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Block Quotes from Psalm 40 in the ASV and in the Treasury of David by By C. H. Spurgeon.

Psalm 40

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. 

  1I waited patiently for Jehovah; 

    And he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 

  2He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay; 

    And he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 

  3And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: 

    Many shall see it, and fear, 

    And shall trust in Jehovah. 

  4Blessed is the man that maketh Jehovah his trust, 

    And respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 

  5Many, O Jehovah my God, are the wonderful works which thou hast done, 

    And thy thoughts which are to us-ward; 

    They cannot be set in order unto thee; 

  If I would declare and speak of them, 

    They are more than can be numbered. 

  6Sacrifice and offering thou hast no delight in; 

    Mine ears hast thou opened: 

    Burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. 

  7Then said I, Lo, I am come; 

    In the roll of the book it is written of me: 

  8I delight to do thy will, O my God; 

    Yea, thy law is within my heart. 

  9I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly; 

    Lo, I will not refrain my lips, O Jehovah, thou knowest. 

  10I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; 

    I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation; 

    I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great assembly. 

  11Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Jehovah; 

    Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. 

  12For innumerable evils have compassed me about; 

    Mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; 

  They are more than the hairs of my head; 

    And my heart hath failed me. 

  13Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me: 

    Make haste to help me, O Jehovah. 

  14Let them be put to shame and confounded together 

    That seek after my soul to destroy it: 

  Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor 

    That delight in my hurt. 

  15Let them be desolate by reason of their shame 

    That say unto me, Aha, aha. 

  16Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: 

    Let such as love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified. 

  17But I am poor and needy; 

    Yet the Lord thinketh upon me: 

  Thou art my help and my deliverer; 

    Make no tarrying, O my God. 

American Standard Version (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995), Ps 40.

Psalm 40

Explanatory Notes And Quaint Sayings Whole Psalm.—David’s Psalm, or, a Psalm of David; but David’s name is here set first, which elsewhere commonly is last: or, A Psalm concerning David, that is, Christ, who is called David in the prophets: Hos. 3:5; Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:23, and 32:24. Of him this Psalm entreateth as the apostle teacheth, Heb. 10:5, 6, etc.—Henry Ainsworth. Whole Psalm.—It is plain, from verses 6–8 of this Psalm, compared with Heb. 10:5, that the prophet is speaking in the person of Christ, who, 1–5, celebrateth the deliverance wrought for his mystical body, the church, by his resurrection from the grave, effecting that of his members from the guilt and dominion of sin; for the abolition of which he declareth, 6–8, the inefficacy of the legal sacrifices, and mentioneth his own inclination to do the will of his Father, and 9, 10, to preach righteousness to the world. 11–13. He represented himself as praying, while under his sufferings, for his own, and his people’s salvation; he foretelleth, 14, 15, the confusion and desolation of his enemies, and, 16, the joy and thankfulness of his disciples and servants; for the speedy accomplishment of which, 17, he preferreth a petition.—George Horne. Verse 1.—“I waited patiently for the Lord: and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” I see that the Lord, suppose he drifteth and delayeth the effect of his servant’s prayer, and granteth not his desire at the first, yet he heareth him. I shall give a certain argument, whereby thou may know that the Lord heareth thee, suppose he delay the effect of thy prayers. Continuest thou in prayer? Hast thou this strength given thee to persevere in suiting* anything? Thou may be assured he heareth; for this is one sure argument that he heareth thee, for naturallie our impatience carrieth us to desperation; our suddenness is so great, speciallie in spiritual troubles, that we cannot continue in suiting. When thou, therefore, continues in suiting, thou may be sure that this strength is furnished of God, and cometh from heaven, and if thou have strength he letteth thee see that he heareth thy prayer; and suppose he delay the effect and force thereof, yet pray continuallie. This doctrine is so necessary for the troubled conscience, that I think it is the meetest bridle in the Scripture to refrain our impatience; it is the meetest bit to hold us in continual exercise of patience; for if the heart understand that the Lord hath rejected our prayer altogether, it is not possible to continue in prayer; so when we know that the Lord heareth us, suppose he delay, let us crave patience to abide his good will.—Robert Bruce, 1559–1631. Verse 1.—“I waited for the Lord.” The infinite קַוֹּח being placed first brings the action strongly out: I waited. This strong emphasis on the waiting, has the force of an admonition; it suggests to the sufferer that everything depends on waiting.—E. W. Hengstenberg. Verse 1.—“I waited patiently:” rather anxiously; the original has it, waiting I waited; a Hebraism, which signifies vehement solicitude.—Daniel Cresswell. Verse 1.—“I waited.” The Saviour endured his sufferings waitingly, as well as patiently and prayerfully. He “waited for the Lord.” He expected help from Jehovah; and he waited for it until it came.—James Frame, in “Christ and his Work: an Exposition of Psalm XL.” 1869. Verse 1.—“Patiently.” Our Lord’s patience under suffering was an element of perfection in his work. Had he become impatient as we often do, and lost heart, his atonement would have been vitiated. Well may we rejoice that in the midst of all his temptations, and in the thickest of the battle against sin and Satan, he remained patient and willing to finish the work which his Father had given him to do.—James Frame. Verse 1.—“Heard my cry.” Our Saviour endured his sufferings prayerfully as well as patiently.—James Frame. Verse 2.—“An horrible pit.” Some of the pits referred to in the Bible were prisons, one such I saw at Athens, and another at Rome. To these there were no openings, except a hole at the top, which served for both door and window. The bottoms of these pits were necessarily in a filthy and revolting state, and sometimes deep in mud. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay;” one of these filthy prisons being in the Psalmist’s view, in Isaiah 38:17, called “the pit of corruption,” or putrefaction and filth.—John Gadsby. Verse 2.—“An horrible pit;” or, as it is in the Hebrew, a pit of noise; so called because of waters that falling into it, with great violence, make a roaring dreadful noise; or because of the strugglings and outcries they make that are in it; or because when anything is cast into deep pits, it will always make a great noise; and where he stuck fast in “miry clay,” without a seeming possibility of getting out. And some refer this to the greatness of Christ’s terrors and sufferings, and his deliverance from them both.—Arthur Jackson. Verse 2.—Three things are stated in verse two. First, resurrection as the act of God, “He brought me up,” etc. Secondly, the justification of the name and title of the Sufferer, “and set my feet upon a rock.” Jesus is set up, as alive from the dead, upon the basis of accomplished truth. Thirdly, there is his ascension, “He establisheth my goings.” The Son of God having trodden, in gracious and self-renouncing obedience the passage to the grave, now enters finally as Man the path of life. “He is gone into heaven,” says the Spirit. And again, “He ascended on high, and led captivity captive.”—Arthur Pridham in “Notes and Reflections on the Psalms,” 1869. Verse 3.—“A new song.” See Notes on Psalm 33 verse 3. Verse 3.—“Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” The terms fear, and hope, or trust, do not seem at first view to harmonise; but David has not improperly joined them together, for no man will ever entertain the hope of the favour of God but he whose mind is first imbued with the fear of God. I understand fear, in general, to mean the feeling of piety which is produced in us by the knowledge of the power, equity, and mercy of God.—John Calvin. Verse 3.—“Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” First of all they “see.” Their eyes are opened; and their opened eyes see and survey what they are, where they are, whence they came, and whither they are going.… When the attention of sinners is really and decisively arrested by the propitiation of Jesus, not only are their eyes opened to their various moral relations, not only do they “see” but they “fear” too. They “see” and “fear.” … conviction follows illumination.… But while the sinner only sees and fears, he is but in the initial stage of conversion, only in a state of readiness to flee from the city of destruction. He may have set out on his pilgrimage, but he has not yet reached his Father to receive the kiss of welcome and forgiveness. The consummating step has not yet been taken. He has seen indeed; he has feared too; but he still requires to trust, to trust in the Lord, and banish all his fears. This is the culminating point in the great change; and, unless this be reached, the other experiences will either die away, like an untimely blossom, or they will only be fuel to the unquenchable fire.—James Frame. Verse 5.—“Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,” etc. Behold God in the magnificence and wisdom of the works which his hands have made, even this immense universe, which is full of his glory. What art and contrivance! What regularity, harmony, and proportion, are to be seen in all his productions, in the frame of our own bodies, or those that are about us! And with what beams of majestic glory do the sun, moon, and stars proclaim how august and wonderful in knowledge their Maker is! And ought not all these numberless beauties wherewith the world is stored, which the minds of inquisitive men are ready to admire, lead up our thoughts to the great Parent of all things, and inflame our amorous souls with love to him, who is infinitely brighter and fairer than them all? Cast abroad your eyes through the nations, and meditate on the mighty acts which he hath done, and the wisdom and power of his providence, which should charm all thy affections. Behold his admirable patience, with what pity he looks down on obstinate rebels; and how he is moved with compassion when he sees his creatures polluted in their blood, and bent upon their own destruction; how long he waits to be gracious; how unwillingly he appears to give up with sinners, and execute deserved vengeance on his enemies; and then with what joy he pardons for “with him is plenteous redemption.” And what can have more force than these to win thy esteem, and make a willing conquest of thy heart? so that every object about thee is an argument of love, and furnishes fuel for this sacred fire. And whether you behold God in the firmament of his power, or the sanctuary of his grace, you cannot miss to pronounce him “altogether lovely.”—William Dunlop. Verse 5.—“Thy thoughts which are to us-ward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee:” i.e., there is no one can digest them in order; for although that may be attempted according to the comprehension and meaning of men, yet not before thee, every attempt of that nature being infinitely beneath thy immeasurable glory.—Victorinus Bythner’s “Lyre of David;” translated by T. Dee: new edition, by N. L. Benmohel, 1847. Verse 5.—“Us-ward.” It is worthy of notice that while addressing his Father, as Jehovah and his God, our Saviour speaks of the members of the human family as his fellows. This is implied in the expressions “to us-ward.” He regarded himself as most intimately associated with the children of men.—James Frame. Verse 5.—“They cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.” They are “in order” in themselves, and if they could be “reckoned up” as they are, they would be “reckoned in order.” Created mind may not be able to grasp the principle of order that pervades them, but such a principle there is. And the more we study the whole series in its interrelations, the more shall we be convinced that as to time and place all the preparations for the mediatorial work of Christ, all the parts of its accomplishment, and all the divinely appointed consequents of its acceptation throughout all time into eternity, are faultlessly in order; they are precisely what and where and when they should be.—James Frame. Verse 5.—“They are more than can be numbered.” The pulses of Providence are quicker than those of our wrists or temples. The soul of David knew right well their multiplicity, but could not multiply them aright by any skill in arithmetic; nay, the very sum or chief heads of divine kindnesses were innumerable. His “wonderful works” and “thoughts” towards him could not be reckoned up in order by him, they were more than could be numbered.—Samuel Lee (1625–1691), in “The Triumph of Mercy in the Chariot of Praise.” Verse 5.—It is Christ’s speech, of whom the Psalm is made, and that relating unto his Father’s resolved purposes and contrivements from eternity, and those continued unto his sending Christ into the world to die for us, as verses 6, 7. It follows so, as although his thoughts and purposes were but one individual act at first, and never to be altered; yet they became many, through a perpetuated reiteration of them, wherein his constancy to himself is seen.… My brethren, if God have been thinking thoughts of mercy from everlasting to those that are his, what a stock and treasury do these thoughts arise to, besides those that are in his nature and disposition! This is in his actual purposes and intentions, which he hath thought, and doth think over, again and again, every moment. “Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward,” saith Jesus Christ; for Psalm 40 is a Psalm of Christ, and quoted by the apostle, and applied unto Christ in Heb. 10, “How many are thy thoughts to us-ward!”—he speaks it in the name of the human nature—that is, to me and mine. “If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” And what is the reason? Because God hath studied mercies, mercies for his children, even from everlasting. And then, “He reneweth his mercies every morning;” not that any mercies are new, but he actually thinketh over mercies again and again, and so he brings out of his treasury, mercies both new and old, and the old are always new. What a stock, my brethren, must this needs amount unto!—Thomas Goodwin. Verse 6.—“Sacrifice and offering.… burnt-offering and sin-offering.” Four kinds are here specified, both by the Psalmist and apostle: namely, sacrifice, זֶבַח zebhach, θυσἱα; offering, מִנְחָה minchah, προσφορὰ; burnt-offering, עוֹלָה olah, ὁλοκαύτωμα; sin-offering, חֲטָאָה chataah, περὶ ἁμαρτίας. Of all these we may say with the apostle, it was impossible that the blood of bulls and goats, etc., should take away sin.—Adam Clarke. Verse 6.—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” The literal translation is, mine ears hast thou digged (or pierced) through; which may well be interpreted as meaning, “Thou hast accepted me as thy slave,” in allusion to the custom (Exod. 21:6) of masters boring the ear of a slave, who had refused his offered freedom, in token of retaining him.—Daniel Cresswell. Verse 6.—John Calvin, in treating upon the interpretation, “mine ears hast thou bored,” says, “this mode of interpretation appears to be too forced and refined.” Verse 6.—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” If it be said that the apostle to the Hebrews read this differently, I answer, this does not appear to me. It is true, he found a different, but corrupted translation (ὠτία, ears, as the learned have observed, having been changed into σῶμα, body) in the LXX, which was the version then in use; and he was obliged to quote it as he found it, under the penalty, if he altered it, of being deemed a false quoter. He therefore took the translation as he found it, especially as it served to illustrate his argument equally well. Upon this quotation from the LXX the apostle argues, verse 9, “He (Christ) taketh away the first (namely, legal sacrifices), that he may establish the second” (namely, obedience to God’s will), in offering himself a sacrifice for the sins of mankind; and thus he must have argued upon a quotation from the Hebrew text as it stands at present.—Green, quoted in S. Burder’s “Scripture Expositor.” Verse 6.—The apostle’s reading (Heb. 10:5), though it be far distant from the letter of the Hebrew, and in part from the LXX (as I suppose it to have been originally), yet is the most perspicuous interpretation of the meaning of it: Christ’s body comprehended the ears, and that assumed on purpose to perform in it the utmost degree of obedience to the will of God, to be obedient even to death, and thereby to be as the priest.—Henry Hammond. Verse 6.— Nor sacrifice thy love can win, Nor offerings from the stain of sin Obnoxious man shall clear: Thy hand my mortal frame prepares, (Thy hand, whose signature it bears,) And opes my willing ear. James Merrick, M.A., 1720–1769. Verses 6, 7.—In these words an allusion is made to a custom of the Jews to bore the ears of such as were to be their perpetual servants, and to enrol their names in a book, or make some instrument of the covenant. “Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not have;” but because I am thy vowed servant, bored with an awl, and enrolled in thy book, “I said, Lo, I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God.” These words of the Psalm are alleged by S. Paul, Heb. 10. But the first of them with a most strange difference. For whereas the Psalmist hath, according to the Hebrew verity, “Sacrifice and burnt-offering thou wouldst not: mine ears thou hast bored or digged,” כָּרִיתָ; S. Paul reads with the LXX, σῶμα κατηρτίσω μοι, “A body thou hast prepared or fitted me.” What equipollency can be in sense between these two? This difficulty is so much the more augmented because most interpreters make the life of the quotation to lie in those very words where the difference is, namely, That the words, “A body thou hast prepared me,” are brought by the apostle to prove our Saviour’s incarnation; whereunto the words in the Psalm itself (“Mine ears hast thou bored, or digged, or opened”), take them how you will, will in no wise suit. I answer, therefore, That the life of the quotation lies not in the words of difference, nor can do, because this epistle was written to the Hebrews, and so first in the Hebrew tongue, where this translation of the LXX could have no place. And if the life of the quotation lay here, I cannot see how it can possibly be reconciled. It lies therefore in the words where there is no difference, namely, That Christ was such a High Priest as came to sanctify us, not with legal offerings and sacrifices, but by his obedience in doing like a devoted servant the will of his Father. Thus, the allegation will not depend at all upon the words of difference, and so they give us liberty to reconcile them: “Mine ears hast thou bored,” saith the Psalmist, i.e., Thou hast accepted me for a perpetual servant, as masters are wont, according to the law, to bore such servants’ ears as refuse to part from them. Now the LXX, according to whom the apostle’s epistle readeth, thinking perhaps the meaning of this speech would be obscure to such as knew not that custom, chose rather to translate it generally σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, “Thou hast fitted my body,” namely, to be thy servant in such a manner as servants’ bodies are wont to be. And so the sense is all one, though not specified to the Jewish custom of boring the ear with an awl, but left indifferently appliable to the custom of any nation in marking and stigmatising their servants’ bodies.—Joseph Mede, B.D., 1586–1638. Verses 6–10.—Here we have in Christ for our instruction, and in David also (his type) for our example; 1. A firm purpose of obedience, in a bored ear, and a yielding heart. 2. A ready performance thereof: “Lo, I come.” 3. A careful observance of the word written: “In the volume of the book it is written of me,” verse 7. 4. A hearty delight in that observance, verse 8. 5. A public profession and communication of God’s goodness to others, verses 9, 10. Now, we should labour to express Christ to the world, to walk as he walked (1 John 2:6): our lives should be in some sense parallel with his life, as the transcript with the original: he left us a copy to write by, saith Saint Peter, 1st Epistle 2:21.—John Trapp. Verse 7.—“Then said I, Lo, I come.” As his name is above every name, so this coming of his is above every coming. We sometimes call our own births, I confess, a coming into the world; but properly, none ever came into the world but he. For, 1. He only truly can be said to come, who is before he comes; so were not we, only he so. 2. He only strictly comes who comes willingly; our crying and struggling at our entrance into the world, shows how unwillingly we come into it. He alone it is that sings out, “Lo, I come.” 3. He only properly comes who comes from some place or other. Alas! we had none to come from but the womb of nothing. He only had a place to be in before he came.—Mark Frank. Verse 7.—“Then said I, Lo, I come,” to wit, as surety, to pay the ransom, and to do thy will, O God. Every word carrieth a special emphasis as, 1. The time, “then,” even so soon as he perceived that his Father had prepared his body for such an end, then, without delay. This speed implieth forwardness and readiness; he would lose no opportunity. 2. His profession in this word, “said I;” he did not closely, secretly, timorously, as being ashamed thereof, but he maketh profession beforehand. 3. This note of observation, “Lo,” this is a kind of calling angels and men to witness, and a desire that all might know his inward intention, and the dispositon of his heart; wherein was as great a willingness as any could have to anything. 4. An offering of himself without any enforcement or compulsion; this he manifesteth in this word, “I come.” 5. That very instant set out in the present tense, “I come;” he puts it not off to a future and uncertain time, but even in that moment, he saith, “I come.” 6. The first person twice expressed, thus, “I said,” “I come.” He sendeth not another person, nor substituteth any in his room; but he, even he himself in his own person, cometh. All which do abundantly evidence Christ’s singular readiness and willingness, as our surety, to do his Father’s will, though it were by suffering, and by being made a sacrifice for our sins.—Thomas Brooks. Verse 7.—“Lo, I come,” i.e., to appear before thee; a phrase used to indicate the coming of an inferior into the presence of a superior, or of a slave before his master, Num. 22:38; 2 Sam. 19:20: as in the similar expression, “Behold, here I am,” generally expressive of willingness.—J. J. Stewart Perowne. Verse 7.—“Lo, I come.” Christ’s coming in the spirit is a joyful coming. I think this, “Lo, I come,” expresses, 1. Present joy. 2. It expresses certain joy: the “Lo,” is a note of certainty; the thing is certain and true; and his joy is certain; certain, true, solid joy. 3. It expresses communicative joy; designing his people shall share of his joy, “Lo, I come!” The joy that Christ has as Mediator is a fulness of joy, designed for his people’s use, that out of his fulness we may receive, and grace for grace, and joy for joy; grace answering grace in Jesus, and joy answering joy in him. 4. It expresses solemn joy. He comes with a solemnity; “Lo, I come!” according to the council of a glorious Trinity. Now, when the purpose of heaven is come to the birth, and the decree breaks forth, and the fulness of time is come, he makes heaven and earth witness, as it were, to his solemn march on the errand: he says it with a loud, “Lo!” that all the world of men and angels may notice, “Lo, I come!” And, indeed, all the elect angels brake forth into joyful songs of praise at this solemnity; when he came in the flesh, they sang, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and goodwill towards man.”—Ralph Erskine, 1685–1752. Verse 7.—“Lo, I come,” or, am come, to wit, into the world (Heb. 10:5), and particularly to Jerusalem, to give myself a sacrifice for sin.—Henry Ainsworth. Verse 7.—“The volume of the book.” What book is meant, whether the Scripture, or the book of life, is not certain, probably the latter.—W. Wilson, D.D. Verse 7.—“The volume of the book.” But what volume of manuscript roll is here meant? Plainly, the one which was already extant when the Psalmist was writing. If the Psalmist was David himself (as the title of the Psalm seems to affirm), the only parts of the Hebrew Scriptures then extant, and of course, the only part to which he could refer, must have been the Pentateuch, and perhaps the book of Joshua. Beyond any reasonable doubt, then, the κεφαλὶς βιβλἴον (מְגִלַּת סֵפֶר) was the Pentateuch.… But I apprehend the meaning of the writer to be, that the book of the law, which prescribes sacrifices that were merely σκιαὶ or παραβολαὶ of the great atoning sacrifice by Christ, did itself teach, by the use of these, that something of a higher and better nature was to be looked for than Levitical rites. In a word, it pointed to the Messiah; or, some of the contents of the written law had respect to him.—Moses Stuart, M.A., in “A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews,” 1851. Verse 7.—“The volume of the book,” etc. When I first considered Rom. 5:14 and other Scriptures in the New Testament which make the first Adam, and the whole story of him both before and after, and in his sinning or falling, to be the type and lively shadow of Christ, the second Adam; likewise observing that the apostle Paul stands admiring at the greatness of this mystery or mystical type, the Christ, the second Adam should so wonderfully be shadowed forth therein, as Eph. 5:32, he cries out, “This is a great mystery,” which he speaks applying and fitting some passages about Adam and Eve unto Christ and his church; it made me more to consider an interpretation of a passage in Heb. 10:7, out of Psalm 40:7, which I before had not only not regarded, but wholly rejected, as being too like a postil* gloss. The passage is, that “when Christ came into the world,” to take our nature on him, he alleged the reason of it to be the fulfilling of a Scripture written in “the beginning of God’s book,” ἐν κεφαλίδι Βιβλίου, so out of the original the words may be, and are by many interpreters, translated, though our translation reads them only thus, “In the volume of the book it is written of me.” It is true, indeed, that in the fortieth Psalm, whence they are quoted, the words in the Hebrew may signify no more than that in God’s book (the manner of writing which was anciently in rolls of parchment, folded up in a volume) Christ was everywhere written and spoken of. Yet the word κεφαλις, which out of the Septuagint’s translation the apostle took, signifying, as all know, the beginning of a book; and we finding such an emphasis set by the apostle in the fifth chapter of the Ephesians, upon the history of Adam in the beginning of Genesis, as containing the mystery, yea, the great mystery about Christ, it did somewhat induce, though not so fully persuade, me to think, that the Holy Ghost in those words might have some glance at the story of Adam in the first of the first book of Moses. And withal the rather because so, the words so understood do intimate a higher and further inducement to Christ to assume our nature, the scope of the speech, Heb. 10, being to render the reason why he so willingly took man’s nature: not only because God liked not sacrifice and burnt-offering, which came in but upon occasion of sin, and after the fall, and could not take sins away, but further, that he was prophesied of, and his assuming a body prophetically foresignified as in the fortieth Psalm, so even by Adam’s story before the fall, recorded in the very beginning of Genesis, which many other Scriptures do expressly apply it unto.—Thomas Goodwin. Verse 8.—“I delight to do thy will, O my God.” The will of God to redeem sinners by the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, was most grateful and pleasing to the very heart of Christ. It is said, Prov. 8:31, when he was solacing himself in the sweetest enjoyment of his Father, whilst he lay in that blessed bosom of delights, yet the very prospect of this work gave him pleasure, then his “delights were with the sons of men.” And when he was come into the world, and had endured many abuses and injuries, and was even now come to the most difficult part of the work; yet, “how am I straitened, or pained (saith he), till it be accomplished!” Luke 12:50. Two things call our thoughts to stay upon them in this point. First.—The decency of it—why it ought to be so. 1.—It became Christ to go about this work with cheerfulness and delight, that thereby he might give his death the nature and formality of a sacrifice. In all sacrifices you shall find that God had still a regard, a special respect to the will of the offerer. See Exod. 35:5, 21, and Levit. 1:3. 2.—It ought to be so in view of the unity of Christ’s will with the Father’s. 3.—This was necessary to commend the love of Jesus Christ to us for whom he gave himself. That he came into the world to die for us is a mercy of the first magnitude; but that he came in love to our souls, and underwent all his sufferings with such willingness for our sakes, this heightens it above all apprehension. 4.—It was necessary to be so for the regulating of all our obedience to God, according to this pattern; that seeing and setting this great example of obedience before us, we might never grudge nor grumble at any duty or suffering that God should call us to. Secondly.—Let us consider and examine whence it came to be so pleasant and acceptable to Jesus Christ, to come into the world and die for poor sinners. 1.—That in his sufferings there would be made a glorious display and manifestation of the divine attributes. 2.—Another delightful prospect Christ had of the fruit of his sufferings, was the recovery and salvation of all the elect by his death; and though his sufferings were exceedingly bitter, yet such fruit of them as this was exceedingly sweet. 3.—Add to this, the glory which would redound to him from his redeemed ones to all eternity, for it will be the everlasting employment of the saints in heaven to be ascribing glory, praise, and honour to the Redeemer. Did Christ find pleasure in abasement and torment, in suffering and dying for me, and can I find no pleasure in praying, hearing, meditating, and enjoying the sweet duties of communion with him? Did he come so cheerfully to die for me, and do I go so deadheartedly to prayers and sacraments to enjoy fellowship with him? Was it a pleasure to him to shed his blood, and is it none to me to apply it, and reap the benefits of it? O let there be no more grumblings, lazy excuses, shiftings of duty, or dead-hearted and listless performances of them, after such an example as this. Be ready to do the will of God, be ye also ready to suffer it. And as to sufferings for Christ, they should not be grievous to Christians that know how cheerfully Christ came from the bosom of the Father to die for them. What have we to leave or lose, in comparison with him? What are our sufferings to Christ’s. Alas! there is no compare; there was more bitterness in one drop of his sufferings than in a sea of ours. To conclude; your delight and readiness in the paths of obedience is the very measure of your sanctification.—Condensed from John Flavel. Verse 8.—Now, saith Christ, “I delight to do thy will, O my God;” it is the joy and rejoicing of my heart to be a-seeking and a-saving lost sinners. When Christ was an hungry, he went not into a victualling house but into the temple, and taught the people most part of the day, to show how much he delighted in the salvation of sinners, etc. Christ did so much delight, and his heart was so much set upon the conversion and salvation of the Samaritans, that he neglected his own body to save their souls, as you may clearly see in John 4.—Thomas Brooks. Verse 8.—“To do.” It was Jesus who was the doer of the work. The Father willed it; but he did not do it. It was Jesus who did it, who wrought it out; who brought it in; who carried it within the veil, and laid it as an acceptable and meritorious offering at the feet of his well-pleased Father. The work then is done; it is finished. We need not attempt to do it. We cannot do it. We cannot do that which is already done; and we could not do it, though it were yet undone. There is much that man can do, but he cannot make a propitiation.—James Frame. Verse 8.—“Thy will.” The covenant between the Father and the Son, as elsewhere, so it is most clearly expressed (Heb. 10:7, from Ps. 40:7, 8), “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.” And what will? Verse 10, “The will by which we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” The will of God was, that Jesus should be offered; and to this end, that we might be sanctified and saved. It is called “The offering of the body of Jesus Christ,” in answer to what was said before, “A body hast thou prepared me,” or a human nature, by a synecdoche. “My will,” says God the Father, “is that thou have a body, and that thy body be offered up; and all to this end, that the children, the elect, might be sanctified.” Says the Son to this, “Lo, I come to do thy will;”—“I accept of the condition, and give up myself to the performance of thy will.”—John Owen. Verse 8.—“Thy law is within my heart.” The law of God is not to be kept in books, but in the midst of our hearts, that we may rightly understand the same, admire it, and observe it.—Martin Geier. Verse 8.—“Thy law is within my heart.” The will of God in which Christ delighted, was (as appears by the coherence, and the quotation of Heb. 10:5) that Christ should make his soul an offering for sin, as more acceptable to God than all other burnt-offerings and sin-offerings. This law was in his heart, בְּתוֹךְ מֵעָ, in the midst of his bowels. He did as much delight in it as we do in following those inclinations which nature has implanted in our hearts, as we do in eating and drinking. So he expresses it (John 4:34), “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.” He was as willing to bleed and die for thee as thou art to eat when hungry. He was delighted as much to be scourged, wounded, crucified, as thou delightest in meat when most delicious.—David Clarkson. Verse 8.—“Within my heart,” margin, my bowels. The intestines or viscera are here mentioned as the place of the most profound spiritual occupation.—Franz Delitzsch. Verse 9.—“I have preached righteousness,” etc. It is Jesus who speaks, and he speaks of himself as a preacher. He was a preacher, and a great preacher too. He was great—1. In genuine eloquence. All the handmaids of the choicest rhetoric ministered to him as he spake. His mind touched the minds of his auditors on all sides. 2. He was great in knowledge. Many who have an astonishing command of words, and who can use their words with astonishing rhetorical adroitness, spoil their influence by their “lack of knowledge.” They go blunderingly onward when they attempt to think for themselves, or to guide their hearers into fields of thought which have not been tracked by minds of the pioneer order. 3. He was great also in goodness. There is a greatness in goodness, and the greatness of goodness is an important element in the greatness of a preacher. 4. Jesus was great, too, in official status. Official status, whether in things civil, literary, or sacred, when conferred on worthy individuals, confers, in its turn, undoubted weight and moral authority. Now Jesus was the highest official in the universe. His authority extended to all other office-bearers, his office exceeded all other offices. He came from above, and was “above all.” He was Lord of lords, and King of kings. 5. Another element still in the greatness of Jesus, as a preacher, consisted in the greatness of his essential dignity. He was God as well as man. Such was Christ as a preacher. True he was more than a preacher; he was likewise a pattern, and a priest, and a propitiator; and as pattern, priest, and propitiator, he stands without a peer. But he was a preacher, too, and as a preacher, he has never had, and never will have an equal.—Condensed from James Frame. Verse 9.—“The great congregation.” The “congregation” here referred to was “great” not only in numbers, but “great” also in the necessities of its individual members, and great in pollution.—James Frame. Verses 9, 10.—“I have published.… I would not refrain.… I have not covered … I have uttered … I have not hid:” words are heaped upon words to express the eager forwardness of a heart burning to show forth its gratitude. No elaborate description could so well have given us the likeness of one whose “life was a thanksgiving.”—J. J. Stewart Perowne. Verses 9, 10.—The true way of justification of sinners by faith is a jewel so precious and necessary for poor souls, that it should not be concealed: “I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.” One sermon on this subject is not sufficient; it is necessary to make this mystery plain, how by faith in Christ the man that flieth to him is justified from his sins, and saved according to the covenant passed between the suffering Mediator and God the faithful promisor, to justify and save by his own way. “I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation.”—David Dickson. Verses 9, 10.—“Thy.” The adding thy to every one of them is emphatical; it was thy righteousness I had commission to declare, thy faithfulness I had order to proclaim, thy mercy I had charge to publish; thou wert as much interested in all that I did as I myself was. I shall be counted false and a liar, thou wilt be counted unjust and cruel, if all be not fulfilled as I have spoken. Since it was thy rule I observed, and thy glory I aimed at in declaring it, disgrace not thyself and me in refusing the petition of such a suppliant, who believes in my word which I gave out by thy authority.—Stephen Charnock. Verse 10.—“I have not hid.” This intimates, that whoever undertook to preach the gospel of Christ would be in great temptation to hide it, and conceal it, because it must be preached with great contention, and in the face of great opposition.—Matthew Henry. Verse 10.—“I have not hid,” etc. What God has done for us, or for the church, we should lay to heart; but not lock up in our heart.—Carl Bernhard Moll in Lange’s “Bibelwerk,” 1869. Verse 11.—“Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me.” Do not hinder them from coming showering down upon me. “Let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me; “or, do thou employ them in preserving me.—John Diodati. Verse 12.—“For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head.” We lose ourselves when we speak of the sins of our lives. It may astonish any considering man to take notice how many sins he is guilty of any one day; how many sins accompany any one single act; nay, how many bewray themselves in any one religious duty. Whensoever ye do anything forbidden, you omit the duty at that time commanded; and whenever you neglect that which is enjoined, the omission is joined with the acting of something forbidden; so that the sin, whether omission or commission, is always double; nay, the apostle makes every sin tenfold. James 2:10. That which seems one to us, according to the sense of the law, and the account of God, is multiplied by ten. He breaks every command by sinning directly against one, and so sins ten times at once; besides that swarm of sinful circumstances and aggravations which surround every act in such numbers, as atoms use to surround your body in a dusty room; you may more easily number these than those. And though some count these but fractions, incomplete sins, yet even from hence it is more difficult to take an account of their number. And, which is more for astonishment, pick out the best religious duty that ever you performed, and even in that performance you may find such a swarm of sins as cannot be numbered. In the best prayer that ever you put up to God, irreverence, lukewarmness, unbelief, spiritual pride, self-seeking, hypocrisy, distractions, etc., and many more, that an enlightened soul grieves and bewails; and yet there are many more that the pure eye of God discerns, than any man does take notice of.—David Clarkson. Verse 12.—“Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me.” They seized him as the sinner’s substitute, to deal with him as regards their own penalty, according to the sinner’s desert.—James Frame. Verse 13.—The remaining verses of this Psalm are almost exactly identical with Psalm 70. Verse 14.—“Let them be ashamed and confounded,” etc. Even this prayer carried benevolence in its bosom. It sought from the divine Father, such a manifestation of what was glorious and God-like as might unnerve each rebel arm, and overawe each rebel heart in the traitor’s company. If each arm were for a little unnerved, if each heart were for a little unmanned, there might be time for the better principles of their nature to rise and put an arrest upon the prosecution of their wicked design. Such being the benevolent aim of the prayer, we need not wonder that it issued from the same heart that by-and-by exclaimed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do;” neither need we marvel that it was answered to the very letter, and that as soon as he said to the traitor band, “I am he,” they went backward and fell to the ground.—James Frame. Verse 15.—“Aha, aha.” An exclamation which occurs three times in the Psalms; and in each case there seems to be reference to the mockery at the Passion. See 35:21; and 70:3, which appear to belong to the same time as the present Psalm.—Christopher Wordsworth. Verse 16.—“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.” As every mercy to every believer giveth a proof of God’s readiness to show the like mercy to all believers, when they stand in need; so should every mercy shown to any of the number, being known to the rest, be made the matter and occasion of magnifying the Lord.—David Dickson. Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.” To love God’s salvation is to love God himself, the Saviour, or Jesus.—Martin Geier. Verse 16.—“Such as love thy salvation.” One would think that self-love alone should make us love salvation. Ay, but they love it because it is his, “that love thy salvation.” It is the character of a holy saint to love salvation itself; not as his own only, but as God’s, as God’s that saves him.—Thomas Goodwin. Verse 16.—“Let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified.” Jesus who gave us our capacity of happiness and our capacity of speaking, realised the relation which he had established between them; and hence in praying for his friends, he prayed that in the joy and gladness of their souls they might say, “The Lord be magnified.” He desired them to speak of their holy happiness; and it was his wish that when they did speak of it they should speak in terms of laudation of Jehovah, for he was the source of it. He desired them to say continually, “The Lord be magnified.”—James Frame. Verse 17.—In Dr. Malan’s memoir, the editor, one of his sons, thus writes of his brother Jocelyn, who was for some years prior to his death, the subject of intense bodily sufferings:—“One striking feature in his character was his holy fear of God, and reverence for his will. One day I was repeating a verse from the Psalms, ‘As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord careth for me: thou art my helper and deliverer; O Lord, make no long tarrying.’ He said, “Mamma, I love that verse, all but the last bit, it looks like a murmur against God. He never ‘tarries’ in my case.”—From “The Life, Labours, and Writings of Cæsar Malan (1787–1864): By one of his sons,” 1689. Verse 17.—“Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” Sacred story derives from heaven the kindness of Abimelech to Abraham, of Laban and Esau to Jacob, of Ruth to Naomi, of Boaz to Ruth, and Jonathan to David. When others think of kindness to us, let us imitate David, ’tis the Lord that thinketh upon me, and forms those thoughts within their hearts. This should calm our spirits when a former friend’s heart is alienated by rash admissions of false suggestions, or when any faithful Jonathan expires his spirit into the bosom of God. It should not be lost what Hobson, the late noted carrier of Cambridge, said to a young student receiving a letter of the sad tidings of his uncle’s decease (who maintained him at the University), and weeping bitterly, and reciting the cause of his grief, he replied, Who gave you that friend? Which saying did greatly comfort him, and was a sweet support to him afterwards in his ministry. The Everliving God is the portion of a living faith, and he can never want that hath such an ocean. He that turns the hearts of kings like rivers at his pleasure, turns all the little brooks in the world into what scorched and parched ground he pleases.—Samuel Lee. Verse 17.—“The Lord thinketh upon me.” There are three things in God’s thinking upon us, that are solacing and delightful. Observe the frequency of his thoughts. Indeed, they are incessant. You have a friend, whom you esteem and love. You wish to live in his mind. You say when you part, and when you write, “Think of me.” You give him, perhaps, a token to revive his remembrance. How naturally is Selkirk, in his solitary island, made to say: “My friends, do they now and then send A wish or a thought after me? O tell me, I yet have a friend, Though a friend I am never to see. Ye winds, that have made me your sport, Convey to this desolate shore Some cordial, endearing report. Of a land I shall visit no more.” But the dearest connexion in the world cannot be always thinking upon you. Half his time he is in a state of unconsciousness; and how much during the other half, is he engrossed! But there is no remission in the Lord’s thoughts.… Observe in the next place, the wisdom of his thoughts. You have a dear child, absent from you, and you follow him in your mind. But you know not his present circumstances. You left him in such a place; but where is he now? You left him in such a condition. But what is he now? Perhaps, while you are thinking upon his health, he is groaning under a bruised limb, or a painful disorder. Perhaps, while you are thinking of his safety, some enemy is taking advantage of his innocency. Perhaps, while you are rejoicing in his prudence, he is going to take a step that will involve him for life. But when God thinketh upon you, he is perfectly acquainted with your situation, your dangers, your wants. He knows all your walking through this great wilderness, and can afford you the seasonable succour you need. For again, observe the efficiency of his thoughts. You think upon another, and you are anxious to guide, or defend, or relieve him. But in how many cases can you think only? Solicitude cannot control the disease of the body, cannot dissipate the melancholy of the mind. But with God all things are possible. He who thinks upon you is a God at hand and not afar off; he has all events under his control; he is the God of all grace. If, therefore, he does not immediately deliver, it is not because he is unable to redress, but because he is waiting to be gracious.—William Jay. Hints To Preachers Verse—I. My part—praying and waiting. II. God’s part—condescension and reply. Verse 2.—I. The depth of God’s goodness to his people. It finds them often in a horrible pit and miry clay. There is a certain spider which forms a pit in sand, and lies concealed at the bottom, in order to seize upon other insects that fall into it. Thus David’s enemies tried to bring him into a pit. II. The height of his goodness. He brought me out, and set my feet upon a rock. That rock is Christ. Those feet are faith and hope. III. The breadth of his goodness established my goings, restored me to my former place in his love, showing me still to have been his during my low estate. He was the same to me, though I felt not the same to him. My goings refer both to the past and the future. IV. The strength of his goodness established my goings, making me stand firmer after every fall.—George Rogers. Verses 2, 3.—The sinner’s position by nature, and his rescue by grace. Verses 2, 3.—By one and the same act the Lord works our salvation, our enemies’ confusion, and the church’s edification.—J. P. Lange’s Commentary. Verse 3.—The new song, the singer, the teacher. Verse 4 (last clause).—I. Find out who turn aside to lies—Atheists, Papists, self-righteous, lovers of sin. II. Show their folly in turning aside from God and truth, and in turning to fallacies which lead to death. III. Show how to be preserved from the like folly, by choosing truth, truthful persons, and above all the service of God. Verse 5.—1. There are works of God in his people and for his people. There are his works of creation, of providence, and of redemption, and also his works of grace, wrought in them by his Spirit, and around them by his providence, as well as for them by his Son. II. These are wonderful works; wonderful in their variety, their tenderness, their adaptation to their need, their co-operation with outward means and their power. III. They are the result of the divine thoughts respecting us. They come not by chance, not by men, but by the hand of God, and that hand is moved by his will, and that will by his thought respecting us. Every mercy, even the least, represents some kind thought in the mind of God respecting us. God thinks of each one of his people, and every moment. IV. They are innumerable. “They cannot be reckoned up.” Could we see all the mercies of God to us and his wonderful works wrought for us individually, they would be countless as the sands, and all these countless mercies represent countless thoughts in the mind and heart of God to each one of his people.—George Rogers. Verse 5.—The multitude of God’s thoughts, and deeds of grace, beginning in eternity, continuing for ever; and dealing with this life, heaven, hell, sin, angels, devils, and indeed all things. Verse 6.—Here David goes beyond himself, and speaks the language of David’s Son. This was naturally suggested by God’s wonderful works, and innumerable thoughts of love to man. I. The sacrifices that were not required. These were the sacrifices and burnt-offerings under the law. 1. When required? From Adam to the coming of Christ. 2. When not required? 3. Why required before? As types of the one method of redemption. 4. Why not now required? Because the great Antetype had come. II. The sacrifice that was required. This was the sacrifice offered on Calvary. 1. It was required by God by his justice, his wisdom, his faithfulness, his love, his honour, his glory. 2. It was required by man to give him salvation and confidence in that salvation. 3. It was required for the honour of the moral government of God throughout the universe. III. The person by whom this sacrifice was offered. “Mine ears hast thou opened.” This is the language of Christ, prospectively denoting—1. Knowledge of the sacrifice required. 2. Consecration of himself as a servant for that end.—George Rogers. Verse 6.—“Mine ears hast thou opened.” Readiness to hear, fixity of purpose, perfection of obedience, entireness of consecration. Verses 6–8.—The Lord gives an ear to hear his word, a mouth to confess it, a heart to love it, and power to keep it. Verse 7.—I. The time of Christ’s coming. “Then said I.” When types were exhausted, when prophecies looked for their fulfilment, when worldly wisdom had done its utmost, when the world was almost entirely united under one empire, when the time appointed by the Father had come. II. The design of his coming. “In the volume” was written—1. The constitution of his person. 2. His teaching. 3. The manner of his life. 4. The design of his death. 5. His resurrection and ascension. 6. The kingdom he would establish. III. The voluntariness of his coming, “Lo, I come.” Though sent by the Father, he came of his own accord. “Christ Jesus came into the world.” Men do not come into the world, they are sent into it. “Lo, I come,” denotes pre-existence, pre-determination, pre-operation.—George Rogers. Verse 8.—“To do thy will, O God.” I. The will of God is seen in the fact of salvation. It has its origin in the will of God. II. The will of God is seen in the plan of salvation. All things have proceeded, are proceeding, and will proceed according to that plan. III. It is seen in the provision of salvation, in the appointment of his own Son to become the mediator, the atoning sacrifice, the law-fulfiller, the head of the church, that his plan required. IV. It is seen in the accomplishment of salvation. Verse 9.—Referring to our Lord; a great preacher, a great subject, a great congregation, and his great faithfulness in the work. Verse 10 (first clause).—I. The righteousness possessed by God. II. The righteousness prescribed by God. III. The righteousness provided by God.—James Frame. Verse 10.—I. The preacher must reveal his whole message. II. He must not conceal any part. 1. Not of the righteousness of the law or the gospel. 2. Not of the lovingkindness of grace. 3. Not of any portion of the truth. 1. To omit is to conceal. 2. To entangle with human reasonings. 3. To cover with flowers of rhetoric. 4. To give a partial representation. 5. To put one truth in the place of another. 6. To give the letter without the spirit.—G. R. Verse 10.—The great sin of concealing what we know of God. Verse 11.—Enrichment and preservation sought. The true riches are from God, gifts of his sovereignty, fruits of his mercy, marked with his tenderness. The best preservations are divine love and faithfulness. Verse 12.—Compare this with verse 5. The number of our sins, and the number of his thoughts of love. Verse 12 (second clause).—I. The soul arrested—“taken hold.” II. The soul bewildered—“cannot look up.” III. The soul’s only refuge—prayer, ver. 13. Verse 13.—I. The language of believing prayer—deliver me, help me; looking for deliverance and help to God only. II. Of earnest prayer—make haste to help me. III. Of submissive prayer—be pleased, O Lord, if according to thy good pleasure. IV. Of consistent prayer. Help me, which implies efforts for his own deliverance, putting his own shoulder to the wheel. Verses 11–13.—As an instance of clerical ingenuity, it may be well to mention that Canon Wordsworth has a sermon from these verses upon “The duty of making responses in public prayer.” Verse 14.—Honi soit qui mal y pense; or, the reward of malignity. Verse 16 (last clause).—An every-day saying. Who can use it? What does it mean? Why should they say it? Why say it continually? Verse 17.—The humble “But,” and the believing “Yet.” The little “I am,” and the great “Thou art.” The fitting prayer. Verse 17.—“The Lord thinketh upon me.” Admire the condescension, and then consider that this is—I. A promised blessing. II. A practical blessing—he thinks upon us to supply, protect, direct, sanctify, etc. III. A precious blessing—kind thoughts, continual, greatly good. He thinks of us as his creatures with pity, as his children with love, as his friends with pleasure. IV. A present blessing—promises, providences, visitations of grace. Verse 17.—I. The less we think of ourselves the more God will think upon us. II. The less we put trust in ourselves the more we may trust in God for help and deliverance. III. The less delay in prayer and active efforts the sooner God will appear for us.

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 27-57, vol. 2 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 242–254.

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