Ver. 4. "Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust."]-For such are safe and secure in him, are possessed of all blessings of grace through him, have peace in their own souls now, and shall enjoy eternal happiness with him hereafter.

"And respecteth not the proud."]-Such as the pharisees, and all self-righteous persons, who trust in themselves and their own righteousness.

Ver. 5. "Many, O Lord, my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward."-That is, the decrees of God, the purposes, counsels, and intentions of God, which though mentioned last, are before his works, and are the spring of them: these were in the mind of God from everlasting, were unknown till revealed, were thoughts of peace, and not of evil, and are abiding and ever fulfilled, and are manifold, precious, and amazing, Psalm cxxxix. 17. and these were concerning all the elect of God, as considered in Christ.

Ver. 6. "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire."] -These were desired, willed, and appointed by God, and that very early, even from the times of our first parents, and, when performed aright, were acceptable to God, quite down to the times of the Messiah. The meaning of the words is, that it was not the will of God, at the time this passage refers to, that legal sacrifices should continue any longer; and that they should not be offered up, even by good men, in the best manner, and to the best ends and purposes, the time being come that a better sacrifice should be offered, which was the sum and substance of them, and was prefigured by them.

"Mine ears hast thou opened."]-Or dug, or bored. The phrase signifies the formation and excavation of the ear, or the preparing and fitting it for its use; that is, to hearken to the will of his heavenly Father, to become man, offer himself a sacrifice, and suffer and die in the room of his people; to which he became obedient, taking upon him the form of a servant, when fashioned in fashion as a man, and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; see Isaiah 1. 4-6. Heb. x. 5.

Ver. 7. "Then said I, Lo! I come."]-The word lo, is prefixed as a note of attention and admiration, the incar nation of Christ being wonderful, and of the utmost moment and importance.

"In the volume of the book it is written of me.”]— Either in the book of divine predestination, in the purposes and decrees of God, Psalm cxxxix. 16. or in the book of the scriptures; either in general, John v. 39. Luke xxiv. 27, 44. or particularly in the book of Psalms, Psalm i. 1, 2. and ii. 2, 6, 7.

Ver. 8. "I delight to do thy will, O my God."]-This he came down from heaven to do, and this he did do, by preaching the gospel, and working miracles, and, above all, by obtaining eternal redemption for his people, which he effected by fulfilling the law, becoming a sacrifice, and suffering and dying in their room; all which were the will of God, and grateful to him, and in doing which Christ took the utmost delight and pleasure, John iv. 34. Luke xii. 50.

Ver. 9. "I have preached righteousness in the great congregation."]-Not the righteousness which the law requires men to do; but the righteousness which Christ himself wrought out, for the justification of them that believe; this he was a preacher, as well as the author of, and is part of the glad tidings he was anointed to preach, Isaiah Ixi. 1. and the word here used signifies, for the most part, the publishing of good tidings.

Ver. 10. "I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart: I have declared thy faithfulness, and thy salvation."]-That is, the faithfulness of God in executing all his purposes, counsels, and decrees, which are said to be faithfulness and truth; and in fulfilling his covenant and promises relating to the redemption and salvation of men by Christ; and in the mission of Christ into this world on that account; and in the accomplishment of all the prophecies of the old testament concerning him; and in making good all the particular promises of support, help, and strength, made to the Messiah himself: and by his salvation is meant that which is of God the Father's appointing, continuing, and settling in the council and covenant of grace, which he sent his son to be the author of, and which he has obtained, and is the great doctrine of the gospel preached by himself.

Ver. 12. "Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me."] -Not any committed by Christ; he was conceived, born, and lived without sin, knew none, nor did he any; but the sins of his people, which were imputed to him, and laid upon him, and which he voluntarily took and bore, and which he reckoned as his own; as they were committed

by the members of his own body, they became not inhe rently, but relatively, his own; as when a wife contracts a debt, it becomes the busband's by virtue of the marriage-relation, so by virtue of the near union of the church to Christ, as his spouse and bride, her sins became his; and therefore he looks upon them as a husband looks upon the debt of his wife as his own. These, when he hung upon the cross, came upon him from all the elect, and he bore them in his own body upon the tree.

"So that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of mine head."]-As they must needs be, since they were the iniquities of all the elect of God, of the whole general assembly and church of the first-born, written in heaven, Isaiah liii. 6.

"Therefore my heart faileth me."]-As man; see Psalm xxii. 14. though being supported by his divine nature, and by his divine Father and eternal Spirit, he failed not, nor was he discouraged, Isaiah xlii. 4.

Ver. 16. Let such as love thy salvation."]-Either Christ, who is God's salvation, Gen. xlix. 18. Isaiah xlix.' 6. Luke ii. 29, 30. and who is loved by his people, universally, superlatively, and sincerely; or the salvation of him, his deliverance from the grave, resurrection from the dead, and exaltation; the benefits of which believers share in, and so have reason to love it.

PSALM XLI.

In the beginning of this psalm the prophet speaks in his own person, de claring the blessedness of him that regards the poor and needy; that is, of him who so graciously regarded our poor and needy souls :then, ver. 4. this blessed man Christ Jesus is introduced, confessing and bewailing, as if his own, the sins of his mystical body, and begging it may be delivered from those who in its distresses (represented here under the figure of his sickness) are plotting against it; professing his readiness to be still doing good to them, and blessing the Lord for thus upholding or enabling him to preserve his integrity by doing it; to teach us what we should be doing, when we are in any measure enabled to imitate this divine example, by loving and doing good to our enemies.

VER. 1. "Blessed is he that considereth the poor."] -Not the poor of the world in common, nor poor saints in particular, but some single poor man; for the word is in the singular number, and designs our Lord Jesus Christ, who, in

the last verse of the preceding psalm, is said to be "poor and needy;" who became poor for our sakes, that we might be enriched by his poverty: which consideration will engage to and encourage faith and hope in him, lead to adore his wonderful grace, and to admire his condescension and humility in becoming poor and weak; as also who considers that the poverty of Christ was for our sakes, and that we might be made rich with the riches of grace and glory.

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Ver. 4. "I said, Lord, be merciful unto me."]-See the note on Psalm xl. 11, 12.

"Heal my soul."]-Not that it was diseased with sin in such sense as the souls of other men are; but it is to be understood as a petition for comfort whilst bearing the sins of others, and which Christ, as man, stood in need of when in the garden, and on the cross; so healing signifies comfort in trouble, as in Isaiah lvii. 18, Mal. iv. 2.

"For I have sinned against thee."]-Or unto thee, or before; not that any sin was committed by him in his own person, but he having all the sins of his people on him, which he calls his own, Psalm xl. 12. He was treated as a sinner, and as guilty before God. Isa. liii. 12. Which shews that Christ did not only suffer for sin by engagement, as a surety to pay the church's debt, but by virtue of union as her husband, thereby counting her sins his own.

Ver. 9." Hath lifted up his heel against me."]-By supplanting him, dealing hypocritically with him, and betraying him into the hands of his enemies: which shews the ingratitude, baseness, and treachery of Judas: see John xiii. 18.

Ver. 10. "But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up."]-Not from a bed of illness, nor from a state of poverty and want; but from the dead: it was by the will of his divine Father that he suffered death, and it was to him he made satisfaction and reconciliation for the sins of his people, by his sufferings and death; and therefore it was but a reasonable request, that, having done this, he should be raised from the dead.

Ver. 11. "By this I know that thou favourest me."]— Or, delightest in me, as he did both as his Son and his servant in his obedience, sufferings, and death, whereby his counsels were accomplished, his covenant ratified, and the salvation of his people procured; which delight and well pleasedness in him was the ground of his deliverance from the power of death and the grave; see Psalm xviii. 19, and

xxii. 8.

Ver. 12. "And settest me before thy face for ever."]After his resurrection he was introduced into the presence of his Father, and was made glad with his countenance; where he sits before him as the angel of his presence, and appears in the presence of God in the behalf of his people; is the lamb in the midst of the throne, as though he had been slain where his person, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, are ever in view for their acceptance, and where he ever lives to make intercession for them; for here he will continue until the time of the restitution of all things.

PSALM XLII.

The prophet here may be conceived to represent the church, or mystical body of Christ, labouring under that distressed and persecuted state, which the foregoing psalm points at under the image of his sickness, and which in the latter days it is to be feared will be most dreadful. It laments therefore (under the figure of one driven to the banks of Jordan) its banishment from the house of God, and the pleasures of his sanctuary. It pants and longs to be restored to them, but corrects its weakness in giving way to desponding thoughts, even though all the waves and storms of divine providence were then passing over it. At length it feels a lively hope that his mercies will be renewed, and those insults of its oppressing enemies, which pierced it as with a sword, restrained.

VER. 2. "My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God."-Particularly for his loving-kindness, which is better than life; it is a pure river of water of life, the streams whereof make glad the saints: and hence it is that the psalmist thirsted after God, and the discoveries of his love, saying,

"When shall I come and appear before God?"]Meaning not in heaven, as desiring the beatific vision, but in the tabernacle, where were the worship of God, and the ark, the symbol of the divine presence, and where the Israelites appeared before him, even in Zion; see Psalm lxxxiv. 7.

Ver. 5. "Hope thou in God."]-For the pardon of sin; for which there is good ground of hope, and so no reason to be cast down on account of it; for strength against satan's temptations, which is to be had in Christ, as well as righteousness; and for the appearance of God, and the discoveries of his love, who has his set time to favour