An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Volume 3 by Matthew Henry

Author:Matthew Henry
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Classic Literature, Bible Commentary
ISBN: 9781236536679
Publisher: RareBooksClub.com
Published: 2012-06-26T22:00:00+00:00

Here,

I. The psalmist prays for audience and accept -ance with God, not mentioning particularly what he desired God would do for him; he needed to say no more, when he had professed such an affectionate esteem for the ordinances of God, which now he was restrained and banished from; all his desire was, in that profession, plainly before God, and his longing, his groaning, wei-e not hid from him; therefore he prays, (v. 8, 9.) only that God would hear his prayer, and give ear, that he would behold his condition, behold his good affection, and look upon his face, which way it was set, and how his countenance discovered the longing desire he had toward God's courts; he calls himself (as many think^ God's anointed, for David was anointed by him, and anointed for him. In this petition, 1. He has an e^'e to God, under several of his glorious titles. As the Lord God of hosts, who has all the creatures at his command, and thei'efore has all power both in heaven and in earth; as the God of Jacob, a God in covenant with his own people, a God who never said to the praj-ing seed of Jacob, Seek ye jne, in vai?i; and as God our Shield, who takes his people under special protection, pursuant to his covenant with Abraham their father, (Gen. xv. 1.^ Tearnot, Abraham, lam thy Shield. When David could not be hid in the secret of God's tabernacle, (Ps. xxvii. 5.) being at a distance from it, yet he hoped to find God his Shield ready to him, wherever he was. 2. He has an eye to the Mediator; for of him I rather understand those words. Look upon the face of thy Messiah, thine Anointed One; for of his anointing David spake, xlv. 7. In all our addresses to God, we must desire that he would look upon the face of Christ, accept us for his sake, and be well-pleased with us in him; we must look with an eye of faith, and then God will v.ith an e}'e of favour look upOTi the face of the Anointed, who docs show his face, v,'hcn v>'e, without him, dare not show ours.

II. He pleads his love to God's ordinances, and his dependence u]Drn God himself.

1. God's courts were his choice, v. 10. A veiy great regard he had for holy ordinances, he valued

PSALMS, LXXXV.

them above any thing else, and he expresses his value for them, (1.) By preferring the time of God's wor-sliip before all other time; A day spent in thy courts, in attending on the services of religion, wholly abstracted from all secular affairs, is better than a thousand, not than a thousand in thy courts, l)ut any where else in this world, though in tlie midst of all the delights of the children of men. Better than a thousand, he does not say days, you may sujjply it with years, with ages, if }'ou will, and yet David will set his hand to it.

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