Psalm 31:7 Kommentar

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.

I will be glad, and rejoice in thy mercy,.... Both because of the nature of it, which is large and abundant, free and sovereign, from everlasting to everlasting, and is communicated in and through Christ, and is a good ground of hope and trust; and because of the effects of it, or what it has produced; for to it are owing the covenant of grace, and all the sure mercies of it; the mission of Christ, and redemption by him; regeneration, and the forgiveness of sins, and even eternal life and glory; besides a multitude of blessings, deliverances, and salvations in Providence; on account of all which there is great reason for joy and gladness; of which the following are particulars; for thou hast considered my trouble; inward, arising from indwelling sin, doubts and fears, desertions and darkness, and Satan's temptations; and outward, from the world, and the men of it, and by reason of bodily afflictions: now the Lord looks upon the troubles of his people, and upon them in them, with an eye of pity and compassion; he sympathizes with them; he considers the nature of their trouble, their weakness to bear it, and the best way, in tans, and time to deliver out of it; he working all things after the counsel of his own will; see Exo 3:7; thou hast known my soul in adversities; that is, the Lord had took notice of him, approved of him, loved him, had visited him, and made known his love to him, and owned him for his own, and had chosen him in the furnace of affliction; a time and season when oftentimes friends and acquaintance are shy, and will not look upon men, know them, and own them; but the Lord does otherwise, and which is another reason of joy and gladness in his mercy.

"I will be glad, and rejoice in Your mercy:" which does not deceive me. "For You have regarded My humiliation:" wherein You have subjected me to vanity in hope. [Romans 8:20] "You have saved my soul from necessities" [Psalm 31:7]. You have saved my soul from the necessities of fear, that with a free love it may serve You.

Let us give attention to the one who says that his humility was respected. It is he who both created heaven and earth and holds them intact, he whom the heavenly powers serve. But there was humility in the Most High for this reason, because also a true human nature was connected to him, made perfect from his very conception.

"But I." Above, he assigned the reason for his hope from the divine condition; here he assigns it from the experience of divine benefits. Concerning which he does two things. First, he proposes hope; second, its effect, at "I will be glad." He says therefore: God hates the wicked; "But I," who do not observe vanities, "have hoped in God alone," not in the god of riches, 1 Tim. 6. The effect of hope is spiritual joy. Rom. 12: "Rejoicing in hope." And he sets forth the manner of joy, because "I will rejoice and be glad." Now exultation is a joy leaping forth outwardly through external signs. Gladness, however, denotes the interior expansion of the heart. Exultation therefore denotes the greatness of the joy; gladness, its moderation. And he places exultation first, because men inflamed with love of God at first rejoice more, and afterward moderately. "I will be glad," not in my justice, but in yours.

"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.

hast known my soul, &c.--had regard to me in trouble.