Psalm 31:8 Komentář

It is probable that David penned this psalm when he was persecuted by Saul; some passages in it agree particularly to the narrow escapes he had, at Keilah (Sa1 23:13), then in the wilderness of Maon, when Saul marched on one side of the hill and he on the other, and, soon after, in the cave in the wilderness of En-gedi; but that it was penned upon any of those occasions we are not told. It is a mixture of prayers, and praises, and professions of confidence in God, all which do well together and are helpful to one another. I. David professes his cheerful confidence in God, and, in that confidence, prays for deliverance out of his present troubles (Psa 31:1-8). II. He complains of the very deplorable condition he was in, and, in the sense of his calamities, still prays that God would graciously appear for him against his persecutors (Psa 31:9-18). III. He concludes the psalm with praise and triumph, giving glory to God, and encouraging himself and others to trust in him (Psa 31:19-24). To the chief musician. A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 31 To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David. This psalm, according to Arama, was composed by David when in Keilah; but, according to Kimchi and others, when the Ziphites proposed to deliver him up into the hands of Saul; and who, upon their solicitations, came down and surrounded him with his army, from whom in haste he made his escape, and to which he is thought to refer in Psa 31:22. Theodoret supposes it was written by David when he fled from Absalom, and that it has some respect in it to his sin against Uriah, in that verse.

And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy,.... When in Keilah, in the wilderness of Ziph, and Maon, and encompassed about by Saul and his army, Sa1 23:7; nor does the Lord suffer his people to be shut up under the power of sin and Satan, so that they cannot come forth in the exercise of grace, and the discharge of duty: but he brings their souls out of prison, that they may praise his name; thou hast set my feet in a large room; at full liberty from his enemies; Saul and his army being called off from pursuing him, by tidings of an invasion by the Philistines, Sa1 23:27; and this is the case of the saints when they are brought to Christ, to walk by faith at large on him; when grace is drawn forth into exercise, and spiritual knowledge is increased, and they are delivered from their enemies; or, however, can look upon them as conquered ones, and are sure of victory over them, and at last of an entire deliverance from them; see Psa 4:1.

"And hast not shut me up into the hands of the enemy" [Psalm 31:8]. And hast not shut me up, that I should have no opening for recovering unto liberty, and be given over for ever into the power of the devil, ensnaring me with the desire of this life, and terrifying me with death. "You have set my feet in a large room." The resurrection of my Lord being known, and my own being promised me, my love, having been brought out of the straits of fear, walks abroad in continuance, into the expanse of liberty.

The reasons of temptation, when they are realized, provide a broad plane for the soul.

"Because." Here he commemorates the benefit of liberation. First, the liberation; second, the manner of liberation, at "You have not shut me up." He says he was freed from two things: from rejection and from tribulation. The first is opposed to honor; the second to prosperity. As to the first he says "humility," that is, rejection; as if to say, although you are exalted in heaven, yet "you have looked upon" this lowly one here, or "the humility of my heart." Lk. 1: "He has regarded the humility of his handmaid." As to the second he says, "You have saved my soul from necessities," that is, tribulations -- not the body; because according to the body they sometimes succumb, but the soul is freed. Ps. 24: "Deliver me from my necessities, O Lord." Or, by necessities he means the passibilities of the present life, namely death, hunger, want, and poverty: Rom. 12: "Sharing in the necessities of the saints." The manner of liberation is shown. First, as to the escape from evil; second, as to the preservation in good, at "Because you have set." He says therefore as to the first, "You have not shut me up." That is shut up of which nothing is outside. God permits someone to be tempted by men, but he does not shut him up in their hands, because he reserves something to which the enemy cannot reach, as in Job 1, whom he first so confined regarding his substance that the body should not be touched; then he so confined regarding the body that the soul should not be touched. Hence he says, "Nevertheless, preserve his soul." But the wicked are shut up in the hands of the enemy. But against this: Job 16: "He has shut me up with the unjust," and so on. I respond: this is true according to the intention of the enemy, who believes himself to prevail, but it is not true in an absolute sense. As to the second he says, "You have set," and so on, that is, in a free and broad place, "my feet," that is, my affections, because from no quarter is he impeded from doing good. Prov. 4: "I will lead you through the paths of equity, and when you have entered them, your steps shall not be straitened, and when you run, you shall not stumble." Or, this spacious place is eternal life. Bar. 3: "O Israel, how great is the house of God," and so on, "where our feet stood." Ps. 121: "Our feet were standing," and so on.

The prayer of a believer in time of deep distress. In the first part, cries for help are mingled with expressions of confidence. Then the detail of griefs engrosses his attention, till, in the assurance of strong but submissive faith, he rises to the language of unmingled joyful trust and exhorts others to like love and confidence towards God. (Psa. 31:1-24) Expresses the general tone of feeling of the Psalm.

shut me up . . . enemy--abandon to (Sa1 23:11). large room--place of safety (compare Psa 18:19).