Psalm 116:16 Kommentar

This is a thanksgiving psalm; it is not certain whether David penned it upon any particular occasion or upon a general review of the many gracious deliverances God had wrought for him, out of six troubles and seven, which deliverances draw from him many very lively expressions of devotion, love, and gratitude; and with similar pious affections our souls should be lifted up to God in singing it. Observe, I. The great distress and danger that the psalmist was in, which almost drove him to despair (Psa 116:3, Psa 116:10, Psa 116:11). II. The application he made to God in that distress (Psa 116:4). III. The experience he had of God's goodness to him, in answer to prayer; God heard him (Psa 116:1, Psa 116:2), pitied him (Psa 116:5, Psa 116:6), delivered him (Psa 116:8). IV His care respecting the acknowledgments he should make of the goodness of God to him (Psa 116:12). 1. He will love God (Psa 116:1). 2. He will continue to call upon him (Psa 116:2, Psa 116:13, Psa 116:17). 3. He will rest in him (Psa 116:7). 4. He will walk before him (Psa 116:9). 5. He will pay his vows of thanksgiving, in which he will own the tender regard God had to him, and this publicly (Psa 116:13-15, Psa 116:17-19). Lastly, He will continue God's faithful servant to his life's end (Psa 116:16). These are such breathings of a holy soul as bespeak it very happy.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 116 Theodoret applies this psalm to the distresses of the Jews in the times of the Maccabees under Antiochus Epiphanes; and R. Obadiah interprets some passages in it of the Grecians of those times; but it rather seems to have been written by David on account of some troubles of his, out of which he was delivered; and refers either to the times of Saul, and the persecutions he endured from him, particularly when he was beset round about by him and his men in the wilderness of Maon, Sa1 23:26, to which he may have respect Psa 116:3. The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is, "the progress of the new people returning to the Christian worship, as a child to understanding: and as to the letter, it was said when Saul stayed at the door of the cave where David lay hid with his men;'' see Sa1 24:4. But since mention is made of Jerusalem, Psa 116:19, where the psalmist would praise the Lord for his deliverance, which as yet was not in his hands nor in the hands of the Israelites, but of the Jebusites; some have thought it was written on account of the conspiracy of Absalom against him, and who, hearing that Ahithophel was among the conspirators, said the words related in Psa 116:11, it is very probable it was composed after the death of Saul, and when he was settled in the kingdom, as Jarchi observes, and was delivered out of the hands of all his enemies; and very likely much about the same time as the eighteenth psalm was, which begins in the same manner, and has some expressions in it like to what are in this. David was a type of Christ, and some apply this psalm to him.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord,.... See Gill on Psa 116:14. And the Targum here, as there, paraphrases the latter clause, now in the presence of all his people, thus; "I will then declare his signs (or wonders) to all his people;'' the marvellous things he had done for him.

When we read this, we correctly understand that Solomon was a natural and genuine son and do not consider him a servant just because we hear him so called. So also concerning the Savior, who is confessed to be in truth the Son and to be the Word by nature, as the saints say, “Who was faithful to him that made him,” or if he says of himself, “The Lord created me,” and, “I am your servant and the Son of your handmaid,” and similar claims. Let no one on this account deny that he is the true Son of the Father and from him. As in the case of Solomon and David, let them have a correct understanding of the Father and the Son.

But now I am returning and running back to my original Lord, and I acknowledge my enslavement of old. You have broken through my bonds [Ps 115.7]. You freed me from the bonds of sin by descending into hell and releasing humanity when it was in the bonds of death and detained in the inescapable prisons of hell. - "On Psalm 115. Chapter 5."

Learn, then, what this means: “He took on himself the form of a servant.” It means that Christ took on himself all the perfections of humanity in their completeness and obedience in its completeness. And so it says in the thirtieth psalm, “You have set my feet in a large room. I am made a reproach above all mine enemies. Make your face to shine on your servant.” “Servant” means the Man in whom he was sanctified; it means the Man in whom he was anointed; it means the Man in whom he was made under the law, made of the Virgin; and, to put it briefly, it means the Man in whose person he has a mother, as it is written: “O Lord, I am your servant, I am your servant and the son of your handmaid”; and again: “I am cast down and deeply humbled.”

While we often read that sacrifices were offered by David to the Lord, he adds this passage: “To you I will offer sacrifice of praise.” He does not say “I offer sacrifice” but “I will offer sacrifice,” meaning that the sacrifice will have been completed when each one stands before the Lord, freed of the chains of this body, and offers himself as a victim of praise. For before death no praise is completed, nor could anyone in this life be praised with final praise, since his later actions are uncertain. Death then is the freeing of the soul from the body. And so we have taught what was written by the apostle: “by far the better to be dissolved and to be with Christ.” And what is the effect of that dissolution? The body is released and at rest, while the soul turns to its place of repose and is free; if it is devout, it is going to be with Christ.

Let therefore the slave purchased at so great a price confess his condition, and say, Behold, O Lord, how that I am Your servant: "I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaid" [Psalm 116:16]....This, therefore, is the son of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, the free mother of us all. [Galatians 4:26] And free indeed from sin she is, but the handmaid of righteousness; to whose sons still pilgrims it is said, "You have been called unto liberty;" [Galatians 5:13] and again he makes them servants, when he says, "but by love serve one another."...Let therefore that servant say unto God, Many call themselves martyrs, many Your servants, because they hold Your Name in various heresies and errors; but since they are beside Your Church, they are not the children of Your handmaid. But "I am Your servant, and the son of Your handmaid." "You have broken my bonds asunder."

He [the psalmist] must not give into his panic; in his panic he is likely to be mistaken. And while he was trembling with fear, he was given courage, where he said, "O Lord, I am your servant and the son of your maidservant; you have burst my chains asunder." My biggest chain was the love of staying alive, and therein was the cause of my dying. Many, you see, for love of staying alive, have died eternally. And again, many martyrs, by thinking nothing of life that has an end, have gained life without end. Just as the person who loves money often disregards money for love of money, so as to gain more money by disregarding money. So we have the dictum of a well-known personage, "On occasion to take no account of money is now and then extremely profitable." And that is what moneylenders do; they amass money by giving it away, as though sowing a little of it in order to reap a large quantity. In the same way, too, the martyrs for love of life disregarded life. By fearing death, they would have died; by wishing to live, they would have refused to live.

But after the Lord cried out through the Gospel, "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart," how many, when they heard the Gospel did what the rich man, when he heard it from the Lord's own mouth, did not do? Therefore, let us now do it, let us follow the Lord. Let us loose the shackles by which we are prevented from following. And who is suited to loose such knots, if that one should not help to whom it was said, "You have broken my bonds"? And about him another psalm says, "The Lord releases those that were fettered, the Lord raises up those that were bowed down."

Whoever then by this love has attained the image and likeness of God will now delight in goodness for the pleasure of goodness itself. Now having a similar feeling of patience and gentleness, they will no longer be angered by the faults of sinners, but in compassion and sympathy will rather ask for pardon for their infirmities. And remembering that for so long they themselves were was tried by the stings of similar passions till by the Lord’s mercy they were saved, they will feel that, as they were saved from carnal attacks not by the teaching of their own exertions but by God’s protection, pity and not anger ought to be shown to those who go astray. With full peace of mind they will sing to God the following verse: “Thou hast broken my chains. I will offer to you the sacrifice of praise.” And also: “Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul would have dwelt in hell.”

Our Savior, dearly beloved, has ascended into heaven; therefore let us not be disturbed on earth. Let our spirit be in heaven, and peace will be here. Meanwhile let us ascend with Christ in heart, and when his promised day comes, we shall also follow in body. Nevertheless, we ought to know that pride or avarice or dissipation did not ascend with Christ. No vice of ours ascended with our physician. And for this reason, if we desire to ascend and follow the physician, let us strive here to lay aside our vices and sins. For all of our iniquities surround us as if with chains, and they strive to bind us in the network of our sins. Therefore with God’s help, according to what the psalmist says, “Let us break their chains.” Then we will be able to say to the Lord with assurance, “You have loosed my bonds, to you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving.” The resurrection of the Lord is our hope; his ascension is our glory.

After invoking others to unite in praise, the writer celebrates God's protecting and delivering care towards him, and then represents himself and the people of God as entering the sanctuary and uniting in solemn praise, with prayer for a continued blessing. Whether composed by David on his accession to power, or by some later writer in memory of the restoration from Babylon, its tone is joyful and trusting, and, in describing the fortune and destiny of the Jewish Church and its visible head, it is typically prophetical of the Christian Church and her greater and invisible Head. (Psa. 118:1-29) The trine repetitions are emphatic (compare Psa 118:10-12, Psa 118:15-16; Psa 115:12-13). Let . . . say--Oh! that Israel may say. now--as in Psa 115:2; so in Psa 118:3-4. After "now say" supply "give thanks." that his mercy--or, "for His mercy."