave at first, but he comes to the cavern's mouth at last, and sings in the sweet fresh air, with his eye on the heavens, watching joyously the clouds floating therein. DIVISIONS. We have here prayer, Psalms 57:1-6, and praise, Psalms 57:7-11. The hunted one takes a long breath of prayer, and when he is fully inspired, he breathes out his soul in jubilant song. EXPOSITION Ver. 1. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. Urgent need suggests the repetition of the cry, for thus intense urgency of desire is expressed. If `he gives twice who gives quickly, 'so he who would receive quickly must ask twice. For mercy the psalmist pleads at first, and he feels he cannot improve upon his plea, and therefore returns to it. God is the God of mercy, and the Father of mercies, it is most fit therefore that in distress he should seek mercy from him in whom it dwells. For my soul trusteth in thee. Faith urges her suit right well. How can the Lord be unmerciful to a trustful soul? Our faith does not deserve mercy, but it always wins it from the sovereign grace of God when it is sincere, as in this case where the soul of the man believed. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. Not in the cave alone would he hide, but in the cleft of the Rock of ages. As the little birds find ample shelter beneath the parental wing, even so would the fugitive place himself beneath the secure protection of the divine power. The emblem is delightfully familiar and suggestive. May we all experimentally know its meaning. When we cannot see the sunshine of God's face, it is blessed to cower down beneath the shadow of his wings. Until these calamities be overpast. Evil will pass away, and the eternal wings will abide over us till then. Blessed be God, our calamities are matters of time, but our safety is a matter of eternity. When we are under the divine shadow, the passing over of trouble cannot harm us; the hawk flies across the sky, but this is no evil to the chicks when they are safely nestling beneath the hen. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Title. This Psalm was composed, as the title notes, by David prayer wise, when he hid himself from Saul in the cave, and is inscribed with a double title, Altaschith, Michtam of David. Altaschith refers to the scope, and Michtam to the dignity of the subject matter. The former signifies destroy not, or, let there be no slaughter; and may either refer to Saul, concerning whom he gave charge to his servants not to destroy him; or rather it hath reference to God, to whom in this great exigence he poured out his soul in this pathetic ejaculation; Altaschith, destroy not. The latter title, Michtam, signifies a golden ornament, and so is suited to the choice and excellent matter of the Psalm, which much more deserves such a title than Pythagoras' golden verses did. John Flavel (1627-1692), in "Divine Conduct, or the Mystery of Providence." Title. A Psalm composed when David fled from Saul in the cave, which is referred to in Psalms 143:0, and which, because it is without any other distinction called "the cave, "is probably that celebrated cave where David with his six hundred followers lay concealed when Saul entered and David cut off the skirt of his robe. The king, accompanied by three thousand followers, chased him to the loftiest alpine heights--"to the sheepcotes, "where the cattle were driven in the hottest summer months only--to hunt him in every hiding place. There was a cave, in the darkened cool of which David and his men were hid. Such caves in Palestine and the East are frequently enlarged by human hands, and so capacious that they accommodate thousands of people. This song of complaint was written during the hours of suspense which David spent there, to wait until the calamity was overpast (Psalms 57:2); in which he only gradually gains a stout heart (Psalms 57:8). His life was really suspended by a hair, if Saul or any of his attendants had espied him! Agustus F. Tholuck. Title. The cave. There appear good grounds for the local tradition which fixes the cave on the borders of the Dead Sea, although there is no certainty with regard to the particular cave pointed out. The cave so designated is at a point to which David was far more likely to summon his parents, whom he intended to take from Bethlehem in to Moab, than to any place in the western plains... It is an immense natural cavern, the mouth of which can be approached only on foot along the side of the cliff. Irby and Mangles, who visited it without being aware that it was the reputed Cave of Adullam, state that it "runs in by a long, winding, narrow passage, with small chambers or cavities on either side. We soon came to a large chamber with natural arches of great height; from this last there were numerous passages, leading in all directions, occasionally joined by others at right angles, and forming a perfect labyrinth, which our guides assured us had never been perfectly explored--the people being afraid of losing themselves. The passages are generally four feet high by three feet wide, and were all on a level with each other." ...It seems probable that David as a native of Bethlehem, must have been well acquainted with this remarkable spot, and had probably often availed himself of its shelter, when out with his father's flocks. It would, therefore, naturally occur to him as a place of refuge when he fled from Gath. John Kitto (1804-1854), in "A Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature." Whole Psalm. Mystically this hymn may be construed of Christ, who was in the days of his flesh assaulted by the tyranny both of spiritual and temporal enemies. His temporal enemies, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and people of Israel, furiously raged and took counsel together against him. The chief priests and princes were, saith Hierome, like lions, and the people like the whelps of lions, all of them in a readiness to devour his soul. The rulers laid a net for his feet in their captious interrogatories, asking (Matthew 22:17), "Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?" and (John 8:5) whether the woman taken in the very act of adultery should be stoned to death or no. The people were "set on fire, "when as they raged against him, and their teeth and tongues were spears and swords in crying, "Crucify him, crucify him." His spiritual enemies also sought to swallow him up; his soul was among lions all the days of his life, at the hour of his death especially. The devil in tempting and troubling him, had laid a snare for his feet; and death, in digging a pit for him, had thought to devour him. As David was in death, so Christ the Son of David was in the grave. John Boys, 1571-1625. Ver. 1. Be merciful unto me, O God, etc. This excellent Psalm was composed by David when there was enough to discompose the best man in the world. The repetition notes both the extremity of the danger, and the ardency of the supplicant. Mercy! Mercy! Nothing but mercy, and that exerting itself in any extraordinary way, can now save him from ruin. The arguments he pleads for obtaining mercy in this distress are very considerable. 1. He pleads his reliance upon God as an argument to move mercy. My soul trusteth in thee, etc. This his trust and dependence upon God, though it be not argumentative in respect of the dignity of the act; yet it is so in respect both of the nature of the object, a compassionate God who will not expose any that take shelter under his wings, and in respect of the promise, whereby protection is assured to them that fly to him for sanctuary. Isaiah 26:3. 2. He pleads former experiences of his help in past distresses, as an argument encouraging hope under the present strait (Psalms 57:2). John Flavel. Ver. 1. Be merciful unto me. According to the weight of the burden that grieveth us, is the cry that comes from us. How do poor condemned prisoners cry to their judges, "Have pity upon us, have pity upon us!" David, in the day of his calamities doubles his prayer for mercy: Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee, etc., Until these calamities be overpast. It was not a single calamity, but a multitude of calamities which compassed David, and therefore he compasseth the Lord about with petitions. His spirit being up in prayer, like a bell that rings out, he strikes on both sides, Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. Joseph Caryl. Ver. 1. Be merciful unto me. The first clause contains the prayer itself in a very forcible word ygnx, properly, "Show thy most tender affection to me, "such as animals, with a humming sound, show to their young. Hermann Venema. Ver. 1. For my soul trusteth in thee. The best reason with God, who "taketh pleasure in those that hope in his mercy." Psalms 147:11. Poole's Synopsis. Ver. 1. Soul. His soul trusted in God; and this is a form of expression the force of which is not to be overlooked; for it implies that the trust which he exercised proceeded from his very innermost affection--that it was of no volatile character, but deeply and strongly rooted. He declares the same truth in figurative terms, when he adds his persuasion that God would cover him with the shadow of his wings. John Calvin. Ver. 1. In the shadow of thy wings I will trust; properly, I will seek for protection. The very delightful figure here employed, is taken from the chicken lying safely hid under the mother's wings; at the same time it seems to have reference to the wings of the cherubim, by which the mercyseat was covered. Simon de Muis, 1587-1644. Ver. 1. The shadow of thy wings. Compare Psalms 17:8 Psalms 17:61:4; and Matthew 23:37; and the Apocalyptic imagery, describing the church fleeing from the dragon in the wilderness; and "to her are given the two wings of the great eagle, "and she is delivered from the dragon, who desires to swallow her up. See Revelation 12:6, Revelation 12:15-16. Christopher Wordsworth, 1868. Ver. 1. Until these calamities be overpast. He compares his afflictions and calamity to a storm that cometh and goeth; as it is not always fair weather with us in this life, so not always foul. Athanasius said of Julian furiously raging against the Lord's Anointed, "Nubecula est, cito transibit, "he is a little cloud; he will soon pass away. Man is born to labour and dolour, to travail and trouble; to labour in his actions, to dolour in his passions; and so, "Great are the troubles of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of all." If we put our trust in him and cast all our care upon him, he will in his good time bring it to pass, that all our afflictions shall overpass. He will either take them from us or us from them, and then we shall assuredly know that the troubles of this life present are not worthy of the glory which in the life to come shall be showed unto us. For as the globe of the earth, which improperly for his show of bigness we term the world, and is, after the mathematician's account, many thousand miles in compass; yet, being compared unto the greatness of the starry sky's circumference, is but a centre or little prick: so the travail and affliction of this life temporal, in respect of the joys eternal in the world to come, bear not any proportion, but are to be reputed in comparison a very nothing, as a dark cloud that cometh and goeth in a moment. John Boys. Ver. 1-3. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast, etc. As if he had said, Lord, I am already in the cave and in the holds, and in the shadow of it, but yet for all that I think not myself safe indeed, till I have made my refuge in the shadow of thy wings: that is therefore the course I resolve and build upon. It was wisely done of him: and mark what course he takes to do it, Psalms 57:2, I will cry unto God most high, I will by prayer put myself under the shadow of God's wings: and mark what success should follow, Psalms 57:3, He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. When we send prayers up to heaven, God will send help down from heaven. But yet David prays to God, as well as trusts in God. And unless we pray as well as trust, our trust will fail us, for we must trust to God for that we pray for. Jeremiah Dyke, 1620. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 1. (first clause). Repetition in prayer. 1. Its dangers. May degenerate into "vain repetitions." Carried to excess painfully suggests the idea, God is unwilling. 2. Its uses. Eases the soul like tears. Manifests intense emotion. Enables those of less mental activity to join in the general supplication. R. A. Griffin. Ver. 1. Here are-- I. Calamities. 1. War. 2. Pestilence. 3. Privations. 4. Sin, greatest of all. 5. Death. 6. Curse of a broken law. II. Here is a refuge from these calamities. 1. In God. 2. Specially in the mercy of God. III. There is flying to that refuge. 1. By faith; My soul trusteth in thee; Under the shadow, etc. 2. By prayer; "Be, "etc. IV. Here is continuance both in faith and prayer; until, etc. G. R. Ver. 1,4,6-7. Note the varying condition of the same heart, at the same time. My soul trusteth in thee... My soul is among lions... My soul is bowed down... My heart is fixed. WORKS UPON THE FIFTY-SEVENTH PSALM The Works of JOHN BOYS, D.D., "Deane of Canterburie, "1629, folio, pp. 834-40, contains an Exposition of Psalms 57:0. In CHANDLER'S "Life of David, "Vol. 1., pp. 176-9, there is an Exposition of this Psalm. EXPOSITION Ver. 2. I will cry. He is quite safe, but yet he prays, for faith is never dumb. We pray because we believe. We exercise by faith the spirit of adoption whereby we cry. He says not I do cry, or I have cried, but I will cry, and indeed, this resolution may stand with all of us until we pass through the gates of pearl; for while we are here below we shall still have need to cry. Unto God most high. --Prayers are for God only; the greatness and sublimity of his person and character suggest and encourage prayer; however high our enemies, our heavenly Friend is higher, for he is Most high, and he can readily send from the height of his power the succour which we need. Unto God that performeth all things for me. He has cogent reason for praying, for he sees God performing. The believer waits and God works. The Lord has undertaken for us, and he will not draw back, he will go through with his covenant engagements. Our translators have very properly inserted the words, "all things, "for there is a blank in the Hebrew, as if it were a carte blanche, and you might write therein that the Lord would finish anything and everything which he has begun. Whatsoever the Lord takes in hand he will accomplish; hence past mercies are guarantees for the future, and admirable reasons for continuing to cry unto him. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 1-3. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast, etc. As if he had said, Lord, I am already in the cave and in the holds, and in the shadow of it, but yet for all that I think not myself safe indeed, till I have made my refuge in the shadow of thy wings: that is therefore the course I resolve and build upon. It was wisely done of him: and mark what course he takes to do it, Psalms 57:2, I will cry unto God most high, I will by prayer put myself under the shadow of God's wings: and mark what success should follow, Psalms 57:3, He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. When we send prayers up to heaven, God will send help down from heaven. But yet David prays to God, as well as trusts in God. And unless we pray as well as trust, our trust will fail us, for we must trust to God for that we pray for. Jeremiah Dyke, 1620. Ver. 2. Unto God that performeth all things for me. God's favours already received are a pledge that he will complete his work of love "upon le me." The beginning is the earnest of the completion. His word is a guarantee for the performance of "all things" that I need. (Compare Psalms 57:3 Psalms 57:56:4 1 Samuel 2:9 1 Samuel 2:3:12 1 Samuel 23:17 1 Samuel 23:24:21 Psalms 128:8 Job 10:3, Job 8:14:15 Philippians 1:6 Isaiah 26:12). A. R. Fausset. Ver. 2. God that performeth all things for me. Hebrew, that performeth (or perfecteth, or finisheth, as this word is rendered, Psalms 138:8; i.e., will certainly perform or finish), for, or towards, or concerning me. He doth not express what he performeth, or perfecteth, or fulfileth, but leaveth it to be understood, as being easy to be understood. He performeth or perfecteth, to wit, all that he hath promised; engages himself to perform what he hath begun to do, or what is yet to be performed; it being usual in the Hebrew language to understand a verbal noun after the verb. He implies that God is not like men, who make large promises, but either through inability, or carelessness, or unfaithfulness, do not perform them, but will certainly be as good as his word. Matthew Poole, 1624-1679. Ver. 2. (last clause). The word which we translate performeth comes from a root that signifies both to perfect and to desist or cease. For when a business is performed or perfected, the agent then ceases and desists from working: he puts to the last hand when he finishes the work. To such a happy issue the Lord hath brought all his doubtful and difficult matters before; and this gives him encouragement that he will still be gracious, and perfect that which concerneth him now, as he speaks, Psalms 138:8, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." The Septuagint renders it by ton euergetm sonta me, who profits or benefits me. And it is a certain truth, that all the results and issues of providence are profitable and beneficial to the saints. But the supplement in our translation well conveys the importance of the place; "who performeth all things; and it involves the most strict and proper notion of providence, which is nothing else but the performance of God's gracious purposes and promises to his people." And therefore Vatablus and Muis supply and fill up the room with the conciseness of the original leaves, with quae promisit: I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth the things which he hath promised. Payment is the performance of promises. Grace makes the promise, and providence the payment. Piscator fills it with benignitatem et misericordiam suam; "unto God that performeth his kindness and mercy." But still it supposes the mercy performed to be contained in the promise, and much more so in the providential performance of it to us. John Flavel. Ver. 2. (last clause). David even then when he fled from Saul in the cave he looks upon God as having performed all things for him. The word is, he hath perfected all things; and it is observable that David uses the same expression of praising God here when he was in the cave, hiding himself to save his life, as he did when he triumphed over his enemies--Psalms 6:0 and Psalms 108:0. Jeremiah Burroughs, 1599-1646. Ver. 2. (last clause). The Targum curiously paraphrases this clause: "Who ordered the spider that wrought the web, on my account, at the mouth of the cave; "applying a later historical fact, which, however, may have had its prototype in David's history. Andrew A. Bonar, in "Christ and his Church in the Book of Psalms, "1859. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 2. Prayer to the performing God. He performs all his promises, all my salvation, all my preservation, all needed between here and heaven. Here he reveals his omnipotence, his grace, his faithfulness, his immutability; and we are bound to show our faith, patience, joy, and gratitude. Ver. 2. Strange reasons. I. The psalmist in the depth of distress, cries to God, because he is most high in glory. Surely this thought might well paralyse him with the fear of divine inaccessibility, but the soul quickened with suffering, sees through and beyond the metaphor, rejoices in the truth, "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly." II. He cries to God for help, because God is performing all things for him. Why urge him then? Prayer is the music to which "the mighty man of war" goes forth to battle. R. A. G. EXPOSITION Ver. 3. He shall send from heaven. If there be no fit instruments on earth, heaven shall yield up its legions of angels for the succour of the saints. We may in times of great straits expect mercies of a remarkable kind; like the Israelites in the wilderness, we shall have our bread hot from heaven, new every morning; and for the overthrow of our enemies God shall open his celestial batteries, and put them to utter confusion. Wherever the battle is more fierce than ordinary, there shall come succours from headquarters, for the Commander in chief sees all. And save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. He will be in time, not only to rescue his servants from being swallowed up, but even from being reproached. Not only shall they escape the flames, but not even the smell of fire shall pass upon them. O dog of hell, I am not only delivered from thy bite, but even from thy bark. Our foes shall not have the power to sneer at us, their cruel jests and taunting gibes shall be ended by the message from heaven, which shall for ever save us. Selah. Such mercy may well make us pause to meditate and give thanks. Rest, singer, for God has given thee rest! God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. He asked for mercy, and truth came with it. Thus evermore doth God give us more than we ask or think. His attributes, like angels on the wing, are ever ready to come to the rescue of his chosen. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 1-3. In the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast, etc. As if he had said, Lord, I am already in the cave and in the holds, and in the shadow of it, but yet for all that I think not myself safe indeed, till I have made my refuge in the shadow of thy wings: that is therefore the course I resolve and build upon. It was wisely done of him: and mark what course he takes to do it, Psalms 57:2, I will cry unto God most high, I will by prayer put myself under the shadow of God's wings: and mark what success should follow, Psalms 57:3, He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. When we send prayers up to heaven, God will send help down from heaven. But yet David prays to God, as well as trusts in God. And unless we pray as well as trust, our trust will fail us, for we must trust to God for that we pray for. Jeremiah Dyke, 1620. Ver. 3. Him that would swallow me up. If I were to take you to my house, and say that I had an exquisite fat man, and wished you to join me in eating him, your indignation could be restrained by nothing. You would pronounce me to be crazy. There is not in New York a man so mean that he would not put down a man who should propose to have a banquet off from a fellow man, cutting steaks out of him, and eating them. And that is nothing but feasting on the human body, while they will all sit down, and take a man's soul, and look for the tender loins, and invite their neighbours in to partake of the little titbits. They will take a man's honour and name, and broil them over the coals of their indignation, and fill the whole room with the aroma thereof, and give their neighbour a piece, and watch him, and wink as he tastes it. You all eat men up... You eat the souls, the finest elements of men. You are more than glad if you can whisper a word that is derogatory to a neighbour, or his wife, or his daughter... The morsel is too exquisite to be lost. Here is the soul of a person, here is a person's hope for this world and the world to come, and you have it on your fork, and you cannot refrain from tasting it, and give it to some one else to taste. You are cannibals, eating men's honour and name and rejoicing in it--and that, too, when you do not always know that the things charged against them are true; when in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the probabilities are that they are not true. Henry Ward Beecher, 1870. Ver. 3. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth, viz., to save me. That is to say, God, to manifest his mercy, and vindicate the truth of his promises, will save me. The reader will observe, that mercy and truth are here poetically represented as ministers of God, standing in his presence, ready to execute his pleasure, and employed by him in the salvation of his people. Samuel Chandler. Ver. 3. His mercy and his truth. He need not send down angels, he need send but mercy and truth down, which elsewhere it is said he prepares in the heavens. Psalms 61:7. He prepares commissions for them, and sends them down with them for execution. Thomas Goodwin. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 3. The saints comfort in adversity. I. All contingencies are provided for: He shall (or will) send. II. The highest resources are available: from heaven. III. The worst foes will be overcome in the end: him that would swallow me up. IV. By the holiest means: mercy and truth. R. A. G. Ver. 3. The celestial messengers. What they are. The certainty of their being sent. Their efficient operation. The grateful receiver. Ver. 3. (last clause). The harmony of the divine attributes in salvation. Mercy founded on truth, truth vindicating mercy. Mercy without injustice, justice honoured in mercy. EXPOSITION Ver. 4. My soul is among lions. He was a very Daniel. Howled at, hunted, wounded, but not slain. His place was in itself one of extreme peril, and yet faith made him feel himself secure, so that he could lie down. The cave may have reminded him of a lion's den, and Saul and his band shouting and yelling in their disappointment at missing him, were the lions; yet beneath the divine shelter he finds himself safe. And I lie even among them that are set on fire. Perhaps Saul and his band kindled a fire in the cavern while they halted in it, and David was thus reminded of the fiercer fire of their hate which burned within their hearts. Like the bush in Horeb, the believer is often in the midst of flames, but never consumed. It is a mighty triumph of faith when we can lie down even among firebrands and find rest, because God is our defence. Even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. Malicious men carry a whole armoury in their mouths; they have not harmless mouths, whose teeth grind their own food as in a mill, but their jaws are as mischievous as if every tooth were a javelin or an arrow. They have no molars, all their teeth are canines, and their nature is canine, leonine, wolfish, devilish. As for that busy member the tongue, in the case of the malicious, it is a two edged, keen, cutting, killing sword. The tongue, which is here compared to a sword, has the adjective sharp added to it, which is not used in reference to the teeth, which are compared to spears, as if to show that if men were actually to tear us with their teeth, like wild beasts, they could not thereby wound us so severely as they can do with their tongues. No weapon is so terrible as a tongue sharpened on the devil's grindstone; yet even this we need not fear, for "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that riseth against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn." EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 4. My soul is among lions. This may also be construed of the church, and that both in respect of her spiritual enemies and temporal. As for her ghostly foes, the devil is a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), and our sins are the whelps of lions, ready to devour us. And concerning outward enemies, the church in this world is like Daniel in the lion's den, or as "the sucking child playing upon the hole of the asp." Isaiah 11:8. She hath here no visible power or outward help to fly to for succour, all her trust is in the Lord, and "under the shadow of his wings is her refuge, till this evil is overpast."... And surely, beloved, if the church had not any other enemies, but only these monstrous Antichrists of Rome, yet she might truly complain with our prophet here, My soul is among lions. Eleven popes had that name, whereof all, excepting two or three, were roaring lions in their Bulls, and ravening lions in seeking after their prey. Leo the tenth so pilled (Pill--peel, to pillage, plunder, strip) and polled (Poll, used synonymously with peel) the goodly nations of Germany with his unpardonable pardons and merciless indulgences, as that his insupportable cruelty gave the first occasion of the Reformation of religion in that country. John Boys. Ver. 4. (first clause). Mudge translates literally, I lie with my soul amidst lionesses. This agrees with the opinion of Bochart, who thinks that the animals here intended are lionesses, properly, when giving suck to their young, a time when they are peculiarly fierce and dangerous, "nor need we wonder, "he observes, "that the lioness is reckoned among the fiercest lions; for the lioness equals, or even exceeds, the lion in strength and fierceness; "and this he proves from the testimonies of ancient writers. James Anderson's Note to Calvin in loc, 1846. Ver. 4. And I lie even among them that are set on fire. The whole pith lies in the word hbkva, I will recline, which denotes a tranquil and secure condition of body and mind, like a man reclining and sleeping, as Psalms 3:5; I laid me down and slept, I awaked; and lived composedly; Psalms 4:9; I will both lay me down in peace, etc. Hermann Venema. Ver. 4. The horrors of a lion's den, the burning of a fiery furnace, and the cruel onset of war, are the striking images by which David here describes the peril and wretchedness of his present condition. John Morison. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 1,4,6-7. Note the varying condition of the same heart, at the same time. My soul trusteth in thee... My soul is among lions... My soul is bowed down... My heart is fixed. Ver. 4. My soul is among lions. How came I there? If for God's sake, then I may remember-- 1. So was my Lord in the wilderness. 2. The lions are chained. 3. Their howling is all they can do. 4. I shall come out of their den alive, unhurt, honoured. 5. The Lion of Judah is with me. 6. I shall soon be among the angels. EXPOSITION Ver. 5. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. This is the chorus of the Psalm. Before he has quite concluded his prayer the good man interjects a verse of praise; and glorious praise too, seeing it comes from the lion's den and from amid the coals of fire. Higher than the heavens is the Most High, and so high ought our praises to rise. Above even the power of cherubim and seraphim to express it, the glory of God is revealed and is to be acknowledged by us. Let thy glory be above all the earth. As above, so below, let thy praises, O thou great Jehovah, be universally proclaimed. As the air surrounds all nature, so let thy praises gird the earth with a zone of song. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS None. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 5. I. The end which God has in view, both in heaven and earth, in a sinful and in sinless worlds--his own glory. II. Our duty to acquiesce in that end: Be thou, etc. --Not self, not men, not angels--Be thou exalted, etc. In this we should acquiesce-- 1. Actively, by seeking that end. 2. Passively, by submission to his will. G. R. EXPOSITION Ver. 6. They have prepared a net for my steps. The enemies of the godly spare no pains, but go about their wicked work with the coolest deliberation. As for each sort of fish, or bird, or beast, a fitting net is needed, so do the ungodly suit their net to their victim's circumstances and character with a careful craftiness of malice. Whatever David might do, and whichever way he might turn, his enemies were ready to entrap him in some way or other. My soul is bowed down. He was held down like a bird in a trap; his enemies took care to leave him no chance of comfort. They have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves. He likens the design of his persecutors to pits, which were commonly dug by hunters to entrap their prey; these were made in the usual path of the victim, and in this case David says, before me, i.e., in my ordinary way. He rejoices because these devices had recoiled upon themselves. Saul hunted David, but David caught him more than once and might have slain him on the spot. Evil is a stream which one day flows back to its source. Selah. We may sit down at the pit's mouth and view with wonder the just retaliations of providence. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 6. Net. Not having fire arms, the ancients were much more skilful than the moderns in the use of snares, nets, and pits for capturing wild animals. A large class of Biblical figures and allusions necessarily presuppose this state of things. W. M. Thomson. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 1,4,6-7. Note the varying condition of the same heart, at the same time. My soul trusteth in thee... My soul is among lions... My soul is bowed down... My heart is fixed. Ver. 6. (first clause). I. Who are they? 1. Those who lead us into sin. 2. Who argue from worldly philosophy. 3. Who proclaim priestly and sacramental superstition. 4. Who decoy us from the church of God. 5. Who teach Antinomian doctrine. II. How shall we escape them? 1. Keep out of their way. 2. Keep to God's way. 3. Trust daily in the Lord. Ver. 6. My soul is bowed down. I. The prostration. 1. Caused by enemies, weakness, fear, pain. 2. Deep, agonizing, self revealing. 3. Common to the Head and the members. II. The consolation. 1. Bowed down, but not condemned. 2. Hoping in the promise. 3. Trusting in God. 4. Expecting a blessing from the trial. EXPOSITION Ver. 7. My heart is fixed. One would have thought he would have said, "My heart is fluttered; "but no, he is calm, firm, happy, resolute, established. When the central axle is secure, the whole wheel is right. If our great bower anchor holds, the ship cannot drive. O God, my heart is fixed. I am resolved to trust thee, to serve thee, and to praise thee. Twice does he declare this to the glory of God who thus comforts the souls of his servants. Reader, it is surely well with thee, if thy once roving heart is now firmly fixed upon God and the proclamation of his glory. I will sing and give praise. Vocally and instrumentally will I celebrate thy worship. With lip and with heart will I ascribe honour to thee. Satan shall not stop me, nor Saul, nor the Philistines, I will make Adullam ring with music, and all the caverns thereof echo with joyous song. Believer, make a firm decree that your soul in all seasons shall magnify the Lord. "Sing, though sense and carnal reason Fain would stop the joyful song: Sing, and count it highest treason For a saint to hold his tongue." EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 7. My heart is fixed, O God, etc. The psalmist knowing that it is the order and work of God, first to prepare the heart for communion, and then to incline his own ear to hear his people, and to entertain communion with them in ordinances, he doth observe this order, and follow it with a practice suitable to it in his daily address to God, that is thus, wheresoever he doth find his heart put into a fitted and prepared frame for communion with God, he doth not let it die again, and go out of frame by a slothful neglect of such a disposition of heart. No, but he immediately sets himself to duty, to worship God, and to the acts of his worship, in his ordinances, as he expresses himself in Psalms 57:7; viz., thus--ybl nwkg myhla ybl nwkg, Nachon libbi Elohim, nachon libbi (there is the first; he finds his heart fitted and prepared for communion with God): "My heart, "saith he, "is fitted or prepared" (for the word nwkg nachon is the passive conjugation niphal, signifying, he is fitted or prepared, from the root nzb, chun, he fitted or prepared, in the active; and so it is rather to be rendered prepared or fitted, then "fixed, "thus ykl, libbi, my heart; nwkg, nachon, is fitted or prepared), "O God, my heart is fitted or prepared" for communion with thee. Well, what follows? He presently sets himself upon that great duty and ordinance of communion with God, in the praising of his name and singing forth those praises, as in the words immediately following in the same verse, thus: My heart is prepared, O God, my heart is prepared; therefore, hrmzaw, ashidah va-azamerah, "I will sing and give praise." William Strong, in "Communion with God, "1656. Ver. 7. My heart is fixed, O God, etc. Fitness for duty lies in the orderly temper of body and mind, making a man willing to undertake, and able to finish his work with comfortable satisfaction. If either the body or mind be distempered, a man is unfit for such an undertaking; both must be in a suitable frame, like a well tuned instrument, else there will be no melody: hence when David prepared himself for praises and worship, he tells us his heart was ready and fixed, and then, his tongue was ready also (Psalms 45:1), so was his hand with psaltery and harp; all these were awakened into a suitable posture. That a man is or hath been in a fit order for service may be concluded from (1.) His alacrity to undertake a duty. (2.) His activity in the prosecution. (3.) His satisfaction afterward. Right grounds and principles in these things being still presupposed. Richard Gilpin (1625-1699,1700), in "Daemonologia Sacra." Ver. 7. I will sing. It should alarm the wicked that they are contending with a people who sing and shout on the battle field. Yea, they never sing louder than when most distressed and afflicted. Whether saints conquer or are conquered they still sing on. Blessed be God for that. Let sinners tremble at contending with men of a spirit so heavenly. William S. Plumer. Ver. 7. Sincerity makes the Christian sing, when he hath nothing to his supper. David was in none of the best case when in the cave, yet we never find him merrier: his heart makes sweeter music than ever his harp did. William Gurnall. Ver. 7-8. That worship that is performed with a sleepy, drowsy body, is a weak worship, but the psalmist here makes the awakening of the body to be the fruit and effect of the preparation of the heart; Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. Why so? My heart is prepared. The heart prepared and thereby awaked, will awake the body. To worship God therefore without a prepared heart, is to worship him with a drowsy body, because with a drowsy heart, and therefore weakly. John Angier, in "An Help to Better Hearts, for Better Times, " 1647. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 1,4,6-7. Note the varying condition of the same heart, at the same time. My soul trusteth in thee... My soul is among lions. My soul is bowed down... My heart is fixed. Ver. 7. (first clause). It is implied that the heart is the main thing required in all acts of devotion; nothing is done to purpose in religion further than it is done with the heart. The heart must be fixed; fixed for the duty, fitted and put in frame for it; fixed in the duty by a close application; attending on the Lord without distraction. Matthew Henry. Ver. 7. I. What is fixed? the heart, not the mind merely, but the will, the conscience, the affections, which draw the mind after them: My heart is fixed -- found an anchorage, a resting place, not therefore at the mercy of every gale, etc. II. The objects upon which it is fixed. 1. Upon God. 2. Upon his word. 3. Upon his salvation. 4. Upon heaven. III. The fixedness of the heart upon these objects, denotes-- 1. Singleness of aim. 2. Uniformity of action. 3. Perseverance to the end. G. R. Ver 7-9. 1. He that will be thankful must treasure up in his heart and memory the courtesy that is done him; so had David done, and therefore he mentions his heart; and to make it more emphatic, he names it again, My heart. 2. After he remembers it, he must be affected with it, and resolve upon it; so doth David: My heart is ready, or else, My heart is fixed; confirmed I am in it to be thankful, and I cannot be altered. 3. It is not enough that a man carry about with him a thankful heart he must anunciare, tell it abroad, and make it known publicly what God hath done for him; yea, and do it joyfully too: I will, saith David, sing and give praise. 4. He must use all means he can to make it known-- "tongue, ""psaltery, "and "harp, "all are little enough. Whence, by an apostrophe, David turns to these. Awake, my glory: i.e., Tongue, awake; lute and harp, awake; I myself will awake. 5. He must not do it in a sleepy manner, but with intention and earnestness of spirit: "Awake, awake, I will awake." 6. He must take the first opportunity to do it, and not hang off and delay it. I will awake early. 7. He must do it in such a place, and such an assembly as may most redound to God's honour: I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. William Nicholson. EXPOSITION Ver. 8. Awake up, my glory. Let the noblest powers of my nature bestir themselves: the intellect which conceives thought, the tongue which expresses it, and the inspired imagination which beautifies it --let all be on the alert now that the hour for praise has come. Awake, psaltery and harp. Let all the music with which I am familiar be well attuned for the hallowed service of praise. I myself will awake early. I will awake the dawn with my joyous notes. No sleepy verses and weary notes shall be heard from me; I will thoroughly arouse myself for this high employ. When we are at our best we fall short of the Lord's deserts, let us, therefore, make sure that what we bring him is our best, and, if marred with infirmity, at least let it not be deteriorated by indolence. Three times the psalmist calls upon himself to awake. Do we need so much arousing, and for such work? Then let us not spare it, for the engagement is too honourable, too needful to be left undone or ill done for want of arousing ourselves. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 7-8. See Psalms on "Psalms 50:7" for further information. Ver. 8. Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. We must prevent God by early praise as well as prayer: "The God of my mercy shall prevent me, "sings David; and every child of David must prevent God again with his songs. Jehoshaphat delighted God with instruments of music before his deliverance. Faith must tune an epinikion, a psalm of victory, before the triumph. Praise is the ingenious mother of future mercies; as the Virgin Mary sang at Hebron before the birth of her son at Bethlehem. Oh, heavenly contention between mercy and duty! Samuel Lee, 1625-1691. Ver. 8. Awake up, my glory, etc. We must sing with excited grace. Not only with grace habitual, but with excited and actual: the musical instrument delights not but when it is played upon. In this duty we must follow Paul's advice to Timothy (2 Timothy 1:6), anazwpurein, stir up the grace that is in us, and cry out as David, Awake love, awake delight. Psalms 57:8. The clock must be wound up before it can guide our time; the bird pleaseth not in her nest, but in her notes; the chimes only make music when they are going. Let us therefore beg the Spirit to blow upon our garden, that the spices thereof may flow out, when we set upon this joyous service. God loves active grace in duty, that the soul should be ready trimmed when it presents itself to Christ in any worship. John Wells, in "Morning Exercises, "1674. Ver. 8. I will awake early. Literally, `I will awake the dawn.' a bold figure of poetry, as if the writer had said, --The morning shall not awake me to praise; but in my songs I will anticipate the dawn. R. T. Society's Notes. Ver. 8. It will answer our purpose to take notice, first, of the terms David uses, and then, secondly, press the exhortation. Of the terms he uses: 1. My glory. That is my soul (say some) because the spirit of a man is the glory of a man, whereby he is dignified and raised so much above the brutes, as to be but a "little lower than the angels, "nay, to be akin to God himself, "the Father of spirits." My musical skill, say others, the glory of the artist above the unskilful; and that wherein David had the glory of excelling, as Jubal had of the first invention. My tongue, say others; for this is also the glory of a man above the dumb creatures, and the glory of a wise man above a fool. And as the tongue is the glory of a man, so the glory of the tongue is to glorify God. Praise is the glory of all other uses to which the tongue is employed; and the tongue is, in the body, that "temple of the Holy Ghost, "what the silver trumpet was in the temple of Solomon; to sound the high praises of God, and express the raised affections of our souls. 2. Awake, psaltery and harp. The one for a psalm, the other for a spiritual song or hymn; that is to say, all my musical instruments and skill I will employ in and consecrate to the glory of him who "puts new songs into my mouth." He first teaches my fingers to fight, and then to play the epinikion, or song of triumph. Sound, then, my psaltery and harp, emulous of those that are around the throne above; your melody can soften my cares, lay my fears, and turn my cave into a choir. As to these instruments in the worship of God, they were doubtless allowed to David, and to the church in his time. They were agreeable to the state of that church and people, who were led very much by their senses; and whose infant and less discerning condition made it needful for the natural man to have something to fasten upon and be entertained with in the worship of God and to sweeten and take off from the labour and burden of that service. But as the gospel worship and appointments are a more spiritual, pleasant, and reasonable service, and need them less, so in the gospel institution we find no footsteps of them; and we know who first brought them into the church, as well as who first brought them into the world. It is not my business here to dispute this matter; and he must at any time do it but indifferently, whose inclination is against him all the while, and whose genius tempts him to wish himself solidly confuted in all he can advance. But since I find these instruments in my text, and since the sound of such texts as these is made use of to turn the public worship so frequently into concerts of music, I shall leave them with this remark: that to let them alone, especially in public worship, though one thought them tolerable, has a much better grace with it than to declare them "sorely displeasing to God, and that they filthily defile his holy house and place of prayer." 3. I myself will awake early. And without this, all the rest have been an empty sound; there would have been no melody to the Lord, whatsoever good music he might have made to himself. He would not put God off with a sacrifice of mere air. He summons the attendance of all his powers. Himself is the offering; and his music plays to the sacrifice, as it goes up in holy affections and spiritual joys; and unless these accompany the song, the mere breath of an organ, or the trembling of the strings of an harp is as good devotion and less offensive to God. Consider the nature and excellency of the duty. Singing psalms is a compound of several other duties. It contains prayer to a very great advantage: the stretch of the voice does humour and lead on the earnest reaching of the mind after the desired blessing. It is the very element and breath of praise; and the apostle tells us that "teaching and admonishing one another" is performed in singing "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." For when we sing of judgment, it is awakening to sinners; and when we sing of mercy, it is comforting to all. Meditation cannot have a better help. The solemn movement of the time gives room for the mind to compass the full sense of the matter, and to impress it deep; and while the tongue is making the pause, the heart may make the elevation. In short, it gives an accent to all duty; it is the music of all other ordinances; it is adapted and suited to all circumstances; as appears from the psalms composed upon all occasions and subjects, doctrinal, prophetical, oratory, and historical; of praise and prayer, of grief and joy, in the penitential and complaining, in the triumphal and rejoicing; as if singing of psalms could stand for everything, and, like the manna in the wilderness, gives a taste of all the other food we enjoy in the house of God. Benjamin Grosvenor, D.D. (1675-1758), in "An Exhortation to the Duty of Singing, " Eastcheap Lectures, 1810. Ver. 8. The psaltery was a stringed instrument, usually with twelve strings, and played with the fingers. The harp or lyre was a stringed instrument, usually consisting of ten strings. Josephus says that it was struck or played with a key. It appears, however, that it was sometimes played with the fingers. Albert Barnes. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 7-9. See Psalms on "Psalms 57:7" for further information. Ver. 8. I myself will awake early. I will sleep lightly, for I am in an enemy's country; I will ask God to arouse me; I will set the alarm of watchfulness; I will hear the cock of providential warning; the light of the Sun shall arouse me; the activities of the church, the trumpet of my foes, and the bell of duty shall combine to awaken me. EXPOSITION Ver. 9. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. Gentiles shall hear my praise. Here is an instance of the way in which the truly devout evangelic spirit overleaps the boundaries which bigotry sets up. The ordinary Jew would never wish the Gentile dogs to hear Jehovah's name, except to tremble at it; but this grace taught psalmist has a missionary spirit, and would spread the praise and fame of his God. I will sing unto thee among the nations. However far off they may be, I would make them hear of thee through my glad psalmody. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 9. I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people. The Spirit of God who indited this scripture, made his penman know that the Gentiles should have the use of his Psalms. David Dickson. Ver. 9. The people--the nations. The Hebrew church was neither called nor qualified to be a missionary society, but it never ceased to desire and hope for the conversion of the nations. This is seen in those passages in which the psalmists betray a consciousness that they shall one day have all the world for auditors. How boldly does David exclaim, I will sing unto thee among the nations. In the same spirit, a later psalmist summons the church to lift up her voice, so that all the nations may hear her recital of the Lord's mighty acts: O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Psalms 105:1. The full import of this class of texts is often hidden from the English reader by the circumstance that our translators have hardly ever used the word people in its plural form. Twice in the Revelation they venture to write peoples; everywhere else the singular form has to do duty for both numbers; so that in not a few passages the sense is greatly obscured to those who have no access either to the original or to other versions. In the Psalms, in particular, the mention of the Gentiles is more frequent than the English reader is made aware of. It is to be observed, moreover, that in addition to this strain of indirect prediction, the conversion of the world is articulately celebrated in many glorious Psalms. Indeed, so numerous are these, and so generally distributed over the centuries between David and Ezra, that it would seem that at no time during the long history of inspired Psalmody, did the Spirit cease to indite new songs in which the children of Zion might give utterance to their world embracing hopes. William Binnie, D.D., in "The Psalms: their History, Teachings, and Use, "1870. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 7-9. See Psalms on "Psalms 57:7" for further information. Ver. 9. Who? I. What? Will praise. Whom? Thee, O Lord. Where? Among the people. Why? Ver. 9. Public profession. I. A necessity. II. A privilege. III. A duty. R. A. G. EXPOSITION Ver. 10. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens. Right up from man's lowliness to heaven's loftiness mercy reaches. Imagination fails to guess the height of heaven, and even thus the riches of mercy exceed our highest thoughts. The psalmist, as he sits at the cave's mouth and looks up to the firmament, rejoices that God's goodness is more vast and more sublime than even the vaulted skies. And thy truth unto the clouds. Upon the cloud he sets the seal of his truth, the rainbow, which ratifies his covenant; in the cloud he hides his rain and snow, which prove his truth by bringing to us seedtime and harvest, cold and heat. Creation is great, but the Creator greater far. Heaven cannot contain him; above clouds and stars his goodness far exceeds. EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 10-11. A hard and ungrateful heart beholds even in prosperity only isolated drops of divine grace; but a grateful one like David's, though chased by persecutors, and striking the harp in the gloom of a cave, looks upon the mercy and faithfulness of God as a mighty ocean, waving and heaving from the earth to the clouds, and from the clouds to the earth again. Agustus F. Tholuck. HINTS TO THE VILLAGE PREACHER Ver. 10. The mercy of God reaches to the heavens. I. As a throne. God is exalted in our eyes by his mercy. II. As a ladder. By mercy we ascend from earth to heaven. III. As a rainbow. Present and past mercies argue exemption for the saints from the wrath of heaven. IV. As a mountain. Its base is on the earth though its summit is lost in clouds. The influence of the cross towers to the heaven of heavens. Who can tell the glory of the summit of this mountain, whose base is refulgent with glory! R. A. G. Ver. 10. The amazing greatness of mercy. I. It is not said merely that it is high as heaven, but great unto the heavens. It is high as the heavens, overtopping the greatest sin, and highest thought of man. II. It is wide as the far reaching sky, compassing men of all ages, countries, classes, etc. III. It is deep. Everything of God is proportionate; this, therefore, is deep in abiding foundation, and infinite wisdom. EXPOSITION Ver. 11. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens. A grand chorus. Take it up, ye angels and ye spirits made perfect, and join in it, ye sons of men below, as ye say, Let thy glory be above all the earth. The prophet in the previous verse spoke of mercy "unto the heavens, "but here his song flies "above the heavens; "praise rises higher, and knows no bound EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS Ver. 10-11. See Psalms on "Psalms 57:10" for further information. Ver. 11. Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, etc. Greater words of prayer than these never came from human lips. Heaven and earth have as they imply, a mutually interwoven history, and the blessed, glorious end of this is in the sunrise of the Divine glory over both. Franz Delitzsch, 1869. THE MAKING OF A MAN OF GOD ALAN REDPATH I Samuel 24:1-22 Chapter 10 LOVING YOUR ENEMIES God has a great purpose of blessing, a great destiny for David, but at this point he was being put through the crucible of testing to determine his fitness for what God had planned for him. Therefore, in a very real sense we are studying the life story of each of us as Christians. It is not the will of our Father in heaven that anyone should perish. It is His concern that each of us should come to know Him who to know is life eternal, and that we should become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. This is the great destiny that God has for us, and only in the realization of it can we find real peace and happiness. But in order that it might be fulfilled, God often uses the flame, as Peter said, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). David was now at a point of greater danger than any he had hitherto experienced. It is always God’s way to use each victory that we have won by grace as the background for the next phase of testing at a deeper level. That is part of the making of a man of God. Here then, in 1 Samuel 24 and 26, we find David presented with two golden opportunities to rid himself of his enemy, Saul, to shorten the day of suffering, and to make a grab for the throne which God had promised him. David, with his six hundred men, had taken refuge at a place called Engedi, which means “the haunt of a wild goat.” This was a very mountainous area southwest of the Dead Sea in which were many caves and great rocks, and there David was sheltered. One day Saul, with his three thousand picked men, hunted for David through this rocky country where it would be very difficult to find anyone. David and his men were hiding in a cave, pressed around the sides of it as they watched Saul’s men march by, then Saul himself turned suddenly and came inside to get a little shelter from the heat. As he entered the darkness from the brilliance of the sunshine, he could see nothing inside; he was completely unaware of the presence of David and his men. Then he decided to take a nap in the coolness. What a chance for David! Breathlessly his men waited; perhaps they whispered some advise to him, saying in effect, “Here is your opportunity! God has brought your enemy right within your reach and you can destroy him easily. You can end all our hardship and suffering and sit on the throne today!” (1 Samuel 24:4). You can imagine with what intensity they watched their leader slip stealthily through the dimness with a dagger in his hand-they expected to see it driven into Saul’s back. Imagine their amazement when David just cut a bit off the end of Saul’s robe and quietly returned to his hiding place in the darkness. They had thought David brave, but he must have seemed to them a coward at that moment. What a fool he was to miss such a chance to get rid of his powerful enemy! Notice David’s words; he was ashamed that he had done even the little he had to Saul: “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord” (1 Samuel 24:6). David controlled himself, and what is even more remarkable, he also controlled the six hundred men who were with him; he “stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul.” When Saul eventually left the cave, David ran after him into the open and confronted him with the evidence of his mercy, proving to him that he had no intention of harming him. David asked Saul whom he thought he was chasing: saying in effect “After whom is the king of Israel come out? I am as helpless as a dead dog and as hard to catch as a flea. Why don’t you leave me alone?” (1 Samuel 24:14). On another occasion, recorded in chapter 26, Saul was again on the chase with his three thousand men, and David found him at night, in his camp asleep. Apparently without putting a sentry on duty, Saul, with Abner his captain and the whole army, made camp and went to sleep while David and his men watched them. David took with him a trusted friend, Abishai, and together they went down into the valley, stealthily creeping into the midst of the camp until they came to where Saul was asleep, and Abner; and once again there was made to David the same whispered suggestion. Abishai used word like these, “God has delivered your enemy into your hand again. If your are squeamish about killing him yourself, let me do it for you. I will smite him with a spear right through the heart into the earth beneath him-one stroke and that will be the finish, I won’t need to repeat it” (1 Samuel 26:8). Once again from David came the same reply: “Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the anointed, and be guiltless?” Then they withdrew, taking Saul’s spear and his water bottle. Safely away from Saul’s camp, to relieve the tension of that tremendous moment, they shouted back across the valley at the sleeping army, waking them all up and taunting Abner with being asleep on duty. David had missed another opportunity of getting rid of his enemy, of ending his suffering. Surely, when a chance to get even with someone who has done you wrong presents itself, you should take it. When the opportunity comes to escape from a tight corner, you ought to take the initiative. Or should you? What do we learn from the narrative in these chapters to bless our own hearts? First of all, see the principle which David has learned. Though Saul was rejected by the Lord, yet the man was still the Lord’s anointed. Others insisted you have to love your friends and hate your enemies, but somehow David learned what the Lord Jesus came to teach us, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you” (Matthew 5:44). If David had slain Saul he would have been taking things out of God’s hands, and to seize the initiative himself could have been disastrous. It was far better for David to await God’s time than to attempt to help Him to do something merely because circumstances were uncongenial. When a moment like this comes in life, we need to be aware of it. How easy it is to take the initiative, how hard to wait for God! How painful perhaps are the circumstances, but how much more painful are the consequences of action outside God’s will! How hard it is to learn the lesson which our Lord practiced, “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again…but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously” (1 Peter 2:23). How difficult it is to wait for the slowly unfolding purpose of God; how much easier to take things into our own hands and make a dash for it! Always it is hard to “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13). To Saul, David said, “The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee” (1 Samuel 24:12). In other words, David knew that God had put him into that situation for a purpose that He knew best, because He had a great destiny for David’s life. Because God had put him there, David trusted Him to get him out without his having to lift one little finger to help, neither would he allow anyone with whom he was connected to do anything about it. No matter what the situation may be, God’s child needs to learn to wait and watch for the Lord, who has put him there to prove the kind of stuff he is made of. “My soul, wait thou only upon God.” Because David learned that principle, he refused to take the initiative and account of God’s will. When a man learns that lesson he is getting somewhere spiritually, and he is about to see liberated through his life a new measure of power. See what happened because David took this line. Think of the effect, for instance, upon himself. Just suppose he had given way and had killed his enemy. That would have ended the song in his heart; it would have silenced his music and put an end to the Psalms that he wrote. He would have gone through life with a bad conscience and a shadow from the past. Much later, David had a very sad experience and had to live again for a while in exile. His son Absalom had rebelled against him, and as David was about to return to Jerusalem, a man named Shimei came to curse him. He tried to tell David that this rejection by his people had happened because the Lord was rewarding him for his shameful treatment of Saul (II Samuel 16:8). David knew the accusation was not true, but if he had acted out of God’s will here it would have been true. He knew that he had not done anything to bring about Saul’s death, and therefore God delivered him from the curse of Shimei. What would have been the effect on his six hundred men? There are many evidences that the gentleness of David and his love for Saul influenced his men and showed up as part of their character in the days that lay ahead. If David had acted wrongly it would have affected his whole army, and much of his godly influence would have been lost. Most of all, what about Saul himself? “And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept” (I Samuel 24:16). “Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly…Then Saul said to David, Blessed by thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place” (I Samuel 26:21,25). This poor wretched man, who spent his days battling against God, had suddenly come face to face with the love and patience of God shining out through another man’s life, and for a moment it melted Saul. There is a pathetic remembrance of days when things were different between them: “My son David,” he reminded himself of the sweet family relationship. There was a confession of sin, “I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” It would seem that just for a moment, like a flash of lightning, this man was melted by the power of love and saw his stupidity and folly. But alas, he had been so held in the grip of passion that he no longer had power to shake off his madness. It is only the love of God shed abroad by the Holy Spirit that can cause effective repentance and cleansing – not simply Christian work or service, but the shining sweetness and fragrance of the love of Jesus Christ. It is this which touches a life that is out of adjustment to the will of God. It is this which makes a man realize he has been a fool and that he has sinned. It is love that melts coldness of heart and brings conviction. That is why Calvary has such magnificence; that is why at Jesus’ cry, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” thousands of hearts have been melted by the love of God revealed to them there. That is why the practice of love in your life liberates spiritual power as nothing else can. It is not simply the distributing of a tract; it is not the preaching of a sermon or the teaching of a Sunday school class. It is something far deeper: a life saturated with love, a life that has learned the principle that David learned, to love not merely your friends, but also your enemies; and a life that has learned, also, to wait upon God. But what a miserable picture Saul is! This man let passion and sin drive him right over the precipice until he seems almost beyond hope. What is the use of saying, “I have played the fool,” if he goes on playing the fool? What use are his tears and confession before David if he doesn’t act upon his remorse? We sometimes see people streaming down the aisle in an evangelistic meeting with tear-stained faces, but what difference does emotion make if it does not lead to obedience? What profit is it that a heart has been stirred, unless from that moment the man lives in submission to the will of God? Indeed, it does make a difference, for if a man is emotionally upset, as Saul was, and awakens to his condition, but only weeps about it and still doesn’t obey God, his second state is a thousand times worse than the first. Emotion that does not lead to action only leads deeper into sin and rebellion. I am fearful for the man who is not far from the kingdom of God, who has often wept under the sound of the preaching of the gospel, who has often seen the reality of the love of God in Jesus Christ at the cross, who has often recognized his own sinful ways and said, “I have played the fool,” but five minutes after the message is over he is outside the church, all conviction forgotten. He has silenced the holy emotion and has gone out to live in disobedience again, in spite of the stirring of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Remember that Saul was anointed of God; he had been given the same privileges and opportunities that David had. The one accepted His anointing with godly fear, submission, and yieldedness. The other refused the principle of obedience and faith, and became an outcast. Eternity is decided by a series of choices which each of us makes in the course of life. How near repentance did Saul come when he felt the impact of David’s love? It was the love of God in David’s life that awakened him, even though he went back into his stubborn ways. What made David behave like that? How did he learn this principle of love? Why didn’t he take advantage of Saul? We have often wanted to behave like that, but we have failed to do it. How did David succeed? As a matter of fact, the answer is very simple. In these studies we have not only narrative, but we have heart experience. The narrative is in the books of Samuel; the experience is in the book of the Psalm. David opened his heart to show what was going on in it. At this time he wrote Psalm 57, where we find out how he learned love and graciousness. Here is how David learned not to hurry God, but to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. In Psalm 57:4, he spoke about his enemies: “My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” Have you ever been in a position like that? David recognized his enemies, who were there all along. But he prayed and talked with God alone in the secret place with the door shut. The greatest fact of all was not his enemies, but God; and the fear of the enemy was overcome by faith in his God. Listen to the opening verses: “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee; yea, in the shadow of they wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” Like a mother bird under whose warm and protecting wing a little chick is secure, so David’s Lord is his place of refuge. With the enemy all around him, and with the hatred of Saul getting more intense day by day, this is what David said: “I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me. [He does the performing; I do the waiting.] He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah [just think of that!]. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth” (Psalm 57:2-3). So David lies down to rest on the promises of God, and puts himself under the protection of His wings, although the enemy is still around him. It is a wonderful Old Testament picture, and there is a New Testament story to match it. In Acts 12 we read that Simon Peter was put in prison and was to be beheaded the next morning. Prayer was held for him that night in the city – every believer in Jerusalem was wide awake praying for Peter. But he was fast asleep, probably the only Christian asleep there that night. How could he sleep? Only a few weeks previously in a personal interview the Lord Jesus had said to him, “Simon, when thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old…another shall gird thee” (John 21:18). That night in jail, with his head due to come off the next morning, Simon reflected upon the promise of the Lord and said to himself, “Well, my Lord said that I would be old, and that was only a few weeks ago, so no matter what Herod may try, he can’t touch me. I am going to sleep.” So he lay down on the promises of God. Charles Wesley reflects this faith in his beautiful hymn: Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly, While the nearer waters roll, While the tempest still is high: Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, Till the storm of life is past; Safe into the haven guide; Oh receive my soul at last! The soul of David, among deadly enemies, overcame all its fears by faith in the promises of God. He left all the issues of the day in the Almighty Hands, and out of his life of intimate fellowship with God there arose the power that could keep six hundred ruffians in subjection to his rule and bring conviction to the heart of an ungodly man like Saul. For David had learned his lesson in this desperate moment of his experience: he must refuse to take the initiative and he must lean upon the living God. David, who was under the authority of the Lord, became the one in authority over all the others. But Saul, proud and arrogant, rebelled against the sovereignty of God and became a pathetic, tragic figure: a slave to himself, his passion and his sin, only a puppet king of a decaying kingdom. See those two pictures plainly before you: into which could you step and say it is true of you? Basically, you are in one or the other of these situations. You may be walking with God in the light of His Word, having come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and having submitted gladly to Hs rule in all things, though you may be often tested until it is almost beyond your endurance. Many times you may have been tempted to get your own back or to take a step out of God’s will, but you have refused and have instead waited upon God. You are hiding under the shadow of His wings in absolute peace, and you are watching God work through your life in power. Or you have said “No” at some point in your life to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though anointed by the same Spirit and given the same privileges and opportunities, you are moving out of God’s will, out of the stream of blessing, out of the place of power and victory, out of the place of authority – one day (as Paul feared concerning himself), having proclaimed the rules to others, to be yourself cast away. Which is it with you? It is never too late to begin again, to come to Calvary and submit to the authority of our crucified, risen Saviour: you may do that right now.