Salmi 138:6 Commento

It does not appear, nor is it material to enquire, upon what occasion David penned this psalm; but in it, I. He looks back with thankfulness upon the experiences he had had of God's goodness to him (Psa 138:1-3). II. He looks forward with comfort, in hopes, 1. That others would go on to praise God like him (Psa 138:4, Psa 138:5). 2. That God would go on to do good to him (Psa 138:6-8). In singing this psalm we must in like manner devote ourselves to God's praise and glory and repose ourselves in his power and goodness. A psalm of David.

David here comforts himself with three things: - I. The favour God bears to his humble people (Psa 138:6): Though the Lord be high, and neither needs any of his creatures nor can be benefited by them, yet has he respect unto the lowly, smiles upon them as well pleased with them, overlooks heaven and earth to cast a gracious look upon them (Isa 57:15; Isa 66:1), and, sooner or later, he will put honour upon them, while he knows the proud afar off, knows them, but disowns them and rejects them, how proudly soever they pretend to his favour. Dr. Hammond makes this to be the sum of that gospel which the kings of the earth shall hear and welcome - that penitent sinners shall be accepted of God, but the impenitent cast out; witness the instance of the Pharisee and the publican, Lu. 18. II. The care God takes of his afflicted oppressed people, Psa 138:7. David, though a great and good man, expects to walk in the midst of trouble, but encourages himself with hope, 1. That God would comfort him: "When my spirit is ready to sink and fail, thou shalt revive me, and make me easy and cheerful under my troubles." Divine consolations have enough in them to revive us even when we walk in the midst of troubles and are ready to die away for fear. 2. That he would protect him, and plead his cause: "Thou shalt stretch forth thy hand, though not against my enemies to destroy them, yet against the wrath of my enemies, to restrain that and set bounds to it." 3. That he would in due time work deliverance for him: Thy right hand shall save me. As he has one hand to stretch out against his enemies, so he has another to save his own people. Christ is the right hand of the Lord, that shall save all those who serve him. III. The assurance we have that whatever good work God has begun in and for his people he will perform it (Psa 138:8): The Lord will perfect that which concerns me, 1. That which is most needful for me; and he knows best what is so. We are careful and cumbered about many things that do not concern us, but he knows what are the things that really are of consequence to us (Mat 6:32) and he will order them for the best. 2. That which we are most concerned about. Every good man is most concerned about his duty to God and his happiness in God, that the former may be faithfully done and the latter effectually secured; and if indeed these are the things that our hearts are most upon, and concerning which we are most solicitous, there is a good work begun in us, and he that has begun it will perfect it, we may be confident he will, Phi 1:6. Observe, (1.) What ground the psalmist builds this confidence upon: Thy mercy, O Lord! endures for ever. This he had made very much the matter of his praise (Psa 13:6), and therefore he could here with the more assurance make it the matter of his hope. For, if we give God the glory of his mercy, we may take to ourselves the comfort of it. Our hopes that we shall persevere must be founded, not upon our own strength, for that will fail us, but upon the mercy of God, for that will not fail. It is well pleaded, "Lord, thy mercy endures for ever; let me be for ever a monument of it." (2.) What use he makes of this confidence; it does not supersede, but quicken prayer; he turns his expectation into a petition: "Forsake not, do not let go, the work of thy own hands. Lord, I am the work of thy own hands, my soul is so, do not forsake me; my concerns are so, do not lay by thy care of them." Whatever good there is in us it is the work of God's own hands; he works in us both to will and to do; it will fail if he forsake it; but his glory, as Jehovah, a perfecting God, is so much concerned in the progress of it to the end that we may in faith pray, "Lord, do not forsake it." Whom he loves he loves to the end; and, as for God, his work is perfect.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 138 A Psalm of David. This psalm is generally thought to have been written by David upon his being advanced to the throne; on account of which he praises the Lord, who had supported him under many exercises, and had made good his promise to him, at least in part; and he firmly believed the accomplishment of the rest, that he would perfect what concerned him, Psa 138:8. It seems as if this psalm was composed between his being king over Judah and over all Israel. Though Theodoret understands the psalm as a thanksgiving of the Jews upon their return from Babylon, which David prophesied of. The Syriac version calls it a thanksgiving with a prophecy; as indeed it is a prophecy of the Messiah's kingdom, and of the calling of the Gentiles in the latter day, as appears from Psa 138:4.

Though the Lord be high,.... Above all the earth, and all the nations of it, and the highest of men in it; above the heavens, and the angels there, who are his creatures and at his command; above all the blessings and praises of his saints: the perfect knowledge of him is so high as not to be attained; and his thoughts and ways are higher than ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth; he is indeed the most High, higher than the highest; see Psa 113:4. According to Arama, here begins the song, "the kings of the earth shall sing in the ways of the Lord?'' yet hath he respect unto the lowly; for good, as the Targum; that are low in their own eyes, humbled under a sense of sin, convinced, of the insufficiency of their own righteousness to justify them, and made to submit to the righteousness of Christ; ascribe the whole of their salvation to the free grace of God; patiently and quietly bear every afflictive providence; think the worst of themselves, and the best of others; and, being the followers of the lowly Jesus, learn of him, imitate him, and become like unto him: these the Lord has a gracious respect unto; he looks upon them with a look of love; he has respect to their persons in Christ, and to their sacrifices for his sake, which are those of a broken and contrite heart; he regards their prayers, though low and destitute, and gives more grace unto them; yea, he condescends to dwell with them, and in due time highly exalts them; see Isa 57:15. David may have in view his own low state and condition as a shepherd, in which he was when the Lord took him, and raised him to the throne of Israel; but the proud he knoweth afar off; the Targum adds, "to destroy them:'' such who are proud of themselves and what they have; of their wisdom and knowledge, of their strength or beauty, of their wealth and riches; or of their righteousness and holiness; of the purity and goodness of their hearts, and power of their free will, they vainly think themselves possessed of; and despise others below them in these things, or the practice of them: these the Lord takes notice of, and looks upon them at a distance with scorn and contempt; nor will he admit them to nearness to him, nay, opposes himself to them, and sooner or later abases them; see Pro 3:34. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, "high things he knoweth afar off"; things too high for creatures, that are out of their reach; he sees and knows all persons and things, whether in heaven or in earth. Others render them, "and the high One knoweth afar off" (u); knows the lowly, owns and acknowledges them for his own; takes care of them, provides for them, and protects them: and then the sense is the same with the preceding clause. (u) So Pagninus; "quamvis", Junius & Tremellius.

See how he willed that kings should sing on their way, humbly bearing the Lord, not lifting themselves up against the Lord. For if they lift themselves up, what follows? "For the Lord is high, and has respect unto the lowly" [Psalm 138:6]. Do kings then desire that He have respect unto them? Let them be humble. What then? If they lift themselves up to pride, can they escape His eyes? Lest perchance, because you have heard, "He has respect unto the lowly," thou choose to be proud, and say in your soul, God has respect unto the lowly, He has not respect unto me, I will do what I will. O foolish one! Would you say this, if you knew what you ought to love? Behold, even if God wills not to see you, do you not fear this very thing, that He wills not to see you?...The lofty then, it seems, He has not respect unto, for it is the lowly He respects. "The lofty"— what? "He considers from afar." What then gains the proud? To be seen from afar, not to escape being seen. And think not that you must needs be safe on that account, for that He sees less clearly, who sees you from afar. For thou indeed see not clearly, what you see from afar; God, although He see you from afar, sees you perfectly, yet is He not with you. This you gain, not that you are less perfectly seen, but that you are not with Him by whom you are seen. But what does the lowly gain? "The Lord is near unto them that are of a contrite heart." Let the proud then lift himself up as much as he will, certainly God dwells on high, God is in heaven: do you wish that He come near to you? Humble yourself. For the higher will He be above you, the more you lift yourself up.

Perhaps because [the psalm] said, “The Lord is sublime and observes lowly things,” you say to yourself, “Then he does not observe me.” What could be more unfortunate than you, if he does not observe you but ignores you? Observing indicates compassion; ignoring indicates contempt. But no doubt, because the Lord observes lowly things, you imagine you escape his notice, because you are not humble or lowly, you are high and mighty, you are proud. That is not the way to be missed by the eyes of God. I mean, just see what it says there: “The Lord is sublime.” Sublime indeed. How are you going to get to him? Will you look for a ladder? Look for the wood of humility, and you have already gotten to him. “The Lord is sublime, he observes lowly things, but high and mighty things” (do not imagine you escape notice, you that are so proud) “but high and mighty things he knows from afar.” He knows them, all right, but from afar. “Salvation is far from sinners.”

We have heard, and it is clear; we had gone outside, we have been sent within. “O would that I had found,” you said, “some high and lonely mountain! For, I believe, because God is on high, he hears me from a high place.” Because you are on a mountain, do you think that you are near God and that you are heard quickly, as if shouting from nearby? He dwells on high, but “he looks on the lowly.” “The Lord is near.” To whom? Perhaps to the high? “To those who are contrite of heart.” It is a wondrous thing: he both lives on high and draws near to the lowly. “He looks on the lowly, but the high he knows from afar.” He sees the proud from afar; the higher they seem to themselves, so much of the less does he approach them.

Today we are keeping the solemn festival of the ascension. If, therefore, we celebrate the Lord’s ascension in a manner that is right, holy, faithful, devout and pious, we must ascend with him and lift up our hearts. Now as we ascend, let us not be lifted up with pride or presume on our merits as if they were our own. For we ought indeed to lift up our hearts, but to the Lord alone. A heart lifted up but not to the Lord is called pride; a heart lifted up to the Lord is called a refuge. See, brethren, the great miracle. God is on high. You exalt yourself, and he flees from you; you humble yourself, and he descends to you. Why is this? Because “the Lord is exalted, yet the lowly he sees, and the proud he knows from afar.” He recognizes what is lowly from close at hand in order that he may raise it up; what is high, that is, what is proud, he knows from afar in order that he may bring it down. Christ truly arose from the dead in order to give us hope, because the person who dies rises again. He gave us assurance, so that we might not despair in dying and think our whole life ended in death. We were troubled about our very soul, but by rising from the dead he also gave us confidence in the resurrection of the body.

Maschil--(See on Psa 32:1, title). When he was in the cave--either of Adullam (Sa1 22:1), or En-gedi (Sa1 24:3). This does not mean that the Psalm was composed in the cave, but that the precarious mode of life, of which his refuge in caves was a striking illustration, occasioned the complaint, which constitutes the first part of the Psalm and furnishes the reason for the prayer with which it concludes, and which, as the prominent characteristic, gives its name. (Psa 142:1-7) with my voice--audibly, because earnestly.

On this general principle of God's government (Isa 2:11; Isa 57:15; Isa 66:2), he relies for God's favor in saving him, and overthrowing his enemies. knoweth afar off--their ways and deserts (Psa 1:6).