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“Questions and Answers, Part XIV” by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5L6QlAH3L4
Greetings and Welcome! Tonight, we continuing in our Series, “Questions and Answers.” This is our fourteenth Installment of the Series. In preparation for tonight's Discussion, I went through every verse of every Psalm, and selected the most significant questions that I found in that Book. I hope you find the results of my search edifying and enlightening. As I am writing this, I do not know if tonight's review and examination of the Questions in the Book of Psalms will be able to be completed, tonight. Let's being and see, shall we?
The first Question we'll look at is Psalm 8:3-4: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
We will start out with a commentary from Matthew Henry: He writes, “David here goes on to magnify the honour of God by recounting the honours he has put upon man, especially the man Christ Jesus. The condescensions of the divine grace call for our praises as much as the elevations of the divine glory. How God has condescended in favour to man the psalmist here observes with wonder and thankfulness, and recommends it to our thoughts. See here,
I. What it is that leads him to admire the condescending favour of God to man; it is his consideration of the lustre and influence of the heavenly bodies, which are within the view of sense (in Psa_8:3): I consider thy heavens, and there, particularly, the moon and the stars. But why does he not take notice of the sun, which much excels them all? Probably because it was in a night-walk, by moon-light, that he entertained and instructed himself with this meditation, when the sun was not within view, but only the moon and the stars, which, though they are not altogether so serviceable to man as the sun is, yet are no less demonstrations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator.
Observe, 1. It is our duty to consider the heavens. We see them, we cannot but see them. By this, among other things, man is distinguished from the beasts, that, while they are so framed as to look downwards to the earth, man is made erect to look upwards towards heaven. – To man he gave an erect countenance, and bade him gaze on the heavens, that thus he may be directed to set his affections on things above; for what we see has not its due influence upon us unless we consider it.
2. We must always consider the heavens as God's heavens, not only as all the world is his, even the earth and the fulness thereof, but in a more peculiar manner. The heavens, even the heavens, are the Lord's (as we read in Psa_115:16); they are the place of the residence of his glory and we are taught to call him Our Father in heaven.
3. They are therefore his, because they are the work of his fingers. He made them; he made them easily. The stretching out of the heavens needed not any outstretched arm; it was done with a word; it was but the work of his fingers. He made them with very great curiosity and fineness, like a nice piece of work which the artist makes with his fingers.
4. Even the inferior lights, the moon and stars, show the glory and power of the Father of lights, and furnish us with matter for praise.
5. The heavenly bodies are not only the creatures of the divine power, but subject to the divine government. God not only made them, but ordained them, and the ordinances of heaven can never be altered. But how does this come in here to magnify God's favour to man? (1.) When we consider how the glory of God shines in the upper world we may well wonder that he should take cognizance of such a mean creature as man, that he who resides in that bright and blessed part of the creation, and governs it, should humble himself to behold the things done upon this earth.
(2.) When we consider of what great use the heavens are to men on earth, and how the lights of heavens are divided unto all nations, we may well say, “Lord, what is man that thou shouldst settle the ordinances of heaven with an eye to him and to his benefit, and that his comfort and convenience should be so consulted in the making of the lights of heaven and directing their motions!”
II. How he expresses this admiration (in Psa_8:4): “Lord, what is man (enosh, sinful, weak, miserable man, a creature so forgetful of thee and his duty to thee) that thou art thus mindful of him, that thou takest cognizance of him and of his actions and affairs, that in the making of the world thou hadst a respect to him!
What is the son of man, that thou visitest him, that thou not only feedest him and clothest him, protectest him and providest for him, in common with other creatures, but visited him as one friend visits another, art pleased to converse with him and concern thyself for him! What is man - (so mean a creature), that he should be thus honoured - (so sinful a creature), that he should be thus countenanced and favoured!”
The Expositor's Bible adds: “The nightly sky is more overwhelming than the bare blue vault of day. Light conceals and darkness unveils the solemn glories. The silent depths, the inaccessible splendours, spoke to this psalmist, as they do to all sensitive souls, of man’s relative insignificance, but they spoke also of the God whose hand had fashioned them, and the thought of Him carried with it the assurance of His care for so small a creature, and therefore changed the aspect of his insignificance. To an ear deaf to the witness of the heavens to their Maker, the only voice which sounds from their crushing magnificence is one which counsels unmitigated despair, insists on man’s nothingness, and mocks his aspirations.
If we stop with "What is man?" the answer is, A fleeting nothing. The magnitude, the duration, the multitudes of these awful suns and stars dwarf him. Modern astronomy has so far increased the impression that it has landed many minds in blank unbelief that God has visited so small a speck as earth, and abundant ridicule has been poured on the arrogance which dreams that such stupendous events, as the Christian revelation asserts, have been transacted on earth for man. If we begin with man, certainly his insignificance makes it supremely absurd to suppose him thus distinguished; but if we begin at the other end, the supposition takes a new appearance of probability.
If there is a God, and men are His creatures, it is supremely unlikely that He should not have a care of them. Nothing can be more absurd than the supposition of a dumb God, who has never spoken to such a being as man. The psalmist gives full weight to man’s smallness, his frailty, and his lowly origin, for his exclamation, "What is man?" means, "How little is he!" and he uses the words which connote frailty and mortality, and emphasise the fact of birth as if in contrast with "the work of Thy fingers"; but all these points only enhance the wonderfulness of what is to the poet an axiom-that God has personal relations with His creature.
"Thou art mindful of him" refers to God’s thought, "Thou visitest him" to His acts of loving care; and both point to God’s universal beneficence, not to His special revelation. The bitter parody (in Job_7:17-18) takes the truth by the other handle, and makes the personal relations those of a rigid inspector on the one hand and a creature not worth being so strict with on the other. Mindfulness is only watchfulness for slips and visiting means penal visitation. So the same fact may be the source of thankful wonder or of almost blasphemous murmuring.”
I would like to add, concerning the heavens, that, as a shepherd, David was able to gaze upon them every cloudless night and marvel at the magnificent and sobering display that they manifest. But the humbling and aesthetic beauty of the night sky is, from a certain perspective, dwarfed by the characteristics of the Universe of which David did not have remotest idea. Modern Science, and its ability to detect things that were unknown even 50 years ago, has made incredible discoveries about the Universe that adds dramatic insight into the brilliance of the mind of our Creator.
They have discovered over forty (and counting) measurements of the precision-tuned intensities of Natural Forces that boggle the mind. Many of the astronomers and astrophysicists making these discoveries are atheists. But their discoveries point undeniably to the fact – yes the fact – that if the Natural Forces Universe were adjusted, even to the slightest degree imaginable, Life on earth would not be able to exist! They make statements to the effect that “Life on earth is balanced on a knife's edge.” Atheist Dr. Stephen Hawking said of this fine-tuning, “Most sets of {alternate} values would give rise to universes that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one there to wonder at their beauty.”
In layman's terms, our Universe is so infinitesimally calibrated, that even if the mass of sub-atomic particles: protons and neutron, were ever-so-slightly adjusted so that their mass would be greater or lesser, that adjustment would have the effect of obstructing the chain of events that allow stars to produce light and heat, thereby making life impossible. If any other Universe exists, 40+ known parameters of astrophysics would have to perfectly reflect our Universe for life to exist there!
David's wonder at God's mindfulness of mankind, in the face of just the visible majesty of the Universe, is virtually overruled by the fact that the God marvelously designed and meticulously calibrated our Universe with extraordinary precision in order that it supports Life on Earth. In the Book of Genesis, while we may have been the last of the creatures named that God created, but man was absolutely not an afterthought when His creation was completed... just the opposite is true! We have the astounding declaration in Scripture that we were chosen BEFORE the Foundation of the World (as we read in Ephesians 1:4), and our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life FROM the Foundation of the World (as we read in Revelation 13:8)! In each of these two verses, the original Greek word translated “world” is “kosmos.”
Of all the wonders of God's physical creation, man alone has been endowed to have, not merely awareness of our Creator, but actual communication with our Creator. Above and beyond that amazing fact, of all the wonders of God's entire creation, physical and spiritual (this time including the angelic realm), only man was made in the Image, and after the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). Of the angels we read in Hebrews 1:14: “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” We, mankind, are those heirs of Salvation if we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior!
Man alone has been given the opportunity to be adopted into the Family of God. The Apostle John wrote, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). Jesus Christ taught us to pray “Our Father...” in which God is identified as our Father in the same way that God is Jesus' Father. On the day He was resurrected, He told Mary Magdalene, “... Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17).
As we move on, our next question is found in Psalm 10:1: “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” This question is asked several times and in several ways in the Psalms. We also see it in Psalm 13:1: “A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? (The question, “How long” is asked 19 times in the Psalms.) This question continues in the next verse: “Psalm 13:2: “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long
shall mine enemy be exalted over me?”
The Book of Psalms provides for us a full range of emotions in our interactions with both God and our fellow-man. We experience there everything from exuberant praise and unmovable faith, to crippling doubt and languishing despair. It realistically mirrors, in sometimes raw and blunt detail, and at other times unrestrained celebration, the roller coaster that we have all experienced as believers. It is important that we have such a Book to Guide us in and through this wide range of emotional ups and downs, and to remind us that when we are in those thunderous and gut-wrenching nosedives, that we are not alone. Every other believer has been or will be there... and not just once. It is part of the human condition.
Peter addressed this in 1 Peter 4:12-14: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.” Let's take a look at how some of the Commentators addressed these issues expressed and questioned in the Psalms.
Albert Barnes writes: “Psalms 10:1: Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? - That is, What is the reason why thou doest this? The thought upon which this is based is that God might be expected to interpose in a time of trouble, and that His aid might then be looked for. Yet, in this case, He seemed to be an indifferent spectator of the sorrows and afflictions of the wronged and oppressed. This filled the mind of the writer with surprise, and he could not account for it, especially in view of the character of the person or persons who had wronged the author of the psalm.
“To stand afar off” in such circumstances, is an attitude of indifference and unconcern - as when others do not come near us if we are sick, or are bereaved, or are in circumstances of poverty and want. That man should do this would have produced no surprise in the mind of the writer; that God should do it was something that filled him with wonder. Why hidest thou thyself? - As if God concealed himself or kept away. He did not manifest himself, but seemed to let the afflicted man suffer alone.
In times of trouble - Affliction, sorrow, persecution. The particular trouble referred to here was that which was produced by the machinations of the enemy or enemies whose character is described in the following verses. The question, however, is put in a general form, as if it; were strange and unaccountable that God should ever fail to interpose in time of trouble. How often has there been occasion to ask this question in our world!”
Since The Expositor's Bible comments on the remaining verses of Psalm 13 (of which there are a total of six verses), we would do well to review all of the Psalm: Psa 13: “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? 2 How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? 3 Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
4 Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. 5 But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.”
The Expositor's Bible comments: “THIS little psalm begins in agitation, and ends in calm. The waves run high at first, but swiftly sink to rest, and at last lie peacefully glinting in sunshine. It falls into three strophes, of which the first (Psa_13:1-2) is the complaint of endurance strained almost to giving way; the second (Psa_13:3-4) is prayer which feeds fainting faith; and the third (Psa_13:5-6, which are one in the Hebrew) is the voice of confidence, which in the midst, of trouble, makes future deliverance and praise a present experience.
However true it is that sorrow is "but for a moment," it seems to last for an eternity. Sad hours are leaden-footed, and joyful ones winged. If sorrows passed to our consciousness as quickly as joys, or joys lingered as long as sorrows, life would be less weary. That reiterated "How long?" betrays how weary it was to the psalmist. Very significant is the progress of thought in the fourfold questioning plaint, which turns first to God, then to himself, then to the enemy. The root of his sorrow is that God seems to have forgotten him; therefore his soul is full of plans for relief, and the enemy seems to be lifted above him.
The "sorrow of the world" begins with the visible evil, and stops with the inward pain; the sorrow which betakes itself first to God, and thinks last of the foe, has trust embedded in its depths, and may unblamed use words which sound like impatience. If the psalmist had not held fast by his confidence, he would not have appealed to God. So the "illogical" combination in his first cry of "How long?" and "forever" is not to be smoothed away, but represents vividly, because unconsciously, the conflict in his soul from the mingling of the assurance that God’s seeming forgetfulness must have an end and the dread that it might have none.
Luther, who had trodden the dark places, understood the meaning of the cry, and puts it beautifully when he says that here "hope itself despairs, and despair yet hopes, and only that unspeakable groaning is audible with which the Holy Spirit, who moves over the waters covered with darkness, intercedes for us." The psalmist is tempted to forget the confidence expressed in Psalm 9:18 and to sink to the denial animating the wicked in
Psalm 10:11. The heart wrung by troubles finds little consolation in the mere intellectual belief in a Divine omniscience. An idle remembrance which does not lead to actual help is a poor stay for such a time.
No doubt the psalmist knew that forgetfulness was impossible to God; but a God who, though He remembered, did nothing for, His servant, was not enough for him, nor is He for any of us. Heart and flesh cry out for active remembrance; and however clear the creed, the tendency of long-continued misery will be to tempt to the feeling that the sufferer is forgotten. It takes much grate to cling fast to the belief that He thinks of the poor suppliant whose cry for deliverance is unanswered. The natural inference is one or other of the psalmist’s two here: God has forgotten or has hidden His face in indifference or displeasure. The Evangelist’s profound "therefore" is the corrective of the psalmist’s temptation: "Jesus loved" the three sad ones at Bethany; "when therefore He heard that he was sick, He abode still two days in the place where He was."
Left alone, without God’s help, what can a man do but think and think, plan and scheme to weariness all night and carry a heavy heart as he sees by daylight how futile his plans are? Probably "by night" should be supplied in Psa_13:2 a; -and the picture of the gnawing cares and busy thoughts which banish sleep and of the fresh burst of sorrow on each new morning appeals only too well to all sad souls. A brother laments across the centuries, and his long-silent wail is as the voice of our own griefs. The immediate visible occasion of trouble appears only in the last of the fourfold cries.
God’s apparent forgetfulness and the psalmist’s own subjective agitations are more prominent than the "enemy" who "lifts himself above him." His arrogant airs and oppression would soon vanish if God would arise. The insight which places him last in order is taught by faith. The soul stands between God and the external world, with all its possible calamities; and if the relation with God is right, and help is flowing unbrokenly from Him, the relation to the world will quickly come right, and the soul be lifted high above the foe, however lofty he be or think himself.
The agitation of the first strophe is somewhat stilled in the second, in which the stream of prayer runs clear without such foam, as the impatient questions of the first part. It falls into four clauses, which have an approximate correspondence to those of strophe 1. "Look hither, answer me, Jehovah, my God." The first petition corresponds to the hiding of God’s face, and perhaps the second, by the law of inverted parallelism, may correspond to the forgetting, but in any case the noticeable thing is the swift decisiveness of spring with which the psalmist’s faith reaches firm ground here.
Mark the implied belief that God’s look is not an otiose gaze, but brings immediate act answering the prayer; mark the absence of copula between the verbs giving force to the prayer and swiftness to the sequence of Divine acts; mark the outgoing of the psalmist’s faith in the addition to the name "Jehovah" (as in Psa_13:1). "of the personal my God," with all the sweet and reverent appeal hived in the address.
The third petition, "Lighten mine eyes," is not for illumination of vision, but for renewed strength. Dying eyes are glazed: a sick man’s are heavy and dull. Returning health brightens them. So here the figure of sickness threatening to become death stands for trouble or possibly the "enemy" is a real foe seeking the life. as will be the most natural interpretation if the Davidic origin is maintained. To "sleep death" is a forcible compressed expression, which is only attenuated by being completed. The prayer rests upon the profound conviction that Jehovah is the fountain of life, and that only by His continual pouring of fresh vitality into a man can any eyes be kept from death.
The brightest must be replenished from His hand, or they fail and become dim; the dimmest can be brightened by His gift of vigorous health. As in the first strophe the psalmist passed from God to self, and thence to enemies, so he does in the second. His prayer addresses God: its pleas, regard, first, himself, and, second, his foe. How is the preventing of the enemy’s triumph in his being, stronger than the psalmist and of his malicious joy over the latter’s misfortune an argument with God to help? It is the plea, so familiar in the Psalter and to devout hearts, that God’s honour is identified with His servant’s deliverance, a true thought, and one that may reverently be entertained by the humblest lover of God, but which needs to be carefully guarded.”
As we move forward, we encounter next a very different question being asked. This one is a question that we may encounter from our critics and detractors, but which we, as believers, should never ask. It is found in Psalm 12:1-4: “A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men. 2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: 4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?”
Albert Barnes writes, “Psalm 12:3: The Lord shall cut off - This might be rendered, “May the Lord cut off,” implying a wish on the part of the psalmist that it might occur. But probably the common rendering is the correct one. It is the statement of a solemn truth, designed for warning, that all such persons would be punished.
All flattering lips - The meaning is, that he will cut off all “persons” who use flattery; that is, he will cut them off from the favors which he will show to his own people, or will punish them. The word used here is the common one to denote disowning or excommunicating, and derives its meaning from the act of separating offenders from a community.
And the tongue that speaketh proud things - That boasts, or is self-confident. It was this disposition to falsehood, flattery, and boasting, which constituted the fact stated in Psa_12:1, that “godly” and “faithful” men - men on whom reliance might be placed, whose word might be trusted, and whose promised aid in the cause of truth might be depended on - had seemed to “fail” among men. That is, no such men could be found.
Verse 4: “Who have said - Who habitually say. This does not mean that they had formally and openly said this - for none would be likely to do so - but that they had practically and really said this by their conduct. They acted as if it were the real principle on which they framed their lives, that they might use their tongues as they pleased.
With our tongue - literally, “as to,” or “in respect to our tongue;” that is, by our tongue. It was by the tongue that they expected to accomplish their purposes. It was not by direct power, or by violence, but by the power of speech. 'Will we prevail' - literally, “We will do mightily;” that is, they would accomplish their purposes. They relied on the power of speech - on their ability in influencing others; in deceiving others; in persuading others to fall in with their plans.
Our lips are our own - That is, we may use them as we please; no one has a right to control us in the use of what properly belongs to ourselves. It cannot be meant that they intended to assert this openly as a right, for there are perhaps none who will not admit in words that they are responsible for what they “say,” as well as for what they “do.” But their conduct was such that this was the fair interpretation to be placed on what they said. They would speak this if they openly professed and avowed what was their real opinion.
Who is lord over us? - That is, who has a right to control us in the case? There are many who practically avow this as a principle of conduct, and who seem to feel that they are not responsible for their words, however much they may admit their responsibility for their actions. There is usually a greater degree of recklessness among men in regard to their speech than in regard to their conduct; and many a man who would shrink from doing another wrong by an act of dishonesty in business, may be utterly reckless as to doing him wrong by an unkind remark.”
Moving on, David again pens our next Psalm. In it, he both asks and then answers the question he poses: It is found in Psalm 15:1-5: “A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. 4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. 5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”
Matthew Henry writes, “Psalms 15:1-5: Here is, I. A very serious and weighty question concerning the characters of a citizen of Zion (Psa_15:1): “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Let me know who shall go to heaven.” Not, who by name (in this way the Lord only knows those that are his), but who by description: “What kind of people are those whom thou wilt own and crown with distinguishing and everlasting favours?” This supposes that it is a great privilege to be a citizen of Zion, an unspeakable honour and advantage, - that all are not thus privileged, but a remnant only, - and that men are not entitled to this privilege by their birth and blood:
all shall not abide in God's tabernacle that have Abraham to their father, but, according as men's hearts and lives are, so will their lot be. It concerns us all to put this question to ourselves, Lord, what shall I be, and do, that I may abide in thy tabernacle? Luk_18:18; Act_16:30.
1. Observe to whom this enquiry is addressed - to God himself. Note, Those that would find the way to heaven must look up to God, must take direction from his word and beg direction from his Spirit. It is fit he himself should give laws to his servants, and appoint the conditions of his favours, and tell who are his and who not.
2. How it is expressed in Old Testament language.
(1.) By the tabernacle we may understand the church militant, typified by Moses's tabernacle, fitted to a wilderness-state, mean and movable. There God manifests himself, and there he meets his people, as of old in the tabernacle of the testimony, the tabernacle of meeting. Who shall dwell in this tabernacle? Who shall be accounted a true living member of God's church, admitted among the spiritual priests to lodge in the courts of this tabernacle? We are concerned to enquire this, because many pretend to a place in this tabernacle who really have no part nor lot in the matter.
(2.) By the holy hill we may understand the church triumphant, alluding to Mount Zion, on which the temple was to be built by Solomon. It is the happiness of glorified saints that they dwell in that holy hill; they are at home there: they shall be for ever there. It concerns us to know who shall dwell there, that we may make it sure to ourselves that we shall have a place among them, and may then take the comfort of it, and rejoice in prospect of that holy hill.
II. A very plain and particular answer to this question. Those that desire to know their duty, with a resolution to do it, will find the scripture a very faithful director and conscience a faithful monitor. Let us see then the particular characters of a citizen of Zion.
1. He is one that is sincere and entire in his religion: He walketh uprightly, according to the condition of the covenant (Gen_17:1), “Walk before me, and be thou perfect” (it is the same word that is here used) “and then thou shalt find me a God all-sufficient.” He is really what he professes to be, is sound at heart, and can approve himself to God, in his integrity, in all he does; his conversation is uniform, and he is of a piece with himself, and endeavours to stand complete in all the will of God. His eye perhaps is weak, but it is single; he has his spots indeed, but he does not paint; he is an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. I know no religion but sincerity.
2. He is one that is conscientiously honest and just in all his dealings, faithful and fair to all with whom he has to do: He worketh righteousness; he walks in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord, and takes care to give all their due, is just both to God and man; and, in speaking to both, he speaks that which is the truth in his heart; his prayers, professions, and promises, to God, come not out of feigned lips, nor dares he tell a lie, or so much as equivocate, in his converse or commerce with men. He walks by the rules of righteousness and truth, and scorns and abhors the gains of injustice and fraud. He reckons that that cannot be a good bargain, nor a saving one, which is made with a lie, and that he who wrongs his neighbour, though ever so plausibly, will prove, in the end, to have done the greatest injury to himself.
3. He is one that contrives to do all the good he can to his neighbours, but is very careful to do hurt to no man, and is, in a particular manner, tender of his neighbour's reputation, ( in verse 3). He does no evil at all to his neighbour willingly or designedly, nothing to offend or grieve his spirit, nothing to prejudice the health or ease of his body, nothing to injure him in his estate or secular interests, in his family or relations; but walks by that golden rule of equity, To do as he would be done by. He is especially careful not to injure his neighbour in his good name, though many, who would not otherwise wrong their neighbours, make nothing of that.
If any man, in this matter, bridles not his tongue, his religion is vain. He knows the worth of a good name, and therefore he backbites not, defames no man, speaks evil of no man, makes not others' faults the subject of his common talk, much less of his sport and ridicule, nor speaks of them with pleasure, nor at all but for edification. He makes the best of every body, and the worst of nobody. He does not take up a reproach, that is, he neither raises it nor receives it; he gives no credit nor countenance to a calumny, but frowns upon a backbiting tongue, and so silences it, ( as we read in Proverbs 25:23). If an ill-natured character of his neighbour be given him, or an ill-natured story be told him, he will disprove it if he can; if not, it shall die with him and go no further. His charity will cover a multitude of sins.
4. He is one that values men by their virtue and piety, and not by the figure they make in the world, Psa_15:5. (1.) He thinks the better of no man's wickedness for his pomp and grandeur: In his eyes a vile person is contemned. Wicked people are vile people, worthless and good for nothing (so the word signifies), as dross, as chaff, and as salt that has lost its savour. They are vile in their choices (see Jer 2:13), in their practices, (see Isa 32:6). For this wise and good men contemn them, not denying them civil honour and respect as men, as men in authority and power perhaps (see 1P et 2:17 and Rom 13:7), but, in their judgment of them, agreeing with the word of God. They are so far from envying them that they pity them, despising their gains, as turning to no account, their dainties, their pleasures as sapless and insipid.
God... knows those that fear the Lord. He reckons that serious piety, wherever it is found, puts an honour upon a man, and makes his face to shine, more than wealth, or wit, or a great name among men, does or can. He honours such, esteems them very highly in love, desires their friendship and conversation and an interest in their prayers, is glad of an opportunity to show them respect or do them a good office, pleads their cause and speaks of them with veneration, rejoices when they prosper, grieves when they are removed, and their memory, when they are gone, is precious with him. By this we may judge of ourselves in some measure. What rules do we go by in judging of others?
5. He is one that always prefers a good conscience before any secular interest or advantage whatsoever; for, if he has promised upon oath to do any thing, though afterwards it appear much to his damage and prejudice in his worldly estate, yet he adheres to it and changes not, (verse 4). See how weak-sighted and short-sighted even wise and good men may be; they may swear to their own hurt, which they were not aware of when they took the oath. But see how strong the obligation of an oath is, that a man must rather suffer loss to himself and his family than wrong his neighbour by breaking his oath. An oath is a sacred thing, which we must not think to play fast and loose with.
6. He is one that will not increase his estate by any unjust practices, (verse 5). (1.) Not by extortion: He putteth not out his money to usury, that he may live at ease upon the labours of others, while he is in a capacity for improving it by his own industry. Not that it is any breach of the law of justice or charity for the lender to share in the profit which the borrower makes of his money, any more than for the owner of the land to demand rent from the occupant, money being, by art and labour, as improvable as land.
But a citizen of Zion will freely lend to the poor, according to his ability, and not be rigorous and severe in recovering his right from those that are reduced by Providence. (2.) Not by bribery: He will not take a reward against the innocent; if he be any way employed in the administration of public justice, he will not, for any gain, or hope of it, to himself, do any thing to the prejudice of a righteous cause.
III. The psalm concludes with a ratification of this character of the citizen of Zion. He is like Zion-hill itself, which cannot be moved, but abides for ever, (as we read in Psalm 125:1). Every true living member of the church, like the church itself, is built upon a rock, which the gates of hell cannot prevail against: He that doeth these things shall never be moved; shall not be moved for ever, so the word is. The grace of God shall always be sufficient for him, to preserve him safe and blameless to the heavenly kingdom.
Temptations shall not overcome him, troubles shall not overwhelm him, nothing shall rob him of his present peace nor his future bliss. In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish ourselves, and one another, to answer the characters here given of the citizen of Zion, that we may never be moved from God's tabernacle on earth, and may arrive, at last, at that holy hill where we shall be for ever out of the reach of temptation and danger.”
In the interest of space and time, we will conclude here. There will be, as you may have guessed, at least one more Installment as we examine the full range of Questions posed in the Book of Psalms, and the insights of the classic Commentators, along with a few hopefully edifying personal thoughts of my own, thrown in for good measure. I look forward to see you all next week as we continue our Series, “Questions and Answers.”
This concludes this evening's Discussion, Questions and Answers, “Part XIV.”
This Discussion was originally presented “live” on January 16th, 2019