Their beauty from their dwelling shall 15 But from hell's hand God will me free, 16 Be thou not then afraid when one Nor when the glory of his house wicked rich men, as contrasted with that of the righteous. The latter are to have dominion over them in the morning, which must intend that of the resurrection of such characters, when released from the chains of the second death. Every dominion of God's appointment is for edification and not for destruction, except of the old man, and his deeds; and so must that of the upright over the wicked. The latter shall arise, whence the Psalmist says, When they arise, they shall be ashamed-Mine adver saries (viz. those of Messiah) shall be clothed with shame, that is, true repentance, Psal. cix. 28, 29. It is also added-And they shall cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle, a term used by Daniel to denote true repentance, chap. ix. Job speaks of some who rise not till the heavens be no more, an unknown duration after the first resurrection and the day of judgment, Job. xiv. 12. Rev..xxi. 1. Let us covet these riches of which death cannot rob us, and that beauty which the grave cannot consume; and also rejoice that even those on whom the second death shall feed, and all whose beauty shall be consumed in its grave, shall yet have a proper resurrection, even the vilest of them, when the righteous shall have them for their subjects, and be made an eminent blessing to them in the character of kings, to rule over them, and of priests to intercede for thein, and instruct them in the great things of God and salvation.. Verse 15. But God will redeem my soul, &c. That the body or animal frame is not here intended by the original term rendered the soul, as commentators imagine, appears evident from the above remarks. The hell to which the spirits of wicked men go, at death, is surely intended; for natural death feeds on the bodies of good men as readily as on those of the wicked, and the grave consumes their outward beauty as really as that of the ungodly. This is farther evident from the reason he assigns; for he shall receive me, not sure his body, but his seperate spirit, which the Psalmist so often committed to God in the view of death. The writer of this Psalm exults in the certain hope of a total exemption from that deaths which succeeds the dissolution of the body, and that grave into which the spirits of wicked men are cast when they leave the body, like that of Dives; but he could not promise himself deliverance from natural death and it: grave. Verses 16, 17. Be not thou afraid; when one is made rich; &c. A greater than David, if he was the writer of this, may be viewed as exhorting his peo ple in the following verses. He exhorts them not to fear man, even when S 17 For he shall carry nothing hence, 18 Although he his own soul did bless (And when thou to thyself dost well, 19 He to his fathers' race shall go, possessed of power and wealth, but to view him as divested of all at death, and then going whither he shall carry nothing away; as going whither his glory shall not descend after him, and then that he will cease to be an object of dread or envy. Verse 18. Though whilst he lived, he blessed his soul; &c. He may, like the fool in the gospel, say, Soul, thou hast goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry; but death will soon shew the folly of such hopes, perhaps, the very night they are expressed. Such folly however, will not want admirers and imitators; men will praise thee when thou doest thus well to thyself. But the testimony of God, and of an approving conscience, is infinitely preferable. Verse 19. He shall go to the generation of his fathers, &c. This must not be confined to the grave, nor is the body the man, to which the personal 'pronoun he applies. They that copy the example of their fathers in what is evil, must follow them at death to that state of punishment where it fares ill with the wicked. The text says--they shall never see light. This clause is constructed into a direct denial of any subsequent restoration from a state of sin and misery, to one of holiness and bliss; properly understood, it proves the reverse. The original word, notsach) if taken as a noun, denotes victory, mastery, superiority, if as a participle subdued; which, with the negative particle not, is made never in our version. The clause may then be rendered---they shall never see light till subdued, or, till the mastery, over them. Elihu uses the term connected with another, (grad) which is also asserted to denote eternity, or endless duration, Job. xxxiv. 36. The word is there rendered end, and the verse thus on margin, My father, let Job be tried to the end, because of his answers for which must intend, till he is subdued, or forced to give up >these pleas that serve to justify wicked men. But can we suppose that he prayed God would continue to try. Job throughout all duration? The text then means, that the wicked, who die in their sins, shall not see light, or enjoy happiness, even till they are humbled and subdued; whi,h per fectly agrees with the introduction to the Psalm, Hear this, all ye peoples, -give car, all ye inhabitants of the world, and shews how that call shall be realized, or secure a perfect result in the recovery of all. wicked men; 20 Man honour'd wanting knowledge is Like beasts that perish quite. PSALM L. 1 THE mighty God, the LORD, 2 From out of Zion hill, Which of excellency, And beauty the perfection is, Our God shall surely come, Before him fire shall waste, great storms 4 Unto the heavens clear He from above shall call, And to the earth likewise, that he Verse 20. Man, Heb. Adam, that is in honour, &c. * This informi us, agreeably to the scope of the whole Psalm, that all those who continue in Adam's lapsed state till death, whence they derive his name, earthy, red earth, to themselves, and so remain devoid of true understanding, are like the beasts that perish. As he was turned out of Paradise to subsist on the produce of the earth; so shall they at death be excluded from the state of bliss above; because they sought no higher felicity than what terminates in that part of our nature, by which we are allied to the inferior creatures. But as Adam was restored, though degraded by transgression to a state resembling that of the brute creation; so shall they when that earth, where they receive their punishment, shall become a new earth in which righteousness and bliss shall endless dwell. Thus the Psalm is one, and ends as it began. * See Antidote against Deism, pages 165, 166. 5 Together let my saints Unto me gather'd be, Those that by sacrifice have made A covenant with me. And then the heavens shall His righteousness declare: 7 My people Isr'el hear, Speak will I from on high, 8 I for thy sacrifice No blame will on thee lay, 9 I'll take no calf nor goats From house or fold of thine; 10 For beasts of forests, cattle all On thousand hills, are mine. 11 The fowls on mountains high Wild beasts which in the fields do lie, 12 Then, if I hungry were, I would not tell it thee; Because the world, and fulness all 13 Will I eat flesh of bulls? Or goats' blood drink will I? 14 Thanks offer thou to God, and pay Thy vows to the most High. 15 And call upon me when In trouble thou shalt be; I will deliver thee, and thou My name shalt glorify. 16 But to the wicked man God saith, My laws and truth Should'st thou declare? how dar'st thou take 17 Sith thou instruction hat'st, Which should thy ways direct; 18 When thou a thief didst see, With him thou didst consent; 19 Thou giv'st thy mouth to ill, Thy tongue deceit doth frame; 20 Thou sit'st and 'gainst thy brother speak's, Thy Mother's son dost shame. 21 Because I silence kept, While thou these things hast wrought, That I was altogether like Thyself, hath been thy thought: Yet I will thee reprove, And set before thine eyes, In order ranked, thy misdeeds, 22 Now, ye that God forget, 23 Whoso doth offer praise Will shew him God's salvation, That orders right his way. |