PSALM 36 COMME�TARYEDITED BY GLE�� PEASE

I�TRODUCTIO�

SPURGEO�, "Title. To the Chief Musician, He who had the leadership of the Temple service was charged with the use of this song in public worship. What is everybody's business is never done. It was well to have one person specially to attend to the service of song in the house of the Lord. Of David the servant of the Lord. This would seem to indicate that the Psalm peculiarly befits one who esteems it an honour to be called Jehovah's servant. It is THE SO�G OF HAPPY SERVICE; such a one as all may join in who bear the easy yoke of Jesus. The wicked are contrasted with the righteous, and the great Lord of devout men is heartily extolled; thus obedience to so good a Master is indirectly insisted on, and rebellion against him is plainly condemned.Divisions. From Psalms 36:1-4 David describes the rebellious: in Psalms 36:5-9 he extols the various attributes of the Lord; in Psalms 36:10-11 he addresses the Lord in prayer, and in the last verse his faith sees in vision the overthrow of all the workers of iniquity.

ELLICOTT, "This psalm consists of three distinctly defined stanzas of nearly equal length. The first portrays the wicked man who has reached the lowest grade of impiety. The second exalts the goodness and justice of God. The third, which is, in a sort, a practical application of the others, expresses, under the form of a prayer, the right choice to make between the two tendencies, the pious and the impious. The sudden transition at the end of the first stanza has led some critics to pronounce the psalm composite. But what else can the heart, which would not sink beneath the oppressive sense of the accumulated sin and misery of earth, do, but turn suddenly and confidently to the thought of an infinite and abiding goodness and truth. The only resource of faith that would not fail is to appeal from earth to heaven, and see, high over all the fickleness and falsehood of men, the faithfulness of God: strong above all the insolence and tyranny of the wicked His eternal justice: large, deep, and sure, when all other supports seem to fail, His vast and unchanging love.

Those who understand by “God’s house,” in Psalms 36:8, the Temple, reject the Davidic authorship. But understood of the world generally, or, better, of the heavenly abode of the Divine, it does not serve as an indication of date, and there is nothing else in the poem to decide when it was written. The parallelism is varied.

Title.—For “servant of the Lord,” as applied to David, see Psalms 18 (title).

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord.

1 I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:[b]There is no fear of God before their eyes.

BAR�ES, "The transgression of the wicked - There is considerable difficulty in respect to the grammatical construction of the Hebrew in this verse, though the general sense is plain. The main idea undoubtedly is, that the fair explanation of the conduct of the wicked, or the fair inference to be derived from that conduct was, that they had no fear of God before them; that they did in no proper way regard or fear God. The psalmist introduces himself as looking at the conduct or the acts of the wicked, and he says that their conduct can be explained, in his judgment, or “in his heart,” in no other way than on this supposition. The word “transgression” here refers to some open and public act. What the particular act was the psalmist does not state, though probably it had reference to something which had been done to himself. What is here said, however, with particular reference to his enemies, may be regarded as a general truth in regard to the wicked, to wit, that their conduct is such that the fair interpretation of what they do is, that there is no “fear of God before their eyes,” or that they have no regard for his will.

Saith - This word - ne'ûm נאם - is a participle from a verb, נאם nâ'am, meaning to

mutter; to murmur; to speak in a low voice; and is employed especially with reference to the divine voice in which the oracles of God were revealed to the prophets. Compare 1Ki_19:12. It is found most commonly in connection with the word “Lord” or “Yahweh,” expressed by the phrase “Saith the Lord,” as if the oracle were the voice of Yahweh. Gen_22:16; Num_14:28; Isa_1:24; Isa_3:15, “et saepe.” It is correctly rendered here “saith;” or, the “saying” of the transgression of the wicked is, etc. That is, this is what their conduct “says;” or, this is the fair interpretation of their conduct.

Within my heart - Hebrew: “in the midst of my heart.” Evidently this means in my judgment; in my apprehension; or, as we should say, “So it seems or appears to me.” My heart, or my judgment, puts this construction on their conduct, and can put no other on it.

That there is “no fear of God - No reverence for God; no regard for his will. The sinner acts without any restraint derived from the law or the will of God.

Before his eyes - He does not see or apprehend God; he acts as if there were no God. This is the fair interpretation to be put upon the conduct of the wicked “everywhere” -that they have no regard for God or his law.

CLARKE, "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart - It is difficult to make any sense of this line as it now stands. How can the transgression of the

wicked speak with in my heart? But instead of לבי libbi, My heart, four of Kennicott’s and

De Rossi’s MSS. have לבו libbo, His heart. “The speech of transgression to the wicked is

in the midst of his heart.” “There is no fear of God before his eyes.” It is not by example that such a person sins; the fountain that sends forth the impure streams is in his own heart. There the spirit of transgression lives and reigns; and, as he has no knowledge of God, so he has no fear of God; therefore, there is no check to his wicked propensities: all come to full effect. Lust is conceived, sin is brought forth vigorously, and transgression is multiplied. The reading above proposed, and which should be adopted, is supported by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic, and Anglo-Saxon. This latter reads the sentence thus: which I shall give as nearly as possible in the order of the original. “Quoth the unrightwise, that he do guilt in himself: is not fear God’s at fore eyes his.” That is, The unrighteous man saith in himself that he will sin: God’s fear is not before his eyes. The old Psalter, in language as well as meaning, comes very near to the Anglo-Saxon: The unrightwis saide that he trespas in hym self: the drede of God es noght before his een. And thus it paraphrases the passage: The unryghtwis, that es the kynde [the whole generation] of wyked men; said in hym self, qwar man sees noght; that he trespas, that es, he synne at his wil, als [as if] God roght noght [did not care] qwat he did; and so it es sene, that the drede of God es noght by forehis een; for if he dred God, he durst noght so say.”

I believe these versions give the true sense of the passage. The psalmist here paints the true state of the Babylonians: they were idolaters of the grossest kind, and worked iniquity with greediness. The account we have in the book of Daniel of this people, exhibits them in the worst light; and profane history confirms the account. Bishop

Horsley thinks that the word פשע pesha, which we render transgression, signifies the

apostate or devil. The devil says to the wicked, within his heart, There is no fear; i.e., no cause of fear: “God is not before his eyes.” Placing the colon after fear takes away all ambiguity in connection with the reading His heart, already contended for. The principle of transgression, sin in the heart, says, or suggests to every sinner, there is no cause for fear: go on, do not fear, for there is no danger. He obeys this suggestion, goes on, and acts wickedly, as “God is not before his eyes.”

GILL, "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,.... Which is represented as a person speaking within him; not that the transgression of the wicked was really in him; sin was in him, and sin of the same kind and nature with the wicked man's; but he taking notice of and considering the wicked man's sinful course of life, and his daring impieties, conceived in his own mind, and concluded from hence,

that there is no fear of God before his eyes; no reverential affection for him, but enmity to him; no godly filial fear, but at most only a slavish fear, a fear of punishment; no holy and humble fear of him, but pride and wickedness; no fiducial and obediential fear, but all the reverse; true worship of him, either internally or externally: there can be no fear of God in any unregenerate man's, heart, because it is not of nature, but of grace, and is, what is implanted at first conversion; there is in some an appearance of it, where it is not really, whose fear is taught by the precept of men; and in others there may be

some awe of the divine Being, and trembling at the thought of a future judgment, arising from the dictates of nature, the light of revelation, and the enjoyment of a religious education; but in some there is no fear of God at all, and they are bold and daring enough to assert it themselves, as the unjust judge did, Luk_18:4. Such as the atheist, the common swearer, the debauchee and epicure, who give up themselves to all manner of wickedness, contemn revelation, despise the word of God, and regard no day nor manner of worship; and this notwithstanding the majesty of God, at whose presence they tremble not, and notwithstanding the goodness of God, which should induce them to fear him, and notwithstanding the judgment of God on others, and even on themselves; see Jer_3:8; and notwithstanding the future awful judgment, which they put far away or disbelieve. The Targum is, "transgression saith to the wicked within my heart"; and Jarchi's note upon the text is this,

"this text is to be transposed thus, it is in my heart, that transgression, which is the evil imagination, says to the wicked man, that there should be no fear of God before his eyes; and the phrase, "in the midst of my heart", is as if a man should say, so it seems to me.''

The Septuagint version, and those that follow it, render the words thus, "the transgressor said, that he might sin in himself, there is no fear of God before his eyes". Gussetius (b) interprets "before his eyes", before the eyes of God himself, who is so good a Being, that the sinner fears no punishment from him, but will pardon all his sins.

HE�RY 1-2, "David, in the title of this psalm, is styled the servant of the Lord; why in this, and not in any other, except in Ps. 18 (title), no reason can be given; but so he was, not only as every good man is God's servant, but as a king, as a prophet, as one employed in serving the interests of God's kingdom among men more immediately and more eminently than any other in his day. He glories in it, Psa_116:16. It is no disparagement, but an honour, to the greatest of men, to be the servants of the great God; it is the highest preferment a man is capable of in this world.

David, in these verses, describes the wickedness of the wicked; whether he means his persecutors in particular, or all notorious gross sinners in general, is not certain. But we have here sin in its causes and sin in its colours, in its root and in its branches.

I. Here is the root of bitterness, from which all the wickedness of the wicked comes. It takes rise, 1. From their contempt of God and the want of a due regard to him (Psa_36:1): “The transgression of the wicked (as it is described afterwards, Psa_36:3, Psa_36:4) saith within my heart (makes me to conclude within myself) that there is no fear of God before his eyes; for, if there were, he would not talk and act so extravagantly as he does; he would not, he durst not, break the laws of God, and violate his covenants with him, if he had any awe of his majesty or dread of his wrath.” Fitly therefore is it brought into the form of indictments by our law that the criminal, not having the fear of God before his eyes, did so and so. The wicked did not openly renounce the fear of God, but their transgression whispered it secretly into the minds of all those that knew any thing of the nature of piety and impiety. David concluded concerning those who lived at large that they lived without God in the world. 2. From their conceit of themselves and a cheat they wilfully put upon their own souls (Psa_36:2): He flattereth himself in his own eyes;that is, while he goes on in sin, he thinks he does wisely and well for himself, and either does not see or will not own the evil and danger of his wicked practices; he calls evil good and good evil; his licentiousness he pretends to be but his just liberty, his fraud passes for his prudence and policy, and his persecuting the people of God, he suggests to himself, is a piece of necessary justice. If his own conscience threaten him for what he

does, he says, God will not require it; I shall have peace though I go on. Note, Sinners are self-destroyers by being self-flatterers. Satan could not deceive them if they did not deceive themselves. Buy will the cheat last always? No; the day is coming when the sinner will be undeceived, when his iniquity shall be found to be hateful. Iniquity is a hateful thing; it is that abominable thing which the Lord hates, and which his pure and jealous eye cannot endure to look upon. It is hurtful to the sinner himself, and therefore ought to be hateful to him; but it is not so; he rolls it under his tongue as a sweet morsel, because of the secular profit and sensual pleasure which may attend it; yet the meat in his bowels will be turned, it will be the gall of asps, Job_20:13, Job_20:14. When their consciences are convinced, and sin appears in its true colours and makes them a terror to themselves - when the cup of trembling is put into their hands and they are made to drink the dregs of it - then their iniquity will be found hateful, and their self-flattery their unspeakable folly, and an aggravation of their condemnation

JAMISO�, "Psa_36:1-12. On servant of the Lord, see on Psa_18:1, title. The wickedness of man contrasted with the excellency of God’s perfections and dispensations; and the benefit of the latter sought, and the evils of the former deprecated.

The general sense of this difficult verse is, “that the wicked have no fear of God.” The first clause may be rendered, “Saith transgression in my heart, in respect to the wicked, there is no fear,” etc., that is, such is my reflection on men’s transgressions.

K&D 1-4, "(Heb.: 36:1-4) At the outset the poet discovers to us the wickedness of the children of the world, which has its roots in alienation from God. Supposing it wereadmissible to render Psa_36:2 : “A divine word concerning the evil-doing of the ungodly

is in the inward parts of my heart” (נאם with a genitive of the object, like א� which is ,מ

compared by Hofmann), then the difficulty of this word, so much complained of, might find the desired relief in some much more easy way than by means of the conjecture

proposed by Diestel, (נעם) נעם, “Pleasant is transgression to the evil-doer,” etc. But the

genitive after נאם (which in Psa_110:1; Num_24:3., 15f., 2Sa_23:1; Pro_30:1, just as

here, stands at the head of the clause) always denotes the speaker, not the thing spoken.

Even in Isa_5:1 is not a song concerning my שירת#דודי#לכרמו beloved in relation to His

vineyard, but a song of my beloved (such a song as my beloved has to sing) touching His

vineyard. Thus, therefore, שע( must denote the speaker, and לרשע, as in Psa_110:1 ,לאדניthe person or thing addressed; transgression is personified, and an oracular utterance is

attributed to it. But the predicate קרב#ל*י*, which is intelligible enough in connection

with the first rendering of פשע as genit. obj., is difficulty and harsh with the latter

rendering of פשע as gen. subj., whatever way it may be understood: whether, that it is

intended to say that the utterance of transgression to the evil-doer is inwardly known tohim (the poet), or it occupies and affects him in his inmost parts. It is very natural to

read ל*ו, as the lxx, Syriac, and Arabic versions, and Jerome do. In accordance therewith,

while with Von Lengerke he takes as part of the inscription, Thenius renders it: “Sin נאם

is to the ungodly in the midst of his heart,” i.e., it is the inmost motive or impulse of all

that he thinks and does. But this isolation of נאם is altogether at variance with the usage

of the language and custom. The rendering given by Hupfeld, Hitzig, and at last also by

Böttcher, is better: “The suggestion of sin dwells in the ungodly in the inward part of his

heart;” or rather, since the idea of בקרב is not central, but circumferential, in the realm of

(within) his heart, altogether filling up and absorbing it. And in connection with this

explanation, it must be observed that this combination בקרב#לבו (instead of בקרבו, or בלבו,

occurs only here, where, together with a personification of sin, an incident (בלבבו

belonging to the province of the soul's life, which is the outgrowth of sin, is intended to

be described. It is true this application of נאם does not admit of being further

substantiated; but נ,ם (cognate המה ,נהם), as an onomatopoetic designation of a dull,

hollow sound, is a suitable word for secret communication (cf. Arabic nemmâm, a tale-

bearer), or even - since the genius of the language does not combine with it the idea of that which is significantly secretly, and solemnly silently communicated, but spoken out - a suitable word for that which transgression says to the ungodly with all the solemn mien of the prophet or the philosopher, inasmuch as it has set itself within his heart in

the place of God and of the voice of his conscience. לרשע does not, however, denote the

person addressed, but, as in Psa_32:10, the possessor. He possesses this inspiration of iniquity as the contents of his heart, so that the fear of God has no place therein, and to him God has no existence (objectivity), that He should command his adoration.

Since after this נאם#)שע we expect to hear further what and how transgression speaks

to him, so before all else the most probable thing is, that transgression is the subject to

We do not interpret: He flatters God in His eyes (with eye-service), for this .החליק

rendering is contrary both to what precedes and to what follows; nor with Hupfeld (who follows Hofmann): “God deals smoothly (gently) with him according to his delusions,”

for the assumption that החליק must, on account of עיניו*, have some other subject that the

evil-doer himself, is indeed correct. It does not, however, necessarily point to God as the subject, but, after the solemn opening of Psa_36:2, to transgression, which is

personified. This addresses flattering words to him (אל like על in Pro_29:5) in his eyes,

i.e., such as are pleasing to him; and to what end? For the finding out, i.e., establishing

as the פשע or, - since this is not exactly suited to ,(as in Gen_44:16; Hos_12:9 ,מצא#עון)

subject, and where it is a purpose that is spoken of, the meaning assequi, originally

proper to the verb מצא, is still more natural - to the attainment of his culpability, i.e., in

order that he may inculpate himself, to hating, i.e., that he may hate God and man

instead of loving them. לשנא is designedly used without an object just as in Ecc_3:8, in

order to imply that the flattering words of פשע incite him to turn into an object of hatred

everything that he ought to love, and to live and move in hatred as in his own proper element. Thenius endeavours to get rid of the harshness of the expression by the

following easy alteration of the text: למצא#עון#ולשנא; and interprets it: Yea, it flatters him in

his own eyes (it tickles his pride) to discover faults in others and to make them suffer for them. But there is no support in the general usage of the language for the impersonal

rendering of the החליק; and the עיניו*, which in this case is not only pleonastic, but out of

place, demands a distinction between the flatterer and the person who feels himself flattered. The expression in Psa_36:3, in whatever way it may be explained, is harsh; but David's language, whenever he describes the corruption of sin with deep-seated

indignation, is wont to envelope itself in such clouds, which, to our difficult comprehension, look like corruptions of the text. In the second strophe the whole

language is more easy. להש6יל#להיטיב is just such another asyndeton as למצא#עונו#לשנא. A

man who has thus fallen a prey to the dominion of sin, and is alienated from God, has

ceased (#חדל#ל, as in 1Sa_23:13) to act wisely and well (things which essentially

accompany one another). His words when awake, and even his thoughts in the night-

time, run upon 7ון (Isa_59:7), evil, wickedness, the absolute opposite of that which alone

is truly good. Most diligently does he take up his position in the way which leads in the opposite direction to that which is good (Pro_16:29; Isa_65:2); and his conscience is deadened against evil: there is not a trace of aversion to it to be found in him, he loves it with all his soul.

CALVI�,1.Ungodliness saith to the wicked in the midst of my heart Commentators are not agreed as to the interpretation of the first verse. Literally it is, The saying [or speech ]of transgression, or rather, Transgression saith to the wicked As, however, the letter ל , lamed, is in Hebrew sometimes used for מן , min, some translate it thus, Ungodliness or transgression speaketh of the wicked in my heart; as if the prophet had said, I clearly perceive from the wickedness which the ungodly commit, that they are not influenced by the fear of God. But as there is no need to depart from the proper signification of the words, I rather agree with others in supposing that the language of the prophet is to this effect: The malice of the wicked, though seemingly hidden and unknown, speaks aloud in my heart, and I am a sure witness of what it says or suggests.

And, first, it is to be observed, that the prophet speaks not of outward faults, but penetrates even to the very source; as if he had said, Although the wicked cloak their malice with wily dissimulation, yet I know it so well that I seem to hear it speaking. It is indeed true, that as the ungodly and profane rush headlong into every kind of wickedness, as if they were never to be called to render up an account of it, the judgment which David here expresses may be formed even from their life; but his language is much more emphatic when he says, that the servants of God openly perceive the depravity of such persons hidden within the heart. �ow David does not speak of the wicked generally, but of the abandoned despisers of God. There are many who indulge in their vices, who, notwithstanding, are not intoxicated by the wretched infatuation which David here censures. But when a man becomes hardened in committing sin, ungodliness at length reduces him to such a state of insensibility, that, despising the judgment of God, he indulges without fear in the practice of every sin to which his depraved appetite impels him. A reckless assurance, therefore, in the commission of sin, and especially where it is associated with a contempt and scorn of every holy admonition, is, as it were, an enchantment of Satan, which indicates that the condition of such a person is indeed hopeless. And although true religion has the effect of keeping the hearts of the godly in the fear of God, and drives wicked thoughts far from their minds, yet this does not prevent them from perceiving and understanding in their hearts how the ungodly are agitated with horrible fury when they neither regard God nor are afraid of his

judgments.

There is no fear of God before his eyes David shows in these few words the end of all evil suggestions; and it is this, that the sense both of good and evil being destroyed or suppressed, men shrink from nothing, as if there were not seated in heaven a God, the Judge of all. The meaning therefore is, Ungodliness speaks in my heart to the wicked man, urging him to the extremity of madness, so that, laying aside all fear of God, he abandons himself to the practice of sin; that is to say, I know as well what the ungodly imagine in their hearts, as if God had set me as a witness or judge to unveil their hypocrisy, under the mask of which they think their detestable malice is hidden and deeply buried. When the wicked, therefore, are not restrained by the fear of God from committing sin, this proceeds from that secret discourse with themselves, to which we have referred, and by which their understanding is so depraved and blinded, that, like brute beasts, they run to every excess in rioting. Since the eyes are, as it were, the guides and conductors of man in this life, and by their influence move the other senses hither and thither, it is therefore said that men have the fear of God before their eyes when it regulates their lives, and by presenting itself to them on every side to which they may turn, serves like a bridle to restrain their appetites and passions. David, by using here a contrary form of expression, means that the ungodly run to every excess in licentiousness, without having any regard to God, because the depravity of their own hearts has completely blinded them.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 1. The transgression of the wicked. His daring and wanton sin; his breaking the bounds of law and justice. Saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. Men's sins have a voice to godly ears. They are the outer index of an inner evil. It is clear that men who dare to sin constantly and presumptuously cannot respect the great Judge of all. Despite the professions of unrighteous men, when we see their unhallowed actions our heart is driven to the conclusion that they have no religion whatever. Unholiness is clear evidence of ungodliness. Wickedness is the fruit of an atheistic root. This may be made clear to the candid head by cogent reasoning, but it is clear already and intuitively to the pious heart. If God be everywhere, and I fear him, how can I dare to break his laws in his very presence? He must be a desperate traitor who will rebel in the monarch's own halls. Whatever theoretical opinions bad men may avow, they can only be classed with atheists, since they are such practically. Those eyes which have no fear of God before them now, shall have the terrors of hell before them for ever.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSTitle. To the Chief Musician, has given rise to many conjectures. In the Septuagint the Hebrew word is translated, eiz to telos, to the end; a meaning so utterly vague as to defy all reasonable conjecture. ...The meaning of the term appears to be this: the Psalms in which it occurs were given in charge by their inspired authors to the Chief Musician overseeing some specific band of music, whether harps, psalteries, or wind instruments. John Jebb, A.M., in "A Literal Translation of the Book of Psalms, " 1846.Title. The servant of the Lord. David only uses this title here and in Psalm eighteen. In both he describes the dealings of God both with the righteous and the wicked,

and it is most fit that at the very outset he should take his place with the servants of the Lord. C. H. S.Whole Psalm. First Part. A character of a wicked man Ps 36:1. 1. He calls evil good Ps 36:2. 2. He continues in it. 3. He is an hypocrite Ps 36:3. 4. He is obstinate. 5. He is studious in wickedness Psalms 36:4. Second part. God's patience and mercy Ps 36:5-6. 1. To all, even all creatures.2. But particularly to his people, which he admires. Upon which the faithful (1) trust, (2) are satisfied Psalms 36:7-8. The Third part. He prays that this effect may light, 1. On God's people Ps 36:10. 2. On himself Ps 36:11. 3. His acclimation upon it Psalms 36:12. William �icholson (Bishop), 1662.Ver. 1. In this Psalm we have a description of sin, especially as it appears in those who have openly broken God's bands. The introduction is very striking; The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. How could the transgression of the wicked speak within the heart of him who in the inscription of the Psalm declares himself to be the servant of JEHOVAH? These words are generally understood as signifying that the outward conduct of the sinner, as often as he thought of it, naturally suggested this conclusion to his mind, that he was destitute of all fear of God. But they may perhaps admit of another meaning, equally agreeable to the literal reading; wickedness, saith of the wicked, within my heart, etc. According to this view, the psalmist meant that notwithstanding the external pretences of the wicked, and all their attempts to cover their iniquity, he was certain that they had no real sense of the presence of God, that they secretly renounced his authority. How was he assured of this? By a comparison of their conduct with the dictates of the heart. He could not indeed look into their hearts, but he could look into his own, and there he found corruption so strong, that were it not for the fear of God that was implanted within him, he would be as bad as they. John Jamieson.Ver. 1. It is not the imperfection or shortcoming in the fear of God, but the being destitute of it altogether, that proveth a wicked man: There is no fear of God before his eyes. David Dickson.Ver. 1. (last clause). �ot having the fear of God before his eyes, has become inwoven into proceedings in criminal courts. When a man has no fear of God, he is prepared for any crime.Total depravity is not too strong a term to describe human wickedness. The sinner has no fear of God. Where that is wanting, how can there be any piety? And if there is no piety, there must be total want of right affections, and that is the very essence of depravity. William S. Plumer.Ver. 1. Durst any mock God with flourishes and formalities in religion, if they feared him? Durst any provoke God to his face by real and open wickedness, if they feared him? Durst any sin with the judgments of God fresh bleeding before their eyes, if they feared the Lord and his wrath? Durst they sin with heaps of precious mercy before their eyes, if they feared the Lord and his goodness? Durst any flatter either others or themselves with hopes of impunity in their sin, if they feared the Lord and his truth? Durst any slight their own promises, professions, protestations, oaths, or design the entangling of others by them, rather than the binding of themselves, did they fear the Lord and his faithfulness, even the Lord who keepeth covenant and promise for ever? All these and many more transgressions of the

wicked (all these ways of transgression are found among the wicked, it were well if none of them were found among those who have a name of godliness; I say, all these transgressions of the wicked) say, There is no fear of God before their eyes. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 1. The wicked man has no regard to the oracles of God: he had one in his own heart, which dictates nothing but rebellion. Zachary Mudge.

SCOTT, "V:1. David was as much convinced by the conduct of wicked men, that they were not habitually possessed by the fear of God, as if it had been immediately spoken to his heart : and his knowledge of the deceitfulness and evil of his own heart aided him in discovering the source of other men"s wickedness. If the terrors of God for a moment affrighted them, they soon cast them behind their backs, or they could not have gone on in their daring crimes. (�otes, Psalm 112:1-7. �ehemiah 5:14-18. Proverbs 16:6. Ecclesiastes 12:11-14. Romans 3:9-18.) It is probable, that Saul was especially meant, as the wicked man who persecuted " David, the servant of the LORD," with persevering enmity: yet he frequently cloked his malice with professions of friendship, and still kept up an outward regard to religion. The psalm seems to have been written, soon after Saul began to shew his hatred to David.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:1-2. The transgression of the wicked saith, &c. — When I consider the great and manifold transgressions of ungodly men, I conclude, within myself, that they have cast off all fear and serious belief of the Divine Majesty. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes — He deceiveth himself with vain and false persuasions, that God does not notice or mind his sins, or that he will not punish them. Until his iniquity be found to be hateful — That is, until God, by some dreadful judgment, undeceive him, and find, or make him and others to find by experience, that his iniquity is abominable and hateful, and therefore cannot, and does not, escape a severe punishment. “The last day,” says Dr. Horne, “will show strange instances of this folly.”

COFFMA�, "MA�'S WICKED�ESS A�D GOD'S LOVI�GKI�D�ESS CO�TRASTED

There are three divisions in this psalm. "(1) Psalms 36:1-4 give the portrait of the wicked man; (2) Psalms 36:5-9 paint the Divine goodness; and (3) Psalms 36:10-12 have the prayer and an expression of confidence."[1]

There are representatives of some three types of Hebrew poetry in these few verses. "Each of the three parts of this psalm corresponds to a different psalm-type; but there is no need to doubt its unity."[2] "The psalmist uses rough poetic form and language to describe evil, and smooth form and beautiful language for the description of God."[3] However, as Ash pointed out, "Despite the diversity, Psalms 36:10-12 tie it together by the inclusion of concepts from both preceding sections; and the unity of the psalm can be argued on this basis."[4]

�owhere else in the Psalms, "Only here is transgression (or rebellion) personified as

an evil spirit who speaks in oracular fashion to the heart of wicked man, thereby filling him with evil."[5]

This is a most interesting picture of a man's sins speaking to the sinner and deceiving and corrupting him to the destruction of his soul.

The psalm stands, as stated in the superscription, as having been written by David; and there is no basis whatever in the psalm itself for formulating any kind of argument against the Davidic authorship. The exact time or era in which it might have been composed is unknown.

PORTRAIT OF THE WICKED MA�

Psalms 36:1-4

"The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart,

There is no fear of God before his eyes.

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,

That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.

The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit:

He hath ceased to be wise and to do good.

He deviseth iniquity upon his bed;

He setteth himself in a way that is not good;

He abhorreth not evil."

This paragraph was understood by Delitzsch as, "The complaint of David regarding the moral corruption of his generation. These are reflections of the character of the times, and not of particular circumstances."[6]

The Hebrew text of these four verses is said by many scholars to be damaged and rather ambiguous. Many efforts have been made to solve the translation; but it is probably still doubtful, as indicated by the several marginal alternatives that are suggested in most versions.

The general idea here, however, is certainly clear enough. Sin is personified, and whispers in the heart of the sinner all kinds of inducements for continuation in his evil way. "There is no use to fear God." "There is no danger in disobeying him." "Your sins are not going to be discovered and hated." Such evil counsel is indeed the message of all sin. As DeHoff wrote, "The devil always suggests that there is no

danger in disobeying the commandments of God."[7]

"Saith within my heart" (Psalms 36:1). The use of the word `my' here has led some scholars to suppose that David himself was sorely tempted by sin; but this is another one of the difficult problems in the psalm. Paul evidently applied the passage to wicked men generally.

The result of this description of Sin's (Personified) assault upon the human heart invariably produces in the sinner who allows himself thus to be deceived, a status described by the last half of Psalms 36:1, "There is no fear of God before his eyes." The apostle Paul quoted these words in Romans 3:18, applying them to the judicially hardened generations, both of Jews and Gentiles, who inhabited the earth at the First Advent of our Lord.

Kidner also thought that Paul's quotation of this passage in the Romans context teaches us that, "We should see this portrait as that of Mankind, but for the Grace of God."[8]

"He flattereth himself in his own eyes" (Psalms 36:2). "The sinfulness of the wicked man deludes him into the belief that his wickedness is known to no one but himself."[9] "This self-deception of the wicked is due to his deliberate blindness toward God: he shuts himself up within himself, and, by listening to the smooth words of his own oracle (Sin), persuades himself that he is immune from ultimate disgrace."[10]

"He hath ceased to be wise and to do good" (Psalms 36:3). The wicked man described here is not one who never knew the truth, but he is one who has departed from it; and this corresponds exactly with what Paul taught concerning the whole race of wicked men in Romans 1:28ff.

Psalms 36:3-4 describe the evil character of the deceived sinner: he is a liar; his words are evil; he is a deceiver; he is no longer wise; he no longer does good; even on his bed at night, he is scheming up more wickedness; and he no longer hates evil. Indeed, he loves evil.

"He setteth himself in a position that is not good" (Psalms 36:4). "Most diligently he takes up his position in the way that leads in the opposite direction from that which is good; his conscience is deadened against evil; there is not a trace of aversion to it to be found in him; he loves it with all of his soul."[11]

COKE, "Verse 1Psalms 36.

The grievous estate of the wicked. The excellency of God's mercy. David prayeth for favour to God's children.

To the chief musician. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord.

Title. למנצח lamnatseach— This Psalm is supposed to have been written by David at the beginning of Saul's persecution; whilst he outwardly professed kindness towards him, but yet he could not help discovering that he desired and intended his ruin. David here opposes the faithfulness and goodness of God, to the malice and treachery of Saul; though without mentioning him by name: and, as Theodoret well observes, David's delicacy in this respect is very remarkable; for, although the chief of his most bitter complaints were levelled against Saul, yet throughout his Psalms, he never once mentions him by name. This Psalm, Mudge observes, has three states: the first, in which the author describes the treacherous and false contrivances of wicked men; the second is the address of the good man to God; in which he acknowledges all those attributes, that are the support of righteous men, to be infinite and boundless; and from thence draws his assurance of being supported. The last, as the consequence of this, represents the downfall of the wicked.

Psalms 36:1. The transgression of the wicked saith, &c.— The wicked man hath an oracle of rebellion within his heart. "The wicked man has no regard to the oracles of God: he has one of his own heart, which dictates nothing but rebellion." Mudge.

CO�STABLE, "The �IV translation, "An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked," is preferable. That of Leupold is even clearer: "A divine oracle about transgression has been heard in my heart with reference to the wicked." [�ote: Leupold, p293.] An oracle is a message from God. The Lord had given His prophet special revelation concerning how the wicked look at life and how they live. They do not dread (Heb. pahad, rather than yirah, the usual word for "fear") the Lord. That Isaiah , they feel no uneasiness as they should since God will judge them for their sins. This is the climactic characteristic of sin in Romans 3:18.

ELLICOTT, "(1) The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart . . .—The literal rendering of the present Hebrew text is, An utterance of sin to the wicked within my heart. The common phrase rendered in our version, “Thus saith Jehovah,” is here imitated, “Thus saith sin.” “To the wicked” cannot, as some explain, mean “concerning the wicked.” The only possible meaning of the text as it stands is therefore, “Thus saith sin to (me) the wicked man in my heart.” But there can be no question that the psalmist wrote “in his heart,” since ail the ancient versions, with the exception of the Chaldee Paraphrase, followed this reading, and some MSS. still show it. This gives us a very fine sense. Sin is personified as the evil counsellor or prompter sitting in the heart of the wicked to suggest evil thoughts: Sin in the wicked man’s heart is his oracle. Conscience is on the wrong side.

There is no fear . . .—This is not the suggestion of sin just mentioned, but an explanation of the condition into which the wicked man has sunk. Impiety and irreverence have so corrupted his nature, that sin has become his oracle.

SIMEO�, "AWFUL STATE OF U�GODLY ME�

Psalms 36:1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

WHE� we speak of the wickedness of mankind, that command of our Lord is frequently cast in our teeth, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” But this command refers to an uncharitable ascribing of good actions to a bad principle; which, as we cannot see the heart, we are by no means authorized to do. But, if it do not authorize us to “call good evil,” it assuredly does not require us to “call evil good.” If we see sin, it is no uncharitableness to pronounce it sin: and, if the sin be habitual, it is no uncharitableness to say, that the heart from which it proceeds is bad and depraved. We are told by our Lord, that “the tree is to be judged of by its fruit; and that as a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, so neither can a good tree habitually bring forth evil fruit [�ote: Matthew 7:16-18.].” An error, and even a fault may be committed, without detracting from a person’s general character: but a sinful course of life involves in it, of necessity, a corruption of heart, and carries with it, to any dispassionate mind, a conviction that the person who pursues that course has not within him the fear of God. This was the impression made on David’s mind, when he said, “The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.”

In confirmation of this sentiment, I will shew,

I. How God interprets sin—

God views sin not merely as contained in overt acts, but as existing in the soul: and he judges of its malignity, not according to its aspect upon social happiness, but as it bears on himself, and affects his honour. Throughout the whole Sacred Volume, God speaks of it in this view. He represents sin as striking at the relation which subsists between him and his creatures:

1. As adultery—

[He is the Husband of his Church [�ote: Isaiah 54:5.], and claims our entire and exclusive regards [�ote: Hosea 3:3.]. When these are alienated from him, and fixed on the creature, he calls it adultery [�ote: Ezekiel 16:37.]: and hence St. James, speaking of those who sought the friendship of the world, addresses them as “adulterers and adulteresses [�ote: James 4:4.];” because, as the Spouse of Christ, they have placed on another the affections due to him alone.]

2. As rebellion—

[God, as the Governor of the universe, requires us to obey his laws. But sin is an opposition to his will, and a violation of his laws: and therefore God says respecting it, “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be [�ote: Romans 8:7.].” Here, let it be observed, it is not the

overt act, but the disposition only, that is so characterised: and, consequently, if the very disposition as existing in the soul is an equivocal proof of the wickedness of the heart, much more must the outward act, and especially the constant habit of the life, be considered as a decisive evidence that the soul itself is corrupt.]

3. As idolatry—

[God alone is to be worshipped: and to put any thing in competition with him is to make it an idol. Hence the love of money is called idolatry [�ote: Colossians 3:5.]: and the indulgence of a sensual appetite is to “make our belly our god [�ote: Philippians 3:19.].” And hence St. John, having set forth “the Lord Jesus as the true God and eternal life,” guards us against any alienation of our hearts from him, in these memorable words: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols [�ote: 1 John 5:20-21.].” And here let me again observe, it is the disposition, and not any outward act, that has this construction put upon it.]

4. As downright atheism—

[It is represented as a denial of all God’s attributes and perfections. It denies his omnipresence and omniscience; since men, in committing it, say, “How doth God know? Can he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of the heaven [�ote: Job 22:13-14. See also Psalms 73:11; Psalms 94:7.],” and is at no leisure to attend to what is done on earth. It denies his justice and his holiness: it says, “I shall have peace, though I walk after the imaginations of my heart [�ote: Deuteronomy 29:19.].” “God will never require at my hands what I do [�ote: Psalms 10:13.].” “He will not do good; neither will he do evil [�ote: Zephaniah 1:12.].” So far from having any thing to fear from God, “Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them [�ote: Malachi 2:17.].” Sin denies yet further the right of God to control us: “We are Lords; we will come no more to thee [�ote: Jeremiah 2:31.]:” “Our lips are our own; who is Lord over us [�ote: Psalms 12:4.]?” “What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit is there, that we should pray unto him [�ote: Job 21:14-15.]?” It even denies the very existence of God: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God [�ote: Psalms 14:1.].” Hence St. Paul calls us “Atheists in the world [�ote: Ephesians 2:12. ἄθεοι.].” Men will not say all this with their lips; but it is the language of their lives, and therefore of their hearts.]

Having seen how God interprets sin, and what construction he puts upon it, we are prepared to see,

II. What interpretation we also should put upon it—

�o inference was ever more legitimately drawn from the plainest premises, than that which forced itself upon David’s mind, from a view of the ungodly world. And the same conclusion must we also arrive at, from all that we see around us: “The transgression of the wicked saith within our hearts that there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

1. There is no sense of God’s presence—

[A thief would not steal, if he knew that the eyes of the proprietor were fastened on him: yea, even the presence of a child would be sufficient to keep the adulterer from the perpetration of his intended crimes. But he regards not the presence of Almighty God. If he be out of the sight of any fellow-creature, he saith in his heart, “�o eye seeth me [�ote: Job 24:15.]:” never reflecting, that “the darkness is no darkness with God, but the night is as clear as the day; the darkness and light to him are both alike [�ote: Psalms 139:11-12.].”]

2. There is no regard to his authority—

[Men will stand in awe of the civil magistrate, who he knows to be “an avenger of evil, and that he does not bear the sword in vain.” To see to what an extent men stand in awe of earthly governors, conceive in what a state of confusion even this Christian land would be, if only for one single week the laws were suspended, and no restraint were imposed on men beyond that which they feel from a regard to the authority of God: we should not dare to venture out of our houses, or scarcely be safe in our houses, by reason of the flood of iniquity which would deluge the land. And though it is true that every one would not avail himself of the licence to commit all manner of abominations, it is equally true, that it is not God’s authority that would restrain them: for the same authority that says, “Do not kill or commit adultery,” says, Thou shalt “live not unto thyself, but unto Him that died for thee and rose again.” And if we be not influenced by it in every thing, we regard it truly in nothing [�ote: James 2:10-11.].]

3. There is no concern about his approbation—

[If we be lowered in the estimation of our fellow-creatures, how mortified are we, insomuch that we can scarcely bear to abide in the place where we are so degraded. An exile to the remotest solitude would be preferable to the presence or those whose good opinion we have forfeited, But who inquires whether God be pleased or displeased? Who lays to heart the disapprobation which he has excited in his mind, or the record that is kept concerning him in the book of his remembrance? If we preserve our outward conduct correct, so as to secure the approbation of our fellow-creatures, we are satisfied, and care little what God sees within, or what estimate he forms of our character.]

4. There is no fear of his displeasure—

[One would think it impossible that men should believe in a future state of retribution, and yet be altogether careless about the doom that shall be awarded to them. They think that God is merciful, too merciful to punish any one, unless it be, perhaps, some extraordinarily flagrant transgressor. Hence, though they know they are sinners, they never think of repenting, or of changing that course of life which, if the Scriptures be true, must lead them to perdition. Only see the state of the first

converts, or of any who have felt their danger of God’s wrath; and then tell me whether that be the experience of the world at large? Where do we see the weeping penitents smiting on their breast, and crying for mercy? Where do we see persons flying to Christ for refuge, as the manslayer fled from the sword of the avenger, that was pursuing him? In the world at large we see nothing of this; nothing, in fact, but supineness and security: so true is the judgment of the Psalmist respecting them, that “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” The same testimony St. Paul also bears [�ote: Romans 3:18.]: and we know that his record is true.]

If, then, David’s views be indeed correct, see,

1. How marvellous is the forbearance of our God!

[He sees the state of every living man: he sees, not our actions only, but our very thoughts: for “he trieth the heart and reins.” What evils, then, does he behold in every quarter of the globe! �ot a country, a town, a village, a family, no, nor a single soul, exempt from the common malady! all fallen; all “enemies in their hearts to God by wicked works!” Take but a single city, our own metropolis for instance, and what a mass of iniquity does God behold in it, even in the short space of twenty-four hours! Is it not astonishing that God’s wrath does not break forth against us, even as against Sodom and Gomorrha, to consume us by fire; or that another deluge does not come, to sweep us away from the face of the earth? Dear Brethren, “account this long-suffering of our God to be salvation [�ote: 2 Peter 3:15.],” and “let it lead every one of you to repentance [�ote: Romans 2:4.].”]

2. How unbounded is the love of God, that has provided a Saviour for us!—

[Behold, instead of destroying the world by one stroke of his indignation, he has sent us his co-equal and co-eternal Son to effect a reconciliation between him and us, by the sacrifice of himself! Yes, “he has so loved the world, as to have given his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life [�ote: John 3:16.].” “He sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world,” as we might rather have expected; “but that the world through him might be saved [�ote: John 3:17.].” What, then, my beloved Brethren, “shall your transgressions say to you?” Shall they not say, “Avail yourselves of the proffered mercy? Delay not an hour to seek an interest in that Saviour, that so your sins may be blotted out, and your souls be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus?” Let this love of God constrain you to surrender up yourselves to him as his redeemed people; and so to walk before him in newness of heart and life, that “Christ may be magnified in you, whether by life or death [�ote: Philippians 1:20.].”]

LA�GE, "Its Contents and Title. Respecting the designation of David as servant of Jehovah vid. Psalm 18. By this reference to the position of the speaker as well towards God as the congregation, the reader’s attention is directly called to the meaning of this song as one to be well pondered. It is certainly not a Psalm of lamentation (De Wette), but a didactic Psalm (Luther). First there is a striking description of the wicked Prayer of Manasseh, in which all moral relations and

regulations have been perverted into their opposites ( Psalm 36:1-4): then follows in the tone of a hymn ( Psalm 36:5-9) the praise of the immeasurable grace, faithfulness and righteousness of God; and the Psalm concludes with a prayer ( Psalm 36:10-11), for further exhibitions of these attributes towards all upright servants of God and towards the Psalmist with a reference to the ruin of the wicked ( Psalm 36:12). It is uncertain whether the preterites in this closing clause refer to historical facts which have recently transpired (Hitzig), or are to be taken as prophetical (most interpreters). In favor of the latter view is the absence of any other historical references. The house of God ( Psalm 36:8) certainly is not used figuratively in order to designate God as a father of a family (De Wette), but refers to the places of worship, yet without giving any reason to suppose that the author was a priest (Paulus). It is moreover entirely unnecessary to think of the temple of Solomon and descend to the period immediately before the exile (Ewald, Olsh, Hitzig). The conjecture of those who put the origin of this Psalm in the period in which Saul still pretended to be the friend of David (Amyrald, et al.), is likewise groundless. We have before us in this and similar Psalm, “reflections from the circumstances of the time and not from particular events” (Delitzsch). This Psalm has its present position in the order of Psalm from the use of “servant of Jehovah” comp. Psalm 35:27, the rare word dachah Psalm 36:12, comp. Psalm 35:5, and many correspondences with Psalm 37.

Str. I. Psalm 36:1. The wicked (hath) a prompting of ungodliness within his heart.—All attempts to retain the tex. recept.לבי (my heart) have hitherto failed. For the turn which has been given to the clause by Gesen, De Wette, Stier, Von Hofm, after Symmach, and Luther, in taking the first line as a kind of title as an announcement of the contents, although only of the next verse (=A saying concerning the wickedness of the wicked is in my heart), is inadmissible, because on the one side there follows, not a saying respecting wickedness, but a description of it, on the other side usage does not admit of connecting נאם (stat. const. of the part. pass. of inspiratum, oraculum) with a gen. obj. The following genitive always = נאוםdesignates the person which either imparts the prompting, or utters it as a prophet ( �umbers 24:3), or as an inspired poet ( 2 Samuel 23:1; Proverbs 30:1). That it is entirely different with משא makes no difference. If this is admitted, then the attempt might be made to regard the wicked man himself as speaking, as he in ironical imitation of the well-known tone of the prophet, sounds forth the “Divine word of wickedness to the wicked man.” If then, in order to get the contents of this word, the words “in the interior of my heart” are connected with the following line (Venema), there arises a clause, whose absurdity can be removed only by inadmissible explanations. If this is not done (Hengst.), the following details do not agree with the expectations awakened by such an announcement; and the thought, very proper in itself, that the wicked listen to the promptings of sin as Divine utterances, would be clothed in such an obscure and misleading form, that it could not be understood at all without explanation, as then even Hengst. can not but insert for this purpose the personal pronoun in his translation, “to me the wicked man.” All these difficulties however are set aside by the simple change of לבי into לבו, which is likewise in the ancient versions, and even in some manuscripts. The personification of sin is not strange either to the Old Testament or the �ew Testament ( Genesis 4:7; Romans

7.); and the unusual idea of an inspiring power is meditated by the wicked spirit which takes the place of the Spirit of God, 1 Kings 22:21 sq. and by the lying spirit which inspired the false prophets, Isaiah 9:14; Jeremiah 23; Micah 2:11 (Hupfeld. Hitzig. Delitzsch, now likewise Böttcher). There is therefore no occasion for the conjecture נעם in order to get the sense: Vice is pleasant (Diestel). And the proposition to transpose the נאם to the proper title after, “by David” (Maurer, formerly likewise Böttcher in part, Tholuck, G. Baur, Thenius), does not agree with the grammatical construction and the place of the word in the syntax, which elsewhere prevail. The Vulgate has literally after the Sept. dixit injustus ut delinquat in semet ipso, which is explained by Schegg: The ungodly speaks to himself, persuades himself to sin.

EXPOSITORS BIBLE COMME�TARY, "Verses 1-12Psalms 36:1-12

THE supposition that the sombre picture of "the wicked" in Psalms 36:1-4 was originally unconnected with the glorious hymn in Psalms 36:5-9 fails to give weight to the difference between the sober pace of pedestrian prose and the swift flight of winged poetry. It fails also in apprehending the instinctive turning of a devout meditative spectator from the darkness of earth and its sins to the light above. The one refuge from the sad vision of evil here is in the faith that God is above it all, and that His name is Mercy. �or can the blackness of the one picture be anywhere so plainly seen as when it is set in front of the brightness of the other. A religious man, who has laid to heart the miserable sights of which earth is full, will scarcely think that the psalmist’s quick averting of his eyes from these to steep them in the light of God is unnatural, or that the original connection of the two parts of this psalm is an artificial supposition. Besides this, the closing section of prayer is tinged with references to the first part, and derives its raison d’etre from it. The three parts form an organic whole.

The gnarled obscurity of the language in which the "wicked" is described corresponds to the theme, and contrasts strikingly with the limpid flow of the second part. "The line, too, labours" as it tries to tell the dark thoughts that move to dark deeds. Psalms 36:1-2 unveil the secret beliefs of the sinner, Psalms 36:3-4 his consequent acts. As the text stands, it needs much torturing to get a tolerable meaning out of Psalms 36:1, and the slight alteration, found in the LXX and in some old versions, of "his heart" instead of "my heart" smooths the difficulty. We have then a bold personification of "Transgression" as speaking in the secret heart of the wicked, as in some dark cave, such as heathen oracle-mongers haunted. There is bitter irony in using the sacred word which stamped the prophets’ utterances, and which we may translate oracle, for the godless lies muttered in the sinner’s heart. This is the account of how men come to do evil: that there is a voice within whispering falsehood. And the reason why that bitter voice has the shrine to itself is that "there is no fear of God before" the man’s "eyes." The two clauses of Psalms 36:1 are simply set side by side, leaving the reader to spell out their logical relation. Possibly the absence of the fear of God may be regarded as both the occasion and

the result of the oracle of Transgression, since, in fact, it is both. Still more obscure is Psalms 36:2 Who is the "flatterer"? The answers are conflicting. The "wicked," say some, but if so, "in his own eyes" is superfluous; God, say others, but that requires a doubtful meaning for "flatters"-namely, "treats gently"-and is open to the same objection as the preceding in regard to "in his own eyes." The most natural supposition is that transgression, which was represented in Psalms 36:1 as speaking, is here also meant. Clearly the person in whose eyes the flattery is real is the wicked, and therefore its speaker must be another. "Sin beguiled me," says Paul, and therein echoes this psalmist. Transgression in its oracle is one of "those juggling fiends that palter with us in a double sense," promising delights and impunity. But the closing words of Psalms 36:2 are a crux. Conjectural emendations have been suggested, but do not afford much help. Probably the best way is to take the text as it stands, and make the best of it. The meaning it yields is harsh, but tolerable: "to find out his sin, to hate" (it?). Who finds out sin? God. If He is the finder, it is He who also hates; and if it is sin that is the object of the one verb, it is most natural to suppose it that of the other also. The two verbs are infinitives, with the preposition of purpose or of reference prefixed. Either meaning is allowable. If the preposition is taken as implying reference, the sense will be that the glossing whispers of sin deceive a man in regard to the discovery of his wrong doing and God’s displeasure at it. Impunity is promised, and God’s holiness is smoothed down. If, on the other hand, the idea of purpose is adopted, the solemn thought emerges that the oracle is spoken with intent to ruin the deluded listener and set his secret sins in the condemning light of God’s face. Sin is cruel, and a traitor. This profound glimpse into the depths of a soul without the fear of God is followed by the picture of the consequences of such practical atheism, as seen in conduct. It is deeply charged with blackness and unrelieved by any gleam of light. Falsehood, abandonment of all attempts to do right, insensibility to the hallowing influences of nightly solitude, when men are wont to see their evil more clearly in the dark, like phosphorous streaks on the wall, obstinate planting the feet in ways not good, a silenced conscience which has no movement of aversion to evil-these are the fruits of that oracle of Transgression when it has its perfect work. We may call such a picture the idealisation of the character described, but there have been men who realised it, and the warning is weighty that such a uniform and all-enwrapping darkness is the terrible goal towards which all listening to that bitter voice tends. �o wonder that the psalmist wrenches himself swiftly away from such a sight!

The two strophes of the second division (Psalms 36:5-6 and Psalms 36:7-9) present the glorious realities of the Divine name in contrast with the false oracle of Psalms 36:1-2, and the blessedness of God’s guests in contrast with the gloomy picture of the "wicked" in Psalms 36:3-4. It is noteworthy that the first and last-named "attributes" are the same. "Lovingkindness" begins and ends the glowing series. That stooping, active love encloses, like a golden circlet, all else that men can know or say of the perfection whose name is God. It is the white beam into which all colours melt, and from which all are evolved. As science feels after the reduction of all forms of physical energy to one, for which there is no name but energy, all the adorable glories of God pass into one, which He has bidden us call love. "Thy lovingkindness is in the heavens," towering on high. It is like some Divine aether,

filling all space. The heavens are the home of light. They arch above every head; they rim every horizon; they are filled with nightly stars; they open into abysses as the eye gazes; they bend unchanged and untroubled above a weary earth; from them fall benedictions of rain and sunshine. All these subordinate allusions may lie in the psalmist’s thought, while its main intention is to magnify the greatness of that mercy as heaven high.

But mercy standing alone might seem to lack a guarantee of its duration, and therefore the strength of "faithfulness," unalterable continuance in a course begun, and adherence to every promise either spoken in words or implied in creation or providence, is added to the tenderness of mercy. The boundlessness of that faithfulness is the main thought, but the contrast of the whirling, shifting clouds with it is striking. The realm of eternal purpose and enduring act reaches to and stretches above the lower region where change rules.

But a third glory has yet to be flashed before glad eyes, God’s "righteousness," which here is not merely nor mainly punitive, but delivering, or, perhaps in a still wider view, the perfect conformity of His nature with the ideal of ethical completeness. Right is the same for heaven as for earth, and "whatsoever things are just" have their home in the bosom of God. The point of comparison with "the mountains of God" is, as in the previous clauses, their loftiness, which expresses greatness and elevation above our reach; but the subsidiary ideas of permanence and sublimity are not to be overlooked. "The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but His righteousness endures forever." There is safe hiding there, in the fastnesses of that everlasting hill. From character the psalmist passes to acts. and sets all the Divine dealings forth under the one category of "judgments," the utterances in act of His judicial estimate of men. Mountains seem highest and ocean broadest when the former rise sheer from the water’s edge, as Carmel does. The immobility of the silent hills is wonderfully contrasted with the ever-moving sea, which to the Hebrew was the very home of mystery. The obscurity of the Divine judgments is a subject of praise, if we hold fast by faith in God’s lovingkindness, faithfulness, and righteousness. They are obscure by reason of their vast scale, which permits the vision of only a fragment. How little of the ocean is seen from any shore! But there is no arbitrary obscurity. The sea is "of glass mingled with fire"; and if the eye cannot pierce its depths, it is not because of any darkening impurity in the crystal clearness, but simply because not even light can travel to the bottom. The higher up on the mountains men go, the deeper down can they see into that ocean. It is a hymn, not an indictment, which says, "Thy judgments are a great deep." But however the heights tower and the abysses open, there is a strip of green, solid earth on which "man and beast" live in safe plenty. The plain blessings of an all-embracing providence should make it easier to believe in the unmingled goodness of acts which are too vast for men to judge and of that mighty name which towers above their conceptions. What they see is goodness; what they cannot see must be of a piece. The psalmist is in "that serene and blessed mood" when the terrible mysteries of creation and providence do not interfere with his "steadfast faith that all which he beholds is full of blessings." There are times when these mysteries press with agonising force on devout souls, but there should also be moments when the

pure love of the perfectly good God is seen to fill all space and outstretch all dimensions of height and depth and breadth. The awful problems of pain and death will be best dealt with by those who can echo the rapture of this psalm.

If God is such, what is man’s natural attitude to so great and sweet a name? Glad wonder, accepting His gift as the one precious thing, and faith sheltering beneath the great shadow of His outstretched wing. The exclamation in Psalms 36:8, "How precious is Thy lovingkindness!" expresses not only. its intrinsic value, but the devout soul’s appreciation of it. The secret of blessedness and test of true wisdom lie in a sane estimate of the worth of God’s lovingkindness as compared with all other treasures. Such an estimate leads to trust in Him, as the psalmist implies by his juxtaposition of the two clauses of Psalms 36:7, though he connects them, not by an expressed "therefore," but by the simple copula. The representation of trust as taking refuge reappears here, with its usual suggestions of haste and peril. The "wing" of God suggests tenderness and security. And the reason for trust is enforced in the designation "sons of men," partakers of weakness and mortality, and therefore needing the refuge which, in the wonderfulness of His lovingkindness, they find under the pinions of so great a God.

The psalm follows the refugees into their hiding place, and shows how much more than bare shelter they find there. They are God’s guests. and royally entertained as such. The joyful priestly feasts in the Temple colour the metaphor, but the idea of hospitable reception of guests is the more prominent. The psalmist speaks the language of that true and wholesome mysticism without which religion is feeble and formal. The root ideas of his delineation of the blessedness of the fugitives to God are their union with God and possession of Him. Such is the magical might of lowly trust that by it weak dying "sons of men" are so knit to the God whose glories the singer has been celebrating that they partake of Himself and are saturated with His sufficiency, drink of His delights in some deep sense, bathe in the fountain of life, and have His light for their organ and medium and object of sight. These great sentences beggar all exposition. They touch on the rim of infinite things, whereof only the nearer fringe comes within our ken in this life. The soul that lives in God is satisfied, having real possession of the only adequate object. The variety of desires, appetites, and needs requires manifoldness in their food, but the unity of our nature demands that all that manifoldness should be in One. Multiplicity in objects, aims, loves, is misery; oneness is blessedness. We need a lasting good and an ever-growing one to meet and unfold the capacity of indefinite growth. �othing but God can satisfy the narrowest human capacity.

Union with Him is the source of all delight, as of all true fruition of desires. Possibly a reference to Eden may be intended in the selection of the word for "pleasures," which is a cognate with that name. So there may be allusion to the river which watered that garden, and the thought may be that the present life of the guest of God is not all unlike the delights of that vanished paradise. We may perhaps scarcely venture on supposing that "Thy pleasures" means those which the blessed God Himself possesses; but even if we take the lower and safer meaning of those which God gives, we may bring into connection Christ’s own gift to His disciples of

His own peace, and His assurance that faithful servants will "enter into the joy of their Lord." Shepherd and sheep drink of the same brook by the way and of the same living fountains above. The psalmist’s conception of religion is essentially joyful. �o doubt there are sources of sadness peculiar to a religious man, and he is necessarily shut out from much of the effervescent poison of earthly joys drugged with sin. Much in his life is inevitably grave, stern, and sad. But the sources of joy opened are far deeper than those that are closed. Surface wells (many of them little better than open sewers) may be shut up, but an unfailing stream is found in the desert. Satisfaction and joy flow from God because life and light are with Him; and therefore he who is with Him has them for his. "With Thee is the fountain of life" is true in every sense of the word "life." In regard to life natural, the saying embodies a loftier conception of the Creator’s relation to the creature than the mechanical notion of creation. The fountain pours its waters into stream or basin, which it keeps full by continual flow. Stop the efflux, and these are dried up. So the great mystery of life in all its forms is as a spark from a fire, a drop from a fountain, or, as Scripture puts it in regard to man, a breath from God’s own lips. In a very real sense, wherever life is, there God is, and only by some form of union with him or by the presence of His power, which is Himself, do creatures live. But the psalm is dealing with the blessings belonging to those who trust beneath the shadow of God’s wing; therefore life here, in this verse, is no equivalent to mere existence, physical or self-conscious, but it must be taken in its highest spiritual sense. Union with God is its condition, and that union is brought to pass by taking refuge with Him. The deep words anticipated the explicit teaching of the Gospel in so far as they proclaimed these truths, but the greatest utterance still remained unspoken: that this life is "in His Son."

Light and life are closely connected. Whether knowledge, purity, or joy is regarded as the dominant idea in the symbol, or whether all are united in it, the profound words of the psalm are true. In God’s light we see light. In the lowest region "the seeing eye is from the Lord." "The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding." Faculty and medium of vision are both of Him. But hearts in communion with God are illumined, and they who are "in the light" cannot walk in darkness. Practical wisdom is theirs. The light of God, like the star of the Magi, stoops to guide pilgrims’ steps. Clear certitude as to sovereign realities is the guerdon of the guests of God. Where other eyes see nothing but mists, they can discern solid land and the gleaming towers of the city across the sea. �or is that light only the dry light by which we know, but it means purity and joy also; and to "see light" is to possess these too by derivation from the purity and joy of God Himself. He is the "master light of all our seeing." The fountain has become a stream, and taken to itself movement towards men; for the psalmist’s glowing picture is more than fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who has said, "I am the Light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

The closing division is prayer based both upon the contemplation of God’s attributes in Psalms 36:5-6, and of the wicked in the first part. This distinct reference to both the preceding sections is in favour of the original unity of the psalm. The belief in the immensity of Divine lovingkindness and righteousness

inspires the prayer for their long, drawn out (so "continue" means literally) continuance to the psalmist and his fellows. He will not separate himself from these in his petition, but thinks of them before himself. "Those who know Thee" are those who take refuge under the shadow of the great wing. Their knowledge is intimate, vital; it is acquaintanceship, not mere intellectual apprehension. It is such as to purge the heart and make its possessors upright. Thus we have set forth in that sequence of trust, knowledge, and uprightness stages of growing God-likeness closely corresponding to the Gospel sequence of faith, love, and holiness. Such souls are capaces Dei, fit to receive the manifestations of God’s lovingkindness and righteousness; and from such these will never remove. They will stand stable as His firm attributes, and the spurning foot of proud oppressors shall not trample on them, nor violent hands be able to stir them from their steadfast, secure place. The prayer of the psalm goes deeper than any mere deprecation of earthly removal, and is but prosaically understood, if thought to refer to exile or the like. The dwelling place from which it beseeches that the suppliant may never be removed is his safe refuge beneath the wing, or in the house, of God. Christ answered it when He said, "�o man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand." The one desire of the heart which has tasted the abundance, satisfaction, delights, fulness of life, and clearness of light that attend the presence of God is that nothing may draw it thence.

Prayer wins prophetic certitude. From his serene shelter under the wing, the suppliant looks out on the rout of baffled foes, and sees the end which gives the lie to the oracle of transgression and its flatteries. "They are struck down," the same word as in the picture of the pursuing angel of the Lord in Psalms 35:1-28. Here the agent of their fall is unnamed, but one power only can inflict such irrevocable ruin. God, who is the shelter of the upright in heart, has at last found out the sinner’s iniquity, and His hatred of sin stands ready to "smite once, and smite no more."

�ISBET, "GUILT!‘My heart showeth me the wickdness of the ungodly: that there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own sight: until his abominable sin be found out.’Psalms 36:1-2 (Prayer Book Version)The word ‘guilt,’ like the German ‘schuld,’ means a debt. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon verb ‘gildan,’ to pay. How natural the metaphor is we may see from the fact that our Lord chose it in the parable of the unforgiven debtor; and in the Lord’s Prayer He taught us to say, ‘Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.’ So, too, the metaphor for a man’s redemption is apodosis, the payment of a debt. A guilty man is a man who, being justly chargeable with some crime, has a penalty to pay, either to the laws of his country or to the eternal laws of God, or to both. All have sinned. How does God awaken men from their trance and dream of security?

In various ways. I would ask you to mark them.

I. Sometimes by irretrievable failure in the one high wish or noble end of a man’s wasted life.—When haply you shall desire to accomplish some worthy end, that your life may not be wholly in vain, it may be that words of warning will come back

across your mind like a driving gloom, and your fate shall be like that of the young knight seeking the Holy Grail to whom, as everything slipped into ashes before him at a touch, then—

‘Every evil word I had spoken once,And every evil thought I had thought of old,And every evil deed I ever did,Awoke and cried, ‘This Quest is not for thee.’II. And sometimes God’s awakening punishment of guilt comes, not by irretrievable failure from without, but by blighting misery from within.—Tiberius wrote to his Senate in these words: ‘Fathers, may all the gods and goddesses destroy me more utterly than I feel that they are daily destroying me if I know what to do or whither to turn.’ Yes! if no outward punishment at all befall the guilty, they are still made their own executioners, and they put into their own souls the fury and the scourge.

III. And, thirdly, God sometimes awakens guilt by detection.—I have no time to dwell on its strange unexpectedness, on its inevitable certainty; but, O guilty soul which hearest me and hast not repented, be sure thy sin will find thee out. In our �ational Gallery you may see a very popular picture, of which one incident is a detective laying his hand on the shoulder of an escaped felon as he steps into a first-class carriage. The man’s face is ghastly as ashes and distorted with terror. Critics called the picture exaggerated, the incident melodramatic. The painter himself told me that those who were familiar with such scenes had assured him that every detail was true to the reality when, slow Justice having overtaken a man at last, he finds that her hand is iron and that her blow is death.

IV. And, fourthly, God sometimes awakens men from the intoxication of guilt by natural retributive consequences, all the brood of calamity fatally resembling their parent sin.—The awakening may long be delayed. To-day may be like yesterday, and to-morrow like to-day; yet one day will come for all sinners, and then woe, woe, woe! and nothing but darkness.

V. And sometimes, again, God awakens men from guilt—and I know not whether this be not the most terrible punishment of all—by simply leaving them to themselves, and suffering their sins to swell into their own natural developments.—God lets a man eat of the fruit of his own way, and be filled with his own devices. The youth grows up into a man the very thought of whom he would once have repudiated with abhorrence.

VI. And, sometimes, lastly, God awakens men from sin by death.—I believe that the vast majority of suicides have their origin in this remorse for guilt, or horror of its consequences.

Dean Farrar.Illustration

‘The mind of man is a reflecting telescope. The heart is the mirror. The poet finds

there a representation of the transgressor. As common in Hebrew poetry, the description is sevenfold—(1) practical atheism, (2) self-flattery, (3) false speech, (4) the loss of power to know the right, (5) evil imagination, (6) a course of doing what is not good, and (7) an acceptance of evil. There is possibly a gradation here. But assuredly by these seven bold strokes there is outlined a terrible portrait of a sinner. �o special act is mentioned. It is for the most part the inner life of darkness that is described. The light of the fear of God is gone, and with it the power to understand what is right, and to see conduct in a true light. It is a portrait the lurid colours of which become more evident when carefully studied. �or is there any mention of judgments or of punishment. The evil is hateful on its own account. It is no superficial view. It reveals a profound knowledge of human nature, going deeper than acts. It is a pre-libation of the morality of Jesus Christ, showing that the inner life of thought and feeling, of darkness and light within, is the true man. This “oracle of the transgression of wicked man” is not the work of an ordinary observer. For real acquaintance with human nature as it is, broken and befouled by the fall, it would be difficult to find a description that can surpass this.’

PETT, "‘For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of YHWH.’

This Psalm might be called ‘the Ode to the Covenant Love of YHWH’. For after its initial grim beginning it expands into a threefold expression of YHWH’s covenant love as it is revealed towards His own.

In it the Psalmist contrasts ‘the oracle of the transgression of the wicked’ (Psalms 36:1-4), which reveals the whole truth about man’s sinfulness spelled out in detail, with the truth of the covenant love of YHWH, the latter being emphasised in a threefold way. Thus he stresses first His attributes of love, faithfulness, righteousness and justness (Psalms 36:5-6); then His wonderful benefits provided to men (Psalms 36:7-9); and finally his own confidence that through YHWH’s love he will be delivered from the kind of men described in the initial verses.

A number of Old Testament sections begin with ‘the oracle of so and so’. Here it is ‘the oracle of the transgression of the wicked’. Transgression ‘speaks’ the oracle and gives warning to the Psalmist’s heart. The normal use in the Hebrew forbids our taking it as meaning ‘concerning the transgression of the wicked’. Rather Transgression is seen as personified and as the proclaimer of the oracle.

BI, "The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before hill eyes.

A sharp contrast of sin and holiness

I. the character of the wicked (Verses 1-4). Depravity is the sinner’s oracle. Its impulses come to him like those responses from superhuman sources which command the reverence and obedience of mankind. He yields to the seductive influence, and presses forward in the delusion that he will Hover be found out. And so, the fear of punishment being dispelled, he becomes thoroughly bad in heart, speech, and behaviour.

II. the divine excellence (Psa_36:5-9). The psalmist begins with Jehovah’s loving-

kindness and His faithfulness, His fulfilment of promises, even to the undeserving. These fill the earth and reach up to heaven. They transcend all human thought and desire (Eph_3:18). Jehovah’s righteousness. His rectitude in general is compared to the mountains of God, mountains which, being produced by Almighty power, are a natural emblem of immensity. Judgments, on the other hand—that is, particular acts of righteousness—are likened to the great deep in its vastness and mystery. “How unsearchable are His judgments!” (Rom_11:33). The next clause shows one of the most touching characteristics of Hebrew poetry in the instantaneous transition from the consideration of God’s unapproachable excellence to that of His providential care, which extends to every living thing, rational or irrational (Psa_104:1-35; Psa_145:13-16). The thought of these things makes the singer burst forth in devout rapture: “How precious is Thy loving-kindness!” It is valuable beyond all treasures, since it affords such a sure and ample protection for all who take refuge beneath Jehovah’s outstretched wings (Rth_2:12). God is represented as a gracious Host who provides for all who come to His house and His table (Psa_23:5; Psa_34:9). They are sated with the richest food, and drink of the stream of God’s pleasures or “Edens” (Gen_2:10). To believers, if they enjoy God’s presence and favour, a crust of bread and a glass of water are incomparably better than a royal banquet without such enjoyment. For with Him is the fountain of all life, animal and spiritual. What matters it that all the streams are cut off when one stands near the fountain-head, and has direct access to it? But just as God is the fountain of life, so is He also the fountain of light (Dan_2:22), and apart from Him all is darkness. The believing soul lives in an element of light which at once quickens and satisfies the spiritual faculty, by which heaven and heavenly things are apprehended.

III. The concluding prayer (Psa_36:10-12). To his glowing description of the blessedness resident in God and flowing forth to the objects of His favour, the psalmist appends a prayer that it may be extended or prolonged to the class to which he claims to belong. This class is described, first, as those who know God, “and, as a necessary consequence, love Him, since genuine knowledge of the true God is inseparable from right affections toward Him;” secondly, as the upright, not merely in appearance or outward demeanour, but in heart. Great as God’s loving-kindness is, it is not indiscriminate, nor lavished upon those who neither appreciate nor desire it. The last verse is a mighty triumph of faith. It is as if David said, “There! they have fallen already.” The wicked may be swollen with insolence, and the world applaud them, but he descries their destruction from afar as if from a watch-tower, and pronounces it as confidently as if it were an accomplished fact. The defeat is final and irretrievable. “What is the carpenter’s son doing now?” was the scoffing question of a heathen in the days of Julian, when the apostate emperor was off upon an expedition which seemed likely to end in triumph. “He is making a coffin for the emperor,” was the calm reply. Faith that is anchored upon the perfections of the Most High cannot waver, cannot be disappointed. (T. W. Chambers, D. D.)

A diagnosis of sin

The earlier verses of the psalm are concerned with an analysis of the method and destructiveness of sin. The first four verses describe the successful ravages which sin makes in human life. They give us a diagnosis of evil, from its earliest appearance in the germ to its complete and final triumph. Now how does sin begin? I must take some little liberty with the wording of the psalm before me. I suppose it is one of the most difficult of all the psalms to translate. You will find, if you will look at the marginal rendering in the R.V., that for almost every clause the translators have given us an alternative reading

which greatly differs from the reading placed in the text. I choose the marginal reading of the first clause, which, I think, gives us the germ, the first appearances, the beginnings of sin in human life. “Transgression uttereth its oracle,” speaks within himself in tones of imperious authority, lays down certain assurances, interpolates certain suggestions, and clothes them with imperial authority. The devil begins his ministry by oracular suggestions, by mysterious whispers, subtle enticements to sin. That is the germinal work of the devil; a mystic, secret oracle seeking to entice the life into ways of sin. The secret enticement is followed by equally subtle stratagem. “He” (that is, the oracle) “flattereth him in his eyes that his iniquity shall not be found out and be hated.” Two things the oracle says, and he says them with imperial authority. First, that sin shall not be found out, and secondly, that therefore there is no fear of reprobation. It is only a repetition of a word with which we are very familiar in the earlier portion of the old Book. “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die? . . . Ye shall not surely die!” Now pass to the third step in the great degeneracy. The man has been listening to the secret oracle. He has been flattered by its suggestiveness. He is now persuaded by the enticement, and the moral degradation begins apace. “The words”—the first things to be smitten—“The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.” The first thing that happens as soon as a man listens to the devil is that the bloom goes off the truthfulness of his life. He now enters the realm of equivocation and deceit, his seduction begins to show its fruit at the lips. “He hath left off to be wise”; then he loseth sense; he does not now exercise common sense; he shuts one eye! His intelligence is narrowed, contracted and curtailed. But still further: “He hath left off to do good.” The loss of brotherhood! He may continue to give money; but he has ceased to give self. The claims of philanthropic service no longer appeal to his spirit, they pass by unheeded and ignored. Arid now see what further happens in the stages of moral decay. “He deviseth iniquity”; his imagination becomes defiled. “He setteth himself in a way that is not good. His will becomes enslaved. “He adhorreth not evil.” He has now reached the plain of moral benumbment; his moral palate has been defiled; the distinction between sweet and bitter is no longer apparent, sweet and bitter taste alike. He has no abhorrence of evil, and he has no sweet pleasure in the good. He has lost his power of moral discernment; he is morally indifferent, and almost morally dead. Such is the diagnosis of sin, beginning in the whispered oracle and proceeding to absolute enslavement, passing through the intermediate stages of deception and delight. That is the moral condition of thousands. It is all round about us, and when we are confronted with its widespread devastation, what can we do? The earlier verses of this psalm, which give what I have called “a diagnosis” of sin, were never more confirmed than they are in the literature of our own Lime. The literature of our time abounds in analysis of sin. If you turn to “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” or “Jude the Obscure,” you will find that Thomas Hardy is just carefully elaborating the first four verses of this psalm. But, then, my trouble is this: that when his mournful psalm comes to an end I close his book in limp and rayless bewilderment. That is where so much of our modern literature leaves me. It gives me a fine diagnosis, but no remedial power. But here is the psalmist contemplating a similar spectacle—the ravages of sin, and he himself is temporarily bewildered; he himself is bowed low in helpless and hopeless mood. What does he do? I am very glad that our Revised Version helps by the very manner in which the psalm is printed. After verse four there is a great space, as though the psalm must be almost cut in two, as though the psalmist had gone away from the contemplation of that spectacle, as indeed he has. And where has he gone? He has gone that he might quietly inquire whether the evil things he has seen are the biggest things he can find. When the psalm opens again after the pause, the psalmist is joyfully proclaiming the bigger things he has found. What are they?” Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens.” Mark the vastness of the figures in which he

seeks to enshrine the vastness of his thought. “Thy loving-kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens,” bending like a mother’s arms, the shining, cloudless sky! Most uncertain of all uncertainties, and yet “Thy faithfulness reacheth even unto the clouds!’ Those apparent children of caprice, coming and going no one knows how, are in God’s loving control, and obey the behests of His most sovereign will. “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” How majestic the figure! The mountains, the symbols of the Eternal, abiding through the generations; looking down upon the habitations of men, undisturbed, unchanged, unmoved. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains! Not that everything becomes clear when a man talks like that; the mystery remains! “Thy judgments,” Thy ways of doing things, “Thy judgments are a great deep,” as immense and unfathomable as the incalculable sea. But then one may endure the mystery of the deep when one is sure about the mountain. When you know that His faithfulness even ruleth the clouds, you can trust the fickle sea, Where had he been to discover these wonderful things? He is not recounting a bald catalogue of Divine attributes; he is announcing a testimony born of a deep and real experience. Where has he been? He has been the guest of God. “Under the shadow of Thy wings.” The security of it! The absolute perfectness of the shelter! The warmth of it! The untroubled peace of it! He has been in God’s house, sheltering there as a chick under its mother’s wings. And then he tells us what he received in the house, what he had when he was a guest, when he was hiding under the wings: “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.” “Fatness is the top, it is the cream of all spiritual delicacies.” It is the first, the prime thing! “They shall be abundantly satisfied” with the delicacies of Thy table! “Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” It is not only what there is upon the table; it is the conversation and the fellowship at the board. Thy speech, Thy fellowship, Thy whispers, Thy promises, they just flow out into their souls like a river, and their joy shall be full. “With Thee is the fountain of life!” He was beginning to feel alive again; he was beginning to feel vitalized and renewed. “I am getting inspired again.” And then he added: “In Thy light,” my living God, “in Thy light shall we see light” to do our work away yonder in the fields of sin I The very two things he wanted: life and light I Inspiration and counsel! Encouragement and hope! As the psalmist turned from the Presence Chamber to confront again the spectacle of depravity, he offered a prayer, and this was his prayer: “O continue Thy loving-kindness unto them that know Thee, and Thy righteousness to the upright in heart!” And then, as though he was afraid that when he got back to the waste again, and to the sin again, he himself might be overcome, caught up in the terrible drift and carried along, he added this prayer: “Let not the foot of pride come against me.” Do not let me get into the general tendency of things, and by the general tendency be carried away! He offered a prayer that these cardinal things, the greatest things, might abide with him, and that when he went away into the world’s waste field he might be able to stand. And so this man came out of the secret chamber a knight of God! He goes back, like all men ought to go hack to their work when they have been in the presence chamber of God. We ought to turn to our work singing, always singing, and the songs ought to be, not songs of strife and warfare, but songs of victory. (J. H. Jowett, M.A.)

The character of the wicked and the prayer of the good

I. The character of the wicked.

1. Practical atheism.

2. Self-flattery.

3. Perverse speech.

4. Mischievous devices.

II. The glory of God. Here the Eternal is adored—

1. For what He is in Himself.

(1) His mercy is not a mere sentiment or passion, subject to change, but a principle settled as truth itself.

(2) His rectitude is as settled as the everlasting hills, and the dispensations of His providence are as a trackless, boundless ocean.

2. For what He is to His creatures.

(1) The Preserver of all.

(2) Their loving Guardian.

(3) Their Soul-satisfier. Man’s happiness is participation in God’s own happiness.

III. The prayer of the good.

1. The subject of the prayer.

(1) The continuance of Divine favour.

(2) Protection from evil.

2. The answer (Psa_36:12). (Homilist)

The remedy for the world’s wickedness

Consider the estimate here made of man’s character and its cause. The language of the text is not that of David only, but of Christ, concerning the world around us. Man’s transgression possessed a language which spoke to his heart, and what it said was this, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Christ knew what the fear of God was, for “He was heard in that he feared”; not, indeed, with the selfish, slavish fear of punishment, which is incompatible with love, and impotent to secure obedience; but that holy, filial fear which is inseparable from love, and which is a comprehensive term for all that constitutes real religion in man. We know the power of this in man’s character, its practical power in giving man victory over the world, and therefore when he saw the transgressions of men he knew that the cause was—“There is no fear of God.” Then he goes to the root of the disease; he puts forward none of the plausible excuses which men make for themselves on the ground of temperament, circumstances, and the like: but he goes to the root, for he knows also the real and only remedy. All others are vain: whether they be secular attempts to improve man’s condition or to enlarge his knowledge, or to improve the institutions of civil government. Men believe in these things, and despise that vital religion which can alone help. What man calls wisdom, and wealth, and science, can do but little good, for they all terminate with creatures; they do not rise up to God. There is nothing in them to alter the real character of man. The reason is, that man, practically considered, is under the dominion, not of his intellect, but of his affections. There is no truth, connected with our composition, that requires and demands from wise men a more accurate and painstaking examination than this; because there is a theory of right in men’s minds, and they deceive themselves into self-

complacency by the admiration of the theory, at the moment that practically they are transgressing it. However strengthened the intellect by natural learning, it is still too weak for the conflict. The attracting object, soliciting the affections, gains the man; and he exhibits another specimen of the acknowledgment of the celebrated heathen, who “Knew the best, and yet the worst pursued.” What is to be done for him? “His transgression saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” There is fear of man; there is a desire to obtain the good opinion of man; but all these are too weak for the conflict. He is still a transgressor, because he is devoid of “the fear of God.” The next verses of the psalm give a remarkable description of his transgression, and show that it is mainly characterized by self-deception. “He flattereth himself in his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful.” It is not perceived to be hateful now, because he does as the world does. There are transgressions in which no man can flatter himself that he is right, but there are others for which he does not condemn himself, because society does not. It is concerning these, particularly, that he goes on flattering himself. And where is the remedy? The language of the psalmist, immediately after this, points out the remedy. “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; Thy judgments are a great deep; O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.” Observe the transition. From this contemplation of man’s wickedness, he does not pass to a better class of men, because he was not contemplating that peculiar character of wickedness, in which man differs from man, but he was contemplating the root of man’s malady, in which “there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In immediate contrast, therefore, he refers to the character of God. Here is the only remedy—the character of God as manifested in Jesus Christ. “Mercy, . . . faithfulness,” “righteousness,” “judgment, . . . loving-kindness”—how are these glorious perfections harmonized, but in the Cross of Christ? Here, then, we find the urgency for preaching the Gospel among men. Here we find our stronghold of demand for every effort to promulgate the Gospel amongst our fellow-creatures. They who know the human character best, who have watched most minutely the turning point of man’s feelings and his consequent conduct, know full well that it is the manifestation of God’s love that wins the alienated heart and changes the alienated conduct. (Hugh M’Neils, M. A.)

For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity he found to he hateful.—

The deceitfulness of sin

The deceits by which the sinner thus imposes on himself may be very different and various, according to the circumstances and the dispositions of the persons by whom they are admitted, and it is not very easy to discover every one of them. There are, however, some capital and leading ones, pointed out in Scripture, or suggested by history and experience.

I. A studied infidelity, and an affected endeavour to despise the evidence on which the belief of the great and fundamental doctrines of religion stands; such as the existence and perfections of Almighty God, His moral government of this world, and a future judgment.

1. It is the height of folly, either to reject these doctrines of religion, or to treat them with contempt, until we can say we have examined the evidence on which they have

been received, with the utmost exactness and candour in our power.

2. Without determining the degree of evidence, which is offered in support of the doctrines of religion, we may venture, nevertheless, to affirm, with strong assurance, that it is at least equal to the evidence upon which men constantly proceed, without the smallest hesitation, in all their other interests.

II. A fond imagination of their own innocence, even in the course of an irregular and sinful life. They artfully persuade themselves that there cannot be such malignity or guilt in what they do as that it should expose them to the displeasure of their Maker, or draw after it any great or lasting punishment: they presume, therefore, God will overlook the irregularities and errors of their lives, or find out some merciful expedient whereby they may escape with safety and success.

1. Notwithstanding the ignorance and corruption of our present state, so much of our original rectitude remains, that without any laboured cultivation, the consciences of men do still perceive a very odious deformity in some instances of wickedness; and lead, not only to a strong indignation against the criminal, but to a strong persuasion that Providence will some time or other interpose, and exert its justice, in his punishment.

2. The marks which God has already given, in the administration of His providence, of His displeasure with the sins of men. What extreme distress have some brought upon themselves by their intemperance; some by their dishonesty, and others by their immoderate ambition. It adds greatly to the weight of this consideration, that these expressions of Divine displeasure are made against such iniquities as are usually disguised in the thoughts of men, under the appearance of innocence, or weakness; as being only a compliance with the appetites implanted in our nature, and with the custom of the world, in which a man has no deliberate impiety and malice in his heart, no intention either to affront his Maker, or to hurt his fellow-men.

III. A groundless and presumptuous dependence on the mercy of almighty God.

1. Although the mercy of Almighty God be infinite, as all His other perfections are, yet it can extend only to those persons who are the proper objects of compassion, and to those cases to which it would be worthy of Him to extend mercy.

2. Let it be observed, that abstracting from the displeasure of Almighty God, and supposing that there was to be no positive exertion of His justice in the case, yet the future punishment of sinners will very probably proceed from the nature and influence of wickedness itself (Gal_6:7; Pro_1:31; Isa_3:10).

IV. The sinner’s hoping, at the end of a guilty life, to be saved, by the merit of the Son of God, and the virtue of that great atonement which he made for the sins of men. If the sinner is not able to convince himself that the mercy of his Maker is sufficient, by itself, to ensure his future safety, he trusts, at least, to the all-sufficient sacrifice and merit of his well-beloved Son. But, according to Scripture, they only can be saved by the sacrifice and intercession of the Son of God, who are persuaded by Him to repent of their iniquities, to believe and obey the Gospel (Act_5:31; Act_3:19; Heb_5:9; Rom_2:6). Were the matter otherwise, were sinners, continuing in their wickedness, permitted to expect salvation through the merits of our Saviour, Jesus would become the minister of sin, an establisher rather than a destroyer of the works of Satan; than which, a more blasphemous reproach could not be thrown upon His character.

V. A precipitant contempt of religion, on account of the weak and wrong representations

which have been made of it by some of its mistaken friends. This instance of deceit unhappily prevails, even among those who pretend to superior discernment. But the weakness of it may appear upon a very small attention. Does a wise man conduct himself in this manner in any corer action of his life? Does he despise the truth and usefulness of real science, because of the impertinence and pedantry of mere pretenders to it? Does he despise the useful schemes of commerce, accompanied with the solidest effects, because of the chimerical and idle schemes of mere projectors.

VI. Their hoping and resolving to repent, and turn to God, at some future and more convenient opportunity; at the farthest, in the last period of their lives, or at the approach of death. It is not proposed, at present, to show the extreme absurdity and folly of this conduct, by arguments drawn from the shortness and uncertainty of human life; the hardening influence of a sinful course, which gradually destroys the sensibility of the human conscience. I would only desire ,your attention to the prodigious presumption of the sinner who defers his repentance and return to God to the last period of his life, hoping then to obtain forgiveness from God by his penitence and prayers. What the Creator can do, or what He may have done, independent of the established laws of providence, no man reckons it of importance to inquire; and any person would be deemed a madman or a fool, who directed the measures of his conduct by a regard to such unusual departures from these laws, as the history of the world may possibly furnish some few examples of. That man seems equally foolish and absurd who seeks admission to eternal life otherwise than according to the measures of His mercy, declared and established by the Gospel. (W. Craig, D.D.)

On the deceitfulness of the heart, with regard to the commission of sin

I. Preliminary observations.

1. That all the proofs of the deceitfulness of the heart, which we mean to offer with regard to sin, may not be found in every person, especially in those who are under its power.

2. Many of those things, which are evidences of the deceitfulness of the heart, may be used as temptations by Satan. The wind of Satan’s temptation commonly blows along with the tide of corruption within, whether by deceit, or by violence. Were not this the case, Satan would be divided against himself, and opposing the interests of his own kingdom.

II. How the deceitfulness of the heart appears.

1. In raising doubts in the mind, with respect to what One is inclined to, whether it really be sin.

2. In trying to persuade him that it is a little sin. If the understanding will not be betrayed into a belief that the matter proposed is no sin at all, the heart will strenuously plead that it scarcely deserves the name.

3. By representing the mortification of sin as affording far less pleasure than the gratification of it. Nay, it will presume to urge, not only the difficulty, but the unreasonableness, the cruelty of attempting totally to subdue sin.

4. Sin is exhibited as far more pleasant than it is really found in the commission. The enjoyments of sin are like the apples of Sodom, which, how fair soever they appear to the eye, when grasped by the hand are said to fall to ashes (Pro_22:8; Rom_6:21).

5. It represents a renewed opportunity of sin, as promising far greater satisfaction than was ever found before.

6. It pleads that one may indulge sin a little, without altogether yielding to the sin particularly in view.

7. It throws a veil of forgetfulness over the whole soul, with respect to all the painful consequences of sin, formerly felt. That loathsomeness of sin, hatred of self on account of it, or fear of Wrath, which the person experienced after a former indulgence, are entirely vanished; and he now appears to himself as one who feared where no fear was.

8. It entices the imagination into its service. This is not only Satan’s workhouse in the soul; but it may be viewed as a purveyor, which the heart engages in making provision for its lusts.

9. It engages the senses on its side. These are volunteers to the corrupt heart, which it arms in its service, and by which it accomplishes its wicked purposes, when enticing to outward acts of sin. For the voice of the senses will always overpower that of the understanding; if they be not brought into subjection, or presently restrained by grace.

10. In representing sin as properly one’s own, as something belonging to one’s self.

11. By insinuating that committing such a sin once more cannot greatly increase our guilt.

12. By urging the vanity of attempting to resist the temptation. It will plead for yielding to the present assault, from former instances of insufficiency In opposing one of the came nature.

13. It may sometimes endeavour to persuade a man that the present commission of sin will be an antidote for the future, because he will see more of its hatefulness.

14. The heart sometimes urges the commission of sin, as immediately clearing the way to the performance of some necessary duty (Rom_3:8; Gen_20:11; Gen_27:19; 1Sa_13:11; 1Sa_15:22).

15. By persuading a person to lay the commission of sin to the charge of the flesh, and solacing him with the idea that, although he fall into it, he does not really love it.

16. It dissuades him from prayer. Perhaps it reminds him that he has often tried this exercise before, in like circumstances, when he found an inclination to sin, or was assaulted by a temptation; and that it was attended with no success. Or, it may reason that if God hath determined to permit his fall at this time, prayer will not prevent it.

17. It strives to banish a sense of the presence and omniscience of God.

18. The deceitfulness of the heart about sin eminently appears in its self-hardening influence. Sin is the instrument which it uses in this work (Heb_13:8). The strength of every lust is commensurate with the power of deceit.

19. The heart will even urge God’s readiness to pardon as an excitement to the commission of sin. This is indeed a dreadful abuse of pardoning mercy.

20. By endeavouring to drive one to despair, after the commission of sin, as being beyond the reach of mercy.

III. Means for obtaining victory over the deceits of the heart with respect to sin.

1. In a dependence on the Spirit, resist the first motions of sin within you.

2. Beware of entertaining doubts with regard to what Scripture and conscience declare to be sin. To doubt is to begin to fall, for it implies unbelief of God’s testimony.

3. Carefully avoid light notions of any sin. To think lightly of sin is to think lightly of God.

4. Guard against the solicitations of your hearts. If these promise you honour, profit, or pleasure in the service of sin, believe them not.

5. Beware of tampering or dallying with sin. Temptation is, to the corrupt heart, sharper than a two-edged sword, and if the point once enter, you may be pierced through with many sorrows.

6. Try to get all your senses armed against sin, or rather barred against it; for this is the best mode of defence. Like Job, make a covenant with your eyes. Endeavour to stop your ears against it. Strive for the mastery over your taste. Put a knife to thy throat, lest thou be given to appetite.

7. Seek a constant sense of the Majesty and Omniscience of God.

8. Pray without ceasing against the deceitfulness of the heart.

9. Improve the strength of Christ, and the grace of His Spirit, for the mortification of sin. (John Jamieson, D. D.)

2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

BAR�ES, "For he flattereth himself in his own eyes - He puts such an exalted estimate on himself; he so overrates himself and his own ability in judging of what is right and proper, that he is allowed to pursue a course which ultimately makes his conduct odious to all people: the result is so apparent, and so abominable, that no one can doubt what he himself is. The foundation or the basis of all this is an overweening confidence “in himself” - in his own importance; in his own judgment; in his own ability to direct his course regardless of God. The result is such a development of character, that it cannot but be regarded as hateful or odious. There is, indeed, considerable obscurity in the original. A literal translation would be, “For he has made smooth to him in his eyes to find his iniquity to hate.” The ancient interpretations throw no light on the

passage. The word rendered “flattereth” - châlaq חלק - means to be smooth; then, to be

smooth in the sense of being bland or flattering: Hos_10:2; Psa_5:9; Pro_28:23; Pro_

2:16; Pro_7:5. Here the meaning is, that he commends himself to himself; he overestimates himself; he ascribes to himself qualities which he does not possess -either:

(a) by supposing that what he does must be right and proper, or

(b) by overestimating his strength of virtue, and his power to resist temptation.

He does this until God suffers him so to act out his own nature, and to show what he is, that his course of life is seen by himself and by others to be odious.

In his own eyes - As if his eyes were looking upon himself, or his own conduct. We act so as to be seen by others; thus he is represented as acting as if he himself were looking on, and sought to commend himself to himself.

Until his iniquity be found to be hateful -Margin, as in Hebrew: “to find his iniquity to hate.” Prof. Alexander renders this, “As to (God’s) finding his iniquity (and) hating (it);” that is (as he supposes the meaning to be), that he flatters himself that God will not find out his iniquity and hate it, or punish it. DeWette renders it, “that he does not find and hate his guilt;” that is, he so flatters himself in what he does, that he does not see the guilt of what he is doing, and hate it. He is blind to the real nature of what he is doing. But it seems to me that the true construction is that which is given by our translators. The real difficulty rests on the interpretation of the preposition in the word

'limetsâ למצא - “until he find.” If the interpretation proposed by DeWette were the true

one, the preposition should have been the Hebrew letter מ (m) instead of the Hebrew

letter ל (l) - limetsâ'). The preposition used here often has למצא mimetsâ' instead of ממצא

the sense of “even unto, until.” Compare Eze_39:19; Isa_7:15; and this idea seems best to comport with the connection. The idea, according to this, is that he overestimates himself; he prides himself on his own strength and goodness, he confides in his own wisdom and power, he pursues his course of conduct trusting in himself, until he is suffered to act out what is really in his heart - and his conduct becomes hateful and abominable - until he can no longer conceal what he really is. God suffers him to act out what he had endeavored to cover over by his own flattery. Men who pride themselves on their own cunning and strength - men who attempt to conceal their plans from the world - are often thus suffered to develop their character so that the mask is taken off, and the world is allowed to see how vile they are at heart.

CLARKE, "For he flattereth himself - He is ruled by the suggestion already mentioned; endeavours to persuade himself that he may safely follow the propensities of his own heart, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. He sins so boldly, that at last he becomes detestable. Some think the words should be thus understood: “He smootheth over in his own eyes with respect to the finding out of his iniquity, to hate it. That is, he sets such a false gloss in his own eyes upon his worst actions, that he never finds out the blackness of his iniquity; which were it perceived by him, would be hateful even to himself.” - Bishop Horsley.

GILL, "For he flattereth himself in his own eyes,.... There are many self-flatterers; some on account of their worldly estate, that they are out of the reach of God and men, and regard neither; and that as they have much goods laid up, they shall enjoy them many years, and so never think of dying, nor of another world: others on account

of their eternal state, pleasing themselves with their own purity, goodness, and righteousness: some flatter themselves either that their sins are not sins, or they are small ones; or they are no other than what multitudes commit; or they are not seen and known, and that God himself sees them not, or takes no notice of them; and that they shall go on with impunity, sentence against them being not speedily executed; and others that there is no God, will be no judgment, nor future state;

until his iniquity be found to be hateful, or, "to find his iniquity and to hate" (c)that which is good, as the word may be rendered; that is, he flatters himself, or speaks smooth things to himself, and endeavours to work himself up into the belief of the above things; that he may find, embrace, and indulge his lusts with a quiet conscience, and hate God, good men, and everything that is good; the Targum is,

"that he may find sins and hate doctrine''

or instruction. Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret the words another way,

"that the holy and blessed God may find out his iniquity to hate him;''

see Gen_44:16, which God may be said to do, when he charges the guilt of sin upon the conscience, and punishes for it; and exposes both the sinner and his sins to the world; thereby testifying his hatred of him and his sins; and which should have been hateful to him, as they are to all good men.

JAMISO�, "This reflection detailed.

until his iniquity— literally, “for finding his iniquity for hating”; that is, he persuades himself God will not so find it - “for hating” involving the idea of punishing. Hence his words of iniquity and deceit, and his bold rejection of all right principles of conduct. The climax is that he deliberately adopts and patronizes evil. The negative forms affirm more emphatically their contraries.

CALVI�, "2For he flattereth himself in his own eyes Here the Psalmist shows by their fruits or the marks of their character, that there is no fear of God among the wicked, seeing they take such pleasure in committing deeds of wickedness, that, although hateful in the sight of all other men, they still cherish the natural obstinacy of their hearts, and wilfully harden themselves in their evil course. First, he says that they nourish their vices by flatteries, (3) that they may not be dissatisfied with themselves in sinning. But when he adds, until their iniquity be found to be hateful, by these words he is to be understood as referring to their determined obstinacy; for the meaning is, that while they falsely flatter themselves, they proceed to such an extent in their evil course, that their iniquity becomes hateful to all men. Some translate the words thus: So that he himself finds his own iniquity to be hateful; and understand them as meaning, that the wicked persist in rushing headlong into sin without restraint, until, satiated or glutted with the indulgence of their depraved desires, they begin to loathe it: for even the most depraved are sometimes dissatisfied with themselves on account of their sinful conduct. The first interpretation is, however, the more natural, namely, that the wicked, though they are hateful to all men on account of their iniquity, which, when once discovered and

made manifest, excites a general feeling of displeasure, are not affected by any displeasure against themselves, but, on the contrary, rather applaud themselves, whilst the people despise them, and abhor the wickedness of their lives. The prophet, therefore, condemns them for their infatuation in this, that while all others are offended at their disgraceful conduct, they themselves are not at all affected by it. As far as in them lies, they abolish all distinction between good and evil, and lull their conscience into a state of insensibility, lest it should pain them, and urge them to repentance. Certainly the infatuation here described ought to be the subject of our serious consideration, the infatuation which is manifested in this, that men who are given up to a reprobate mind, while they render themselves hateful in the sight of all other men, are notwithstanding destitute of all sense of their own sins.

“For he giveth things a fair appearance to himself, In his own eyes, so that he discovers not his own iniquityto hate it.”

“He sets such a false gloss,“ says this critic, “in his own eyes, upon his worst actions, that he never finds out the blackness of his iniquity, which, were it perceived by him, would be hateful even to himself.” The wicked in all ages have thus contrived to put a fair appearance upon the most unprincipled maxims and pernicious practices. It will be seen that Montanus’ and Horsley’s translation of the last clause of the verse gives a different meaning from that given by Calvin. The original text is somewhat obscure and ambiguous from its brevity; but it seems to support the sense given by these critics. The Hebrew is, למצא עונולשנא, limtso avono lisno, to find, or to, for, or concerning the finding of, [the first word being an infinitive with the prefix ל, lamed, ] his iniquity to hate [it. ] “The prefix ל,” says Walford, “cannot, I imagine, be translated with any propriety by until. ” His rendering is,

“For he flattereth himself in his own sight, That his iniquity will not be found to be hateful:”

That is, will not be viewed by others as the hateful thing which it really is. The original words will easily bear this sense as well as that given by Montanus and Horsley.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 2. For. Here is the argument to prove the proposition laid down in the former verse. David here runs over the process of reasoning by which he had become convinced that wicked men have no proper idea of God or respect for him. God fearing men see their sins and bewail them, where the reverse is the case we may be sure there is no fear of God. He flattereth himself in his own eyes. He counts himself a fine fellow, worthy of great respect. He quiets his conscience, and so deceives his own judgment as to reckon himself a pattern of excellence; if not for morality, yet for having sense enough not to be enslaved by rules which are bonds to others. He is the free thinker, the man of strong mind, the hater of cant, the philosopher; and the servants of God are, in his esteem, mean spirited and narrow minded. Of all flatteries this is the most absurd and dangerous. Even the silliest bird will not set traps for itself; the most pettifogging attorney will not cheat himself. To

smooth over one's own conduct to one's conscience (which is the meaning of the Hebrew) is to smooth one's own path to hell. The descent to eternal ruin is easy enough, without making a glissade of it, as self flatters do. Until his iniquity be found to be hateful. At length he is found out and detested, despite his self conceit. Rottenness smells sooner or later too strong to be concealed. There is a time when the leprosy cannot be hidden. At last the old house can no longer be propped up, and falls about the tenant's ears: so there is a limit to a man's self gratulation; he is found out amid general scorn, and can no longer keep up the farce which he played so well. If this happens not in this life, the hand of death will let light in upon the coveted character, and expose the sinner to shame and contempt. The self flattering process plainly proves the atheism of sinners, since the bare reflection that God sees them would render such self flatteries extremely difficult, if not impossible. Belief in God, like light reveals, and then our sin and evil are perceived; but wicked men are in the dark, for they cannot see what is so clearly within them and around them that it stares them in the face.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 2. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes. The matter which this self flattery especially concerns is sin, as appears from the following clause. He deceives himself as to its nature and consequences, its evil and aggravations, and he continues to do so until his iniquity be found to be hateful; till it be fully discovered, and appear in its magnitude and atrocious circumstances both to himself and others, by some awful divine judgment, such as that mentioned in the last verse of the Psalm: "There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise." He adduces this self deceit and continuance in it, as illustrating the truth of that judgment he had formed of the state of such a person: There is no fear of God before his eyes: for he flattereth himself in his own eyes. And surely the proof is incontrovertible. For a man under the bondage of sin would never flatter himself in his own eyes, were it not that God is not before them. The reason why he thinks so well of himself is, that God is not in all his thoughts. He hath cast off all fear about himself because he hath no fear of God. John Jamieson.Ver. 2. He flattereth himself. 1. Some flatter themselves with a secret hope, that there is no such thing as another world. 2. Some flatter themselves that death is a great way off, and that they shall hereafter have much opportunity to seek salvation. 3. Some flatter themselves that they lead moral and orderly lives, and therefore think that they shall not be damned. 4. Some make the advantages under which they live an occasion of self flattery. They flatter themselves that they live in a place where the gospel is powerfully preached, and among a religious people, where many have been converted; and they think it will be much easier for them to be saved on that account. 5. Some flatter themselves with their own intentions. They intend to give themselves liberty for a while longer, and then to reform. 6. There are some who flatter themselves that they do, and have done, a great deal for their salvation, and therefore hope they shall obtain it; when indeed they neither do what they ought to do, nor what they might do even in their present state of unregeneracy; nor are they in any likely way to be converted. 7. Some hope by their strivings to obtain salvation of themselves. They have a secret imagination that they shall, by degrees, work in themselves sorrow and repentance of sin, and love towards God and Jesus Christ. Their striving is not so much an earnest seeking to God, as a striving to do

themselves that which is the work of God. 8. Some sinners flatter themselves that they are already converted. They sit down and rest in a false hope, persuading themselves that all their sins are pardoned; that God loves them; that they shall go to heaven when they die; and that they need trouble themselves no more. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Revelation 3:17. Condensed from Jonathan Edwards.Ver. 2. In his own eyes. He had not God before his eyes in holy awe, therefore he puts himself there in unholy admiration. He who makes little of God makes much of himself. They who forget adoration fall into adulation. The eyes must see something, and if they admire not God, they will flatter self. C. H. S.Ver. 2. Until his iniquity be found to be hateful; that is, until he finds by experience that it is a more dreadful thing to sin against God, and break his holy commands, than he imagined. Jonathan Edwards.Ver. 2. Hateful. Odious to himself, others, and to God. Gilbert Genebrard, 1537-1597.

SCOTT, "V:2. The wicked man not only disguises his crimes or intentions from others; but, through the excess of self-love, he becomes his own flatterer, calls his vices by soft names, or mistakes them for virtues; and deems his conduct justifiable, perhaps meritorious, when in fact it is a hateful compound of impiety, injustice, and malevolence, and will very soon be proved to be so. Thus Saul"s selflattery kept him from being aware of the malignity of his conduct, till he became odious in the open view of mankind. (�otes, 1 Samuel 15:13-28; 1 Samuel 22:6-19. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14.)

SIMEO�, "THE SELF-FLATTERI�G DELUSIO�S OF SI��ERS EXPOSED

Psalms 36:2. He flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

IT may well astonish us to see how careless and indifferent men are about the favour of God. But the Psalmist assigns the true reason for it. Every one cherishes in his mind some delusion, whereby he lulls his conscience asleep; and thus, notwithstanding his guilt and danger, rests satisfied with his state, till God himself interpose, in a way of mercy or of judgment, to undeceive him.

To elucidate his words, we shall,

I. Point out some of the self-flattering delusions which are commonly entertained—

We shall notice some which obtain,

1. Among the careless world—

[They imagine that God does not regard the conduct of his creatures [�ote: Job 22:13. Psalms 94:7. But it is a sad delusion, Proverbs 15:3. 1 Corinthians 4:5. Ecclesiastes 12:14. Deuteronomy 29:19-20.] — — — Or, that he is too merciful to consign them over to everlasting perdition [�ote: Zephaniah 1:12. 2 Peter 3:4. But this is also a fatal error, Psalms 9:17 and 2 Peter 2:4-6; 2 Peter 2:9.] — — — Or that, at least, a little repentance will suffice [�ote: Repentance is not so small a thing as men suppose. It is nothing less than a thorough renovation of the heart in all its powers; a putting off the old man, and a putting on the new, John 3:3. Ephesians 4:22-24.] — — — Or that, at all events, it is time enough yet to think of turning seriously to God [�ote: Acts 24:25. If other delusions have proved fatal to thousands, this has destroyed tens of thousands. The folly of it appears from James 4:14. Luke 12:20 and Genesis 6:3. Proverbs 1:24-31.] — — —]

2. Among those who profess some regard for religion—

[They judge that a moral conduct, with a regular observance of the outward forms of religion, is all that is required [�ote: Our Lord warns us against this mistake, Matthew 5:20.] — — — Or, that the embracing of the truths of the Gospel, and joining themselves to the Lord’s people, is a true and scriptural conversion [�ote: But what did this avail the Foolish Virgins? Matthew 25:1-12 or Judas? Matthew 26:21-24. See also, Matthew 13:30; Matthew 13:40-42.] — — — Or, that the having, at some former period, had their affections strongly exercised about religious things, is a proof of their present acceptance with God [�ote: Such notions are common, Matthew 13:20. but awfully delusive, Hebrews 6:4-6. 2 Peter 2:20-21.] — — — Or, that a present pleasure in religious duties. with a partial mortification of sin, is a sufficient evidence of their sincerity [�ote: This is the thought of many, Isaiah 58:2-3. Ezekiel 33:31-32. Psalms 78:34-35. But nothing less than an uniform and unreserved obedience to God will prove us to be God’s children 1 John 3:7. Mark 9:43-48.] — — —]

But the vanity of these delusions will appear, while we,

II. Shew when and how they shall be removed—

The eyes of all will sooner or later be opened, and their vain conceits be dissipated—

1. Some will have their errors rectified in conversion—

[When the Spirit of God enlightens the mind of man, he scatters the clouds of ignorance and error; and, as far at least as respects the foregoing delusions, guides them into the knowledge of the truth. He shews us, not only that our sins are known to God, but that we are in danger of condemnation on account of them, and that we ought to turn to God instantly, and with our whole hearts [�ote: Acts 2:37; Acts 16:30.] — — — He discovers to us also, that no form of godliness, no change of sentiment, no moving of the affections, no partial reformation of the life, will suffice; but that, if we will serve the Lord in truth, we must give up ourselves wholly to him and without reserve [�ote: Psalms 18:23 and Hebrews 12:1.] — — — Particularly

he makes us to see “the hatefulness” of the most refined hypocrisy, and even of the remains of sin, which, in spite of our most earnest endeavours to destroy it, yet war in our members [�ote: Psalms 66:18. James 1:26. Job 42:6. Romans 7:21-24.] — ——]

2. Others will have their misapprehensions removed in condemnation—

[Too many, alas! hold fast their delusions in spite of God’s word, and all the merciful or afflictive dispensations of his providence. But, as soon as ever they come into the eternal world, they will be undeceived. The sight of a holy God, together with the hearing of that sentence which their once compassionate, but now indignant Judge will pass upon them; and, above all, the feeling of the torments of hell, will convince them of their mistakes, and leave them no room to doubt, but that the care of the soul was “the one thing needful,” and that every word of God shall be fulfilled in its season — — —]

Advice—

1. Confer not with flesh and blood in the concerns of religion—

[All unregenerate men endeavour to bring down the word of God to some standard of their own; and consequently will discourage in us every thing that goes beyond the line which they have drawn for themselves. But, if they deceive us, they cannot afford us any remedy in the eternal world. The word of God is the only standard of right and wrong; and by that we shall be judged in the last day. Let us therefore regulate our sentiments and conduct, not according to the opinions of fallible men, but according to the unerring declarations of God himself. And instead of endeavouring to lower the demands of God to our wishes or attainments, let us labour to raise our practice to the strictest requisitions of God’s law [�ote: Philippians 3:13-14.].]

2. Pray for the teaching of God’s Spirit—

[With deceitful hearts, a subtle adversary, and a tempting world, we are continually in danger: nor can we hope to be guided aright but by the Spirit of the living God. Even the Scriptures themselves will be “a dead letter,” and “a sealed book” to us, unless the Spirit of God open our understandings to understand them. He has promised to lead us into all truth; and if we be really disposed to embrace the truth, he will discover it to us. But if, through our hatred of the light, we shut our eyes against it, God will give us over to our delusions, that we may believe a lie [�ote: John 3:19. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, and Isaiah 66:3-4.]. Let us therefore guard against self-deception, and submit ourselves to the guidance of God’s Spirit. Then, though our capacities be ever so small, we shall be kept from every fundamental error [�ote: Isaiah 35:8 and Matthew 11:25.], and be “made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ.”]

3. Seek above all to know the hatefulness of sin—

[�othing but a discovery of the evil of sin will effectually preserve us from self-deceit. To produce this, is the first saving work of the Spirit: and the more this is wrought in the heart, the more shall we be on our guard against all self-flattering delusions.]

LA�GE, "Psalm 36:2. For he flattereth himself in his eyes with reference to the finding of his guilt,—literally he has made smooth towards himself. The אליו is reflexive, as Genesis 8:9; 1 Samuel 14:52. For the subject is not ungodliness (the Rabbins, Olsh, Camph, Delitzsch), but the wicked Prayer of Manasseh, because the entire section speaks of him and the translation “towards him” would lead to a flattery towards God (most ancient versions, Köster, Maurer, Tholuck), which explanation again would give an entirely different meaning to the clause from that allowed by the following words. For “finding of sin” never denotes the theoretical knowledge of it. Consequently the thought cannot be here, that the wicked man merely lied to God, that he possessed knowledge and hatred of his sins, and that he imagined that he could deceive God. �o more does that expression denote the accomplishment of sin, as if the wicked man esteemed himself highly on account of his sins and his hatred of God and Divine things (Kimchi, Geier, J. H. Mich, Köster, Stier) in his flattering imagination against God and in contrast with his guilty fear of God (Rosenm.). It designates only the finding of sin by the avenger, who pursues and reaches it with the design of punishing it, Genesis 44:16; Hosea 12:9; comp. 1 Samuel 29:3-6; Psalm 17:3. This design of punishing cannot be lost sight of. Accordingly, although the original meaning may be given by assequi, yet the interpretation, that ungodliness directs flattering words to the wicked man in his eyes ( = well pleasing to him) in order to accomplish his guilt, that is in order to obtain, that he may become guilty and hate God and man instead of loving (Delitzsch), is indeed ingenious but not entirely in harmony with usage, according to which the discovery, that is the disclosing of the guilt of another’s sin, has the design of punishment, which in this interpretation disappears entirely behind that of being guilty. For it cannot be said that it is taught here, that personified ungodliness has in view, with its suggestions, the attainment of the purpose, that the wicked man shall constantly become more guilty in order that he may more certainly meet his punishment. Still less can any one be authorized to make Elohim the subject of the entire clause [Perowne]. For first, the interpretation “God has made it smooth, acted softly towards him in his eyes, that is according to his fancy,” gives indeed a good sense and is correct according to the language; but it makes the following clause still more difficult of comprehension. For the translation “to find the corrupt things of the unrighteous so that he must hate them” (find worthy of hatred) (Hofm.), corresponds neither with usage nor the context. And the proposition to put ver2b in a parenthesis as an explanation of the fancy (Hupf.), is as much a desperate expedient as the ingenious conjecture of Hupfeld, that perhaps the חדל (he has left off), which precedes the two infinitives with ל in the following verse, has here fallen away. Under these circumstances it is most advisable to find the thought expressed, that the wicked man flatters himself with the foolish imagination that he will escape punishment. That it is an imagination or fancy is expressed by the words “in his

eyes.” A corresponding expression in the previous line makes it necessary to think of the eyes of the wicked, not those of God, in connection with which interpretation many more ancient interpreters thought of a merely external service, works lying before the eyes, which the wicked man performed hypocritically, without internal reverence of God. But such an interpretation, not to speak of other objections, is not at all suitable to the mention of the eyes of God, which designate above all His Omniscience and Infallibility. Psalm 36:2 b refers (Hengst.) to the sphere, in which this self-deception of the audacious villain moves (comp. Deuteronomy 29:18; Isaiah 28:15). Yet it must be conceded, that even this interpretation is not free from the objection that the expression is yet somewhat hard, forced and unusual, especially when it is compared with the other verses, which with all their sublimity and meaning, yet have a clear and flowing style. It is very natural therefore to think of a corruption of the text (Olsh, Hupf.). But although only a slight change in the text would be necessary in order to the ingenious conjecture mentioned above, of a verb which has been omitted (Hupf.), or to gain the sense; it flatters him in his eyes (it tickles his pride), to discover missteps in others and to make them suffer for them (Thenius), these proposals have partly objections in themselves, partly they lead to the unbounded field of mere conjecture. The ancient translators already differed, partly from the Hebrew text, partly from one another, and rendered it in a way which is in part unintelligible. The interpretation of Symmachus has been renewed in part by Clauss, in the interpretation: he acts slippery towards God in his eyes, in order to slip away from the finding out of his misdeed. Here the “making smooth” is changed into a meaning which cannot be proved for the word in question. On the other hand it might be taken in the sense of “coquetting towards God,” and כי be used in the sense of ἐάν, so that Psalm 36:3, forms the conclusion. (Hitzig). But if then this coquetting is taken as the hypocritical confession, he has found=become sensible of his sin and hates it, this meaning cannot be regarded as proved by the remark, that where as here the guilty man himself finds the guilt, מצא means knowing, becoming sensible of what was previously obscure or uncertain. The passages cited in favor of this, Ecclesiastes 7:29; 24:27; Job 32:13, have not this connection of “finding” with “sin” on which all depends. Moreover the entire description is not that of the sanctimonious hypocrite, but the real villain (Sachs) who comforts himself by his experience in sinning (Hengst.).—The impersonal interpretation: “it flatters him” (Ewald, Thenius) is likewise contrary to the usual use of the verb. Böttcher maintains (�eue exeget. krit. Æhrenlese �r. 1092) his previous (Theol. Stud, und Krit. 1850. § 609) interpretation: for he flattereth himself, when he directs his eyes upon himself; to discover his guilt must be odious to him.[F�1]

3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;

they fail to act wisely or do good.

BAR�ES, "The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit - Are false and wicked. See the notes at Psa_12:2. It is words do not fairly represent or express what is in his heart.

He hath left off to be wise - To act wisely; to do right.

And to do good - To act benevolently and kindly. This would seem to imply that there had been a change in his conduct, or that he was not what he once professed to be, and appeared to be. This language would be applicable to the change in the conduct of Saul toward David after he became envious and jealous of him 1 Sam. 18; and it is possible, as Amyraldus supposed, that this may have had particular reference to him. But such instances of a change, of feeling and conduct are not very uncommon in the world, and it may doubtless have happened that David experienced this more than once in his life.

CLARKE, "The words of his mouth are iniquity - In the principle; and deceit calculated to pervert others, and lead them astray.

He hath left off to be wise, and to do good - His heart is become foolish, and his actions wicked. He has cut off the connection between himself and all righteousness.

GILL, "The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit,.... Not only sinful, but sin itself; his mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, of filthy and unchaste words, of corrupt communication, lying, deceit, and flattery; out of the abundance of the wickedness of his heart his mouth speaketh; and which shows the badness of it, and proves all that is said before of him;

he hath left off to be wise, and to do good; by which the psalmist seems to intend one that had been a professor of religion, who, besides the light of nature he had acted contrary to, had had the advantage of a divine revelation, and had been enlightened into the knowledge of divine things, and had done many things externally good, particularly acts of beneficence; but now had dropped his profession of religion, denied the truths he had been enlightened into, and ceased from doing good; otherwise a natural man understandeth not; and, though he is wise to do evil, to do good he has no knowledge.

HE�RY 3-4, " Here are the cursed branches which spring from this root of bitterness. The sinner defies God, and even deifies himself, and then what can be expected but that he should go all to naught? These two were the first inlets of sin. Men do not fear God, and therefore they flatter themselves, and then, 1. They make no conscience of what they say, true of false, right or wrong (Psa_36:3): The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit, contrived to do wrong, and yet to cover it with specious

and plausible pretences. It is no marvel if those that deceive themselves contrive how to deceive all mankind; for to whom will those be true who are false to their own souls? 2. What little good there has been in them is gone; the sparks of virtue are extinguished, their convictions baffled, their good beginnings come to nothing: They have left off to be wise and to do good. They seemed to be under the direction of wisdom and the government of religion, but they have broken these bonds asunder; they have shaken off their religion, and therewith their wisdom. Note, Those that leave off to do good leave off to be wise. 3. Having left off to do good, they contrive to do hurt and to be vexatious to those about them that are good and do good (Psa_36:4): He devises mischief upon his bed. Note, (1.) Omissions make way for commissions. When men leave off doing good, leave off praying, leave off their attendance on God's ordinances and their duty to him, the devil easily makes them his agents, his instruments to draw those that will be drawn into sin, and, with respect to those that will not, to draw them into trouble. Those that leave off to do good begin to do evil; the devil, being an apostate from his innocency, soon became a tempter to Eve and a persecutor of righteous Abel. (2.) It is bad to do mischief, but it is worse to devise it, to do it deliberately and with resolution, to set the wits on work to contrive to do it most effectually, to do it with plot and management, with the subtlety, as well as the malice, of the old serpent, to devise it upon the bed, where we should be meditating upon God and his word, Mic_2:1. This argues the sinner's heart fully set in him to do evil. 4. Having entered into the way of sin, that way that is not good, that has good neither in it nor at the end of it, they persist and resolve to persevere in that way. He sets himself to execute the mischief he has devised, and nothing shall be withholden from him which he has purposed to do, though it be ever to contrary both to his duty and to his true interest. If sinners did not steel their hearts and brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence, they could not go on in their evil ways, in such a direct opposition to all that is just and good. 5. Doing evil themselves, they have no dislike at all of it in others: He abhors not evil, but on the contrary, takes pleasure in it, and is glad to see others as bad as himself. Or this may denote his impenitency in sin. Those that have done evil, if God give them repentance, abhor the evil they have done and themselves because of it; it is bitter in the reflection, however sweet it was in the commission. But these hardened sinners have such seared stupefied consciences that they never reflect upon their sings afterwards with any regret or remorse, but stand to what they have done, as if they could justify it before God himself.

Some think that David, in all this, particularly means Saul, who had cast off the fear of God and left off all goodness, who pretended kindness to him when he gave him his daughter to wife, but at the same time was devising mischief against him. But we are under no necessity of limiting ourselves so in the exposition of it; there are too many among us to whom the description agrees, which is to be greatly lamented.

CALVI�, "3.The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. The two clauses of this verse may be understood as referring to the same thing, namely, that the wicked indulging in deceit and vanity, will not receive or admit the light of understanding. This, I apprehend, is the meaning of David. He reproves the wicked not merely for circumventing others by their wiles and stratagems, but especially because they are altogether destitute of uprightness and sincerity. We have already said that the Psalmist is here speaking not of sinful and wicked men, in whose hearts there still remains some fear of God, but of the profane despisers of his name, who have given themselves up entirely to the practice of sin. He therefore says that they have always

in their mouth some frivolous excuses and vain pretexts, by which they encourage themselves in rejecting and scoffing at all sound doctrine. He then adds, that they purposely suppress in themselves all knowledge or understanding of the distinction between good and evil, because they have no desire to become better than they are. We know that God has given understanding to men to direct them to do what is good. �ow David says that the wicked shun it, and strive to deprive themselves of it, that they may not be constrained to repent of their wickedness, and to amend their lives. We are taught from this passage, that if at any time we turn aside from the path of rectitude, the only remedy in such a case is to open the eyes of our understanding, that we may rightly distinguish between good and evil, and that thus we may be led back from our wandering. When, instead of doing this, a man refuses instruction, it is an indication that he is in a state of depravity altogether desperate.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 3. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. This pair of hell dogs generally hunt together, and what one does not catch the other will; if iniquity cannot win by oppression, deceit will gain by chicanery. When the heart is so corrupt as to flatter itself, the tongue follows suit. The open sepulchre of the throat reveals the foulness of the inner nature. God fearing men make a conscience of their words, and if they sin through infirmity they do not invent excuses, or go about to boast of their wickedness: but because wicked men think little of evil and artful speeches, we may be clear that God rules not in their souls. The original by declaring that the words of the wicked are falsehood and deceit is peculiarly strong; as if they were not only false in quality, but actual falseness itself. He hath left off to be wise, and to do good. From the good way he has altogether gone aside. Men who fear God proceed from strength to strength in the right path, but godless men soon forsake what little good they once knew. How could men apostatise if they had respect unto the supreme Judge? Is it not because they grow more and more forgetful of God, that in due season they relinquish even that hypocritical reverence of him which in former days they maintained in order to flatter their souls?EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 3. He hath left off. That little light he once had, he hath lost, and cast off such good practices as once in hypocrisy he performed; neither will he learn to do better. John Trapp.Ver. 3. (last clause). Apostasy from God is really an undoing of all the good which we have done. It is a wicked repentance quite contrary to the grace of repentance; as that is a repentance from dead works, so this is a repentance from works of a better sort: He hath left off to be wise, and to do good. It is a perversion to evil after a seeming conversion from it. Timothy Cruso.Ver. 3-4: —Yet did he spare his sleep, and hear the clock�umber the midnight watches, on his bedDevising mischief more; and early rose,And made most hellish meals of good men's names.From door to door you might have seen him speed,Or placed amid a group of gaping fools.Peace fled the neighbourhood in which he madeHis haunts; and, like a moral pestilence,

Before his breath the healthy shoots and bloomsOf social joy and happiness decayed.Fools only in his company were seen,And those forsaken of God, and to themselvesGiven up. The prudent shunned him and his houseAs one who had a deadly moral plague.Robert Pollock, 1799-1827.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:3-4. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit — Are wicked and deceitful. He hath left off to be wise and to do good — Once he had some degrees of wisdom, and did things that were apparently good, and seemed to be under the government of religion: but now he is an open apostate from that which he once professed. He deviseth mischief upon his bed — Freely from his own inclination, when none are present to provoke him to it. He setteth himself in a way that is not good — He doth not repent of his wicked devices, but resolutely proceeds to execute them, and persists therein. He abhorreth not evil — Though he sometimes professes to feel remorse for his conduct, and desists for a time from his evil practices, yet he does not truly repent of, nor abhor them, and therefore is ready to return to them when any occasion offers itself.

SCOTT, "V:3 , 4. Saul, in the beginning of his reign, behaved wisely, and performed good services to his people : but he soon began to act foolishly, and to disobey God; and at length he entirely ceased to use his understanding to do good. (�otes, 1 Samuel 11:1-15; 1 Samuel 28:3-10.) He became a treacherous and cruel persecutor of David : and while he perhaps ascribed his conduct in throwing his javelin at him, to a sudden paroxysm of disease; David was aware that he most deliberately, and in his retired hours, plotted his destruction; and had no aversion in his heart to any wickedness, however abominable, though he tried to clokc his malice by plausible professions. (Marg. Ref.)

LA�GE, "[Str. II. Psalm 36:3-4. Perowne: “ Psalm 36:1-4 describe generally the character of the ungodly: first the sin of his heart ( Psalm 36:1-2); then the sin of his lips ( Psalm 36:3); lastly the sin of his hands, the evil schemes which he devises and executes ( Psalm 36:4). As there is a climax in the whole description of the evil Prayer of Manasseh, so especially is there a progress from bad to worse in Psalm 36:3-4. (1) He hath left off to do good; (2) on his bed he meditates evil ( Psalm 4:4; Micah 2:1); (3) he resolutely sets himself to do evil; (4) his very conscience is hardene

4 Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course

and do not reject what is wrong.

BAR�ES, "He deviseth mischief upon his bed -Margin, as in Hebrew: “vanity.” That is, when he lies down; when he is wakeful at night; he plots some scheme of iniquity - some vain, wicked enterprise. So in Pro_4:16, “For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.”

He setteth himself - That is, he takes his stand or his position; he assumes this attitude. See Psa_2:2, “The kings of the earth “set themselves,”” where the same word occurs. The meaning is that what is done by him is the result of a calm and deliberate purpose. It is not the effect of passion or temporary excitement, but it is a deliberate act in which the mind is made up to do the thing. The conduct here referred to is thus distinguished from rash and hasty acts, showing that this is the settled character of the man.

In a way that is not good - In a bad or wicked way; in a way in which no good can be found; in conduct which allows of no redeeming or mitigating circumstances, and for which there can be no apology.

He abhorreth not evil - He has no aversion to evil. He is not in any manner deterred from doing anything because it is wrong. The fact that it is sinful is not allowed to be a consideration affecting his mind in determining what he shall do. In other words, the moral quality of an action does not influence him at all in making up his mind as to how he shall act. If it is right, it is by accident, and not because he prefers the right; if it is wrong, that fact does not in any way hinder him from carrying his purpose into execution. This is, of course, the very essence of depravity.

CLARKE, "He deviseth mischief upon his bed - He seeks the silent and undisturbed watches of the night, in order to fix his plans of wickedness.

He setteth himself - Having laid his plans he fixes his purpose to do what is bad; and he does it without any checks of conscience or abhorrence of evil. He is bent only on mischief, and lost to all sense of God and goodness. A finished character of a perfect sinner.

GILL, "He deviseth mischief upon his bed,.... He casts about in his mind on his pillow, when at leisure from all employment; and consults and contrives schemes how to compass his lusts, and to do injury to others, without doing which he cannot sleep;

he setteth himself in a way that is not good, in an evil way, which he chooses and delights in, and determines to continue in, he leaving the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of darkness:

he abhorreth not evil; which is to be abhorred both because of its nature and effects; see Rom_12:9; but on the contrary he loves it, takes pleasure in doing it, and in them that commit it: thus, by his thoughts, words, and actions, he appears to be devoid of the fear of God.

HE�RY, "Having left off to do good, they contrive to do hurt and to be vexatious to those about them that are good and do good (Psa_36:4): He devises mischief upon his bed. Note, (1.) Omissions make way for commissions. When men leave off doing good, leave off praying, leave off their attendance on God's ordinances and their duty to him, the devil easily makes them his agents, his instruments to draw those that will be drawn into sin, and, with respect to those that will not, to draw them into trouble. Those that leave off to do good begin to do evil; the devil, being an apostate from his innocency, soon became a tempter to Eve and a persecutor of righteous Abel. (2.) It is bad to do mischief, but it is worse to devise it, to do it deliberately and with resolution, to set the wits on work to contrive to do it most effectually, to do it with plot and management, with the subtlety, as well as the malice, of the old serpent, to devise it upon the bed, where we should be meditating upon God and his word, Mic_2:1. This argues the sinner's heart fully set in him to do evil. 4. Having entered into the way of sin, that way that is not good, that has good neither in it nor at the end of it, they persist and resolve to persevere in that way. He sets himself to execute the mischief he has devised, and nothing shall be withholden from him which he has purposed to do, though it be ever to contrary both to his duty and to his true interest. If sinners did not steel their hearts and brazen their faces with obstinacy and impudence, they could not go on in their evil ways, in such a direct opposition to all that is just and good. 5. Doing evil themselves, they have no dislike at all of it in others: He abhors not evil, but on the contrary, takes pleasure in it, and is glad to see others as bad as himself. Or this may denote his impenitency in sin. Those that have done evil, if God give them repentance, abhor the evil they have done and themselves because of it; it is bitter in the reflection, however sweet it was in the commission. But these hardened sinners have such seared stupefied consciences that they never reflect upon their sings afterwards with any regret or remorse, but stand to what they have done, as if they could justify it before God himself.

Some think that David, in all this, particularly means Saul, who had cast off the fear of God and left off all goodness, who pretended kindness to him when he gave him his daughter to wife, but at the same time was devising mischief against him. But we are under no necessity of limiting ourselves so in the exposition of it; there are too many among us to whom the description agrees, which is to be greatly lamented.

CALVI�, "4.He meditates iniquity upon his bed Here the sacred writer shows that the wickedness of the ungodly man is of a secret and very determined character. It sometimes happens that many, who otherwise are not disposed to wickedness, err and fall into sin, because occasion presents itself all on a sudden; but David tells us, that the wicked, even when they are withdrawn from the sight of men, and in retirement, form schemes of mischief; and thus, although there is not presented before them any temptation, or the evil example of others to excite them to it, they, of their own accord, devise mischief, and urge themselves to it without being impelled by any thing else. Since he describes the reprobate by this distinguishing mark of character, that they devise mischief upon their beds, true believers should learn from this to exercise themselves when alone in meditations of a different nature, and to make their own life the subject of examination, so that they may exclude all evil thoughts from their minds. The Psalmist next refers to their stubbornness, declaring that they set themselves in a crooked and perverse way; that is to say, they purposely and wilfully harden themselves in doing evil. Finally,

he adds the reason of their doing this: They abhor not evil Wilfully shutting their eyes, they rush forward in their headlong course till they spontaneously yield themselves the slaves of wickedness. Let us now shortly state the contrast between the ungodly and the people of God, contained in the preceding verses. The former deceive themselves by flattery; the latter exercise over themselves a strict control, and examine themselves with a rigid scrutiny: the former, throwing loose the reins, rush headlong into evil; the latter are restrained by the fear of God: the former cloak or disguise their offenses by sophistry, and turn light into darkness; the latter willingly acknowledge their guilt, and by a candid confession are brought to repentance: the former reject all sound judgment; the latter always desire to vindicate themselves by coming to the open light of day: the former upon their bed invent various ways of doing evil; the latter are sedulously on their guard that they may not devise or stir up within themselves any sinful desire: the former indulge a deep and fixed contempt of God; the latter willingly cherish a constant displeasure at their sins.SPURGEO�, "Ver. 4. He deviseth mischief upon his bed. His place of rest becomes the place for plotting. His bed is a hot bed for poisonous weeds. God fearing men meditate upon God and his service; but when men turn all their thoughts and inventive faculties towards evil, their godlessness is proved to a demonstration. He hath the devil for his bed fellow who lies abed and schemes how to sin. God is far from him. He setteth himself in a way that is not good. When he gets up he resolutely and persistently pursues the mischief which he planned. The worst of ways he prefers for his walking, for he has taught his heart to love filthiness, having accustomed himself to revel in it in imagination. He abhorreth not evil. So far from having a contempt and abhorrence for evil, he even rejoices in it, and patronises it. He never hates a wrong thing because it is wrong, but he meditates on it, defends it, and practises it. What a portrait of a graceless man these few verses afford us! His jauntiness of conscience, his licentiousness of speech, his intentness upon wrong doing, his deliberate and continued preference of iniquity, and withal his atheistic heart, are all photographed to the life. Lord, save us from being such.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 3-4: — See Psalms on "Psalms 36:4" for further information.Ver. 4. He deviseth mischief upon his bed. As the man that fears God communes with his heart upon his bed, that he may not sin, no, not in his heart; so the man that fears not God, devises how he may plot and perform sin willingly. David Dickson.Ver. 4. Upon his bed. Most diligently does Ayguan follow up the scriptural expressions concerning a bed, and tell us that there are six different beds of wickedness—that of luxury, that of avarice, of ambition, of greediness, of torpor, and of cruelty, and he illustrates them all by examples from Scripture. J. M. �eale.Ver. 4. He setteth himself in a way that is not good. To wait to sin is to sin deliberately, yea, to wait to sin resolvedly. That sin is exceedingly sinfully committed which we set and prepare ourselves to commit. David, describing a wicked man, saith, He setteth himself in a way that is not good; that is, in an evil way: he doth not only fall into sin (that may be the case of a good man), but he takes or chooseth an evil way, and then sets or settles himself in it, resolving not to leave it, no, nor to be beaten out of it. Sin may be said to wait for a godly man, that is, Satan waits and watches his season to tempt him unto sin; but a godly man doth not wait nor watch

to sin. It is bad enough to be overtaken with sin, or with a fault (as the apostle speaks, Galatians 6:1); but to be taken with sin, and so to wait for a season to take our fill of it, is as bad as bad can be. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 4. He setteth himself in a way that is not good. Proud sinners have strongest conceit that they go right, at least in the way of their choice. Satan blindeth them so, that they mistake both the end and the way: in their count they are running to heaven, when they are posting to hell: he serveth them kindly with fresh post horses. Sometimes he mounts them on drunkenness, and when they have run a stage on that beastliness, he can mount them on lechery. Again, he can refresh them with avarice; and if they be weary of that slow jade, he setteth them on lofty ambition, and to make them more spirited he can horse them on restless contention. Every one seeth not Satan's enquiry: there is no complexion or disposition, but he hath a fit horse for it, and that of itself. Every man's predominant is a beast of Satan's saddling and providing to carry men to hell. The way is one, the post master is one, he is to be found at every stage, mounting his gallants, their horses are all of one kind though not of one colour. Happy is the man whom God dismounts in that evil way, and more happy is he who taketh with that stay, and turneth his course to heaven. William Struther.Ver. 4. He abhorreth not. i.e., is far enough from rejecting any instrument, however sinful, for attaining his purposes. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

SIMEO�, "SI� TO BE ABHORRED

Psalms 36:4. He abhorreth not evil.

THE standard of morals in the Christian world is far below that which is established in the Sacred Records: and hence arises that self-justifying spirit which prevails in every place. Gross iniquities, which affect the welfare of society, are condemned: but less flagrant offences are regarded as venial, and justified as unavoidable in this state of human existence. The person immediately referred to in my text was Saul, who, amidst all his professions of penitence, still entertained evil designs against the life of David. But we need not limit the words to him. They are, like many similar passages cited by St. Paul in the third chapter of his Epistle to the Romans [�ote: Romans 3:10-19.], expressive of the state of our fallen nature, and universally applicable to every child of man. To elucidate them, I will shew,

I. How great an evil sin is—

There is scarcely any thing which is vile and lothesome to which sin is not compared. Let us instance this in leprosy; which may be considered as the most spreading, the most defiling, the most incurable of all disorders. In reference to this does the Prophet Isaiah speak of himself and all around him as utterly undone: “Woe is me! I am undone: I am a man of unclean lips; and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips [�ote: Isaiah 6:5.].” But, not to lay an undue stress on figures like these, I will consider sin,

1. As a violation of God’s holy Law—

[The Law of God is said to be “holy, and just, and good [�ote: Romans 7:12.].” It is holy, as being a perfect transcript of God’s mind and will: it is just, as requiring nothing which does not necessarily arise out of our relation to him and to each other: and it is good, as tending, in every instance, to the happiness of the creature, and to the honour of our Creator. �ow “sin is a transgression of this Law [�ote: 1 John 3:4.]:” and that very circumstance it is which renders it “so exceeding sinful [�ote: Romans 7:13.].” Were the Law itself less excellent, a departure from it would be less odious: but to rebel against it, is to prefer the mind of Satan to the mind of God, and the service of the devil to the service of our God. If we would see in what light God views it, let us go back to the time of Adam, on whose heart this Law was completely written, and see what one single transgression of it brought on him: and not on him only, but on the whole creation: and then we shall say indeed, that the evil of sin far exceeds all that language can express, or that any finite intelligence can conceive.]

2. As a contradiction to his blessed Gospel—

[To obviate the effects of sin, God sent his only dear Son into the world; that he might “put away the guilt of it by the sacrifice of himself [�ote: Hebrews 9:26.];” and that by the operations of his Holy Spirit he might repress its power, and “destroy the works of the devil [�ote: 1 John 3:8.].” But sin contravenes all his merciful intentions and defeats all his gracious purposes. �ow, let us suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ were now at this time to come into this assembly; and that, instead of receiving him with all that admiring and adoring gratitude that would become us, we were to rise up against him, and beat him down, and trample him under foot; and that, on his exhibiting the wounds once made for us on Calvary, and yet bleeding for us, we were to regard his blood as an accursed thing, and seize upon him, and nail him to a cross, and load him with our execrations till we saw him dead before our eyes: What would be thought of us? Yea, in a moment of reflection, what should we think of ourselves? Yet that is what sin does, and what all of us do whenever we commit sin: for so has the Apostle said, that “we tread under foot the Son of God, and count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing, and do despite to the Spirit of his grace [�ote: Hebrews 10:29];” yea, “we crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame [�ote: Hebrews 6:6.].” V �o wonder, then, that God, when dissuading us from the commission of sin, addresses us m those pungent terms, “O, do not that abominable thing which I hate [�ote: Jeremiah 44:4.].”]

But instead of our regarding it with the abhorrence it deserves, I am constrained to shew you,

II. What sad indulgence it meets with at our hands—

View the generality of men—

[So far from abhorring sin, they love it, they delight in it, and, to use the strong expression of Scripture, “they wallow in it, even as a sow wallows in the mire [�ote: 2 Peter 2:22.].” In fact, it is the very element in which men live. Look all around you: I speak not of those who “run into every excess of riot;” though they, alas! are very numerous, and, for the most part, “glory in their shame:” but I speak of the great mass of the community, the rich, the poor, the old, the young: Whom amongst them do you find regulating themselves according to God’s holy Law? Who has not a standard of his own, such as use and fashion have prescribed? and who is not satisfied with conforming to that, without ever once thinking of God’s Law, or so much as desiring to approve himself to him? Verily, “the whole world lieth in wickedness,” and under the dominion of the Wicked one [�ote: 1 John 5:19. ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ. Ephesians 2:2.].]

But, passing by these, behold the more decent part of the community—

[Doubtless there are many who are more decorous in their conduct, and more observant of a form of godliness. But I ask, even in reference to them, How many of them do really view sin as God views it? That some enormous evils are abhorred, I readily acknowledge: but they are such only as, by a kind of common consent, are stamped with general reprobation. As for sin, as sin, and as a departure from God’s holy Law, who hates it? Who lothes it? Who abhors it? Yea, I ask, Who does not hear it, without offence? and sec it, without disgust? and harbour it, without remorse? Let these questions sink down into your ears: carry them home with you, as tests of your real state: put them home to your conscience, and give an answer to them as before God. You well know, that if any one loaded our parents with deep and unmerited disgrace, he would soon excite our indignation. You know, also, that the sight and smell of a putrid carcase would create in us a lothing which we could scarce endure. �or need you be told, what feelings of remorse would follow the commission of murder. But sin, whether heard or seen or felt, begets in us no such painful emotions. To abhor it, and “abhor ourselves” for the hidden workings of it in our souls, as holy Job did [�ote: Job 40:4; Job 42:6.], we know not: to “lothe ourselves” as hateful and abominable on account of it [�ote: Ezekiel 36:31.], so as to “blush and be confounded before God,” and scarcely to “dare to lift up our eyes to heaven” on account of our conscious vileness [�ote: Luke 18:13.], is a state of mind to which we are utter strangers, unless on account of some great iniquity, which, if known, would expose us to indelible disgrace. To abhor evil merely on account of its intrinsic hatefulness, and its offensiveness to God, is an attainment very rare, and even in the best of men very weak and imperfect. I think, then, that every one of us may consider himself as condemned in my text, and may take shame to himself as bearing that humiliating character, “He abhorreth not evil.”]

See, then,

1. How little there is of true sanctity amongst us—

[Of the saints of old it was said, “They could not bear those who were evil [�ote: Revelation 2:2.]:” whereas we can “find pleasure in their society [�ote: Romans

1:32.],” and, provided they wrap up their jests in elegant allusions and witty turns [�ote: Ephesians 5:4. εὐτραπελία.],” can join with them in laughing at thoughts, which, if delivered in coarser language, we should condemn: we even “set ourselves in a way that is not good,” shewing no aversion to “have fellowship in the works of darkness, which we ought rather with decided boldness to reprove [�ote: Ephesians 5:11.].” How unlike are we to David, who says, “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because men keep not thy Law [�ote: Psalms 119:136.]!” Indeed, Brethren, we should see and mourn over our great defects; and, instead of indulging self-complacent thoughts on account of our not being so bad as others, should rather smite on our breasts with conscious guilt, and humble ourselves before God as “the very chief of sinners.”]

2. How greatly we need the provisions of the Gospel—

[I have before said, that, to remedy the evils which sin has brought into the world, God has sent his only dear Son to make atonement for us, and his Holy Spirit to renew us after the divine image. And now I ask you, Whether any thing less than this would have sufficed? What could you have done to expiate your own guilt? Or how could you ever, with such polluted hearts as yours, have attained a meetness for heaven? You might as easily have built a world, as have effected either of these things. �or is there any difference between one man and another in these respects. One may differ from another in respect of outward sin: but in respect of alienation of heart from the holy Law of God, and an utter incapacity to restore ourselves to his favour, all are on a perfect level. I entreat you, then, all of you without exception, to “wash in the Fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness [�ote: Zechariah 13:1.],” and to cry mightily to God for the renewing influences of his Holy Spirit, that so you may have your past iniquities forgiven, and be “created anew after the divine image in righteousness and true holiness [�ote: Ephesians 4:24.].” Then will you be brought to that state which every true Christian must attain, “abhorring that which is evil, and cleaving to that which is good [�ote: Romans 12:9.];” and then will God be glorified in you, both in this world and in the world to come [�ote: 2 Thessalonians 1:10.].]

PETT, "Verses 1-4The Transgression of The Wicked Speaks To The Psalmist’s Heart Alerting Him To The Sinfulness Of Man (Psalms 36:1-4).

Psalms 36:1-4

‘The oracle of the transgression of the wicked within my heart,There is no fear of God before his eyes.For he flatters himself in his own eyes,That his iniquity will not be found out and be hated.The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit,He has ceased to be wise and to do good.He devises iniquity upon his bed,He sets himself in a way that is not good,

He abhors not evil.’In these first four verses ‘the Transgression (rebellion) of the wicked’ speaks like a prophet to the Psalmist’s heart concerning the wicked. It declares that there is no ‘dread fear’ of God before the eyes of the wicked (compare the citation of these words in Romans 3:18 where it sums up man’s sinfulness). In other words the wicked are not moved by YHWH’s covenant requirements, or the need to obey Him, or the fear of judgment, because they dismiss Him from their thoughts. They treat His desires lightly. Indeed the wicked man convinces himself that his iniquity will not be found out. He convinces himself that, even though God hates his iniquity, it will not receive its deserts, for he has no recognition of a living God who sees and knows all things.

The behaviour of the wicked is then spelled out in detail;

· The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. They speak guile. And by his words he will be condemned (Matthew 12:37). Compare Psalms 5:5-6; Psalms 10:7.· He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He has deliberately turned from goodness. Compare Jeremiah 4:22, and contrast Isaiah 1:16-17.· He devises iniquity on his bed. Even when resting he still plans further sinfulness. While the righteous meditate on their beds, and repent (Psalms 4:4) and bring God to their minds (Psalms 63:6), the wicked simply plot sin and thus come under God’s Woe (Micah 2:1).· He sets himself in a way that is not good. He positively chooses the path that leads away from goodness (Isaiah 65:2). �ot for him the Holy Way (Isaiah 35:8). He wants the way of self choosing and pleasure.· He does not abhor evil. This marks him off from all others. He has no hatred of what is evil.It is clear from this that he loves the evil and hates the good. He does not necessarily declare this openly, but it is what lies within his heart. He lives his life without God, and chases after sin.

5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.

BAR�ES, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens - This commences the second part of the psalm - the description of the character of God in contrast with the character of the wicked man. The meaning here is, evidently, that the mercy of God is very exalted; to the very heavens, as high as the highest object of which man can conceive. Thus, we speak of virtue as “exalted,” or virtue of the “highest kind.” The idea is not that the mercy of God is “manifested” in heaven, for, mercy being favor shown to the guilty, there is no occasion for it in heaven; nor is the idea that mercy, as shown to man, has its “origin” in heaven, which is indeed true in itself; but it is, as above explained, that it is of the most exalted nature; that it is as high as man can conceive.

And thy faithfulness - Thy “truthfulness;” thy fidelity to thy promises and to thy friends.

Reacheth “unto the clouds.” The clouds are among the highest objects. They rise above the loftiest trees, and ascend above the mountains, and seem to lie or roll along the sky. The idea here, therefore, as in the first part of the verse, is, that it is elevated or exalted.

CLARKE, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens - That is, thou art abundant, infinite in thy mercy; else such transgressors must be immediately cut off; but thy long-suffering is intended to lead them to repentance.

Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds - ad#shechakim, to the eternal עד#שחקים

regions; above all visible space. God’s faithfulness binds him to fulfill the promises and covenants made by his mercy. Blessings from the heavens, from the clouds, from the earth, are promised by God to his followers; and his faithfullness is in all those places, to distribute to his followers the mercies he has promised.

GILL, "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens,.... Meaning either the general mercy of God the earth is full of, and extends to all creatures; to which it is owing that wicked men before described are not consumed; and which reaches "up to the heavens" (d), as the words are by some rendered, as their sins do; see Psa_57:10; or the special mercy of God, and regards not the objects of it, creatures in heaven; for there at, none there proper objects of mercy; but the seat of it, the heart of God, who is in heaven; or the repository of it, the covenant of grace, which is full of the sure mercies of David; and of mercy there was a most glaring instance, when the son of God was sent down from heaven, to obtain salvation for sinful men; or it may denote the original of it, the heaven, being, as Aben Ezra observes some Jewish interpreters say, the fountain of mercy, and the spring of truth; or the greatness and abundance of it, it being as high as heaven, yea, above it; see Psa_103:11;

and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds; which lies in the execution of his purposes, whose counsels of old were faithfulness and truth; and in keeping his covenant and promises; he never changes his mind, nor forgets his word; he is a God of truth, and cannot lie; he knows the end from the beginning; no unforeseen event can turn up to hinder the performance of what he has purposed and promised, and he is able to perform; nor does ever any of the good things he has spoken of fail: though his faithfulness sometimes seems to be not only to the clouds, but in them, and out of sight; providences seem to clash with promises, which make unbelief to say, doth his promise fail for evermore? yet, though we believe not, he abides faithful, Psa_77:8, 2Ti_2:13.

HE�RY 5-6, "David, having looked round with grief upon the wickedness of the wicked, here looks up with comfort upon the goodness of God, a subject as delightful as the former was distasteful and very proper to be set in the balance against it. Observe,

I. His meditations upon the grace of God. He sees the world polluted, himself endangered, and God dishonoured, by the transgressions of the wicked; but, of a sudden, he turns his eye, and heart, and speech, to God “However it be, yet thou art good.” He here acknowledges,

1. The transcendent perfections of the divine nature. Among men we have often reason to complain, There is no truth nor mercy, (Hos_4:1), no judgment nor justice, Isa_5:7. But all these may be found in God without the least alloy. Whatever is missing, or amiss, in the world, we are sure there is nothing missing, nothing amiss, in him that governs it. (1.) He is a God of inexhaustible goodness: Thy mercy, O Lord! is in the heavens. If men shut up the bowels of their compassion, yet with God, at the throne of his grace, we shall find mercy. When men are devising mischief against us God's thoughts concerning us, if we cleave closely to him, are thoughts of good. On earth we meet with little content and a great deal of disquiet and disappointment; but in the heavens, where the mercy of God reigns in perfection and to eternity, there is all satisfaction; there therefore, if we would be easy, let us have our conversation, and there let us long to be. How bad soever the world is, let us never think the worse of God nor of his government; but, from the abundance of wickedness that is among men, let us take occasion, instead of reflecting upon God's purity, as if he countenanced sin, to admire his patience, that he bears so much with those that so impudently provoke him, nay, and causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall upon them. If God's mercy were not in the heavens (that is, infinitely above the mercies of any creature), he would, long ere this, have drowned the world again. See Isa_55:8, Isa_55:9; Hos_11:9. (2.) He is a God of inviolable truth: Thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds. Though God suffers wicked people to do a great deal of mischief, yet he is and will be faithful to his threatenings against sin, and there will come a day when he will reckon with them; he is faithful also to his covenant with his people, which cannot be broken, nor one jot or tittle of the promises of it defeated by all the malice of earth and hell. This is matter of great comfort to all good people, that, though men are false, God is faithful; men speak vanity, but the words of the Lord are pure words. God's faithfulness reaches so high that it does not change with the weather, as men's does, for it reaches to the skies (so it should be read, as some think), above the clouds, and all the changes of the lower region. (3.) He is a God of incontestable justice and equity: Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, so immovable and inflexible itself and so conspicuous and evident to all the world; for no truth is more certain nor more plain than this, That the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and that he never did, nor ever will do, any wrong to any of his creatures. Even when clouds and darkness are round about him, yet judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne, Psa_97:2. (4.) He is a God of unsearchable wisdom and design: “Thy judgments are a great deep,not to be fathomed with the line and plummet of any finite understanding.” As his power is sovereign, which he owes not any account of to us, so his method is singular and mysterious, which cannot be accounted for by us: His way is in the sea and his path in the great waters. We know that he does all wisely and well; but what he does we know not now; it will be time enough to know hereafter.

2. The extensive care and beneficence of the divine Providence: “Thou preservest man and beast, not only protectest them from mischief, but suppliest them with that which is needful for the support of life.” The beasts, though not capable of knowing and praising

God, are yet graciously provided for; their eyes wait on him, and he gives them their meat in due season. Let us not wonder that God gives food to bad men, for he feeds the brute-creatures; and let us not fear but that he will provide well for good men; he that feeds the young lions will not starve his own children.

JAMISO�, "mercy ... and ... faithfulness— as mercy and truth (Psa_25:10).

K&D 5-9, "(Heb.: 36:6-10) The poet now turns from this repulsive prospect to one that is more pleasing. He contemplates, and praises, the infinite, ever sure mercy of God,

and the salvation, happiness, and light which spring from it. Instead of מים=*, the

expression is ה=מים*, the syncope of the article not taking place. #* alternating with עד, cf. Psa_57:11, has here, as in Psa_19:5; Psa_72:16, the sense of touching or reaching to the spot that is denoted in connection with it. The poet describes the exaltation and super-eminence of divine mercy and faithfulness figuratively, after earthly standards. They

reveal themselves on earth in a height that reaches to the heavens and extends to שחקים,

i.e., the thin veil of vapour which spreads itself like a veil over the depths of the heavens; they transcend all human thought, desire, and comprehension (Psa_103:11, and cf.

Eph_3:18). The צדקה (righteousness) is distinguished from the אמונה (faithfulness) thus:

the latter is governed by the promises of God, the former by His holiness; and further, the latter has its being in the love of God, the former, on the other hand, manifests itself partly as justifying in mercies, and partly as avenging in wrath. Concerning the righteousness, the poet says that it is like the mountains of God, i.e., (cf. cedars of God, Psa_80:11) unchangeably firm (Psa_111:3), like the giant primeval mountains which bear witness to the greatness and glory of God; concerning God's judgments, that they

are “a great deep,” incomprehensible and unsearchable (>νεξερεύνηται, Rom_11:33) as

the great, deep-surging mass of waters in the lower parts of the earth, which becomes visible in the seas and in the rivers. God's punitive righteousness, as at length becomes evident, has His compassion for its reverse side; and this, as in the case of the Flood (cf. Jon_4:11), embraces the animal world, which is most closely involved, whether for weal or for woe, with man, as well as mankind.

Lost in this depth, which is so worthy of adoration, the Psalmist exclaims: How precious (cf. Psa_139:17) is Thy mercy, Elohim! i.e., how valuable beyond all treasures,

and how precious to him who knows how to prize it! The Waw of ובני is the explicative

Waw = et hoc ipsum quod. The energetic form of the future, יחסיון, has the pre-tonic Kametz, here in pause, as in Psa_36:8; Psa_39:7; Psa_78:44. The shadow of God's wings is the protection of His love, which hides against temptation and persecution. To be thus hidden in God is the most unspeakable blessedness, Psa_36:9 : they satiate themselves, they drink full draughts of “the fatness of Thy house.” The house of God is

His sanctuary, and in general the domain of His mercy and grace. שןJ (cf. טוב, Psa_65:5)

is the expression for the abundant, pleasant, and powerful gifts and goods and

recreations with which God entertains those who are His; and רוה (whence ירוין, as in Deu_8:13; Isa_40:18) is the spiritual joy of the soul that experiences God's mercy to overflowing. The abundant fare of the priests from Jahve's table (vid., Jer_31:14), and the festive joy of the guests at the shelamim-offering, i.e., the communion-offering, -these outward rites are here treated according to their spiritual significance, receive the depth of meaning which radically belongs to them, and are ideally generalized. It is a

stream of pleasures (עדנים) with which He irrigates and fertilizes them, a paradisaic river

of delights. This, as the four arms of the river of Paradise had one common source (Gen_2:10), has its spring in God, yea, God is the fountain itself. He is “the fountain of life” (Jer_2:13); all life flows forth from Him, who is the absolutely existing and happy One. The more inwardly, therefore, one is joined to Him, the fuller are the draughts of life which he drinks from this first fountain of all life. And as God is the fountain of life, so also is He the fountain of light: “In Thy light do we see light;” out of God, seeing we see only darkness, whereas immersed in God's sea of light we are illumined by divine knowledge, and lighted up with spiritual joy. The poet, after having taken a few glimpses into the chaos of evil, here moves in the blessed depths of holy mysticism [Mystik, i.e., mysticism in the good sense - true religion, vital godliness], and in proportion as in the former case his language is obscure. So here it is clear as crystal.

SBC, "The chief part of our text sets before us God in the variety and boundlessness of His loving nature, and the close of it shows us man sheltering beneath God’s wings.

I. We have, first, God in the boundlessness of His loving nature. The one pure light of the Divine nature is broken up in the prism of the Psalm into various rays, which theologians call, in their hard, abstract way, Divine attributes. These are "mercy, faithfulness, righteousness." Then we have two sets of Divine acts: judgments and the preservation of man and beast; and finally we have again "loving-kindness," as our version has unfortunately been misled, by its love for varying its translation, to render the same word which begins the series and is there called "mercy." (1) Mercy and loving-kindness mean substantially this: active love communicating itself to creatures that are inferior and that might have expected something else to befall them. This "quality of mercy" stands here at the beginning and the end. It is last as well as first, the final upshot of all revelation. (2) Next to mercy comes faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is, in its narrowest sense, His adherence to His promises. Not only His articulate promises, but His past actions, bind Him. His words, His acts, His own nature, bind God to bless and help. His faithfulness is the expression of His unchangeableness. (3) The next beam of the Divine brightness is righteousness. The notion of righteousness here is that God has a law for His being to which He conforms, and that whatsoever things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure down here—these things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure up there; that He is the archetype of all excellence, the ideal of all moral completeness; that we can know enough of Him to be sure that what we call right He loves, and what we call right He practises. (4) God’s judgments are the whole of the ways, the methods, of the Divine government. They are the expressions of His thoughts, and these thoughts are thoughts of good, and not of evil.

II. Look at the picture of man sheltering beneath God’s wings. God’s loving-kindness, or mercy, is precious, for that is the true meaning of the word translated "excellent." We are rich when we have that for ours; we are poor without it. The last verse tells us how we can make God our own: "They put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." God spreads the covert of His wing, strong and tender, beneath which we may all gather ourselves and nestle. And how can we do that? By the simple process of fleeing unto Him, as made known to us in Christ our Saviour, to hide ourselves there.

A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 211.

CALVI�, "5.O Jehovah! thy mercy is unto the heavens. Commentators think that David, after having described the great corruption and depravity which every where prevail in the world, takes occasion from thence to extol in rapturous praises the wonderful forbearance of God, in not ceasing to manifest his favor and good-will towards men, even though they are sunk in iniquity and crime. But, as I have already observed, I am of a somewhat different opinion. After having spoken of the very great depravity of men, the prophet, afraid lest he should become infected by it, or be carried away by the example of the wicked, as by a flood, quits the subject, and recovers himself by reflecting on a different theme. It usually happens, that in condemning the wicked, the contagion of their malice insinuates itself into our minds when we are not conscious of it; and there is scarcely one in a hundred who, after having complained of the malice of others, keeps himself in true godliness, pure and unpolluted. The meaning therefore is, Although we may see among men a sad and frightful confusion, which, like a great gulf, would swallow up the minds of the godly, David, nevertheless, maintains that the world is full of the goodness and righteousness of God, and that he governs heaven and earth on the strictest principles of equity. And certainly, whenever the corruption of the world affects our minds, and fills us with amazement, we must take care not to limit our views to the wickedness of men who overturn and confound all things; but in the midst of this strange confusion, it becomes us to elevate our thoughts in admiration and wonder, to the contemplation of the secret providence of God. David here enumerates four cardinal attributes of Deity, which, according to the figure of speech called synecdoche, include all the others, and by which he intimates, in short, that although carnal reason may suggest to us that the world moves at random, and is directed by chance, yet we ought to consider that the infinite power of God is always associated with perfect righteousness. In saying that the goodness of God is unto the heavens, David’s meaning is, that in its greatness it is as high as the heavens. In the same sense he adds, Thy truth is even unto the clouds The term truth in this place may be taken either for the faithfulness which God manifests in accomplishing his promises, or for the just and well regulated character of his government, in which his rectitude is seen to be pure and free from all deception. But there are many other similar passages of Scripture which constrain me to refer it to the promises of God, in the keeping and fulfilling of which he is ever faithful.SPURGEO�, "Ver. 5-9. From the baseness of the wicked the psalmist turns his contemplation to the glory of God. Contrasts are impressive.Ver. 5. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. Like the ethereal blue, it encompasses the whole earth, smiling upon universal nature, acting as a canopy for all the creatures of earth, surmounting the loftiest peaks of human provocations, and rising high above the mists of mortal transgression. Clear sky is evermore above, and mercy calmly smiles above the din and smoke of this poor world. Darkness and clouds are but of earth's lower atmospheres: the heavens are evermore serene, and bright with innumerable stars. Divine mercy abides in its vastness of expanse, and matchless patience, all unaltered by the rebellions of man. When we can measure the heavens, then shall we bound the mercy of the Lord. Towards his own servants especially, in the salvation of the Lord Jesus, he has displayed grace higher than the heaven of heavens, and wider than the universe. O that there atheist could but see this, how earnestly would he long to become a servant of Jehovah! Thy faithfulness

reacheth unto the clouds. Far, far above all comprehension is the truth and faithfulness of God. He never fails, nor forgets, nor falters, nor forfeits his word. Afflictions are like clouds, but the divine truthfulness is all around them. While we are under the cloud we are in the region of God's faithfulness; when we mount above it we shall not need such an assurance. To every word of threat, or promise, prophecy or covenant, the Lord has exactly adhered, for he is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 5. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens. David considering the thoughts and deeds of impious men, and the mercy of God towards them, utters this exclamation. When men are so impudently, who does not admire the divine longsuffering! Sebastian Munster, 1489-1552.Ver. 5-7. This Psalm doth fitly set forth unto us the estate and condition of these times, wherein wickedness increaseth: and so in the former part of the Psalm is a discovery of wickedness, verse 3. And what should we do when there is such wickedness in the earth? In the fifth verse, Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. God is gathering up all goodness, mercy, and peace from man to himself; and though there is cruelty, mischief, and wickedness in the world, in the earth, yet there is mercy, truth, and faithfulness in the clouds; and it's good that wisdom, goodness, truth, and righteousness leave the world, and cleave to God, that so we may follow it; and that what goodness, mercy, truth, and faithfulness we formerly enjoyed in man, we may enjoy it in God. And when wickedness increaseth, righteousness increaseth likewise: Thy righteousness is like the great mountains: when the world tears and breaks itself in pieces, then is the righteousness of God a great mountain. Thy judgments are a great deep; when the whole world is become one sea of confusion, then are the judgments of the Lord a great deep, where not only man, but beasts may rest safely. Thou preservest man and beast. And though this time is a time of growing and spreading wickedness in man, yet it is a time of sweetest admiration and love in God; and when men that sin do cry out, O woeful man! they that enjoy God, cry out, O happy man! And though men that live in the earth cry out, O miserable! what times are here? men that live in heaven cry out, How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! The Lord makes all things naked and bare, that we only may have him to be our safety. William Sedgwick (1600-1668). In "The Excellency of the love of God, "a sermon in a volume, entitled "Some Flashes of Lightnings of the Son of Man, "1648.Ver. 5-9: —Thy mercie Lord doth to the HEAUE�S extend,Thy faithfulness doth to the CLOUDES assend;Thy justice stedfast as a MOU�TAI�E is,Thy JUDGEME�TS deepe as is the great Abisse;Thy noble mercies saue all liueinge thinges,The sonnes of men creepe underneath thy winges:With thy great plenty they are fedd at will,And of thy pleasure's streame they drinke their fill;For euen the well of life remaines with thee,And in thy glorious light wee light shall see.Sir John Davies.

SCOTT, "V:5- 9. The Psalmist here contrasted the divine perfections and government, with the conduct of wicked men, especially when in power. The mercy of God is immensely large; and, having filled the earth with its effects, it fills the heavens also, by the admission of redeemed sinners to that blessed state. His faithfulness reaches unto, and even far above, the clouds or skies, and is liable to no mutability or failure. His justice is placed on an immovable basis, and he never varies from it : yet his judgments, or decrees, are unfathoinably deep, to be adored, but not comprehended by us.

(�ote, Psalm 57:7-11; Psalm 71:19; Psalm 77:19-20; Psalm 89:1-4. Psalm 92:4-5. Psalm 97:2. Psalm 100:5. Psalm 103:11-13. Psalm 145:1 to Psalm 7:17. Job 37:20-24. Romans 11:33-36.) The Creator"s care sustains, and " preserves," both man and beast; and his immeasurable loving-kindness, in its varied exercises, encourages even the guilty and polluted sons of Adam to trust in his mercy, and to confide in his protection. (Marg. Ref. q. �ote, Ruth 2:11-12.) In this refuge, and in his service, believers find abundant consolation, and drink " pleasures as from a river," flowing from the Fountain of life and felicity : and in the knowledge and favour of God, they see light and glory inexpressible. (�otes, Psalm 46:4. Revelation 7:13-17; Revelation 21:22-27; Revelation 22:1-5.) The word rendered pleasures, is the plural of Eden. ( In heaven alone the thirst of an immortal soul after happiness can be satisfied. There the streams of Eden will " flow again." Bp. Home.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:5-6. Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens — Where it reigns in perfection and to eternity; and from whence it is extended to the sinful and miserable children of men, who peculiarly need it And thy faithfulness — The truth, both of thy threatenings against thine enemies, and of thy promises made to good men; reacheth unto the clouds — Is far above our reach, greater and higher than we can apprehend it. As if he had said, Mine enemies are cruel and perfidious, but thou art infinite in mercy and faithfulness, and in righteousness and lovingkindness, as it here follows: and, therefore, though I despair of them, yet I trust in thee, as other men do for these reasons. Thy righteousness — In all thy counsels and ways in the government of the world; is like the great mountains — Steadfast and immoveable: eminent and conspicuous to all men. Thy judgments — The executions of thy counsels, or the administration of the affairs of the world, and of thy church; are a great deep — Unsearchable as the ocean. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast —The worst of men, yea, even the brute beasts have experience of thy care and kindness, and therefore I have no reason to doubt of it.

COFFMA�, "THE LOVI�GKI�D�ESS OF GOD

"Thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, is in the heavens;

Thy faithfulness reaches unto the skies.

Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;

Thy judgments are a great deep:

O Jehovah, thou preservest man and beast.

How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God!

And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings.

They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house;

And thou wilt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

For with thee is the fountain of life:

In thy light shall we see light."

"Thy faithfulness reaches unto the skies" (Psalms 36:5). �o matter how depraved and wicked men may be, the contrasting glory of God is here set over against it. "God's covenant faithfulness is seen everywhere on earth and also towers into the very heavens."[12]

"Thy faithfulness" (Psalms 36:5) "... thy righteousness" (Psalms 36:6). "The righteousness of God is here distinguished from his faithfulness. His faithfulness is governed by his promises, and his righteousness is determined by his holiness."[13]

"Thou preserveth man and beast" (Psalms 36:6). "There is not a man nor a beast in the whole earth that is uncared for by the Lord."[14] Jesus himself taught the same thing, declaring with reference to sparrows, "That not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God" (Luke 12:6).

"Mountains of God ... a great deep" (Psalms 36:6). "In these verses, all that is infinite, sublime, and unfathomable in nature is made emblematic of the perfections of Jehovah."[15]

�ote also in these verses that (1) God takes care of his Covenant people; (2) he cares for man and beast; and (3) he is the God of "all men," not merely of the Jews. This is powerfully indicated in the next verse.

"How precious is thy lovingkindness, O God! And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings" (Psalms 36:7). The word here rendered God is [~'Elohiym], the God of all men. In passages where his relationship to the Covenant people is considered, Jehovah is used. Although sometimes used interchangeably, there is often a special reason for the choice of one or the other. As Leupold said, "God is here most appropriately designated as [~'Elohiym], because he is regarded as the Father of all the children of men, and not Israel's only."[16]

"They shall be satisfied ... and ... drink of the river of thy pleasures" (Psalms 36:8). "The word here rendered `pleasures' (`delights' in the KJV) comes from the same root as the word Eden, the Paradise of God."[17] The meaning is that God's people shall have an abundance of all joys and satisfactions, suggestive of the very Garden of Eden itself.

"In thy light shall we see light" (Psalms 36:9). What a shame that the world rushes on in the gathering shadows, still neglecting its only true source of light. Christ is "The Light of the World." In his light, that is, in the light of God's Word, men may see light. Otherwise, they shall continue to stumble and grope their way in the darkness.

"These words reveal a highly spiritual conception of the nature of man's fellowship with God, anticipating some of the loftiest teachings of the �ew Testament."[18] "In him (Christ) was life, and this life was the light of men" (John 1:4). "This is one of the most spiritual pictures of God in the whole Psalter."[19]

LA�GE, "Str. III. [ Psalm 36:5.[F�2]Thy mercy Jehovah (reacheth) to the heavens; Thy faithfulness unto the skies.—Most interpreters regard ב in the first clause as equivalent to עד and interpret it by supplying as in the second clause “reacheth.” In favor of this is the parallel passage, Psalm 57:11, comp. Psalm 71:19; Psalm 103:11; Job 11:8; Job 22:12; Job 35:5. Hengstenberg refers to the pillar of cloud and of fire reaching from earth to heaven and yet prefers the rendering in the heavens which includes the reaching to the heavens. The idea of the passage is to measure the mercy and faithfulness of God as in the passages cited above, and therefore it is better to regard the clauses as parallel as in Psalm 57:11. The mercy of God is heaven-high. In the second clause שחקים is the vault of heaven, the expanse beaten out like fine dust, best rendered in English by the sky, or plural skies.—C. A. B.]

PETT, "Verse 5-6In Contrast To What Transgression Offers YHWH Offers Compassion, F Faithfulness, Righteousness, Justice, and The Preservation of Life (Psalms 36:5-6).

Psalms 36:5-6

‘Your lovingkindness, O YHWH, is in the heavens,Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.Your righteousness is like the mountains of God,Your judgments are a great deep,O YHWH, you preserve man and beast.’In contrast with the five aspects of the hearts of those who follow iniquity are the five attributes of the heart of YHWH. �otice that the contrast with sinfulness is not in terms of the goodness of the righteous, but of the goodness of their God. It is He Who lifts up the righteous and makes the righteous what they are. They are like that because He has personally ‘blessed’ them (Matthew 5:3-9; Philippians 2:13). Thus to Him must be the glory.

The Five Attributes of YHWH.

· His compassion and covenant love are so vast that they are ‘in the Heavens’, stretched out in a huge expanse which goes beyond the range of human sight.· His faithfulness is so substantial that it reaches up to the skies (and here the sky is not the limit).· His righteousness is as huge as ‘the mountains of God’, the very highest of the mountains.· His judgments are as deep as the ocean, a depth not yet plumbed by man.· He is the preserver of all life, whether that of man or beast. He is the source and giver of life.So God’s love and faithfulness (compare Psalms 57:10; Psalms 103:11), His righteousness and justice (compare Psalms 9:8; Psalms 33:5; Psalms 37:6; Psalms 72:2), and His life-giving and life-preserving qualities, are so vast that they are beyond man’s ability to fully comprehend. They are wider than the heavens, higher than the stars, greater than the mountains, deeper than the sea. We can compare here Ephesians 3:18-19, speaking of the work of the Spirit within which makes known to us the love of God and of Christ, and makes it a part of us. ‘That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, to the end that you being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God’.

GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "Verse 5-6God of �ature and God of GraceThy lovingkindness, O Lord, is in the heavens;Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God;Thy judgements are a great deep.—Psalms 36:5-6.The landscape from which the Psalmist has borrowed his lessons in all probability lay beside him while he mused. We imagine him at the time a fugitive from Saul. He is hid in some desert-retreat, with the everlasting hills round about him, and the gleams and the shadows of a summer noon overhead. He had been cast out from the comforts of an earthly home, but God was his dwelling-place and his refuge. Hunt him as men might, they could not drive him where Jehovah’s righteousness did not environ him, and the wings of His lovingkindness stretch to shadow and protect. Out there, amidst the silence and restfulness of nature, God’s breath was about him to cool and to strengthen, and His voice spoke comfort and peace. So the Psalmist speaks little of himself. He mentions his trials and perils only for the sake of dismissing them. From the wickedness and the craft of men he is fain to turn to the goodness and the faithfulness of God, of which all things around were eloquent.

I was struck with the fact that Scripture is adapted to every land, on Sunday week, as I sat in the little English Church at Zermatt, right under the shadow of the gigantic Matterhorn, and read such passages as these on its walls: “Ye frost and

cold, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever.” “Ye mountains and hills, bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever.” And as day after day I moved about in a land where in every direction the eye rested on gigantic peaks, whose crests were often lost in the clouds, these words were ever rising in my mind: “Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God.”1 [�ote: W. Garrett Horder.]

IThe Lovingkindness of God“Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, is in the heavens.”The “mercy” or “lovingkindness” of which the Psalmist speaks is very nearly equivalent to the �ew Testament “grace.” Both mean substantially this—active love communicating itself to creatures who are inferior, and who might have expected something else to befall them. Mercy is a modification of love, inasmuch as it is love to an inferior. The hand is laid gently upon the man, because if it were laid with all its weight it would crush him. It is the stooping goodness of a king to a beggar. And mercy is likewise love in its exercise to persons that might expect something else, being guilty. As a general coming to a body of mutineers with pardon and favour upon his lips, instead of with condemnation and death, so God comes to us forgiving and blessing. All His goodness is forbearance, and His love is mercy, because of the weakness, the lowliness, and the ill desert of us on whom the love falls.

1. As the heavens are high above the earth, so God’s lovingkindness evermore transcends man. Far above the towers that men’s hands have reared, the waves that the tempests uplift, the peaks that the earth has heaved, the heaven stretches its distant curtain, embracing but surmounting them all. And so with the mercy of our God. It is the one all-enfolding, all-transcending fact in God’s moral universe, lifting itself far above the region of human experience and analogy. It is high; we cannot attain to it. It is far above man’s mercies, for our “goodness extendeth not to God’s,” and while “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” God “commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It is far above man’s deserts, for we are “not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth” which He showeth to His servants. It is far above man’s sins, for high as he has heaved the mountains of his provocations, God’s mercy can transcend the loftiest. It is far above man’s prayers and conceptions, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts, and He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think.”

Great God! I stood beneath the skies one night,When all Thy stars were out, serene and clear,And tried to think of Thee, and feel Thee near,When, suddenly, a sense of all Thy might,Thy times to come, Thy wonders out of sight,Struck chill on me—my spirit reeled for fear;Scarce certain of the ground I stand on here,I shrank abased beneath Thy awful height;

When soft as dew, a word of Holy WritFell on my troubled mind; “Thy mercy, Lord,Is greater than the heavens”—then all above,Around, beneath, took comfort from the word;For ’twas as if the heavens were newly litWith their best, brightest star—the Star of Love.2. Like the face of the summer sky, the lovingkindness of God is unalterable. The earth which the sky overshadows has seen many mutations. “Surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of its place. The waters wear the stones; thou washest away the things that grow out of the dust of the earth.” Rivers have altered their courses. The sea has shifted its ancient bounds. Forests have sunk in swamps. Empires have risen and fallen. The grass rustles and the lizards bask by the broken columns of cities that pulsed with the interests and sounded with the traffic of busy men. Generation after generation has come and gone, and the place that knew them once knows them no more for ever. Beneath there is nothing but flux, restlessness, change. But the sky has looked down on it all, serene and unvarying, amidst all the overturning and mutations of the countless years. Time writes no wrinkles on its steadfast blue. Orion hangs his glittering sword, and the Pleiades weave their mystic braids, just as they did for Isaac when he went forth to the field to meditate at the eventide; for Abraham when God took him out from his tent, and bade him look up to heaven with the promise of a seed that should be as the stars of heaven for multitude; for Adam when the first day faded over him, and the glories of the night revealed themselves amidst the balm and the silences of an unstained Eden. So with the mercy of God. All down the ages His covenant has stood, ordered in all things and sure amidst all changes, free from variableness or any shadow of turning. As the heavens that were formed of old “continue unto this day according to God’s ordinance,” so does the word that is settled there.

Miss R. having told Dr. Duncan that a young man had said at a meeting that “there was not mercy in God from everlasting—there could not be mercy till there was misery,” he said, “God is unchangeable; mercy is an attribute of God. The man is confounding mercy with the exercise of mercy. There could not be the exercise of mercy till there was misery; but God was always a merciful God. You might as well say that there could not be justice in God till there were creatures towards whom to exercise punitive justice.”1 [�ote: David Brown, Memoir of John Duncan, 422.]

3. Like the canopy of heaven, the lovingkindness of God is all-embracing. “The noblest scenes of earth,” it has been said, “can be seen and known but by few; it is not intended that man should live always in the midst of them; he injures them by his presence, he ceases to feel them if he be always with them. But the sky is for all. Bright as it is, it is not ‘too bright or good for human nature’s daily food.’ It is fitted in all its functions for the perpetual comfort and exaltation of the heart.” �o rough hand can sully the clear blue vault above, as it unfolds its splendour and dispenses its blessings for a worldful at once, and that without money or price. Be your dwelling-place on the bleakest and dreariest swamp, without a tree or a hill to diversify its surface, you have still overhead a picture of loveliness and of mystery as

often as you choose to look up. Thread the narrowest thoroughfare of a crowded town, and far above the filth and squalor, between the eaves of the tall and tottering tenements that enclose you, there are strips of clear blue sky, reminding you that, whatever be the restlessness, the sorrow, and the vice below, there is nothing above but beauty, purity, and peace. So again with the mercy of our God; it is exceeding broad. It is the attribute of all attributes that is ever engirdling and overshadowing us, making its existence known through a thousand channels, in a thousand ways. Mercy is the very sphere in which we live and move; it is swift as the light of heaven, near to us as its circling breaths. And it is just as free. Rich and poor, high and low, all have alike a share in it. And as it is the gift of God to all, so is it the gift of God to all in all circumstances, throughout every change of their changing lives.

The Doctor must keep his temper: this is often worse to manage than even his time, there is so much unreason, and ingratitude, and peevishness, and impertinence, and impatience, that it is very hard to keep one’s tongue and eye from being angry; and sometimes the Doctor does not only well, but the best when he is downrightly angry, and astonishes some fool, or some insolent, or some untruth doing or saying patient; but the Doctor should be patient with his patients, he should bear with them, knowing how much they are at the moment suffering. Let us remember Him who is full of compassion, whose compassion never fails; whose tender mercies are new to us every morning, as His faithfulness is every night; who healed all manner of diseases, and was kind to the unthankful and the evil; what would become of us, if He were as impatient with us as we often are with each other? If you want to be impressed with the Almighty’s infinite loving-kindness and tender mercy, His forbearance, His long-suffering patience, His slowness to anger, His Divine ingeniousness in trying to find it possible to spare and save, think of the Israelites in the desert, and read the chapter where Abraham intercedes with God for Sodom, and these wonderful “peradventures.”1 [�ote: Dr. John Brown, Horœ Subsecivœ, ii. 35 (appendix).]

My fear is not of expanding, but of contradicting, the Gospel which we are sent to preach; not of seeing too strong a testimony in the Bible to the will of Him in whom is light and no darkness at all, but of limiting its testimonies to meet my narrow conceptions; not of exaggerating the duty of the Church to be a witness against all hard and cruel conceptions of our Father in Heaven, which lead to a confusion between Him and the Spirit of Evil, but of not perceiving how manifold are the ways in which that duty should be fulfilled. I am sure that if the Gospel is not regarded as a message to all mankind of the redemption which God has effected in His Son; if the Bible is thought to be speaking only of a world to come, and not of a Kingdom of Righteousness and Peace and Truth with which we may be in conformity or in enmity now; if the Church is not felt to be the hallower of all professions and occupations, the bond of all classes, the instrument of reforming abuses, the admonisher of the rich the friend of the poor, the asserter of the glory of that humanity which Christ bears—we are to blame, and God will call us to account as unfaithful stewards of His treasures.1 [�ote: Life of Frederick Denison Maurice, ii. 227.]

IIThe Faithfulness of God“Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the skies.”God’s faithfulness is in its narrowest sense His adherence to His promises. It implies, in that sense, a verbal revelation, and definite words from Him, pledging Him to a certain line of action. He hath said, and shall He not do it? He will not alter the thing that is gone out of His lips. It is only a God who has actually spoken to men that can be a “faithful God.” He will not palter with a double sense, keeping His word of promise to the ear, and breaking it to the hope. And not only His articulate promises, but also His own past actions, bind Him. He is always true to these; and not only continues to do as He has done, but discharges every obligation which His past imposes on Him. The ostrich was said to leave its eggs to be hatched in the sand. Men bring men into positions of dependence, and then lightly shake responsibility from careless shoulders. But God accepts the cares laid upon Him by His own acts, and discharges them to the last jot. He is a “faithful Creator.” Creation brings obligations with it—obligations on the creature, obligations on the Creator. If God makes a being, God is bound to take care of the being that He has made. If He makes a being in a given fashion, He is bound to provide for the necessities that He has created. According to the old proverb, if He makes mouths it is His business to feed them. And He recognizes the obligation. His past binds Him to certain conduct in His future. We can lay hold on the former manifestation, and we can plead it with Him. “Thou hast been, and therefore Thou must be.” “Thou hast taught me to trust in Thee; vindicate and warrant my trust by Thy unchangeableness.” So His word, His acts, and His own nature, bind God to bless and help. His faithfulness is the expression of His unchangeableness. “Because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.”

I believe that love and righteousness and justice in God mean exactly the same thing, namely, a desire to bring His whole moral creation into a participation of His own character and His own blessedness. He has made us capable of this, and He will not cease from using the best means for accomplishing it in us all. When I think of God making a creature of such capacities, it seems to me almost blasphemous to suppose that He will throw it from Him into everlasting darkness, because it has resisted His gracious purposes towards it for the natural period of human life. �o, He who waited so long for the formation of a piece of old red sandstone will surely wait with much long-suffering for the perfecting of a human spirit.1 [�ote: Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, ii. 242.]

1. The faithfulness of God reaches to the clouds of sin and remorse.—Think of David after his terrible fall. The clouds gathered round him then as they never gathered before. As he had sowed, so he was reaping; and no sufferings are so terrible or so testing as the sufferings that are the obvious outcome and natural retribution of a man’s own follies and crimes. What of the darkness that envelops him then—when the sword that he had lifted against Uriah was turned against himself, and he experienced in the sins of his family the reproduction of his own, to the overshadowing and embitterment of his later years? Youth gone from him, his spirit crushed—does the man lose his hope and let go his hold on the promise of a

truth-keeping God? Behind clouds such as these, does he fail to grasp and to cling to the faithfulness he spoke of in the years long gone by? Listen: “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, though he make it not to grow.” Yes, whom God loves He loves throughout, and He loves to the end.

A friend once showed an artist a costly handkerchief on which a blot of ink had been made. “�othing can be done with it now, it is absolutely worthless.” The artist made no reply, but carried it away with him. After a time he sent it back, to the great surprise of his friend, who could scarcely recognize it. In a most skilful and artistic way he had made a fine design in India ink, using the blot as a basis, making the handkerchief more valuable than ever. A blotted life is not necessarily a useless life. Jesus can make a life beautiful though it has been marred by sin.1 [�ote: Twentieth Century Pastor, xxviii. (1911) 252.]

2. The faithfulness of God reaches to the clouds of trouble.—God has hid His Church ere this in the mountain mists and in the deep places of the earth, till they were dead or vanished that sought its life.

You remember the story of the godly family whose home lay across the track a returning army was expected to follow, when flushed with victory and athirst for rapine and blood. “Be a wall of fire unto us, O God,” was the prayer which the father put up as he knelt at the household altar ere retiring for the night, and having thus committed himself and his circle to the hands of a preserving God, he and they together laid them down in peace, and took their quiet rest, knowing who it was that made them dwell in safety. The night-watches hastened on, morning came, and the family awoke. All was unwontedly dark and still when they rose. There was no light from chink or from window, nor sound of stirring life around. �oiselessly, and all unseen, the hand whose protection they craved stole forth from the wintry heavens, not, indeed, in the shape of a wall of fire, but in something as sufficient and safe—in wreath upon wreath of driven snow. Meanwhile the foe had passed by, and had gone on his way, and those whom he threatened breathed freely, for they knew that their tabernacle was at peace.2 [�ote: W. A. Gray, The Shadow of the Hand, 15.]

IIIThe Righteousness of God“Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God.”1. The idea in the mind of the Psalmist was that the righteousness of Jehovah is fixed and unchangeable. Men’s ideas of righteousness may change. Those of one age may differ from those of another; one land may have a different standard from that of another. But in spite of this there is an everlasting, an unchanging righteousness in God. �othing in this world so impresses the mind with the idea of unchangeableness as the great mountains. The dwellings of men in the valleys are ever undergoing change; at every visit something new strikes one—the fields which men cultivate produce their different crops, the forests on the mountain sides grow denser and taller, the rivers alter their course, even the sea is restless, now receding from and now encroaching on the land; but the great mountains seem to be lifted to a realm

beyond change. The snow upon them, it is true, is ever melting; the glaciers between them are ever moving, but the granite rock beneath seems ever the same. The generations of men who dwell beneath them live their little life and pass away; year after year new and wondering eyes look up to these mountains, but there they stand, the most impressive symbol of permanence in a world of change.

(1) The mountains are stable and permanent.—The mountains were thought to be the most ancient parts of the earth, the framework on which the Great Architect of the Universe had builded; next the earth generally; and then the world, or, in the Hebrew sense, the fruitful, habitable part of the earth. So in the Athanasian Creed, “The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.” Eternal and changelessly the same throughout eternity, and therefore we do not read, “Thou wast God from everlasting,” or, “Thou wilt be God world without end”; but, “Thou art God, the same past, present, and to come.” As we look up to-day, so have the successive generations of men lifted up their eyes to the mountains that speak to each of an unimaginable and almost limitless past.

Stand at the mountain’s foot and look up at its high head, and remember how it has braved many a storm which hissed itself out of breath over it, and it still remains to-day scarred like a veteran, it is true, but yet proud and firm on the victorious field.

His proud head the airy mountain hidesAmong the clouds; his shoulders and his sidesA shady mantle clothes; his curling browsFrown on the gentle stream, which calmly flows;While winds and storms his lofty forehead beat,—The common fate of all that’s high and great.It was not yesterday that it was reared; it will not fall to-morrow; but it has seen generation after generation come and go, with all their faith and fear, their love and lust, their weal and woe; and to-day it looks down upon another race which trusts and trembles, sins and sorrows, loves and laughs, as though they were the first that mountain ever looked upon. Oh! if it could only speak, it would tell us how the actors constantly change on the stage of Time; that the play, now tragic, now comic, oftenest commonplace, is always the same, and that it has seen it acted over and over again; and yet it looks on with no tired look. Whenever you see the mountain, you see that which is very old, and that which is very young. The signs of its age are also the symbols of its youth. It transmutes the furrows of its old age into the dimples of childhood’s laughter. Perpetual youth is the prerogative of the old mountain. It lasts, lives on—

Eternal pyramids, built not with hands,From linked foundations that deep-hidden lie,Ye rise apart, and each a wonder stands!Your marble peaks, which pierce the clouds so high,Seem holding up the curtain of the sky;And there, sublime and solemn, have ye stood,While crumbling Time, o’er-awed, passed reverent by,

Since �ature’s resurrection from the flood,Since earth, new born, again received God’s plaudit, “Good!”

How many races have ye seen descendInto Time’s grave, the lowly with the great;How many kingdoms seen asunder rend,How many empires fall, how many centuries end?1 [�ote: J. A. Davies, Seven Words of Love, 168.](2) The righteousness of God is more permanent than the mountains.—Though the mountains seem as if they did not change, yet they do change. The atmospheric influences which play upon them do alter them, though the alteration may be imperceptible to men who can observe them only for a few brief years. But absolutely without change is the righteousness of God. How is God’s righteousness shown? Most of all in His kindness. And so Isaiah says, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my righteousness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” There is one thing in this universe of change which is absolutely without change, and that is the eternal righteousness: “I the Lord change not; therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” Here is a resting-place for our souls. In this world nothing abides in one stage. We move from childhood to youth, from youth to manhood, from manhood to old age, from old age to the unseen world, but God changes not. We pass into new relationships, from being children to being parents, from having to serve to having to govern, from the active government of manhood to the quiescent stage of old age; friends drop from our side, old bonds are broken, new bonds are formed; but in the midst of this sea of change, where the waters are ever in movement, now receding, now advancing, there is a rock which abides—the righteousness of God. There is one point on which the eye can rest. There is one spot on which the foot can be planted. There is one place of anchorage for the soul—the rightousness of God.

Geologists tell us that these giants of Bernese mountains are but a third now of their original height, and we know how, to quote Ruskin, “The hills, which, as compared with human beings, seem everlasting, are in truth as perishing as they, their veins of flowing fountain weary the mountain heart, as the common pulse does ours; the natural force of the iron crag is abated in its appointed time, like the strength of the sinews in a human old age; and it is but the lapse of the larger years of decay which, in the sight of the Creator, distinguishes the mountain range from the moth and the worm.” Yet God and His attributes, and even His relations to man, remain unchanged, and from this treasury Isaiah picks out the two jewels of kindness and peace for our thankful contemplation.1 [�ote: J. W. Horsley, in The Church Times, July 28, 1911.]

Arthur Clough, whose early death prevented him from becoming the foremost poet of the age, and who passed through many spiritual vicissitudes, felt and expressed this in his noble lines:

It fortifies my soul to know

That, though I perish, Truth is so:That, howsoe’er I stray and range,Whate’er I do, Thou dost not change.I steadier step when I recallThat, if I slip, Thou dost not fall.2 [�ote: W. Garrett Horder.]2. The righteousness of God is like the great mountains in its power to inspire awe, wonder, and reverence. The great height of mountains, the vastness of their bulk, and their far-reaching extent overawe the spectator, and dwarf him into insignificance in their presence. Their dark and frowning crags, their awful chasms, and their mysterious yet gigantic forms shut his lips in silent awe, and chasten his thoughtless spirit into seriousness and reflection. If they should fall upon him he is crushed like an insect by the foot. A thunder-storm among the mountains is an awful thing. Once experienced, it will never be forgotten. The Law of Moses was fitly given amid thunderings and lightnings and a great earthquake among the mountains of Sinai. Like the great mountains the righteousness of God is an awful thing. When we are first convinced of sin and stand in the presence of God we tremble and cry out for fear.

“So Christian turned out of his way to go to Mr. Legality’s House for help: but behold, when he was got now hard by the Hill, it seemed so high, and also that side of it that was next the wayside, did hang so much over, that Christian was afraid to venture further, lest the Hill should fall on his Head; wherefore there he stood still; and wotted not what to do. Also his burden now seemed heavier to him than while he was in his way. There came also flashes of fire out of the Hill that made Christian afraid that he should be burned: here therefore he sweat, and did quake for fear.”1 [�ote: Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress (Cambridge edition), 152.]

(1) The real greatness of the mountains appears only as we approach them. We look up at them from the valleys and fancy that an hour’s climb will bring us to their summit. It seems as if we could shoot an arrow to the top; but we begin to climb, and as we climb they seem to lift their heads higher and higher. And so it is with the righteousness of God. Until we begin to strive after it, it seems within easy reach; it is only when we begin the long ascent that its height is really felt, and the higher we go the loftier does it appear. The man who has climbed highest in the way of righteousness knows best how great is the distance he has yet to climb. Indeed, to the man who has not begun to strive after righteousness, it seems most easy of attainment. It seems to him far easier to be righteous than to be learned, or muscular, or inventive. He stands more amazed at some great work of art, or literature, or mechanical contrivance than at the sight of righteousness in man. And why? The one can be apprehended by the eye and the other can be apprehended only by the heart, and his heart has not been trained by the pursuit of righteousness to appreciate its glory. Righteousness is only spiritually discerned. It cannot be seen by the eye, or heard by the ear, or felt by the hand. It needs a deeper faculty. The delicate, subtle fancy of poetry, or the grace of art, or the exquisite suggestiveness of the noblest music is not discerned by the uncultured. Preparation is needed before any of these can be discerned. And the beauty of holiness, which is only another name for righteousness, is not revealed save to those who, by striving after it, have

realized the difficulty and glory of its attainment. Only those who have begun to walk in the way of righteousness know how lofty, how far off, how difficult to reach, is the position to which the great Master, Christ, calls us when He says, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

About ten days ago we started from the valley of Zermatt, which is itself some thousands of feet above the level of the sea, and for nearly five hours were climbing up to the well-known Gorner Gratz, and when we reached it, the Matterhorn, instead of seeming nearer, positively seemed farther off, the distance to the summit appeared greater. When we were in the valley the lower mountains around its base seemed to lessen the distance, and only when these were scaled could we realize its awful height.1 [�ote: W. Garrett Horder.]

(2) The summits of the mountains are clearly revealed only as the sun lifts the clouds. And so it is with the righteousness of God. Clouds and darkness are round about Him, until Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, arises, and brings Him into view. Before, all was mystery and gloom to men. Their eyes could not pierce the cloud. They feared as they entered therein. But on the mystery Christ threw His revealing light, so that the clouds were lifted and all stood out in startling clearness. And then men began to realize that the righteousness which seemed so repellent was but the vesture of love; nay, that there could not be any real righteousness unless, at its very heart, there was the fire of love; just as there could not be any verdure or beauty on the earth but for the central core of fire within.

I stand upon the mount of God,With sunlight in my soul;I hear the storms in vales beneath,I hear the thunders roll.

But I am calm with Thee, my God,Beneath these glorious skies;And to the height on which I stand�or storms nor clouds can rise.

Oh, this is life! Oh, this is joy!My God, to find Thee so!Thy face to see, Thy voice to hear,And all Thy love to know.3. Mountain chains have been a refuge for the oppressed in all ages. Liberty, bruised and broken on the level plain, has fled into the mountain ranges and there has found a refuge. Out of the level plains of Egypt Israel escapes and finds its life in the rocky ranges of Mount Horeb. In the mountains of Palestine the Israelites escape from Moabitish hosts on the east of them and the Philistine hosts on the south of them. In the mountain caves of En-gedi David hides from the persecuting hosts of Saul. In the mountains Greece finds its escape from the overwhelming Persian hosts. In the mountains of Switzerland liberty is cradled, while all over Europe despotism is triumphant. In the mountains of �orthern Italy the Waldenses keep alive the

Protestant religion before Protestantism has been born.

We are not accustomed to think that God is a refuge because of His righteousness. We rather, perhaps, think His righteousness closes His heart to us in our sinfulness. Perhaps we will say that a good man, a benevolent man, a merciful man, will serve as a refuge to us in our hour of need, but not a man strong in his righteousness. And yet, if we will consider a little, it is not the righteousness, it is the unrighteousness, of men that makes them unmerciful and therefore repellent. One man repels another, not because the first man is too righteous to have mercy, but because he is not righteous enough. The men that are fighting scepticism are half sceptics. The man who only half believes is at enmity with the man who does not believe at all, because he is in perpetual fear lest his half-belief shall be taken away from him; but he who is anchored, by a chain that cannot be broken, to the eternal verities has no fear, and therefore has a heart open to all argument and all reasons, and considers them with patience and gentleness. So it is a dormant sense of unrighteousness in us that makes us afraid of the unrighteous.

In that marvellous story, Hawthorne’s Marble Faun, when Miriam has fallen into a great sin and comes to Hilda, and Hilda will not receive her because of that sin, bidding her not come nearer, and Miriam cries, “Because I have sinned I need your friendship the more,” Hilda replies, “If I were one of God’s angels, incapable of stain, I would keep ever at your side and try to lead you upward. But I am a poor, lonely girl, and God has given me my purity, and told me to take it back to Him unstained, and I dare not associate with the criminal lest I carry back to Him a stained and spotted garment.” It is the consciousness of a dormant impurity in the pure Hilda that makes her dread to receive to her heart the impure as her companion. It is not Hilda’s perfection of righteousness, it is her imperfection, that makes her fail as a refuge to poor, sinful, despairing Miriam. �ow, God’s righteousness is of the kind that never can be harmed.1 [�ote: Lyman Abbott.]

IVThe Judgments of God“Thy judgements are a great deep.”By “judgments” are not meant merely the acts of God’s punitive righteousness, the retributions that destroy evil-doers, but all God’s decisions and acts in regard to man. Or, to put it into other and briefer words, God’s judgments are the whole of the “ways,” the methods of the Divine government. So St. Paul, alluding to this very passage, when he says,” How unsearchable are his judgments,” adds, as a parallel clause, meaning the same thing, “and thy ways past finding out.” That includes all that men call, in a narrower sense, judgments; but it includes, too, all acts of kindness and loving gifts. God’s judgments are the expressions of His thoughts, and these thoughts are thoughts of good and not of evil.

Perhaps it was the great and wide sea that the Psalmist thought of while he spoke—the secret of whose depths only Omniscience could see, the noise of whose billows only Omnipotence could still. Or perhaps it was some land-locked lake, on whose shining surface he looked down, as it crisped with the breezes or slept in the calms

of a long summer day. But in either case, the picture yields a ready lesson: “Thy judgments,” he says, “are a great deep.” It is the one touch that is needed to enhance the description; for what were mercy, faithfulness, and righteousness, without infinite wisdom to plan and direct the whole? But this wisdom is evermore a great deep, unsearchable and unfathomable, whether it lies in the heart of God as His purpose, or in the word of God as His statutes, or in the ways of God as His Providence. “Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.” “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

1. The deep means mystery. We cannot escape the mystery in life, it is true, just as we cannot explore all ocean’s secrets. But it is not wisdom to think we have touched bottom because the plummet ceases to descend. The plumb line slackens in our hands. But that may mean only that life is too deep for our pessimists’ soundings, which have never gone deeper than the shifting surface tides. What is the obscurity of the sea? �ot that which comes from mud, or anything added, but that which comes from depth. As far as a man can see down into its blue-green depths they are clear and translucent; but when the light fails and the eye fails, there comes what we call obscurity. The sea is clear, but our sight is limited.

Here towers Vesuvius; there at its feet lie the waters of the bay. So the Righteousness springs up like some great cliff, rising sheer from the water’s edge, while its feet are laved by the sea of the Divine judgments, unfathomable and shoreless. The mountains and the sea are the two grandest things in nature, and in their combination sublime; the one the home of calm and silence, the other perpetual motion. But the mountain’s roots are deeper than the depths of the sea, and though the judgments are a mighty deep, the righteousness is deeper, and is the bed of the ocean.1 [�ote: A. Maclaren.]

2. The righteousness of God is seen in His judgments. In God’s nature the mountain height answers back to the sea deep; the great deep of judgment reflects the mountain summits of righteousness in its clear calm. We need to remember this great truth of the unity of God’s purpose in the world; for the age which disputes most passionately the justice of God’s judgments is the age which most completely ignores or opposes His commands. A man on the cliff can look much deeper into the ocean than a man on the level beach. The farther we climb the farther we shall see down into the “sea of glass mingled with fire” that lies placid before God’s throne. Let us remember that it is a hazardous thing to judge of a picture before it is finished, of a building before the scaffolding is pulled down; and it is a hazardous thing for us to say about any deed or any revealed truth that it is inconsistent with the Divine character. Let us wait a bit! “Thy judgments are a great deep.” The deep will be drained off one day, and we shall see the bottom of it. Let us judge nothing before the time.

If we believe in the Father and His good purpose towards us, what we require of

affliction and of suffering, what we have a right to require, is this, that it should be felt to be helping us and purifying us. God gives us a natural sense of justice, implanting it deep in our hearts; and it is through this sense of justice that all the best victories of humanity have been won.… The Father cannot have it in His heart that we should merely be crushed and silenced by our punishment; that we should submit, simply because there is no way out, as a little bird submits to be torn by a hawk. If our submission is like that, it is worth nothing; it only plunges our spirit in deeper darkness.2 [�ote: A. C. Benson, Thy Rod and Thy Staff, 106.]

One night when I was recently crossing the Atlantic, an officer of our boat told me that we had just passed over the spot where the Titanic went down. And I thought of all that life and wreckage beyond the power of man to recover and redeem. And I thought of the great bed of the deep sea, with all its held treasure, too far down for man to reach and restore. “Too far down!” And then I thought of all the human wreckage engulfed and sunk in oceanic depths of nameless sin. Too far gone! For what? Too far down! For what? �ot too far down for the love of God! Listen to this: “He descended into hell,” and He will descend again if you are there. “If I make my bed in hell, thou art there.” “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” “He bore our sin”; then He got beneath it; down to it and beneath it; and there is no human wreckage lying in the ooze of the deepest sea of iniquity that His deep love cannot reach and redeem. What a Gospel! However far down, God’s love can get beneath it!1 [�ote: J. H. Jowett, Things That Matter Most (1913), 17.]

MACLARE� 5-7, "SKY, EARTH, A�D SEA: A PARABLE OF GODPsalms 36:5 - Psalms 36:7.This wonderful description of the manifold brightness of the divine nature is introduced in this psalm with singular abruptness. It is set side by side with a vivid picture of an evildoer, a man who mutters in his own heart his godlessness, and with obstinate determination plans and plots in forgetfulness of God. Without a word to break the violence of the transition, side by side with that picture, the Psalmist sets before us these thoughts of the character of God. He seems to feel that that character was the only relief in the contemplation of the miserable sights of which the earth is only too full. We should go mad when we think of man’s wickedness unless we could look up and see, with one quick turn of the eye, the heaven opened and the throned Love that sits up there gazing on all the chaos, and working to soothe sorrow, and to purify evil.

Perhaps there is another reason for this dramatic and striking swiftness of contrast between the godless man and the revealed God. The true test of a life is its power to bear the light of God being suddenly let in upon it. How would yours look, my friend! if all at once a window in heaven was opened, and God glared in upon you? Set your lives side by side with Him. They always are side by side with Him whether you know it or not; but you had better bring your ‘deeds to the light that they may be made manifest’ now, than to have to do it as suddenly, and a great deal more sorrowfully, when you are dragged out of the shows and illusions of time, and He meets you on the threshold of another world. Would a beam of light from God,

coming in upon your life, be like a light falling upon a gang of conspirators, that would make them huddle all their implements under their cloaks, and scuttle out of the way as fast as possible? Or would it be like a gleam of sunshine upon the flowers, opening out their petals and wooing from them fragrance? Which?But I turn from such considerations as these to the more immediate subject of my contemplations in this discourse. I have ventured to take so great words for my text, though each clause would be more than enough for many a sermon, because my aim now is a very modest one. I desire simply to give, in the briefest way, the connection and mutual relation of these wonderful words; not to attempt any adequate treatment of the great thoughts which they contain, but only to set forth the meaning and interdependence of these manifold names for the beams of the divine light, which are presented here. The chief part of our text sets before us God in the variety and boundlessness of His loving nature, and the close of it shows us man sheltering beneath God’s wings. These are the two main themes for our present consideration.I. We have, first, God in the boundlessness of His loving nature.The one pure light of the divine nature is broken up, in the prism of the psalm, into various rays, which theologians call, in their hard, abstract way, divine attributes. These are ‘mercy, faithfulness, righteousness.’ Then we have two sets of divine acts-’judgments,’ and the ‘preservation’ of man and beast; and finally we have again ‘lovingkindness,’ as our version has unfortunately been misled, by its love for varying its translation, to render the same word which begins the series and is there called ‘mercy.’�ow that ‘mercy’ or ‘lovingkindness’ of which my text thus speaks, is very nearly equivalent to the �ew Testament ‘love’; or, perhaps, still more nearly equivalent to the �ew Testament ‘grace.’ Both the one and the other mean substantially this-active love communicating itself to creatures that are inferior and that might have expected something else to befall them. Mercy is a modification of love, inasmuch as it is love to an inferior. The hand is laid gently upon the man, because if it were laid with all its weight it would crush him. It is the stooping goodness of a king to a beggar. And mercy is likewise love in its exercise to persons that might expect something else, being guilty. As a general coming to a body of mutineers with pardon and favour upon his lips, instead of with condemnation and death; so God comes to us forgiving and blessing. All His goodness is forbearance, and His love is mercy, because of the weakness, the lowliness, and the ill desert of us on whom the love falls.�ow notice that this same ‘quality of mercy’ stands here at the beginning and at the end. All the attributes of the divine nature, all the operations of the divine hand lie within the circle of His mercy-like diamonds set in a golden ring. Mercy, or love flowing out in blessings to inferior and guilty creatures, is the root and ground of all God’s character; it is the foundation and impulse of all His acts. Modern science reduces all modes of physical energy to one, for which it has no name but-energy. We are taught by God’s own revelation of Himself-and most especially by His final and perfect revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ-to trace all forms of divine energy back to one which David calls ‘mercy,’ which John calls ‘love.’It is last as well as first, the final upshot of all revelation. The last voice that speaks from Scripture has for its special message ‘God is Love.’ The last voice that sounds

from the completed history of the world will have the same message, and the ultimate word of all revelation, the end of the whole of the majestic unfolding of God’s purposes will be the proclamation to the four corners of the universe, as from the trump of the Archangel, of the name of God as Love. The northern and the southern poles of the great sphere are one and the same, a straight axle through the very heart of it, from which the bounding lines swell out to the equator, and towards which they converge again on the opposite side of the world. So mercy is the strong axletree, the northern pole and the southern, on which the whole world of the divine perfections revolves and moves. The first and last, the Alpha and Omega of God, beginning and crowning and summing up all His being and His work, is His mercy, His lovingkindness.But next to mercy comes faithfulness. ‘Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.’ God’s faithfulness is in its narrowest sense His adherence to His promises. It implies, in that sense, a verbal revelation, and definite words from Him pledging Him to a certain line of action. ‘He hath said, and shall He not do it?’ ‘He will not alter the thing that is gone out of His lips.’ It is only a God who has actually spoken to men who can be a ‘faithful God.’ He will not palter with a double sense, ‘keeping His word of promise to the ear, and breaking it to the hope.’But not only His articulate promises, but also His own past actions, bind Him. He is always true to these; and not only continues to do as He has done, but discharges every obligation which His past imposes on Him. The ostrich was said to leave its eggs to be hatched in the sand. Men bring men into positions of dependence, and then lightly shake responsibility from careless shoulders. But God accepts the cares laid upon Him by His own acts, and discharges them to the last jot. He is a ‘faithful Creator.’ Creation brings obligations with it; obligations for the creature; obligations for the Creator. If God makes a being, God is bound to take care of the being that He has made. If He makes a being in a given fashion, He is bound to provide for the necessities that He has created. According to the old proverb, if He makes mouths it is His business to feed them. And He recognises the obligation. His past binds Him to certain conduct in His future. We can lay hold on the former manifestation, and we can plead it with Him. ‘Thou hast been, and therefore Thou must be.’ ‘Thou hast taught me to trust in Thee; vindicate and warrant my trust by Thy unchangeableness.’ So His word, His acts, and His own nature, bind God to bless and help. His faithfulness is the expression of His unchangeableness. ‘Because He could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself.’Take, then, these two thoughts of God’s lovingkindness and of God’s faithfulness and weave them together, and see what a strong cord they are to which a man may cling, and in all His weakness be sure that it will never give nor break. Mercy might be transient and arbitrary, but when you braid in ‘faithfulness’ along with it, it becomes fixed as the pillars of heaven, and immutable as the throne of God. Only when we are sure of God’s faithfulness can we lift up thankful voices to Him, ‘because His mercy endureth for ever.’ A despotic monarch may be all full of tenderness at this moment, and all full of wrath and sternness the next. He may have a whim of favour to-day, and a whim of severity to-morrow, and no man can say, ‘What doest thou?’ But God is not a despot. He has, so to speak, ‘decreed a constitution.’ He has limited Himself. He has marked out His path across the great wide region of possibilities of the divine action; He has buoyed out His channel on

that ocean, and declared to us His purposes. So we can reckon on God, as astronomers can foretell the motions of the stars. We can plead His faithfulness along with His love, and feel that the one makes sure that the other shall be from everlasting to everlasting.The next beam of the divine brightness is righteousness. ‘Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.’ Righteousness is not to be taken here in its narrow sense of stern retribution which gives to the evildoer the punishment that he deserves. There is no thought here, whatever there may be in other places in Scripture, of any opposition between mercy and righteousness, but the notion of righteousness here is a broader and greater one. It is just this, to put it into other words, that God has a law for His being to which He conforms; and that whatsoever things are fair and lovely, and good, and pure down here, those things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure up there; that He is the Archetype of all excellence, the Ideal of all moral completeness: that we can know enough of Him to be sure of this that what we call right He loves, and what we call right He practises.Brethren! unless we have that for the very foundation of our thoughts of God, we have no foundation to rest on. Unless we feel and know that ‘the Judge of all the earth doeth right,’ and is right, and law and righteousness have their home and seat in His bosom, and are the expression of His inmost being, then I know not where our confidence can be built. Unless ‘Thy righteousness, like the great mountains,’ surrounds and guards the low plain of our lives, they will lie open to all foes.Then, next, we pass from the divine character to the divine acts. Mercy, faithfulness, and righteousness all converge and flow into the great river of the divine ‘judgments.’By judgments are not meant merely the acts of God’s punitive righteousness, the retributions that destroy evildoers, but all God’s decisions and acts in regard to man. Or, to put it into other and briefer words, God’s judgments are the whole of the ‘ways,’ the methods of the divine government. So Paul, alluding to this very passage when he says ‘How unsearchable are Thy judgments!’ adds, as a parallel clause, meaning the same thing, ‘and Thy ways past finding out.’ That includes all which men call, in a narrower sense, judgments, but it includes, too, all acts of kindness and loving gifts. God’s judgments are the expressions of His thoughts, and these thoughts are thoughts of good and not of evil.But notice, in the next place, the boundlessness of all these characteristics of the divine nature.‘Thy mercy is in the heavens,’ towering up above the stars, and dwelling there, like some divine ether filling all space. The heavens are the home of light, the source of every blessing, arching over every head, rimming every horizon, holding all the stars, opening into abysses as we gaze, with us by night and by day, undimmed by the mist and smoke of earth, unchanged by the lapse of centuries; ever seen, never reached, bending over us always, always far above us. So the mercy of God towers above us, and stoops down towards us, rims us all about and arches over us all, sheds down its dewy benedictions by night and by day; is filled with a million stars and light-points of duty and of splendour; is near us ever to bless and succour and help, and holds us all in its blue round.‘Thy faithfulness reacheth to the clouds.’ Strange that God’s fixed faithfulness should be compared to the very emblems of mutation. The clouds are unstable, they

whirl and melt and change. Strange to think of the unalterable faithfulness as reaching to them! May it not be that the very mutability of the mutable may be the means of manifesting the unalterable sameness of God’s faithful purpose, of His unchangeable love, and of His ever consistent dealings? May not the apparent incongruity be a part of the felicity of the bold words? Is it not true that earthly things, as they change their forms and melt away, leaving no track behind, phantomlike as they are, do still obey the behests of that divine faithfulness, and gather and dissolve and break in brief showers of blessing, or short, sharp crashes of storm, at the bidding of that steadfast purpose which works out one unalterable design by a thousand instruments, and changeth all things, being in itself unchanged? The thing that is eternal, even the faithfulness of God, dwells amid, and shows itself through, the things that are temporal, the flying clouds of change.Again, ‘Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.’ Like these, its roots are fast and stable; like these, it stands firm for ever; like these, its summits touch the fleeting clouds of human circumstance; like these, it is a shelter and a refuge, inaccessible in its steepest peaks, but affording many a cleft in its rocks, where a man may hide and be safe. But, unlike these, it knew no beginning, and shall know no end. Emblems of permanence as they are, though Olivet looks down on Jerusalem as it did when Melchizedek was its king, and Tabor and Hermon stand as they did before human lips had named them, they are wearing away by winter storms and summer heats. But, as Isaiah has taught us, when the earth is old, God’s might and mercy are young; for ‘the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee.’ ‘The earth shall wax old like a garment, but My righteousness shall not be abolished.’ It is more stable than the mountains, and firmer than the firmest things upon earth.Then, with wonderful poetical beauty and vividness of contrast, there follows upon the emblem of the great mountains of God’s righteousness the emblem of the ‘mighty deep’ of His judgments. Here towers Vesuvius; there at its feet lie the waters of the bay. So the righteousness springs up like some great cliff, rising sheer from the water’s edge, while its feet are laved by the sea of the divine judgments, unfathomable and shoreless. The mountains and the sea are the two grandest things in nature, and in their combination sublime; the one the home of calm and silence, the other in perpetual motion. But the mountain’s roots are deeper than the depths of the sea, and though the judgments are a mighty deep, the righteousness is deeper, and is the bed of the ocean.The metaphor, of course, implies obscurity, but what sort of obscurity? The obscurity of the sea. And what sort of obscurity is that? �ot that which comes from mud, or anything added, but that which comes from depth. As far as a man can see down into its blue-green depths they are clear and translucent; but where the light fails and the eye fails, there comes what we call obscurity. The sea is clear, but our sight is limited.And so there is no arbitrary obscurity in God’s dealings, and we know as much about them as it is possible for us to know; but we cannot see to the bottom. A man on the cliff can look much deeper into the ocean than a man on the level beach. The higher you climb the further you will see down into the ‘sea of glass mingled with fire’ that lies placid before God’s throne. Let us remember that it is a hazardous thing to judge of a picture before it is finished; of a building before the scaffolding is

pulled down, and it is as hazardous for us to say about any deed or any revealed truth that it is inconsistent with the divine character. Wait a bit; wait a bit! ‘Thy judgments are a great deep.’ The deep will be drained off one day, and you will see the bottom of it. ‘Judge nothing before the time.’But as an aid to patience and faith hearken how the Psalmist finishes up his contemplations: ‘O Lord! Thou preservest man and beast.’ Very well then, all this mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, judgment, high as the heavens, deep as the ocean, firm as the hills, it is all working for this-to keep the millions of living creatures round about us, and ourselves, in life and well-being. The mountain is high, the deep is profound. Between the mountain and the sea there is a strip of level land. God’s righteousness towers above us; God’s judgments go down beneath us; we can scarcely measure adequately the one or the other. But upon the level where we live there are the green fields where the cattle browse, and the birds sing, and men live and till and reap and are fed. That is to say, we all have enough in the plain, patent facts of creation and preservation of man and animal life in this world to make us quite sure of what is the principle that prevails up to the very top of the inaccessible mountains, and down to the very bottom of the unfathomable deep. What we know of Him, in the blessings of His love and providence, ought to interpret for us all that is perplexing. What we understand is good and loving. Let us be sure that what we do not yet understand is good and loving too. The web is of one texture throughout. The least educated ear can catch the music of the simpler melodies which run through the Great Composer’s work. We shall one day be able to appreciate the yet fuller music of the more recondite parts, which to us at present seem only jangling and discord. It is not His melody but our ears that are at fault. But we may well accept the obscurity of the mighty deep of God’s judgment, when we can see plainly that, after all, the earth is full of His mercy, and that ‘the eyes of all things wait on God, and He giveth them their meat in due season.’II. So much, then, for the great picture here of these boundless characteristics of the divine nature. �ow let us look for a moment at the picture of man sheltering beneath God’s wings.‘How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.’ God’s lovingkindness, or mercy, as I explained the word might be rendered, is precious, for that is the true meaning of the word translated ‘excellent.’ We are rich when we have that for ours; we are poor without it. Our true wealth is to possess God’s love, and to know in thought and realise in feeling and reciprocate in affection His grace and goodness, the beauty and perfectness of His wondrous character. That man is wealthy who has God on his side; that man is a pauper who has not God for his.‘How precious is Thy lovingkindness, therefore the children of men put their trust.’ There is only one thing that will ever win a man’s heart to love God, and that is that God should love him first, and let him see it. ‘We love Him because He first loved us,’ is the �ew Testament teaching. Is it not all adumbrated and foretold in these words: ‘How precious is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust’?We may be driven to worship after a sort by power; we may be smitten into some cold admiration, into some kind of reluctant subjection and trembling reverence, by the manifestation of divine perfections. But there is only one thing that wins a man’s

heart, and that is the sight of God’s heart; and it is only when we know how precious His lovingkindness is that we shall be drawn towards Him.And then this last verse tells us how we can make God our own: ‘They put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.’ The word here rendered, and accurately rendered, ‘put their trust,’ has a very beautiful literal meaning. It means to flee for refuge, as the manslayer might flee into the strong city, or as Lot did out of Sodom to the little city on the hill, or as David did into the cave from his enemies. So, with such haste, with such intensity, staying for nothing, and with the effort of your whole will and nature, flee to God. That is trust. Go to Him for refuge from all evil, from all harm, from your own souls, from all sin, from hell, and death, and the devil.Put your trust under ‘the shadow of His wings.’ That is a beautiful image, drawn, probably, from the grand words of Deuteronomy, where God is likened to the ‘eagle stirring up her nest, fluttering over her young,’ with tenderness in her fierce eye, and protecting strength in the sweep of her mighty pinion. So God spreads the covert of His wing, strong and tender, beneath which we may all gather ourselves and nestle.And how can we do that? By the simple process of fleeing unto Him, as made known to us in Christ our Saviour; to hide ourselves there. For let us not forget how even the tenderness of this metaphor was increased by its shape on the tender lips of the Lord: ‘How often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!’ The Old Testament took the emblem of the eagle, sovereign, and strong, and fierce; the �ew Testament took the emblem of the domestic fowl, peaceable, and gentle, and affectionate. Let us flee to that Christ, by humble faith with the plea on our lips-‘Cover my defenceless headWith the shadow of Thy wing’;and then all the Godhead in its mercy, its faithfulness, its righteousness, and its judgments will be on our side; and we shall know how precious is the lovingkindness of the Lord, and find in Him the home and hiding-place of our hearts for ever.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

BAR�ES, "Thy righteousness - Thy justice; that is, the justice of God considered as residing in his own nature; his justice in his laws; his justice in his providential dealings; his justice in his plan of delivering man from sin; his justice to the universe in administering the rewards and penalties of the law.

Is like the great mountains -Margin, as in Hebrew: “the mountains of God.” The name “God” is thus, in the Scriptures, often given to that which is great or exalted, as God is the greatest Being that the mind can form any conception of. So in Psa_80:10 : “The boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars,” in the Hebrew, “cedars of God.” Connecting his name with “mountains” or “cedars,” we have the idea of “strength” or “greatness,” as being especially the work of the Almighty. The idea here is, that as the mountains are the most stable of all the objects with which we are acquainted, so it is with the justice of God. It is as fixed as the everlasting hills.

Thy judgments - The acts and records which are expressive of thy judgment in regard to what is right and best; that judgment as it is expressed in thy law, and in thy dealings with mankind. The “judgment” of God in any matter may be expressed either by a declaration or by his acts. The latter is the idea now most commonly attached to the word, and it has come to be used almost exclusively to denote “afflictive” dispensations of His Providence, or expressions of His displeasure against sin. The word is not used in that exclusive sense in the Scriptures. It refers to any divine adjudication as to what is right, whether expressed by declaration or by act, and would include his adjudications in favor of that which is right as well as those against that which is wrong.

Are a great deep - The word rendered “deep” here means properly wave, billow, surge; then, a mass of waters, a flood, a deep; and the phrase “great deep” would properly refer to the ocean, its “depth” being one of the most remarkable things in regard to it. The “idea” here is, that as we cannot fathom the ocean or penetrate to its bottom, so it is with the judgments of God. They are beyond our comprehension, and after all our efforts to understand them, we are constrained, as in measuring the depths of the ocean, to confess that we cannot reach to the bottom of them. This is true in regard to his law, in regard to the principles of his government as he has declared them, and in regard to his actual dealings with mankind. It could not be otherwise than that in the administration of an infinite God there must be much that man, in his present state, could not comprehend. Compare Job_11:7-9; Isa_55:8-9.

O Lord, “thou preservest man and beast - literally, thou wilt “save;” that is, thou savest them from destruction. The idea is, that he keeps them alive; or that life, where it is continued, is always continued by his agency. The psalmist evidently sees in the fact here stated an illustration of what he had just said about the “greatness” of God in His providential agency and his general government. He was struck with His greatness, and with the incomprehensible nature of His power and agency, in the fact that he kept alive continually so many myriads of creatures upon the earth - so many hundred millions of human beings - so many thousand millions of wild beasts, reptiles, fish, birds, and insects - all dependent upon Him; that He provided for their needs, and that He protected them in the dangers to which they were exposed. And who can comprehend the extent of His law, and the wonderfulness of His Providence, in thus watching over and providing for the multitudes of animated beings that swarm in the waters, in the air,

and on the earth?

CLARKE, "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains - #keharerey כהררי#אל

El, like the mountains of God; exceeding high mountains; what, in the present language

of geology, would be called primitive mountains, those that were formed at the beginning; and are not the effects of earthquakes or inundations, as secondary and alluvial mountains are supposed to be.

Thy judgments are a great deep - tehom#rabbah, the great abyss; as תהום#רבה

incomprehensible as the great chaos, or first matter of all things which God created in

the beginning, and which is mentioned Gen_1:2, and darkness was on the face, תהום

tehom, of the deep, the vast profound, or what is below all conjecturable profundity. How

astonishing are the thoughts in these two verses! What an idea do they give us of the mercy, truth, righteousness, and judgments of God!

The old Psalter, in paraphrasing mountains of God, says, Thi ryghtwisnes, that es, ryghtwis men, er gastly hilles of God; for that er hee in contemplacioun, and soner resayves the lyght of Crist. Here is a metaphor taken from the tops of mountains and high hills first catching the rays of the rising sun. “Righteous men are spiritual hills of God; for they are high in contemplation, and sooner receive the light of Christ.” It is really a very fine thought; and much beyond the rudeness of the times in which this Psalter was written.

Man and beast - Doth God take care of cattle? Yes, he appoints the lions their food, and hears the cry of the young ravens; and will he not provide for the poor, especially the poor of his people? He will. So infinitely and intensely good is the nature of God, that it is his delight to make all his creatures happy. He preserves the man, and he preserves the beast; and it is his providence which supplies the man, when his propensities and actions level him with the beasts that perish.

GILL, "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains,.... Or, "the mountains of God"; so called for their excellency, as the cedars of God, Psa_80:10; or, as Gussetius (e)observes, the greatest and highest mountains, which are here meant, reaching above the clouds and the region of the air, are the pillars of the palace of God, and a part of it; and therefore called his mountains with great propriety, to which his righteousness is compared: that is, either the righteousness of God in the government of the world, which is sometimes like the high mountains, not to be reached and accounted for in the present state of things, though always is, and is immovable as they are; or the righteousness of God, by which he justifies sinners, which may be said to be as the mountains of God, because of the dignity of his person, who has wrought it out; and because of the clear manifestation of it, the Gospel, and so visible, as high mountains; and because of the immovableness and duration of it;

thy judgments are a great deep; both in a way of providence, many of them being at present not to be traced, though before long they will be made manifest; and in a way of grace, such as the choice of some, and the leaving of others, the rejection of the Jews, and the call of the Gentiles; see Rom_11:33;

O Lord, thou preservest man and beast; in a providential way, upholding each in their being, and supplying them with the necessaries of life: some understand this figuratively, of God's saving Jews and Gentiles, wise and unwise, and particularly those who, through humility and modesty, as Jarchi says, compare themselves to beasts, because of their ignorance and stupidity, Pro_30:2.

JAMISO�, "righteousness [and] judgments— qualities of a good government (Psa_5:8; Psa_31:1). These all are set forth, by the figures used, as unbounded.

CALVI�, "6.Thy righteousness is as the mountains of God In this verse there is a commendation of God’s righteousness, which the sacred writer compares to the high mountains, (this being the manner of the expression — “the mountains of God,” for we know that the Hebrews were accustomed to distinguish by the appellation divine, or of God, whatever is excellent,) because his glory shines forth more clearly there. In the last place, it is said, that his judgments are like a great and bottomless abyss. By these words he teaches us, that to whatever side we turn our eyes, and whether we look upward or downward, all things are disposed and ordered by the just judgment of God. This passage is usually quoted in a sense quite different, namely, that the judgments of God far exceed our limited capacity, and are too mysterious for our being able to comprehend them; and, indeed, in this sense the similitude of an abyss is not inappropriate. It is, however, obvious from the context, that the language of the Psalmist is to be understood in a much more extensive sense, and as meaning, that however great the depth of wickedness which there is among men, and though it seems like a flood which breaks forth and overflows the whole earth, yet still greater is the depth of God’s providence, by which he righteously disposes and governs all things. Whenever, therefore, our faith may be shaken by the confusion and disorder of human affairs, and when we are unable to explain the reasons of this disorder and confusion, let us remember that the judgments of God in the government of the world are with the highest propriety compared to a great depth which fills heaven and earth, that the consideration of its infinite greatness may ravish our minds with admiration, swallow up all our cares, and dispel all our sorrows. When it is added in the end of the verse, O Jehovah! thou preservest man and beast, the meaning is to this effect, that since God vouchsafes to extend his providential care even to the irrational creation, much more does he provide for the wants of men. And, indeed, whenever any doubt may arise in our minds regarding the providence of God, we should fortify and encourage ourselves by setting before us this consideration, that God, who provides food for the beasts of the field, and maintains them in their present state, can never cease to take care of the human race. The explanation which some have given of the term beasts, interpreting it allegorically of beastly men, I regard as too forced, and reject it.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Firm and unmoved, lofty and sublime. As winds and hurricanes shake not an Alp, so the righteousness of God is never in any degree affected by circumstances; he is always just. Who can bribe the Judge of all the earth, or who can, by threatening, compel him to pervert judgment? �ot even to save his elect would the Lord suffer his

righteousness to be set aside. �o awe inspired by mountain scenery can equal that which fills the soul when it beholds the Son of God slain as a victim to vindicate the justice of the Inflexible Lawgiver. Right across the path of every unholy man who dreams of heaven stand the towering Andes of divine righteousness, which no unregenerate sinner can ever climb. Among great mountains lie slumbering avalanches, and there the young lightnings try their callow wings until the storm rushes down amain from the awful peaks; so against the great day of the Lord's wrath the Lord has laid up in the mountains of his righteousness dreadful ammunition of war with which to overwhelm his adversaries. Thy judgments are a great deep. God's dealings with men are not to be fathomed by every boaster who demands to see a why for every wherefore. The Lord is not to be questioned by us as to why this and why that. He has reasons, but he does not choose to submit them to our foolish consideration. Far and wide, terrible and irresistible like the ocean are the providential dispensations of God: at one time they appear as peaceful as the unrippled sea of glass; at another tossed with tempest and whirlwind, but evermore most glorious and full of mystery. Who shall discover the springs of the sea? He who shall do this may hope to comprehend the providence of the Eternal."Undiscovered sea!Into thy dark, unknown, mysterious caves,And secret haunts unfathomably deep,Beneath all visible retired, none wentAnd came again to tell the wonders there."Yet as the deep mirrors the sky, so the mercy of the Lord is to be seen reflected in all the arrangements of his government on earth, and over the profound depth the covenant rainbow casts its arch of comfort, for the Lord is faithful in all that he doeth. O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. All the myriads of creatures, rational and irrational, are fed by Jehovah's hand. The countless beasts, the innumerable birds, the inconceivable abundance of fishes, the all but infinite armies of insects, all owe their continuance of life to the unceasing outgoings of the divine power. What a view of God this presents to us! What a debased creature must he be who sees no trace of such a God, and feels no awe of him!EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 5-7. See Psalms on "Psalms 36:6" for further information.Ver. 5-9: — See Psalms on "Psalms 35:4" for further information.Ver. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains. Literally mountains of God, which men have not planted, and which men cannot move. Christopher Wordsworth.Ver. 6. Thy judgments are a great deep. Men's sins are a great deep, and Satan's ways are called a depth; but God's judgments, his ways in the wheels, are the greatest deep of all, they are unsearchable. William Greenhill.

LA�GE, "Psalm 36:6. Mountains of God.—These are not as it were the highest mountains, because all that is best in nature or of its kind is distinguished by the addition of the words, “of God” (the Rabbins, Calvin, Geier, J. H. Mich. et al.). This supposition does not accord with the sharp distinction between the natural and the Divine, which prevails in the Biblical view of the world. This designation is used not

only where there is an emphatic reference to that which has been produced by God (Hupf.), but likewise that which testifies to the glory of God (His power, goodness, and holiness) and serves to reveal Him. Thus the prophets are frequently called men of God, and Mount Sinai and Zion, mountains of God; so likewise Paradise is called the garden of God, Genesis 13:10, comp. Psalm 2:8, and the rain in contrast to artificial irrigation is called the brook of God, Psalm 65:9; and the cedars of Lebanon are called cedars of God, Psalm 80:10; and trees of God, Psalm 104:16, not only because He planted them as the aloes ( �umbers 24:6), but because they testify to His creative power, and their consideration gives occasion to worship Him. The tert. compar. in the comparison of righteousness with the mountains of God is therefore, their firmness and unmoveableness (Luther and most interpreters], whether with or without the subordinate idea of the safety of those who seek refuge in them (Stier), rather than their greatness and height (Hengst, Hupf.).—Thy judgments a great flood.—The effects of righteousness, the judgments of God are directly compared with the great flood, not with reference to their depth as contrasted with the height of the mountains (Hupf.), or on account of their unfathomableness and unsearchableness (Aben Ezra Geier, Rosenm, Stier, Delitzsch), or with respect to their unmeasurableness (Hengst.) and comprehensive extent (Calvin), but with reference to their power which none can escape and the certainty with which they reach their ends. For the expression תחום רבה occurs only in Genesis 7:11, and therefore points, not to the unfathomable depth or the unmeasurable ocean, but to the flood which overflows all things, which pours over the world judging and delivering according to God’s will. Accordingly the allusion to the deliverance of the animal kingdom with �oah’s family (Venema, Hengst.) in the following clause is not a strange historical reference mixed with the general clause (Hupf.), although it is correct, that the cattle, that Isaiah, the animal kingdom, in their needs appear frequently as an object of Divine care and mercy in connection with men. It is likewise to be noticed, that the reference is not directly historical; but is merely an allusion to that historical event, in which the judgments of God actually presented themselves as a great flood ( Psalm 29:10). So much the easier is the idea of Divine judgments or indeed of severe afflictions in general, from which God delivers the pious, explained under the figure of great overflowings, ( Psalm 32:6), which yet would have otherwise been far from the mind of the Hebrew owing to the physical character of his land.—There is not the least reference in this Psalm to a victorious war in which men and beasts were delivered from the danger incurred by the inroad of heathen nations (Hitzig), which had broken treaties ( Habakkuk 2:17; Habakkuk 3:17).

LA�GE, "Psalm 36:8. Fatness of Thy house.—This is not the gift of the paternal goodness of God abundantly bestowed in the world (De Wette), but first of all the sacrificial meals ( Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 31:14), and if we may understand by them thank offerings and peace offerings, the reference is to reconciliation with God, and not to victory over earthly enemies ( Psalm 65:4). Since however there is no reference to the use of sacrifices as such, but these serve as figurative designations of the enjoyment which those have, who are placed near to God in communion with Him, as Jeremiah 31:14, we may likewise, yet always only on this foundation, think

of “rich goods” (Luther) in a wider sense, the spiritual joy and blessings of the entire sphere of the Divine grace.—Stream of Thy pleasures.—In this connection the Hebrew word for pleasures reminds us of Paradise (Eden), but the stream (literally brook) is merely the usual figure of fulness and of blessing. (Hupf.). Further references to the common source of the four arms of that stream or to the stream going forth from Eden to water the garden Genesis 2:10 (Hengst, Delitzsch), are not in the text. The figure of receiving drink from a flowing water originates from the idea, that God is the fountain of life and light ( Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13; Proverbs 16:22).

SIMEO�, "GOD’S WORD A�D WORKS MYSTERIOUS

Psalms 36:6. Thy judgments are a great deep.

WE little think how highly privileged the meanest Christian is above all the sages of antiquity. The greatest philosophers of Greece and Rome were un able to account for the existence of moral evil upon earth, or to see through the disorder and confusion which it has produced throughout the world. But the servant of the Lord is instructed to trace every thing to an All-wise and Almighty Power, who brings light out of darkness and order from confusion, and overrules every thing for the glory of his own name. To this Divine Being, the child of God has recourse in all his difficulties, and in the contemplation of Him finds comfort under the sorest trials. David, under the persecutions of Saul, was reduced to the greatest extremities: but, after complaining of the subtlety of his implacable enemy, “he encouraged himself in the Lord his God,” who was able to accomplish his own gracious designs, not only in opposition to this powerful adversary, but by the very means which Saul was using to defeat them.

The word “judgments” has, in Scripture, many different significations. As used in my text, we may consider it as comprehending both the word and the works of God. In illustration, therefore, of our text, we may observe that “God’s judgments are a great deep,”

I]. As displayed in his word—

The whole of Revelation is a mystery. But, that we may not be led over too wide a field, we will confine our attention to two points:

1. Our fall in Adam—

[This is a fact to which the whole Scripture bears witness: “In Adam all died [�ote: 1 Corinthians 15:22.];” and “by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation [�ote: Romans 5:17-18.].” �ow, that he should himself be drawn into sin, circumstanced as he was, perfect in his nature, and supplied with every thing which his soul could desire, is wonderful. But it is a fact, that he did commit sin, and brought upon himself God’s righteous indignation. That in his sin all his posterity

should be involved, is a yet deeper mystery; for which it would be impossible for us to account, if God had not plainly and unequivocally revealed it. That the whole world is full of sin, is obvious to the most superficial observer. That the very nature of man is corrupt, is also evident. �o one who has ever marked the dispositions of an infant can entertain a doubt of it [�ote: Psalms 51:5.]. But was man first created in such a state? Can we conceive of a holy Being forming, in the first instance, such unholy creatures ? Human wisdom is altogether lost, and confounded, whilst occupied on this mysterious subject. But God has explained it to us in his word. He has told us, what, when revealed, is a self-evident truth, that “no man can bring a clean thing out of an unclean [�ote: Job 14:4.].” He has told us, also, what we could never have imagined or conceived, that the very guilt of Adam is transmitted to us, because he was not a private and isolated individual, but the head and representative of all his descendants: so that we come into the world, not only corrupt creatures, but “children of wrath [�ote: Ephesians 2:3.].”

�ow say, whether this be not “a great deep.” Who can comprehend it? Who is not lost in wonder at the contemplation of it?]

2. Our recovery by Jesus Christ—

[That there should be a possibility of restoring man to the divine favour, is what no finite intelligence could ever have conceived. �ot one of the fallen angels ever was restored: nor could the restoration of man, it might be thought, have ever been compatible with the honour of our offended God. But God contrived a way, wherein he might be “just, and yet the justifier of sinful men [�ote: Romans 3:26.].” For this end he gave his onlybegotten Son, to stand in our place, to bear our sins, to “make reconciliation for our iniquities, and to bring m an everlasting righteousness,” wherein we might stand accepted before our God.

Well might the Apostle say, “Great is the mystery of godliness [�ote: 1 Timothy 3:16.].” Who can contemplate “God manifest in human flesh,” and dying in the place of his own sinful and rebellious creatures, and not stand amazed at this stupendous effort of love and mercy? Truly, it far “surpasses all the knowledge” whether of men or angels. And, if it were not confirmed to us by testimony that is absolutely unquestionable, we could not but regard it altogether as “a cunningly-devised fable;” so unfathomable are the depths contained in it, and so incomprehensible the love [�ote: Ephesians 3:18-19.].]

But let us contemplate God’s judgments,

II. As manifested in his works—

Let us notice them in his works,

1. Of providence—

[These also are as inscrutable as redemption itself. Who, that surveyed Joseph in all

his different scenes of woe, could ever imagine whither they were conducting him, or to what they would lead? Truly there is “a wheel within a wheel [�ote: Ezekiel 1:16.];” and whilst all appears uncertainty around us, every thing is working to a fixed end, even to accomplish what God himself has predicted in his word. The smallest incidents that can be imagined are often productive of the most wonderful events: the casting of a lot, the sleepless restlessness of Ahasuerus, the casual turning to a particular record, to a common observer would appear as matters of trifling moment: yet on them depended the preservation of the whole Jewish people [�ote: Esther 3:7; Esther 6:1-3.]. And we too, if we look back upon our past lives, may find many minute occurrences, which seemed to be of no account at the time, but which contributed in the most essential manner to influence and fix our future destinies; so that at this hour there is not one amongst us whose life would not serve for the illustrating of this point, and constrain him with the profoundest admiration to exclaim, “How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out [�ote: Romans 11:33.]!”]

2. Of grace—

[Who, that had seen Paul in his unconverted state, would ever have supposed that God had designs of love towards him ? Yet, when he had well nigh filled up the measure of his iniquities, God arrested him in his career, and made him a most distinguished monument of his mercy; insomuch that all future ages were to regard him as “a pattern,” by which the extent of God’s mercy might be estimated, and the hopes of penitents be encouraged [�ote: 1 Timothy 1:12-16.]. Certainly the conduct of Onesimus towards his master Philemon must appear a very strange link in the purposes of heaven, relative to his salvation: yet were his dishonesty and flight made use of by God as means to bring him under the ministry of St. Paul, and, through that, to a conversion of soul to God, and to the everlasting possession of happiness and glory [�ote: Philem. ver. 15.]. �ot that God’s designs of mercy towards him lessened in any degree the guilt which he contracted: nor is sin of any kind the less sinful on account of the use which God may make of it for the accomplishment of his own designs: for then the murderers of our blessed Lord must have been accounted the best, rather than the most guilty, of mankind. �o: sin is a deadly evil, by whomsoever it is committed, and whatsoever it may effect: but this I say, that God both does and will accomplish his own eternal counsels, in ways which no finite wisdom could have contrived, nor any finite power have brought to a successful issue. “Verily,” says the prophet, “thou art a God that hidest thyself [�ote: Isaiah 45:15.].” And so, indeed, we may all say. For who can look back upon the way in which he has been brought from his youth up even to this present moment, and especially upon the way in which he has been led to the knowledge of the Saviour, and not stand amazed at “the goodness and mercy that have followed him,” and at the wisdom and power that have effected so great things for him? Yes: we must all fully acquiesce in that sentiment of Zophar: “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? it is deeper than hell; what canst thou know? the measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea [�ote: Job 11:7-9.].”]

Let us, then, learn from hence,

1. Submission to God’s will—

[We may have been brought into circumstances of the most afflictive nature: but we should remember who it is that ordereth all things, even to the falling of a sparrow upon the ground. Men and devils may be labouring for our destruction: and God may suffer them to proceed to the very utmost extremity, till, like the murderers of our Lord, they may exult in, what appears to them, the full attainment of their purpose; but God says to all of them, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.” True it is that “His way is in the sea, and his footsteps are not known [�ote: Psalms 77:19.]:” but you must never forget, that though “clouds and darkness are round about him, righteousness and judgment are the basis of his throne [�ote: Psalms 97:2.].” “What he does, you may not at present know: but you shall know hereafter [�ote: John 13:7.]:” and you may be sure that at the last you shall add your testimony to that of all his saints, “He hath done all things well [�ote: Mark 7:37.].” Your way may be circuitous, and attended with great difficulties: but you will find, at last, that it was “the right way [�ote: Psalms 107:7.],” the way most conducive to your best interests, and most calculated to advance his glory. Let us, then, wait to “see the end of the Lord [�ote: James 5:11.];” and, under all circumstances, say, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.”]

2. Affiance in his word—

[There is light sufficient: there we see what God will most assuredly accomplish. There may appear to be a discordance between the word and works of God; but they will be found to harmonize at last: “nor shall one jot or tittle of his word ever fail.” Lay hold, then, on the promises of God: rest on them: plead them at the throne of his grace: and expect the accomplishment of them in due season. But be not impatient under any delays: “If the vision tarry, wait for it;” assured that “it will not tarry” beyond the appointed time [�ote: Habakkuk 2:3.]. �ever, under any circumstances, say, “All these things are against me;” because God has promised that “they shall all work together for your good [�ote: Romans 8:28.].” But, conceive of a soul just liberated from the body, and from the throne of God looking back upon the way in which it has been brought thither; with what admiration will it then be filled! and what praises will it pour forth on account of the dispensations which till now it was not able to unravel! This should now be the posture of your soul. Most safely may you trust in God, to the full extent of his promises: for, whatever difficulties may lie in his way, “His counsel shall stand; and He will do all his will.”]

SBC, "I. The creatures cannot give God intelligent thanks; in their own way they do it, yet not intelligently. But man can give a voice to it. God preserves the beasts as well as the men, and man comes as the high-priest of creation—a sinner, yet encouraged by the grace of life—and gives thanks in creation’s name to Him from whom all good things come.

II. Mark how from the first step, the preservation of man and beast, the Psalmist ascends. Whoever comes near to God in any way must come near to all that is in God; for he comes near to Himself. He comes near to the Preserver, but the Preserver has other characters as well. Thus the Psalmist is led from the consideration of the food which supports temporal life to that which supports spiritual, everlasting life. The loving-kindness of the Lord—on that a soul can feed.

III. "They shall be abundantly satisfied." In order to satisfaction there are two things needful: that things be satisfying in their nature and that they be satisfying in their quantity. The assurance is here given as regards the house of God that the things are not only of a satisfying nature, but of a satisfying quantity. God is bountiful in the provisions of His providence and in the provisions of His grace.

J. Duncan, The Pulpit and Communion Table, p. 286.

Psalms 36:6

(1) Mystery is a necessity. So long as the finite has to do with the infinite, there must be mystery. Every atom in the universe is an ocean into which if you take three steps you are out of your depth. (2) Mystery is more than a necessity. It is a boon. Imagination must have its play, and expectation its scope. And mystery cultivates the two high graces of patience and faith, for you cannot be educated without mystery. (3) Mystery is joy in everything. Half the happiness of life would be gone if we had not always to do with something beyond it.

I. When suffering of mind or body comes, perhaps the first cry of nature is, "Why? Why all this for me? Am I worse than others? Am I made the target of all God’s shafts?" Mystery answers mystery. It is mystery, in great part, for this very end, that you may say, "Why?" and have no answer but "Sovereignty, God’s own absolute, rightful sovereignty!" All the most afflicted servants of God felt great mystery—Abraham when the sun went down, "and lo! an horror of great darkness fell upon him;" and Jacob in that fierce night of supernatural Wrestling; and Moses at the burning bush; and Job in "thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men," etc.

II. Study the Cross. Read all its lessons. Take all its comfortings. In all your suffering, learn to love the mystery which gives you concord with Jesus and all His saints. Do Do not wish to see all. Do not wish to explain all. Stand on the shore of that great sea, and do not try to know all that lies in those depths and all that stretches beyond your little horizon. There are some minds to which mystery is a toil; but as we grow in grace we learn first to bear mystery, then to accept mystery, then to choose mystery.

J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 77.

Psalms 36:6

In our text God’s righteousness is declared to be like the great mountains. Notice some of the analogies between them.

I. Like them, it is durable. The mountains of the earth have been often employed as

emblems of permanence and stability. It is by them that men have sometimes sworn. Sometimes God compares Himself with the mountains, and then we read that "as the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth even for ever." Sometimes He contrasts Himself with the mountains, and then we read that "the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but that His kindness shall not depart from His people." (1) The permanence of God’s righteousness follows of necessity from the inherent unchangeableness of God Himself. (2) His righteousness is exposed to none of the circumstances or accidents which bring peril to the righteousness of man.

II. God’s righteousness is like the great mountains in its mysteriousness. Indeed, it is not only His righteousness, it is Himself, in all the essentiality of His being and perfections, that is a mystery. Faith must come to the aid of reason when we contemplate the righteousness of God as it slowly, but surely, accomplishes its purposes in the government of the world.

III. God’s righteousness is like the great mountains because, like them, it has heights which it is dangerous to climb. We cannot comprehend the higher mysteries of the Gospel; and if we could, it is more than doubtful whether any corresponding benefit could be derived from them. Men can no more live on the high mountains of theology than they can on the high mountains of the earth.

IV. God’s righteousness is like the great mountains because, like them, it is a bulwark and a defence to all who regard it with reverence and faith. While it has heights on which the presumptuous spectator is sure to be lost if he should attempt to climb them, these very heights, if he will remain in the position which God has assigned to him, will be his surest defence and guard. I know of no truth which furnishes a more solid basis for the soul than the righteousness of God as it is revealed in the Scriptures.

E. Mellor, Congregationalist, vol. i., p. 389.

EXPOSITORS DICTIO�ARY OF TEXTS, "The Mystery of Suffering (for Holy Week)

Psalm 36:6

I have thought that it may lead up to that climax of all endurance—which we shall soon be called upon to measure—if, on the days of this Holy Week, we consider "Suffering" under five aspects: "The Mystery of Suffering," "The Consecration of Suffering," "The Uses of Suffering," "The Joy of Suffering," and "The Dignity of Suffering".

I. Mystery is:—

(a) A necessity. So long as the finite has to do with the Infinite, there must be mystery.

(b) A boon. It cultivates the two high graces of patience and faith.

(c) Joy in everything. Half the happiness of the world would be gone if we had not always to do with something beyond it.

II. What a Mystery the Present State of our World is.

(a) Take a walk through the hospitals.

(b) See some poor creature, in her wretched hovel, ill and without a friend.

(c) See that man ready for heaven, yet left there, apparently useless, lying in his agony for years at the gate, before God lets him cross the threshold!

III. But Let us Take the Matter out of its Generalities and Deal with it more Personally.

(a) There is not one who has not known, or who probably does not know at this moment, some dreadful trouble; or, if he has not any, he knows that he shall have some.

(b) �ow, when suffering of mind or body comes, perhaps the first cry of nature is—"Why? Why all this for me? Am I worse than others?"

(c) Mystery answers mystery. It is mystery, in great part, for this very end, that you may say—"Why?" and have no answer, no answer but—"Sovereignty! God"s own absolute, rightful sovereignty!" "What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter."

IV. In all your Home-suffering, Leave and Love the Mystery which gives you concord with Jesus, and all His saints. Do not wish to see all. Do not wish to explain all. It will not be half so useful, nor half so good for you, if you ask questions. Take it in the simplicity of its own magnificence. It is so grand to see only God—to be lost in God!

7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

BAR�ES, "How excellent -Margin, as in Hebrew: “precious.” The word used here is one that would be applicable to precious stones 1Ki_10:2, 1Ki_10:10-11; or to the more costly kind of stones employed in building, as marble 2Ch_3:6; and then, anything that is “costly” or “valuable.” The meaning is, that the loving-kindness of God is to be estimated only by the value set on the most rare and costly objects.

Is “thy loving-kindness - Thy mercy. The same word is used here which occurs in Psa_36:5, and which is there rendered “mercy.” It is not a new attribute of God which is here celebrated or brought into view, but the same characteristic which is referred to in Psa_36:5. The repetition of the word indicates the state of mind of the writer of the psalm, and shows that he delights to dwell on this; he naturally turns to this; his meditations begin and end with this. While he is deeply impressed by the “faithfulness,” the “righteousness,” and the “judgment” of God, still it is His “mercy” or His “loving-kindness” that is the beginning and the ending of his thoughts; to this the soul turns with ever new delight and wonder when reflecting on the character and the doings of God. Here our hope begins; and to this attribute of the Almighty, when we have learned all else that we can learn about God, the soul turns with ever new delight.

Therefore - In view of that mercy; or because God is a merciful God. It is not in his “justice” that we can take refuge, for we are sinners, but the foundation of all our hope is his mercy. A holy creature could fly to a holy Creator for refuge and defense; he who has given himself to Him, and who has been pardoned, can appeal to his “faithfulness;” but the refuge of a sinner, as such, is only his “mercy;” and it is only to that mercy that he can flee.

The children of men - literally, “the sons of man;” that is, the human race, considered as descended from their great ancestor, or as one family. The meaning is not that all the children of men actually do thus put their trust in the mercy of God - for that is not true; but:

(a) all may do it as the children of men, or as men; and

(b) all who do “put their trust under the shadow of his wings” confide in His mercy alone, as the ground of their hope.

Under the shadow of thy wings - As little, helpless birds seek protection under the wings of the mother-bird. See the notes at Mat_23:37; compare Deu_32:11-12.

CLARKE, "How excellent is thy loving-kindness - He asks the question in the way of admiration; but expects no answer from angels or men. It is indescribably excellent, abundant, and free; and, “therefore, the children of Adam put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” They trust in thy good providence for the supply of their bodies; they trust in thy mercy for the salvation of their souls. These, speaking after the figure, are the two wings of the Divine goodness, under which the children of men take refuge. The allusion may be to the wings of the cherubim, above the mercy-seat.

GILL, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God,.... Which has appeared to men and not angels, to some and not others; to the chief of sinners, who are by nature children of wrath as others; in choosing, redeeming, and calling them, taking them into his family, and making them heirs of eternal glory; and all this of his sovereign good will and pleasure, there being nothing in them that could move him to it; which lovingkindness was in his heart from everlasting, and will never change in him, nor

depart from them; and hence it must be most excellent and precious:

therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings; not all men; for all have not faith, only some, to whom it is given to believe, and who know the Lord and his lovingkindness; by which they are induced and encouraged to trust in him, to betake themselves to him for mercy and protection, which they find in him: the allusion is either to the hen that gathers her chickens under her wings, and protects them in time of danger, and so it expresses both the paternal affection of God to his people, and the protection of them; or else to the wings of the cherubim over the mercy seat, between which the Lord sat and communed with his people, and showed mercy and favour to them, which encouraged them to trust in him.

HE�RY, " The peculiar favour of God to the saints. Observe,

(1.) Their character, Psa_36:7. They are such as are allured by the excellency of God's loving-kindness to put their trust under the shadow of his wings. [1.] God's loving-kindness is precious to them. They relish it; they taste a transcendent sweetness in it; they admire God's beauty and benignity above any thing in this world, nothing so amiable, so desirable. Those know not God that do not admire his loving-kindness; and those know not themselves that do not earnestly covet it. [2.] They therefore repose an entire confidence in him. They have recourse to him, put themselves under his protection, and then think themselves safe and find themselves easy, as the chickens under the wings of the hen, Mat_23:37. It was the character of proselytes that they came to trust under the wings of the God of Israel (Rth_2:12); and what more proper to gather proselytes than the excellency of his loving-kindness? What more powerful to engage our complacency to him and on him? Those that are thus drawn by love will cleave to him.

JAMISO�, "shadow of thy wings— (Compare Deu_32:11; Psa_91:1).

CALVI�, "7O God! how precious is thy loving-kindness! Some explain these words in this sense: That the mercy of God is precious, and that the children of men who put their trust in it are precious; but this is a sense too far removed from the words of the text. Others understand them as meaning, that the mercy of God is very great to the gods, that is to say, to the angels and the sons of men; but this is too refined. I am also surprised that the Jewish Rabbins have wearied and bewildered themselves, without any occasion, in seeking to find out new and subtile interpretations, since the meaning of the prophet is of itself perfectly evident; namely, that it is because the mercy of God is great and clearly manifested, that the children of men put their trust under the shadow of it. As David has hitherto been speaking in commendation of the goodness of God, which extends to every creature, the opinion of other commentators, who consider that David is here discoursing of the peculiar favor which God manifests towards his children, is in my judgment very correct. The language seems to refer in general to all the sons of men, but what follows is applicable properly to the faithful alone. In order to manifest more clearly the greatness of divine grace, he thus speaks in general terms, telling us, that God condescends to gather together under his wings the mortal offspring of Adam, as it is said in Psalms 8:4,

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

The substance of the passage is this: The ungodly may run to every excess in wickedness, but this temptation does not prevent the people of God from trusting in his goodness, and casting themselves upon his fatherly care; while the ungodly, whose minds are degraded, and whose hearts are polluted, never taste the sweetness of his goodness so as to be led by it to the faith, and thus to enjoy repose under the shadow of his wings. The metaphorical expression of wings, as applied to God, is common enough in Scripture. (9) By it God teaches us that we are preserved in safety under his protecting care, even as the hen cherishes her chickens under her wings; and thus he invites us kindly and affectionately to return to him.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 7. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God. Here we enter into the Holy of Holies. Benevolence, and mercy, and justice, are everywhere, but the excellence of that mercy only those have known whose faith has lifted the veil and passed into the brighter presence of the Lord; these behold the excellency of the Lord's mercy. The word translated excellent may be rendered "precious; "no gem or pearl can ever equal in value a sense of the Lord's love. This is such a brilliant as angels wear. King's regalia are a beggardly collection of worthless pebbles when compared with the tender mercies of Jehovah. David could not estimate it, and therefore, after putting a note of admiration, he left our hearts and imagination, and, better still, our experience, to fill up the rest. He writes how excellent! because he cannot tell us the half of it. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. The best of reasons for the best of courses. The figure is very beautiful. The Lord overshadows his people as a hen protects her brood, or as an eagle covers its young; and we as the little ones run under the blessed shelter and feel at rest. To cower down under the wings of God is so sweet. Although the enemy be far too strong for us, we have no fear, for we nestle under the Lord's wing. O that more of Adam's race knew the excellency of the heavenly shelter! It made Jesus weep to see how they refused it: our tears may well lament the same evil.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 5-7. See Psalms on "Psalms 36:5" for further information.Ver. 5-9.: — See Psalms on "Psalms 36:5" for further information.Ver. 7. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! etc. The expressions here which denote the abundance of divine blessings upon the righteous man, seems to be taken from the temple, from whence they were to issue. Under the covert of the temple, the wings of the cherubim, they were to be sheltered. The richness of the sacrifices, the streams of oil, wine, odours, etc., and the light of the golden candlestick, are all plainly referred to. Samuel Burder.Ver. 7. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. The word signifies to fly, to betake one's self to a place of safety: as the chickens in danger to be seized on, fly under the wings of the hen. "Under whose wings thou art come to trust." Ruth 2:12. The helpless bird pursued by the kite, in danger to be devoured, runs under the shadow of the dam. Thus it is with a sinner at the first working of faith, he apprehends himself pursued by wrath and judgment; he knows

if they seize on him he must perish without remedy. Oh, the sad condition of such a soul! Oh, but he sees Christ spreading his wings ready to secure perishing sinners; he hears him inviting in the gospel to come under his shadow! Oh, how sweet is that voice to him (however, while senseless he rejected it)! He hears, obeys, and runs to Christ for shelter, and so he is safe. How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. David Clarkson.Ver. 7. Thy wings. A common figure in the Psalms, taken more immediately, in my opinion, from the wings of the cherubim overshadowing the mercyseat which covered the ark; but more remotely from the birds, which defend their young from the solar rays by overshadowing them with their wings. Francis Hare (Bishop), 1740.Ver. 7.: —In lonesome cell, guarded and strong I lie,Bound by Christ's love, his truth to testify,Though walls be thick the door no hand unclose,God is my strength, my solace, and repose.In a letter of Jeronius Segerson, written in the prison at Antwerp to his wife, named Lysken, who likewise lay a prisoner there, 1551.

BE�SO�, "Verse 7-8Psalms 36:7-8. How excellent is thy loving-kindness — Or thy mercy: for it is the same word which is so rendered, Psalms 36:5. The sense is, though all thine attributes be excellent and glorious, yet, above all, thy mercy is most excellent, or precious and amiable, as being most necessary and beneficial unto us, poor sinful miserable men. Therefore the children of men put their trust, &c. — Cheerfully commit themselves to thy care and kindness, notwithstanding their own sinfulness, and the rage and power of their adversaries; against all which thy mercy is a sufficient security. They shall be abundantly satisfied — That is, those children of men who trust in thee, as he now said, though they are straitened, oppressed, and persecuted; yet they shall not only be protected and supported for the present; but in due time shall have all their wants and desires fully satisfied. Hebrew, ירוין, jirvejun, shall be watered, or made drunk, that is, shall be, as it were, overwhelmed with the abundance of its blessings. With the fatness of thy house — With those rich and delightful provisions which thou hast prepared for them in the place of thy worship on earth, thy tabernacle, where thou displayest thy glory, communicatest thy blessings, and acceptest the prayers and praises of thy people. The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God’s house here below, sweet to a sanctified soul, and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life; with this God’s people are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in this world than to live a life of communion with God; and to have the comfort of the promises. But the full, the complete satisfaction is reserved for the future state, and the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Every vessel will be perfectly full there. Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures — Pleasures that are truly divine; which not only come from thee, as the author of them, but which terminate in thee as the matter and centre of them; which, being purely spiritual, are of the same

nature with those of the glorious inhabitants of the heavenly world, and bear some analogy even to the delights of the Eternal Mind. There is a river of these pleasures always full, always fresh, always flowing. There is enough for all, enough for each, enough for evermore, Psalms 46:4 . God has not only provided this river for his people, but he makes them to drink of it; works in them a gracious appetite for these spiritual enjoyments, and, by his Spirit, refreshes their souls with them. In heaven they shall for ever drink of them, and shall be satiated with a fulness of joy.

COKE, "Verses 7-9Psalms 36:7-9. How excellent, &c.— The expressions here, which denote the abundance of divine blessings upon the righteous man, seem to be taken from the temple, from whence they were to issue. Under the covert of the temple, the wings of the cherubim, he was to be sheltered. The richness of the sacrifices, the streams of oil, wine, odours, &c. and the light of the golden candlestick, are all plainly referred to. As to the fountain of life, Psalms 36:9 possibly there might be a living spring within the precincts of the temple, from whence the brazen sea, &c. might be supplied. See Psalms 36:9 and Mudge; who reads the beginning of the 9th verse thus, In thy temple is the fountain of life. Others suppose that, with thee is the fountain of life, mean, "Thou art the source not only of our temporal, but also of our spiritual and of our eternal life."

CO�STABLE, "Verses 7-9The result of this philosophy of life contrasts with that of the wicked ( Psalm 36:2-4). Because God is lovingly loyal, His people can find refuge in Him (cf. Ruth 2:12; Matthew 23:37). They also enjoy the provisions of His house. They experience a virtual paradise on earth, as Adam and Eve did in Eden before the Fall. God provides life and the light of understanding for those who take Him into account.

"Knowing the character of God is essential to a balanced Christian life, and these five verses are a concise systematic theology." [�ote: Ibid.]

SIMEO�, "THE LOVI�G-KI�D�ESS OF GOD

Psalms 36:7-8. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

THE more we know of man, the more shall we see the folly of trusting in an arm of flesh: but, the more we are acquainted with God, the more enlarged will be our expectations from him, and the more unreserved our confidence in his power and grace. David had found by bitter experience, that no dependence could be placed on the protestations of Saul. But he had a friend, in whose protection he could trust; and in the contemplation of whose character he could find the richest consolation,

while his views of man filled him with nothing but grief and anguish. Having expatiated upon his perfections, as contrasted with the deceitfulness and depravity of man, he bursts forth into a rapturous admiration of his love.

His words furnish us with an occasion to consider the loving-kindness of God, in the precise view in which it is exhibited in our text,

I. As a subject for adoring gratitude—

[Wherever we turn our eyes, we behold the most astonishing displays of God’s love. Every work of creation, every dispensation of providence, every effort of Grace, exhibits him to us in the most endearing view. But most of all must we admire the wonders of redemption. This is the work whereby God commends his love to us [�ote: Romans 5:8.]. This is the one subject of adoration to all the saints in glory [�ote: Revelation 5:11-14.]. �o sooner was it declared in the incarnation of Christ, than multitudes of the heavenly host began a new song, singing “Glory to God in the highest [�ote: Luke 2:13-14.].” Yea, from that moment have they been occupied in exploring its mysteries [�ote: 1 Peter 1:12.]. But so unsearchable are its heights and depths, that no finite understanding can fuily comprehend, nor will eternity suffice to unfold, all the wonders contained in it [�ote: Ephesians 3:18-19.]. “How excellent then is thy loving-kindness, O God!”]

II. As a ground for implicit confidence—

[This is not a speculative subject, but is influential in the hearts of all that give it a due measure of their attention. It is this which encourages sinners to approach their God with confidence. In the view of this, no guilt appals, no strait depresses, no grief dejects. Whatever we want of pardon, peace, or strength, one thought suffices to support the soul; “he who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things [�ote: Romans 8:32.]!” This is the genuine and legitimate use which we are to make of the loving-kindness of God [�ote: Psalms 9:10.]. We are to go to him as to a Father, confessing our faults [�ote: Luke 15:18-19.]; to follow him as our Guide in all our ways [�ote: Hebrews 11:8.]; and to commit ourselves to him without fear, knowing that he will either extricate us from all trouble [�ote: Daniel 3:17.], or overrule it for our good [�ote: Philippians 1:19-20. 1 Peter 4:19.].]

III. As a pledge of all imaginable blessings at his hands—

[There is nothing which can conduce to our happiness either in time or eternity, which we are not warranted to expect at God’s hands, provided we contemplate, and be suitably impressed with, the excellencies of his love.

The priests of old feasted their families with the offerings which belonged to them by virtue of their office [�ote: �umbers 18:11.]. �ow to our great High-Priest belong all the glory and blessedness of heaven: and every member of his family is privileged to partake with him. In his house he spreads his feast [�ote: Isaiah 25:6.],

and says to his dear children, Come, out and drink abundantly, O beloved [�ote: Song of Solomon 5:1.], and let your souls delight themselves with fatness [�ote: Isaiah 55:2.]. And who can declare what “abundant satisfaction” their souls feel while feeding on the promises of his word, and the communications of his love; or how enviable is the state of those who are thus highly privileged [�ote: Psalms 65:4.]? Surely if we taste this promised blessing [�ote: Jeremiah 31:14.], we may well desire rather to be door-keepers in his house, than to enjoy the splendour of an earthly court [�ote: Psalms 84:10.].

But there are still sweeter fruits of God’s love to be enjoyed in heaven. There flows a river, which gladdens that holy city, the new Jerusalem [�ote: Psalms 46:4.], and fills with unspeakable delight every inhabitant of those blissful mansions. There is a fulness of joy, emanating from the fountain of the Deity, and filling with God’s own blessedness every soul according to its capacity [�ote: Revelation 22:1 and Psalms 16:11.]. Of this shall every one be “made to drink;” and, drinking of it, shall thirst no more for ever [�ote: Psalms 17:15.].]

Application—

[Let the love of God in Christ Jesus be our meditation all the day — — — Let it lead us to trust in him both for body and soul — — — And let a sense of it shed abroad in our hearts, be the one object of our desire [�ote: Psalms 27:4.] and delight [�ote: Philippians 3:8.] — — —]

EXPOSITORS DICTIO�ARY OF TEXTS, "God"s Goodness to Man (A Harvest Sermon)

Psalm 36:7

We are here to celebrate our Harvest Festival.

I. First, let us think of the propriety of a Harvest Thanksgiving. Can it be that there are some who need to be reminded that these fruits of the earth, around us, of whatever kind, are emblems of the love and might of God; that they tell of God"s loving provision for the children of men? These things speak to us of the mysteries of growth. They tell us of the wonders of rain and sunshine, and air and soil. They testify to God"s majesty and beneficence.

II. Let us see what God"s Word says as to the celebration of a Harvest Thanksgiving. In plain and unmistakable terms we find there God"s direct command for keeping the Feast of Harvest. �ot the least interesting fact in connexion with this feast is the fact that our Lord Himself we find present upon one occasion at the celebration as it was carried on in His day. The Bible plainly shows us, at all events, that Harvest rejoicings and the duty of giving thanks to God for the earth"s produce are as old as man"s sojourn in the world.

III. And what should be the tone of our rejoicings? If we present ourselves at

services such as this in the same spirit as that in which we might attend a secular concert, or a secular show, merely to be interested and entertained, it is time that we left the Harvest Festival alone altogether. But if the effect is to lift our hearts in real thankfulness to God for His beneficence, or if the Festival is a true expression of our thanks, then we do well to be present.

IV. The harvest and the field offer an immense sphere for the preacher. There is not a phase of life which they, one or other of them, cannot be taken to illustrate. Our Lord frequently and plentifully drew lessons from both, and, as we have seen, drew out from the harvest rejoicings, two of the mightiest object-lessons that ever the world has listened to. All creation speaks of God"s goodness. If we receive God"s mercies and His bounty in the right spirit, we shall look to Him with loving thankfulness, and a rich sense of safety and security.

PETT, "Verses 7-9What The Covenant Love Of God Offers To All Who Respond To Him (Psalms 36:7-9).

We now turn from what God is to what He offers. �ote the change from YHWH to God, even though the offering is still of His covenant love. His offer is universal, for it is to all ‘the children of men’ (compare Ruth 2:12).

Psalms 36:7-9

‘How precious is your lovingkindness, O God!And the children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.They will be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house,And you will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.For with you is the fountain of life,In your light shall we see light.’Here is the alternative life of the people who respond to God instead of to ‘transgression’. As a result of His precious covenant love revealed towards them they:

· Take shelter under the shadow of His wings (compare Psalms 17:8; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 61:4; Psalms 91:4; Ruth 2:12). This is the privileged position to which Jesus calls His own. It was because they refused this that Jerusalem was destroyed (see Matthew 23:37-38; Luke 13:34).· Are abundantly satisfied with the luxurious provision of His house (Psalms 23:5-6; Psalms 27:4; Psalms 65:4). They eat and drink at His table. Originally in mind is the sacrificial meal of which all YHWH’s guests partake before Him (Leviticus 7:15-16; Deuteronomy 12:7; Jeremiah 31:14. And compare also Isaiah 55:1-2). Jesus expanded the idea to reflect the possibility of partaking of Him and enjoying the benefits that He offers (compare John 6:35; John 7:38; Luke 22:18; Luke 22:30; Matthew 22:2-4).· Drink of the river of His pleasures (compare Psalms 16:11; Amos 5:24; Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:17). ‘Whoever will may drink of the water of life

freely’.· Enjoy partaking of the fountain or spring of life. ‘He who drinks of the water that I will give him, will never thirst, but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling forth to eternal life’ (John 4:10-14; John 7:37-38; Isaiah 41:18; Isaiah 44:3-4; Isaiah 49:10; Jeremiah 2:13; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Zechariah 13:1).· Find light in His light. Compare ‘YHWH is my light’ (Psalms 27:1). In mind here is probably the light of the glory of God which filled the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:34), and which was considered to be behind the veil which hid the Most Holy Place from the eyes of the priests. The Psalmist may also have had in mind the seven-branched lampstand in the Tabernacle/Temple which continually burned (see Psalms 36:4), and which pictured the glory hidden behind the veil. This last was a perpetual reminder of the glory of God as it had been revealed in the pillar of fire which had led His people out of Egypt, and of the further glory of YHWH which had been revealed on Mount Sinai. Compare here Psalms 78:14, ‘In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.’ Thus His light gave them the light of the assurance of His presence. This also ties in with Isaiah 60:1, ‘arise, shine, for your light is come, and the glory of YHWH is risen upon you.’Furthermore it was from His light that His people obtained guidance, assurance and truth. ‘The entrance of Your words gives light, it gives understanding to the simple’ (Psalms 119:130). ‘Your word is a lamp to my way, and a light to my path’ (Psalms 119:105). ‘He lightens the lampstand of His people and lightens their darkness’ (Psalms 18:28). ‘They look to Him and are lightened, and their faces are thus not ashamed’ (Psalms 34:5). ‘Oh send out your light and your truth, let them lead me’ (Psalms 43:3). In His light they see light.

YHWH is also elsewhere compared by David with the glorious light of the noonday sun. ‘He will be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds’ (2 Samuel 23:4). But to the Psalmist YHWH outshines the sun, and His light shines on His people, revealing truth and making them righteous too. ‘He will make your righteousness go forth as the light, and your just dealings as the noonday’ (Psalms 37:6). That is why Jesus could say, ‘Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father Who is in Heaven’ (Matthew 5:16).

And we need not doubt that it includes the thought of the light of YHWH’s favour. The Psalmists regularly speak of ‘the light of His countenance’ as shining on His people (Psalms 4:6; Psalms 44:3; Psalms 89:15; Psalms 90:8; compare Proverbs 16:15) as they enjoyed the favour of God.

For us the light shines even more clearly. �ot for us the dim light of the Tabernacle lampstand, but the glorious light of Him Who is ‘the light of the world’, Who gives the light of life to His own (John 8:12; John 12:35-36; John 12:46; John 1:4; John 1:9). ‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt among and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14), so that we see ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6). As He said, ‘I am come a light into the world, so that whoever

believes in me may not continue on in darkness’ (John 12:46), ‘but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12).

8 They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.

BAR�ES, "They shall be abundantly satisfied -Margin, “watered.” That is, all

who thus put their trust in the mercy of God. The Hebrew word - râvâh רוה - means to

drink to the full; to be satisfied, or sated with drink; or to be satisfied or filled with water, as the earth or fields after an abundant rain: Isa_34:7; Psa_65:10. The state referred to by the word is that of one who was thirsty, but who has drunk to the full; who feels that his desire is satisfied:

(a) He has found that which is adapted to his wants, or which meets his needs, as water does the wants of one who is a thirst;

(b) He has found this “in abundance.”

There is no lack, and he partakes of it in as large measure as he chooses. So the weary and thirsty traveler, when he finds in the desert a “new and untasted spring,” finds that which he needs, and drinks freely; and so the sinner - the dying man - the man who feels that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy him:

(1) finds in the provisions of the gospel that which exactly meets the needs of his nature, and

(2) he finds it in abundance.

With the fatness - The word used here means properly “fatness” or “fat:” Jdg_9:9. Then it means “fat food,” or “sumptuous food,” Job_36:16; Isa_55:2; Jer_31:14. It is connected here with the word “drink,” or “drink in,” because this kind of food was “sucked” in at the mouth, and the mode of partaking of it resembled the act of drinking. Gesenius. The allusion is the same as that which so often occurs in the Scriptures, where the provisions of salvation are represented as a “feast,” or where the illustration is drawn from the act of eating or drinking.

Of thy house - Furnished by thy house, or in the place of public worship. God is represented as the Head or Father of a family, and as providing for the wants of his children. Compare Psa_23:6; Psa_27:4.

And thou shalt make them drink - In allusion to the provisions of salvation considered as adapted to satisfy the needs of the thirsty soul.

Of the river - The abundance. Not a running fountain; not a gentle bubbling rivulet; not a stream that would soon dry up; but a “river,” large; full; overflowing; inexhaustible.

Of thy pleasures - Furnishing happiness or pleasure such as “thine” is. The pious man has happiness of the same “kind” or “nature” as that of God. It is happiness in holiness or purity; happiness in doing good; happiness in the happiness of others. It is in this sense that the friend of God partakes of His pleasure or happiness. Compare 2Pe_1:4. The following things, therefore, are taught by this verse:

(1) that God is happy;

(2) that religion makes man happy;

(3) that his happiness is of the same “kind” or “nature” as that of God;

(4) that this happiness is “satisfying” in its nature, or that it meets the real needs of the soul;

(5) that it is abundant, and leaves no want of the soul unsupplied; and

(6) that this happiness is to be found in an eminent degree in the “house of God,” or is closely connected with the public worship of God.

It is there that God has made provision for the wants of His people; and advancement in religion, and in the comforts of religion, will always be closely connected with the fidelity with which we attend on public worship.

CLARKE, "They shall be abundantly satisfied - yirveyun, they shall be ירוין

saturated, as a thirsty field is by showers from heaven. Inebriaduntur, they shall be inebriated - Vulgate. That sal be drunken of the plenteuoste of thi house. - Old Psalter. This refers to the joyous expectation they had of being restored to their own land, and to the ordinances of the temple.

Of the river of thy pleasures - edencha, as in עדנך nachal#adaneycha, (or נחל#אדניךfour MSS)., the river of thy Eden. They shall be restored to their paradisaical estate; for here is a reference to the river that ran through the garden of Eden, and watered it; Gen_2:10. Or the temple, and under it the Christian Church, may be compared to this Eden; and the gracious influences of God to be had in his ordinances, to the streams by which that garden was watered, and its fertility promoted.

GILL, "They shall be abundantly sallied with the fatness of thy house,.... By his "house" is meant the church of God, of his building, and where he dwells; by the fatness of it the provisions there, the word and ordinances, and the blessings of grace which they hold forth; and especially Christ, the fatted calf, the bread of life, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed, and which make a feast of fat things; and these they that trust in the Lord are welcome to eat and drink of abundantly, and to abundant satisfaction; see Mat_5:6, Psa_22:26;

and thou shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasure; the love of God, whose streams make glad the city of God; or the fulness of grace, which is in Christ, out of which believers draw with joy, and drink with pleasure; or eternal glory and happiness, enjoyed in the presence of God, in which is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore; a never ceasing torrent of them.

HE�RY 8-9, "(2.) Their privilege. Happy, thrice happy, the people whose God is the Lord, for in him they have, or may have, or shall have, a complete happiness. [1.] Their desires shall be answered, (Psa_36:8): They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, their wants supplied; their cravings gratified, and their capacities filled. In God all-sufficient they shall have enough, all that which an enlightened enlarged soul can desire or receive. The gains of the world and the delights of sense will surfeit, but never satisfy, Isa_55:2. But the communications of divine favour and grace will satisfy, but never surfeit. A gracious soul, though still desiring more of God, never desires more than God. The gifts of Providence so far satisfy them that they are content with such things as they have. I have all, and abound, Phi_4:18. The benefit of holy ordinances is the fatness of God's house, sweet to a sanctified soul and strengthening to the spiritual and divine life. With this they are abundantly satisfied; they desire nothing more in this world than to live a life of communion with God and to have the comfort of the promises. But the full, the abundant satisfaction is reserved for the future state, the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Every vessel will be full there. [2.] Their joys shall be constant: Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. First, There are pleasures that are truly divine. “They are thy pleasures, not only which come from thee as the giver of them, but which terminate in thee as the matter and centre of them.” Being purely spiritual, they are of the same nature with those of the glorious inhabitants of the upper world, and bear some analogy even to the delights of the Eternal Mind. Secondly, There is a river of these pleasures, always full, always fresh, always flowing. There is enough for all, enough for each; see Psa_46:4. The pleasures of sense are putrid puddle-water; those of faith are pure and pleasant, clear as crystal,Rev_22:1. Thirdly, God has not only provided this river of pleasures for his people, but he makes them to drink of it, works in them a gracious appetite to these pleasures, and by his Spirit fills their souls with joy and peace in believing. In heaven they shall be for ever drinking of those pleasures that are at God's right hand, satiated with a fulness of joy, Psa_16:11. [3.] Life and light shall be their everlasting bliss and portion, Psa_36:9. Having God himself for their felicity, First, In him they have a fountain of life, from which those rivers of pleasure flow, Psa_36:8. The God of nature is the fountain of natural life. In him we live, and move, and have our being. The God of grace is the fountain of spiritual life. All the strength and comfort of a sanctified soul, all its gracious principles, powers, and performances, are from God. He is the spring and author of all its sensations of divine things, and all its motions towards them: he quickens whom he will; and whosoever will may come, and take from him of the waters of life freely. He is the fountain of eternal life. The happiness of glorified saints consists in the vision and fruition of him, and in the immediate communications of his love, without interruption or fear of cessation. Secondly, In him they have light in perfection, wisdom, knowledge, and joy, all included in this light: In thy light we shall see light, that is, 1. “In the knowledge of thee in grace, and the vision of thee in glory, we shall have that which will abundantly suit and satisfy our understandings.” That divine light which shines in the scripture, and especially in the face of Christ, the light of the world, has all truth in it. When we come to see God face to face, within the veil, we shall see light in perfection, we shall know enough then, 1Co_13:12; 1Jo_3:2. 2. “In communion with thee now; by the communications of thy grace to us and the return of our devout affections to thee, and in the fruition of thee shortly in heaven, we shall have a complete felicity and satisfaction. In thy favour we have all the good we can desire.” This is a dark world; we see little comfort in it; but in the heavenly light there is true light, and no false light, light that is lasting and never wastes. In this world we see God, and enjoy him by creatures and means; but in heaven God himself shall be with us (Rev_21:3) and we shall see and enjoy him immediately.

JAMISO�, "fatness— richness.

thy house— residence - for the privileges and blessings of communion with God (Psa_23:6; Psa_27:4).

river of thy pleasures— plenteous supply; may allude to Eden.

CALVI�, "8.They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of that house. I have no doubt that by the fatness of God’s house the prophet means the abundance of good things which is not designed for all men indiscriminately, but is laid up in store for the children of God who commit themselves wholly to his protection. Some restrict the expression to spiritual graces; but to me it seems more likely, that under it are comprehended all the blessings that are necessary to the happiness and comfort of the present life, as well as those which pertain to eternal and heavenly blessedness. It ought, however, to be observed, that in the style of speaking which the prophet here employs, the use of earthly blessings is connected with the gracious experience of faith, in the exercise of which we can alone enjoy them rightfully and lawfully to our own welfare. When the ungodly glut themselves with the abundance of God’s benefits, their bodies indeed grow fat like the flesh of cattle or swine, but their souls are always empty and famished. It is the faithful alone, as I have said, who are satisfied with the goodness of God towards them, because it is to them a pledge of his fatherly love. The expression meat and drink denotes a complete and perfect fullness, and the term river, (10) denotes an overflowing abundance.SPURGEO�, "Ver. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. Those who learn to put their trust in God shall be received into his house, and shall share in the provision laid up therein. The dwelling place of the Lord is not confined to any place, and hence reside where we may, we may regard our dwelling, if we be believers, as one room in the Lord's great house; and we shall, both in providence and grace, find a soul contenting store supplied to us as the result of living by faith in nearness to the Lord. If we regard the assembly of the saints as being peculiarly the house of God, believers shall, indeed, find in sacred worship the richest spiritual food. Happy is the soul that can drink in the sumptuous dainties of the gospel—nothing can so completely fill the soul. And thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. As they have the fruits of Eden to feed on, so shall they have the river of Paradise to drink from. God's everlasting love bears to us a constant and ample comfort, of which grace makes us to drink by faith, and then our pleasure is of the richest kind. The Lord not only brings us to this river, but makes us drink: herein we see the condescension of divine love. Heaven will, in the fullest sense, fulfil these words; but they who trust in the Lord enjoy the antepast even here. The happiness given to the faithful is that of God himself; purified spirits joy with the same joy as the Lord himself. "That my joy may be in you, that your joy may be full."EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 5-9.: — See Psalms on "Psalms 36:5" for further information.Ver. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house: and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. Mark, first, the excellency of the

provision, fatness of thy house, the river of thy pleasures. The fattest is esteemed the fairest and the most excellent food; therefore the saint was enjoined to offer the fat in sacrifice under the law. As God expects the best from us, so he gives the best to us. This made David, when he had feasted so curiously, to sing so cheerfully. Fatness here is the top, the cream of all spiritual delicacies. "My soul is filled as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips." Psalms 63:5. But, though God keeps so noble a house to satisfy his people's hunger, what special care doth he take to quench their thirst! Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures. Oh, he drinks to them, and they pledge him in his own cup! Hath the child, then, any cause, when his Father keeps so rare and costly a table, to leave such dainties and go begging up and down the country for scraps and fragments? Oh, how much do these disgrace their Parent's provision, and their own discretion! But mark, reader, secondly, the plenty as well as the excellency of this provision. Here is fatness in the abstract, a river of pleasure; and so much as that they who enjoy is shall be satisfied, and abundantly satisfied. A river is overflowing and ever flowing; it communicates its water, and yet is never empty. It is fed with springs and fountains, and therefore it is no wonder if it always be full. They that are at such a well need not complain of want; but here are not only rivers and fatness, but of God's people it is said, they shall be abundantly satisfied. In the original it is inebriated. They shall have not only a sufficiency, but a redundancy of spiritual delights. The vessels of their souls shall be filled to the brim out of that river whose streams make glad the city of God. Surely, then, they who may have bread in such abundance, enough and to spare, in their Father's house, made of the kidneys of the wheat, of the finest flour, need not hanker after the world's homely fare. Our heavenly Father doth not keep so starveling a house that the world's scraps should go down with us. George Swinnock.Ver. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house. I once heard a father tell, that when he removed his family to a new residence where the accommodation was much more ample, the substance much more rich and varied than that to which they had previously been accustomed, his youngest son, yet a lisping infant, ran round every room and scanned every article with ecstasy, calling out in childish wonder at every new sight, "Is this ours, father? and is this ours?" The child did not say "yours; "and I observed that the father while he told the story was not offended with the freedom. You could read in his glistening eye that the infant's confidence in appropriating as his own all that his father had, was an important element in his satisfaction. Such, I suppose, will be the surprise, and joy, and appropriating confidence with which the child of our Father's family will count all his own when he is removed from the comparatively mean condition of things present, and enters the infinite things to come. When the glories of heaven burst upon his view, he does not stand at a distance like a stranger saying, O God, these are thine. He bounds forward to touch and taste every provision which those blessed mansions contain, exclaiming as he looks in the Father's face, Father, this and this is ours! The dear child is glad of all the father's riches, and the Father is gladder of his dear child. William Arnot.Ver. 8. The fatness of thy house. If there is an allusion to the temple, as Hupfield thinks, fatness would equal "fat sacrifices." and men would be regarded as the priests in the house, after the analogy of Jeremiah 31:14. J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Ver. 8. The fatness of thy house. Fat was regarded among the Jews, as among all other nations of antiquity, as the richest part of animals, and therefore became synonymous with the first, the best, the prime of anything. Christian D. Ginsburg, LL.D., in Kitto's Cyclopedia.Ver. 8. Of thy house. This is emphatic, and means that which thou hast prepared for thine own household, thine own faithful domestics. Here is intended not the good things prepared for all men, but for the household retainer of God. John Piscator, 1546-1626, and D.H. Mollerus.Ver. 8. Pleasures. Delights, the same word as is translated "Eden" in Genesis, only it is here in the plural number. Dalman Hapstone, M.A.Ver. 8. And, saith one of the fathers, do you ask me what heaven is? Saith one, When I meet you there I will tell you. The world to come, say the Rabbins, is the world where all is well. I have read of one that would willingly swim through a sea of brimstone to get to heaven, for there, and only there, is perfection of happiness. What are the silks of Persia, the spices of Egypt, the gold of Ophir, and the treasures of both Indies, to the glory of another world? Augustine tells us that one day, when he was about to write something upon the eighth verse of the thirty-sixth Psalm, Thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasures, and being almost swallowed up with the contemplation of heavenly joys, one called unto him very loud by his name; and, enquiring who it was, he answered, I am Jerome, with whom in my lifetime thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture, and am now best experienced to resolve thee of any doubts concerning the joys of heaven; but only let me first ask thee this question—Art thou able to put the whole earth, and all the eaters of the sea, into a little pot? Canst thou measure the waters in thy fist, and mete out heaven with thy span, or weigh the mountains in scales, or the hills in a balance? If not, no more is it possible that thy understanding should comprehend the least of the joys of heaven; and certainly the least of the joys of heaven are inconceivable and inexpressible. Thomas Brooks.

MACLARE�, "WHAT ME� FI�D BE�EATH THE WI�GS OF GODPsalms 36:8 - Psalms 36:9.In the preceding verses we saw a wonderful picture of the boundless perfections of God; His lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, and of His twofold act, the depths of His judgments and the plainness of His merciful preservation of man and beast. In these verses we have an equally wonderful picture of the blessedness of the godly, the elements of which consist in four things: satisfaction, represented under the emblem of a feast; joy, represented under the imagery of full draughts from a flowing river of delight; life, pouring from God as a fountain; light, streaming from Him as source.

And this picture is connected with the previous one by a very simple link. Who are they who ‘shall be abundantly satisfied’? The men ‘who put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.’ That is to say, the simple exercise of confidence in God is the channel through which all the fulness of divinity passes into and fills our emptiness.Observe, too, that the whole of the blessings here promised are to be regarded as present and not future. ‘They shall be abundantly satisfied’ would be far more truly

rendered in consonance with the Hebrew: ‘They are satisfied’; and so also we should read ‘Thou dost make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures; in Thy light do we see light.’ The Psalmist is not speaking of any future blessedness, to be realised in some far-off, indefinite day to come, but of what is possible even in this cloudy and sorrowful life. My text was true on the hills of Palestine, on the day when it was spoken; it may be true amongst the alleys of Manchester to-day. My purpose at this time is simply to deal with the four elements in which this blessedness consists-satisfaction, joy, life, light.I. Satisfaction: ‘They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house.’�ow, I suppose, there is a double metaphor in that. There is an allusion, no doubt, to the festal meal of priests and worshippers in the Temple, on occasion of the peace-offering, and there is also the simpler metaphor of God as the Host at His table, at which we are guests. ‘Thy house’ may either be, in the narrower sense, the Temple; and then all life is represented as being a glad sacrificial meal in His presence, of which ‘the meek shall eat and be satisfied,’ or Thy ‘house’ may be taken in a more general sense; and then all life is represented as the gathering of children round the abundant board which their Father’s providence spreads for them, and as glad feasting in the ‘mansions’ of the Father’s house.In either case the plain teaching of the text is, that by the might of a calm trust in God the whole mass of a man’s desires are filled and satisfied. What do we want to satisfy us? It is something almost awful to think of the multiplicity, and the variety, and the imperativeness of the raging desires which every human soul carries about within it. The heart is like a nest of callow fledglings, every one of them a great, wide open, gaping beak, that ever needs to have food put into it. Heart, mind, will, appetites, tastes, inclinations, weaknesses, bodily wants-the whole crowd of these are crying for their meat. The Book of Proverbs says there are three things that are never satisfied: the grave, the earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that never says, ‘It is enough.’ And we may add a fourth, the human heart, insatiable as the grave; thirsty as the sands, on which you may pour �iagara, and it will drink it all up and be ready for more; fierce as the fire that licks up everything within reach and still hungers.So, though we be poor and weak creatures, we want much to make us restful. We want no less than that every appetite, desire, need, inclination shall be filled to the full; that all shall be filled to the full at once, and that by one thing; that all shall be filled to the full at once, by one thing that shall last for ever. Else we shall be like men whose store of provision gives out before they are half-way across the desert. And we need that all our desires shall be filled at once by one thing that is so much greater than ourselves that we shall grow up towards it, and towards it, and towards it, and yet never be able to exhaust or surpass it.Where are you going to get that? There is only one answer, dear brethren! to the question, and that is-God, and God alone is the food of the heart; God, and God alone, will satisfy your need. Let us bring the full Christian truth to bear upon the illustration of these words. Who was it that said, ‘I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh unto Me shall never hunger’? Christ will feed my mind with truth if I will accept His revelation of Himself, of God, and of all things. Christ will feed my heart with love if I will open my heart for the entrance of His love. Christ will feed my will with blessed commands if I will submit myself to His sweet and gentle, and yet

imperative, authority. Christ will satisfy all my longings and desires with His own great fulness. Other food palls upon man’s appetite, and we wish for change; and physiologists tell us that a less wholesome and nutritious diet, if varied, is better for a man’s health than a more nutritious one if uniform and monotonous. But in Christ there are all constituents that are needed for the building up of the human spirit, and so we never weary of Him if we only know His sweetness. After a world of hungry men have fed upon Him, He remains inexhaustible as at the beginning; like the bread in His own miracles, of which the pieces that were broken and ready to be given to the eaters were more than the original stock, as it appeared when the meal began, or like the fabled feast in the �orse Walhalla, to which the gods sit down to-day, and to-morrow it is all there on the board, as abundant and full as ever. So if we have Christ to live upon, we shall know no hunger; and ‘in the days of famine we shall be satisfied.’O brethren! have you ever known what it is to feel that your hungry heart is at rest? Did you ever know what it is to say, ‘It is enough’? Have you anything that satisfies your appetite and makes you blessed? Surely, men’s eager haste to get more of the world’s dainties shows that there is no satisfaction at its table. Why will you ‘spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth not,’ as Indians in famine eat clay which fills their stomachs, but neither stays hunger, nor ministers strength? Eat and your soul shall live.II. �ow, turn to the next of the elements of blessedness here-Joy. ‘Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.’There may be a possible reference here, couched in the word ‘pleasures,’ to the Garden of Eden, with the river that watered it parting into four heads; for ‘Eden’ is the singular of the word which is here translated ‘pleasures’ or ‘delight.’ If we take that reference, which is very questionable, there would be suggested the thought that amidst all the pain and weariness of this desert life of ours, though the gates of Paradise are shut against us, they who dwell beneath the shadow of the divine wing really have a paradise blooming around them; and have flowing ever by their side, with tinkling music, the paradisaical river of delights, in which they may bathe and swim, and of which they may drink. Certainly the joys of communion with God surpass any which unfallen Eden could have boasted.But, at all events, the plain teaching of the text is that the simple act of trusting beneath the shadow of God’s wings brings to us an ever fresh and flowing river of gladness, of which we may drink. The whole conception of religion in the Bible is gladsome. There is no puritanical gloom about it. True, a Christian man has sources of sadness which other men have not. There is the consciousness of his own sin, and the contest that he has daily to wage; and all things take a soberer colouring to the eye that has been accustomed to look, however dimly, upon God. Many of the sources of earthly felicity are dammed up and shut off from us if we are living beneath the shadow of God’s wings. Life will seem to be sterner, and graver, and sadder than the lives ‘that ring with idiot laughter solely,’ and have no music because they have no melancholy in them. That cannot be helped. But what does it matter though two or three surface streams, which are little better than drains for sewage, be stopped up, if the ‘pure river of the water of life’ is turned into your hearts? Surely it will be a gain if the sadness which has joy for its very foundation is yours, instead of the laughter which is only a mocking mask for a death’s head, and

of which it is true that even ‘in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness.’ Better to be ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,’ than to be glad on the surface, with a perpetual sorrow and unrest gnawing at the root of your life.And if it be true that the whole Biblical conception of religion is of a glad thing, then, my brother! it is your duty, if you are a Christian man, to be glad, whatever temptations there may be in your way to be sorrowful. It is a hard lesson, and one which is not always insisted upon. We hear a great deal about other Christian duties. We do not hear so much as we ought about the Christian duty of gladness. It takes a very robust faith to say, ‘Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation,’ but unless we can say it, there is an attainment of Christian life yet unreached, to which we have to aspire.But be that as it may, my point is simply this-that all real and profound possession of, and communion with, God in Christ will make us glad; glad with a gladness altogether unlike that of the world round about us, far deeper, far quieter, far nobler, the sister and the ally of all great things, of all pure life, of all generous and lofty thought. And where is it to be found? Only in fellowship with Him. ‘The river of Thy pleasures’ may mean something yet more solemn and wonderful than pleasures of which He is the Author. It may mean pleasures which He shares, the very delights of the divine nature itself. The more we come into fellowship with Him, the more shall we share in the very joy of God Himself. And what is His joy? He delights in mercy; He delights in self-communication: He is the blessed, the happy God, because He is the giving God. He delights in His love. He ‘rejoices over’ His penitent child ‘with singing,’ In that blessedness we may share; or if that be too high and mystical a thought, may we not remember who it was that said: ‘These things speak I unto you that My joy may remain in you’; and who it is that will one day say to the faithful servant: ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord’? Christ makes us drink of the river of His pleasures. The Shepherd and the sheep drink from the same stream, and the gladness which filled the heart of the Man of Sorrows, and lay deeper than all His sorrows, He imparts to all them that put their trust in Him.So, dear brethren! what a blessing it is for us to have, as we may have, a source of joy, frozen by no winter, dried up by no summer, muddied and corrupted by no iridescent scum of putrefaction which ever mantles over the stagnant ponds of earthly joys! Like some citadel that has an unfailing well in its courtyard, we may have a fountain of gladness within ourselves which nothing that touches the outside can cut off. We have but to lap a hasty mouthful of earthly joys as we run, but we cannot drink too full draughts of this pure river of water which makes glad the city of God.III. We have the third element of the blessedness of the godly represented under the metaphor of Life, pouring from the fountain, which is God. ‘With Thee is the fountain of life.’The words are true in regard to the lowest meaning of ‘life’-physical existence-and they give a wonderful idea of the connection between God and all living creatures. The fountain rises, the spray on the summit catches the sunlight for a moment, and then falls into the basin, jet after jet springing up into the light, and in its turn recoiling into the darkness. The water in the fountain, the water in the spray, the water in the basin, are all one. Wherever there is life there is God. The creature is

bound to the Creator by a mystic bond and tie of kinship, by the fact of life. The mystery of life knits all living things with God. It is a spark, wherever it burns, from the central flame. It is a drop, wherever it is found, from the great fountain. It is in man the breath of God’s nostrils. It is not a gift given by a Creator who dwells apart, having made living things, as a watchmaker might a watch, and then ‘seeing them go.’ But there is a deep mystic union between the God who has life in Himself and all the living creatures who draw their life from Him, which we cannot express better than by that image of our text, ‘With Thee is the fountain of life.’But my text speaks about a blessing belonging to the men who put their trust under the shadow of God’s wing, and therefore it does not refer merely to physical existence, but to something higher than that, namely, to that life of the spirit in communion with God, which is the true and the proper sense of ‘life’; the one, namely, in which the word is almost always used in the Bible.There is such a thing as death in life; living men may be ‘dead in trespasses and sins,’ ‘dead in pleasure,’ dead in selfishness. The awful vision of Coleridge in the Ancient Mariner, of dead men standing up and pulling at the ropes, is only a picture of the realities of life; where, as on some Witches’ Sabbath, corpses move about and take part in the activities of this dead world. There are people full of energy in regard of worldly things, who yet are all dead to that higher region, the realities of which they have never seen, the actions of which they have never done, the emotions of which they have never felt. Am I speaking to such living corpses now? There are some of my audience alive to the world, alive to animalism, alive to lust, alive to passion, alive to earth, alive perhaps to thought, alive to duty, alive to conduct of a high and noble kind, but yet dead to God, and, therefore, dead to the highest and noblest of all realities. Answer for yourselves the question-do you belong to this class?There is life for you in Jesus Christ, who ‘is the Life.’ Like the great aqueducts that stretch from the hills across the Roman Campagna, His Incarnation brings the waters of the fountain from the mountains of God into the lower levels of our nature, and the fetid alleys of our sins. The cool, sparkling treasure is carried near to every lip. If we drink, we live. If we will not, we die in our sins, and are dead whilst we live. Stop the fountain, and what becomes of the stream? It fades there between its banks, and is no more. You cannot even live the animal life except that life were joined to Him. If it could be broken away from God it would disappear as the clouds melt in the sky, and there would be nobody, and you would be nowhere. You cannot break yourself away from God physically so completely as to annihilate yourself. You can do so spiritually, and some of you do it, and the consequence is that you are dead, dead, DEAD! You can be made ‘alive from the dead,’ if you will lay hold on Jesus Christ, and get His life-giving Spirit into your hearts.IV. Light. ‘In Thy light shall we see light.’God is ‘the Father of lights.’ The sun and all the stars are only lights kindled by Him. It is the very crown of revelation that ‘God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.’ Light seems to the unscientific eye, which knows nothing about undulations of a luminiferous ether, to be the least material of material things. All joyous things come with it. It brings warmth and fruit, fulness and life. Purity, and gladness, and knowledge have been symbolised by it in all tongues. The Scripture uses light, and the sun, which is its source, as an emblem for God in His holiness, and blessedness,

and omniscience. This great word here seems to point chiefly to light as knowledge.This saying is true, as the former clause was, in relation to all the light which men have. ‘The inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.’ The faculties by which men know, and all the exercise of those faculties, are His gift. It is in the measure in which God’s light comes to the eye that the eye beholds. ‘Light’ may mean not only the faculty, but the medium of vision. It is in the measure in which God’s light comes, and because His light comes, that all light of reason in human nature sees the truth which is its light. God is the Author of all true thoughts in all mankind. The spirit of man is a candle kindled by the Lord.But as I said about life, so I say about light. The material or intellectual aspects of the word are not the main ones here. The reference is to the spiritual gift which belongs to the men ‘who put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.’ In communion with Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of glories, realities, and brightnesses. Where other eyes see only darkness, we behold ‘the King in His beauty, and the land that is very far off.’ Where other men see only cloudland and mists, our vision will pierce into the unseen, and there behold ‘the things which are,’ the only real things, of which all that the eye of sense sees are only the fleeting shadows, seen as in a dream, while these are the true, and the sight of them is sight indeed. They who see by the light of God, and see light therein, have a vision which is more than imagination, more than opinion, more than belief. It is certitude. Communication with God does not bring with it superior intellectual perspicuity, but it does bring a perception of spiritual realities and relations, which, in respect of clearness and certainty, may be called sight. Many of us walk in darkness, who, if we were but in communion with God, would see the lone hillside blazing with chariots and horses of fire. Many of us grope in perplexity, who, if we were but hiding under the shadow of God’s wings, would see the truth and walk at liberty in the light, which is knowledge and purity and joy.In communication with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. It is wonderful how, when a man lives near God, he gets to know what he ought to do. That great Light, which is Christ, is like the star that hung over the Magi, blazing in the heavens, and yet stooping to the lowly task of guiding three wayfaring men along a muddy road upon earth. So the highest Light of God comes down to be ‘a lantern for our paths and a light for our feet.’And in the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of darkness and of sorrow. ‘To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness’; and the darkest hours of earthly fortune will be like a Greenland summer night, when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon, and even when it is absent, all the heaven is aglow with a calm twilight.All these great blessings belong to-day to those who take refuge under the shadow of His wings. But blessed as the present experience is, we have to look for the perfecting of it when we pass from the forecourt to the inner sanctuary, and in that higher house sit with Christ at His table and feast at ‘the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ Here we drink from the river, but there we shall be carried up to the source. The life of God in the soul is here often feeble in its flow, ‘a fountain sealed’ and all but shut up in our hearts, but there it will pour through all our being, a fountain springing up into everlasting life. The darkness is scattered even here by beams of the true light, but here we are only in the morning twilight, and many clouds still fill

the sky, and many a deep gorge lies in sunless shadow, but there the light shall be a broad universal blaze, and there shall be ‘nothing hid from the heat thereof.’�ow, dear brethren! the sum of the whole matter is, that all this fourfold blessing of satisfaction, joy, life, light, is given to you, if you will take Christ. He will feed you with the bread of God; He will give you His own joy to drink; He will be in you the life of your lives, and ‘the master-light of all your seeing.’ And if you will not have Him, you will starve, and your lips will be cracked with thirst; and you will live a life which is death, and you will sink at last into outer darkness.Is that the fate which you are going to choose? Choose Christ, and He will give you satisfaction, and joy, and life, and light.

9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

BAR�ES, "For with thee is the fountain of life - The fountain or source from which all life flows. All living beings derive their origin from thee, as streams flow from fountains; all that is properly “called” life proceeds from thee; everything which makes life real life - which makes it desirable or happy - has its origin in thee. The psalmist evidently meant here to include more than mere “life” considered as animated existence. He recalls what he had referred to in the previous verses - the various blessings which proceeded from the mercy and loving-kindness of God, and which were attendant on his worship; and he here says that all this - all that makes man happy - all that can properly be regarded as “life” - proceeds from God. Life literally, in man and in all animated beings; life spiritually; life here, and life hereafter - all is to be traced to God.

In thy light shall we see light - As thou art the Source of light, and all light proceeds from thee, so we shall be enabled to see light, or to see what is true, only as we see it in thee. By looking to thee; by meditating on thy character; by a right understanding of thyself; by being encompassed with the light which encompasses thee, we shall see light on all those great questions which perplex us, and which it is so desirable that we should understand. It is not by looking at ourselves; it is not by any human teaching; it is not by searching for information “away from thee,” that we can hope to have the questions which perplex us solved; it is only by coming to thyself, and looking directly to thee. There is no other source of real light and truth but God; and in the contemplation of himself, and of the light which encompasses him, and in that alone, can we hope to comprehend the great subjects on which we pant so much to be informed. All away from God is dark; all near him is light. If, therefore, we desire light

on the subjects which pertain to our salvation, it must be sought by a direct and near approach to him; and the more we can lose ourselves in the splendors of his throne, the more we shall understand of truth. Compare 1Jo_1:5; Rev_21:23; Rev_22:5; 1Pe_2:9.

CLARKE, "For with thee is the fountain of life - This, in Scripture phrase, may signify a spring of water; for such was called among the Jews living water, to distinguish it from ponds, tanks, and reservoirs, that were supplied by water either received from the clouds, or conducted into them by pipes and streams from other quarters. But there

seems to be a higher allusion in the sacred text. כי#עמך#מקור#חיים ki#immecha#mekor#chaiyim,

“For with thee is the vein of lives.” Does not this allude to the great aorta, which, receiving the blood from the heart, distributes it by the arteries to every part of the human body, whence it is conducted back to the heart by means of the veins. As the heart, by means of the great aorta, distributes the blood to the remotest parts of the body; so, God, by Christ Jesus, conveys the life-giving streams of his providential goodness to all the worlds and beings he has created, and the influences of his grace and mercy to every soul that has sinned. All spiritual and temporal good comes from Him, the Father, through Him, the Son, to every part of the creation of God.

In thy light shall we see light - No man can illuminate his own soul; all understanding must come from above. Here the metaphor is changed, and God is compared to the sun in the firmament of heaven, that gives light to all the planets and their inhabitants. “God said, Let there be light; and there was light; “by that light the eye of man was enabled to behold the various works of God, and the beauties of creation: so, when God speaks light into the dark heart of man, he not only beholds his own deformity and need of the salvation of God, but he beholds the “light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;” “God, in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” “In thy light shall we see light.” This is literally true, both in a spiritual and philosophical sense.

GILL, "For with thee is the fountain of life,.... Or "lives" (f): God himself is the fountain of living waters; this is a reason proving the happiness of those that trust in the Lord, and that they shall enjoy the above things; because with God the object of their trust is the fountain of life; not only of natural life, from whom they have it, and by whom it is supported, but of spiritual life, being quickened by him when dead in sin, by virtue of which they live by faith on Christ, and also of eternal life; and the phrase denotes, that life is originally in God as in its fountain, and that both the fulness of it is with him, and the freeness of it in the communication of it to others, as well as its continuance and duration;

in thy light shall we see light; God is light itself, the Father of lights, and the former of it in every sense; in the light of his countenance, and the discoveries of his love, they that trust in him see light, or enjoy comfort; and in the light of his Son Jesus Christ, the sun of righteousness and light of the world, they see the face of God, and enjoy his favour, and behold the glory and excellency of Christ himself; and in the light of the divine Spirit, who is a spirit of wisdom and revelation, they see their sins exceeding sinful, their righteousness as nothing, and a preciousness in the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and in the light of the divine word they see the truths of the Gospel in their native simplicity and excellency, and the duties of religion to be performed by them; and in the light of faith, which is the gift of God, they have at least a

glimpse of the unseen glories of the other world; and when the beatific vision shall take place, they shall see no more darkly through a glass, but face to face, even God himself, as he is in Christ.

JAMISO�, "Light is an emblem of all blessings, given of God as a means to gain more.

CALVI�, "9.For with thee is the fountain of life The Psalmist here confirms the doctrine of the preceding verse, the knowledge of which is so profitable that no words can adequately express it. As the ungodly profane even the best of God’s gifts by their wicked abuse of them, unless we observe the distinction which I have stated, it were better for us to perish a hundred times of hunger, than to be fed abundantly by the goodness of God. The ungodly do not acknowledge that it is in God they live, move, and have their being, but rather imagine that they are sustained by their own power; and, accordingly, David, on the contrary, here affirms from the experience of the godly, and as it were in their name, that the fountain of life is in God. By this he means, that there is not a drop of life to be found without him, or which flows not from his grace. The metaphor of light, in the last clause of the verse, is tacitly most emphatic, denoting that men are altogether destitute of light, except in so far as the Lord shines upon them. If this is true of the light; of this life, how shall we be able to behold the light of the heavenly world, unless the Spirit of God enlighten us? for we must maintain that the measure of understanding with which men are by nature endued is such, that

“the light shineth in darkness, but the darkness comprehendeth it not,” (John 1:5;)

and that men are enlightened only by a supernatural gift. But it is the godly alone who perceive that they derive their light from God, and that, without it, they would continue, as it were, buried and smothered in

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 9. For with thee is the fountain of life. This verse is made of simple words, but like the first chapter of John's Gospel, it is very deep. From the Lord, as from an independent self sufficient spring, all creature life proceeds, by him is sustained, through him alone can it be perfected. Life is in the creature, but the fountain of it is only in the Creator. Of spiritual life, this is true in the most emphatic sense; "it is the Spirit that quickeneth, ""and we are dead, and our life is hid with Christ in God." In thy light shall we see light. Light is the glory of life. Life in the dark is misery, and rather death than life. The Lord alone can give natural, intellectual, and spiritual life; he alone can make life bright and lustrous. In spiritual things the knowledge of God sheds a light on all other subjects. We need no candle to see the sun, we see it by its own radiance, and then see everything else by the same lustre. We never see Jesus by the light of self, but self in the light of Jesus. �o inward intelligence of ours leads us to receive the Spirit's light, but the rather, it often helps to quench the sacred beam; purely and only by his own illumination, the

Holy Ghost lights up the dark recesses of our heart's ungodliness. Vain are they who look to learning and human wit, one ray from the throne of God is better than the noonday splendour of created wisdom. Lord, give me the sun, and let those who will delight in the wax candles of superstition and the phosphorescence of corrupt philosophy. Faith derives both light and life from God, and hence she neither dies nor darkens.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 5-9.: — See Psalms on "Psalms 36:5" for further information.Ver. 9. For with thee is the fountain of life. These are some of the most wonderful words in the Old Testament. Their fulness of meaning no commentary can ever exhaust. They are, in fact, the kernel and the anticipation of much of the profoundest teaching of S. John. J. J. Stewart Perowne.Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. The object and matter of our eternal happiness is called light. It will not be a dazzling and confounding light as was the brightness of Moses' face at his coming down from the mount; the people could not behold him: it will not be an astonishing light, as that in the mount at our Lord's transfiguration; the disciples fell to the ground, their weak eyes could not behold those glimpses of glory that shined through the vail of flesh. But the light in our heaven of happiness will be a strengthening and comforting light; it will strengthen and confirm the eyes of our understanding to behold it. Then shall we be enabled as the young eagles, to behold the Sun of Righteousness in his brightness and glory. It was said by the Lord to Moses, "�one can see my face and live." Exodus 33:20. That glorious sight which Daniel saw took strength from him. Daniel 10:8. The object being without him, drew out all his spirits to behold and admire it and so weakened him; but in heaven our God, whom we shall see and know, will be within us to strengthen us; then shall we live because we see his face. It will be also a comforting light, like the light of the morning to the wearied watchman, who longed after it in the nighttime. William Colville.Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. It is but a kind of dim twilight comparatively, which we enjoy here in this world. While we are hid in this prison house we can see but little; but our Father's house above is full of light; "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, "etc. Matthew 13:43. If the Day star be risen in your hearts, live in the pleasant and cheerful expectation of perfect day. For we can ascend but a little way into the mysteries of the kingdom, as long as we are upon the footstool; and we shall know vastly and inconceivably more in the first moment after we come to heaven, than we are capable of attaining here throughout all our days. Timothy Cruso.Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. The light of nature is like a spark, the light of the gospel a lamp, the light of grace a star, but the light of glory the sun itself. The higher our ascent the greater our light; God dwelleth "in the light which no man can approach unto." 1 Timothy 6:16 —no man, while he carries mortality and sin about him; but when those two corrupt and incapable qualities shall be put off, then shall we be brought to that light. We are now glad of the sun and stars over our heads, to give us light: what light and delight shall that be when these are under our feet! That light must needs go as far beyond their light as they now go beyond us. But alas! they are only able to discourse of that light, that do enjoy it, to whom that eternal day is risen; not we that live in the humble shade of mortality and natural

dimness. I leave it therefore to your meditations: it is a glorious light which we do well often to consider, considering to admire, admiring to love, loving to desire, desiring to seek, and finding to enjoy for ever. Thomas Adams.Ver. 9. In thy light shall we see light. There is a great boast of light in the world, and there is some ground for it in natural things; but, as of old the world by wisdom knew not God, so of late. If ever we know God, it must be through he medium of his word. This I take to be the meaning of the passage. The term light in the last clause means the true knowledge of God; and, in the first, the true medium of attaining it, namely, divine revelation. The sum seems to amount to this: the word of God is the grand medium by which we can attain a true and saving knowledge of God. What the sun and stars are to the regions of matter, that revelation is to the mental region. Genesis 1:13; Genesis 1:17. ...There are many things of which you may entertain no doubt, concerning which there may be no manner of dispute; yet, make a point of seeing them in God's light. Many content themselves with seeing them in the light in which great and good men have placed them; but, though angels, they are not the true light: they all view things partially. If what they say be true, yet, if we receive it merely on their representation, our faith will stand in the wisdom of men, and not in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5. That knowledge or faith which has not God's word for its ground will not stand in the day of trial. Andrew Fuller.Ver. 9. In this communion of God what can we want? Why, God shall be all and in all unto us; he shall be beauty for the eye, music for the ear, honey for the taste, the full content and satisfaction of our desires, and that immediately from himself. True it is God is all in all in this world, "In him we live, and move, and have our being; " but here he works by means of secondary causes; here he gives wine to make the heart glad, and oil, etc.; but there all intervening means between God and us is removed: with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light; not in the light of the sun, or the light of a candle; there is no need of them Revelation 22:5; but "in thy light, "the light of God himself; yea, the whole life of glory, together with all the concomitants of it, flows from him as the sole and original fountain of it. Oh, how sweet must that happiness be that is so derived! Edmund Pinchbeck, B.D., in "The Fountain of Life:" a Funeral Sermon, 1652.Ver. 9. Whatsoever can be found in the creature, even when God blesseth the use thereof to his own children, is but a drop from the ocean, is but a little water out of the well, in comparison of what a believer will see and feel to be in God reconciled through Christ, for with thee is the fountain of life. David Dickson.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:9. With thee is the fountain of life — From which those rivers of pleasure flow. Life is in God as in a fountain, and from him is derived to us. As the God of nature, he is the fountain of natural life; in him we live, and move, and have our being. As the God of grace, he is the fountain of spiritual life: all the strength and comfort of sanctified souls; all their gracious principles, powers, and performances, are from him. He is the spring and author of all their sensations of divine things, and of all their motions toward them; and he invites all that thirst, nay, and whosoever will, to come and partake of these waters of life freely. As the God of glory, he is the fountain of eternal life: the happiness of glorified saints consists in the vision and fruition of him, and in the immediate communications of

his love, without interruption, or fear, or cessation. This glorious, blessed, and endless life is alone worthy of the name of life: this present temporal life being only a passage to death, and a theatre of great and manifold calamities. In thy light — In the knowledge of thee in grace, and the vision of thee in glory; especially in the latter; in the light of thy countenance, or glorious presence, which then shall be fully manifested unto us, when we shall see thee clearly and face to face, and not through a glass and darkly, as we now see; shall we see light — The light of life, as it is called, John 8:12; light in this clause being the same thing with life in the former: pure light without any mixture of darkness; knowledge without ignorance, holiness without sin, happiness without misery. The word light is elegantly repeated in another signification; in the former clause it is light discovering, in this, light discovered or enjoyed.

LA�GE, "Psalm 36:9. For with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we see light.—The frequent connection of life and light ( Psalm 56:14; Job 3:20; Proverbs 16:15) and the entire context of the present passage show, that here the reference is not to a knowledge of religious truth in the light of revelation (most interpreters), but to an experience which joyously shines through men, when they retain the light of grace ( Psalm 4:6; Psalm 44:3), the light of life proceeding from the face of God; and with this the light of success and of salvation, which threatened to be put out, rises again. Comp. Böttcher de inferis § 96.

SIMEO�, "CHRIST THE FOU�TAI� OF LIFE A�D LIGHT

Psalms 36:9. With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light shall we see light.

BY a sober consideration of Scripture metaphors we obtain a more full and comprehensive knowledge of divine truth, than could easily be obtained from the most laboured discussions. Besides, the ideas suggested by them strike the mind so forcibly, that they cannot fail of making a deep and lasting im pression. Let us but notice the rich variety of figures whereby the Deity is set forth in the passage before us, and we shall be filled with admiring and adoring thoughts of his goodness. The Psalmist, illustrating the loving-kindness of his God, represents him first under the image of a hen gathering her chickens; then as an opulent host feasting his guests with the richest dainties; and then, in a beautiful climax, he compares him to the sun.

In our text there is no confusion of metaphor, as there would be if the former part referred to a fountain, and the latter to the sun. It is the sun alone that is spoken of: for that is the fountain both of light and life: and in discoursing upon it, we observe, that,

I. Christ is an inexhaustible source of all spiritual good—

Christ may be considered as peculiarly referred to in the metaphor before us—

[It is in Christ only that the perfections mentioned in the foregoing verses are combined [�ote: ver. 5, 6.]. It is in him only that God unites justice with mercy [�ote: Romans 3:26.], or adheres, in faithfulness, to his covenant engagements [�ote: 2 Corinthians 1:20.]. Besides, it is in this view that Christ is set forth throughout all the sacred oracles, by prophets [�ote: Isaiah 60:1. Malachi 4:2.], by Apostles [�ote: John 1:4; John 1:9. Luke 2:32. 2 Peter 1:19.], and more especially by himself [�ote: John 8:12; John 12:46.] — — — We may well therefore apply to him the comparison before us: and we shall find it admirably deseriptive of his real character.]

He is to the spiritual, what the sun is to the material, world—

[The sun is “the fountain of light and life” to this lower world. When that is withdrawn, the earth is left in darkness, the vegetable world decays, and myriads of animals are secluded in a state of torpor. But when it returns m its brightness, it both dispels the darkness, and restores to nature her suspended powers — — —

Thus, where Christ has not shined, universal darkness and death prevail. But when he arises on the soul, he enlightens it, and infuses into it a principle of life [�ote: Ephesians 2:1.], whereby its faculties are made capable of spiritual exertions; and it is rendered “fruitful in all the fruits of righteousness to God’s praise and glory” —— —]

We have abundant encouragement to seek his influence, since,

II. They who live in communion with him shall surely participate his blessings—

As the sun shines in vain to him who secludes himself in a dungeon, so, unless we come forth to “Christ’s light, we cannot possibly behold his light.” But if we view him as we ought, we shall then attain the light of knowledge, the light of comfort, the light of holiness, the light of glory.

1. Our minds shall be enlightened with divine knowledge—

[By the light of the sun we behold the objects around us; and by the light of Christ we discern the things belonging to our peace. In his face all the glory of the Godhead shines [�ote: 2 Corinthians 4:6. Colossians 1:15.], insomuch that he who has seen him, has seen the Father also [�ote: John 14:9.]. �or is there any one subject relating to salvation which does not receive its clearest illustration from him—]

2. Our souls shall be enriched with heavenly comfort—

[The consolation we derive from other sources is light and unsubstantial: and the things which promise us most happiness, often prove only a fleeting meteor, or a delusive vapour. But a sight of Christ, of his fulness, his suitableness, his all-sufficiency, affords a ground of comfort, firm as the rocks, and lasting as eternity [�ote: 2 Corinthians 1:5.]—]

3. Our hearts shall be “renewed in righteousness and true holiness”—

[�othing produces such effects as a sight of Christ. We may hear the law proclaimed in all its terrors, and yet experience no abiding change. But a view of Christ as crucified for us, will break the most obdurate heart [�ote: Zechariah 12:10.]—raise the most desponding soul [�ote: 1 Peter 1:3.]—inspire the selfish with unbounded love [�ote: 1 John 3:16.]—and fill the mourner with unutterable joy [�ote: 1 Peter 1:8.]: In a word, it will change a sinful man into the very image of his God and Saviour [�ote: 2 Corinthians 3:18.].]

4. The light of glory itself shall also be enjoyed by us—

[Christ is the one source of happiness to all the hosts of heaven [�ote: Revelation 21:23.]. To behold his beauty, to taste his love, to celebrate his praises, this is their employment, this their supreme felicity [�ote: Revelation 5:8-13.]. Such too is the occupation, such the happiness of every true believer: he has an earnest of heaven in his soul; and this earnest is a pledge that, in due season, he shall receive the consummation of all his wishes in the immediate vision of his Saviour’s glory, and the everlasting fruition of his love [�ote: Ephesians 1:13-14 and 1 John 3:2.]—]

Infer,

1. How great is the folly of seeking happiness in the creature !

[Created things, in comparison of Christ, are no more than a broken cistern to a fountain [�ote: Jeremiah 2:13.], or than a star in comparison of the meridian sun. Let us then seek our happiness in Christ, and in him alone. In him, as in the sun, there is a fulness and a sufficiency for all [�ote: Colossians 1:19.]. And to him all may have access, if they will not obstinately immure themselves in impenitence and unbelief [�ote: Ephesians 5:14.]. Let us not then “kindle sparks for ourselves, or walk in the light of our own fires [�ote: Isaiah 1:11.],” but “come forth to his light,” and “walk in it” to the latest hour of our lives [�ote: John 12:35-36.].]

2. How unspeakable is the blessedness of knowing Christ !

[If we could conceive ourselves in a region where a winter’s midnight was perpetuated; and then be transported in idea to a climate, where noontide light, and vernal beauty, were uninterruptedly enjoyed, we might have some faint image of the change effected by the knowledge of Christ [�ote: 1 Peter 2:9.], Truly the Christian is in Goshen [�ote: Exodus 9:26; Exodus 10:22-23.]: or if, for a little moment he be in darkness, there ariseth up a light unto him in the midst of it [�ote: Psalms 112:4.], and his darkness becomes as the noon-day [�ote: Isaiah 58:10.]. And, in a little time “his sun shall no more go down; but his Lord shall be unto him an everlasting light, and his God his glory [�ote: Isaiah 60:19-20.].” O that this may be the constant pursuit, and the happy attainment of us all!]

EXPOSITORS DICTIO�ARY OF TEXTS, "The Unlighted Lustre

Psalm 36:9

In the life of Sir Walter Scott by Lockhart, there occurs a remark made by Sir Walter that has often come back to me in quiet moments. A reverend gentleman—a Principal from St. Andrews—was lamenting that he had never seen Byron, and Scott fell to talk on the beauty of Byron"s face. "Doctor," he said, "the prints give you no idea of it; the lustre is there, but it is not lighted up." I confess that I have been haunted by that sentence, The lustre is there, but it is not lighted up.

I. Think to begin with of this world we dwell in, with all its beauty of hill and stream and sea. From the lights and shadows of the highland moor down to the droop of the birch-tree at the door, there is such a lustre of glory on the world that to some hearts it is a joy for ever. But for centuries men had no eyes for that, the ancient world had little feeling for it all. Again I think of the Bible. It is the same book in every hand and home. Yet to one man the Bible is the Bible, a book of infinite comfort and power and healing, and to another it is just so many printed pages within two covers that are rarely opened. The lustre is there, but it is not lighted up.

II. So much then for the unlighted lustre, and now a few words on how the lustre is kindled; and here I shall confine myself to human life, for that practically embraces all the rest. (a) First then, that is one great gain of responsibility: it is one of God"s ways of lighting up the lustre. Responsibility develops a man"s power, and rouses him into the enthusiasm of activity; it is like the sunlight falling on the seed and making it quicken into leaf and flower. There is a great deal more in you than you give yourself credit for, and this is God"s way of lighting up the lustre. (b) Then again this is one of the chief offices of love. A love that is base may set a man afire, but a love that is heavenly sets a man ashining. Dante tells us that but for his love of Beatrice, and the illuminating of his whole nature which it brought him, he would never have been moved to write these poems which are the wonder and the warning of the ages. That then, is one of the great offices of love. It comes like a torch to light the lustre up. (c) And then this is one of the meanings of conversion—that old and noble mismanaged word. Conversion is the lighting up of our lustre with the spark of God"s Holy Spirit out of heaven.—G. H. Morrison, The Unlighted Lustre, p30.

References.—XXXVI:9.—J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons (10th Series), p28. P. Brooks, Sermons Preached in an English Church, p89. Archbishop Benson, Boy Life, p32. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, pp292 , 311. S. Macnaughton, Real Religion and Real Life, p97. XXXVII.—International Critical Commentary, vol. i. p322. XXXVII:1.—Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons (2Series), p267. XXXVII:1 , 2.—H. Windross, The Life Victorious, p255. Parker, The Cavendish Pulpit, p193. XXXVII:3.—J. Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. iii. p257. J. Baldwin Brown, The Sunday Afternoon, p344. H. Alford, Sermons, p213. XXXVII:3-8.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvii. p93.

SBC, "Psalms 36:8-9

In these verses we have a wonderful picture of the blessedness of the godly, the elements of which consist in four things: satisfaction, represented under the emblem of a feast; joy, represented under the imagery of full draughts from a flowing river of delight; life, pouring from God as a fountain; light, streaming from Him as a source.

I. Satisfaction. "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house." Now, I suppose, there is a double metaphor in that. There is an allusion, no doubt, to the festal meal of priests and worshippers in the Temple on the occasion of the peace-offering; and there is also the simpler metaphor of God as the Host at His table, at which we are guests. The plain teaching of the text is that by the might of a calm trust in God the whole mass of a man’s desires are filled and satisfied. God, and God alone, is the food of the heart. God, and God alone, will satisfy your need.

II. Notice the next of the elements of blessedness here: joy. "Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures." There may be a possible reference here, couched in the word "pleasures," to the garden of Eden, with the river that watered it parting into four heads; for "Eden" is the singular of the word which is here translated "pleasures" or "delights." The teaching of the text is that the simple act of trusting beneath the shadow of God’s wings brings to us an ever-fresh and flowing river of gladness, of which we may drink. All real and profound possession of, and communion with, God in Christ will make us glad—glad with a gladness altogether unlike that of the world round about us, far deeper, far quieter, far nobler, the sister and ally of all great things, of all pure life, of all generous and lofty thought.

III. We have the third element of the blessedness of the godly represented under the metaphor of life, pouring from the fountain, which is God. The words are true in regard of the lowest meaning of life, "physical existence;" and they give a wonderful idea of the connection between God and all living creatures. Wherever there is life, there is God. The creature is bound to the Creator by a mystic bond and tie of kinship, by the fact of life. But the text does not refer merely to physical existence, but to something higher than that, namely, to that life of the spirit in communion with God which is the true and proper sense of life, the one, namely, in which the word is almost always used in the Bible.

IV. "In Thy light shall we see light." The reference is to the spiritual gift which belongs to the men who "put their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings." In communion with Him who is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of glories, realities, and brightnesses. (1) In communion with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. (2) In the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of darkness and sorrow. "To the upright there ariseth light in the darkness," and the darkest hours of earthly fortune will be like a Greenland summer night, when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon, and even when it is absent all the heaven is aglow with a calm twilight.

A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 2nd series, p. 227.

Psalms 36:9

I. It is quite certain that we see nothing by that which is in the object itself. We see it by that which falls on it from above. And this process of seeing everything by a

communicated light must go on and on till we arrive at a primary light, and that light alone shows itself. It cannot be known by anything external to itself; it is its own expositor. Such is God. We can only know God by Himself. The means whereby we see God are within God. "In Thy light shall we see light." The Bible mirrors the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost mirrors the Son, the Son mirrors the Father, and we know God. And all through the principle is the same, and the rule is absolute—we know God by Himself. "In the light of Thine own being shall we see light."

II. Take the general law that everything is to us just what God is to us. It is the presence or the absence, the nearness or the distance, of God which makes it happy or unhappy, injurious or beneficial. Its complexion all depends on the God that is in it. There may be much beauty, but we shall not find it out till He makes it known to us. "In Thy light shall we see light."

III. This is specially true in sickness and sorrow. God loves to show what His light is by making it burn where all around is very dark. Watch; if you can only see it, there is already a line upon the cloud. The day-star is risen, and soon it will all come in its own order—a twilight, a breaking, a fleeing away of the shadows, a mounting of the sun in your heart higher and higher, a merry warmth, a meridian splendour.

IV. The power of everything, the soul of everything, is its light. In God’s triple empire it is all one Light, and the Light is Christ. As on that fourth day of creation God gathered up all the scattered particles that played in the new-made firmament and treasured them in the sun, so in the four thousandth year of our world did He concentrate all light into Christ. That is light’s unity, and thence it flows through nature, grace, and glory, and light is trinity.

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 28.

We have in these words the significant declaration that God, the fountain of the true and highest life, is known by men in no other than His own light, as the sun is contemplated in no other resplendence than that which streams forth to us from itself. Faith in the living God as He reveals Himself is the light of all our knowledge.

I. Take, first, the problem of the world. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God." There is not a truer word than this in the Bible. Believing is not knowing, it is true; but yet belief, duly enlightened and confirmed, leads to a knowledge and science certainly very different in its nature from that which we arrive at by the process of reasoning and observation, but not on that account of a lower degree of certainty; and the science which begins by abandoning this faith is condemned by an inexorable judgment of God, at a certain point, earlier or later, either to be reduced to silence or to enter on the path of error.

II. The conception of God—who shall satisfactorily determine it? or does not your confession ultimately come to this: God is great, and we comprehend Him not? Yet He has written His monogram deep on every conscience, and all the heavens cry aloud of His glory. But nature conceals God as well as reveals Him. The impure conscience compels man to flee from his Maker, and thus leads the darkened intellect upon the path of error. The Son of God has given us understanding that we may know Him that is true; to His disciples it is granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.

III. The heart of man. Man remains in the end the greatest enigma to himself. The Bible

is just as little a handbook of natural science as of the science of man. Yet this memorial of the Divine revelation of salvation has afforded more satisfactory contributions to the solution of this problem also than the varying systems of all philosophers and psychologists together. The key to the mystery of humanity lies within those sacred pages which testify of sin and grace.

IV. But though the great word of reconciliation has been spoken, what avails it so long as the conflict of life continues so terribly to rage, and to demand so many victims? The old proverb is true that man has a warfare upon earth, a warfare which begins with his birth and usually ends only with death. Wondrous fact that He who reconciles man to God reconciles him also to life, to conflict, to the most bitter grief, and teaches him something higher than subjection—teaches him the secret of a joy which sings psalms even in the deepest night!

V. Only one question remains: the question as to the final triumph of the conflict of the ages. God’s world-plan—what know ye of it who place faith as a blind beggar outside the crystal palace of your science? To us it has been made known, this mystery of God’s good pleasure to gather all things together under Christ as Head. To subserve the coming of His kingdom, men’s spirits struggle, and the nations rage, and the ages revolve, and the discords follow each other, but at last to be resolved into one prophetic voice, "Maranatha, Jesus comes."

J. Van Oosterzee, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iv., pp. 483, 555

David saw the world all full of seekers after light; he was a seeker after light himself. What he had discovered, and what he wanted to tell men, was that the first step in a hopeful search after light must be for a man to put himself into the element of light, which was God. The first thing for any man to do who wanted knowledge was to put himself under God, to make himself God’s man, because both he who wanted to know and that which he wanted to know had God for their true element, and were their best and did their best only as they lived in Him. Notice three or four facts concerning human knowledge which seem to give their confirmation to the doctrine of the old Hebrew singer’s song.

I. First stands the constant sense of the essential unity of knowledge. All truth makes one great whole, and no student of truth rightly masters his own special study unless he at least constantly remembers that it is only one part of the vast unity of knowledge, one strain in the universal music, one ray in the complete and perfect light.

II. A second fact with regard to human knowledge is its need of inspiration and elevation from some pure and spiritual purpose.

III. Another characteristic of the best search after wisdom is the way in which it awakens the sense of obedience.

IV. Closely allied to this fact is the constant tendency which knowledge has always shown to connect itself with moral character. The combination of these consciousnesses makes, almost of necessity, the consciousness of God. As they are necessary to the search for light, so is the God in whom they meet the true Inspirer and Helper of the eternal search.

Phillips Brooks, Sermons Preached in English Churches, p. 89.

Psalms 36:9

I. The frequent occurrence of these two images in conjunction, in tacit, unemphatic passages, shows us how deeply the symbols and their meaning too had sunk into the heart of the nation. But they were at last to receive their full, precise, and definite interpretation—an interpretation which should bring the life and light of God home to every man, and show him, not merely that far off in heaven light and life existed, but that they were brought close to every one’s home, not merely that the well of life was with God, as the Psalmist knew, but that it rose and ran close by the ways of man, not merely that "we shall see light" in distant years, but that there is for us One that is the Light of the world, which whoso followeth shall not walk in darkness.

II. Look at what our Lord says about the living water of life. "On the last day, that great day of the feast"—just perhaps after the priest had poured the water from his ewer, while the crowds were still undispersed—"Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." The water in the Temple was not drunk, only poured out. But Jesus returns at once to the rock which was the meaning of the ceremony, and to the old scene in the desert when the thirsting congregation wished to drink of the clear, outflowing tide. "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." Drink what? That which the ancient water signified: life, and strength, and purity. Innocence restored, strength attained, life assured—all these are in the draught which He places at your lips. Once drink of Christ’s spirit really, and it shall rise and flow from your own lips, full of freshness, full of progress. To the Christian moralist alone of all moralists the lessening of fault, the growth of perfection, can bring no vanity, for he alone knows that it is not of himself he lives, that the life of Christ is his only life.

Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 32.

10 Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.

BAR�ES, "O continue -Margin, as in Hebrew: “draw out at length.” The Hebrew word means “to draw;” hence, “to draw out,” in the sense of “continuing” or “prolonging.” Compare Psa_85:5; Psa_109:12; Jer_31:3. The desire of the psalmist here is, that God would make the manifestation of his loving-kindness “continuous” or “perpetual” to His people; that it might not be fitful and interrupted, but always enduring, or constant. It is the utterance of a prayer that his favor might always be manifested to his friends.

Thy loving-kindness - Thy mercy, Psa_36:5, Psa_36:7. “Unto them that know thee.” That are thy friends. The word “know” is often used to denote true religion: Joh_17:3; Phi_3:10; Eph_3:19; 2Ti_1:12.

And thy righteousness - Thy favor; thy protection. That is, show to them the righteousness, or the glory of thy character. Deal with them according to those just principles which belong to thy character. Compare the notes at 1Jo_1:9.

To the upright in heart - Those who are pure and holy in their intentions or their purposes. Compare Psa_7:10. All true uprightness has its seat in the heart, and the psalmist prays that God would show his continued favor to those whom he sees to be true in heart to himself.

CLARKE, "O continue thy loving-kindness - Literally, “Draw out thy mercy.” The allusion to the spring is still kept up.Unto them that know thee - To them who acknowledge thee in the midst of a

crooked and perverse generation.

And thy righteousness - That grace which justifies the ungodly, and sanctifies the unholy.

To the upriabt in heart - levishrey#leb, to the straight of heart; to those who לישרי#לב

have but one end in view, and one aim to that end.

This is true of every genuine penitent, and of every true believer.

GILL, "O continue thy lovingkindness to them that know thee,.... That is, spiritually and experimentally; and such are they that trust in him and love him: and these are the objects of the love of God; not that their knowledge, faith, or love, are the cause of his love to them; but these things describe and point at manifestly the objects of it; and this request regards the open discovery of it unto them: for the love of God itself always continues, though the manifestations of it are not always the same; and it is for the enlargement and continuance of them the psalmist here prays: for it may be rendered, "draw out thy lovingkindness" (g); that is, to a greater length; make a larger and clearer discovery of it, that the height and depth, and length and breadth of it, may be more discerned;

and thy righteousness unto the upright in heart; who are sincere and without guile; who have new hearts created and right spirits renewed in them, and have truth in the inward parts; and unto and upon such is the righteousness of Christ, and where it always continues, for it is an everlasting one; but here it means a clearer and constant revelation of it from faith to faith; unless it should rather intend the righteousness of God in protecting his people from the insults of their enemies, and the continual exertion of it for that purpose.

HE�RY, " We have here David's prayers, intercessions, and holy triumphs, grounded upon these meditations.

1. He intercedes for all saints, begging that they may always experience the benefit and comfort of God's favour and grace, Psa_36:10. (1.) The persons he prays for are those that know God, that are acquainted with him, acknowledge him, and avouch him for theirs - the upright in heart, that are sincere in their profession of religion, and faithful both to God and man. Those that are not upright with God do not know him as they should. (2.) The blessing he begs for them is God's loving-kindness (that is, the tokens of his favour towards them) and his righteousness (that is, the workings of his grace in them); or his loving-kindness and righteousness are his goodness according to promise; they are mercy and truth. (3.) The manner in which he desires this blessing may be conveyed: O continue it, draw it out, as the mother draws out her breasts to the child, and then the child draws out the milk from the breasts. Let it be drawn out to a length equal to the line of eternity itself. The happiness of the saints in heaven will be in perfection, and yet in continual progression (as some thing); for the fountain there will be always full and the streams always flowing. In these is continuance, Isa_64:5.

JAMISO�, "that know thee— right knowledge of God is the source of right affections and conduct.

K&D, "(Heb.: 36:11-13) Now for the first time, in the concluding hexastich, after complaint and commendation comes the language of prayer. The poet prays that God

would lengthen out, i.e., henceforth preserve (#משך, as in Psa_109:12), such mercy to His

saints; that the foot of arrogance, which is conceived of as a tyrant, may not come

suddenly upon him (וא*, as in Psa_35:8), and that the hand of the wicked may not drive

him from his home into exile (cf. Psa_10:18). With חסד alternates צדקה, which, on its

merciful side, is turned towards them that now God, and bestows upon them the promised gracious reward. Whilst the Psalmist is thus praying, the future all at once becomes unveiled to him. Certain in his own mind that his prayer will be heard, he sees

the adversaries of God and of His saints for ever overthrown. שם, as in Psa_14:5, points

to the place where the judgment is executed. The preterites are prophetic, as in Psa_14:5; Psa_64:8-10. The poet, like Isaiah (Isa_26:14), beholds the whole tribe of the oppressors of Jahve's Church changed into a field of corpses, without hope of any rising again.

CALVI�,10.Prolong thy mercy to them that know thee. David now sets himself to pray. And, first, he asks in general, that God would continue his mercy to all the godly, and then he pleads particularly in his own behalf, imploring the help of God against his enemies. Those who affirm that God is here said to prolong or extend his mercy because it is exalted above the heavens, indulge in a style of speaking too puerile. When David spake of it in such terms in a preceding verse, his intention was not, as I have already said, to represent the mercy of God as shut up in heaven, but

simply to declare that it was diffused throughout the world; and here what he desires is just this, that God would continue to manifest, even to the end, his mercy towards his people. With the mercy of God he connects his righteousness, combining them as cause and effect. We have already said in another place, that the righteousness of God is manifested in his undertaking the defense of his own people, vindicating their innocence, avenging their wrongs, restraining their enemies, and in proving himself faithful in the preservation of their welfare and happiness against all who assail them. �ow, since all this is done for them freely by God, David, with good reason, makes mention particularly of his goodness, and places it first in order, that we may learn to depend entirely upon his favor. We ought also to observe the epithets by which he describes true believers; first, he says, that they know God; and, secondly, that they are upright in heart. We learn from this that true godliness springs from the knowledge of God, and again, that the light of faith must necessarily dispose us to uprightness of heart. At the same time, we ought always to bear in mind, that we only know God aright when we render to him the honor to which he is entitled; that is, when we place entire confidence in him.

SPURGEO�, "Ver. 10. O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee. We ask no more than a continuance of the past mercy. Lord, extend this grace of thine to all the days of all who have been taught to know thy faithful love, thy tenderness, thine immutability and omnipotence. As they have been taught of the Lord to know the Lord, so go on to instruct them and perfect them. This prayer is the heart of the believer asking precisely that which the heart of his God is prepared to grant. It is well when the petition is but the reflection of the promise. And thy righteousness to the upright in heart. As thou hast never failed the righteous, so abide thou in the same manner their defender and avenger. The worst thing to be feared by the man of God is to be forsaken of heaven, hence this prayer; but the fear is groundless, hence the peace which faith brings to us. Learn from this verse, that although a continuance of mercy is guaranteed in the covenant, we are yet to make it a matter of prayer. For this good thing will the Lord be enquired of.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 10. Continue thy lovingkindness. When God begins once to let out mercy to his servants, he stints not presently, but proceeds. ...When Rachel had her first son, she called his name Joseph, which signifieth adding, or increase; for she said, "The Lord shall add to me another son." Genesis 30:24. �ow God hath begun to show kindness, he shall not only give me this, but he shall give me another son also. When the Lord hath bestowed one mercy on you, you may name it Joseph, increase, addition, for God will bestow another upon you. Abraham had many mercies from God, one after another; and Moses, a multitude of mercies; he converses with God face to face; he hears God speak; he has God's presence to go along with him; yea, he sees all God's goodness and glory to pass before him. When mercies come forth, God will not presently shut the door of mercy again. Continue thy lovingkindness. The Hebrew is, draw forth, or draw out thy lovingkindness: a metaphor either taken from vessels of wine, which being set abroach once, yield not only one cup, but many cups; so when God setteth abroach the wine of his mercy, he will not fill your cup once, but twice and seven times: or, taken from a mother, who hath her breasts full of milk, draws them out for her child, not once, but often; the child shall have

the breast many times in the day, and many times in the night, so when God begins to show mercy to you, he will draw out his breasts of consolation, and will bestow mercy after mercy upon you; or, from a line which is extended, for so God being in a way of mercy, will extend the line of mercy, and measure out mercy after mercy for you. William Greenhill.Ver. 10. The true mark of a godly man standeth in the conjunction of faith in God, with sincere study of obedience to him, for, He is the man that knoweth God, and is upright in heart. David Dickson.

SCOTT, "V:10 , 11. David was conscious of integrity, and had been favoured with much experience of the Lord"s faithful and merciful care; but his dangers and troubles were multiplied, and all who knew God and uprightly served him, were in a measure involved in his difficulties. (�ote, 1 Chronicles 28:9.) He therefore prayed, that the favour shewn to him and them might be prolonged according to the faithful promises of God; and that he would judge in righteousness, between his persecuted servants and their unrighteous persecutors : that so " the foot of pride might " not come against him, and the hand of the wicked might " not cast him down; " but that he might be preserved from the scornful oppression, and iniquitous power, of every enemy. (Marg. Ref.)

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:10. O continue thy loving-kindness unto them, that know thee — That is, that know thee so as sincerely to love thee, for every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God: whereas he that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love, 1 John 4:7. As thou hast begun, so continue the manifestation and exhibition of thy loving-kindness to such, both in this life and the next. Hebrew, מש� meshok chasdecha, extend, or draw forth thy lovingkindness, or mercy: let it ,חסד�not be like a fountain sealed, but let it be drawn forth for their comfort. And thy righteousness to the upright in heart — By giving them that protection and assistance, which thou art by nature inclined, and by thy promise engaged to give them.

COFFMA�, "THE CO�CLUDI�G PRAYER

"Oh continue thy lovingkindness to them that know thee,

And thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

Let not the foot of pride come against me,

And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.

There are the workers of iniquity fallen:

They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise."

This beautiful prayer concludes the psalm.

"Let not the foot of pride come against me" (Psalms 36:11). "This statement is considered as a mark of Davidic authorship, because, `Every Psalm of David that speaks of danger points to the pride of his enemies as the source of it.'"[20]

"There are the workers of iniquity fallen" (Psalms 36:12). David here seems to see in a kind of vision the overthrow of the wicked. "Whereas the righteous may indeed fall into misfortune and recover themselves through God's grace, the workers of iniquity, when their time comes to fall, will perish."[21]

"There ..." (Psalms 36:12). The psalmist here speaks as if he indeed sees the fallen hosts of wickedness. Perhaps those are correct who see this as an example of, "The man of faith who endures as seeing the things that are invisible."

CO�STABLE, "3. Request concerning the future36:10-12

David prayed in closing that God"s loyal love and righteousness would continue to captivate his affections so that the evil philosophy of the wicked would not win his heart. He wanted to abide in humble submission to the Lord rather than rising up in pride and disregarding Him. The ultimate end of the wicked would be destruction from which they could not recover.

"Our best defense against violence is still prayer." [�ote: Leupold, p297.]

We may contemplate the two philosophies of life, espoused by the wicked and the God-fearing, as well as their consequences. The godly should appreciate the superiority of recognizing God and living in the light of His revealed character. �evertheless, we should realize that the wicked person"s viewpoint is attractive, and we should guard against slipping into it.

SIMEO�, "GOD’S CO�TI�UED CARE IMPLORED

Psalms 36:10. O continue thou thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart!

DAVID, in all his troubles, “encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” He was in great trouble at the time he wrote this psalm; but whether from the persecutions of Saul, or the rebellion of Absalom, is not certain. But his views of the Deity were exceeding grand: “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” To this God he commits his cause; and, in behalf of himself and all his persecuted associates, prays, “O continue thou thy loving-kindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness unto the upright in

heart!” The same petition will every faithful minister urge in behalf of himself and his people, under a full assurance that “all their fresh springs are in God [�ote: Psalms 87:7.];” and that God himself, if ever they be saved at all, must “work all their works in them [�ote: Isaiah 26:12.].” In this view, I will endeavour to shew you,

I. What need we all have of the blessing here implored—

The term “righteousness,” in the Old Testament, is of very extensive meaning. In my text it imports “goodness,” and, as joined with “loving-kindness,” must be understood to mean, a continuance of God’s tender and watchful care even to the end. And

Of this, all, whatever be their attainments, stand in need—

[Of the ignorant and ungodly I am not at present called to speak; but rather of “those who know God, and are upright before him.” �ow all of these, without any exception, “offend God in many things,” and, “if God were extreme to mark what is done amiss, must perish.” From gross and wilful transgressions they may be free: but “who can say, His heart is clean?” How many sins are committed there, which no eye but God’s beholds! — — — But, waving sins of commission, how greatly do we offend in a way of omission! See how “exceeding broad are the demands of God’s Law.” Our duties to God, our neighbour, and ourselves, who can be said perfectly to know them all; and much less to do them — — — But, waving these also, let us mark only our sins of defect. Be it so: We do really love God: but do we love him “with all our heart, and all our mind, and all our soul, and all our strength?” We love our neighbour, too: but do we love him with the same intenseness, and constancy, and activity “as ourselves?” We believe in Christ also: but is our habit of dependence on him, and communion with him, like that of “a branch united to the vine?” We devote ourselves to his service: but are all our faculties and powers, both of mind and body, put forth into action, as if we were running a race, or fighting for our lives? Let us look at our very best services, whether in public or in private; our prayers, for instance: Are our confessions accompanied with that brokenness of heart which we ought to feel? or our petitions urged with that importunity which God requires? or our thanksgivings presented with that ardent gratitude which God’s mercies, and especially the great blessings of redemption, call for at our hands? I must say, that the grossest iniquities of the ungodly do not, in my apprehension, more strongly mark our alienation from God, than do the very prayers and praises of the godly; so exceeding cold are they, and unsuited to our state as redeemed sinners.

We need, therefore, the continuance of God’s tender mercies to us yet daily, as much as ever we did in our carnal and unregenerate state.]

And what should we do, if God should withdraw his loving-kindness from us?

[What would our “knowledge of God” avail us, or even our own “integrity?” Satan

prevailed over our first parents, even in Paradise: how, then, could we withstand his power, if God should deliver us up into his hands? In point of knowledge and integrity, David was as eminent as any of the Scripture saints: yet you all know how he felt, when once he was left to the workings of his own heart. Hezekiah was perhaps not inferior to him: yet, when “God left him, to try him, that he might see all that was in his heart,” he also fell, and brought upon himself and his posterity the sorest judgments [�ote: 2 Chronicles 32:31.]. Who then amongst us could hope to stand, if God should withhold his loving-kindness from us, or suspend for a moment the communications of his grace?

We need, then, all of us to entreat of God to “continue his loving-kindness to us,” or, as it is translated in the margin of our Bibles, to “draw it out at length.” You all know how a rope, or line, or thread, is formed, by adding fresh materials continually, till it shall have attained its destined length. In reference to this, the prophet represents the ungodly as “drawing out iniquity as cords of vanity, and sin as a cart-rope [�ote: See Isaiah 5:18. with Bishop Lowth’s note upon it.],” that is, by constant additions even to their dying hour. And precisely thus we need, that God, who has begun a good work in us, should carry it on even to the end, by drawing out, and imparting to us, such communications of his grace as our necessities require, till we have attained that measure which in his eternal counsels he has ordained, and we be fully “meet for our Master’s use.”]

Seeing, then, that we all need this blessing, let me shew you,

II. On what grounds all “who know God, and are upright before him,” are authorized to expect it—

The petition in my text was offered under a full assurance that it should be granted: for he had scarcely uttered it before he saw, by faith, the answer given: “There,” says he, “are the workers of iniquity fallen; they are cast down, and shall not be able to stand.” And we also may expect that it shall be answered to all who offer it in faith. We may expect God’s continued care, since it is assured to us,

1. By the promises of God—

[�umberless are the promises which God has made to us respecting the continuance of his love towards all whom, according to his sovereign will, he has chosen to be the objects of it. David, in another psalm, says, “The Lord will not cast off his People, neither will he forsake his inheritance [�ote: Psalms 94:14.].” And again, “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting, upon them that fear him; and his righteousness unto children’s children, to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them [�ote: Psalms 103:17-18.].” In fact, the whole Scripture testifies that God will perfect that which concerneth his people [�ote: Psalms 138:8.]; and that, having loved them, he will love them to the end [�ote: John 13:1.]. Taking, therefore, these promises, we may spread them before the Lord, in full assurance that they shall be fulfilled; and in the language of David may say to God, “Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to my supplications: in thy

faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness [�ote: Psalms 143:1.]!”]

2. By the intercession of Christ—

[St. John has said, “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins [�ote: 1 John 2:1-2.].” Yes, were it not that the Lord Jesus Christ lives to intercede for us in heaven, it could not be but that God’s displeasure must break forth against us on ten thousand occasions: but he prevails for us, as Aaron prevailed for Israel of old, through his unwearied intercessions. To this Peter was indebted, when he denied his Lord with oaths and curses. Had not our blessed Lord interceded for him, that his faith might not fail, he, in all probability, would have perished as Judas did [�ote: Luke 22:31-32.]. In this view, a greater stress is laid on the intercession of Christ than even on his death: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died; yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right-hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us [�ote: Romans 8:34.].” And we are encouraged to believe that “Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us [�ote: Hebrews 7:25.].” Put then your cause into the Saviour’s hands; and beg of him to “pray the Father for you [�ote: John 14:16.],” and you cannot but succeed: “for him the Father heareth always [�ote: John 11:42.].”]

3. By the honour of God himself—

[God from all eternity entered into covenant with his dear Son in our behalf, engaging, that “if he should make his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed, and should prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands [�ote: Isaiah 53:10.].” This covenant our blessed Lord has fulfilled on his part, having taken our nature, and “borne our sins in his own body on the tree.” And whilst yet he was upon earth, he made this a ground of his petitions, and a ground also of his expectations, in behalf of his people: “I pray for them,” says he: “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine: and all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world: but these are in the world; and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. Whilst I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that .thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things speak I in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil [�ote: John 17:9-15.].” Then he adds, what insures to us the completion of his desires, “Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me [�ote: John 17:24.].” �ow I ask, Is not here abundant ground to expect God’s continued care of his people? May we not from hence “be confident, that He who hath begun a good work in us will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ [�ote: Philippians 1:6.]?” Yes, surely: and therefore when David, under the influence of unbelief, had entertained a fear, “Will the Lord cast off for ever? will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” he corrected himself, and with conscious shame exclaimed, “This is my infirmity [�ote: Psalms 77:7-9.].” We may be sure that God’s covenant shall stand. In the 89th Psalm it is declared, again, and again, and again, in terms the most express that can be imagined [�ote: Psalms 89:28-37.] — — — and therefore we may be assured that for his own name and honour sake “he will keep his people by his own power through faith unto salvation [�ote: 1 Peter 1:5.]:” as it was said by Samuel, “The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it hath pleased him to make you his people [�ote: 1 Samuel 12:22.].” “He is a God that changeth not; and therefore we neither are, nor shall be, consumed [�ote: Malachi 3:6.].” We shall be living witnesses for him to all eternity, that “his gifts and calling are without repentance [�ote: Romans 11:29.].”]

Application—

1. Seek to answer to the character here described—

[If you “know not God,” you can have no claim upon him: nor, “unless you be upright in heart,” have you any reason to hope that he will ever look upon you with satisfaction. You must “have your hearts right with God,” if ever you would be approved of God. Seek, then, to know God as reconciled to you in Christ Jesus — —— and beg of him so to “put truth in your inward parts,” that he may acknowledge and commend you as “Israelites indeed, in whom is no guile.”]

2. Implore of God the blessing you so greatly need—

[You need it, all of you, and will need it to your dying hour. It is from God that you have received all that you possess. �ever would you have known him, if he had not opened the eyes of your understanding, and revealed himself to you [�ote: Compare Galatians 4:9. with Philippians 3:12.]. And never would your heart have been upright before him, if he, of his own sovereign grace, had not “given you a new heart, and renewed a right spirit within you.” It is to Him, then, you must look to carry on the work within you. “�o hands but His, who laid the foundation of his spiritual temple within you, can ever finish it [�ote: Zechariah 4:9.].” “He alone who has been the author of your faith, can ever complete it [�ote: Hebrews 12:2.].”]

3. Whilst you seek this blessing for yourselves, implore it earnestly for others also—

[So did David, under all his trials; and so should you. It is our privilege and our duty to intercede one for another; parents for their children, and children for their parents; ministers for their people, and people for their ministers. And, O! what happiness should we enjoy in our respective families, and in the Church of God, if we were all partakers of these blessings! It is said, in the very words before my text, “With thee is the fountain of life; and in Thy light shall we see light:” and no doubt, in proportion as the blessings of salvation flow down into our souls, we shall be

blessed in ourselves, and blessings to all around us.]

PETT, "Verses 10-12The Psalmist Prays That �othing Might Be Allowed To Drive Him Away From YHWH’s Covenant Love (Psalms 36:10-12).

Having emphasised the wonderful attributes of YHWH (5-7), and having considered the munificent benefits that He abundantly gives to His own (8-9), the Psalmist now prays that nothing might drive him away from the covenant love of YHWH.

Psalms 36:10-12

‘Oh continue your lovingkindness to those who know you,And your righteousness to the upright in heart.Let not the foot of pride come against me,And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.There are the workers of iniquity fallen,They are thrust down, and will not be able to rise.’Finally he prays that YHWH will reveal His covenant love and righteous deliverance towards himself and all who are truly upright. �ote that it is assumed that those who truly know Him will be so. It is not possible to truly experience His compassion and righteous deliverance without it being so.

And he wants to be protected from the proud. He does not want their foot to come against him. �or does he want the hand of the wicked to drive him away from YHWH’s presence, or from his livelihood (see Micah 2:9; Job 15:21). Or it may be a prayer that he might not become a beggar, and thus be kicked contemptuously and be thrust from the presence of the wicked (compare Amos 2:6; Amos 8:6). For he has confidence that these men who work iniquity will shortly fall. They will be thrust down and not be able to rise

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me, nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

BAR�ES, "Let not the foot of pride come against me - The foot of the proud man. The word rendered “come against me” more properly means, “come not upon me;” and the meaning is, Let me not be “trampled down” as they who are vanquished in battle are “trodden down” by their conquerors. Compare the notes at Psa_18:40.

And let not the hand of the wicked remove me - Let no efforts of the wicked do this. The “hand” is the instrument by which we accomplish anything, and the reference here is to the efforts which the wicked might make to destroy him. The prayer is, that he might be “firm” and “unmoved” amid all the attempts which might be made to take his life.

CLARKE, "Let not the foot of pride come against me - Let me not be trampled under foot by proud and haughty men.

Let not the hand of the wicked remove me - tenideni, shake me, or cause תנדני

me to wander. Both these verses may have immediate respect to the captives in Babylon. The Jews were, when compared with the Babylonians, the people that knew God; for in Jewry was God known, Psa_76:1; and the psalmist prays against the treatment which the Jews had received from the proud and insolent Babylonians during the seventy years of their captivity: “Restore us to our own land; and let not the proud foot or the violent hand ever remove us from our country and its blessings; the temple, and its ordinances.”

GILL, "Let not the foot of pride come against me,.... Meaning some proud enemy, such an one as Ahithophel, of whom R. Obadiah expounds, it, who lifted up his heel against him; and is applicable to any haughty enemy of Christ and his people, and particularly to antichrist, the man of sin, that exalts himself above all that is called God;

and let not the hand of the wicked remove me; either from the house of God; or from his throne, that high station and dignity in which he was placed.

HE�RY, " He prays for himself, that he might be preserved in his integrity and comfort (Psa_36:11): “Let not the foot of pride come against me, to trip up my heels, or trample upon me; and let not the hand of the wicked, which is stretched out against me, prevail to remove me, either from my purity and integrity, by any temptation, or from my peace and comfort, by any trouble.” Let not those who fight against God triumph over those who desire to cleave to him. Those that have experienced the pleasure of communion with God cannot but desire that nothing may ever remove them from him.

JAMISO�, "foot of ... hand ... wicked— all kinds of violent dealing.

CALVI�, "11.Let not the foot of pride come upon me As I have observed a little before, the Psalmist here applies to his own circumstances the prayer which he had offered. But by including in his prayer in the preceding verse all the children of God, he designed to show that he asked nothing for himself apart from others, but only desired that as one of the godly and upright, who have their eyes directed to

God, he might enjoy his favor. He has employed the expressions, the foot of pride, (12) and the hand of the wicked, in the same sense. As the wicked rush boldly to the destruction of good men, lifting up their feet to tread upon them, and having their hands ready to do them wrong, David entreats God to restrain their hands and their feet; and thus he confesses that he is in danger of being exposed to their insolence, abuse, and violence, unless God come speedily to his aid.SPURGEO�, "Ver. 11. Let not the foot of pride come against me. The general prayer is here turned into a particular and personal one for himself. Pride is the devil's sin. Good men may well be afraid of proud men, for the serpent's seed will never cease to bite the heel of the godly. Fain would proud scoffers spurn the saints or trample them under foot: against their malice prayer lifts up her voice. �o foot shall come upon us, no hand shall prevail against us, while Jehovah is on our side. Let not the hand of the wicked remove me. Suffer me not to be driven about as a fugitive, nor torn from my place like an uprooted tree. Violence with both hand and foot, with means fair and means foul, strove to overthrow the psalmist, but he resorts to his great Patron, and sings a song of triumph in anticipation of the defeat of his foes.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 11. Foot...Hand. Both foot and hand are named because both used in waging war. Simeon de Muis.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:11. Let not the foot of pride — That is, of my proud and insolent enemies; come against me — Or upon me, namely, so as to overthrow or remove me, as it is in the next clause; either, 1st, From my trust in, and obedience to thee: or, 2d, From my place and station; from the land of my nativity, and the place of thy worship. Or as תנדני, tenedeeni, may be rendered, shake me, or cast me down, that is, subdue and destroy me. Some translate the former clause; Let me not be trampled under the foot of pride. “There seems,” says Dr. Dodd, “to be a particular beauty in this expression, by which David elegantly intimates the supercilious haughtiness and disdainful insolence of his enemy; who, if he had been in his power, would spurn him under his foot, and trample on him.”

COKE, "Psalms 36:11. Let not the foot of pride come against me— Let me not be trampled under the foot of pride, nor shaken in pieces by the arm of violence. There seems to be a particular beauty in this expression, by which David elegantly intimates the supercilious haughtiness and disdainful insolence of his enemy; who, if he had him in his power, would spurn him under foot, and trample on him.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—

thrown down, not able to rise!

BAR�ES, "There are the workers of iniquity fallen - The meaning of this seems to be, that the psalmist saw his prayer answered already. He speaks as if that which he desired and had prayed for was already done, and as if he himself saw it. He was so certain that it would be done, he had such an assurance that his prayer would be answered, that he seemed, by faith, to see the events already occurring before his own eyes, and felt that he might speak of what he prayed for as if it were already granted. Such is the nature of faith; and such strong confidence in God, and in his faithfulness to his promises, may all have who pray in faith. It is remarkable, as has been observed already in reference to the Psalms, how often a psalm begins in depression and ends in triumph; how often the author is desponding and sad as he surveys, at the beginning of the psalm, the troubles which surround him, and how in the progress of the psalm the clouds disperse; the mind becomes calm; and the soul becomes triumphant.

They are cast down, and shall not be able to rise - They are utterly overthrown. Their discomfiture is complete. They shall never be able to rally again. So faith looks on all enemies of truth and righteousness as hereafter to be utterly overthrown, and it regards this as so certain that it may speak already in the exulting language of victory. So certainly will all the spiritual foes of those who trust in God be vanquished - so certainly will the righteous triumph - that, on the wings of faith, they may look beyond all conflicts and struggles, and see the victory won, and break forth into songs of exulting praise. Faith often converts the promises into reality, and in the bright anticipations and the certain hopes of heaven sings and rejoices as if it were already in our possession -anticipating only by a few short days, weeks, or years, what will certainly be ours.

CLARKE, "There are the workers of iniquity fallen - There, in Babylon, are the workers of iniquity fallen, and so cast down that they shall not be able to rise. A prophecy of the destruction of the Babylonish empire by Cyrus. That it was destroyed, is an historical fact; that they were never able to recover their liberty, is also a fact; and that Babylon itself is now blotted out of the map of the universe, so that the site of it is no longer known, is confirmed by every traveler who has passed over those regions.

The word שם sham, There, has been applied by many of the fathers to the pride spoken

of in the preceding verse. There, in or by pride, says Augustine, do all sinners perish. There, in heaven, have the evil angels fallen through pride, says St. Jerome. There, in paradise, have our first parents fallen, through pride and disobedience. There, in hell, have the proud and disobedient angels been precipitated - Eusebius, etc. There, by pride, have the persecutors brought God’s judgments upon themselves. See Calmet. But the first interpretation is the best.

GILL, "There are the workers, of iniquity fallen,.... Either in the pit they dug for others; or into hell, where they shall be turned at last; See Gill on Psa_5:5 and See Gill on Psa_6:8;

they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise; which will be the case of Babylon when fallen, Rev_18:21, and this distinguishes the falls of the wicked from those of the righteous; for though the righteous fall, whether into sin, or into any calamity, they rise again; not so the wicked; see Psa_37:24; and thus, as the psalm begins with the transgression of the wicked, it ends with their ruin.

HE�RY, "He rejoices in hope of the downfall of all his enemies in due time (Psa_36:12): “There, where they thought to gain the point against me, they have themselves fallen, been taken in that snare which they laid for me.” There, in the other world (so some), where the saints stand in the judgment, and have a place in God's house, the workers of iniquity are cast in the judgment, are cast down into hell, into the bottomless pit, out of which they shall assuredly never be able to rise from under the insupportable weight of God's wrath and curse. It is true we are not to rejoice when any particular enemy of ours falls; but the final overthrow of all the workers of iniquity will be the everlasting triumph of glorified saints.

JAMISO�, "There— in the acting of violence, they are overthrown. A signal defeat.

CALVI�, "12.There the workers of iniquity are fallen. Here he derives confidence from his prayer, not doubting that he has already obtained his request. And thus we see how the certainty of faith directs the saints to prayer. Besides, still farther to confirm his confidence and hope in God, he shows, as it were, by pointing to it with the finger, the certain destruction of the wicked, even though it lay as yet concealed in the future. In this respect, the adverb there (13) is not superfluous; for while the ungodly boast of their good fortune, and the world applaud them, David beholds by the eye of faith, as if from a watch-tower, their destruction, and speaks of it with as much confidence as if he had already seen it realised. That we also may attain a similar assurance, let us remember, that those who would hasten prematurely the time of God’s vengeance upon the wicked, according to the ardor of their desires, do indeed err, and that we ought to leave it to the providence of God to fix the period when, in his wisdom, he shall rise up to judgment. When it is said, They are thrust down, the meaning is, that they are agitated with doubt, and totter as in a slippery place, so that in the midst of their prosperity they have no security. Finally, it is added, that they shall fall into utter destruction, so that it can never be expected that they shall rise again.SPURGEO�, "Ver. 12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen. Faith sees them scattered on the plain. There! before our very eyes sin, death, and hell, lie prostrate. Behold the vanquished foes! They are cast down. Providence and grace have dashed them from their vantage ground. Jesus has already thrown all the foes of his people upon their faces, and in due time all sinners shall find it so. And shall not be able to rise. The defeat of the ungodly and of the powers of evil is final, total, irretrievable.

Glory be to God, however high the powers of darkness may carry it at this present, the time hastens on when God shall defend the right, and give to evil such a fall as shall for ever crush the hopes of hell; while those who trust in the Lord shall eternally praise him and rejoice in his holy name.EXPLA�ATORY �OTES A�D QUAI�T SAYI�GSVer. 12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen. This is said as if the psalmist pointed, when he said it, to a particular place with his finger; and the same mode of expression occurs in Psalms 14:5; or, it may be rendered, then (i.e., when the just are satisfied with the plenteousness of thy house, being rewarded for sincerely worshipping thee in it), shall they fall, all that work wickedness; they shall be cast down, and shall not be able to rise, as is the case with persons who have been thrown with violence upon the hard ground. Daniel Cresswell.

SCOTT, "V:12. " Faith calleth things that are not, as though they were; it carries us forward to the end of time; it shews us the Lord sitting on the throne of judgment, the righteous caught up to meet him in the air; the " world in flames under his feet; and the empire of sin fallen, to rise no more." Bp. Home.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIO�S

To be " the servant of the Lord " is the highest privilege and honour, to which we can aspire; and those who are advanced to eminent stations in society should glory to fill them up, as serving God and his church in them. All the wickedness of men springs from contempt and forgetfulness of God : their actions speak more plainly than their words; and when they commit atrocious crimes without remorse, or habitually live in the practice of any sin, we may be sure, " that there is no fear of God before their eyes; " and that they habitually despise his favour, and defy his wrath. But proud and ignorant men deceive them selves, and verily think their conduct excusable, when it is indeed most hateful : let us then daily beg of God to preserve us from self-flattery, and to bring us acquainted with our own character, that we may judge and condemn ourselves, arid not finally be condemned at his tribunal.

When such as have appeared to be religious leave oft" to behave wisely and to do good, they will soon be drawn into grosser crimes; and the deceitful and corrupt language of their lips will betray the desperate wickedness of their hearts. If we willingly banish holy meditations, in our solitary hours, nay, if we do not encourage them, Satan will soon occupy our minds with polluting and mischievous imaginations : and if any yield frequently to sudden temptations, they will at length deliberately " devise mischief upon their beds." Whatever be a man"s outward conduct, if he do not " abhor evil," he is no true penitent : and if he do not set himself heartily to walk in the ways of godliness, he will soon return into the more direct road to temporal arid eternal destruction. The servants of God must expect much trouble from apostates and wicked men; but they may comfort themselves by contemplating the perfections of their almighty Friend. His merciful promises engage to every believer the enjoyment of heavenly happiness; his unfailing faithfulness guarantees the engagement; his immoveable justice harmonizes with his

truth and love; and his most mysterious appointments are the result of his infinite wisdom and goodness. Whilst all his creatures share his bounty and protection; his compassion and mercy, and the provisions of his redeeming love, are so immense, and of such inestimable value, that the chief of sinners may come to him, and receive pardon and peace, and put their trust under the shadow of his wings. Thither the alarmed and penitent flee for safety, perhaps imagining that they are thus renouncing all enjoyment in this present world : but they soon find, if decided and diligent, true happiness in the favour and service of God: the provisions of his house are rich and plenteous; and the consolations of his Spirit, communicated through his ordinances, are an earnest of heavenly joys. This " river of the water of life proceedeth from the throne of God and of the Lamb; " and they must be happy, who have access to " the Fountain of life."

(�otes, Revelation 21:5-8; Revelation 22:1.) Indeed God is the Source of felicity; but fallen man has forsaken him and is miserable. In Christ, however, this Fountain is accessible; " wells of salvation " are opened for us by the gospel; and sinners, returning to God according to it, see and enjoy light and felicity, in their Source and Perfection. (�ote, Isaiah 12: 3. ) May we then know, and love, and uprightly serve the Lord ! Then shall we be interested in the prayers of all his people, and learn to love and pray for them : and his loving kindness will be continued to us through the intercession of our heavenly Advocate. Then shall no proud enemy, on earth or from hell, come against us to trample upon us, or to separate us from his love; but we shall be established in felicity, when all the workers of iniquity are cast down to rise no more for ever.

COKE, "Psalms 36:12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen— The original word :sham, represents strongly before the eyes the sudden downfall of the wicked שם"Upon the very spot where they practise their treachery, they receive their downfall." This is the proper force of שם sham, as אז az, denotes the very instant.

REFLECTIO�S.—1st, The highest title of the greatest monarch, or the wisest man, is, to be called the servant of the Lord; in this David glories, as his most distinguished honour. We find him here describing the wickedness of the wicked in its true colours, beginning with the root of bitterness within, and proceeding to the hateful fruits without.

1. The fear of God is banished from his eyes; this the transgression of the wicked saith within my heart. David, by observing and marking his conduct, could not but be so convinced; for they who daringly and avowedly continue in the breach of God's laws, must needs be destitute of his fear. �ote; It is no charity to deny the evidence of our senses, and to hope well of those who live in open sin.

2. He cries, Peace, peace, to his soul, he flattereth himself in his own eyes, either that God regardeth it not, or will wink at what he calls the little escapes and infirmities of human nature; that his judgments will not be so severe as his word seems to say; that death is at a distance; that if he must repent, it is time enough yet; and that, at

least, he shall do as well as thousands of others, whom God will not be so hard as, for a little sin here, to destroy eternally.

2nd, The world affords a dark prospect to the child of God; he must look above him, not around him, if he would be comforted; and there a blessed scene presents itself in that glorious God, who is the joy of his people, and the portion of their inheritance.

1. He contemplates the bright perfections of the ever-blessed God: Thy mercy is in the heavens, laid up for thy faithful people, notwithstanding all the devices of the wicked against them; and as this is now their protection, shortly they will be brought to these heavens, eternally to enjoy it. To this it is owing also, that sinners are so long borne with. God is merciful, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds: though men are false, God is faithful; and his believing people may confidently trust him to fulfil all his promises; nor need think it long that sinners are borne with; his threatenings will be accomplished in their season. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, those decisions against the impenitent, which are fixed and immoveable. Thy judgments are a great deep, unfathomable often by the shallow line of human understanding, but always directed with infinite wisdom and unimpeachable equity.

2. He meditates with delight on his dispensations of providence and grace towards his people, in all which his excellent loving-kindness appears. In general, all creatures partake of his providential care: not only man, the lord of the creation, but every beast is fed by his bounty, and preserved by his providence; while with especial regard he manifests his loving-kindness to those who put their trust under the shadow of his wings, and fills their hearts with wonder, gratitude, and love. With liberal hand their wants are all supplied; with the fatness of his house they are satisfied: an all-sufficient God is an all-sufficient portion. Of earthly blessings they shall have enough, while sweet content makes every meal a feast: with spiritual communications they shall be abundantly replenished; enjoying, in holy ordinances here below, divine fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ; and daily looking for the perfection of happiness in the full, uninterrupted, and eternal enjoyment of God's presence and love in his temple of glory above. Even in this vale of tears, thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures; those pure joys, which they who thirst after righteousness taste, when coming to Jesus to drink; they receive out of his fulness the abundance of pardon, grace, and consolations, the foretastes of those eternal pleasures which are at God's right hand for evermore. For with thee is the fountain of life; thou art the living fountain; thy breath first animated the lifeless clay; but better far, quickened by thy free spirit, our souls, dead in trespasses and sins, first felt new powers infused, and truly began to live. With living streams fed from the sacred fountain, we are enabled daily to increase with the increase of God, and shortly we expect to drink at the fountain-head, and live eternally glorious and happy, like the author of our blessed immortality. In thy light shall we see light; without thee all is darkness; no sun to shine, no eye to see; but when thou, the sun of righteousness, dost arise, then straight our sightless eye-balls meet the welcome day. Before us lies the path of life and glory, and distant

realms of everlasting light terminate the prospect. Thither our willing feet are hasting; and, yet a moment, they shall arrive at that bright world, where, face to face, we shall behold the beatific and transforming vision, and in the contemplation of God's transcendent excellencies, be unutterably and eternally happy.

LA�GE, "Str. V. Psalm 36:12. There have the evildoers fallen.—Some interpret the preterites in this verse as future and translate, then will fall: this is to be entirely rejected. שם does not refer to time, but to place=there; and there is no more reference to a promise than to a prayer (Luther). The thought is most natural, that David here refers to a well known historical example (Venema, Clericus, Olsh, Hitzig, Hupf.) as Psalm 14:5, in order to instruct and to comfort, or indeed to strengthen the confidence in the certainty of the Divine judgment. This would be expressed by translating them as perfects (Sept, Chald, Jerome). Yet it is admissible to use the present (Syr, Symmach.) and to take the preterite as prophetic (Calvin, Hengst, Delitzsch), because in the prophetic view that which is mentioned previously as sure, may be treated as something that has already happened.

BE�SO�, "Psalms 36:12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen — There, where they came against me, and hoped to ruin me. He seems, as it were, to point at the place with his finger, as if their downfall were already effected, and he could tell all the circumstances of it. Upon the very spot where they practise their treachery, they receive their downfall, which is the proper force of the word שם, sham, as אז, az, denotes the very instant of time.