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Hear the Bible COME ALIVE IN SONG!
Hear the Bible COME ALIVE IN SONG!
Psalm 112King James Version
1 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
This Psalm may be regarded as an exposition of Ps 111:10, presenting the happiness of those who fear and obey God, and contrasting the fate of the ungodly.3 1. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. It is not said simply, "Blessed is the man who fears": for there is a fear which of itself produces misery and wretchedness rather than happiness. It has to do, therefore, chiefly with what is feared. The prophet, therefore, says rightly, "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord": and in the 7th and 8th verses he says of this blessed one that he shall not be afraid of evil tidings.4 That delighteth greatly in his commandments. The prophet makes a distinction between a willing and prompt endeavour to keep the law, and that which consists in mere servile and constrained obedience.4 In his commandments. A slavish kind of religiousness, when we had rather not do than do our work, is no fruit of grace, and cannot evidence a sincere love.4 2. His seed. If any one should desire to leave behind him a flourishing posterity, let him not think to accomplish it by accumulating heaps of gold and silver, and leaving them behind him; but by rightly recognising God and serving Him; and commending his children to the guardianship and protection of God.4 Mighty upon earth. It is probable that Lot thought of enriching his family when he chose the fertile plains of wicked Sodom, yet the event was very different; but Abraham "feared the Lord, and delighted greatly in his commandments, "and his descendants were "mighty upon earth." And thus it will generally be, in every age, with the posterity of those who imitate the father of the faithful; and their disinterested and liberal conduct shall prove, in the event, a far preferable inheritance laid up for their children, than gold and silver, houses and lands, would have been.4 3. Wealth and riches shall be in his house. In the lower sense, we may read these words literally of abundant wealth bestowed on the righteous by God. But the higher meaning bids us see here those true spiritual riches which are stored up for the poor in spirit, often most needy in the prosperity of the world.4 His righteousness endureth for ever. We are justified before God by faith only: Rom. 3:4: but they are righteous before men, who live honestly, piously, humbly, as the law of God requires. Concerning this righteousness the Psalmist says that it endureth for ever, while the feigned and simulated uprightness of hypocrites is abominable before God, and with men speedily passes away.4 4. Light in the darkness. The Lord is the light that arises in the darkness unto them that are sincere toward Him: He is "the Sun of righteousness" (Mal. 4:2). He is gracious and full of compassion. The adjectives here used are in the singular number, whereas the word for "upright" is in the plural. It seems clear, however, from the general tenor of the psalm that the godly man is being described. The righteous man shares the divine attributes. He becomes a partaker of the divine nature (see 2 Peter 1:4).5
Lendeth. A good man will accommodate another--a neighbour--with money, or with articles to be used temporarily and returned again. A man who always borrows is not a desirable neighbour; but a man who never lends--who never is willing to accommodate--is a neighbour that no one would wish to live near--a crooked, perverse, bad man. True religion will always dispose a man to do acts of kindness in any and every way possible.4 He will guide his affairs with discretion. Just as a steward, servant, or agent in any secular concern has to feel that his mind is his master's, as well as his hands, and that his attention, thought, tact, and talent, should be vigorously and faithfully given to the interests of his employer; so the Christian stewardship of money, demands on the part of God's servant, in respect to every form of its use and disposal, the exercise of reflection; a reference to conscience; the recollection of responsibility to God; attention to the appeals of humanity as addressed to the ear of justice and love.4 Verse 6. Surely he shall not be moved for ever. God has rooted and established him so that neither men nor devils shall sweep him from his place. His prosperity shall be permanent, and not like that of the gambler and the cheat, whose gains are evanescent: his reputation shall be bright and lustrous from year to year, for it is not a mere pretence; his home shall be permanent, and he shall not need to wander from place to place as a bird that wanders from her nest; and even his memory shall be abiding, for a good man is not soon forgotten, and the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.4 Verse 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. He shall have no dread that evil tidings will come, and he shall not be alarmed when they do come. Rumours and reports he despises; prophecies of evil, vented by fanatical mouths, he ridicules; actual and verified information of loss and distress he bears with equanimity, resigning everything into the hands of God.4 His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. He is neither fickle nor cowardly; when he is undecided as to his course he is still fixed in heart: he may change his plan, but not the purpose of his soul. His heart being fixed in solid reliance upon God, a change in his circumstances but slightly affects him; faith has made him firm and steadfast, and therefore if the worst should come to the worst, he would remain quiet and patient, waiting for the salvation of God.4 Verse 8. His heart is established. His love to God is deep and true, his confidence in God is firm and unmoved; his courage has a firm foundation, and is supported by Omnipotence. He has become settled by experience, and confirmed by years. He is not a rolling stone, but a pillar in the house of the Lord.4 He shall not be afraid. He is ready to face any adversary--a holy heart gives a brave face.4 Until he see his desire upon his enemies. All through the conflict, even till he seizes the victory, he is devoid of fear. When the battle wavers, and the result seems doubtful, he nevertheless believes in God, and is a stranger to dismay. Grace makes him desire his enemies' good: though nature leads him to wish to see justice done to his cause, he does not desire for those who injure him anything by way of private revenge.4 Verse 9. He hath dispersed, he hath given, to the poor. What he received, he distributed; and distributed to those who most needed it. He was God's reservoir, and forth from his abundance flowed streams of liberality to supply the needy. If this be one of the marks of a man who feareth the Lord, there are some who are strangely destitute of it. They are great at gathering, but very slow at dispersing; they enjoy the blessedness of receiving, but seldom taste the greater joy of giving. "It is more blessed to give than to receive" --perhaps they think that the blessing of receiving is enough for them.4 His righteousness endureth for ever. His liberality has salted his righteousness, proved its reality, and secured its perpetuity. This is the second time that we have this remarkable sentence applied to the godly man, and it must be understood as resulting from the enduring mercy of the Lord. The character of a righteous man is not spasmodic, he is not generous by fits and starts, nor upright in a few points only; his life is the result of principle, his actions flow from settled, sure, and fixed convictions, and therefore his integrity is maintained when others fail. He is not turned about by companions, nor affected by the customs of society; he is resolute, determined, and immovable.4 His horn shall be exalted with honour. God shall honour him, the universe of holy beings shall honour him, and even the wicked shall feel an unconscious reverence of him.4 Verse 10. The tenth and last verse sets forth very forcibly the contrast between the righteous and the ungodly, thus making the blessedness of the godly appear all the more remarkable.4 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved. The ungodly shall first see the example of the saints to their own condemnation, and shall at last behold the happiness of the godly and to the increase of their eternal misery. The child of wrath shall be obliged to witness the blessedness of the righteous, though the sight shall make him gnaw his own heart. He shall fret and fume, lament and wax angry, but he shall not be able to prevent it, for God's blessing is sure and effectual.4 He shall gnash with his teeth. Being very wrathful, and exceedingly envious, he would fain grind the righteous between his teeth; but as he cannot do that, he grinds his teeth against each other.4 And melt away. The heat of his passion shall melt him like wax, and the sun of God's providence shall dissolve him like snow, and at the last the fire of divine vengeance shall consume him as the fat of rams4 The desire of the wicked shall perish. He shall not achieve his purpose, he shall die a disappointed man. By wickedness he hoped to accomplish his purpose--that very wickedness shall be his defeat. While the righteous shall endure for ever, and their memory shall be always green; the ungodly man and his name shall rot from off the face of the earth. He desired to be the founder of a family, and to be remembered as some great one: he shall pass away and his name shall die with him. How wide is the gulf which separates the righteous from the wicked, and how different are the portions which the Lord deals out to them.4 References and notes 1. King James Authorized Version 2. John Gill's Exposition of the Bible - http:// eword. gospelcom .net/ comments/ psalm/ gill/ psalm1 12.htm 3. Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown - http:// eword. gospelcom .net/ comments/ psalm/ jfb/ps alm112.htm 4. Spurgeon' Treasury of David - http:// eword. gospelcom .net/ comments/ psalm/ spurgeon/ psalm112 .htm 5. Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary - Vol.3 pg 882, 883 6. Matthew Henry Bible Commentary - http:// eword. gospelcom. net/ comments/ psalm/mh/ psalm112. htm |
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