Salmi 37:40 Commento

This psalm is a sermon, and an excellent useful sermon it is, calculated not (as most of the psalms) for our devotion, but for our conversation; there is nothing in it of prayer or praise, but it is all instruction; it is "Maschil - a teaching psalm;" it is an exposition of some of the hardest chapters in the book of Providence, the advancement of the wicked and the disgrace of the righteous, a solution of the difficulties that arise thereupon, and an exhortation to conduct ourselves as becomes us under such dark dispensations. The work of the prophets (and David was one) was to explain the law. Now the law of Moses had promised temporal blessings to the obedient, and denounced temporal miseries against the disobedient, which principally referred to the body of the people, the nation as a nation; for, when they came to be applied to particular persons, many instances occurred of sinners in prosperity and saints in adversity; to reconcile those instances with the word that God had spoken is the scope of the prophet in this psalm, in which, I. He forbids us to fret at the prosperity of the wicked in their wicked ways (Psa 37:1, Psa 37:7, Psa 37:8). II. He gives very good reasons why we should not fret at it. 1. Because of the scandalous character of the wicked (Psa 37:12, Psa 37:14, Psa 37:21, Psa 37:32) notwithstanding their prosperity, and the honourable character of the righteous (Psa 37:21, Psa 37:26, Psa 37:30, Psa 37:31). 2. Because of the destruction and ruin which the wicked are nigh to (Psa 37:2, Psa 37:9, Psa 37:10, Psa 37:20, Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36, Psa 37:38) and the salvation and protection which the righteous are sure of from all the malicious designs of the wicked (Psa 37:13, Psa 37:15, Psa 37:17, Psa 37:28, Psa 37:33, Psa 37:39, Psa 37:40). 3. Because of the particular mercy God has in store for all good people and the favour he shows them (Psa 37:11, Psa 37:16, Psa 37:18, Psa 37:19, Psa 37:22-25, Psa 37:28, Psa 37:29, Psa 37:37). III. He prescribes very good remedies against this sin of envying the prosperity of the wicked, and great encouragement to use those remedies (Psa 37:3-6, Psa 37:27, Psa 37:34). In singing this psalm we must teach and admonish one another rightly to understand the providence of God and to accommodate ourselves to it, at all times carefully to do our duty and then patiently to leave the event with God and to believe that, how black soever things may look for the present, it shall be "well with those that fear God, that fear before him." A psalm of David.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 37 A Psalm of David. This psalm, it is very probable, was written at the same time, and upon the same occasion, with the former; and describes the different states of good and bad men; and is full of exhortations, instructions, and advice to the people of God; intermixed with various encouraging promises. A late learned writer (h) thinks it was written for Mephibosheth's consolation under Ziba's calumny. (h) Delaney's Life of King David, vol. 2. p. 219.

"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, and He is their strength in the time of trouble" [Psalm 37:39]. "And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the sinners" [Psalm 37:40]. At present therefore let the righteous bear with the sinner; let the wheat bear with the tares; let the grain bear with the chaff: for the time of separation will come, and the good seed shall be set apart from that which is to be consumed with fire. [Matthew 13:30] The one will be consigned to the garner, the other to "everlasting burning;" for it was for this reason that the just and the unjust were at the first together; that the one should lay a stumbling-block, that the other should be proved; that afterwards the one should be condemned, the other receive a crown....

Those who practice righteousness … will enjoy divine aid and attain salvation, and by reason of placing complete hope in him, they will prevail over those endeavoring to wrong them.

Free to Hope. Cassiodorus: He also adds the reason for the liberation: it is because “they have hoped in him”—not because they have not sinned, but because they have placed their hope in the Lord’s compassion. This can also be applied to the judgment, when he will deign to present an eternal reward to his saints.

"But the salvation of the just." He proves that the remnants of the just are saved. And first he shows in general what they are; second, he shows the order of obtaining them; third, the cause of this salvation. There are two things in the remnants: salvation in goods and deliverance from evils. Regarding the first he says, "But the salvation of the just is from the Lord" alone, in whom they hope, and from no other. Origen says, "with the Lord"; as if to say, in no created thing, but in God alone. Is. 45: "Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation." Regarding the second he says, "And he is their protector in the time of tribulation," namely the present time, so that they may not even be physically crushed. 1 Cor. 10: "He will also provide with the temptation a way of escape, so that you may be able to endure," whether on the day of judgment or at death. Nah. 1: "The Lord is good and strengthening in the day of tribulation, and he knows those who hope in him." The order is fourfold. First, he assists them in doing good. Hence, "He will help them," that is, he will cooperate. Ps. 120: "My help is from the Lord." Is. 28: "All our works you have wrought in us." "And he will free" them, namely from evils, "and deliver them from sinners," either as regards the present state, when the just are freed and do not follow the ways of sinners. Ps. 1: "Blessed is the man who has not walked," etc. Or on the day of judgment, when he will separate the sheep from the goats. Or from the demons at the death of each person, because then the demons come seeking whether they may find something of their own. Jn. 14: "The prince of this world comes." And the final salvation, because "he will save them." And the cause is "because they have hoped in him," because this salvation is due to those who hope.

A composed and uniform trust in God and a constant course of integrity are urged in view of the blessedness of the truly pious, contrasted in various aspects with the final ruin of the wicked. Thus the wisdom and justice of God's providence are vindicated, and its seeming inequalities, which excite the cavils of the wicked and the distrust of the pious, are explained. David's personal history abundantly illustrates the Psalm. (Psa. 37:1-40) The general sentiment of the whole Psalm is expressed. The righteous need not be vexed by the prosperity of the wicked; for it is transient, and their destiny undesirable.