PSALM 102 COMME TARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

A prayer of an afflicted person who has grown weak and pours out a lament before the Lord.

I TRODUCTIO

SPURGEO , "SUBJECT. This is a patriot's lament over his country's distress. He arrays himself in the griefs of his nation as in a garment of sackcloth, and casts her dust and ashes upon his head as the ensigns and causes of his sorrow. He has his own private woes and personal enemies, he is moreover sore afflicted in body by sickness, but the miseries of his people cause him a far more bitter anguish, and this he pours out in an earnest, pathetic lamentation. ot, however, without hope does the patriot mourn; he has faith in God, and looks for the resurrection of the nation through the omnipotent favour of the Lord; this causes him to walk among the ruins of Jerusalem, and to say with hopeful spirit, " o, Zion, thou shalt never perish. Thy sun is not set for ever; brighter days are in store for thee." It is in vain to enquire into the precise point of Israel's history which thus stirred a patriot's soul, for many a time was the land oppressed, and at any of her sad seasons this song and prayer would have been a most natural and appropriate utterance.TITLE. A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. This Psalm is a prayer far more in spirit than in words. The formal petitions are few, but a strong stream of supplication runs from beginning to end, and like an under-current, finds its way heavenward through the moanings of grief and confessions of faith which make up the major part of the Psalm. It is a prayer of the afflicted, or of "a sufferer, "and it bears the marks of its parent age; as it is recorded of Jabez that "his mother bore him with sorrow, "so may we say of this Psalm; yet as Rachel's Benoni, or child of sorrow, was also her Benjamin, or son of her right hand, so is this Psalm as eminently expressive of consolation as of desolation. It is scarcely correct to call it a penitential Psalm, for the sorrow of it is rather of one suffering than sinning. It has its own bitterness, and it is not the same as that of the Fifty-first. The sufferer is afflicted more for others than for himself, more for Zion and the house of the Lord, than for his own house. When he is overwhelmed, or sorely troubled, and depressed. The best of men are not always able to stem the torrent of sorrow. Even when Jesus is on board, the vessel may fill with water and begin to sink. And poureth out his complaint before the LORD. When a cup is overwhelmed or turned bottom over, all that is in it is naturally poured out; great trouble removes the heart from all reserve and causes

the soul to flow out without restraint; it is well when that which is in the soul is such as may be poured out in the presence of God, and this is only the case where the heart has been renewed by divine grace. The word rendered "complaint" has in it none of the idea of fault-finding or repining, but should rather be rendered "moaning, "—the expression of pain, not of rebellion. To help the memory we will call this Psalm THE PATRIOT'S PLAI T.DIVISIO . In the first part of the Psalm, Psalms 102:1-11, the moaning monopolizes every verse, the lamentation is unceasing, sorrow rules the hour. The second portion, from Psalms 102:12-28, has a vision of better things, a view of the gracious Lord, and his eternal existence, and care for his people, and therefore it is interspersed with sunlight as well as shaded by the cloud, and it ends up right gloriously with calm confidence for the future, and sweet restfulness in the Lord. The whole composition may be compared to a day which, opening with wind and rain, clears up at noon and is warm with the sun, continues fine, with intervening showers, and finally closes with a brilliant sunset.

ELLICOTT, "This psalm is peculiar for its title, which stands quite alone among the inscriptions. It is neither historical nor musical in its reference; but describes the character of the psalm, and the circumstances amid which it would be found useful. That it was, therefore, affixed at a late time, when the collection had come to be employed, not merely for liturgical purposes and in public worship, but in private devotion, there can be little doubt. But the composition of the psalm must be referred to national rather than individual feeling. It is true the suppliant speaks from personal experience of distress actually pressing upon him; but this distress has not an individual character, but is of that general kind which is felt under national calamity and misfortunes. It is natural, from Psalms 102:14-15, to refer the composition to the exile period. With this also agree the many points of coincidence with the prophecies of the second part of Isaiah. But it must be remarked that the causes which the prophets of the exile assign to the national captivity or catastrophe do not appear here. There is no expression of repentance or contrition; nor yet of the deeper insight which, towards the end of the exile, brought into prominence the doctrine of vicarious suffering. Those in whose name the psalmist writes are the servants of Jehovah, and have never been anything else. He does not distinguish them as an exception to the mass of the people, who are guilty and deserve the destruction in which the whole universe is to be involved. For this reason many critics bring the psalm down to the Antiochean period, when Jerusalem suffered so much, and at one time presented a desolation like that mourned in the psalm (1 Maccabees 1:38-39). The verse-structure is irregular.

COKE, "Title. לעני תפלה tehillah leaani.] This prayer of the afflicted was probably written by ehemiah in the time of the captivity (see ehemiah 1:3; ehemiah 1:11.) for the use of himself and other pious persons, who lamented the desolation of Jerusalem, and the ruin of the temple: though at the same time they had comfortable hopes that the nations round about should shortly see their wonderful restoration, and thereby be invited to embrace their religion, which was a lively emblem of the coming of the Gentiles into the church of Christ, the eternity of whose

kingdom is foretold in the conclusion of this psalm. Mudge is of opinion, from the 13th verse, that it was composed about the time that God had promised a restoration to his people; i.e. after a term of 70 years; and that this was a form of prayer directed to be used by every particular person in the captivity.

CO STABLE, "Another anonymous writer poured out his personal lament to Yahweh (cf. Psalm 22 , 69 , 79). He felt overwhelmed due to an enemy"s reproach. He called out for help from the God he knew would not forsake him. This is another penitential psalm as well as a personal lament (cf. Psalm 6; Psalm 32; Psalm 38; Psalm 51; Psalm 103; Psalm 143).

1 Hear my prayer, Lord; let my cry for help come to you.

BAR ES, "Hear my prayer, O Lord - The prayer which I offer in view of my personal trials; the prayer which I offer as one of an afflicted people. Compare Psa_4:1; Psa_17:1; Psa_18:6.

And let my cry come unto thee -My prayer, accompanied with an outward expression of my earnestness. It was not a silent, or a mental prayer; it was a loud and earnest cry. Psa_5:2; Psa_18:6, Psa_18:41; Psa_30:2; Psa_72:12; Job_35:9; Job_36:13.

CLARKE, "Hear my prayer - The chief parts of the Psalm answer well to the title: it is the language of the deepest distress, and well directed to Him from whom alone help can come.

GILL, "Hear my prayer, O Lord,.... The prayer of a poor, destitute, and afflicted one; his own, and not another's; not what was composed for him, but composed by him; which came out of his own heart, and out of unfeigned lips, and expressed under a feeling sense of his own wants and troubles; and though dictated and inwrought in his heart by the Spirit of God, yet, being put up by him in faith and fervency, it is called his own, and which he desires might be heard:

and let my cry come unto thee; he calls his prayer cry, because it was uttered in

distress, and with great vehemency and importunity; and he prays that it might come unto God, even into his ears, and be regarded by him, and not shut out: prayer comes aright to God, when it comes through Christ, and out of his hands, perfumed with the incense of his mediation.

HE RY, "The title of this psalm is very observable; it is a prayer of the afflicted. It was composed by one that was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church and for it; and on those that are of a public spirit afflictions of that kind lie heavier than any other. It is calculated for an afflicted state, and is intended for the use of others that may be in the like distress; for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written designedly for our use. The whole word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but here, as often elsewhere, the Holy Ghost has drawn up our petition for us, has put words into our mouths. Hos_14:2, Take with you words. Here is a prayer put into the hands of the afflicted: let them set, not their hands, but their hearts to it, and present it to God. Note, 1. It is often the lot of the best saints in this world to be sorely affected. 2. Even good men may be almost overwhelmed with their afflictions, and may be ready to faint under them. 3. When our state is afflicted, and our spirits are overwhelmed, it is our duty and interest to pray, and by prayer to pour out our complaints before the Lord, which intimates the leave God gives us to be free with him and the liberty of speech we have before him, as well as liberty of access to him; it intimates also what an ease it is to an afflicted spirit to unburden itself by a humble representation of its grievances and griefs. Such a representation we have here, in which,

I. The psalmist humbly begs of God to take notice of his affliction, and of his prayer in his affliction, Psa_102:1, Psa_102:2. When we pray in our affliction, 1. It should be our care that God would graciously hear us; for, if our prayers be not pleasing to God, they will be to no purpose to ourselves. Let this therefore be in our eye that our prayer may come unto God, even to his ears (Psa_18:6); and, in order to that, let us lift up the prayer, and our souls with it. 2. It may be our hope that God will graciously hear us, because he has appointed us to seek him and has promised we shall not seek him in vain. If we put up a prayer in faith, we may in faith say, Hear my prayer, O Lord! “Hear me,” that is, (1.) “Manifest thyself to me, hide not thy face from me in displeasure, when I am in trouble. If thou dost not quickly free me, yet let me know that thou favourest me; if I see not the operations of thy hand for me, yet let me see the smiles of thy face upon me.” God's hiding his face is trouble enough to a good man even in his prosperity (Psa_30:7, Thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled); but if, when we are in trouble, God hides his face, the case is sad indeed. (2.) “Manifest thyself for me; not only hear me, but answer me; grant me the deliverance I am in want of and in pursuit of; answer me speedily, even in the day when I call.” When troubles press hard upon us, God gives us leave to be thus pressing in prayer, yet with humility and patience.

JAMISO 1`-3, "Psa_102:1-28. A Prayer of the afflicted, etc. - The general terms seem to denote the propriety of regarding the Psalm as suitably expressive of the anxieties of any one of David’s descendants, piously concerned for the welfare of the Church. It was probably David’s composition, and, though specially suggested by some peculiar trials, descriptive of future times. Overwhelmed - (compare Psa_61:2). Poureth out - pouring out the soul - (Psa_62:8). Complaint - (Psa_55:2). The tone of complaint predominates, though in view of God’s promises and abiding faithfulness, it is sometimes exchanged for that of confidence and hope.

The terms used occur in Psa_4:1; Psa_17:1, Psa_17:6; Psa_18:6; Psa_31:2, Psa_31:10; Psa_37:20.

K&D 1-2, "The Psalm opens with familiar expressions of prayer, such as rise in theheart and mouth of the praying one without his feeling that they are of foreign origin; cf. more especially Psa_39:13; Psa_18:7; Psa_88:3; and on Psa_102:3 : Psa_27:9 (Hide not

Thy face from me); Psa_59:17 Psa_31:3 ;(ביום�צר�לי) and frequently (Incline Thine ear

unto me); Psa_56:10 Psa_69:8; Psa_143:7 ;(ביום�אקוא) .(מהר�ענני)

CALVI , "1O Jehovah! hear my prayer This earnestness shows, again, that these words were not dictated to be pronounced by the careless and light-hearted, which could not have been done without grossly insulting God. In speaking thus, the captive Jews bear testimony to the severe and excruciating distress which they endured, and to the ardent desire to obtain some alleviation with which they were inflamed. o person could utter these words with the mouth without profaning the name of God, unless he were, at the same time, actuated by a sincere and earnest affection of heart. We ought particularly to attend to the circumstance already adverted to, that we are thus stirred up by the Holy Spirit to the duty of prayer in behalf of the common welfare of the Church. Whilst each man takes sufficient care of his own individual interests, there is scarcely one in a hundred affected as he ought to be with the calamities of the Church. We have, therefore, the more need of incitements, even as we see the prophet here endeavoring, by an accumulation of words, to correct our coldness and sloth. I admit that the heart ought to move and direct the tongue to prayer; but, as it often flags or performs its duty in a slow and sluggish manner, it requires to be aided by the tongue. There is here a reciprocal influence. As the heart, on the one hand, ought to go before the words, and frame them, so the tongue, on the other, aids and remedies the coldness and torpor of the heart. True believers may indeed often pray not only earnestly but also fervently, while yet not a single word proceeds from the mouth. There is, however, no doubt that by crying the prophet means the vehemence into which grief constrains us to break forth.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 1. Hear my prayer, O LORD. Or O JEHOVAH. Sincere supplicants are not content with praying for praying's sake, they desire really to reach the ear and heart of the great God. It is a great relief in time of distress to acquaint others with our trouble, we are eased by their hearing our lamentation, but it is the sweetest solace of all to have God himself as a sympathizing listener to our plaint. That he is such is no dream or fiction, but an assured fact. It would be the direst of all our woes if we could be indisputably convinced that with God there is neither hearing nor answering; he who could argue us into so dreary a belief would do us no better service than if he had read us our death-warrants. Better die than be denied the mercy-seat. As well be atheists at once as believe in an unhearing, unfeeling God.And let my cry come unto thee. When sorrow rises to such a height that words become too weak a medium of expression, and prayer is intensified into a cry, then the heart is even more urgent to have audience with the Lord. If our cries do not enter within the veil, and reach to the living God, we may as well cease from prayer at once, for it is idle to cry to the winds; but, blessed be God, the philosophy which

suggests such a hideous idea is disproved by the facts of every day experience, since thousands of the saints can declare, "Verily, God hath heard us."EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Title. A prayer, etc. The prayer following is longer than others. When Satan, the Law-Adversary, doth extend his pleas against us, it is meet that we should enlarge our counter pleas for our own souls; as the powers of darkness do lengthen aud multiply their wrestlings, so must we our counter wrestlings of prayer. Ephesians 6:12; Ephesians 6:18. Thomas Cobbet, 1667.Title. When he... poureth out, etc. Here we have the manner of the church's prayer suitable to her extremity illustrated by a simile taken from a vessel overcharged with new wine or strong liquor, that bursts for vent. Oh the heart-bursting cries she sends out all the day! Here is no lazy, slothful, lip labour, stinted forms of prayer, no empty sounds of verbal expressions, which can never procure her a comfortable answer from her God, or the least ease to her burdened soul; but poured-out prayers as Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:15, and Jeremy, La 2:12, pressed forth with vehemence of spirit and heart pangs of inward grief: thus the Lord deals with his church and people; ere he pour out cups of consolation they must pour out tears in great measure. Finiens Canus Vove.Title. —This is the mourner's prayer when he is faint,And to the Eternal Father breathes his plaint. John Keble.Whole Psalm. The psalm has been attributed to Daniel, to Jeremiah, to ehemiah, or to some of the other prophets who flourished during the time of the captivity. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has applied Psalms 102:25-27 to our Lord, and the perpetuity of his kingdom. Adam Clarke.Whole Psalm. I doubt whether, without apostolic teaching, any of us would have had the boldness to understand it; for in many respects it is the most remarkable of all the Psalms—the Psalm of "THE AFFLICTED O E" —while his soul is overwhelmed within him in great affliction, and sorrow, and anxious fear. Adolph Saphir, in "Expository Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews."Ver. 1. Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee. When, at any time we see the beggars, or poor folks, that are pained and grieved with hunger and cold, lying in the streets of cities and towns, full of sores, we are somewhat moved inwardly with pity and mercy; but if we our own selves attend and give ear to their wailings, cryings, and lamentable noises that they make, we should be much more stirred to show our pity and mercy on them; for no man else can show the grief of the sick and sore persons, so well and in so pathetic a manner as he himself. Therefore, since the miserable crying and wailing of those that suffer bodily pain and misery can prevail so much upon the hearts of mortal creatures; I doubt not, Good Lord, but thou, who art all merciful, must needs be inclined to exercise thy mercy, if my sorrowful cry and petition may come unto thine ears, or into thy presence. John Fisher (1459-1535) in "A Treatise concerning the fruitful Sayings of David, "1714.Ver. 1. My prayer. His own, and not another's; not what was composed for him, but composed by him; which came out of his own heart, and out of unfeigned lips, and expressed under a feeling sense of his own wants and troubles; and though dictated and inwrought in his heart by the Spirit of God, yet, being put up by him in faith

and fervency, it is called his own, and which he desires might be heard. John Gill.Ver. 1. My cry. Lest my praying should not prevail, behold, O God, I raise it to a cry; and crying, I may say, is the greatest bell in all the ring of praying: for louder than crying I cannot pray. O, then, if not my prayer, at least let my cry come unto thee. If I be not heard when I cry, I shall cry for not being heard; and if heard when I cry, I shall cry to be heard yet more; and so whether heard or not heard, I shall cry still, and God grant I may cry still; so thou be pleased, O God, to "hear my prayer, "and to "let my cry come unto thee." Sir R. Baker.Ver. 1-2. This language is the language of godly sorrow, of faith, of tribulation, and of anxious hope: of faith, for the devout suppliant lifts up his heart and voice to heaven, "as seeing him who is invisible, "(Hebrews 11:27) and entreats him to hear his prayer and listen to his crying: of tribulation, for he describes himself as enduring affliction, and unwilling to lose the countenance of the Lord in his time of his trouble: of anxious hope, for he seems to expect, in the midst of his groaning, that his prayers, like those of Cornelius, will "go up for a memorial before God" who will hear him, "and that right soon." Charles Oxenden, in "Sermons on the Seven Penitential Psalms, " 1838.Ver. 1-2. The Lord suffereth his babbling children to speak to him in their own form of speech, (albeit the terms which they use be not fitted for his spiritual, invisible, and incomprehensible majesty); such as are, "Hear me, ""hide not thy face, ""incline thine ear to me, "and such like other speeches. David Dickson.Ver. 1-2. ote, David sent his prayer as a sacred ambassador to God. ow there are four things requisite to make an embassy prosperous. The ambassador must be regarded with favourable eye: he must be heard with a ready ear: he must speedily return when his demands are conceded. These four things David as a suppliant asks from God his King. Le Blanc.

COFFMA , "Verse 1PSALM 102

A AFFLICTED O E PRAYS FOR HIMSELF A D FOR ZIO

The Superscription here has this very interesting little paragraph:

A PRAYER OF A AFFLICTED O E; WHE HE IS OVERWHELMED; A D POURETH OUT HIS COMPLAI T BEFORE JEHOVAH.

As Kidner noted, "This psalm has been miscalled a Penitential Psalm"[1] for ages, but there is no confession of sin anywhere in it. Kidner was also willing to label the whole psalm Messianic; and, without any doubt whatever, Psalms 102:23-28 certainly fall into that classification.

Some have supposed that David might have written it, but the depiction of Jerusalem in ruins (Psalms 102:13) points rather to the times of the Captivity.

On the basis of Psalms 102:13-21, the date seems to have been in the time of the

captivity ... Beyond all question, the language used would express the feelings of many pious Hebrews in the times of the exile, such as the sorrow, the sadness, the cherished hopes, and prayers of many a one in that prolonged and painful captivity.[2]There are three divisions of the psalm: (1) Psalms 102:1-11 describes the terrible sufferings of the afflicted one. (2) Psalms 102:12-22 dwells upon the hopes for relief. (3) And Psalms 102:23-28 speaks of the unchanging God as contrasted with the changing world.

Psalms 102:1-11

SUFFERI GS OF THE AFFLICTED

"Hear my prayer, O Jehovah,

And let my cry come unto thee.

Hide not thy face from me;

In the day when I call answer me speedily.

For my days consume away like smoke,

And my bones are burned as a firebrand.

My heart is smitten like grass, and withered;

For I forget to eat my bread.

By reason of the voice of my groaning

My bones cleave to my flesh.

I am like a pelican of the wilderness;

I am become as an owl of the waste places.

I watch and am become like a sparrow

That is alone upon the housetop.

Mine enemies reproach me all the day;

They that are mad against me do curse by me.

For I have eaten ashes like bread,

And mingled my drink with weeping.

Because of thine indignation and thy wrath:

For thou hast taken me up and cast me away.

My days are like a shadow that declineth;

And I am withered like grass."

The only hint of sin on the part of the sufferer is in Psalms 102:10 where the indignation of God is mentioned; but if the passage speaks of the distress of Israel in captivity, the application might be to the sins of the nation, rather than those of the sufferer.

The passage carries a graphic picture of an individual suffering from some unnamed malady. He is in distress; his days are consumed like smoke; his bones burn; his heart is broken; he has lost his appetite; his appearance has become as "skin and bones"; he has become like the pelican, the owl, and the lonely sparrow; his enemies cast reproaches upon him and curse by him; he sits in sackcloth and ashes, where sometimes his food gets ashes in it; his life's sun is sinking rapidly; the shadow on the dial is declining and the night of death is impending.

It is impossible to associate all of these "symptoms" with any disease described either by ancient or modern doctors; and there remains the possibility of the whole passage being figurative. This would certainly be the case if Kidner's assignment of the passage to the sufferings of Messiah should be allowed.

"The pelican ... the owl ... the sparrow" (Psalms 102:6-7). A certain Dr. Thompson, quoted by Albert Barnes, stated that "The pelican is the most somber and austere bird I ever saw; it gave one the blues merely to look at it; and no more expressive type of solitude and melancholy could have been selected."[3] "The owl of the rains is also a striking emblem of desolation."[4] "The sparrow alone on the housetop" was described by Barnes as a grieving sparrow. "When one has lost its mate, he will sit on the housetop alone for hours at a time in his sad bereavement."[5]

Later in the psalm, it becomes clear that the sufferer's hope of deliverance is tied to his hope of the rescue of Zion; and from this, Dummelow concluded that, "The personal distress of the psalmist has been caused by the captivity and humiliation of his people."[6]

WHEDO , "1. Hear my prayer—The invocation of Psalms 102:1-2 is replete with those familiar forms which appear often in the Davidic psalms, and which are common, also, to all earnest, agonizing prayers. See Psalms 18:6; Psalms 27:9; Psalms 39:12; Psalms 143:7

BE SO , "Verses 1-3Title. A prayer of the afflicted, &c. — It was composed by one who was himself afflicted, afflicted with the church of God, and for it; and it is calculated for an afflicted state, and intended for the use of others that maybe in similar distress. It is the fifth of those Psalms styled Penitential.

Psalms 102:3. My days are consumed like smoke — Which passeth away in obscurity, and swiftly, and irrecoverably. Hebrew, בעשן, into, or, in smoke. As wood, or any combustible matter put into the fire, wasteth away in smoke and ashes, so are my days wasted away. Or, as some interpret the words, “My afflictions have had the same effect on me as smoke has on things which are hung up in it, that is, have dried me up, and deformed me.” And my bones — The most strong and solid parts of my body, which seemed least likely to suffer any injury by my trouble; are burned as a hearth — Either as a hearth is heated, or burned up by the coals which are laid upon it; or, as the hearth, being so heated, burns up that Which is put upon it. But כמוקד, here translated, as a hearth, may be rendered, (as it is by many,) as a fire-brand, or, as dry wood, which seems most applicable to the subject here spoken of. For, as Dr. Horne observes, “The effects of extreme grief on the human frame are here compared to those which fire produces upon fuel. It exhausts the radical moisture, and by so doing consumes the substance. A man’s time and his strength evaporate in melancholy, and his bones, those pillars and supports of his body, become like wood, on which the fire hath done its work, and left it without sap, and without cohesion.”

EBC, "Psalms 102:13-14 show that the psalm was written when Zion was in ruins and the time of her restoration at hand. Sadness shot with hope, as a cloud with sunlight, is the singer’s mood. The pressure of present sorrows points to the time of the Exile; the lightening of these, by the expectation that the hour for their cessation has all but struck, points to the close of that period. There is a general consensus of opinion on this, though Baethgen is hesitatingly inclined to adopt the Maccabean date, and Cheyne prefers the time of ehemiah, mainly because the references to the "stones" and "dust" recall to him " ehemiah’s lonely ride round the burned walls," and "Sanballat’s mocking at the Jews for attempting to revive the stones out of heaps of rubbish" ("Orig. of Psalt.," p. 70). These references would equally suit any period of desolation; but the point of time indicated by Psalms 102:13 is more probably the eve of restoration than the completion of the begun and interrupted reestablishment of Israel in its land. Like many of the later psalms, this is largely coloured by earlier ones, as well as by Deuteronomy, Job, and the second half of Isaiah, while it has also reminiscences of Jeremiah. Some commentators have, indeed, supposed it to be his work.

The turns of thought are simple. While there is no clear strophical arrangement, there are four broadly distinguished parts: a prelude, invoking God to hearken (Psalms 102:1-2); a plaintive bemoaning of the psalmist’s condition (Psalms 102:3-11); a triumphant rising above his sorrows, and rejoicing in the fair vision of a restored Jerusalem, whose Temple courts the nations tread (Psalms 102:12-22); and a momentary glance at his sorrows and brief life, which but spurs him to lay hold

the more joyously on God’s eternity, wherein he finds the pledge of the fulfilment of his hopes and of God’s promises (Psalms 102:23-28).

The opening invocations in Psalms 102:1-2 are mostly found in other psalms. "Let my cry come unto Thee" recalls Psalms 18:6. "Hide not Thy face" is like Psalms 27:9. "In the day of my straits" recurs in Psalms 59:16. "Bend to me Thy ear" is in Psalms 31:2. "In the day when I call "is as in Psalms 56:9. "Answer me speedily" is found in Psalms 69:17. But the psalmist is not a cold-blooded compiler, weaving a web from old threads, but a suffering man, fain to give his desires voice, in words which sufferers before him had hallowed, and securing a certain solace by reiterating familiar petitions. They are none the less his own, because they have been the cry of others. Some aroma of the answers that they drew down in the past clings to them still, and makes them fragrant to him.

Sorrow and pain are sometimes dumb, but, in Eastern natures, more often eloquent; finding ease in recounting their pangs. The psalmist’s first words of self-lamentation echo familiar strains, as he bases his cry for speedy answer on the swiftness with which his days are being whirled away, and melting like smoke as it escapes from a chimney. The image suggests another. The fire that makes the smoke is that in which his very bones are smouldering like a brand. The word for bones is in the singular, the bony framework being thought of as articulated into a whole. "Brand" is a doubtful rendering of a word which the Authorised Version, following some ancient Jewish authorities, renders hearth, as do Delitzsch and Cheyne. It is used in Isaiah 33:14 as =" burning," but "brand" is required to make out the metaphor. The same theme of physical decay is continued in Psalms 102:4 with a new image struck out by the ingenuity of pain. His heart is "smitten" as by sunstroke (compare Psalms 121:6, Isaiah 49:10, and for still closer parallels Hosea 9:16, Jonah 4:7, in both of which the same effect of fierce sunshine is described as the sufferer here bewails). His heart withers like Jonah’s gourd. The "For" in Psalms 102:4 b can scarcely be taken as giving the reason for this withering. It must rather be taken as giving the proof that it was so withered as might be concluded by beholders from the fact that he refused his food (Baethgen). The psalmist apparently intends in Psalms 102:5 to describe himself as worn to a skeleton by long-continued and passionate lamentations. But his phrase is singular. One can understand that emaciation should be described by saying that the bones adhered to the skin, the flesh having wasted away, but that they stick to the flesh can only describe it, by giving a wide meaning to "flesh," as including the whole outward part of the frame in contrast with the internal framework. Lamentations 4:8 gives the more natural expression. The psalmist has groaned himself into emaciation. Sadness and solitude go well together. We plunge into lonely places when we would give voice to our grief. The poet’s imagination sees his own likeness in solitude-loving creatures. The pelican is never now seen in Palestine but on Lake Huleh. Thomson ("Land and Book," p. 260: London, 1861) speaks of having found it there only, and describes it as "the most sombre, austere bird I ever saw." "The owl of the ruins" is identified by Tristram ("Land of Israel," p. 67) with the small owl Athene meridionalis, the emblem of Minerva, which "is very characteristic of all the hilly and rocky portions of Syria." The sparrow may be here a generic term for any small song bird, but

there is no need for departing from the narrower meaning. Thomson (p. 43) says: "When one of them has lost his mate-an everyday occurrence-he will sit on the housetop alone and lament by the hour."

BI 1-28, "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee.

Thoughts of comfort and complaint

I. Thoughts of complaint (Psa_102:1-11).

1. Concerning bodily sufferings.

(1) The physical anguish of life (verse 3).

(2) The terrible brevity of life (verse 11).

2. Concerning mental sufferings. “I am in trouble.” “My heart is smitten,” etc. His mental anguish destroyed his appetite for food, made his bones “cleave” to his “skin,” and to mingle his drink with tears. Such is the connection between the mind and the body that a suffering mind will soon bring the body to decay and death. One dark thought has often struck down a stalwart frame.

3. Concerning social sufferings (verse 8). The coldness, the calumny, the envy and jealousy of our fellow-men cannot fail to strike anguish into the heart.

4. Concerning religious sufferings (verse 10). Moral suffering is the soul of all suffering. “A wounded spirit who can bear?”

II. Thoughts of comfort (Psa_102:12-28). These thoughts refer to God.

1. His existence amidst all the changes of earth (verse 12).

2. His anticipated interposition on behalf of mankind (Psa_102:13-18).

(1) It is fixed—a “set time.”

(2) It is conditional (verse 14). “Seek, and ye shall find,” etc.

(3) It is glorious (verse 15).

(4) It is prayer-answering (verse 19).

(5) It is always rememberable (verse 18).

3. His past kindness towards the suffering (Psa_102:19-22).

4. His unchangeableness amidst all the mutations of the universe.

(1) Men change, but He remains the same (verses23, 24).

(2) The universe changes, but He remains the same (Psa_102:25-27).

The universe had an origin and is destined to have a dissolution. It had an origin. “Of old hast Thou laid,” etc. This account of the origin of the universe contradicts atheistic eternalists and sceptical evolutionists. It will have a dissolution. “It shall perish.” Dissolution, in fact, is a law of the organized universe. Both the origin and dissolution of the universe are attributable to One Personality. “Of old hast Thou laid.” The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews applies this to Christ, therefore to him Christ was Eternal God. One Being created all, one Being will dissolve all. This One Personality remains unalterable from the origin to the dissolution of the universe. (Homilist.)

The conditions of acceptable prayer

1. There must be a holy respect for the character and ways of God. We must come looking at all His attributes. They must fill all the eye, and ravish all the heart.

2. As we are social beings, the mode of our approach must show that we are not praying alone, that we belong to a praying family; and we should wish to get near to His presence, and not pray at a distance. The child would choose to come where the father was, if he could speak to him, and not stand at a distance, as if he were praying by proxy to an absent father.

3. Our prayers must go up with sincerity before him, and with that open frankness that love is accustomed to generate. And we should really desire the blessing we need, and not some other that we are afraid to ask for, as if we were held in the attitude of foreigners, who were supplicating mercies which we not only did not deserve, but had no reason to expect.

4. We must have our eyes filled with the precious Mediator: He must be to us “the chief among ten thousands, and altogether lovely.”

5. We must approach Him with a spirit of submission. This, however, will not imply indifference. There can be no resignation, unless the heart desires earnestly the blessing it supplicates.

6. We must come with a spirit of humility and penitence. The suppliant who can for one single moment forget that he is a suppliant will deserve to be repulsed in the very prayer he makes.

7. It would be natural and indispensable that we remember that we have received blessings from the same hand before, and there is no part of our plea that is more efficacious than where we tell of the mercies received in days gone by. (D. A. Clark.)

Earnest prayer alone succeeds

“Not very long ago I was staying at Matlock, and some one in Manchester wanted to call me up on the telephone. Speaking through the telephone is a thing to which I am unaccustomed. I could hear the voice at the other end asking me if I were there. I shouted that I was, I bellowed that I was, but still I heard the question, ‘Are you there?’ In despair I put the instrument-down and went to the porter. With a pitying smile be took the instrument, and spoke through it as quietly as possible. He was heard. I said, ‘Why can’t I make him hear?’ ‘Because,’ he said, ‘you forget one very simple thing. You do not take hold of the receiver firmly.’” Oh, how often in our appeals to high Heaven we ask and receive not because we forget to take a firm hold. (R. J. Campbell, M. A.)

God will hear my prayer

There is Christ, as most of us, I suppose, believe, Lord of all creatures, administering the affairs of the universe; the steps of His throne and the precincts of His court are thronged with dependents whose eyes wait upon Him, who are fed from His stores; and yet my poor voice may steal through that chorus-shout of petition and praise, and His ear will detect its lowest note, and will separate the thin stream of my prayer from the

great sea of supplication which rolls to His seat, and will answer me. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)

2 Do not hide your face from me when I am in distress.Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly.

BAR ES, "Hide not thy face from me - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “Do not turn away thy face from me.” The sense is essentially the same. The prayer is, that God would not refuse to look graciously upon him; that he would turn his attention to him; that he would regard his supplications. See the notes at Psa_10:1; compare Psa_13:1; Psa_27:9; Job_13:24; Job_34:29; Deu_31:17.

In the day when I am in trouble -When sorrows come upon me; when I need thy gracious help. Literally, “When there is distress to me.”

Incline thine ear unto me - See Psa_5:1, note; Psa_17:6, note; compare Psa_17:1; Psa_55:1; Psa_86:6; Psa_39:12.

In the day when I call, answer me speedily - Grant at once my requests; give me immediate evidence that my prayer is heard. The psalmist believed in an immediate answer to prayer. He often had evidence that his prayer was answered at once; his mind became calm; he had comfort and peace; he obtained the blessing which he earnestly sought. No one can doubt that prayer may be answered at once; no one who prays can fail to find such answers in his own case, in his peace, his calmness, his joy. In multitudes of cases blessings are granted in such a way that there can be no doubt that they have come in answer to prayer. Compare the notes at Dan_9:20-23.

GILL, "Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble,.... Thy Shechinah, as the Targum: when God hides his face at any time from his people, it is a trouble to them, and very grievous; but especially when they are in any other trouble besides; it is very afflicting, indeed, when to their outward trouble this is added, which was Job's case, Job_23:1, incline thine ear unto me; condescend, in great grace and goodness, to stoop and bow thine ear, and listen to the voice of my supplication: in the day when I call, answer me speedily; good men are always for speedy answers of prayer; they would have them the day, the hour, the moment they are calling upon God: sometimes answers are returned as soon, Isa_65:24, the case of the psalmist was very distressing, and, as he thought at least, required haste, and therefore requests a speedy

answer.

JAMISO , "Psa_102:1-28. A Prayer of the afflicted, etc. - The general terms seem to denote the propriety of regarding the Psalm as suitably expressive of the anxieties of any one of David’s descendants, piously concerned for the welfare of the Church. It was probably David’s composition, and, though specially suggested by some peculiar trials, descriptive of future times. Overwhelmed - (compare Psa_61:2). Poureth out - pouring out the soul - (Psa_62:8). Complaint - (Psa_55:2). The tone of complaint predominates, though in view of God’s promises and abiding faithfulness, it is sometimes exchanged for that of confidence and hope.

The terms used occur in Psa_4:1; Psa_17:1, Psa_17:6; Psa_18:6; Psa_31:2, Psa_31:10; Psa_37:20.

CALVI , "2Hide not thy face from me in the day of my affliction The prayer, that God would not hide his face, is far from being superfluous. As the people had been languishing in captivity for the space of nearly seventy years, it might seem that God had for ever turned away his favor from them. But they are, notwithstanding, commanded, in their extreme affliction, to have recourse to prayer as their only remedy. They affirm that they cry in the day of their affliction, not as hypocrites are accustomed to do, who utter their complaints in a tumultuous manner, but because they feel that they are then called upon by God to cry to him.

Make haste, answer me Having elsewhere spoken more fully of these forms of expression, it may suffice, at present, briefly to observe, that when God permits us to lay open before him our infirmities without reserve, and patiently bears with our foolishness, he deals in a way of great tenderness towards us. To pour out our complaints before him after the manner of little children would certainly be to treat his Majesty with very little reverence, were it not that he has been pleased to allow us such freedom. I purposely make use of this illustration, that the weak, who are afraid to draw near to God, may understand that they are invited to him with such gentleness as that nothing may hinder them from familiarly and confidently approaching him.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 2. Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Do not seem as if thou didst not see me, or wouldst not own me. Smile now at any rate. Reserve thy frowns for other times when I can bear them better, if, indeed, I can ever bear them; but now in my heavy distress, favour me with looks of compassion.Incline thine ear unto me. Bow thy greatness to my weakness. If because of sin thy face is turned away, at least let me have a side view of thee, lend me thine ear if I may not see thine eye. Turn thyself to me again if, my sin has turned thee away, give to thine ear an inclination to my prayers.In the day when I call answer me speedily. Because the case is urgent, and my soul little able to wait. We may ask to have answers to prayer as soon as possible, but we may not complain of the Lord if he should think it more wise to delay. We have

permission to request and to use importunity, but no right to dictate or to be petulant. If it be important that the deliverance should arrive at once, we are quite right in making an early time a point of our entreaty, for God is as willing to grant us a favour now as to-morrow, and he is not slack concerning his promise. It is a proverb concerning favours from human hands, that "he gives twice who gives quickly, "because a gift is enhanced in value by arriving in a time of urgent necessity; and we may be sure that our heavenly Patron will grant us the best gifts in the best manner, granting us grace to help in time of need. When answers come upon the heels of our prayers they are all the more striking, more consoling, and more encouraging.In these two verses the psalmist has gathered up a variety of expressions all to the same effect; in them all he entreats an audience and answer of the Lord, and the whole may be regarded as a sort of preface to the prayer which follows.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 2. Incline thine ear unto me. The great exhaustion of the affiicted one is hinted at: so worn out is he, that he is hardly able to cry any more, but with a faint voice only feebly mutters, like a weak sick man, whose voice if we would catch, we must incline the ear. Martin Geier.

3 For my days vanish like smoke; my bones burn like glowing embers.

BAR ES, "For my days are consumed like smoke -Margin, “into smoke.” Literally, “in smoke.” That is, They vanish as smoke; they pass away and become nothing; they are spent in affliction, and seem to accomplish nothing. The idea is, that in his affliction he seemed to accomplish none of the ends of life. His life seemed to be wasted. This is often the feeling in trial: and yet in trial a man may be more useful, he may do more to accomplish the real ends of life, he may do more to illustrate the power and excellence of religion, than he ever did in the days of prosperity.

And my bones are burned as an hearth - Or rather, as faggots or fuel. Literally, “They are burned as a burning.” The idea is, that in his troubles, his very bones, the most solid and substantial part of himself, seemed to be consumed and to waste away. See the notes at Psa_31:10.

CLARKE, "My days are consumed like smoke - He represents himself (for the psalmist speaks in the name of the people) under the notion of a pile of combustible matter, placed upon a fire, which soon consumes it; part flying away in smoke, and the

residue lying on the hearth in the form of charred coal and ashes. The Chaldeans were the fire, and the captive Jews the fuel, thus converted into smoke and ashes.

GILL, "For my days are consumed like smoke,.... Which suddenly rises up, is easily dissipated, and quickly disappears; so sudden, short, and transient, are the days of man's life; see Jam_4:14 or "in smoke" (c), as the Syriac version; his days were spent in great obscurity, in the darkness of affliction, temptation, and desertion; and in so much vexation, trouble, and uneasiness, as if he had lived in smoke all his time: and

my bones are burnt as an hearth; on which fire is continually made for the preparation of food, and other uses: or as a "trivet", or "gridiron": so the Targum: or as a frying pan; so the Arabic version: the meaning is, that, through trouble and grief, his bones, the strongest parts of his body, the props and supports of it, were so weakened and enfeebled, the strength of them so exhausted, that they were as if they had been parched and burnt up, as the hearth by fire; see Pro_17:22.

HE RY 3-7, " He makes a lamentable complaint of the low condition to which he was reduced by his afflictions. 1. His body was macerated and emaciated, and he had become a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. As prosperity and joy are represented by making fat the bones, and the bones flourishing like a herb, so great trouble and grief are here represented by the contrary: My bones are burnt as a hearth (Psa_102:3); they cleave to my skin (Psa_102:5); nay, my heart is smitten, and withered like grass (Psa_102:4); it touches the vitals, and there is a sensible decay there. I am withered like grass(Psa_102:11), scorched with the burning heat of my troubles. If we be thus brought low by bodily distempers, let us not think it strange; the body is like grass, weak and of the earth, no wonder then that it withers. 2. He was very melancholy and of a sorrowful spirit. He was so taken up with the thoughts of his troubles that he forgot to eat his bread (Psa_102:4); he had no appetite to his necessary food nor could he relish it. When God hides his face from a soul the delights of sense will be sapless things. He was always sighing and groaning, as one pressed above measure (Psa_102:5), and this wasted him and exhausted his spirits. He affected solitude, as melancholy people do. His friends deserted him and were shy of him, and he cared as little for their company (Psa_102:6, Psa_102:7): “I am like a pelican of the wilderness, or a bittern (so some) that make a doleful noise; I am like an owl, that affects to lodge in deserted ruined buildings; I watch, and am as a sparrow upon the house-top. I live in a garret, and there spend my hours in poring on my troubles and bemoaning myself.” Those who do thus, when they are in sorrow, humour themselves indeed; but they prejudice themselves, and know not what they do, nor what advantage they hereby give to the tempter. In affliction we should sit alone to consider our ways (Lam_3:28), but not sit alone to indulge an inordinate grief.

CALVI , "3For my days are consumed like smoke These expressions are hyperbolical, but still they show how deeply the desolation of the Church ought to wound the hearts of the people of God. Let every man, therefore, carefully examine himself on this head. If we do not prefer the Church to all the other objects of our solicitude, we are unworthy of being accounted among her members. Whenever we meet with such forms of expression as these, let us remember that they reproach our

slothfulness in not being affected with the afflictions of the Church as we ought. The Psalmist compares his days to smoke, and his bones to the stones of the hearth, which, in the course of time, are consumed by the fire. By bones he means the strength of man. And, were not men devoid of feeling, such a melancholy spectacle of the wrath of God would assuredly have the effect of drying up their bones, and wasting away their whole rigor.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 3. For my days are consumed like smoke. My grief has made life unsubstantial to me, I seem to be but a puff of vapour which has nothing in it, and is soon dissipated. The metaphor is very admirably chosen, for, to the unhappy, life seems not merely to be frail, but to be surrounded by so much that is darkening, defiling, blinding, and depressing, that, sitting down in despair, they compare themselves to men wandering in a dense fog, and themselves so dried up thereby that they are little better than pillars of smoke. When our days have neither light of joy nor fire of energy in them, but become as a smoking flax which dies out ignobly in darkness, then have we cause enough to appeal to the Lord that he would not utterly quench us.And my bones are burned as an hearth. He became as dry as the hearth on which a wood fire has burned out, or as spent ashes in which scarcely a trace of fire can be found. His soul was ready to be blown away as smoke, and his body seemed likely to remain as the bare hearth when the last comforting ember is quenched. How often has our piety appeared to us to be in this condition! We have had to question its reality, and fear that it never was anything more than a smoke; we have had the most convincing evidence of its weakness, for we could not derive even the smallest comfort from it, any more than a chilled traveller can derive from the cold hearth on which a fire had burned long ago. Soul-trouble experienced in our own heart will help us to interpret the language here employed; and church-troubles may help us also, if unhappily we have been called to endure them. The psalmist was moved to grief by a view of national calamities, and these so wrought upon his patriotic soul that he was wasted with anxiety, his spirits were dried up, and his very life was ready to expire. There is hope for any country which owns such a son; no nation can die while true hearts are ready to die for it.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 3. Consumed like smoke, would be better read, "pass away as in smoke, "as if they disappeared into smoke and ashes. Burned as an hearth, is not a felicitous translation, for a "hearth" should be incombustible. Better "burned as a faggot, "as any fuel. The sentiment, My days waste away to nothing, turn to no good account, are lost. Henry Cowles.Ver. 3. My days are consumed like smoke; or, as Hebrew, literally, "in (into) smoke." The very same expression which David in Psalms 37:20 had used of "the enemies of the Lord:" "They shall consume into smoke" (compare Psalms 68:2). Hereby the ideal sufferer virtually complains that the lot of the wicked befalls him, though being righteous (Psalms 101:1-8). A. R. Fausset.Ver. 3. My days are consumed like smoke. As the smoke is a vapour proceeding from the fire, yet hath no heat in it: so my days are come from the torrid zone of youth into the region of cold and age; and as the smoke seems a thick substance for the present, but presently vanisheth into air; so my days made as great shew at first

as if they would never have been spent; but now, alas, are wasted and leave me scarce a being. As the smoke is fuliginous and dark, and affords no pleasure to look upon it; so my days are all black and in mourning; no joy nor pleasure to be taken in them. And as the smoke ascends indeed, but by ascending wastes itself and comes to nothing: so my days are wasted in growing, are diminished in increasing; their plenty hath made a scarcity, and the more they have been the fewer they are. And how, indeed, can my days choose but be consumed as smoke, whenmy bones are burned as an hearth? for as when the hearth is burned there can be made no more fire upon it; so, when my bones, which are as the hearth upon which my fire of life is made, come once to be burned; how can any more fire of life be made upon them? and when no fire can be made, what will remain but only smoke? Sir R. Baker.Ver. 3. As an hearth. Or, as a trivet, or, gridiron;so the Targum: or, as a frying-pan: so the Arabic version. John Gill.

COKE, "Psalms 102:3. For my days are consumed like smoke— Or, according to the original בעשן beashan, in smoke. "My afflictions have had the same effect upon me, as smoke has on things which are hung up in it; i.e. have dried me up, and deformed me." As an hearth, is rendered by some as dry wood; which is most applicable to the subject here spoken of. The bones being burned up as dry wood, denotes the speedy exhausting of the radical moisture, which soon ends in the consumption of the whole body.

WHEDO , "3. My days are consumed like smoke—Or, My days have ended in smoke. Life, once so real, so desirable, has passed away like “smoke,” which dissolves and disappears. The same is an Eastern proverb to this day.

Burned as a hearth—Consumed like a fagot. The judgments of God have dried up my bones like a fagot, or brand, in the fire. Psalms 69:3

CO STABLE, "Verses 3-7Several statements illustrate how the psalmist felt. He had lost many good days to suffering. His sorrow had made his bones ache; his emotional state was affecting his physical condition. He felt withered under the heat of his affliction. He had become so preoccupied that he would forget to eat. Consequently his stomach was growling and he was losing weight. He evidently felt very much alone, like a lonely pelican in the wilderness. He felt as isolated as an owl, and he could not sleep.

K&D 3-5, "From this point onward the Psalm becomes original. Concerning the Beth

in בעשן, vid., on Psa_37:20. The reading �מו�קד (in the Karaite Ben-Jerucham) enriches

the lexicon in the same sense with a word which has scarcely had any existence. מוקד

(Arabic mau�id) signifies here, as in other instances, a hearth. נחרו is, as in Psa_69:4, Niphal: my bones are heated through with a fever-heat, as a hearth with the

smouldering fire that is on it. הו�ה (cf. יגו"ו, Psa_94:21) is used exactly as in Hos_9:16, cf. Psa_121:5. The heart is said to dry up when the life's blood, of which it is the reservoir,

fails. The verb שכח is followed by מן of dislike. On the cleaving of the bones to the flesh

from being baked, i.e., to the skin (Arabic bašar, in accordance with the radical

signification, the surface of the body = the skin, from בשר, to brush along, rub, scrape,

scratch on the surface), cf. Job_19:20; Lam_4:8. (אל) ל� with בק" is used just like �*. It is

unnecessary, with Böttcher, to draw מ-ול�,נחתי to Psa_102:5. Continuous straining of the voice, especially in connection with persevering prayer arising from inward conflict, does really make the body waste away.

4 My heart is blighted and withered like grass; I forget to eat my food.

BAR ES, "My heart is smitten - Broken; crushed with grief. We now speak of “a broken heart.” Even death is often caused by such excessive sorrow as to crush and break the heart.

And withered like grass - It is dried up as grass is by drought, or as when it is cut down. It loses its support; and having no strength of its own, it dies.

So that I forget to eat my bread - I am so absorbed in my trials; they so entirely engross my attention, that I think of nothing else, not even of those things which are necessary to the support of life. Grief has the effect of taking away the appetite, but this does not seem to be the idea here. It is that of such a complete absorption in trouble that everything else is forgotten.

CLARKE, "My heart is smitten, and withered like grass - The metaphor here is taken from grass cut down in the meadow. It is first smitten with the scythe, and then withered by the sun. Thus the Jews were smitten with the judgments of God; and they are now withered under the fire of the Chaldeans.

GILL, "My heart is smitten, and withered like grass,.... Like grass in the summer solstice (d), which being smitten with the heat of the sun, or by some blast of thunder and lightning, is dried up, and withers away; so his heart was smitten with a sense of sin, and of God's wrath and displeasure at him, and with the heat of affliction and trouble,

that it failed him, and he could not look up with joy and comfort:

so that I forget to eat my bread; sometimes, through grief and trouble, persons refuse to eat bread, as Jonathan and Ahab, which is a voluntary act, and purposely done; but here, in the psalmist, there was such a loss of appetite, through sorrow, that he forgot his stated meals, having no manner of inclination to food: some understand this of spiritual food, the bread of life, refusing to be comforted with it; so the Targum,

"for I forgot the law of my doctrine.''

JAMISO , "(Compare Psa_121:6).

so that I forget— or, “have forgotten,” that is, in my distress (Psa_107:18), and hence strength fails.

CALVI , "4My heart is smitten, and dried up like grass Here he employs a third similitude, declaring that his heart is withered, and wholly dried up like mown grass. But he intends to express something more than that his heart was withered, and his bones reduced to a state of dryness. His language implies, that as the grass, when it is cut down, can no longer receive juice from the earth, nor retain the life and rigor which it derived from the root, so his heart being, as it were, torn and cut off from its root, was deprived of its natural nourishment. The meaning of the last clause, I have forgotten to eat my bread, is, My sorrow has been so great, that I have neglected my ordinary food. The Jews, it is true, during their captivity in Babylon, did eat their food; and it would have been an evidence of their having fallen into sinful despair, had they starved themselves to death. But what he means to say is, that he was so afflicted with sorrow as to refuse all delights, and to deprive himself even of food and drink. True believers may cease for a time to partake of their ordinary food, when, by voluntary fasting, they humbly beseech God to turn away his wrath, but the prophet does not here speak of that kind of abstinence from bodily sustenance. He speaks of such as is the effect of extreme mental distress, which is accompanied with a loathing of food, and a weariness of all things. In the close of the verse, he adds, that his body was, as it were, consuming or wasting away, so that his bones clave to his skin.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 4. My heart is smitten, like a plant parched by the fierce heat of a tropical sun, and withered like grass, which dries up when once the scythe has laid it low. The psalmist's heart was as a wilted, withered flower, a burned up mass of what once was verdure. His energy, beauty, freshness, and joy, were utterly gone, through the wasting influence of his anguish.So that I forget to eat my bread, or "because I forget to eat my bread." Grief often destroys the appetite, and the neglect of food tends further to injure the constitution and create a yet deeper sinking of spirit. As the smitten flower no longer drinks in the dew, or draws up nutriment from the soil, so a heart parched with intense grief often refuses consolation for itself and nourishment for the bodily frame, and descends at a doubly rapid rate into weakness, despondency, and dismay. The case

here described is by no means rare, we have frequently met with individuals so disordered by sorrow that their memory has failed them even upon such pressing matters as their meals, and we must confess that we have passed through the same condition ourselves. One sharp pang has filled the soul, monopolized the mind, and driven everything else into the background, so that such common matters as eating and drinking have been utterly despised, and the appointed hours of refreshment have gone by unheeded, leaving no manifest faintness of body, but an increased weariness of heart.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 4. My heart is smitten and withered like grass. The metaphor here is taken from grass, cut down in the meadow. It is first "smitten" with the scythe, and then "withered" by the sun. Thus the Jews were smitten with the judgments of God; and they are now withered under the fire of the Chaldeans. Adam Clarke.Ver. 4. I forget to eat my bread. I have heard of some that have forgotten their own names, but I never heard of any that forget to eat his meat; for there is a certain prompter called hunger that will make a man to remember his meat in spite of his teeth. And yet it is true, when the heart is blasted and withered like grass, such a forgetfulness of necessity will follow. Is it that the withering of the heart is the prime cause of sorrow; at least cause of the prime sorrow; and immoderate sorrow is the mother of stupidity, stupifying and benumbing the animal faculties, that neither the understanding nor the memory can execute their functions? Or is it, that sorrow is so intentire to that it sorrows for, that it cannot intent to think anything else? Or is it, that nature makes account, that to feed in sorrow were to feed sorrow, and therefore thinks best to forbear all eating? Or is it, that as sorrow draws moisture from the brain and fills the eyes with water; so it draws a like juice from other parts, which fills the stomach instead of meat? However it be, it shews a wonderful operation that is in sorrow; to make not only the stomach to refuse its meat, but to make the brain forget the stomach, between whom there is so natural a sympathy and so near a correspondence. But as the vigour of the heart breeds plenty of spirits, which convey to all the parts, gives everyone a natural appetite; so when the heart is blasted and withered like grass, and that there is no more any rigour in it, the spirits are presently at a stand, and then no marvel if the stomach lose its appetite, and forget to eat bread. Sir R. Baker.Ver. 4. I forget to eat my bread. When grief hath thus dejected the spirits, the man has no appetite for that food which is to recruit and elevate them. Ahab, smitten with one kind of grief, David with another, and Daniel with a third, all forgot, or refused, to eat their bread. 1 Kings 21:4; 2 Samuel 12:16; Daniel 10:3. Such natural companions are mourning and fasting. Samuel Burder.

WHEDO , "4. My heart is smitten, and withered like grass—The word here translated “smitten,” in Psalms 121:6, denotes a sunstroke. “Withered like grass,” is an allusion to the effect of the sirocco, or, perhaps, to the June sun, which, in that climate, withers the grass upon the hills to a brown and desolate appearance. On the sirocco, see note on Psalms 103:16, and on the heat of the sun in May and June, see Matthew 13:6.

Forget to eat my bread—The loss of appetite is a natural effect of great sorrow.

Psalms 107:18; Job 33:20

BE SO , "Verses 4-7Psalms 102:4-7. My heart is withered like grass — Which is smitten and withered by the heat of the sun, either while it stands, or after it is cut down. So that I forget to eat my bread — Because my mind is wholly swallowed up with the contemplation of my own miseries. My bones cleave to my skin — My flesh being quite consumed with excessive sorrow. I am like a pelican in the wilderness — “There are two species of pelicans, one of which lives in the water on fish, the other in the wilderness, upon serpents and reptiles.” The word קאת, kaath, here used, is rendered cormorant, (which is a corruption of corvorant,) Isaiah 34:11 ; Zephaniah 2:14. “By the owl of the desert many understand the bittern, and by the bird that sits solitary on the house-top, the owl.” Dr. Waterland and Houbigant, instead of sparrow alone, read the solitary bird; and the latter, for pelican, reads onocrotalus.

5 In my distress I groan aloud and am reduced to skin and bones.

BAR ES, "By reason of the voice of my groaning - By suffering and trouble, so great as to produce groaning, my flesh is wasted away.

My bones cleave to my skin -Margin, “flesh.” The Hebrew word means “flesh.” The effect described is that of a wasting away or an emaciation of flesh from deep distress, so that the bones became prominent, and had nothing to hide them from view; so that they seemed to adhere fast to the flesh itself. See the notes at Job_19:20.

GILL, "By reason of the voice of my groaning,.... Under the burden of sin, and pressure of afflictions:

my bones cleave to my skin; was quite emaciated, reduced to a skeleton, became nothing but skin and bone (e); which sometimes is occasioned, as by outward afflictions, so by soul troubles: or "to my flesh" (f); flesh is put for skin; see Job_19:20.

JAMISO , "voice ... groaning— effect put for cause, my agony emaciates me.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 5. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. He became emaciated with sorrow. He had groaned himself down to a living skeleton, and so in his bodily appearance was the more like the smoke-dried,

withered, burnt-up things to which he had previously compared himself. It will be a very long time before the distresses of the church of God make some Christians shrivel into anatomies, but this good man was so moved with sympathy for Zion's ills that he was wasted down to skin and bone.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 5. My bones cleave to my skin. When the bones cleave to the skin, both are near cleaving to the dust. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 5. That grief readily causes the body to pine away is very well known. It is related of Cardinal Wolsey, by an eye-witness, that when he heard that his master's favour was turned from him, he was wrung with such an agony of grief, which continued a whole night, that in the morning his face was dwindled away into half its usual dimensions.

6 I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

BAR ES, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness - A bird in the midst of desolation becomes a striking image of loneliness and distress. The word rendered

“pelican” - qâ'ath קאת - is supposed to have been a name given to the pelican from the

idea of vomiting, as it “vomits the shells and other substances which it has too voraciously swallowed.” The word occurs in the following places, where it is rendered as here “pelican:” Lev_11:18; Deu_14:17; and in Isa_34:11; Zep_2:14, where it is rendered “cormorant.” The following description, taken from the “Land and the Book,” vol. i. p. 403, by Dr. Thomson, will illustrate this passage. Speaking of the outlet of the Huleh, and the region of the exit of the Jordan from that lake in its course toward the sea of Tiberias, he says, “Here only have I seen the pelican of the wilderness, as David calls it. I once had one of them shot just below this place, and, as it was merely wounded in the wing, I had a good opportunity to study its character. It was certainly the most sombre, austere bird I ever saw. It gave one the blues merely to look at it. David could find no more expressive type of solitude and melancholy by which to illustrate his own sad state. It seemed as large as a half-grown donkey, and when fairly settled on its stout legs, it looked like one. The pelican is never seen but in these unfrequented solitudes, and to this agree all the references to it in the Bible.”

I am like an owl of the desert - The owl is a well-known bird which dwells in solitudes and old ruins, and which becomes, alike by its seeking such places of abode, by its appearance, and by its doleful cry, the very emblem of desolation.

CLARKE, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness - It may be the pelican or the

bittern. The original, קאת kaath, is mentioned Lev_11:18 (note), and is there described.

See the note.

Owl of the desert - cos, some species of owl; probably the night raven. See the כוש

notes referred to above.

GILL, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness,.... It may be so called, to distinguish it from another of the same name that lives upon the waters; which has the name of "pelican" in the Greek tongue, as is said, from its smiting and piercing its breast, and letting out blood for the reviving of its young; and in the Hebrew language, from its vomiting shell fish it has swallowed down; See Gill on Lev_11:18 where the word is rendered a "pelican" as here, and in Deu_14:17, the same we call the "shovelard"; but a "cormorant" in Isa_34:11, however, it seems to be a bird of solitude, and therefore the psalmist compares himself to it. According to Isidore (g), it is an Egyptian bird, that inhabits the desert of the river Nile, from whence it has the name of Canopus Aegyptus:

I am like an owl of the desert; or "of desert places"; so the Tigurine version; it is translated "the little owl" in Lev_11:17. It delights to be on old walls, and in ruined houses, and cares not to consort with other birds, and it makes a hideous sorrowful noise (h). Jarchi renders it the hawk, but that, as Kimchi (i) observes, is found in habitable places. Bochart (k) thinks the "onocrotalos" is meant, a bird so much of the same kind with the pelican, that they are promiscuously used by learned men; and which is a creature, as Jerom (l) says, that is used to dwell in desert places; and Isidore (m)observes, that there are two sorts of them, one that lives in the water, and another in the desert; it has its name from its braying like an ass; and Aelianus (n) speaks of a bird of this sort in India, which has a large crop like a sack; and the Hebrew word "cos" here used signifies a cup or vessel, from whence it may have its name; and which he says makes a very disagreeable noise, to which the psalmist may compare the voice of his groaning, Psa_102:5.

JAMISO , "The figures express extreme loneliness.

K&D 6-8, "ק,ת (construct of ק,ת or ק8ת from ק8ה, vid., Isaiah, at Isa_34:11-12),

according to the lxx, is the pelican, and וס� is the night-raven or the little horned-owl.

(Note: The lxx renders it: I am like a pelican of the desert, I am become as a night-

raven upon a ruined place (ο;κοπέδ@). In harmony with the lxx, Saadia (as also the

Arabic version edited by Erpenius, the Samaritan Arabic, and Abulwalîd) renders קאת

by Arab. qûq (here and in Lev_11:18; Deu_14:17; Isa_34:17), and כוס by Arab. bûm;

the latter (bum) is an onomatopoetic name of the owl, and the former (k[uk[) does

not even signify the owl or horned-owl (although the small horned-owl is called um

kuéik in Egypt, and in Africa abu�kuéik; vid., the dictionaries of Bocthor and Marcel

s.v. chouette), but the pelican, the “long-necked water-bird” (Damiri after the lexicon

el-‛Obâb of Hasan ben-Mohammed el-Saghani). The Graeco-Veneta also renders קאת

with πελεκάν, - the Peshito, however, with Syr. qāqā'. What Ephrem on Deu_14:17

and the Physiologus Syrus (ed. Tychsen, p. 13, cf. pp. 110 f). say of Syr. qāqā', viz., that it is a marsh-bird, is very fond of its young ones, dwells in desolate places, and is incessantly noisy, likewise points to the pelican, although the Syrian lexicographers vary. Cf. also Oedmann, Vermischte Sammlungen, Heft 3, Cap. 6. (Fleischer after a communication from Rodiger.))

obtains the signification to be like, equal (aequalem esse), from the radical "מה

signification to be flat, even, and to spread out flat (as the Dutch have already recognised). They are both unclean creatures, which are fond of the loneliness of the desert and ruined places. To such a wilderness, that of the exile, is the poet unwillingly

transported. He passes the nights without sleep (שקד, to watch during the time for sleep),

and is therefore like a bird sitting lonesome (ודד*, Syriac erroneously נודד) upon the roof whilst all in the house beneath are sleeping. The Athnach in Psa_102:8 separates that which is come to be from the ground of the “becoming” and the “becoming” itself. His

grief is that his enemies reproach him as one forsaken of God. מהולל, part. Poal, is one

made or become mad, Ecc_2:2 : my mad ones = those who are mad against me. These swear by him, inasmuch as they say when they want to curse: “God do unto thee as unto this man,” which is to be explained according to Isa_65:15; Jer_29:22.

CALVI , "6I have become like a pelican of the wilderness Instead of rendering the original word by pelican, some translate it bittern, and others the cuckoo. The Hebrew word here used for owl is rendered by the Septuagint νυκτικοραξ, which signifies a bat. (141) But as even the Jews are doubtful as to the kind of birds here intended, let it suffice us simply to know, that in this verse there are pointed out certain melancholy birds, whose place of abode is in the holes of mountains and in deserts, and whose note, instead of being delightful and sweet to the ear, inspires those who hear it with terror. I am removed, as if he had said, from the society of men, and am become almost like a wild beast of the forest. Although the people of God dwelt in a well cultivated and fertile region, yet the whole country of Chaldea and Assyria was to them like a wilderness, since their hearts were bound by the strongest ties of affection to the temple, and to their native country from which they had been expelled. The third similitude, which is taken from the sparrow, denotes such grief as produces the greatest uneasiness. The word צפור, tsippor, signifies in general any kind of bird; but I have no doubt that it is here to be understood of the sparrow. It is described as solitary or alone, because it has been bereaved of its mate; and so deeply affected are these little birds when separated from their mates, that their distress exceeds almost all sorrow. (142)

‘ Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo Visa queri, et longas in fletum ducere voces.’Æneid, lib. 4. 50. 462.

I doubt whether the Psalmist would in two verses together compare his situation to that of the very same bird, with no other difference than that of its sitting in the desert in one verse, and on the house-top in the other.” Bochart thinks that the screech-owl is intended. The reason which Calvin assigns for the sparrow being called solitary, namely, because of the extreme sorrow which she feels when deprived of her mate, does not agree with the natural history of that bird; for, unlike the turtle, who, on losing her spouse, remains in a state of inconsolable widowhood, she accepts without reluctance the first companion that solicits her affections.

SPURGEO , "I am like an owl of the desert; loving solitude, moping among ruins, hooting discordantly. The Psalmist likens himself to two birds which were commonly used as emblems of gloom and wretchedness; on other occasions he had been as the eagle, but the griefs of his people had pulled him down, the brightness was gone from his eye, and the beauty from his person; he seemed to himself to be as a melancholy bird sitting among the fallen palaces and prostrate temples of his native land. Should not we also lament when the ways of Zion mourn and her strength languishes? Were there more of this holy sorrow we should soon see the Lord returning to build up his church. It is ill for men to be playing the peacock with worldly pride when the ills of the times should make them as mournful as the pelican; and it is a terrible thing to see men flocking like vultures to devour the prey of a decaying church, when they ought rather to be lamenting among her ruins like the owl.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness. The Kaath was a bird of solitude that was to be found in the "wilderness, "i.e., far from the habitations of man. This is one of the characteristics of the pelican, which loves not the neighbourhood of human beings, and is fond of resulting to broad, uncultivated lands, where it will not be disturbed. In them it makes its nest and hatches its young, and to them it retires after feeding, in order to digest in quiet the ample meal which it has made. Mr. Tristram well suggests that the metaphor of the Psalmist may allude to the habit common to the pelican and its kin, of sitting motionless for hours after it has gorged itself with food, its head sunk on its shoulders, and its bill resting on its breast. J.G. Wood.Ver. 6. A pelican of the wilderness. Here only at Hulet have I seen the pelican of the wilderness, as David calls it. I once had one of them shot just below this place, and, as it was merely wounded in the wing, I had a good opportunity to study its character. It was certainly the most sombre, austere bird I ever saw. It gave one the blues merely to look at it. David could find no more expressive type of solitude and melancholy by which to illustrate his own sad state. It seemed as large as a half-grown donkey, and when fairly settled on its stout legs, it looked like one. The pelican is never seen but in these unfrequented solitudes. W.M. Thomson.Ver. 6. Consider that thou needest not complain, like Elijah, that thou art left alone, seeing the best of God's saints in all ages have smarted in the same kind—instance in David:indeed sometimes he boasts how he "lay in green pastures, and was led by still waters; "but after he bemoans that he "sinks in deep mire, where there was no

standing." What is become of those green pastures? parched up with the drought. Where are those still waters troubled with the tempest of affliction. The same David compares himself to an "owl, "and in the next Psalm resembles himself to an "eagle." Do two fowls fly of more different kind? The one the scorn, the other the sovereign;the one the slowest, the other the swiftest;the one the most sharp-sighted, the other the most dim-eyed of all birds. Wonder not, then, to find in thyself sudden and strange alterations. It fared thus with all God's servants in their agonies of temptation; and be confident thereof, though now run aground with grief, in due time thou shalt be all afloat with comfort. Thomas Fuller.Ver. 6. Owl. Some kind of owl, it is thought, is intended by the Hebrew word cos, translated "little owl" in Leviticus 11:17; De 14:16, where it is mentioned amongst the unclean birds. It occurs also in Psalms 102:6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of ruined places (A. V., "desert"). The Hebrew word cos means a "cup" in some passages of Scripture, from a root meaning to "receive, "to "hide, "or "bring together"; hence the pelican, "the cup, "or "pouch-bird, "has been suggested as the bird intended. In this case the verse in the Psalm would be rendered thus: "I am become like a pelican in the wilderness, even as the pouch-bird in the desert places." But the fact that both the pelican and the cos are enumerated in the list of birds to be avoided as food is against this theory, unless the word changed its meaning in the Psalmist's time, which is improbable. The expression cos "of ruined places" looks very much as if some owl were denoted. The Arabic definitely applies a kindred expression as one of the names of an owl, viz., um elcharab, i.e. "mother of ruins." The Septuagint gives nukkktikorax as the meaning of cos;and we know from Aristotle that the Greek word was a synonym of wtov, evidently, from his description of the bird, one of the cared owls. Dr. Tristram is disposed to refer the cos to the little Athene Persica, the most common of all the owls in Psalestine, the representative of the A noetua of Southern Europe. The Arabs call this bird "boomah, "from his note; he is described "as a grotesque and comical-looking little bird, familiar and yet cautious; never moving unnecessarily, but remaining glued to his perch, unless he has good reason for believing that he has been aetected, and twisting and turning his head instead of his eyes to watch what is going on." He is to be found amongst rocks in the wadys or trees by the water-side, in olive yards, in the tombs and on the ruins, on the sandy mounds of Beersheba, and on "the spray-beaten fragments of Tyre, where his low wailing noto is sure to be heard at sunset, and himself seen bowing and keeping time to his own music." W. Houghton, in "Cassell's Biblical Educator, "1874,Ver. 6. Owl of the desert.Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower,The moping owl does to the moon complainOf such as, wandering near her secret bower,Molest her ancient solitary reign. Thomas Gray (1716-1771).

ELLICOTT, "(6) Pelican.—See Leviticus 11:18. “It has been objected that the pelican is a water-bird, and cannot, therefore, be the kâath of the Scriptures—“the pelican of the wilderness”—as it must of necessity starve in the desert; but a midbar (wilderness) is often used to denote a wide open space, cultivated or uncultivated,

and is not to be restricted to barren spots destitute of water; moreover, as a matter of fact, the pelican after filling its capacious pouch with fish, molluscs, &c, often does. retire to places far inland, where it consumes what it has captured. Thus, too, it breeds on the great sandy wastes near the mouths of the Danube. The expression ‘pelican in the wilderness,’ in the psalmist’s pitiable complaint, is a true picture of the bird as it sits in apparently melancholy mood with its bill resting on its breast (Bible Educator, iv. 8).

Owl.—Heb., khôs. (See Leviticus 11:17.) The bird is identified with the “owl” by the Hebrew in this passage, which should be rendered, “owl of the ruins.” Some, however, would identify this bird with the pelican, since khôs means “cup,” rendering “the pelican, even the pouch-bird.” (See Bible Educator, ii. 346.) LXX., Aquila, Theodotion, all have “screech-owl;” Symmachus, the “hoopoe.”

COKE, "Psalms 102:6. I am like a pelican of the wilderness— There are two species of pelicans, one of which lives in the water, upon fish; the other in the wilderness, upon serpents and reptiles. By the owl of the desert, many understand the bittern; and by the bird which sits solitary on the house-top, the owl. Houbigant, instead of sparrow alone, reads, the solitary bird; and for pelican, onocrotalus. See Dr. Shaw's Travels, p. 427. Bochart's works, vol. 3: p. 272 and Watson's Animal World displayed, p. 242.

WHEDO , "6. Like a pelican of the wilderness—The idea is solitariness. The “pelican,” קאת, (kaath,) though under some circumstances a social bird, is noted for its habits of retiring to solitary places to rear its young, also to devour its prey, when it will sit, for hours together, motionless. It is a water bird, large, clumsy; inhabiting lakes and swamps in desert or retired places. The word is translated cormorant, Isaiah 34:11 ; Zephaniah 2:14. In the law it is placed among the unclean birds. Leviticus 11:18.

Owl—Another of the birds of solitary habits, called by the Arabs “mother of the ruins.”

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Verse 77. As a sparrow—On the original word for “sparrow,” see note on Psalms 84:3. Solitariness is, here, the idea, as in Psalms 102:6, and is the characteristic of the bird alluded to. But the common “sparrow” is excessively lively, gregarious, and bold. The text better suits the habits of the blue thrush, (Petrocossyphus cyoneus.) “This bird is fond of sitting on the tops of houses, uttering its note, which, however agreeable to itself, is monotonous and melancholy to the human ear.”—Wood.

Verse 88. Mine enemies reproach me—This was a chief source of his distress. They taunted him as one forsaken of God. Psalms 42:3; Psalms 42:10; Micah 7:10.

Mad against me—They rage “against me.” They act like men devoid of reason.

Sworn against me—The peculiar form of the expression would indicate that they used him as a common formula of cursing, as in the passage, “The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab,”

Jeremiah 29:22. See, also, Isaiah 65:15. We know this was the reproach of the exiles while in Babylon, Zechariah 8:13. This accords well with the historic occasion of the psalm.

7 I lie awake; I have become like a bird alone on a roof.

BAR ES, "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house-top - That is, I am “sleepless;” trouble drives sleep from my eyes, and I am kept awake at night - a common effect of grief. The following remarks, copied from the “Land and the Book” (i. 54, 55), will furnish all the illustration needful of this verse. “They are a tame, troublesome, and impertinent generation, and nestle just where you don’t want them. They stop up your stove and waterpipes with their rubbish, build in the windows and under the beams of the roof, and would stuff your hat full of stubble in half a day if they found it hanging in a place to suit them ... . When one of them has lost its mate - a matter of everyday occurrence - he will sit on the house-top alone, and lament by the hour his sad bereavement.”

CLARKE, "As a sparrow alone - tsippor, seems to be often used for any small צפור

bird, such as the swallow, sparrow, or the like. Bochart supposes the screech owl is intended.

GILL, "I watch,.... Night after night, and take no sleep; cannot get any by reason of thoughtfulness, care, and trouble:

and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop; or, "as a bird" (o); for there is no necessity of limiting it to a sparrow, to which the account does not seem so well to agree; for sparrows will not only perch on housetops and solitary places, but will make their

nests in dwelling houses, and in places of public resort, as temples; hence David speaks of the sparrow finding an house near the altars of God, Psa_84:3 and Herodotus (p)makes mention of sparrows and other birds making their nests in the temple at Branchides; which may serve to illustrate the text last mentioned: wherefore this may be understood of any solitary bird, and especially of the owl (q); the Jews had flat roofs upon their houses, and here birds of solitude would come and sit alone in the night season, to which the psalmist likens himself; being either forsaken by his friends and acquaintance; or, being in melancholy circumstances, he chose to be alone, mourning over his sorrowful state and condition.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 7. I watch, and am like a sparrow alone upon the house top: I keep a solitary vigil as the lone sentry of my nation; my fellows are too selfish, too careless to care for the beloved land, and so like a bird which sits alone on the housetop, I keep up a sad watch over my country. The Psalmist compared himself to a bird, —a bird when it has lost its mate or its young, or is for some other reason made to mope alone in a solitary place. Probably he did not refer to the cheerful sparrow of our own land, but if he did, the illustration would not be out of place, for the sparrow is happy in company, and if it were alone, the sole one of its species in the neighbourhood, there can be little doubt that it would become very miserable, and sit and pine away. He who has felt himself to be so weak and inconsiderable as to have no more power over his times than a sparrow over a city, has also, when bowed down with despondency concerning the evils of the age, sat himself down in utter wretchedness to lament the ills which he could not heal. Christians of an earnest, watchful kind often find themselves among those who have no sympathy with them; even in the church they look in vain for kindred spirits; then do they persevere in their prayers and labours, but feel themselves to be as lonely as the poor bird which looks from the ridge of the roof, and meets with no friendly greeting from any of its kind.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 7. I watch. During the hours allotted to sleep "I wake, " like a little bird which sits solitary on the house-top, while all beneath enjoy the sleep which he giveth to his beloved. Alfred Edersheim.Ver. 7. A sparrow alone upon the house-top. When one of them has lost its mate—a matter of every-day occurrence—he will sit on the house-top alone, and lament by the hour his sad bereavement. W. M. Thomson.Ver. 7. I am as a sparrow alone, etc. It is evident that the "sparrow alone and melancholy upon the house-tops" cannot be the lively, gregarious sparrow which assembles in such numbers on these favourite feeding-places the house-tops of the East. We must therefore look for some other bird, and naturalists are now agreed that we may accept the Blue Thrush (Petrocossyphus cyaneus) as the particular tzippor, or small bird, which sits alone on the house-tops. The colour of this bird is a dark blue, whence it derives its popular name. Its habits exactly correspond with the idea of solitude and melancholy. The Blue Thrushes never assemble in flocks, and it is very rare to see more than a pair together. It is fond of sitting on the tops of houses, uttering its note, which, however agreeable to itself, is monotonous and melancholy to human ear. J.G. Wood, in "Bible Animals."Ver. 7. A sparrow. Most readers are struck with the incongruity of the image, as it

appears in our version, intended by the Psalmist to express a condition of distress and desolation. The sparrow is found, indeed, all over the East, in connection with houses, as it is with ourselves; but it is everywhere one of the most social of birds, cheerful to impertinence; and mischievously disposed, instead of being retiring in its habits, and melancholy in its demeanour. The word, in the original, is a general term for all the small birds, insectivorous and frugivirous, denominated clean, and that might be eaten according to the law, the thrushes, larks, wagtails, finches, as well as sparrows. It seems to be, indeed, a mere imitation of their common note, like the one which we have in the word "chirrup." Most critics are, therefore, content with the rendering, "solitary bird, "or "solitary little bird." But this is very unsatisfactory. It does not identify the species: and there is every probability that there must have been a particular bird which the Psalmist, writing at the close of the Babylonish captivity, had in his eye, corresponding to his representation of it, and illustrative of his isolated condition.Such there is at the present day, of common occurrence in Southern Europe and Western Asia. Its history is very little known to the world, and its existence has hitherto escaped the notice of all biblical commentators. Remarkably enough, the bird is commonly, but erroneously, called a sparrow, for it is a real thrush in size, in shape, in habits, and in song. It differs singularly from the rest of the tribe, throughout all the East, by a marked preference for sitting solitary upon the habitation of man. It never associates with any other, and only at one season with its own mate; and even then it is often seen quite alone upon the house-top, where it warbles its sweet and plaintive strains, and continues its song, moving from roof to roof. America has its solitary thrush, of another species, and of somewhat different habits. The dark solitary cane and myrtle swamps of the southern states are there the favourite haunts of the recluse bird; and the more dense and gloomy these are the more certainly is it to be found flitting in them. —"The Biblical Treasury".Ver. 7. Alone. But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it extendeth; for a crowd is not company, and faces are but a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal where there is no love. The Latin adage meeteth it a little: "magna civitas, magno solitudo; "because in a great town friends are scattered, so that there is not that fellowship, for the most part, which is in less neighbourhoods; but we may go further, and affirm most truly, that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want true friends, without which the world is but a wilderness; and even in this sense also of solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections is unfit for friendship, he taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity. Francis Bacon.Ver. 7. Alone. See the reason why people in trouble love solitariness. They are full of sorrow; and sorrow, if it have taken deep root, is naturally reserved, and flies all conversation. Grief is a thing that is very silent and private. Those people that are very talkative and clamorous in their sorrows, are never very sorrowful. Some are apt to wonder, why melancholy people delight to be so much alone, and I will tell you the reason of it. 1. Because the disordered humours of their bodies alter their temper, their humours, and their inclinations, that they are no more the same that they used to be; their very distemper is averse to what is joyous and diverting; and they that wonder at them may as wisely wonder why they will be diseased, which they would not be if the knew how to help it; but the Disease of Melancholy is so obstinate, and so unknown to all but those who have it, that nothing but the power

of God can totally overthrow it, and I know no other cure for it. 2. Another reason why they choose to be alone is, because people do not generally mind what they say, nor believe them, but rather deride them, which they do not use so cruelly to do with those that are in other distempers; and no man is to be blamed for avoiding society, when it does not afford the common credit to his words that is due to the rest of men. But, 3, Another, and the principal reason why people in trouble and sadness choose to be alone is, because they generally apprehend themselves singled out to be the marks of God's peculiar displeasure, and they are often by their sharp afflictions a terror to themselves, and a wonder to others. It even breaks their hearts to see how low they are fallen, how oppressed, that were once as easy, as pleasant, as full of hope as others are, Job 6:21 : "Ye see my casting down, and are afraid." Psalms 71:7. "I am as a wonder unto many." And it is usually unpleasant to others to be with them. Psalms 88:18 : "Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness." And though it was not so with the friends of Job, to see a man whom they had once known happy, to be so miserable; one whom they had seen so very prosperous, to be so very poor, in such sorry, forlorn circumstances, did greatly affect them; he, poor man, was changed, they knew him not, Job 2:12-13, "And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." As the prophet represents one under spiritual and great afflictions, "That he sitteth alone, and keepeth silence, " La 3:28. Timothy Rogers (1660-1729), in "A Discourse on Trouble of Mind, and the Disease of Melancholy."

EBC, "The division of Psalms 102:7 is singular, as the main pause in it falls on "am become," to the disruption of the logical continuity. The difficulty is removed by Wickes ("Accentuation of the Poetical Books," p. 29), who gives several instances which seem to establish the law that, in "the musical accentuation, there is "an apparent reluctance to place the main dividing accent after the first, or before the last, word of the verse." The division is not logical, and we may venture to neglect it, and arrange as above, restoring the dividing accent to its place after the first word. Others turn the flank of the difficulty by altering the text to read, "I" am sleepless and must moan aloud" (so Cheyne, following Olshausen).

Yet another drop of bitterness in the psalmist’s cup is the frantic hatred which pours itself out in voluble mockery all day long, making a running accompaniment to his wail. Solitary as he is, he cannot get beyond hearing of shrill insults. So miserable does he seem, that enemies take him and his distresses for a formula of imprecation, and can find no blacker curse to launch at other foes than to wish that they may be like him. So ashes, the token of mourning, are his food, instead of the bread which he had forgotten to eat, and there are more tears than wine in the cup he drinks.

But all this only tells how sad he is. A deeper depth opens when he remembers why

he is sad. The bitterest thought to a sufferer is that his sufferings indicate God’s displeasure; but it may be wholesome bitterness, which, leading to the recognition of the sin which evokes the wrath, may change into a solemn thankfulness for sorrows which are discerned to be chastisements, inflicted by that Love of which indignation is one form. The psalmist confesses sin in the act of bewailing sorrow, and sees behind all his pains the working of that hand whose interposition for him he ventures to implore. The tremendous metaphor of Psalms 102:10 b pictures it as thrust forth from heaven to grasp the feeble sufferer, as an eagle stoops to plunge its talons into a lamb. It lifts him high, only to give more destructive impetus to the force with which it flings him down, to the place where he lies, a huddled heap of broken bones and wounds. His plaint returns to its beginning, lamenting the brief life which is being wasted away by sore distress. Lengthening shadows tell of approaching night. His day is nearing sunset. It will be dark soon, and, as he has said (Psalms 102:4), his very self is withering and becoming like dried-up herbage.

One can scarcely miss the tone of individual sorrow in the preceding verses; but national restoration, not personal deliverance, is the theme o/the triumphant central part of the psalm. That is no reason for flattening the previous verses into the voice of the personified Israel, but rather for hearing in them the sighing of one exile, on whom the general burden weighed sorely. He lifts his tear-laden eyes to heaven, and catches a vision there which changes, as by magic, the key of his song-Jehovah sitting in royal state {compare Psalms 9:7; Psalms 29:10} forever. That silences complaints, breathes courage into the feeble and hope into the despairing. In another mood the thought of the eternal rule of God might make man’s mortality more bitter, but Faith grasps it, as enfolding assurances which turn groaning into ringing praise. For the vision is not only of an everlasting Some One who works a sovereign will, but of the age-long dominion of Him whose name is Jehovah; and since that name is the revelation of His nature, it, too, endures forever. It is the name of Israel’s covenant making and keeping God. Therefore, ancient promises have not gone to water, though Israel is an exile, and all the old comfort and confidence are still welling up from the ame. Zion cannot die while Zion’s God lives. Lamentations 5:19 is probably the original of this verse, but the psalmist has changed "throne" into "memorial," i.e. name, and thereby deepened the thought. The assurance that God will restore Zion rests not only on His faithfulness, but on signs which show that the sky is reddening towards the day of redemption. The singer sees the indication that the hour fixed in God’s eternal counsels is at hand, because he sees how God’s servants, who have a claim on Him and are in sympathy with His purposes, yearn lovingly after the sad ruins and dust of the forlorn city. Some new access of such feelings must have been stirring among the devouter part of the exiles. Many large truths are wrapped in the psalmist’s words. The desolations of Zion knit true hearts to her more closely. The more the Church or any good cause is depressed, the more need for its friends to cling to it. God’s servants should see that their sympathies go toward the same objects as God’s do. They are proved to be His servants, because they favour what He favours. Their regards, turned to existing evils, are the precursors of Divine intervention for the remedy of these. When good men begin to lay the Church’s or the world’s miseries to heart, it is a sign that God is beginning to heal them. The cry of God’s servants

can "hasten the day of the Lord," and preludes His appearance like the keen morning air stirring the sleeping flowers before sunrise.

The psalmist anticipates that a rebuilt Zion will ensure a worshipping world. He expresses that confidence, which he shares with Isaiah 40:1-31; Isaiah 41:1-29; Isaiah 42:1-25; Isaiah 43:1-28; Isaiah 44:1-28; Isaiah 45:1-25; Isaiah 46:1-13, in Psalms 102:15-18. The name and glory of Jehovah will become objects of reverence to all the earth, because of the manifestation of them by the rebuilding of Zion, which is a witness to all men of His power and tender regard to His people’s cry. The past tenses of Psalms 102:16-17 do not indicate that the psalm is later than the Restoration. It is contemplated as already accomplished because it is the occasion of the "fear" prophesied in Psalms 102:15, and consequently prior in time to it. "Destitute," in Psalms 102:17 is literally naked or stript. It is used in Jeremiah 17:6 as the name of a desert plant, probably a dwarf juniper, stunted and dry, but seems to be employed here as simply designating utter destitution. Israel had been stripped of every beauty and made naked before her enemies. Despised, she had cried to God, and now is clothed again with the garments of salvation, "as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."

A wondering world will adore her delivering God. The glowing hopes of psalmist and prophet seem to be dreams, since the restored Israel attracted no such observance and wrought no such convictions. But the singer was not wrong in believing that the coming of Jehovah in His glory for the rebuilding of Zion would sway the world to homage. His facts were right, but he did not know their perspective, nor could he understand how many weary years lay, like a deep gorge hidden from the eye of one who looks over a wide prospect, between the rebuilding of which he was thinking, and that truer establishment of the city of God, which is again parted from the period of universal recognition of Jehovah’s glory by so many sad and stormy generations. But the vision is true. The coming of Jehovah in His glory will be followed by a world’s recognition of its light.

That praise accruing to Jehovah shall Be not only universal, but shall go on sounding, with increasing volume in its tone, through coming generations. This expectation is set forth in Psalms 102:18-22 which substantially reiterate the thought of the preceding, with the addition that there is to be a new Israel, a people yet to be created. [Psalms 22:31] The psalmist did not know "the deep things he spoke." He did know that Israel was immortal, and that the seed of life was in the tree that had cast its leaves and stood bare and apparently dead. But he did not know the process by which that new Israel was to be created, nor the new elements of which it was to consist. His confidence teaches us never to despair of the future of God’s Church, however low its present state, but to look down the ages, in calm certainty that, however externals may change, the succession of God’s children will never fail, nor the voice of their praise ever fall silent.

8 All day long my enemies taunt me; those who rail against me use my name as a curse.

BAR ES, "Mine enemies reproach me all the day - Continually. They reproach me as one of thy people; or, I bear reproaches in common with others, and it becomes to me a personal matter, so entirely are my feelings and interests identified with those of thy people. Perhaps there were also, mingled with this, personal reproaches and calumnies.

And they that are mad against me - Angry; excited even to madness.

Are sworn against me - literally, “swear by me,” or against me. The meaning is, that they have conspired together under the solemnity of an oath to do me harm. It is not the wrath of an individual that I am to meet, but the combined wrath of those who act under the solemnities of an oath. Compare Act_23:12.

CLARKE, "They that are mad against me are sworn against me - The Chaldeans are determined to destroy us; and they have bound themselves by oath to do it. See a similar case related Act_23:12-14, where a number of Jews had bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had slain Paul.

GILL, "Mine enemies reproach me all the day,.... For his principles and practices, being different from theirs; for his religion, and preciseness in it; for his faith and profession of it, and for his holy walk and conversation. Good men have their enemies, and always had; but then they are such who are also enemies to God and Christ, and true religion; and these, not content to reproach now and then, continually throw out their scoffs and jeers; which is not grateful, and is here mentioned as an article of complaint; though the saints should reckon reproach for the sake of Christ and religion greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt:

and they that are mad against me; as the Jews were against Christ, because of his miracles, doctrine, and success, and therefore sought to take away his life; and as the Apostle Paul before conversion was, even exceeding mad against the saints, and persecuted them to strange cities, Luk_6:11, so were the psalmist's enemies quite outrageous and implacable, being his sworn enemies, as follows:

are sworn against me: laid themselves under a curse, to do him all the mischief they could, and it may be to take away his life; as those who sware they would neither eat nor

drink till they had killed Paul, Act_23:12 or they sware to lies, false charges and accusations brought against him, like those that Jezebel suborned against Naboth: or "they sware by me" (r); as the words may be rendered; they sware by his calamities and distresses, and wished they might be as he was, if they did not do so and so; and took his name for a curse.

HE RY 8-10, "He was evil-spoken of by his enemies, and all manner of evil was said against him. When his friends went off from him his foes set themselves against him (Psa_102:8): My enemies reproach me all the day, designing thereby both to create vexation to him (for an ingenuous mind regrets reproach) and to bring an odium upon him before men. When they could not otherwise reach him they shot these arrows at him, even bitter words. In this they were unwearied; they did it all the day; it was a continual dropping. His enemies were very outrageous: They are mad against me, and very obstinate and implacable. They are sworn against me; as the Jews that bound themselves with an oath that they would kill Paul; or, They have sworn against me as accusers, to take away my life. 4. He fasted and wept under the tokens of God's displeasure (Psa_102:9, Psa_102:10): “I have eaten ashes like bread; instead of eating my bread, I have lain down in dust and ashes, and I have mingled my drink with weeping; when I should have refreshed myself with drinking I have only eased myself with weeping.” And what is the matter? He tells us (Psa_102:10): Because of thy wrath.It was not so much the trouble itself that troubled him as the wrath of God which he was under the apprehensions of as the cause of the trouble. This, this was the wormwood and the gall in the affliction and the misery: Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down,as that which we cast to the ground with a design to dash it to pieces; we lift up first, that we may throw it down with the more violence; or, “Thou hast formerly lifted me up in honour, and joy, and uncommon prosperity; but the remembrance of that aggravates the present grief and makes it the more grievous.” We must eye the hand of God both in lifting us up and casting us down, and say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord, who both gives and takes away.”

JAMISO , "sworn against me— or literally, “by me,” wishing others as miserable as I am (Num_5:21).

CALVI , "8.My enemies have reviled me daily The faithful, to excite the compassion of God towards them, tell him that they are not only objects of mockery to their enemies, but also that they swore by them. The indignity complained of is, that the ungodly so shamefully triumphed over God’s chosen people, as even to borrow from their calamities a form of swearing and imprecation. This was to regard the fate of the Jews as a signal pattern in uttering the language of imprecation. When, therefore, at the present day the ungodly, in like manner, give themselves loose reins in pouring forth against us contumelious language, let us learn to fortify ourselves with this armor, by which such kind of temptation, however sharp, may be overcome. The Holy Spirit, in dictating to the faithful this form of prayer, meant to testify that God is moved by such revilings to succor his people; even as we find it stated in Isaiah 37:23,

“Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted

thy voice? even against the Holy One of Israel;”

and in the verse immediately preceding the prophet had said, “He hath despised thee, O daughter of Zion! against thee hath he shaken the head, O daughter of Jerusalem!” It is surely an inestimable comfort that the more insolent our enemies are against us, the more is God incited to gird himself to aid us. In the second clause the inspired writer expresses more strongly the cruelty of his enemies, when he speaks of their being mad against him As the verb הלל, halal, which we have rendered mad, generally signifies to praise, it might here be understood as having, by the figure antiphrasis, a sense the very opposite — those who dispraised or reproached me. But it is better to follow the commonly received interpretation. Some maintain that they are called mad, because they manifested their own folly, making it evident from the manner in which they acted, that they were worthless persons; but this opinion does too much violence to the text. The more satisfactory sense is, that the people of God charge revilers with cruelty or furious hatred.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day. Their rage was unrelenting and unceasing, and vented itself in taunts and insults, the Psalmist's patriotism and his griefs were both made the subjects of their sport. Pointing to the sad estate of his people they would ask him, "Where is your God?" and exult over him because their false gods were in the ascendant. Reproach cuts like a razor, and when it is continued from hour to hour, and repeated all the day and every day, it makes life itself undesirable.And they that are mad against me are sworn against me. They were so furious that they bound themselves by oath to destroy him, and used his name as their usual execration, a word to curse by, the synonym of abhorrence and contempt. What with inward sorrows and outward persecutions he was in as ill a plight as may well be conceived.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 8. Mine enemies reproach me. It is true what Plutarch writes, that men are more touched with reproaches than with other injuries; affliction, too, gives a keener edge to calumny, for the afflicted are more fitting objects of pity than of mockery. Mollerus.Ver. 8. Mine enemies reproach me, etc. If I be where they are they rail at me to my face; and if I be not amongst them they revile me behind my back; and they do it not by starts and fits, that might give me some breathing time; but they are spitting their poison all the day long; and not single and one by one, that might leave hope of resisting; but they make combinations, and enter leagues against me; and to make their leagues the stronger, and less subject to dissolving, they bind themselves by oath, and take the sacrament upon it. And now sum up all these miseries and afflictions; begin with my fasting; then take my groaning; then add my watching; then the shame of being wondered at in company; then the discomfort of sitting disconsolate alone; and, lastly, add to these the spite and malice of my enemies; and what marvel, then, if these miseries joined all together make me altogether miserable; what marvel if I be nothing but skin and bone, when no flesh that were wise would ever stay upon a body to endure such misery. Sir R. Baker.Ver. 8 (last clause). Swearing by one, means, to make his name a by-word of

execration, or an example of cursing. (Isaiah 65:15; Je 29:22 42:18). Carl Bernard Moll, in Lange's Commentary.

COKE, "Psalms 102:8. And they that are mad against me, &c.— And my slanderers, &c. Mudge renders, And in their madness swear against me; and Green, The insolent boasters use my name in their oaths: Psalms 102:9. Because I eat ashes, &c.: Psalms 102:10. On account of thy indignation and wrath, &c. According to him, the phrase, Use my name in their oaths, means, "Their form of swearing is this; if we break our oaths, may the gods pour down their vengeance upon us, and make us as miserable as this captive Jew!"

BE SO , "Psalms 102:8. Mine enemies reproach me all the day — This my misery hath exposed me to the scorn of mine enemies, who do nothing but upbraid me with my calamities. And they that are mad against me — Or, my slanderers, as Dr. Waterland renders, מהוללי, moholalai, are sworn against me, — Or, they swear by me. They make use of my name and misery, in their forms of swearing and imprecation; for when they would express their malicious and mischievous intentions against any one, they swear they will make him as miserable as a Jew. Or, their form of swearing is this, “If we break our oaths, may the gods pour down their vengeance upon us, and make us as miserable as this captive Jew.”

CO STABLE, "Verse 8-9His enemies had also ridiculed him continually, even using him as an example of someone God had cursed. The ashes he had put on his head as a sign of his mourning had evidently fallen down on his food. He had eaten so many of them he could say he had consumed them like bread. Likewise his many tears had dropped into the cup from which he drank. Perhaps these are figurative ways of describing his grief.

9 For I eat ashes as my food and mingle my drink with tears

BAR ES, "For I have eaten ashes like bread - I have seated myself in ashes in my grief (compare Job_2:8; Job_42:6; Isa_58:5; Isa_61:3; Jon_3:6; Dan_9:3; Mat_11:21); and ashes have become, as it were, my food. The ashes in which he sat had been mingled with his food.

And mingled my drink with weeping - Tears have fallen into the cup from which I drank, and have become a part of my drink. The idea is, that he had shed copious tears;

and that even when he took his food, there was no respite to his grief.

CLARKE, "I have eaten ashes like bread - Fearful of what they might do, we all humbled ourselves before thee, and sought thy protection; well knowing that, unless we were supernaturally assisted, we must all have perished; our enemies having sworn our destruction.

GILL, "For I have eaten ashes like bread,.... He sitting in ashes, as Job did, and rolling himself in them in the manner of mourners; and, having no other table than the ground to eat his food upon, he might eat ashes along with it; and by an hypallage of the words, the sense may be, that he ate bread like ashes, no more savoured and relished it, or was nourished by it, than if he had eaten ashes; the meaning is, that he was fed with the bread of adversity, and water of affliction:

and mingled my drink with weeping; that is, with tears; as he drank, the tears ran down his cheeks, and mixed with the liquor in his cup; he was fed with the bread of tears, and had them to drink in great measure; these were his meat and his drink, day and night, while enemies reproached him, swore at him, against him, and by him; see Psa_80:5.

JAMISO , "ashes— a figure of grief, my bread; weeping or tears, my drink (Psa_80:5).

K&D 9-11, "Ashes are his bread (cf. Lam_3:16), inasmuch as he, a mourner, sits in

ashes, and has thrown ashes all over himself, Job_2:8; Eze_27:30. The infected ש-וי has

in Hos_2:7. “That Thou hast ש-וי for its principal form, instead of which it is ש-וו = ש-וlifted me up and cast me down” is to be understood according to Job_30:22. First of all God has taken away the firm ground from under his feet, then from aloft He has cast him to the ground - an emblem of the lot of Israel, which is removed from its fatherland and

cast into exile, i.e., into a strange land. In that passage the days of his life are �צל�נטוי, like a lengthened shadow, which grows longer and longer until it is entirely lost in darkness, Psa_109:23. Another figure follows: he there becomes like an (uprooted) plant which dries up.

CALVI , "9For I have eaten ashes like bread Some think that the order is here inverted, and that the letter כ, caph, the sign of similitude, which is put before לחם, lechem, the word for bread, ought to be placed before אפר, epher, the word forashes; as if it had been said, I find no more relish for my bread than I do for ashes; and the reason is, because sorrow of heart produces loathing of food. But the simpler meaning is, that lying prostrate on the ground, they licked, as it were, the earth, and so did eat ashes instead of bread. It was customary for those who mourned to stretch themselves at full length with their faces on the ground. The prophet, however, intended to express a different idea — to intimate, that when he partook of his meals, there was no table set before him, but his bread was thrown upon the ground

to him in a foul and disgusting manner. Speaking, therefore, in the person of the faithful, he asserts that he was so fixed to the ground that he did not even rise from it to take his food. The same sentiment is expressed in the last part of the verse, I have mingled my drink with weeping; for while mourners usually restrain their sorrow during the short time in which they refresh themselves with food, he declares that his mourning was without intermission. Some, instead of reading in the first clause, as bread, read, in bread; (144) and as the two letters, כ, caph, and ב, beth, nearly resemble each other, I prefer reading in bread, which agrees better with the second clause.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 9. For I have eaten ashes like bread. He had so frequently cast ashes upon his head in token of mourning, that they had mixed with his ordinary food, and grated between his teeth when he ate his daily bread. One while he forgot to eat, and then the fit changed, and he ate with such a hunger that even ashes were devoured. Grief has strange moods and tenses.And mingled my drink with weeping. His drink became as nauseous as his meat, for copious showers of tears had made it brackish. This is a telling description of all-saturating, all-embittering sadness, —and this was the portion of one of the best of men, and that for no fault of his own, but because of his love to the Lord's people. If we, too, are called to mourn, let us not be amazed by the fiery trial as though some strange thing had happened unto us. Both in meat and drink we have sinned; it is not therefore wonderful if in both we are made to mourn.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 9. I have eaten ashes like bread. Though the bread indeed be strange, yet not so strange as this, —that having complained before of forgetting to eat his bread, he should now on a sudden fall to eating of ashes like bread. For had he not been better to have forgotten it still, unless it had been more worth remembering? For there is not in nature so unfit a thing to eat as ashes;it is worse than ebuchadnezzar's grass. Sir R. Baker.Ver. 9. I have mingled my drink with weeping. If you think his bread to be bad, you will find his drink to be worse; for he mingles his drink with tears: and what are tears, but brinish and salt humours? and is brine a fit liquor to quench one's thirst? May we not say here, the remedy is worse than the disease? for were it not better to endure any thirst, than to seek to quench it with such drink? Is it not a pitiful thing to have no drink to put in the stomach, but that which is drawn out of the eyes? and yet whose case is any better? o man certainly commits sin, but with a design of pleasure; but sin will not be so committed; for whosoever commit sin, let them be sure at some time or other to find a thousand times more trouble about it than ever they found pleasure in it. For all sin is a kind of surfeit, and there is no way to keep it from being mortal but by this strict diet of eating ashes like bread and mingling his drink with tears. O my soul, if these be works of repentance in David, where shall we find a penitent in the world besides himself? To talk of repentance is obvious in everyone's mouth; but where is any that eats ashes like bread, and mingles his drink with tears? Sir R. Baker.

ELLICOTT, "(9) Ashes like bread.—Lamentations 3:16. A figurative expression, like “dust shall be the serpent’s meat” (Isaiah 65:25; comp. Genesis 3:14). With the

last clause comp. Psalms 42:3, “tears have been my meat day and night.” So too, as an emblem of disappointment, a modern poet:—

“But even while I drank the brook, and ate

The goodly apples, all these things at once

Fell into dust, and I was left alone.”

TE YSO : Holy Grail.

COKE, "Psalms 102:9. For I have eaten ashes— The serpent in Genesis is condemned to go on his belly, and to eat dust, to which his prone posture inevitably subjects him. Casting ashes upon themselves, or rolling themselves in ashes, was a ceremony to express deep distress and sorrow among the Orientals; and if we may suppose that the Psalmist lay prostrate upon the ground in his sorrow, he might be said literally to eat ashes, as well as the serpent is said to eat dust; and his affliction must be highly aggravated in our ideas by such an image as this. See Boch. Hieroz. Psalms 50:4 : Psalms 100:2.

BE SO , "Verse 9-10Psalms 102:9-10. I have eaten ashes like bread — That is, instead of eating my bread, I have laid down in dust and ashes. Or, dust and ashes are as constant and familiar to me as the eating of my bread; I cover my head with them; I sit, yea, lie down among them, as mourners often did, by which means the ashes might easily be mingled with their meat as tears were with their drink, as mentioned in the next clause. And mingled my drink, &c. — He alludes to the custom of mingling their wine with water. Because of thy indignation, &c. — Because I not only conflict with men, but with the Almighty God, and with his anger. For thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down — As a man lifts up a person or thing as high as he can, that he may cast it down to the ground with greater force. Or, he aggravates his present reproach and misery by the consideration of that great honour and happiness to which God had formerly advanced him, as Job did, chap. 29., 30., and the church, Lamentations 1:7.

10 because of your great wrath, for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

BAR ES, "Because of thine indignation and thy wrath - Hebrew, “From the face of thine indignation,” etc. That is - he regarded all his sufferings as proof of the indignation and wrath of God against him. See Psa_90:7-9.

For thou hast lifted me up - In former times. Thou hadst given me prosperity; thou hadst given me an elevated and honorable place among men.

And cast me down - Thou hast brought me into a low condition, and I feel it all the more from the fact that I had enjoyed prosperity. Compare the notes at Psa_30:7. The passage, however, is susceptible of another interpretation: “Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me away.” That is, Thou hast lifted me from the ground as a storm or tempest takes up a light thing, and hast whirled me away. This idea occurs in Isa_22:18. See the notes at that passage. The former, however, seems to me to be the more correct interpretation.

CLARKE, "For thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down - Thou hast lifted me on high, that thou mightest dash me down with the greater force.

We were exalted in thy favor beyond any people, and now thou hast made us the lowest and most abject of the children of men.

GILL, "Because of thine indignation and thy wrath,.... This was the burden of his complaint, what gave him the greatest uneasiness; not so much the reproach of his enemies, and his other outward afflictions, as the sense he had of God's wrath and indignation. The people of God are as deserving of his wrath as others; and when they are awakened to a sense of sin and danger, or the law enters into their consciences, it works wrath there, and leaves nothing but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, till comfort is given; and under afflictive providences they are very ready to conclude, that the wrath of God is upon them; but this is only their apprehension of things; it is not in reality: for God has not appointed them to wrath, and has swore he will not be wroth with them; Christ has bore it for them, in their room and stead; and being justified by his blood and righteousness, they are saved from it; but then the sense they have of it is very terrible, and there is no rest, peace, and comfort in their souls, while under the apprehensions of it:

for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down; as a man that, in wrestling, has the advantage of his antagonist, lifts him up as high as he can, that he may throw him with the greater force upon the ground; in like manner the psalmist thought the Lord was dealing with him: or this may express his changeable state and condition, sometimes lifted up, and sometimes cast down, and which is the case of every believer, more or less; all have their liftings up, and their castings down: when God first calls them by his grace, he raises them from a low estate, lifts them up out of an horrible pit, takes them from the dunghill, sets them among princes to inherit the throne of glory: when he comforts them with the consolations of his Spirit, he is the lifter up of their heads; when he grants his presence, and lifts up the light of his countenance: when he discovers his love, and makes their mountain to stand strong; when he shows them their interest in himself, as their covenant God, in Christ, as their Redeemer and Saviour, and grants them the

communion of the Holy Ghost; and when their graces are in lively exercise, then is it a time of lifting up: and they are cast down when corruptions prevail, when grace is weak, when God hides his face, and when afflictions lie heavy on them: this was now the case of the psalmist, and perhaps the remembrance of his liftings up in former times was an aggravation of it.

JAMISO , "lifted ... cast me down— or, “cast me away” as stubble by a whirlwind (Isa_64:6).

CALVI , "10.On account of thy anger and thy wrath He now declares that the greatness of his grief proceeded not only from outward troubles and calamities, but from a sense that these were a punishment inflicted upon him by God. And surely there is nothing which ought to wound our hearts more deeply, than when we feel that God is angry with us. The meaning then amounts to this — O Lord! I do not confine my attention to those things which would engage the mind of worldly men; but I rather turn my thoughts to thy wrath; for were it not that thou art angry with us, we would have been still enjoying the inheritance given us by thee, from which we have justly been expelled by thy displeasure. When God then strikes us with his hand, we should not merely groan under the strokes inflicted upon us, as foolish men usually do, but should chiefly look to the cause that we may be truly humbled. This is a lesson which it would be of great advantage to us to learn.

The last clause of the verse, Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down, may be understood in two ways. As we lift up what we intend to throw down with greater violence against the ground, the sentence may denote a violent method of casting down, as if it had been said, Thou hast crushed me more severely by throwing me down headlong from on high, than if I had merely fallen from the station which I occupied. (145) But this seems to be another amplification of his grief, nothing being more bitter to an individual than to be reduced from a happy condition to extreme misery, the prophet mournfully complains that the chosen people were deprived of the distinguished advantages which God had conferred upon them in time past, so that the very remembrance of his former goodness, which should have afforded consolation to them, embittered their sorrow. or was it the effect of ingratitude to turn the consideration of the divine benefits, which they had formerly received, into matter of sadness; since they acknowledged that their being reduced to such a state of wretchedness and degradation was through their own sins. God has no delight in changing, as if, after having given us some taste of his goodness, he intended forthwith to deprive us of it. As his goodness is inexhaustible, so his blessing would flow upon us without intermission, were it not for our sins which break off the course of it. Although, then, the remembrance of God’s benefits ought to assuage our sorrows, yet still it is a great aggravation of our calamity to have fallen from an elevated position, and to find that we have so provoked his anger, as to make him withdraw from us his benignant and bountiful hand. Thus when we consider that the image of God, which distinguished Adam, was the brightness of the celestial glory; and when, on the contrary, we now see the ignominy and degradation to

which God has subjected us in token of his wrath, this contrast cannot surely fail of making us feel more deeply the wretchedness of our condition. Whenever, therefore, God, after having stripped us of the blessings which he had conferred upon us, gives us up to reproach, let us learn that we have so much the greater cause to lament, because, through our own fault, we have turned light into darkness.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 10. Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. A sense of the divine wrath which had been manifested in the overthrow of the chosen nation and their sad captivity led the Psalmist into the greatest distress. He felt like a sere leaf caught up by a hurricane and carried right away, or the spray of the sea which is dashed upwards that it may be scattered and dissolved. Our translation gives the idea of a vessel uplifted in order that it may be dashed to the earth with all the greater violence and the more completely broken in pieces; or to change the figure, it reminds us of a wrestler whom his opponent catches up that he may give him a more desperate fall. The first interpretation which we have given is, however, more fully in accordance with the original, and sets forth the utter helplessness which the writer felt, and the sense of overpowering terror which bore him along in a rush of tumultuous grief which he could not withstand.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 10. For thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. Thou hast lifted me up of a great height, in that thou madest me like unto thine image, touching my reasonable soul, and hast given me power, by thy grace, to inherit the everlasting joys of heaven, both body and soul, if I did live here after thy commandments. What greater gift canst thou give me, Lord, than to have the fruition of thee that art all in all things? How canst thou lift me higher than to eternal beatitude? But then, alas, thou hast letten me fall down again, for thou hast joined my noble soul with an earthly, heavy, and a frail body; the weight and burden thereof draweth down my mind and heart from the consideration of thy goodness, and from well doing, unto all kinds of vices, and to the regarding of temporal things according to his nature. The earthly mansion keepeth down the understanding. Thus setting me up, as it were, above the wind, thou hast given me a very great fall (Job 30:22). I am in creation above all other kind of earthly creatures, and almost equal with angels; but being in this estate thou hast knit a knot thereto, that for breaking the least of thy commandments I shall suffer damnation. So that without thy continual mercy and help I am in worse case herein than any brute beast, whose life or soul dieth with the body. Sir Anthony Cope (1551).Ver. 10. For thou hast lifted me up and cast me down. That is that I might fall with greater poise. Significatur gravissima collisio. Here the prophet accuseth not God of cruelty, but bewaileth his own misery. Miserum est fusisse felicem, it is no small unhappiness to have been happy. John Trapp.

COFFMA , "Verse 10"Thou, Lord in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth,

And the heavens are the works of thy hands:

They shall perish, but thou continuest:

And they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

And as a mantle shalt thou roll them up,

As a garment, and they shall be changed:

But thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."

The great significance of this Hebrews quotation is that words which were originally spoken of God Himself are unhesitatingly applied to Jesus Christ. Brooks Foss Westcott, as quoted by Thomas Hewitt, declared that, "Here we have the application to the Incarnate Son of the words addressed to Jehovah."[8] F. F. Bruce's comment on this was:

"It was through the Son that the worlds were made; (and that) person to whom these words were spoken is addressed explicitly as, "The Lord," and it is God who thus addresses him."[9]For further discussion of this passage see Vol. 10 (Hebrews) of my ew Testament commentaries, pp. 30f.

It is upon this undeniable meaning of the last paragraph of this psalm that Kidner applied the whole psalm to the Messiah. He stated his conclusion thus:

"The passage in Hebrews 1:10-12 opens our eyes to what would otherwise have been brought out only by the Septuagint (LXX) rendition of Psalms 102:23f, namely that the Father is here replying to the Son, and this implies that the sufferer throughout the psalm is also the Son Incarnate.[10]We receive as an invariable rule that one line from the ew Testament regarding any Old Testament passage is worth more than a whole library of critical allegations to the contrary. On this account, we have omitted any allegations to the contrary regarding the application of this passage to Christ. We believe that it was the Spirit of God which illuminated the mind of the author of Hebrews, and that we may place absolute trust in what is here declared concerning Christ our Savior.

11 My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass.

BAR ES, "My days are like a shadow that declineth - The shadow made by the gnomon on a sun-dial, which marks the hours as they pass. See 2Ki_20:10. The idea is that the shadow made by the descending sun was about to disappear altogether. It had become less distinct and clear, and it would soon vanish. It would seem from this, that the dial was so made that the shadow indicating the hour ascended when the sun ascended, and declined when the sun went down. See the notes at Isa_38:8.

And I am withered like grass - See the notes at Psa_102:4.

CLARKE, "My days are like a shadow that declineth - Or rather, My days decline like the shadow. I have passed my meridian, and the sun of my prosperity is about to set for ever. There may be here an allusion to the declination of the sun towards the south, which, by shortening their days, would greatly lengthen their nights. Similar to the exclamation of a contemporary prophet, Jer_8:20 : “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” There is now scarcely any human hope of our deliverance.

GILL, "My days are like a shadow that declineth,.... Or, "that is stretched out" (s), which, though it may appear long, is soon at an end; as it does appear longer when the sun sets (t), and departs from the earth: he reckons his life not by months and years, but by days; and these he compares to a "shadow", which has no substance in it; his age being as nothing before the Lord, and has much darkness and obscurity in it; his days being days of darkness, affliction, and trouble, and quickly gone, as man's life is; there is no abiding; see 1Ch_29:15. Pindar (u) calls man the dream of a shadow:

and I am withered like grass; which in the morning is flourishing, is cut down at noon, and withered at evening: this is the case of all flesh, however beautiful and goodly it may look; it is weak, frail, and mortal; cannot stand before the force of afflictions, which quickly consume strength and beauty, and much less before the scythe of death; see Psa_90:5.

HE RY, "He looked upon himself as a dying man: My days are consumed like smoke (Psa_102:3), which vanishes away quickly. Or, They are consumed in smoke, of which nothing remains; they are like a shadow that declines (Psa_102:11), like the evening-shadow, or a forerunner of approaching night. Now all this, though it seems to speak the psalmist's personal calamities, and therefore is properly a prayer for a particular person afflicted, yet is supposed to be a description of the afflictions of the church of God, with which the psalmist sympathizes, making public grievances his own. The mystical body of Christ is sometimes, like the psalmist's body here, withered and parched, nay, like dead and dry bones. The church sometimes is forced into the wilderness, seems lost, and gives up herself for gone, under the tokens of God's displeasure.

JAMISO , "shadow ... declineth— soon to vanish in the darkness of night.

CALVI , "11.My days are like the shadow which declineth (146) When the sun is directly over our heads, that is to say, at mid-day, we do not observe such sudden changes of the shadows which his light produces; but when he begins to decline towards the west the shadows vary almost every moment, This is the reason why the sacred writer expressly makes mention of the shadow which declineth What he attributes to the afflicted Church seems indeed to be equally applicable to all men; but he had a special reason for employing this comparison to illustrate the condition of the Church when subjected to the calamity of exile. It is true, that as soon as we advance towards old age, we speedily fall into decay. But the complaint here is, that this befell the people of God in the very flower of their age. By the term days is to be understood the whole course of their life; and the meaning is, that the captivity was to the godly as the setting of the sun, because they quickly failed. In the end of the verse the similitude of withered grass, used a little before, is repeated, to intimate that their life during the captivity was involved in many sorrows which dried up in them the very sap of life. or is this wonderful, since to live in that condition would have been worse than a hundred deaths had they not been sustained by the hope of future deliverance. But although they were not altogether overwhelmed by temptation, they must have been in great distress, because they saw themselves abandoned by God.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 11. My days are like a shadow that declineth. His days were but a shadow at best, but now they seem to be like a shadow which was passing away. A shadow is unsubstantial enough, how feeble a thing must a declining shadow be? o expression could more forcibly set forth his extreme feebleness.And I am withered like grass. He was like grass, blasted by a parching wind, or cut down with a scythe, and then left to be dried up by the burning heat of the sun. There are times when through depression of spirit a man feels as if all life were gone from him, and existence had become merely a breathing death. Heart-break has a marvellously withering influence over our entire system; our flesh at its best is but as grass, and when it is wounded with sharp sorrows, its beauty fades, and it becomes a shrivelled, dried, uncomely thing.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 11 (first clause). My days (my term of life) are as the lengthened shade, the lengthening shade of evening, that shows the near approach of night. The comparison, though not strictly expressed, is beautifully suggestive of the thought intended. Thomas J. Conant.Ver. 11 (last clause). The and I, in the Hebrew, stands in designed contrast to "But thou, "Psalms 102:12. A. R. Fausset.

COKE, "Psalms 102:11. My days are like a shadow that declineth— My days are as a shadow which is gone down. The shadow which is gone down, seems not so much to describe a common shadow, as the shadow of a dial; which in that of Ahaz is said to go down, (the same original word) as the hour goes on. Mudge.

BE SO , "Verse 11-12Psalms 102:11-12. My days are like a shadow — Which “never continueth in one stay, but is still gliding imperceptibly on, lengthening as it goes, and at last vanisheth into darkness. The period of its existence is limited to a day at farthest. The rising sun gives it birth, and in the moment when the sun sets it is no more.” —Horne. And just so, the psalmist intimates, the hopes which they had sometimes entertained of a restitution were quickly cut off and disappointed. But thou shalt endure for ever — But this is my comfort, although we die, and our hopes vanish, yet our God is unchangeable and everlasting, and therefore not to be conquered by his and our enemies, however numerous and powerful, but is constant in his counsels and purposes of mercy to his church, steadfast and faithful in the performance of all his promises; and therefore he both can and will deliver his people. And thy remembrance unto all generations — To the end of time, nay, to eternity: thou shalt be known and honoured; and “the remembrance of thy former works and mercies comforts our hearts, and encourages us to hope, nay, even to rejoice, in the midst of our sorrow and tribulation.”

12 But you, Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.

BAR ES, "But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever - Though my condition has been changed, though I have been cast down from an exalted position, though kingdoms rise and fall, yet thou art unchanged. Thy purposes will abide. Thy promises will be fulfilled. Thy character is the same. As thou hast been the hearer of prayer in past times, so thou art now. As thou hast interposed in behalf of thy people in other ages, so thou wilt now. As thy people in affliction have been permitted to come to thee, so they may come to thee now. The psalmist here brings to his own mind, as an encouragement in trouble, as we may at all times, the fact that God is an unchanging God; that he always lives; that he is ever the same. We could have no ground of hope if God changed; if he formed purposes only to abandon them; if he made promises only to disregard them; if today he were a Being of mercy and goodness, and tomorrow would be merely a Being of justice and wrath. This argument is enlarged upon in Psa_102:25-28.

And thy remembrance unto all generations - Thy memory; or, the remembrance of thee. My days are like a shadow. I shall pass away, and be forgotten. No one will recollect me; no one will feel any interest in remembering that I have ever lived (see the notes at Psa_31:12). But while one knows that this must be so in regard to himself and to all other people - that he and they are alike to be forgotten - he may also feel that there is One who will never be forgotten. God will never pass away. He will be always the same. All the hopes of the church - of the world - are based on this. It is not

on man - on any one individual - on any number of people - for they will all alike pass away and be forgotten; but one generation of people after another, to the end of time, may call on God, and find him an ever-living, an unchanged and unchangeable protector and friend.

CLARKE, "But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever - Our life is a shadow; we can scarcely be called beings when compared with thee, for thou art eternal. Have mercy upon us, creatures of a day, and thy kindness shall be a memorial in all our generations.

GILL, "But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever,.... This address is made to Christ, as is clear from Psa_102:25, compared with Heb_1:10, who is a divine Person, endures for ever, is from everlasting to everlasting, unchangeably the same in his love, power, wisdom, faithfulness, &c. and though he died as man, he will die no more; he is alive, and lives for evermore; and because he lives, his people shall live also; and he will come again to take them to himself: and, as Mediator, he is King for ever; always continues, as such, to rule over, protect, and defend his people; and is a Priest for ever, and ever lives to make intercession for them; and his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, have a constant virtue in them, to take away sin, and secure from it: the consideration of the perpetuity of Christ, in his person and offices, was a comfort to the psalmist under his troubles, and in a view of his own declining state: the Targum is,

"but thou, O Lord, thy habitation continues for ever in heaven:''

and thy remembrance to all generations; the remembrance of his name Jehovah, or Jesus, or Immanuel, or any other, is sweet and precious to his saints in all ages; and so the remembrance of his works, of what he has done and suffered, especially the great work of redemption; for the remembrance of which the ordinance of the Lord's supper is appointed to be continued till his second coming; and his Gospel is an everlasting one, which will transmit the memory of him to men in every age, to the end of the world; and though all flesh is as grass, and every man dies, even the ministers of the word, yet that itself lives for ever. Aben Ezra reads "thy throne", as agreeing with Lam_5:19, but Kimchi observes that this reading is owing to a bad copy.

HE RY, "Many exceedingly great and precious comforts are here thought of, and mustered up, to balance the foregoing complaints; for unto the upright there arises light in the darkness, so that, though they are cast down, they are not in despair. It is bad with the psalmist himself, bad with the people of God; but he has many considerations to revive himself with.

I. We are dying creatures, and our interests and comforts are dying, but God is an everliving everlasting God (Psa_102:12): “My days are like a shadow; there is no remedy; night is coming upon me; but, thou, O Lord! shalt endure for ever. Our life is transient, but thine is permanent; our friends die, but thou our God diest not; what threatened us cannot touch thee; our names will be written in the dust and buried in oblivion, but thy remembrance shall be unto all generations; to the end of time, nay, to eternity, thou shalt be known and honoured.” A good man loves God better than himself, and therefore can balance his own sorrow and death with the pleasing thought of the unchangeable blessedness of the Eternal Mind. God endures for ever, his church's faithful patron and protector; and, his honour and perpetual remembrance being very

much bound up in her interests, we may be confident that they shall not be neglected.

JAMISO , "Contrast with man’s frailty (compare Psa_90:1-7).

thy remembrance— that by which Thou art remembered, Thy promise.

K&D 12-24, "When the church in its individual members dies off on a foreign soil, still its God, the unchangeable One, remains, and therein the promise has the guarantee of its fulfilment. Faith lays hold upon this guarantee as in Ps 90. It becomes clear from

Psa_9:8 and Lam_5:19 how שבQ is to be understood. The Name which Jahve makes

Himself by self-attestation never falls a prey to the dead past, it is His ever-living

memorial (זכר, Exo_3:15). Thus, too, will He restore Jerusalem; the limit, or appointed

time, to which the promise points is, as his longing tells the poet, now come. מועד, according to Psa_75:3; Hab_2:3, is the juncture, when the redemption by means of the

judgment on the enemies of Israel shall dawn. Sלחננ, from the infinitive חנן, has ĕ,

flattened from ă, in an entirely closed syllable. רצה seq. acc. signifies to have pleasure in

anything, to cling to it with delight; and חנן, according to Pro_14:21, affirms a

compassionate, tender love of the object. The servants of God do not feel at home in Babylon, but their loving yearning lingers over the ruins, the stones and the heaps of the rubbish (Neh_4:2), of Jerusalem.

CALVI , "12.And thou, O Jehovah! shalt dwell for ever When the prophet, for his own encouragement, sets before himself the eternity of God, it seems, at first sight, to be a far-fetched consolation; for what benefit will accrue to us from the fact that God sits immutable on his heavenly throne, when, at the same time, our frail and perishing condition does not permit us to continue unmoved for a single moment? And, what is more, this knowledge of the blessed repose enjoyed by God enables us the better to perceive that our life is a mere illusion. But the inspired writer, calling to remembrance the promises by which God had declared that he would make the Church the object of his special care, and particularly that remarkable article of the covenant, “I will dwell in the midst of you,” (Exodus 25:8) and, trusting to that sacred and indissoluble bond, has no hesitation in representing all the godly languishing, though they were in a state of suffering and wretchedness, as partakers of this celestial glory in which God dwells. The word memorial is also to be viewed in the same light. What advantage would we derive from this eternity and immutability of God’s being, unless we had in our hearts the knowledge of him, which, produced by his gracious covenant, begets in us the confidence arising from a mutual relationship between him and us? The meaning then is, “We are like withered grass, we are decaying every moment, we are not far from death, yea rather, we are, as it were, already dwelling in the grave; but since thou, O God! hast made a covenant with us, by which thou hast promised to protect and defend thine own people, and hast brought thyself into a gracious relation to us, giving us the fullest assurance that thou wilt always dwell in the midst of us, instead of desponding, we must be of good courage; and although we may see only ground for

despair if we depend upon ourselves, we ought nevertheless to lift up our minds to the heavenly throne, from which thou wilt at length stretch forth thy hand to help us.” Whoever is in a moderate degree acquainted with the sacred writings, will readily acknowledge that whenever we are besieged with death, in a variety of forms, we should reason thus: As God continues unchangeably the same — “without variableness or shadow of turning” — nothing can hinder him from aiding us; and this he will do, because we have his word, by which he has laid himself under obligation to us, and because he has deposited with us his own memorial, which contains in it a sacred and indissoluble bond of fellowship.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 12. ow the writer's mind is turned away from his personal and relative troubles to the true source of all consolation, namely, the Lord himself, and his gracious purposes towards his own people.But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever. I perish, but thou wilt not, my nation has become almost extinct, but thou art altogether unchanged. The original has the word "sit, "—"thou, Jehovah, to eternity shalt sit:" that is to say, thou reignest on, thy throne is still secure even when thy chosen city lies in ruins, and thy peculiar people are carried into captivity. The sovereignty of God in all things is an unfailing ground for consolation; he rules and reigns whatever happens, and therefore all is well.Firm as his throne his promise stands,And he can well secure,What I have committed to his hands.Till the decisive hour.And thy remmeberance unto all generations. Men will forget me, but as for thee, O God, the constant tokens of thy presence will keep the race of man in mind of thee from age to age. What God is now he always will be, that which our forefathers told us of the Lord we find to be true at this present time, and what our experience enables us to record will be confirmed by our children and their children's children. All things else are vanishing like smoke, and withering like grass, but over all the one eternal, immutable light shines on, and will shine on when all these shadows have declined into nothingness.

ELLICOTT, "(12) For ever.—The eternity of God, which must survive the world itself, is a pledge of the truth of the national hopes, in spite of the vicissitudes of individuals, and the swift succession of generations. For the word “remembrance,” see Psalms 30:4. It is explained by Exodus 3:15, “This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial through all generations.” The generations come and go, and the memory of man perishes, but the name “Jehovah” endures still, the object of adoration and praise.

COFFMA , "HOPE IS BASED UPO GOD'S ETER ITY A D CHA GELESS ESS

"But thou, O Jehovah, wilt abide forever;

And thy memorial name unto all generations.

Thou wilt arise and have mercy upon Zion;

For it is time to have pity upon her,

Yea, the set time is come.

For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,

And have pity upon her dust.

So the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah,

And all the kings of the earth thy glory.

For Jehovah hath built up Zion;

He hath appeared in his glory.

He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute,

And hath not despised their prayer.

This shall be written for the generation to come;

And a people which shall be created shall praise Jehovah.

For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary;

From heaven did Jehovah behold the earth;

To hear the sighing of the prisoner;

To loose those that are appointed for death;

That men may declare the name of Jehovah in Zion,

And his praise in Jerusalem;

When the peoples are gathered together,

And the kingdoms to serve Jehovah."

Psalms 102:12-14 here speak of the times when the Babylonian captivity was drawing to a close.

"The set time is come" (Psalms 102:13). Apparently, the psalmist remembered the

promise of Jeremiah that the captivity would last 70 years; and as that time approached, the faithful looked forward to the restoration of Israel to Zion.

"Thy servants take pleasure in her stones and have pity upon her dust" (Psalms 102:14). Some have applied this to the times of ehemiah; but the more likely view is that the captives, through their knowledge of Jerusalem's ruins, were sentimentally attached to them. It is true that this ruined condition of Jerusalem continued till the times of ehemiah.

"So the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, and all the kings of the earth thy glory" (Psalms 102:15). The tone of this psalm drastically changes right here; and this marked change should be considered the beginning of a new subject. What is it? It is the Kingdom of the Messiah. Only in that era would "the nations," namely, the Gentiles, fear the name of Jehovah; and only then would the kings of the earth behold the glory of the Lord.

"Jehovah hath built up Zion; he hath appeared in his glory" (Psalms 102:16). The building of Zion here prophesied is a reference to the establishment of Christ's Church (Acts 15:16); and the appearance of God in glory can be nothing other than the First Advent of Jesus Christ.

"He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute ... and he has heard the sigh of the prisoners" (Psalms 102:17,20). The true application of these words is not to the Babylonian captives but to the ministry of Jesus Christ (Luke 4:18); the `prisoners' here are the "captives in sin." The death to which they are appointed is eternal death.

"This shall be written for the generation to come; and a people which shall be created shall praise Jehovah" (Psalms 102:19). The mighty thing which God will do and which will be written down for future generations is nothing other than the First Advent of Christ, the visit from on High of the Dayspring to mankind.

It is important to note that the birth of each new generation is a "creation," that is, having never existed before, they are an entirely new entity. The foolish notion of reincarnation perishes in the understanding of a passage like this.

"From heaven did Jehovah behold the earth" (Psalms 102:19). This and Psalms 102:21-22 describe God "looking upon the earth" in compassion, hearing the sighs of those dying in sin, and earnestly desiring that men may sing God's praises in Jerusalem (that is, the ew Jerusalem which is above).

"WHE the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms to serve Jehovah" (Psalms 102:22). This verse declares in tones of thunder "when" the Lord will appear in glory (Psalms 102:15) and "when" all the other wonderful things of this passage shall happen. That time shall be when the peoples (the Gentiles) are gathered together unto the Lord; and the kingdoms of the earth, not Israel alone, shall serve Jehovah. Only the current dispensation of the Grace of God in Christ

qualifies as "that time."

WHEDO , "12. But thou, O Lord—The complaint is ended. Faith lifts the curtain and opens a new scene. The remainder of the psalm is illumined with the joy of hope.

Shalt endure for ever—The word rendered “endure,” here, would be better translated enthrone, as in Psalms 2:4; Psalms 9:7; Isaiah 14:13; Lamentations 5:19; Zechariah 6:13. “But thou, Jehovah, shall for ever sit [enthroned].” It was this doctrine of the everlasting dominion of Jehovah which sustained faith, and gave comfort and the joy of hope in the darkest adversity.

13 You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has come.

BAR ES, "Thou shalt arise - Thou wilt come forth - as if God had been inattentive or inactive.

And have mercy upon Zion - That is, Upon Jerusalem - represented as in a state of desolation. God would at length pity her, and interpose in her behalf.

For the time to favor her - Implying that there was an appointed time to favor her, or to bring her troubles to an end.

Yea, the set time is come - The word used here - mô‛êd מועד - means properly an

appointed season - a designated moment. It refers to some purpose or appointment in regard to anything that is to be done, as in 1Sa_13:8, 1Sa_13:11; 2Sa_20:5; Gen_17:21; or to a fixed period, as when certain things are to be done, certain festivals to be held regularly at a certain season of the year, Lam_1:4; Lam_2:6; Hos_9:5; Hos_12:9; Lev_23:2, Lev_23:4,Lev_23:37, Lev_23:44. Here it means that there was some period fixed in the Divine Mind when this was to occur, or a definite time when it had been predicted or promised that it would occur. The language is such as would be applicable to the captivity in Babylon, concerning which there was a promise that it should continue but seventy years. If the psalm refers to that, then the meaning is that there were indications in the course of events that that period was about to arrive. Compare the notes at Dan_9:2. What those indications were in this case, the psalmist immediately states, Psa_102:14. It may be remarked here, that there are usually some previous intimations or indications of what God is about to do. “Coming events cast their shadows before.” Even the divine purposes are accomplished usually in connection with human agency, and in

the regular course of events; and it is frequently possible to anticipate that God is about to appear for the fulfillment of his promises. So it was in the coming of the Saviour. So it was in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. So it is when God is about to revive religion in a church. So it is, and will be, in regard to the conversion of the world.

CLARKE, "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion -While he is humbled at the footstool of mercy, and earnestly praying for mercy, an answer of peace is given; he is assured, not only that they shall be delivered, but that the time of deliverance is at hand. The set time - the seventy years predicted by Jeremiah, was ended; and God gave him to see that he was ever mindful of his promises.

GILL, "Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Zion,.... Exert his power, and display the riches of his grace and mercy; not by delivering the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, to which some restrain it; but by redeeming his church and people by power and price; or rather by raising up and restoring them to great glory and prosperity in the latter day:

for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come; not the seventy years of the captivity made known to the prophet Jeremiah; rather the seventy weeks of Daniel fixed for the Messiah's coming; or the fulness of time agreed upon, between Christ and his Father, for him to come and redeem his people; but it may best of all design the end of the forty two months, or the 1260 days, or years, fixed for the treading under foot the holy city, for the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, and for the reign of antichrist; which when come will usher in glorious times in favour of Zion, the church of God, Rev_11:2.

HE RY 13-16, " Poor Zion is now in distress, but there will come a time for her relief and succour (Psa_102:13): Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion. The hope of deliverance is built upon the goodness of God - “Thou wilt have mercy upon Zion, for she has become an object of thy pity;” and upon the power of God - “Thou shalt arise and have mercy, shalt stir up thyself to do it, shalt do it in contempt of all the opposition made by the church's enemies.” The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this. That which is very encouraging is that there is a time set for the deliverance of the church, which not only will come some time, but will come at the time appointed, the time which Infinite Wisdom has appointed (and therefore it is the best time) and which Eternal Truth has fixed it to, and therefore it is a certain time, and shall not be forgotten nor further adjourned. At the end of seventy years, the time to favour Zion, by delivering her from the daughter of Babylon, was to come, and at length it did come. Zion was now in ruins, that is, the temple that was built in the city of David: the favouring of Zion is the building of the temple up again, as it is explained, Psa_102:16. This is expected from the favour of God; that will set all to rights, and nothing but that, and therefore Daniel prays (Dan_9:17), Cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary, which is desolate. The building up of Zion is as great a favour to any people as they can desire. No blessing more desirable to a ruined state than the restoring and re-establishing of their church-privileges. Now this is here wished for and longed for, 1. Because it would be a great rejoicing to Zion's friends (Psa_102:14): Thy servants take pleasure even in the stones of the temple, though they were thrown down and scattered, and favour the dust, the very rubbish and ruins of it. Observe here, When the temple was ruined, yet the stones of it were to be had for a new building, and there were those who encouraged themselves with that, for they had a

favour even for the dust of it. Those who truly love the church of God love it when it is in affliction as well as when it is in prosperity; and it is a good ground to hope that God will favour the ruins of Zion when he puts it into the heart of his people to favour them, and to show that they do so by their prayers and by their endeavours; as it is also a good plea with God for mercy for Zion that there are those who are so affectionately concerned for her, and are waiting for the salvation of the Lord. 2. Because it would have a good influence upon Zion's neighbours, Psa_102:15. It will be a happy means perhaps of their conversion, at least of their conviction; for so the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, shall have high thoughts of him and his people, and even the kings of the earth shall be affected with his glory. They shall have better thoughts of the church of God than they have had, when God by his providence thus puts an honour upon it; they shall be afraid of doing any thing against it when they see God taking its part; nay, they shall say, We will go with you, for we have seen that God is with you, Zec_8:23. Thus it is said (Est_8:17) that many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. 3. Because it would redound to the honour of Zion's God (Psa_102:16): When the Lord shall build up Zion. They take it for granted it will be done, for God himself has undertaken it, and he shall then appear in his glory; and for that reason all that have made his glory their highest end desire it and pray for it. Note, The edifying of the church will be the glorifying of God, and therefore we may be assured it will be done in the set time. Those that pray in faith, Father, glorify thy name, may receive the same answer to that prayer which was given to Christ himself by a voice from heaven, I have both glorified it and I will glorify it yet again, though now for a time it may be eclipsed.

JAMISO , "Hence it is here adduced.

for— or, “when.”

the set time, etc.— the time promised, the indication of which is the interest felt for Zion by the people of God.

CALVI , "13.Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion. We have here the conclusion drawn from the truth stated in the preceding verse — God is eternal, and therefore he will have compassion upon Zion. God’s eternity is to be considered as impressed upon the memorial, or word, by which he has brought himself under obligation to maintain our welfare. Besides, as he is not destitute of the power, and as it is impossible for him to deny himself, we ought not to entertain any apprehension of his failing to accomplish, in his own time, what he has promised. We have observed, in another place, that, the verb to arise refers to what is made apparent to the eye of sense; for although he continues always immutable, yet, in putting forth his power, he manifests his majesty by the external act, as it is termed.

When the prophet treats of the restoration of the Church, he sets forth the divine mercy as its cause. He represents this mercy under a twofold aspect, and therefore employs different words. In the first place, as in the matter under consideration, the good deserts of men are entirely out of the question, and as God cannot be led from any cause external to himself to build up his Church, the prophet traces the cause of it solely to the free goodness of God. In the second place, he contemplates this mercy as connected with the Divine promises. Thou shalt have mercy upon Zion, for the time appointed, according to thy good pleasure, is come Meanwhile, it is to be

observed that, in magnifying the Divine mercy, his design was to teach true believers that their safety depended on it alone. But we must now attend to what time is alluded to. The word מועד, moed, signifies all kind of fixed or appointed days. There is, then, beyond all doubt, a reference to the prophecy of Jeremiah, recorded in Jeremiah 29:10, and repeated in the last chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles, at the 21st verse. That the faithful might not sink into despondency, through the long continuance of their calamities, they needed to be supported by the hope that an end to their captivity had been appointed by God, and that it would not extend beyond seventy years. Daniel was employed in meditating on this very topic, when “he set his face unto the Lord God, to seek, by prayer and supplications,” the re-establishment of the Church, (Daniel 9:2) In like manner, the object now aimed at by the prophet was to encourage both himself and others to confidence in prayer, putting God in mind of this remarkable prophecy, as an argument to induce him to bring to a termination their melancholy captivity. And surely if, in our prayers, we do not continually remember the Divine promises, we only cast forth our desires into the air like smoke. It is, however, to be observed, that although the time of the promised deliverance was approaching, or had already arrived, yet the prophet does not cease from the exercise of prayer, to which God stirs us up by means of his word. And although the time was fixed, yet he calls upon God, for the performance of his covenant, in such a manner, as that he is still betaking himself to his free goodness alone; for the promises by which God brings himself under obligation to us do not, in any degree, obscure his grace.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 13. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion. He firmly believed and boldly prophesied that apparent inaction on God's part would turn to effective working. Others might remain sluggish in the matter, but the Lord would most surely bestir himself. Zion had been chosen of old, highly favoured, gloriously inhabited, and wondrously preserved, and therefore by the memory of her past mercies it was certain that mercy would again be showed to her. God will not always leave his church in a low condition; he may for a while hide himself from her in chastisement, to make her see her nakedness and poverty apart from himself, but in love he must return to her, and stand up in her defence, to work her welfare.For the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. Divine decree has appointed a season for blessing the church, and when that period has arrived, blessed she shall be. There was an appointed time for the Jews in Babylon, and when the weeks were fulfilled, no bolts nor bars could longer imprison the ransomed of the Lord. When the time came for the walls to rise stone by stone, no Tobiah or Sanballat could stay the work, for the Lord himself had arisen, and who can restrain the hand of the Almighty? When God's own time is come, neither Rome, nor the devil, nor persecutors, nor atheists, can prevent the kingdom of Christ from extending its bounds. It is God's work to do it; —he must "arise"; he will do it, but he has his own appointed season; and meanwhile we must, with holy anxiety and believing expectation, wait upon him.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 13. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy, etc. Tu miserebere, "Thou shalt, "as the Shunamite to the prophet, catching hold on his feet, though Gehazi thrust her away, Vivit Dominus, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not let thee go;

"and, as Jacob to the angel, when he had wrestled the whole night with him, on dimittam, I will not let thee loose till I have a blessing from thee. From "A Sermon at Paules Crosse on behalfe of Paules Church, March 26, 1620. By the B. of London" John King.Ver. 13. The set time. There is a certain set time for God's great actions. He lets the powers of darkness have their hour, and God will take his hour. He hath a set time for the discovery of his mercy, and he will not stay a jot beyond it. What is this time? Psalms 102:9, etc. When they "eat ashes like bread, and mingle their drink with weeping; "when they are most humble, and when the servants of God have moral affection to the church; when their humble and ardent affections are strong, even to the ruin and rubbish of it; when they have a mighty desire and longing for the reparation of it, as the Jews in captivity had for the very dust of the temple: Psalms 102:14 : "For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof." "For" there notes it to be a reason why the set time was judged by them to be come. That is God's set time when the church is most believing, most humble, most affectionate to God's interest in it, and most sincere. Without faith we are not fit to desire mercy, without humility we are not fit to receive it, without affection we are not fit to value it, without sincerity we are not fit to improve it. Times of extremity contribute to the growth and exercise of these qualifications. Stephen Charnock.

ELLICOTT, "Verses 13-16(13-16) The prospect (Isaiah 40:1-5) that the restoration of Jerusalem will take place simultaneously with the coming of Jehovah in glory, is here re-echoed from the prophet in a lyric form. “The set time” must not be rigidly explained by the “seventy years” of Jeremiah 25:11. The expression is general: “The hour is come.” (Comp. Isaiah 40:2.)

WHEDO , "13. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion—Here is touched the point of the psalmist’s grief, (the miserable state of the people,) and the object of his chiefest hope, (their restoration to Zion.) As fixing the historic date and occasion of the psalm, this is decisive.

The set time— “The set time” for terminating the captivity, and bringing back the people. See Dan.

Psalms 9:2; Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 29:10; Isaiah 40:2. God has just limits to his chastisements, and remembers “mercy” in due time.

BE SO , "Verse 13-14Psalms 102:13-14. Thou shalt have mercy upon Zion — Upon Jerusalem, or thy church and people; for the set time is come — The end of those seventy years which was the time fixed for the continuing of the Babylonish captivity: see Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10; Daniel 9:2. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, &c. — Thy people value the dust and rubbish of the holy city more than all the palaces of the earth, and passionately desire that it may be rebuilt. “From this passage, and

what follows.” says Dr. Horne, “it appears that the suppliant, in this Psalm, bewails not only his own miseries, but those of the church. Israel was in captivity, and Zion a desolation. A time, notwithstanding, a set time there was at hand, when God had promised to arise, and to have mercy upon her. The bowels of her children yearned over her ruins; they longed to see her rebuilt, and were ready, whenever the word of command should be given, to set heart and hand to the blessed work.”

SIMEO , "THE RESTORATIO OF THE JEWS

Psalms 102:13-15. Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come: for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

AMIDST all the personal afflictions with which a Child of God can be encompassed, he will be filled with consolation, if he hear glad tidings concerning Zion. The interests of God and the welfare of mankind are nearer to his heart than any of the concerns of time and sense. Hence Paul, when complaining that he “suffered trouble, as an evil-doer, even unto bonds,” consoled himself with this, that “the word of God was not bound [ ote: 2 Timothy 2:9.]:” yea, his very bonds themselves were an occasion of joy to his soul, when he saw that they were overruled for the establishment of Believers, and the augmentation of the Church of God [ ote: Philippians 1:12-18.]. Thus, in the psalm before us, the writer, whether speaking in his own person, or personating the Church of God, was in a most disconsolate condition [ ote: ver. 3–11.]; — — — but the thought of God’s speedy interposition for his Church and people comforted him. He saw Jerusalem lying in ruins; but he felt assured that the time was near at hand, when it should be rebuilt, and God’s glory be manifested in it as in the days of old. To the Gospel Church also he had a further reference in his own mind: for though the restoration of the Jews from Babylon attracted some attention from the neighbouring states, it was far from being attended with those effects which are here foretold as following from their yet future restoration to their own land, and their final union with the Church of Christ [ ote: That the writer looks forward to that period, will appear by comparing ver. 25–27. with Hebrews 1:10-12.].

In considering this event, we shall notice,

I. The time fixed for it—

God most assuredly has mercy in store for Zion—

[The Jews shall not always continue in their present degraded state: they shall be gathered from every quarter of the globe, and be brought back again to their own land. We must almost cease to assign any determinate meaning to words, if we explain in a figurative sense only the numberless declarations of God on this subject [ ote: Ezekiel 28:25-26; Ezekiel 37:1-28] — — — As to their restoration to the Divine favour, it is impossible for any one who believes the Scriptures to doubt of it.

Though God is angry with them, he has not cast them off for ever. There is yet among them “a remnant according to the election of grace,” who shall be again engrafted on their own olive-tree, and enjoy all the riches of the Gospel salvation [ ote: Romans 11:5; Romans 11:25-26.] — — —]

For the conferring of “these favours,” there is a time fixed in the Divine counsels—

[“Known unto God are all things from the foundation of the world:” and every thing that is “done, is done according to his determinate counsel and fore-knowledge [ ote: Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28.].” The deliverance of the Jews from Egypt was foretold to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before it took place; and it was accomplished on the self-same day that had been then fixed [ ote: Exodus 12:41.]. In like manner, their deliverance from Babylon was fixed; nor were they detained one hour there beyond the seventy years that had been assigned for their captivity [ ote: Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10,]. Thus is the period fixed for their present dispersion. It is to terminate one thousand two hundred and sixty years after the establishment of the Papal tyranny and of the Mahometan delusion. Other thirty years are added to that time for completing of that glorious work, and forty-five more for the full introduction of the Millennium, when all the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ [ ote: Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; Daniel 12:11-12. with Revelation 11:3; Revelation 11:15; Revelation 12:6; Revelation 12:14; Revelation 13:5.]. Respecting the exact time from whence these several periods must be dated, Commentators are not agreed; nor is it our intention to enter into that part of the question: we only mention these things to shew, that “God has reserved the times and the seasons in his own power,” and that the time for the future restoration of the Jews is as determinately fixed in the Divine counsels, as any other event that ever occurred.]

We think too that we may already see,

II. The signs of its approach—

When our blessed Lord came to establish his kingdom upon earth, there were many signs whereby a candid observer might ascertain that he was really come [ ote: Matthew 16:3.]. An expectation of him had prevailed both among Jews and Gentiles [ ote: Luke 2:25; Luke 2:38.]; his forerunner, John the Baptist, had come to prepare his way [ ote: Matthew 17:9-13.]: and his own miracles had evinced, that he was indeed the person whom he professed to be [ ote: John 5:36.]. Thus the Psalmist intimates that there are signs, whereby the future manifestations of his love and mercy to his people Israel shall be discerned, previous to their full accomplishment: “The time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come; for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof,” We say then that the approach of that blessed period is now evidently marked by,

1. The concern that is now felt for the Jewish people—

[How many centuries have passed without any efforts made for their conversion to

the faith of Christ! They have been regarded by the Christian world as utterly unworthy of notice: or rather, have been treated by them with all manner of indignity, oppression, and cruelty. But now Christians begin to feel how basely they have acted towards them; and are combining their efforts to rend the veil from their hearts: and by all possible means to lead them to the knowledge of that Messiah, whom their fathers crucified [ ote: The attention paid to the study of prophecy in this day is remarkable.] — — —]

2. The expectation which the Jews have of their approaching deliverance—

[The Jews even of our own country, and still more upon the Continent, have a persuasion that their Messiah is speedily to appear, and to vindicate them from the oppression which they have so long experienced [ ote: Persons conversant with India have assured us, that both Mahometans and Hindoos have an expectation also that a great change is about to take place in the religions which they profess.]. And though they do not at present know what kinds of blessings they are destined to enjoy, (for they look no further than to a temporal deliverance,) yet the circumstance of their “looking for redemption” as fast approaching, may justly be regarded as a sign of its actual approach.]

3. The work that has already been effected among them—

[Many have been converted to the faith of Christ: and though, as in the first ages of Christianity, many have dishonoured, or renounced, their holy profession, yet many have held fast their faith amidst the heaviest trials, and have adorned the Gospel by a holy conversation. We cannot, it is true, boast of thousands converted at once: nor were the efforts or John, and of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, very successful for a season: even after all the labours and miracles of our Lord, his disciples amounted only to five hundred; the greatest part of those who were convinced by him for a season having gone back from him: but the seed sown by him grew up on the day of Pentecost, and brought forth fruit an hundred-fold: in like manner we have only fruit sufficient at present to encourage our continued exertions; but we hope that Pentecostal fruits will yet be found, and that too at no distant period. At all events we have evidence enough to shew, that God is with us in our labours of love, and to assure us, that we shall not labour in vain, or run in vain. The very circumstance of so many heralds being stirred up to prepare their way, is a strong ground of hope that ere long “the valleys shall be exalted, and the mountains and hills be made low, and the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain; and that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together [ ote: Isaiah 40:3-5.].”]

or are we left in uncertainty about,

III. The effects of its arrival—

To the Jews themselves the effects will be glorious—

[Such prosperity, both temporal and spiritual, will they enjoy, as was but faintly

typified in the days of Solomon — — — “The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound [ ote: Isaiah 30:26]” — — —]

To the Gentiles also it will be the commencement of inconceivable and universal happiness—

[This is particularly marked in our text; “So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord:” yes, the restoration and conversion of the Jews will be “as life from the dead” to the whole Gentile world [ ote: Romans 11:12; Romans 11:15.]. Their deliverances from Egypt and from Babylon attracted the attention of the nations which were round about them; but this deliverance will fill with surprise and astonishment all the nations upon earth: for the Jews are scattered through every country under heaven: and in every country there will be a simultaneous motion of the Jews towards their own land, and a turning to that Saviour, whom now they hate. This will carry conviction to the minds of all, that Jesus is the true Messiah, the only, and all-sufficient Saviour of the whole world. Then will all the great ones of the earth, the highest kings, no less than their meanest subjects, behold the glory of God in the face of our adorable Saviour; and all, both Jews and Gentiles, become one fold under one Shepherd [ ote: See Isaiah 60:1-8; Isaiah 60:10-14. Psalms 72:8-11; Psalms 72:16-19. Zechariah 2:10-12; Zechariah 8:20-23; Zechariah 14:9.] — —— However incredible this may appear, it shall assuredly be effected in due season; for the Lord hath promised; and not a jot or tittle of his word shall fail.]

Address—

1. Have compassion upon Zion—

[See how deplorable is the present state of God’s ancient people: compare it with the former periods of their history when they were so signally honoured with the presence of their God in the wilderness, and at Sinai, and in the days of David and Solomon — — — Shall not the contrast fill you with pity and compassion? Methinks you can scarcely have the feelings of men, much less of Christians, if you do not weep over their forlorn and destitute condition. See how ehemiah felt the desolations of Zion in his day [ ote: ehemiah 2:2-3.]! — — — and is there not yet greater occasion for you to do so now? See how Daniel set himself to implore mercy for his brethren, encouraged by the near approach of the time destined for their deliverance [ ote: Daniel 9:2-3.] — — — And let the prospect we have of an infinitely greater deliverance for them, stimulate you to similar exertions in their behalf. Let nothing be wanting on your part that can contribute to their good. Your time, your money, your influence will be well employed in so glorious a cause: and be assured that in endeavouring to “water others, you shall be watered yourselves.”]

2. Seek to experience the good work in your own souls—

[We would not so draw your attention to the vineyard of others, us to divert it from

your own. If it be desirable for the Jews to “fear the name of the Lord, and to behold his glory,” it is surely no less desirable for you also. Brethren, this charity must begin at home. It will be a fearful thing to “preach to others, and to become cast away ourselves.” Begin then, every one of you, to seek the favour of God to your own souls. Truly it is lamentable to see in what a state our Christian Zion is: and how many amongst us differ little from the Jews, except in name and profession. And in this we are far more guilty than they, because, whilst they are misled through the blindness that is come upon them, we sin against light and knowledge, and, Judas-like, betray the Saviour whom we profess to love. Let us hope, however, that the time for God to favour us is come; (O that it may be come, and that our eyes may see it!) and that the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, shall be speedily reared amongst us, to the glory of God, and to the salvation of many souls. Much as we desire your aid for the Jewish nation, our first desire is, that you yourselves may be saved In this we are sanctioned by the apostle Paul, who, whilst he pitied the Gentile world, desired to be accursed from Christ if it might but be instrumental to the saving of his brethren the Jews. To you then, Brethren, we say, First give your own selves to the Lord, and afterwards to us, by the will of God [ ote: 2 Corinthians 8:5.] — — —]

14 For her stones are dear to your servants; her very dust moves them to pity.

BAR ES, "For thy servants take pleasure in her stones - Those who profess to be thy servants; thy friends. This was the “evidence” to the mind of the psalmist that God was about to visit his people, and to rebuild Jerusalem. It was an “awakened interest” among the professed people of God, leading them to manifest their love for Zion, and for all that pertained to her - a love for the very stones that lay in undistinguished heaps where the city once stood - the piles of rubbish where the walls and dwellings had once been. The people of God in their captivity began to look with strong interest on these very ruins, and with an earnest wish that from these ruins the city may again arise, and the walls be rebuilt.

And favor the dust thereof - literally, pity - or, show compassion for. They no longer look with indifference on these ruins of Zion. They look with a tender heart on the very dust of those ruins. They feel that a wrong has been done to Zion; they ardently desire its restoration to its former splendor and glory. They long for a return to it as to their home. They are weary with their captivity, and they are anxiously waiting for the time when they may revisit their native land. This would seem to refer to an awakened interest on the subject, caused perhaps in part by the fact that it could be ascertained (see Dan_9:2) that the period of the captivity was about to end, and partly by an

influence on their hearts from on high, awakening in them a deeper love for Zion - a revival of pure religion. The practical truth taught here is, that an indication of a coming revival of religion is often manifested by the increased attention to the subject among its professed friends; by the desire in their hearts that it may be so; by tenderness, pity, compassion among them in view of abounding desolations, the coldness of the church, and the prevalence of iniquity; by their looking with interest on that which had before been neglected, like shapeless ruins - the prayer-meeting, the communion, the sanctuary; by a conscious returning love in their hearts for all that pertains to religion, however unimportant it may be in the eyes of the world, or however it may be despised. A surrounding world would look with unconcern on the ruins of Jerusalem; a friend of God, in whose heart religion was revived, would look with the most tender concern even on that rubbish, and those ruins. So it is in a revival of religion, when God is about to visit his church in mercy. Everything in regard to the church becomes an object of deep interest.

CLARKE, "Thy servants take pleasure in her stones - Though Jerusalem was at this time in a heap of ruins, yet even her rubbish was sacred in the eyes of the pious; for this had been the city of the great King.

GILL, "For thy servants take pleasure in her stones,.... Meaning not Cyrus and Darius, who gave leave and orders for the rebuilding of the city and temple of Jerusalem, as some; nor Nehemiah, and Ezra, and others, who took more pleasure in the stones and rubbish of the temple, as it lay in ruins, than in all the stately palaces in Babylon; and who were very desirous of, and took delight in gathering these stones, and putting them together again, as others; but, the ministers of the Gospel, and other Christians, in the latter day, who will take pleasure in the great number of converts that there will then be, who, as lively stones, will be built up a spiritual house; and especially when those stones shall be laid with fair colours, and the headstone shall be brought in with acclamations, crying, Grace, grace unto it; see 1Pe_2:5.

and favour the dust thereof; which sometimes designs multitudes, Num_23:10, perhaps here it may denote the meanest of the Lord's people, who will be regarded, and not despised by his servants; but they will show favour to them, do them all the good they can, and wish well to them, and pray for their prosperity, and for the peace of Zion; that God would make it the joy of the whole earth; and when there shall be such a delight in the stones and dust of Zion, and a spirit of grace and supplication poured forth upon the servants of the Lord, to pray for the promised glory and happiness of it, it will be a token for good, and an intimation that the set time to favour her is at hand; which seems to be the sense of the psalmist: such great reverence and respect have the greatest of the wise men among the Jews for the land of Israel, literally understood, that they kiss the borders, the stones of it, and roll themselves in its dust (a), having perhaps in mind this passage of Scripture.

CALVI , "14.For thy servants take pleasure in her stones To restrict this to Cyrus and Darius is altogether unsuitable. It is not at all wonderful to find the Jewish doctors hunting, with excessive eagerness, after foolish subtilties; but I am surprised that some of our modern commentators subscribe to such a poor and cold

interpretation. I am aware that, in some places, the unbelieving and the wicked are called the servants of God, as in Jeremiah 25:9, because God makes use of them as instruments for executing his judgments. ay, I admit that Cyrus is called by name God’s chosen servant, (Isaiah 44:28) but the Holy Spirit would not have bestowed so honorable a title, either on him or Darius, without some qualification. Besides, it is probable that this psalm was composed before the edict was published, which granted the people liberty to return to their native country. It therefore follows, that God’s people alone are included in the catalogue of his servants, because it is their purpose, during the whole of their life, to obey his will in all things. The prophet, I have no doubt, speaks in general of the whole Church, intimating that this was not the wish entertained merely by one man, but was shared by the whole body of the Church. The more effectually to induce God to listen to his prayer, he calls upon all the godly, who were then in the world, to join with him in the same request. It, unquestionably, very much contributes to increase the confidence of success, when supplications are made by all the people of God together, as if in the person of one man, according to what the Apostle Paul declares,

“Ye also, helping together by prayer for us, that, for the gift bestowed upon us, by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.” (2 Corinthians 1:11)

Farther, when the deformed materials which remained of the ruins of the temple and city are emphatically termed the stones of Zion, this is designed to intimate, not only that the faithful in time past were affected with the outward splendor of the temple, when, besides attracting the eyes of men, it had power to ravish with admiration all their senses, but also, that although the temple was destroyed, and nothing was to be seen where it stood but hideous desolation, yet their attachment to it continued unalterable, and they acknowledged the glory of God, in its crumbling stones and decayed rubbish. As the temple was built by the appointment of God, and as he had promised its restoration, it was, doubtless, proper and becoming that the godly should not withdraw their affections from its ruins. Meanwhile, as an antidote against the discouraging influence of the taunting mockery of the heathen, they required to look into the Divine word for something else than what presented itself to their bodily eyes. Knowing that the very site of the temple was consecrated to God, and that that sacred edifice was to be rebuilt on the same spot, they did not cease to regard it with reverence, although its stones lay in disorder, mutilated and broken, and heaps of useless rubbish were to be seen scattered here and there. The sadder the desolation is to which the Church has been brought, the less ought our affections to be alienated from her. Yea, rather, this compassion which the faithful then exercised, (147) ought to draw from us sighs and groans; and would to God that the melancholy description in this passage were not so applicable to our own time as it is! He, no doubt, has his churches erected in some places, where he is purely worshipped; but, if we cast our eyes upon the whole world, we behold his word every where trampled under foot, and his worship defiled by countless abominations. Such being the case, his holy temple is assuredly every where demolished, and in a state of wretched desolation; yea, even those small churches in which he dwells are torn and scattered. What are these humble erections, when

compared with that splendid edifice described by Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah? But no desolation ought to prevent us from loving the very stones and dust of the Church. Let us leave the Papists to be proud of their altars, their huge buildings, and their other exhibitions of pomp and splendor; for all that heathenish magnificence is nothing else but an abomination in the sight of God and his angels, whereas the ruins of the true temple are sacred.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. They delight in her so greatly that even her rubbish is dear to them. It was a good omen for Jerusalem when the captives began to feel a home-sickness, and began to sigh after her. We may expect the modern Jews to be restored to their own land when the love of their country begins to sway them, and casts out the love of gain. To the church of God no token can be more full of hope than to see the members thereof deeply interested in all that concerns her; no prosperity is likely to rest upon a church when carelessness about ordinances, enterprises, and services is manifest; but when even the least and lowest matter connected with the Lord's work is carefully attended to, we may be sure that tne set time to favour Zion is come. The poorest church member, the most grievous backslider, the most ignorant convert, should be precious in our sight, because forming a part, although possibly a very feeble part, of the new Jerusalem. If we do not care about the prosperity of the church to which we belong, need we wonder if the blessing of the Lord is withheld?EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones. That is, they are still attached to her, and regard her with extreme affection, although in ruins. Jerusalem itself affords at this day a touching illustration of this passage. There is reason to believe that a considerable portion of the lower part of the walls which enclose the present mosque of Omar, which occupies the site of the ancient Jewish temple, are the same, or at least the southern, western, and eastern sides are the same as those of Solomon's temple. At one part where the remains of this old wall are the most considerable and of the most massive character—where two courses of masonry, composed of massive blocks of stone, rising to the height of thirty feet—is what is called the Wailing Place of the Jews. "Here, "says Dr. Olin, "at the foot of the wall, is an open place paved with flags, where the Jews assemble every Friday, and in small numbers on other days, for the purpose of praying and bewailing the desolations of their holy places. either the Jews nor Christians are allowed to enter the Haram, which is consecrated to Mohammedan worship, and this part of the wall is the nearest approach they can make to what they regard as the precise spot within the forbidden enclosure upon which the ancient temple stood. They keep the pavement swept with great care, and take off their shoes, as on holy ground. Standing or kneeling with their faces towards the ancient wall, they gaze in silence upon its venerable stones, or pour forth their complaints in half-suppressed, though audible tones. This, to me, was always a most affecting sight, and I repeated my visit to this interesting spot to enjoy and sympathise with the melancholy yet pleasing spectacle. The poor people sometimes sobbed aloud, and still found tears to pour out for the desolations of their `beautiful house.' `If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.'" Kitto's Pictorial

Bible.

WHEDO , "14. Take pleasure in her stones… favour the dust— ot the “stones” to be prepared for the new city and temple, but the ruins of the old, as left by ebuchadnezzar’s army. See Psalms 79:1; Psalms 74:2-3. The “stones” and “dust”—rubbish and debris of the old city—are still dear to them. Their hearts lingered here. Psalms 137:5-6. So the spiritual Zion, the true Church, in glory or in reproach is dear to the hearts of all her true children.

15 The nations will fear the name of the Lord, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory.

BAR ES, "So the heathen - The nations. That is, The surrounding people, who hear what thou hast done for thy people, will see the evidence that thou art God, and learn to love and worship thee.

Shall fear the name of the Lord - Shall reverence and honor thee.

And all the kings of the earth thy glory - The sovereigns of the earth will be especially affected and impressed with thy majesty. If this refers to the return from the captivity at Babylon, then it means that that event would be particularly suited to impress the minds of the rulers of the world, as showing that God had all nations under his control; that he could deliver a captive people from the grasp of the mighty; that he was the friend of those who worshipped him, and that he would frown on oppression and wrong.

CLARKE, "So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord - It is granted that after the edict of Cyrus to restore and rebuild Jerusalem which was about four hundred and ninety years before Christ, the name of the true God was more generally known among the heathen; and the translating the Sacred Writings into Greek, by the command of Ptolemy Philadelphus, king of Egypt, about two hundred and eighty-five years before the Christian era, spread a measure of the light of God in the Gentile world which they had not before seen. Add to this the disperson of the Jews into different parts of the Roman empire, after Judea became a Roman province, which took place about sixty years before the advent of our Lord; and we may consider these as so many preparatory steps to the conversion of the heathen by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to this last general illumination of the Gentile world the psalmist must allude here, when he speaks of “the heathen fearing God’s name, and all the kings of the earth his glory.”

GILL, "So the Heathen shall fear the name of the Lord,.... Whose name is

reverend, and to be feared; especially the glorious and fearful name "Jehovah", expressive of the divine existence, of his eternity and immutability; though the name of the Lord frequently signifies himself, and here particularly the Messiah, the Son of God, in whom the name of the Lord is; the King of saints, whom all men will fear in the latter day, when the set time to favour Zion is come; will stand in awe of him, be careful of offending him, and will serve and worship him; even the very Heathen, who knew not God, and had no fear of him before their eyes, or in their hearts; the Pagan nations, whose kingdoms will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; see Rev_11:15.

and all the kings of the earth thy glory; which may be supplied thus, either "all the kings of the earth shall see thy glory", or shall fear thee because of "thy glory"; the glory of Christ's person, as the Son of God; the glory of his offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King; especially the glory of his kingly office, to which that of the kings of the earth is not to be compared; the glory of his works of creation, providence, and redemption; and as it will be held forth in the Gospel, with which the earth will now be full, and so be filled with the glory of the Lord, Psa_72:19, and will be so remarkable and conspicuous as to be taken notice of by the kings of the earth, even by all of them, who, when the glory of the Lord shall be risen in Zion, will come to the brightness of it, and look upon it, and admire it, and fear because of it, Isa_60:1.

JAMISO , "God’s favor to the Church will affect her persecutors with fear.

K&D 15-17, "With וייראו we are told what will take place when that which is expected in Psa_102:14 comes to pass, and at the same time the fulfilment of that which is longed for is thereby urged home upon God: Jahve's own honour depends upon it, since the restoration of Jerusalem will become the means of the conversion of the world - a fundamental thought of Isa_40:1 (cf. more particularly Isa_59:19; Isa_60:2), which is also called to mind in the expression of this strophe. This prophetic prospect (Isa_40:1-5) that the restoration of Jerusalem will take place simultaneously with the glorious

parusia of Jahve re-echoes here in a lyric form. �י, Psa_102:17, states the ground of the reverence, just as Psa_102:20 the ground of the praise. The people of the Exile are called

in Psa_102:18 to be naked: homeless, powerless, honourless, and in the ,ערר from ,הערער

eyes of men, prospectless. The lxx renders this word in Jer_17:6 Yγριοµυρίκη, and its

plural, formed by an internal change of vowel, ערוער, in Jer_48:6 aνος�cγριος, which are only particularizations of the primary notion of that which is stark naked, neglected, wild. Psa_102:18 is an echo off Psa_22:25. In the mirror of this and of other Psalms written in times of affliction the Israel of the Exile saw itself reflected.

CALVI , "15.And the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah The prophet here describes the fruit which would result from the deliverance of the ancient tribes; which is, that thereby God’s glory would be rendered illustrious among nations and kings. He tacitly intimates, that when the Church is oppressed, the Divine glory is at the same time debased; even as the God of Israel was, no doubt, at the period referred to, derided by the ungodly, as if he had been destitute of the power to succor his people. It is therefore declared, that if he redeem them, it will afford such a remarkable proof of his power as to constrain the Gentiles to reverence him whom they contemned.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 15. So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD. Mercy within the church is soon perceived by those without. When a candle is lit in the house, it shines through the window. When Zion rejoices in her God, the heathen been to reverence his name, for they hear of the wonders of his power, and are impressed thereby.And all the kings of the earth thy glory. The restoration of Jerusalem was a marvel among the princes who heard of it, and its ultimate resurrection in days yet to come will be one of the prodigies of history. A church quickened by divine power is so striking an object in current history that it cannot escape notice, rulers cannot ignore it, it affects the Legislature, and forces from the great ones of the earth a recognition of the divine working. Oh that we might see in our days such a revival of religion that our senators and princes might be compelled to pay homage to the Lord, and own his glorious grace. This cannot be till the saints are better edified, and more fully builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. Internal prosperity is the true source of the church's external influence.

COKE, "Verses 15-17Psalms 102:15-17. So the heathen shall fear the name, &c.— Then shall the nations fear thy name, O Lord;—ver. 16. When the Lord shall have built up Sion, and his glory shall again be seen in Jerusalem;—ver. 17. When he shall have regarded the prayer of the destitute, and not have rejected their petition. See Bishop Hare, and Green.

BE SO , "Psalms 102:15. So the heathen shall fear the Lord, &c. — Shall have high thoughts of him and his people, and even the kings of the earth shall be affected with his glory. They shall think better of the church of God than they have done, when God, by his providence, thus puts honour upon it; and they shall be afraid of doing any thing against it, when they see God taking its part. Thus it is said, Esther 8:17, that many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them. This promise was in some sort fulfilled, when the rebuilding of the temple and city of God was carried on and completed, to the admiration, envy, and terror of their enemies, notwithstanding the many and great difficulties and oppositions which the Jews had to encounter, ehemiah 6:16; Psalms 126:2; but it was much more truly and fully accomplished in the building of the spiritual Jerusalem by Christ, unto whom the Gentiles were gathered, and to whom the princes of the world paid their acknowledgments.

16 For the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory.

BAR ES, "When the Lord shall build up Zion - The Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and Luther, vender this, “Because the Lord hath built up Zion.” This also is the most natural and correct translation of the Hebrew. The reference, however, may be to the future. The psalmist may throw himself into the future, and - standing there - he may describe things as they will appear then - as already done.

He shall appear in his glory - The idea is that the building up of Zion would be an occasion in which God would manifest his glory. In reference to the restoration of his people from bondage; in rebuilding Zion, then in ruins; in restoring the splendor of the place where he had been so long worshipped, he would display his true character as a God of glory, truth, power, and goodness. As applied to the church in general, this would mean that when God comes to revive religion, to visit his people, to recover them from their backslidings, to convert and save sinners, he appears in his appropriate character as the God of his people - as a glorious God. Then the perfections of his nature are most illustriously displayed; then he appears in his true character, as a God of mercy, grace, and salvation. There is no scene on earth where the character of God is more gloriously exhibited than in a revival of true religion.

CLARKE, "When the Lord shall build up Zion - It is such a difficult thing, so wholly improbable, so far out of the reach of human power, that when God does it, he must manifest his power and glory in a most extraordinary manner.

GILL, "When the Lord shall build up Zion,.... The church of God, fallen down, and in a ruinous condition, as it may be said to be when the doctrines of the Gospel are departed from; the ordinances of it are corrupted and altered, or not attended to; the worship and discipline of the Lord's house are neglected; great declensions in faith, love, and zeal, among the professors of religion, and but few instances of conversion: and it may be said to be built up again, as it will be in the latter day, when the doctrines of grace will be revived; the ordinances will be administered in their primitive purity; great spirituality, holiness, and brotherly love, among the saints, and large numbers converted and brought into it: and this will be the work of Christ, the great master builder; the materials of this building are the saints, those lively stones which will now be laid with fair colours; the ministers of the word will be the instruments that Christ will make use of in rebuilding his church; it is his Spirit, power, and grace, which will make all effectual; and he will have the glory, as follows: the Targum is,

"for the city of Zion is built by the Word of the Lord:''

he shall appear in his glory; or "shall be seen in his glory" (b), which will be upon his church and people, and on which there will be a defence, so that it shall continue; and this will lie chiefly in the purity of Gospel truths, ordinances, and worship; in the number of converts; in the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God upon them; in their peace, prosperity, unity, and spirituality; and in the presence of Christ with them, who will be seen in all the glory and majesty of his kingly office; he will now reign before his ancients gloriously.

JAMISO , "When the Lord shall build— or better, “Because the Lord hath built,” etc., as a reason for the effect on others; for in thus acting and hearing the humble, He is most glorious.

CALVI , "The concluding part of the 16th verse, He hath appeared in his glory, refers to the manifestation which God made of himself when he brought forth his Church from the darkness of death; even as it is said in another place concerning her first deliverance, “Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominions” (Psalms 114:2) In like manner in the present passage, by again gathering to himself his people who were dispersed, and by raising his Church, as it were, from death to life, he appeared in his glory. It is surely no ordinary consolation to know that the love of God towards us is so great, that he will have his glory to shine forth in our salvation. It is true, that when the pious Jews were in the midst of their afflictions, the working of divine power was hidden from them; but they nevertheless always beheld it by the eye of faith, and in the mirror of the divine promises.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. As kings display their skill and power and wealth in the erection of their capitals, so would the Lord reveal the splendour of his attributes in the restoration of Zion, and so will he now glorify himself in the edification of his church. ever is the Lord more honourable in the eyes of his saints than when he prospers the church. To add converts to her, to train these for holy service, to instruct, illuminate, and sanctify the brotherhood, to bind all together in the bonds of Christian love, and to fill the whole body with the energy of the Holy Spirit—this is to build up Zion. Other builders do but puff her up, and their wood, hay, and stubble come to an end almost as rapidly as it was heaped together; but what the Lord builds is surely and well done, and redounds to his glory. Truly, when we see the church in a low state, and mark the folly, helplessness, and indifference of those who profess to be her builders; and, on the other hand, the energy, craft, and influence of those opposed to her, we are fully prepared to own that it will be a glorious work of omnipotent grace should she ever rise to her pristine grandeur and purity.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 16. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. So sincere is God to his people, that he gives his own glory in hostage to them for their security; his own robes of glory are locked up in their prosperity and salvation: he will not, indeed he cannot, present himself in all his magnificence and royalty, till he hath made up his intended thoughts of mercy to his people; he is pleased to prorogue the time of his appearing in all his glory to the world till he hath actually accomplished their deliverance, that he and they may come forth together in their glory on the same day: "When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." The sun is ever glorious in the most cloudy day, but appears not so till it hath scattered the clouds that muffle it up from the sight of the lower world: God is glorious when the world sees him not: but his declarative glory then appears, when

the glory of his mercy, truth and faithfulness break forth in his people's salvation. ow, what shame must this cover thy face with, O Christian, if thou shouldst not sincerely aim at thy God's glory, who loves thee, yea, all his children so dearly, as to ship his own glory and your happiness in one bottom, that he cannot now lose the one, and save the other! William Gumall.Ver. 16. When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. There are two reasons why the Lord appears thus glorious in this work rather than in any other. First, because it is a work that infinitely pleaseth him. Men choose to appear in their clothes and behaviour suitable to the work that they are to be employed in: the woman of Tekoah must feign herself to be a mourner when she goes on a mournful message; and David, when he goes on a doleful journey, covers his face, and puts on mourning apparel; but when Solomon is to be crowned, he goes in all his royalty; and a bride adorns herself gloriously when she is to be married: verily so doth the Lord, when he goes about a work he takes no pleasure in, he puts on his mourning apparel, he covers himself with a cloud and the heavens with blackness; when he is to do a strange work of judgment, then he mourns, "How shall I give thee up Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together." Hosea 11:8. But the building of Zion doth infinitely please him, because Zion is as the apple of his eye to him; he bought Zion at a dear rate, with his own blood; he lays Zion in his bosom, he is ravished with Zion, Zion is his love, his dove, his fair one; he hath chosen Zion, and loves the gates of it, better than all the palaces of Jacob; and being so pleasing to him, no marvel if he put on all his glorious apparel when he is to adorn and build up Zion. And, secondly, it is because all the glory that he looks for to eternity must arise out of this one work of building Zion; this one work shall be the only monument of his glory to eternity: this goodly world, this heaven and earth, that you see and enjoy the use of, is set up only as a shop, as a workshop, to stand only for a week, for six or seven thousand years, ("a thousand years is with the Lord but as a day"); and when his work is done he will throw this piece of clay down again, and out of this he looks for no other glory than from a cabul, a land of dirt, or a shepherd's cottage, or a gourd which springs up in a night and withers in a day; but this piece he sets up for a higher end, to be the eternal mansion of his holiness and honour; this is his metropolis, his temple, his house where his fire and furnace is, his court, his glorious high throne, and therefore his glory is much concerned in this work. When ebuchadnezzar would have a city for the honour of his kingdom, and the glory of his majesty, he will make it a stately piece. Solomon made all his kingdom very rich and glorious, but he made his court, and especially his throne, another manner of thing, so stately that the like was not to be seen in any other kingdom; and therefore no wonder though he appear in his glory in building up of that, which we may boldly say must be one day made as glorious as his wisdom can contrive, and his power bring to pass. Stephen Marshall, in a Sermon preached to the Right Honourable the House of Peers, entitled "God's Master-Piece, "1645.Ver. 16-17. Shall build—shall appear—will regard—and will not despise. These futures, in the original, are all present; buildeth—appeareth—regardeth—and despiseth not. The Psalmist, in his confidence of the event, speaks of it as doing. Samuel Horsley.

BE SO , "Verses 16-18Psalms 102:16-18. When the Lord shall build up Zion — They take it for granted it would be done, for God himself had undertaken it; he shall appear in his glory —His glorious power, wisdom, and goodness shall be manifested to all the world. He will regard the prayer of the destitute — That is, of his poor, forsaken, despised people in Babylon. And not despise their prayer — That is, he will accept and answer it. This shall be written for the generation to come — This wonderful deliverance shall not be lost nor forgotten, but carefully recorded for the instruction and encouragement of all succeeding generations. And the people which shall be created — Who shall hereafter be born; or, who shall be created anew in Christ Jesus; shall praise the Lord — For his answers to their prayers, when they were most destitute. This may be understood, either, 1st, Of the Jews, who should be restored to, their own land, for they had been, in a manner, dead and buried in the grave and mere dry bones, as they are represented Isaiah 26:19, and Ezekiel 37 : or, 2d, Of the Gentiles who should be converted, whose conversion is frequently, and might very justly be called, a second creation.

ISBET, "GOD’S HOME I ZIO ‘When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.’Psalms 102:16Zion is the symbol of the Universal Church. In this text it is selected as the home of the glory of Christ’s Cross, and His main purpose in the upbuilding of Zion is His own glory. Zion does not make God glorious. It only reveals His hidden glory.

If you want to know that God is light, look not to the starry heaven, nor to the mighty ocean, nor to the green-clad earth, but look to Zion; look to the Church, and there you find God at His noblest and best.

I. First, with regard to the building.—Zion has the most costly foundations in the universe of God. There was no such stone in the quarry of our human nature. The foundation of Zion is the Son of God. There is not one flaw or crack in it. Our Lord is a tried stone, and He came out of all trials triumphant. Further, Zion’s foundation is a sure stone. We rejoice this morning that the Church is built not on shifting sands, but on a rock, the Rock of Ages. Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, were all magnificent front stones in this building. Jesus is the centre, and the whole weight of the Temple rests on Him.

II. Secondly, what are the walls of the temple composed of?—In brief, the walls are composed of Christian souls. Ignatius, when about to be put to death in the Coliseum, was asked, ‘What is a Christian?’ And he grandly answered: ‘One who carries God in his bosom’—a magnificent answer. This glorious temple is not built of wood and stones from the wilds of Lebanon, but of living souls. The spiritual fabric must be built on the same principle as an edifice of stone. Christ is the grand foundation, but every stone built to Him shares His qualities and becomes permeated with His life and energy.

III. Again, the whole Trinity is engaged in this mighty work, and it is not too much to add that the apostles, martyrs, reformers, preachers, teachers, and missionaries are all helpers in the work.

IV. Finally, with regard to the glory of the undertaking, notice that Zion is the very best revelation of the Divine law.—Christ is to be glorified by His Cross and exalted by His humility: ‘It is finished’; ‘ ow is the Son of Man glorified.’ God as a Creator is glorious, but God as the Redeemer of Zion is more glorious. ature may reveal His arm, but Zion reveals His heart. God’s glory will not be consummated until Zion is completed. The Divine glory is not yet revealed, because the temple is not yet finished. othing can prevent the completion of the great temple. Zion is the most costly edifice the All-Rich has ever erected, but He is not going to break it down.

Illustration

‘In the opening verses of Psalms 102, David had been singing in a minor key, discontented with himself and those around him. Suddenly all this is changed: he has lifted his eyes from the wreck of earth, and sees the glory of the completed building. It is as if the musician had been dragging out a mournful melody full of discord, but suddenly breaks into a full burst of triumphant harmony. Is there not a stately rhythm in the very words? “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.… When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.”

ow the long and toilsome duty,Stone by stone to carve and bring;Afterward, the perfect beautyOf the palace of the King.’

17 He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea.

BAR ES, "He will regard the prayer - literally, “He looks upon,” or “he ‘turns himself’ to their prayer.” He does not any longer seem to turn away from them and disregard them. He shows by thus building up Zion that he does regard prayer; that he hears the supplications of his people. There is no higher proof that prayer is heard than that which is often furnished in a revival of pure religion. All such revivals, like that on

the day of Pentecost (Act_2:1 ff), are usually preceded, as that was Act_1:13-14, by special prayer; in those revivals there are often most manifest and clear answers to prayer for the conversion of individuals; to prayer for a blessing on a preached gospel; to prayer for particular relatives and friends.

Of the destitute - literally, “of the poor.” The word - ar‛âr‛ ערער - occurs only here and in Jer_17:6, where it is rendered “heath:” “He shall be like the ‘heath’ in the desert.” The word, according to its etymology, means “naked;” then, poor, stripped of everything, impoverished, wholly destitute. It would thus be eminently applicable to the poor exiles in Babylon; it is as applicable to sinners pleading with God, and to the people of God themselves, destitute of everything like self-righteousness, and feeling that they have nothing in themselves, but that they are wholly dependent on the mercy of God. Compare Rev_3:17.

And not despise their prayer - Not treat it with contempt; not pass it by unheard. This is stated as one of the reasons why the nations would be struck with awe - that God, the infinite God, would hear the prayers of those who were so poor, so powerless, so friendless. There is, in fact, nothing more suited to excite wonder than that God does hear the prayer of poor, lost, sinful man.

CLARKE, "The prayer of the destitute - haarar of him who is laid in utter הערער

ruin, who is entirely wasted.

GILL, "He will regard the prayer of the destitute,.... Of the destitute of human help and support, protection and defence; as the church in the wilderness; of the "poor", as the Syriac and Arabic versions, both in spirit and in purse; of the "humble", as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin: the word (c) signifies a low shrub or plant; it is rendered, the heath in the wilderness, Jer_17:6 and designs the saints in their low and afflicted state, during the reign of antichrist, and while the witnesses prophesy in sackcloth; these are the elect that pray day and night, and give the Lord no rest till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth; and the prayers of these are regarded and looked to by the Lord; his eyes are upon and his ears are open to these praying ones; and all the glorious things which shall be done for the church of God will be in consequence of their prayers:

and not despise their prayer; not reject it with contempt and abhorrence; more is intended than is expressed: the meaning is, that he will receive it with pleasure, and return an answer to it; the prayer of these poor destitute ones is delightful to him, Pro_15:8.

HE RY 17-18, " The prayers of God's people now seem to be slighted and no notice taken of them, but they will be reviewed and greatly encouraged (Psa_102:17): He will regard the prayer of the destitute. It was said (Psa_102:16) that God will appear in his glory, such a glory as kings themselves shall stand in awe of, Psa_102:15. When great men appear in their glory they are apt to look with disdain upon the poor that apply to them; but the great God will not do so. Observe, 1. The meanness of the petitioners; they are the destitute. It is an elegant word that is here used, which signifies the heath in the wilderness, a low shrub, or bush, like the hyssop of the wall. They are supposed to be in a low and broken state, enriched with spiritual blessings, but destitute of temporal good

things - the poor, the weak, the desolate, the stripped; thus variously is the word rendered; or it may signify that low and broken spirit which God looks for in all that draw nigh to him and which he will graciously look upon. This will bring them to their knees. Destitute people should be praying people, 1Ti_5:5. 2. The favour of God to them, notwithstanding their meanness: He will regard their prayer, and will look at it, will peruse their petition (2Ch_6:40), and he will not despise their prayer. More is implied than is expressed: he will value it and be well pleased with it, and will return an answer of peace to it, which is the greatest honour that can be put upon it. But it is thus expressed because others despise their praying, they themselves fear God will despise it, and he was thought to despise it while their affliction was prolonged and their prayers lay unanswered. When we consider our own meanness and vileness, our darkness and deadness, and the manifold defects in our prayers, we have cause to suspect that our prayers will be received with disdain in heaven; but we are here assured of the contrary, for we have an advocate with the Father, and are under grace, not under the law. This instance of God's favour to his praying people, though they are destitute, will be a lasting encouragement to prayer (Psa_102:18): This shall be written for the generation to come, that none may despair, though they be destitute, nor think their prayers forgotten because they have not an answer to them immediately. The experiences of others should be our encouragements to seek unto God and trust in him. And, if we have the comfort of the experiences of others, it is fit that we should give God the glory of them: The people who shall be created shall praise the Lord for what he has done both for them and for their predecessors. Many that are now unborn shall, by reading the history of the church, be wrought upon to turn proselytes. The people that shall be created anew by divine grace, that are a kind of first-fruits of his creatures, shall praise the Lord for his answers to their prayers when they were more destitute.

JAMISO , "CALVI , "17He hath regarded the prayer of the solitary It is worthy of notice, that the deliverance of the chosen tribes is ascribed to the prayers of the faithful. God’s mercy was indeed the sole cause which led him to deliver his Church, according as he had graciously promised this blessing to her; but to stir up true believers to greater earnestness in prayer, he promises that what he has purposed to do of his own good pleasure, he will grant in answer to their requests. or is there any inconsistency between these two truths, that God preserves the Church in the exercise of his free mercy, and that he preserves her in answer to the prayers of his people; for as their prayers are connected with the free promises, the effect of the former depends entirely upon the latter. When it is said, that the prayers of the solitary were heard, it is not to be understood of one man only, (for in the clause immediately following, the plural number is used;) but all the Jews, so long as they remained ejected from their own country, and lived as exiles in a strange land, are called solitary, because, although the countries of Assyria and Chaldea were remarkably fertile and delightful, yet these wretched captives, as I have previously observed, wandered there as in a wilderness. And as at that time this solitary people obtained favor by sighing, so now when the faithful are scattered, and are without their regular assemblies, the Lord will hear their groanings in this desolate dispersion, provided they all with one consent, and with unfeigned faith, earnestly breathe after the restoration of the Church.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute. Only the poorest

of the people were left to sigh and cry among the ruins of the beloved city; as for the rest, they were strangers in a strange land, and far away from the holy place, yet the prayers of the captives and the forlorn offscourings of the land would be heard of the Lord, who does not hear men because of the amount of money they possess, or the breadth of the acres which they call their own, but in mercy listens most readily to the cry of the greatest need.And not despise their prayer. When great kings are building their palaces it is not reasonable to expect them to turn aside and listen to every beggar who pleads with them, yet when the Lord builds up Zion, and appears in his robes of glory, he makes a point of listening to every petition of the poor and needy. He will not treat their pleas with contempt; he will incline his ear to hear, his heart to consider, and his hand to help. What comfort is here for those who account themselves to be utterly destitute; their abject want is here met with a most condescending promise. It is worth while to be destitute to be thus assured of the divine regard.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, etc. The persons are here called "the destitute." The Hebrew word which is here translated "destitute" doth properly signify myrica, a low shrub, humiles myrica, low shrubs that grow in wildernesses, some think they were juniper shrubs, some a kind of wild tamaris, but a base wild shrub that grew nowhere but in a desolate forlorn place; and sometimes the word in the text is used to signify the deserts of Arabia, the sandy desert place of Arabia, which was a miserable wilderness. ow when this word is applied to men, it always means such as were forsaken men, despised men; such men as are stripped of all that is comfortable to them: either they never had children, or else their children are taken away from them, and all comforts banished, and themselves left utterly forlorn, like the barren heath ih a desolate howling wilderness. These are the people of whom my text speaks, that the Lord will regard the prayer of "the destitute; "and this was now the state of the Church of God when they offered up this prayer, and yet by faith did foretell that God would grant such a glorious answer...This is also a lesson of singular comfort to every afflicted soul, to assure them their prayers and supplications are tenderly regarded before God. I have often observed such poor forsaken ones, who in their own eyes are brought very low, that of all other people they are most desirous to beg and obtain the prayers of their friends, when they see any that hath gifts, and peace, and cheerfulness of spirit, and liberty, and abilities to perform duties, O how glad they are to get such a man's prayers I "I beseech you, will you pray for me, will you please to remember me at the throne of grace, "whereas, in truth, if we could give a right judgment, all such woudd rather desire the poor, and the desolate, to be mediators for them; for, certainly, whomsoever God neglects, he will listen to the cry of those that are forsaken and destitute. And therefore, O thou afflicted and tossed with tempests, who thinkest thou art wholly rejected by the Lord, continue to pour out thy soul to him; thou hast a faithful promise from him to be rewarded: he will regard the prayer of the destitute. Stephen Marshall, in a Sermon entitled "The Strong Helper, "1645.Ver. 17. He will regard the prayer of the destitute. It is worthy of observation that he ascribes the redemption and restoration of the people to the prayers of the faithful. That is truly a free gift, and dependent wholly upon the divine mercy, and

yet God himself often attributes it to our prayers, to stir us up and render us the more active in the pursuit of prayer. Mollerus.Ver. 17. The prayer of the destitute. A man that is destitute knows how to pray. He needs not any instructor. His miseries indoctrinate him wonderfully in the art of offering prayer. Let us know ourselves destitute, that we may know how to pray; destitute of strength, of wisdom, of due influence, of true happiness, of proper faith, of thorough consecration, of the knowledge of the Scriptures, of righteousness.These words introduce and stand in immediate connection with a prophecy of glorious things to be witnessed in the latter times. We profess to be eager for the accomplishment of those marvellous things; but are we offering the prayer of the destitute? On the contrary, is not the Church at large too much like the church at Laodicea? Will not a just interpretation of many of its acts and ways bring forth the words, "I am rich and increased in goods, and have need of nothing?" And do not its prayers meet with this reproachful answer, "Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and knowest it not. Thy temporal affluence implies not spiritual affluence. Thy spiritual condition is inversely as the worldly prosperity that has turned thy head. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. Give all thy trashy gold—trashy while it is with thee—give it to my poor; and I will give thee true gold, namely, a sense of thy misery and meanness; a longing for grace, pubity, usefulness; a love of thy fellow-men; and my love shed abroad in thy heart." George Bowen.Ver. 17. ot despise their prayer. How many in every place (who have served the Lord in this great work) hath prayer helped at a dead lift? Prayer hath hitherto saved the kingdom. I remember a proud boast of our enemies, when we had lost Bristol and the Vies, they then sent abroad even into other kingdoms a triumphant paper, wherein they concluded all was now subdued to them, and among many other confident expressions, there was one to this purpose, il restat superare Regem, etc., which might be construed two ways; either thus, —There remains nothing for the King to conquer, but only the prayers of a few fanatic people;or thus, —There is nothing left to conquer the King, but the prayers of a few fanatic people: everything else was lost, all was now their own. And indeed we were then in a very low condition. Our strongholds taken, our armies melted away, our hearts generally failing us for fear, multitudes flying out of the kingdom, and many deserting the cause as desperate, making their peace at Oxford;nothing almost left us but preces et lachrymae; but blessed be God, prayer was not conquered;they have found it the hardest wall to climb, the strongest brigade to overthrow; it hath hitherto preserved us, it hath raised up unexpected helps, and brought many unhoped for successes and deliverances. Let us therefore, under God, set the crown upon the head of prayer. Ye nobles and worthies, be ye all content to have it so; it will wrong none of you in your deserved praise; God and man will give you your due. Many of you have done worthily, but prayer surpasses you all: and this is no new thing, prayer hath always had the pre-eminence in the building of Zion. God hath reserved several works for several men and several ages; but in all ages and among all men, prayer hath been the chiefest instrument, especially in the building up of Zion. Stephen Marshall.Ver. 17. ot despise their prayer. He will, then, give ear to the suits of the poor, and not reject their supplications. But who will believe this? Is it likely that when God is

in his glory, he will attend to such mean things as hearkening to the poor? Can it stand with the honour of his glory to stand reading petitions, and specially of men that come in forma pauperis? scarce credible indeed with men, who, raised in honour, keep a distance from the poor and count it a degree of falling to look downwards: but credible enough with God, who counts it his glory to regard the inglorious; and being the Most High, yet looks as low as to the lowest, and favours them most who are most despised. And this did Christ after his transfiguration, when he had appeared in his glory; he then shewed acts of greatest humility; he then washed the disciples' feet; and made Peter as much wonder to see his humbleness, as he had done before to see his glory. Sir R. Baker.

WHEDO , "17. The prayer of the destitute—Although the deliverance of the exiles was signally the work of God, and promised, yet they were to pray for it as a condition of fulfilment. Jeremiah 29:12-13; Ezekiel 36:37; Daniel 9:2-3.

Destitute—Literally, aked. The word denotes utter poverty and helplessness. Yet God despises not their prayer.

18 Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord:

BAR ES, "This shall be written for the generation to come - It shall be recorded for the instruction and encouragement of future ages. The fact that God has heard the prayer of his people in a time of trial shall be so recorded and remembered that it may be referred to in similar circumstances in all time to come, for he is an unchanging God. What he has done now, he will always be willing to do hereafter.

And the people which shall be created - Future generations. Each successive generation is in fact a new “creation;” each individual is also; for the essential idea in creation is that of bringing something into existence where there was nothing before. There is a “beginning” of existence in every human being. Man is not in any proper sense a “development” from former being, nor is his life merely a “continuance” of something which existed before.

Shall praise the Lord - Shall praise the Lord for what he has now done; shall learn, from the great principles now illustrated in regard to his administration, to praise him.

CLARKE, "The people which shall be created - “The Gentiles, who shall be brought to the knowledge of salvation by Christ,” as the Syriac states in its inscription to this Psalm: how often the conversion of the soul to God is represented as a new creation, no reader of the New Testament need be told. See Eph_2:10; Eph_4:24; 2Co_5:17; Gal_6:15. Even the publication of the Gospel, and its influence among men, is represented under the notion of “creating a new heaven and a new earth,” Isa_65:17, Isa_65:18.

GILL, "This shall be written for the generation to come,.... This prayer, as the Targum paraphrases it, is a directory to saints in distressed circumstances; or that which was just now said, that the Lord will regard, and not despise the prayer of the destitute; this shall stand on record, for the encouragement of praying souls in all generations; or this whole prophecy, concerning the glory of the church in the latter day; this shall be written for the next generation, and so on until it is accomplished, to keep up the faith and expectation of the fulfilment of it:

and the people which shall be created: born at the time when all this shall be done; or who shall become new creatures; be created in Christ Jesus, and made new men;

these shall praise the Lord, when he shall arise and have mercy on Zion; when he shall favour and rebuild her, in answer to the prayers of his people; then their prayers will be turned into praise; then will those voices be heard among them, hallelujah, salvation, glory, honour, and power unto the Lord our God, Rev_19:1.

JAMISO , "people ... created— (compare Psa_22:31), an organized body, as a Church.

K&D 18-22, "The poet goes on advancing motives to Jahve for the fulfilment of his desire, by holding up to Him what will take place when He shall have restored Zion. The evangel of God's redemptive deed will be written down for succeeding generations, and a new, created people, i.e., a people coming into existence, the church of the future, shall

praise God the Redeemer for it. ור�,חרון" as in Psa_48:14; Psa_78:4. עם�נברא like עם�נולד Ps 22:32, perhaps with reference to deutero-Isaianic passages like Isa_43:17. On Psa_102:20, cf. Isa_63:15; in Psa_102:21 (cf. Isa_42:7; Isa_61:1) the deutero-Isaianic colouring is very evident. And Psa_102:21 rests still more verbally upon Psa_79:11. The

people of the Exile are as it were in prison and chains (8סיר), and are advancing towards

their destruction (ני�תמותה*), if God does not interpose. Those who have returned home

are the subject to רdלס. �* in Psa_102:23 introduces that which takes place simultaneously: with the release of Israel from servitude is united the conversion of the

world. נק*ץ occurs in the same connection as in Isa_60:4. After having thus revelled in

the glory of the time of redemption the poet comes back to himself and gives form to his prayer on his own behalf.

CALVI , "18.This shall be registered for the generation that is to come The

Psalmist magnifies still more the fruit of the deliverance of his people, for the purpose of encouraging himself and others in the hope of obtaining the object of their prayers. He intimates, that this will be a memorable work of God, the praise of which shall be handed down to succeeding ages. Many things are worthy of praise, which are soon forgotten; but the prophet distinguishes between the salvation of the Church, for which he makes supplication, and common benefits. By the word register, he means that the history of this would be worthy of having a place in the public records, that the remembrance of it might be transmitted to future generations. There is in the words a beautiful contrast between the new creation of the people and the present destruction; of which interpreters improperly omit to take any notice. When the people were expelled from their country, the Church was in a manner extinguished. Her very name might seem to be dead, when the Jews were mingled among the heathen nations, and no longer constituted a distinct and united body. Their return was accordingly as it were a second birth. Accordingly, the prophet with propriety expects a new creation. Although the Church had perished, he was persuaded that God, by his wonderful power, would make her rise again from death to renovated life. This is a remarkable passage, showing that the Church is not always so preserved, as to continue to outward appearance to survive, but that when she seems to be dead, she is suddenly created anew, whenever it so pleases God. Let no desolation, therefore, which befalls the Church, deprive us of the hope, that as God once created the world out of nothing, so it is his proper work to bring forth the Church from the darkness of death.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 18. This shall be written for the generation to come. A note shall be made of it, for there will be destitute ones in future generations, —"the poor shall never cease out of the land, "—and it will make glad their eyes to read the story of the Lord's mercy to the needy in former times. Registers of divine kindness ought to be made and preserved; we write dcwn in history the calamities of nations, —wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are recorded; how much rather then should we set up memorials of the Lord's lovingkindness! Those who have in their own souls endured spiritual destitution, and have been delivered out of it, cannot forget it; they are bound to tell others of it, and especially to instruct their children in the goodness of the Lord.And the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD. The Psalmist here intends to say that the rebuilding of Jerusalem would be a fact in history for which the Lord would be praised from age to age. Revivals of religion not only cause great joy to those who are immediately concerned in them, but they give encouragement and delight to the people of God long after, and are indeed perpetual incentives to adoration throughout the church of God. This verse teaches us that we ought to have an eye to posterity, and especially should we endeavour to perpetuate the memory of God's love to his church and to his poor people, so that young people as they grow up may know that the Lord God of their fathers is good and full of compassion. Sad as the Psalmist was when he wrote the dreary portions of this complaint, he was not so absorbed in his own sorrow, or so distracted by the national calamity, as to forget the claims of coming generations; this, indeed, is a clear proof that he was not without hope for his people, for he who is making arrangements for the good of a future generation has not yet despaired of his nation.

The praise of God should be the great object of all that we do, and to secure him a revenue of glory both from the present and the future is the noblest aim of intelligent beings.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 18. Shall praise the LORD. The people whom God in mercy brings from a low and mean condition, are the people from whom God promises to receive praise and glory. Indeed, such is the selfishness of our corrupt nature, that if we are anything, or do anything, we are prone to forget God, and sacrifice to our own nets, and burn incense to our own yarn; inasmuch, that whenever God finds a people who shall either trust in him, or praise him, it must be "an afflicted and poor people, "(Zephaniah 3:11-13; Psalms 22:22-25), or a people brought from such an estate: free grace is even most valued by such a people. And if you look all the Scripture over, you will find that all the praises and songs of deliverance that have been made to God have proceeded from a people that have thus judged of themselves, as those that were brought to nothing; but God in mercy had brought them back again from the gates of death, and usually until they had such apprehensions of themselves they never gave unto God the glory due unto his name. Stephen Marshall.Ver. 18. Expositors observe upon this text, that this redeemed Church takes no thought concerning themselves, about their own ease, pleasure, wealth, gain, or anything else which might accrue unto themselves by this deliverance, to make their own life easy or sweet; but their thoughts and studies are wholly laid out, how the present and succeeding generations should give all glory to God for it...There are three special reasons why this should be the great work of the Lord's saved and rescued people, and why indeed they can do no other than study thus to exalt him. I. One is, because they well know that the Lord hath reserved nothing to himself but only his glory; the benefits he gives to them; all the sweetness and honey that can be found in them he gives them leave to suck out; but his glory and his praise is his own, and that which he hath wholly reserved; of that he is jealous, lest it should either be denied, eclipsed, diminished, or any the least violation offered to it in any kind. All God's people know this of him, and therefore they cannot but endeavour to preserve it for him.II. Secondly, besides, they know, as God is jealous in that point, so it is all the work that he hath appointed them to do; he hath therefore separated them to himself out of all nations of the world, to be his peculiar ones for this very end, that they might give him all the glory and praise of his mercy. "I have( said God) created him, formed, and made him for my glory." Isaiah 43:7. This is the law of his new creation, which is as powerful in them as the law of nature, or the first creation, is in the rest of his works. And therefore with a holy and spiritual naturalness (if I may so call it) the hearts of all the saints are carried to give God the glory, as really as the stones are carried to the centre, or the fire to fly upwards: this is fixed in their hearts, the work of grace hath moulded them to it, that they can do no other but endeavour to exalt God, it being the very end why their spiritual life and all their other privileges are conferred upon them.III. Yea, thirdly, they know their own interests are much concerned in God's glory, they never are losers by it: if in any work of God he want his praise, they will want their comfort; but if God be a gainer, they shall certainly be no losers. Whatever is poured upon the head of Christ—what ointment soever of praise or glory, it will in

a due proportion fall down to the skirts of his garments; nor is there any other way to have any sweetness, comfort, praise, or glory to be derived unto themselves, but by giving all unto him to whom alone it belongeth, and then although he will never give away his glory—the glory of being the fountain, the first, supreme, original giver of all good; yet they shall have the glory of instruments, and of fellow workers with him, which is a glory and praise sufficient. Stephen Marshall.Ver. 18 (first clause). Calvin translates thus, —This shall be registered for the generations to come; and observes, — "The Psalmist intimates, that this will be a memorable work of God, the praise of which shall be handed down to succeeding ages. Many things are worthy of praise, which are soon forgotten; but the prophet distinguishes between the salvation of the Church, for which he makes supplication, and common benefits. By the word register he means that the history of this would be worthy of having a place in the public records, that the remembrance of it might be transmitted to future generations."Ver. 18. This shall be written. othing is more tenacious than man's, memory when he suffers an injury; nothing more lax if a benefit is conferred. For this reason God desires lest his gifts should fall out of mind, to have them committed to writing. Le Blanc.

COKE, "Psalms 102:18. And the people which shall be created, &c.— And the people to be born shall praise the Lord. Mudge; who reads the two next verses in a parenthesis.—Ver. 19. (When the Lord looketh out from the height of his holiness; from the heaven he beholdeth the earth.—Ver. 20. To hear, &c.)—Ver. 21. In order to record in Zion the name, &c. The words, this shall be written, seem to intend the particular case of this prayer of the prisoner; that it should be written for times to come, in order to publish the glory of the Lord at Jerusalem; when the whole Gentile world should be assembled there to do him homage.

WHEDO , "18. This shall be written— “The only place in the psalms where the memory of great events is said to be preserved in writing.”—Perowne. Elsewhere left to oral transmission. Psalms 44:1; Psalms 48:13; Psalms 78:2.

The people which shall be created—That is, the Jewish nation, which should be resuscitated by the restoration. Calvin: “Their return was as a second birth—a new creation.” Same as “a people that shall be born,” Psalms 22:31

19 “The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth,

BAR ES, "For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary -From his high and holy dwelling-place, in heaven. The word here rendered “looked down,” means, in Kal, to lay upon or over; then, in Niphil, to lie out over anything, to project; and then, to bend forward. It then means to bend or incline forward with an intention to look at anything, as from a window, Gen_26:8. Compare Psa_14:2. See also Psa_85:12, note; 1Pe_1:12, note.

From heaven did the Lord behold the earth - Did he look abroad over all the world.

CLARKE, "For he hath looked down - This, with the three following verses, seems to me to contain a glorious prophecy of the incarnation of Christ, and the gathering in of the Jews and the Gentiles to him. The Lord looks down from heaven, and sees the whole earth groaning and travailing in pain; his eye affects his heart, and he purposes their salvation.

GILL, "For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary,.... From heaven, as it is explained in the next clause, which is the Lord's sanctuary, or holy place, where he dwells, even in the height of it; it is both high and holy, as he himself is; yet he condescends to look down from thence on sinful mortals:

from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; the inhabitants of it, good and bad: it designs the general notice he takes of men and things in a providential way; he beholds the world, that lies in wickedness, and all the wickedness committed in it; and will one day call to an account, and punish for it; he beholds good men, not only with an eye of providence, to take care of them, protect and defend, but with an eye of love, grace, and mercy; he has a special and distinct knowledge of them, and it may here particularly regard the notice he takes of his people, under antichristian tyranny; he sees all the barbarity and cruelty exercised upon them, and will requite it, ere long, to their adversaries, and free them from it, as follows.

HE RY 19-22, "The prisoners under condemnation unjustly seem as sheep appointed for the slaughter, but care shall be taken for their discharge (Psa_102:19, Psa_102:20): God has looked down from the height of his sanctuary, from heaven,where he has prepared his throne, that high place, that holy place; thence did the Lord behold the earth, for it is a place of prospect, and nothing on this earth is or can be hidden from his all-seeing eye; he looks down, not to take a view of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, but to do acts of grace, to hear the groaning of the prisoners (which we desire to be out of the hearing of), and not only to hear them, but to help them, to loose those that are appointed to death, then when there is but a step between them and it. Some understand it of the release of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon. God heard their groaning there as he did when they were in Egypt (Exo_3:7, Exo_3:9) and came down to deliver them. God takes notice not only of the prayers of his afflicted people, which are the language of grace, but even of their groans, which are the language of nature. See the divine pity in hearing the prisoner's groans, and the divine

power in loosing the prisoner's bonds, even when they are appointed to death and are pinioned and double-shackled. We have an instance in Peter, Act_12:6. Such instances as these of the divine condescension and compassion will help, 1. To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and to make it appear that he answers to his name, which he himself proclaimed, The Lord God, gracious and merciful; and this declaration of his name in Zion shall be the matter of his praise in Jerusalem, Psa_102:21. If God by his providences declare his name, we must by our acknowledgments of them declare his praise, which ought to be the echo of his name. God will discharge his people that were prisoners and captives in Babylon, that they may declare his name in Zion, the place he has chosen to put his name there, and his praise in Jerusalem, at their return thither; in the land of their captivity they could not sing the songs of Zion (Psa_137:3, Psa_137:4), and God brought them again to Jerusalem in order that they might sing them there. For this end God gives liberty from bondage (Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name, Psa_142:7), and life from the dead. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee,Psa_119:175. 2. They will help to draw in others to the worship of God (Psa_102:22): When the people of God are gathered together at Jerusalem (as they were after their return out of Babylon) many out of the kingdoms joined with them to serve the Lord.This was fulfilled Ezr_6:21, where we find that not only the children of Israel that had come out of captivity, but many that had separated themselves from them among the heathen, did keep the feast of unleavened bread with joy. But it may look further, at the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith of Christ in the latter days. Christ has proclaimed liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those that were bound, that they may declare the name of the Lord in the gospel-church, in which Jews and Gentiles shall unite.

JAMISO , "For— or, “That,” as introducing the statement of God’s condescension. A summary of what shall be written.

to loose ... appointed— or, “deliver” them (Psa_79:11).

CALVI , "19.For he hath looked down from the high place of his holiness ow the prophet contemplates the deliverance after which he breathes with anxious desire, as if it had been already accomplished. That the malignity of men might not attempt to obscure such a signal blessing of Heaven, he openly and in express terms claims for God his rightful praise; and the people were constrained in many ways to acknowledge therein the divine hand. Long before they were dragged into captivity, this calamity had been foretold, that when it took place the judgment of God might be clearly manifested; and at the same time deliverance had been promised them, and the time specified to be after the lapse of seventy years. The ingratitude of men therefore could not devise or invent any other cause to which to ascribe their return but the mere goodness of God. Accordingly, it is said, that God looked down from heaven, that the Jews might not attribute to the grace and favor of Cyrus the deliverance which evidently proceeded from Heaven. The high place of his holiness or sanctuary is here equivalent to heaven. As the temple, in some parts of Scripture, (Psalms 26:8 and Psalms 76:2) is called “the habitation of God,” in respect of men, so, that we may not imagine that there is any thing earthly in God, he assigns to himself a dwelling-place in heaven, not because he is shut up there, but that we may

seek him above the world.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 19-20. For he hath looked down from the heights of his sanctuary, or "leaned from the high place of his holiness, "from heaven did the LORD behold the earth, looking out like a watcher from his tower. What was the object of this leaning lrom the battlements of heaven? Why this intent gaze upon the race of men? The answer is full of astounding mercy; the Lord does not look upon mankind to note their grandees, and observe the doings of their nobles, butto hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death. ow the groans of those in prison so far from being musical are very horrible to hear, yet God bends to hear them: those who are bound for death are usually ill company, yet Jehovah deigns to stoop from his greatness to relieve their extreme distress and break their chains. This he does by providential rescues, by restoring health to the dying, and by finding food for the famishing: and spiritually this deed of grace is accomplished by sovereign grace, which delivers us by pardon from the sentence of sin, and by the sweetness of the promise from the deadly despair which a sense of sin had created within us. Well may those of us praise the Lord who were once the children of death, but are now brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The Jews in captivity were in Haman's time appointed to death, but their God found a way of escape for them, and they joyfully kept the feast of Purim in memorial thereof; let fill souls that have been set free from the crafty malice of the old dragon with even greater gratitude magnify the Lord of infinite compassion.

BE SO , "Verses 19-22Psalms 102:19-22. For he hath looked down — amely, upon us, and not as an idle spectator, but with an eye of pity and relief; from the height of his sanctuary —From his higher or upper sanctuary, namely, heaven, as the next clause explains it, which is called, God’s high and holy place, Isaiah 57:15. To loose those that are appointed to death — To release his poor captives out of Babylon, and, which is more, to deliver mankind from the chains and fetters of sin and Satan, and from eternal destruction. To declare the name of the Lord, &c. — That they, being delivered, might publish and celebrate the name and praises of God in his church. When the people are gathered together, &c. — When the Gentiles shall gather themselves to the Jews, and join with them in the praise and worship of the true God, and of the Messiah. This verse seems to be added to intimate, that although the psalmist, in this Psalm, referred to the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, yet he had a further design, and a principal respect unto that great and more general deliverance of his church and people by Christ.

EBC, "The course of God’s intervention for Israel is described in Psalms 102:19-20. His looking down from heaven is equivalent to His observance, as the all-seeing Witness and Judge, {compare Psalms 14:2; Psalms 33:13-14, etc.} and is preparatory to His hearing the sighing of the captive Israel, doomed to death. The language of Psalms 102:20 is apparently drawn from Psalms 79:11. The thought corresponds to that of Psalms 102:17. The purpose of His intervention is set forth in

Psalms 102:21-22 as being the declaration of Jehovah’s name and praise in Jerusalem before a gathered world. The aim of Jehovah’s dealings is that all men, through all generations, may know and praise Him. That is but another way of saying that He infinitely desires, and perpetually works for, men’s highest good. For our sakes, He desires so much that we should know Him, since the knowledge is life eternal. He is not greedy of adulation nor dependent on recognition, but He loves men too well not to rejoice in being understood and loved by them, since Love ever hungers for return. The psalmist saw what shall one day be, when, far down the ages, he beheld the world gathered in the temple courts, and heard the shout of their praise borne to him up the stream of time. He penetrated to the inmost meaning of the Divine acts, when he proclaimed that they were all done for the manifestation of the ame, which cannot but be praised when it is known. If the poet was one of the exiles, on whom the burden of the general calamity weighed as a personal sorrow, it is very natural that his glowing anticipations of national restoration should be, as in. this psalm, enclosed in a setting of more individual complaint and petition. The transition from these to the purely impersonal centre Of the psalm, and the recurrence to them in Psalms 102:23-28, are inexplicable, if the "I" of the first and last parts is Israel, but perfectly intelligible if it is one Israelite. For a moment the tone of sadness is heard in Psalms 102:23; but the thought of his own afflicted and brief life is but a stimulus to the psalmist to lay hold of God’s immutability and to find rest there. The Hebrew text reads "His strength," and is followed (by, the LXX, Vulgate, Hengstenberg, and Kay He afflicted on the "way with His power"); but the reading of the Hebrew margin, adopted above and by most commentators, is preferable, as supplying an object for the verb, which is lacking in the former reading, and as corresponding to "my days" in b.

The psalmist has felt the exhaustion of long sorrow and the shortness of his term. Will God do all these glorious things of which he has been singing, and he, the singer, not be there to see? That would mingle bitterness in his triumphant anticipations; for it would be little to him, lying in his grave, that Zion should be built again. The hopes with which some would console us for the loss of the Christian assurance of immortality, that the race shall march on to new power and nobleness, are poor substitutes for continuance of our own lives and for our own participation in the glories of the future. The psalmist’s prayer, which takes God’s eternity as its reason for deprecating his own premature death, echoes the inextinguishable confidence of the devout heart, that somehow even its fleeting being has a claim to be assimilated in duration to its Eternal Object of trust and aspiration. The contrast between God’s years and man’s days may be brooded on in bitterness or in hope. They who are driven by thinking of their own mortality to clutch, with prayerful faith, God’s eternity, use the one aright, and will not be deprived of the other.

20 to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”

BAR ES, "To hear the groaning of the prisoner -Meaning here, probably, the captives in Babylon; those who were held as prisoners there, and who were subjected to such hardships in their long captivity. See the notes at Psa_79:11.

To loose those that are appointed to death -Margin, as in Hebrew, “the children of death.” Compare the notes at Mat_1:1. This may mean either those who were sentenced to death; those who were sick and ready to die; or those who, in their captivity, were in such a state of privation and suffering that death appeared inevitable. The word rendered “loose” means, properly, to “open,” applied to the mouth, for eating, Eze_3:2; or in song, Psa_78:2; or for speaking, Job_3:1; - or the ear, Isa_50:5; or the hand, Deu_15:8; or the gates of a city, a door, etc., Deu_20:11. Them it means to set free, as by opening the doors of a prison, Isa_14:17; Job_12:14. Here it means to “set free,” to deliver. Compare Isa_61:1.

CLARKE, "To hear the groaning - By sin, all the inhabitants of the earth are miserable. They have broken the Divine laws, are under the arrest of judgment, and all cast into prison, They have been tried, found guilty, and appointed to die; they groan under their chains, are alarmed at the prospect of death, and implore mercy.

GILL, "To hear the groanings of the prisoner,.... Not of a single person only, but of many, who lie in prisons in Popish countries, especially in the Inquisition; where they lie and groan, in darkness and misery, under dreadful tortures; their cries and groans the Lord hears; his heart yearns towards them; he looks with pity on them; and, because of the sighing of these poor and needy ones, he will arise in due time, and set them in safety from him that puffs at them: it is true also of such who are prisoners of sin, Satan, and the law; and, when sensible of it, groan under their bondage, and cry to the Lord for help, who hears them, and directs them, as prisoners of hope, to turn to Christ, their strong hold, Zec_9:11,

to loose those that are appointed to death; delivered to death, as the Targum; delivered over to the secular power, in order to be put to death; who are arraigned and condemned as malefactors, and put into the condemned hole, in order for execution; these the Lord will loose, and save them from the death they are appointed to by men; for this is not to be understood of persons appointed by the Lord to death, either corporeal or eternal, from which none can be loosed, so appointed: in the original text the phrase is "children of death" (d); the same as "children of wrath", Eph_2:3, that is, deserving of death, and under the sentence of it; as all men are in Adam, even the Lord's own people; and who are, in their own apprehension, as dead men, when awakened and convinced of their state by the Spirit of God; these Christ looses from the shackles and

fetters of sin, from the bondage of the law, from the tyranny of Satan, and from fears of death, and puts them into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

CALVI , "20.To hear the groaning of the prisoner Here the prophet repeats once more what he had previously touched upon concerning prayer, in order again to stir up the hearts of the godly to engage in that exercise, and that after their deliverance they might know it to have been granted to their faith, because, depending on the divine promises, they had sent up their groanings to heaven. He calls them prisoners; for although they were not bound in fetters, their captivity resembled a most rigorous imprisonment. Yea, he affirms a little after that they were devoted to death, to give them to understand that their life and safety would have been altogether hopeless, had they not been delivered from death by the extraordinary power of God.

SPURGEO , "To hear the groaning of the prisoner. God takes notice not only of the prayers of his afflicted people, which are the language of grace; but even of their groans, which are the language of nature. Matthew Henry.Ver. 20. Appointed unto death. Who, in their captivity, are experiencing so much affliction, that it is manifest their cruel enemies are desirous of destroying them utterly; or, at least, of bringing them into such a low and pitiable state, as to blot out their name from among the nations of the earth. William Keatinge Clay.

21 So the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem

BAR ES, "To declare the name of the Lord in Zion ... - That his name might be declared in Zion, or that his praise might be set up in Jerusalem again. That is, that his people might be returned there, and his praise be celebrated again in the holy city.

CLARKE, "To declare the name of the Lord - To publish that Messenger of the Covenant in whom the name of the Lord is, that Messiah in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt; and to commence at Jerusalem, that the first offers of mercy might be made to the Jews, from whom the word of reconciliation was to go out to all the ends of the earth.

GILL, "To declare the name of the Lord in Zion,.... That is, that the prisoners and persons appointed to death, being loosed, might declare, in the church, what great things the Lord has done for them; and so speak well of his wisdom, power, grace, and goodness, in their deliverance; profess his name, and confess him before men, and express a value for his name, and show forth the honour of it, and seek his glory:

and his praise in Jerusalem; the Gospel church state, the same with Zion; when it shall be the praise of the whole earth; then and there will those, that are delivered from the antichristian yoke, praise the Lord, sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, and glorify God for all that he has done for them.

JAMISO , "To declare, etc.— or, that God’s name may be celebrated in the assemblies of His Church, gathered from all nations (Zec_8:20-23), and devoted to His service.

CALVI , "21That the name of Jehovah may be declared in Zion Here is celebrated a still more ample and richer fruit of this deliverance than has been previously mentioned, which is, that the Jews would not only be united into one body to give thanks to God, but that, when brought back to their own country, they would also gather kings and nations into the same unity of faith, and into the same divine worship with themselves. At that time it was a thing altogether incredible, not only that the praises of God should within a short period resound, as in the days of old, in that temple which was burnt and completely overthrown, (154) but also that the nations should resort thither from all quarters, and be associated together in the service of God with the Jews, who were then like a putrefied carcase. The prophet, to inspire the people with the hope of returning to their own land, argues that it was impossible that the place which God had chosen for himself should be left in perpetual desolation; and declares, that so far from this being the case there would be new matter for praising God, inasmuch as His name would be worshipped by all nations, and the Church would consist not of one nation only, but of the whole world. This we know has been fulfilled under the administration of Christ, as was announced in prophecy by the holy patriarch,

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the Gentiles be, ” (Genesis 49:10.)

But as the prophets are wont, in celebrating the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, to extend it to the coming of Christ, the inspired bard in this place does not lay hold on merely a part of the subject, but carries forward the grace of God, even to its consummation. And although it was not necessary that all who were converted to Christ should go up to Jerusalem, yet following the manner of expression usual with the prophets, he has laid down the observance of the divine

worship which was appointed under the law, as a mark of true godliness. Farther, we may learn from this passage, that the name of God is never better celebrated than when true religion is extensively propagated, and when the Church increases, which on that account is called,

“The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified,” (Isaiah 61:3.)

SPURGEO , "Ver. 21. To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem. Great mercy displayed to those greatly in need of it, is the plainest method of revealing the attributes of the Most High. Actions speak more loudly than words; deeds of grace are a revelation even more impressive than the most tender promises. Jerusalem restored, the church re-edified, desponding souls encouraged, and all other manifestations of Jehovah's power to bless, are so many manifestoes and proclamations put up upon the walls of Zion to publish the character and glory of the great God. Every day's experience should be to us a new gazette of love, a court circular from heaven, a daily despatch from the headquarters of grace. We are bound to inform our fellow Christians of all this, making them helpers in our praise, as they hear of the goodness which we have experienced. While God's mercies speak so eloquently, we ought not to be dumb. To communicate to others what God has done for us personally and for the church at large is so evidently our duty, that we ought not to need urging to fulfil it. God has ever an eye to the glory of his grace in all that he does, and we ought not wilfully to defraud him of the revenue of his praise.

22 when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord.

BAR ES, "When the people are gathered together -When they shall be brought from their dispersion in distant lands; when they shall assemble again in the city of their fathers, and when public worship shall be celebrated there as in former ages.

And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord - The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “kings.” The reference must be to the time when those of other lands - kings and their people - would be converted to the true religion; when the Gentiles as well as the Jews, then one undistinguished people, would be brought to the knowledge of the true God, and would unite in his worship. See the notes at Isa. 60. All of all lands, will yet praise the Lord “as if” they were one great congregation, assembled in one place. Thus, though separate, they will with united feeling recount the mercy and goodness of God to his people in past times.

CLARKE, "When the people are gathered together -When all the Gentiles are enlightened, and the kings of the earth brought to pay homage to the King of kings.

GILL, "When the people are gathered together,.... When the people of the Jews shall be gathered together, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King, the Messiah, and appoint them one head, even Christ; and when the Gentiles shall gather together, in great numbers, to the church of God, Hos_1:11,

and the kingdoms to serve the Lord; even the kingdoms of this world, which will become his, and will serve him in righteousness and holiness, freely and cheerfully, with one shoulder and one content; their kings will fall down before the Lord, and all nations shall serve him, Psa_72:11, and then will be the time when the prisoners shall be loosed, and the Lord shall be praised in Zion.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 22. When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. The great work of restoring ruined Zion is to be spoken of in those golden ages when the heathen nations shall be converted unto God; even those glorious times will not be able to despise that grand event, which, like the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, will never be eclipsed and never cease to awaken the enthusiasm of the cliosen people. Happy will the day be when all nations shall unite in the sole worship of Jehovah, then shall the histories of the olden times be read with adoring wonder, and the hand of the Lord shall be seen as having ever rested upon the sacramental host of his elect: then shall shouts of exulting praise ascend to heaven in honour of him who loosed the captives, delivered the condemned, raised up the desolations of ages, and made out of stones and rubbish a temple for his worship.

23 In the course of my life[b] he broke my strength; he cut short my days.

BAR ES, "He weakened my strength in the way -Margin, as in Hebrew, “afflicted.” The idea is, that God had taken his strength away; he had weakened him -humbled him - brought him low by sorrow. The word “way” refers to the course which he was pursuing. In his journey of life God had thus afflicted - humbled - prostrated him.

The psalmist here turns from the exulting view which he had of the future Psa_102:21-22, and resumes his complaint - the remembrance of his troubles and sorrows Psa_102:3-11. He speaks, doubtless, in the name of his people, and describes troubles which were common to them all. Perhaps the allusion to his troubles here may be designed, as such a recollection should do, to heighten his sense of the goodness and mercy of God in the anticipated blessings of the future.

He shortened my days - Compare Job_21:21; Psa_89:45. That is, He seemed to be about to cut me off from life, and to bring me to the grave. The psalmist felt so confident that he would die - that he could not endure these troubles, but must sink under them, that he spoke as if it were already done. Compare Psa_6:4-5.

CLARKE, "He weakened my strength in the way -We are brought so low in our captivity by oppression, by every species of hard usage, and by death, that there is now no hope of our restoration by any efforts of our own.

GILL, "He weakened my strength in the way,.... The psalmist here returns to his complaint of his afflictions, weakness, and frailty, which ended Psa_102:11, after which some hints are given of the latter day glory, which though he despaired of seeing, by reason of his frailty and mortality, yet comforts himself with the eternity and immutability of Christ, and that there would be a succession of the church, a seed of true believers, who would see and enjoy it: as for himself, he says that God (for he is that "He", and not the enemy, as some) had "weakened" his "strength in the way", by afflictions, as the word (e) signifies; which weakens the strength and vigour of the mind, and discourages and dispirits it, and enfeebles the body: many are the afflictions which the people of God meet with in the course of their life, in their way to heaven, which have such an effect upon them; through many tribulations they pass to enter the kingdom, as the Israelites in their way to Canaan, and Christ to glory: some think the psalmist represents the Jews in their return from the Babylonish captivity, meeting with difficulties and discouragements in the way; rather the church of God, in the expectation of the Messiah, who, because his coming was delayed, grew feeble in their faith and hope, had weak hands and feeble knees, which needed strengthening by fresh promises: though it may be, best of all, the people of God, waiting for latter day glory, enfeebled by the persecutions of antichrist, or grown weak in the exercises of their grace, faith, hope, and love; which will be their case before these glorious times, and now is, see Rev_3:2,

he shortened my days; which he thought he should live, and expected he would; and which, according to the course of nature, and the common term of man's life, he might, in all human appearance, have lived; otherwise, with respect to the decree of God, which has fixed the bounds of man's days, they cannot be shorter or longer than they are, Job_14:5.

HE RY, "I. The imminent danger that the Jewish church was in of being quite extirpated and cut off by the captivity in Babylon (Psa_102:23): He weakened my strength in the way. They were for many ages in the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journey's end. The legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the strength

of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearance, its day shortened; for they said, Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts, Eze_37:11. And then what becomes of the promise that Shiloh should arise out of Judah, the star out of Jacob, and the Messiah out of the family of David? If these fail, the promise fails. This the psalmist speaks of as in his own person, and it is very applicable to two of the common afflictions of this time: -1. To be sickly. Bodily distempers soon weaken our strength in the way, make the keepers of the house to tremble and the strong men to bow themselves. 2. To be short-lived. Where the former is felt, this is feared; when in the midst of our days, according to a course of nature, our strength is weakened, what can we expect but that the number of our months should be cut off in the midst? and what should we do but provide accordingly? We must own God's hand in it (for in his hand our strength and time are), and must reconcile it to his love, for it has often been the lot of those that have used their strength well to have it weakened, and of those that could very ill be spared to have their days shortened.

JAMISO 23-28, "The writer, speaking for the Church, finds encouragement in the midst of all his distresses. God’s eternal existence is a pledge of faithfulness to His promises.

in the way— of providence.

weakened— literally, “afflicted,” and made fearful of a premature end, a figure of the apprehensions of the Church, lest God might not perform His promise, drawn from those of a person in view of the dangers of early death (compare Psa_89:47). Paul (Heb_1:10) quotes Psa_102:26-28 as addressed to Christ in His divine nature. The scope of the Psalm, as already seen, so far from opposing, favors this view, especially by the sentiments of Psa_102:12-15 (compare Isa_60:1). The association of the Messiah with a day of future glory to the Church was very intimate in the minds of Old Testament writers; and with correct views of His nature it is very consistent that He should be addressed as the Lord and Head of His Church, who would bring about that glorious future on which they ever dwelt with fond delightful anticipations.

K&D 23-28, "On the way (ב as in Psa_110:7) - not “by means of the way” (ב as in Psa_105:18), in connection with which one would expect of find some attributive minuter definition of the way - God hath bowed down his strength (cf. Deu_8:2); it was therefore a troublous, toilsome way which he has been led, together with his people. He has shortened his days, so that he only drags on wearily, and has only a short distance still

before him before he is entirely overcome. The Chethîb may be (lxx ;σχύος�αjτοl) כחו

understood of God's irresistible might, as in Job_23:6; Job_30:18, but in connection

with it the designation of the object is felt to be wanting. The introductory אמר (cf. Job_10:2), which announces a definite moulding of the utterance, serves to give prominence

to the petition that follows. In the expression עלניQל־, life is conceived of as a line the length of which accords with nature; to die before one's time is a being taken up out of this course, so that the second half of the line is not lived through (Ps 55:24, Isa_38:10). The prayer not to sweep him away before his time, the poet supports not by the eternity of God in itself, but by the work of the rejuvenation of the world and of the restoration of Israel that is to be looked for, which He can and will bring to an accomplishment, because He is the ever-living One. The longing to see this new time is the final ground of the poet's prayer for the prolonging of his life. The confession of God the Creator in Psa_

102:26 reminds one in its form of Isa_48:13, cf. Psa_44:24. הnה in Psa_102:27 refers to the two great divisions of the universe. The fact that God will create heaven and earth anew is a revelation that is indicated even in Isa_34:4, but is first of all expressed more fully and in many ways in the second part of the Book of Isaiah, viz., Isa_51:6, Isa_51:16; Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22. It is clear from the agreement in the figure of the garment (Isa_

51:6, cf. Psa_50:9) and in the expression (עמד, perstare, as in Isa_66:22) that the poet

has gained this knowledge from the prophet. The expressive ה�הואQ,, Thou art He, i.e., unalterably the same One, is also taken from the mouth of the prophet, Isa_41:4; Isa_

43:10; Isa_46:4; Isa_48:12; הוא is a predicate, and denotes the identity (sameness) of

Jahve (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 63). In v. 29 also, in which the prayer for a lengthening of life tapers off to a point, we hear Isa_65:2; Isa_66:22 re-echoed. And from the fact that in the mind of the poet as of the prophet the post-exilic Jerusalem and the final new Jerusalem upon the new earth under a new heaven blend together, it is evident that not merely in the time of Hezekiah or of Manasseh (assuming that Isa_40:1are by the old Isaiah), but also even in the second half of the Exile, such a perspectively foreshortened view was possible. When, moreover, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews at once refers Psa_102:26-28 to Christ, this is justified by the fact that the God whom the poet confesses as the unchangeable One is Jahve who is to come.

CALVI , "23.He hath afflicted my strength in the way Some improperly restrict this complaint to the time when the Jews were subjected to much annoyance after the liberty granted them to return to their own land. We are rather to understand the word journey or way in a metaphorical sense. As the manifestation of Christ was the goal of the race which God’s ancient people were running, they justly complain that they are afflicted and weakened in the midst of their course. (158) Thus they set before God his promise, telling him, that although they had not run at random, but had confided in his protection, they were nevertheless broken and crushed by his hand in the midst of their journey. They do not indeed find fault with him, as if he had disappointed their hope; but fully persuaded, that he does not deal deceitfully with those who serve him, by this complaint they strengthen themselves in the hope of a favorable issue. In the same sense they add, that their days were shortened, because they directed their view to the fullness of time, which did not arrive till Christ was revealed. (159) It accordingly follows, — (verse 24,) Cut me not off in the midst of my days. They compare the intervening period until Christ should appear to the middle of life; for, as has been already observed, the Church only attained to her perfect age at his coming. This calamity, no doubt, had been foretold, but the nature of the covenant which God had entered into with his ancient people required that he should take them under his protection, and defend them. The captivity, therefore, was as it were a violent rupture, on which account the godly prayed with the greater confidence, that they might not be prematurely taken away in the midst of their journey. By speaking in this manner, they did not fix for themselves a certain term of life; but as God, in freely adopting them, had given them the commencement of life, with the assurance that he would maintain them even to the advent of Christ, they might warrantably bring forward and plead this promise. Lord, as if they had said, thou hast promised us life, not for a few days, or for a month or for a few years, but until thou shouldst renew the whole world, and gather

together all nations under the dominion of thine Anointed One.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 23. He weakened my strength in the way. Here the Psalmist comes down again to the mournful string, and pours forth his personal complaint. His sorrow had cast down his spirit, and even caused weakness in his bodily frame, so that he was like a pilgrim who limped along the road, and was ready to lie down and die.He shortened my days. Though he had bright hopes for Jerusalem, he feared that he should have departed this life long before those visions had become realities; he felt that he was pining away and would be a shortlived man. Perhaps this may be our lot, and it will materially help us to be content with it, if we are persuaded that the grandest of all interests is safe, and the good old cause secure in the hands of the Lord.

COFFMA , "Verse 23THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH

"He weakened my strength in the way;

He shortened my days.

I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days:

Thy years are throughout all generations.

Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the earth;

And the heavens are the work of thy hands.

They shall perish, but thou shalt endure;

Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment;

As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:

But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

The children of thy servants shall continue,

And their seed shall be established before thee."

Psalms 102:23-24a appear in this version to have been the words of the psalmist; but in the LXX, we have the following:

"He (God) answered him in the way of his strength: tell me the fewness of my days. Take me not away in the midst of my days."[7]The significance of this rendition is that it makes God the speaker of this whole

passage, indicating that the Messiah is the only person to whom such language from God could be applied. Without passing any judgment at all upon the Septuagint (LXX) rendition, one thing is certain: "Every word of Psalms 102:24bff is indeed and truth a reference to Jesus Christ." This does not deny that the passage, as it appears here, is most certainly addressed to Jehovah. ote the following quotation from Hebrews 1:20-12.

K&D 23-28, "On the way (ב as in Psa_110:7) - not “by means of the way” (ב as in Psa_105:18), in connection with which one would expect of find some attributive minuter definition of the way - God hath bowed down his strength (cf. Deu_8:2); it was therefore a troublous, toilsome way which he has been led, together with his people. He has shortened his days, so that he only drags on wearily, and has only a short distance still

before him before he is entirely overcome. The Chethîb may be (lxx ;σχύος�αjτοl) כחו

understood of God's irresistible might, as in Job_23:6; Job_30:18, but in connection

with it the designation of the object is felt to be wanting. The introductory אמר (cf. Job_10:2), which announces a definite moulding of the utterance, serves to give prominence

to the petition that follows. In the expression עלניQל־, life is conceived of as a line the length of which accords with nature; to die before one's time is a being taken up out of this course, so that the second half of the line is not lived through (Ps 55:24, Isa_38:10). The prayer not to sweep him away before his time, the poet supports not by the eternity of God in itself, but by the work of the rejuvenation of the world and of the restoration of Israel that is to be looked for, which He can and will bring to an accomplishment, because He is the ever-living One. The longing to see this new time is the final ground of the poet's prayer for the prolonging of his life. The confession of God the Creator in Psa_

102:26 reminds one in its form of Isa_48:13, cf. Psa_44:24. הnה in Psa_102:27 refers to the two great divisions of the universe. The fact that God will create heaven and earth anew is a revelation that is indicated even in Isa_34:4, but is first of all expressed more fully and in many ways in the second part of the Book of Isaiah, viz., Isa_51:6, Isa_51:16; Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22. It is clear from the agreement in the figure of the garment (Isa_

51:6, cf. Psa_50:9) and in the expression (עמד, perstare, as in Isa_66:22) that the poet

has gained this knowledge from the prophet. The expressive ה�הואQ,, Thou art He, i.e., unalterably the same One, is also taken from the mouth of the prophet, Isa_41:4; Isa_

43:10; Isa_46:4; Isa_48:12; הוא is a predicate, and denotes the identity (sameness) of

Jahve (Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, i. 63). In v. 29 also, in which the prayer for a lengthening of life tapers off to a point, we hear Isa_65:2; Isa_66:22 re-echoed. And from the fact that in the mind of the poet as of the prophet the post-exilic Jerusalem and the final new Jerusalem upon the new earth under a new heaven blend together, it is evident that not merely in the time of Hezekiah or of Manasseh (assuming that Isa_40:1are by the old Isaiah), but also even in the second half of the Exile, such a perspectively foreshortened view was possible. When, moreover, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews at once refers Psa_102:26-28 to Christ, this is justified by the fact that the God whom the poet confesses as the unchangeable One is Jahve who is to come.

COKE, "Psalms 102:23. He weakened my strength— The connection is this, "Notwithstanding these glorious hopes of being speedily restored to my native country, I find that through continual afflictions God hath weakened my strength, even whilst I

thought that I was in the way to that happiness; and that on account of the short remainder of my life I shall not be able to attain it." But he goes on, "Though I do not live to have any share in the public joy for that restoration; yet thou, who art an everlasting and immutable God, whose years are throughout all generations, wilt not fail to make those who survive me happy therein."

WHEDON, "23. He weakened my strength in the way—The psalmist returns to a brief reminiscence of his affliction and the agony of his prayer, but in a more hopeful strain than in his complaint, Psalms 102:1-11. “In the way,” here, may be understood by means of “the way,” as “in fetters” means, by means of “fetters,” (Psalms 105:18,) and in “the way” means, because of “the way,” (Numbers 21:4,) or, it may signify that the visitations of God “along the way,” had bowed down his “strength.” But the former is the more probable sense. The allusion is to the journeyings of Israel in the desert. See Exodus 18:8; Numbers 17:12-13; Deuteronomy 8:2; especially, Numbers 21:4, “And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.” The abrupt transition of Psalms 102:23-24, is exceedingly impassioned and plaintive.

BENSON, "Psalms 102:23. He — Namely, God, whom he considered as bringing these calamities upon them for their sins, and to whom therefore he applies for relief; weakened my strength in the way — That is, soon impaired the prosperity and flourishing condition of our church and commonwealth, in the course of our affairs. “They were for many ages,” says Henry, “in the way to the performance of the great promise made to their fathers, concerning the Messiah, longing as much for it as ever a traveller did to be at his journey’s end; the legal institutions led them in the way; but when the ten tribes were lost in Assyria, and the two almost lost in Babylon, the strength of that nation was weakened, and, in all appearances, its days shortened, for they said, Our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts, Ezekiel 37:11.” “The prophet,” says Dr. Horne, “in the person of captive Zion, having, from Psalms 102:13-22, expressed his faith and hope in the promised redemption, now returns to his mournful complaints as at Psalms 102:11. Israel doubts not of God’s veracity, but fears lest his heavy hand should crush the generation then in being, before they should behold the expiration of their troubles. They were in the way, but their strength was so weakened, and their days shortened, that they almost despaired of holding out to their journey’s end.” Bishop Patrick, however, supposes that the psalmist spake of himself personally, and interprets the passage thus: “I had hopes to have lived to see this blessed time, (namely, of the redemption from Babylon, and the accession of the Gentile nations to the church of God, spoken of in the preceding verses,) “and thought I had been in the way to it, Ezra 3:8. But he hath stopped our vigorous beginnings, Ezra 4:4, and thereby so sorely afflicted me, that I feel I am like to fall short of my expectations.” Dr. Dodd understands the words nearly in the same sense, observing, “The connection is this: ‘Notwithstanding these glorious hopes of being speedily restored to my native country, I find that through continual affliction God hath weakened my strength, even while I thought I was in the way to that happiness; and that, on account of the short remainder of my life, I shall not be able to attain it.’” This interpretation of the words connects well with the following verse.

CONSTABLE, "Verses 23-28

4. Hope in God"s ceaseless existence102:23-28

It seemed as though God was killing the psalmist prematurely. He prayed for a continuation of his life. This request led him to reflect further on the duration of God"s existence. To picture God"s ceaseless continuance, he referred to the creation ( Genesis 1) and then the consummation of the present heavens and earth ( Revelation 21:1; cf. 2 Peter 3:10). His point was that God will outlast His creation. Really God is eternal, having no beginning or ending ( Psalm 102:27). Therefore He will preserve the children of His servants who were then in danger of dying or had already died.

The writer to the Hebrews applied Psalm 102:25-27 to Jesus Christ ( Hebrews 1:10-12; Hebrews 13:8). He is the Person of the Trinity who created and sustains all things ( Colossians 1:16-17). These verses are some of the clearest and most majestic revelations of God"s eternal nature in Scripture. This revelation gave the psalmist hope in his personal distress. In the same way, knowledge of God"s changeless character can be a great comfort to all of God"s people when they suffer. It helps to view personal suffering in the context of eternity.

24 So I said:“Do not take me away, my God, in the midst of my days; your years go on through all generations.

BAR ES, "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days -This was the burden of my prayer, for this I earnestly pleaded. See Psa_30:9; Isa_38:1-3, Isa_38:9-18. The word used here means “to cause to ascend or go up” and the expression might have been translated, “Cause me not to ascend.” The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render it, “Call me not away.” Dr. Horsley,” Carry me not off.” In the word there may be an allusion - an obscure one, it is to be admitted - to the idea that the soul ascends to God when the body dies. The common idea in the Old Testament is that it would descend to the regions of the departed spirits - to Sheol. It is plain, however, that there was another idea - that the soul would ascend at once to God when death occurred. Compare Ecc_3:21; Ecc_12:7. The word rendered “in the midst” means properly in the half; as if life were divided into two portions. Compare Psa_55:23.

Thy years are throughout all generations - Thou dost not die; thou art ever the same, though the generations of people are cut off. This seems to have been said here for two reasons:

(1) As a ground of consolation, that God was ever the same; that whatever might happen to people, to the psalmist himself, or to any other man, God was unchanged, and that his great plans would be carried forward and accomplished;

(2) As a reason for the prayer. God was eternal. He had an immortal existence. He could not die. He knew, in its perfection, the blessedness of “life” - life as such; life continued; life unending. The psalmist appeals to what God himself enjoyed - as a reason why life - so great a blessing - should be granted to him a little longer. By all that there was of blessedness in the life of God, the psalmist prays that that which was in itself - even in the case of God - so valuable, might yet a little longer be continued to “him.”

CLARKE, "I said, O my God - This and the following verses seem to be the form of prayer which the captives used previously to their deliverance.

Thy years are throughout all generations - This was a frequent argument used to induce God to hear prayer. We are frail and perishing; thou art everlasting: deliver us, and we will glorify thee.

GILL, "I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days;.... Which was always reckoned as a judgment, as a token of God's sore displeasure, and as what only befell wicked men, Psa_55:23, in the Hebrew it is, "cause me not to ascend" (f); either as smoke, which ascends, and vanishes away; or rather it designs the separation of the soul from the body at death, when it ascends upwards to God that gave it; so Aben Ezra compares it with Ecc_12:7, the Targum is,

"do not take me out of the world in the midst of my days, bring me to the world to come:''

some, who think that Daniel was the penman of this psalm, or some other, about the time of the Babylonish captivity, curiously observe, that that period was much about the middle between the building of Solomon's temple and the coming of Christ, the antitype of it; which was about a thousand years, of which four hundred and ninety were to come, according to Daniel's weeks; so, representing the church, prays they might not be destroyed, as such; but be continued till the Messiah came:

thy years are throughout all generations; which are not as men's years, of the same measure or number; but are boundless and infinite: the phrase is expressive of the eternity of God, or Christ; which the psalmist opposes to his own frailty, and which he illustrates in the following verses, by setting it in contrast with the discontinuance and changeableness of the heavens and the earth; see Job_10:5.

HE RY, " A prayer for the continuance of it (Psa_102:24): “O my God! take me not away in the midst of my days; let not this poor church be cut off in the midst of the days assigned it by the promise; let it not be cut off till the Messiah shall come. Destroy it not, for that blessing is in it,” Isa_65:8. She is a criminal, but, for the sake of that blessing which is in her, she pleads for a reprieve. This is a prayer for the afflicted, and which, with submission to the will of God, we may in faith put up, that God would not take us away in the midst of our days, but that, if it be his will, he would spare us to do him

further service and to be made riper for heaven.

JAMISO 23-28, "The writer, speaking for the Church, finds encouragement in the midst of all his distresses. God’s eternal existence is a pledge of faithfulness to His promises.

in the way— of providence.

weakened— literally, “afflicted,” and made fearful of a premature end, a figure of the apprehensions of the Church, lest God might not perform His promise, drawn from those of a person in view of the dangers of early death (compare Psa_89:47). Paul (Heb_1:10) quotes Psa_102:26-28 as addressed to Christ in His divine nature. The scope of the Psalm, as already seen, so far from opposing, favors this view, especially by the sentiments of Psa_102:12-15 (compare Isa_60:1). The association of the Messiah with a day of future glory to the Church was very intimate in the minds of Old Testament writers; and with correct views of His nature it is very consistent that He should be addressed as the Lord and Head of His Church, who would bring about that glorious future on which they ever dwelt with fond delightful anticipations.

SBC, "The text is an earnest, impassioned prayer, a prayer against death; and the fact which gives it its earnestness and impassioned energy is that he who offers it is in "the midst of his days." Men in middle life are very apt to look upon death as an improbable event so far as they are concerned, and to make their calculations and shape their course accordingly.

I. The reasons for this fact. (1) The man in middle life has reasons taken from his circumstances and relations which render life to him very important. The ties which bind him to the world are now the strongest. He has taken his place in society, and is now sustaining his most important earthly responsibilities. (2) The spirit of enterprise is now most active. Man is forming plans which will require years to develop; and those plans constitute the objects of his existence, the centre of his heart’s warmest feelings. (3) It is a fact that fewer men die at the meridian than at any other point in human life. This fact forms the ground of men’s calculations in reference to life.

II. The effects of this state of mind. (1) Of all men, those who are in the "midst of their days" are least prepared to die. (2) The legitimate effects of the Gospel are very rarely seen for the first time in persons who are passing through the meridian of life. This seems to be a period in human existence when the Spirit of God seldom achieves any signal victories. Such thoughts should arouse to feeling, awaken to anxiety, and prompt to inquiry all to whom they have reference.

E. Mason, A Pastor’s Legacy, p. 1.

CALVI , "What then does the prophet mean when he prays, Let us not perish in the midst of our course? (160) The reason stated in the clause immediately following, Thy years are from generation to generation, seems to be quite inapplicable in the present case. Because God is everlasting, does it therefore follow that men will be everlasting too? But on Psalms 90:2, we have shown how we may with propriety bring forward his eternity, as a ground of confidence in reference to our salvation; for he desires to be known as eternal, not only in his mysterious and incomprehensible essence, but also in his word, according to the declaration of the

Prophet Isaiah,

“All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”Isaiah 40:6

ow since God links us to himself by means of his word, however great the distance of our frail condition from his heavenly glory, our faith should nevertheless penetrate to that blessed state from which he looks down upon our miseries. Although the comparison between his eternal existence and the brief duration of human life is introduced also for another purpose, yet when he sees that men pass away as it were in a moment, and speedily evanish, it moves him to compassion, as shall presently be declared at greater length.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 24. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. He betook himself to prayer. What better remedy is there for hcart-sickness and depression? We may lawfully ask for recovery from sickness and may hope to be heard. Good men should not dread death, but they are not forbidden to love life: for many reasons the man who has the best hope of heaven may nevertheless think it desirable to continue here a little longer, for the sake of his family, his work, the church of God, and even the glory of God itself. Some read the passage, "Take me not up, "let me not ascend like disappearing smoke, do not whirl me away like Elijah in a chariot of fire, for as yet I have only seen half my days, and that a sorrowful half; give me to live till the blustering morning shall have softened into a bright afternoon of happier existence.Thy years are throughout all generations. Thou livest, Lord; let me live also. A fulness of existence is with thee, let me partake therein. ote the contrast between himself pining and ready to expire, and his God living on in the fulness of strength for ever and ever; this contrast is full of consolatory power to the man whose heart is stayed upon the Lord. Blessed be his name, he faileth not, and, therefore, our hope shall not fail us, neither will we despair for ourselves or for his church.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 24. 0 my God. The leaving out one word in a will may mar the estate and disappoint all a man's hopes; the want of this one word, my (God) is the wicked man's loss of heaven, and the dagger which will pierce his heart in hell to all eternity.The degree of satisfaction in any good is according to the degree of our union to it, (hence our delight is greater in food than in clothes, and the saint's joy is greater in God in the other world than in this, because the union is nearer;)but where there is no property there is no union, therefore no complacency. The pronoun my is as much worth to the soul as the boundless portion. All our comfort is locked up in that private cabinet. Wine in the glass doth not cheer the heart, but taken down Into the body. The property of the Psalmist's in God was the mouth whereby he fed on those dainties which did so exceedingly delight him. o love potion was ever so effectual as this pronoun. When God saith to the soul, as Ahab to Benhadad "Behold, I am thine, and all that I have, "who can tell how the heart leaps for joy in, and expires

almost in desires after him upon such news! Others, like strangers, may behold his honour and excellencies, but this saint only, like the wife, enjoyeth him. Luther saith, Much religion lieth in pronouns. All our consolation, indeed, consisteth in this pronoun. It is the cup which holdeth all our cordial waters. I will undertake as bad as the devil is, he shall give the whole world, were it in his power, more freely than ever he offered it to Christ for his worship, for leave from God to pronounce those two words. MY GOD. All the joys of the believer are hung upon this one string; break that asunder, and all is lost. I have sometimes thought how David rolls it as a lump of sugar under his tongue, as one loth to lose its sweetness too soon: "I will love thee, O LORD, my strength, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower, "Psalms 18:1-2. This pronoun is the door at which the King of saints entereth into our hearts, with his whole train of delights and comforts. George Swinnock.Ver. 24. Take me not away, is more exactly, Take me not up, with possible reference to the case of Elijah, "taken up." Henry Cowles.Ver. 24. Take me not away in the midst of my days. The word is, "Let me not ascend in the midst of my days, "that is, before I have measured the usual course of life. Thus, to ascend is the same as to be cut off;death cuts off the best from this world, and then they ascend to a better. The word ascend is conceived to have in it a double allusion; first, to corn which is taken up by the hand of the reaper, and then laid down on the stubble. Secondly, unto the light of a candle, which as the candle spends, or as that which is the food of the fire is spending, ascends, and at last goes out and vanisheth. Joseph Caryl.Ver. 24. Thy years are throughout all generations. The Psalmist says of Christ, "Thy years are throughout all generations, " Psalms 102:24; which Psalm the apostle quoteth of him, Hebrews 1:10. Let us trace his existence punctually through all times. Let us go from point to point, and see how in particulars the Scriptures accord with it. The first joint of time we will begin that chronology of his existence withal is that instant afore he was to come into the world.First, We find him to have existed just afore he came into the world, the instance of his conception, Hebrews 10:5, in these words, "Wherefore when he comes into the world, says he, A body hast thou prepared me." Hebrews 10:7, "Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." Here is a person distinct from God the Father, a me, an I, distinct also from that human nature he was to assume, which he terms a "body prepared."... Therefore besides and afore that human nature there was a divine person that existed, that was not of this world, but that came into it, "when he cometh into the world, he says, "etc., to become a part of it, and be manifested in it.Secondly, We find him to have existed afore John the Baptist, though John was conceived and born some months afore him. I note these several joints of time because the Scripture notes them, and hath set a special mark upon them: John 1:15. "John bare witness of him, "and cried, saying, "This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me." This priority of existence is that which John doth specially give witness to. And it is priority in existence, for he allegeth it as a reason why he was preferred afore him; "for he was before me."Thirdly, We find him existing when all the prophets wrote and spake, 1 Peter 1:11. The Spirit of Christ is said to have been in all the prophets, even as Paul, who came

after Christ, also speaks, "You seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, "2 Corinthians 13:3. And therefore he himself, whose Spirit it was, or whom he sent, must needs exist as a person sending him.Fourthly, We find him existing in Moses' time, both because it was he that was tempted in the wilderness, " either let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents, " 1 Corinthians 10:9; and it was Christ that was the person said to be tempted by them, as well as now by us, as the word kai "as they also, "evidently shows. And it points to that angel that was sent with them, Exodus 23:20-21, in whom the name of God was, and who as God had the power of pardoning sins, Exodus 23:21. See also Acts 7:35, Hebrews 12:26.Fifthly, We find him existing in and afore Abraham's time: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am, "John 8:58.Sixthly, We find him existing in the days of oah, 1 Peter 3:19. He says of Christ, that he was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the Spirit." He evidently distinguisheth of two natures, his divine and human, even as Romans 1:3-4 and elsewhere; and then declares how by that divine nature, which he terms "Spirit, "in which he was existent in oah's times, he went and preached to those of the old world, whose souls are now in prison in hell. These words, "in Spirit, "are not put to signify the subject of vivification; for such neither his soul nor Godhead could be said to be, for that is not quickened which was not dead; but for the principal and cause of his vivification, which his soul was not, but his Godhead was. And besides by his Spirit is not meant his soul, for that then must be supposed to have preached to souls in hell (where these are affirmed to be). ow, there is no preaching where there is no capacity of faith. But his meaning is, that those persons that lived in oah's time, and were preached unto, their souls and spirits were now, when this was written, spirits in prison, that is, in hell. And therefore he also adds this word "sometimes": who were sometimes disobedient in oah's days. These words give us to understand that this preaching was performed by oah ministerially, yet by Christ in oah; who according to his divine person was extant, and went with him, as with Moses, and the church in the wilderness, and preached unto them.Seventhly, He was extant at the beginning of the world, "In the beginning was the Word." In which words, there being no predicate or attribute affirmed of this word, the sentence or affirmation is terminated or ended merely with his existence: "he was, "and he was then, "in the beginning." He says not that he was made in the beginning, but that "he was in the beginning." And it is in the beginning absolutely, without any limitation. And therefore Moses's beginning, Genesis 1:1, is meant, as also the words after show, "All was made by him that was made; "and, Genesis 1:10, the world he came into was made by him. And as from the beginning is usually taken from the first times or infancy of the world; so then, when God began to create, then was our Christ. And this here is set in opposition (John 1:14) unto the time of his being made flesh, lest that should have been thought his beginning. And unto this accords that of Hebrews 1:10, where, speaking of Christ, out of Psalms 102:24, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth; so as to be sure he existed then. But further, in Psalms 102:24, it runs thus, Thy years are throughout all generations. We have run, you see, through all generations since the creation, and have found his years throughout them all. And yet lest that should be taken only of the generations of this world, he adds (as Rivet expounds it), Before

thou laidst the foundation of the earth.Eighthly, So then we come to this, that he hath been before the creation, yea, from everlasting.But, inthly, If you would have his eternity yet more express, see Hebrews 7:3, where mentioning Melchisedec, Christ's type, he renders him to have been his type in this—"Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." Where his meaning is to declare that, look what Melchisedec was typice, or umbraiter, in a shadow, that our Christ was really and substantially.Lastly, Add to this that in Micah 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting; "where he evidently speaks of two births Christ had, under the metaphor of going forth: one as man at Bethlehem in the fulness of time, the other as Son of God from everlasting. As Son of God, his goings forth (that is, his birth) are from everlasting. And it is termed, "goings forth, "in the plural; because it is actus continuus, and hath been every moment continued from everlasting. As the sun begets light and beams every moment, so God doth his Son. So then we have two everlastings attributed to Christ's person; one to come, Hebrews 1:10, and another past, here in Micah 5:2. And so as of God himself it is said, Psalms 90:2, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God, "so also of Christ. Condensed from T. Goodwin's Treatise on "The Knowledge of God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ."

BE SO , "Psalms 102:24. But, I said, O my God, take me not away, &c. — I prayed most earnestly to him, and said, O my God, who hast so graciously begun our deliverance, take me not away before it be completely finished, but let me see thy promise fulfilled, which thou, who diest not, as we do, I am sure, wilt not fail to make good. Yes: “though I should not live to have any share in the public joy for that restoration, yet thou, who art an everlasting and immutable God, whose years are throughout all generations, wilt not fail to make those who survive me happy therein.” Those who consider the psalmist, as personating the captive Jews, interpret the verse as follows: O my God, take we not away in the midst of my days — Do not wholly cut off and destroy my people Israel before they come to a full age and stature in the plenary possession of thy promises, and especially of that great and fundamental promise of the Messiah, in and by whom alone their happiness is to be completed, and until whose coming thy church is in its nonage, Galatians 4:1-4. Thy years are throughout all generations — Though we successively die and perish, yet thou art the everlasting and unchangeable God, who art, and wilt ever be, able to deliver thy people, and faithful in performing all thy promises; and therefore we beseech thee to pity our frail and languishing state, and give us a more settled and lasting felicity than we have yet enjoyed.

WHEDO , "24. In the midst of my days—In the half of “my days”—when my life is

only half spent. This cutting short of life was regarded as a great calamity—often a sign of judgment. As applied to the nation it was what Jeremiah had foretold to Judah, and Amos to Israel, that their “sun should go down at noon.” Jeremiah 15:9; Amos 8:9. Perowne says: “This deprecation of a short life springs not, in this instance, from a natural clinging to life, as in the case of Hezekiah, (Isaiah 38:10-11,) but from the intense desire to see God’s glory manifested in Israel’s restoration.”

Thy years are throughout all generations—The consolation here drawn from the eternity of God is not in the abstract idea of his existence, but in the connecting idea of his covenant relation to his people. The generations of men perish, but the immutable word of God, like his own eternity, remains the same, and by that word Israel must be restored. See on Psalms 90:1; and compare Psalms 103:15-18; Isaiah 40:6-8

EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "An Unfinished Life

Psalm 102:24

I. The inscription of this Psalm is unique. It describes the inner subject of the Psalm and makes a very beautiful heading. A prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. The afflictions are those of the nation and of the Psalmist himself, who added to his own sorrows the sorrow of his people. The elegy moves with mournful strain as he describes the bitterness of his pain. He has eaten ashes like bread, and mingled his drink with weeping. His days are shortened, his strength wasted, and death has crept up close to him, so that he is withered like grass. It seems to him so untimely, so premature that he should be taken, for he is assured that God is about to remember Zion and to have mercy upon her. To have gone through all the pain and tribulation without tasting the ultimate joy, to have borne all the toil and the burden without sharing in the harvest and in the joy of the harvest-home, to have taken part in the long weary strife and to fall in the hour of victory, that eyes which had seen all the desolation and been salt with tears through many a sorrow should be closed in death as the new era breaks—that is the dreadful pathos of the situation.

II. We, too, have often a similar feeling about what we call unfinished lives and untimely deaths; we have this sense of pathos not for the victor of a hundred fights, but for the soldier who falls in his first campaign, not for the statesman who passes away laden with years and honours, but for the promising novice who was just earning his first laurels, not for the man who could say after a long and strenuous life, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course". Pity to him is an insult. He has lived out his life and done his work, and entered into his rest. We are oppressed with the thought of the irony of human life and of the vanity of human wishes at the sight of all unfinished work. The manuscript with the sentence broken off where the pen fell from the fingers, the picture with here and there a figure only sketched in charcoal, the statue with only suggestions of the beauty that was designed by it. But unfinished work can never be half so sad as unfinished lives. We

pass by the unfinished work to consider the work actually accomplished. But an unfinished life has no such other reference to offer. It is a crop blighted before the harvest.

III. In all this natural train of thought we are liable to fall into a great and grievous error. We may have a wrong standard of judgment as to what is a finished life. We mostly think of it as length of days, the telling of a long tale. A long life may be an unfinished life, though it has run out to the last sand undisturbed. It may never have grasped for one moment the real purpose of living so that to all intents it is cut off in the midst of its days though the days were as the days of Methuselah. Human life cannot be judged by its years nor even by its work, but must be judged by its spirit, not the palpable and outside, such as the years passed or the deeds accomplished, but what is attained through the time and through the deeds, the true set of the character, the bent of life the discipline of the heart, the culture of the soul. Early or late, young or old, that is a finished life when the true end of life is apprehended. If a man has learned to love God and obey Him, if he has submitted his will to the will of God, if he has linked his life to the Eternal life and his love to the Eternal love, his life is not unfinished, though it seems taken away in the midst of his days. There can be nothing untimely when his times are in God"s hands. othing can happen too early or too late.

—Hugh Black, University Sermons, p131.

25 In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

BAR ES, "Of old - See this passage fully explained in the notes at Heb_1:10-12. In the beginning; at the first. The phrase used here means literally “to the face;” then, “before” in the order of time. It means here, long ago; of olden time; at the beginning. The meaning is, that the years of God had stretched through all the generations of people, and all the changes which had occurred upon the earth; that at the very

beginning he existed, and that he would continue to exist to the very close, unchangeably the same.

CLARKE, "Of old hast thou laid the foundation - None taught of God ever

imagined the world to have been eternal. Of old, לפנים lephanim, before there were any

faces or appearances, thou didst lay the foundations of the earth. It was created by thee; it did not grow by accretion or aggregation from a pre-existent nucleus. There was nothing; and thou didst produce being - substance or matter. Out of that created matter thou didst make the earth and the heavens.

GILL, "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth,.... The lower part of the creation, the Lord's footstool, called the earth beneath: this has its foundation; though what it is cannot be well said, it cannot be searched out; it is sometimes said to be founded upon the waters, and yet so as not to be removed for ever, Jer_31:37, this shows the wisdom of God, as a wise master builder, and the stability of the earth; and is a proof of the deity of Christ, to whom these words belong: this is said to be done "of old", or "at" or "in the beginning", as Jarchi and the Targum; and so in Heb_1:10, where they are applied to the Messiah, the Son of God; and this, as it proves the eternity of Christ, who must be in the beginning, and before all things, so it confutes the notion of the eternity of the earth, received by some philosophers: besides, the words may be rendered, "before" (g) "thou foundest the earth"; and so refers to the preceding, "thy years", &c. were before the earth was; that is, from eternity, and so fully express the eternal existence of Christ:

and the heavens are the work of thy hands; these are the airy and starry heavens, and the heaven of heavens; which are creatures, and not to be worshipped, made by Christ himself, and are expressive of his power, wisdom, and glory.

HE RY 25-27, "A plea to enforce this prayer taken from the eternity of the Messiah promised, Psa_102:25-27. The apostle quotes these verses (Heb_1:10-12) and tells us, He saith this to the Son, and in that exposition we must acquiesce. It is very comfortable, in reference to all the changes that pass over the church, and all the dangers it is in, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and for ever. Thy years are throughout all generations, and cannot be shortened. It is likewise comfortable in reference to the decay and death of our own bodies, and the removal of our friends from us, that God is an everliving God, and that therefore, if he be ours, in him we may have everlasting consolation. In this plea observe how, to illustrate the eternity of the Creator, he compares it with the mutability of the creature; for it is God's sole prerogative to be unchangeable. 1. God made the world, and therefore had a being before it from eternity. The Son of God, the eternal Word, made the world. It is expressly said, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; and therefore the same was in the beginning from eternity with God, and was God, Joh_1:1-3; Col_1:16; Eph_3:9; Heb_1:2. Earth and heaven, and the hosts of both, include the universe and its fulness, and these derive their being from God by his Son (Psa_102:25): “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, which is founded on the seas and on the floods and yet it abides; much more shall the church, which is built upon a rock. The heavens are the work of thy hands, and by thee are all their motions and influences

directed;” God is therefore the fountain, not only of all being, but of all power and dominion. See how fit the great Redeemer is to be entrusted with all power, both in heaven and in earth, since he himself, as Creator of both, perfectly knows both and is entitled to both. 2. God will unmake the world again, and therefore shall have a being to eternity (Psa_102:26, Psa_102:27): They shall perish, for thou shalt change them by the same almighty power that made them, and therefore, no doubt, thou shalt endure; thou art the same. God and the world, Christ and the creature, are rivals for the innermost and uppermost place in the soul of man, the immortal soul; now what is here said, one would think, were enough to decide the controversy immediately and to determine us for God and Christ. For, (1.) A portion in the creature is fading and dying: They shall perish;they will not last so long as we shall last. The day is coming when the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up; and then what will become of those that have laid up their treasure in it? Heaven and earth shall wax old as a garment, not by a gradual decay, but, when the set time comes, they shall be laid aside like an old garment that we have no more occasion for: As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed, not annihilated, but altered, it may be so that they shall not be at all the same, but new heavens and a new earth. See God's sovereign dominion over heaven and earth. He can change them as he pleases and when he pleases; and the constant changes they are subject to, in the revolutions of day and night, summer and winter, are earnests of their last and final change, when the heavens and time (which is measured by them) shall be no more. (2.) A portion in God is perpetual and everlasting: Thou art the same,subject to no change; and thy years have no end, Psa_102:27. Christ will be the same in the performance that he was in the promise, the same to his church in captivity that he was to his church at liberty. Let not the church fear the weakening of her strength, or the shortening of her days, while Christ himself is both her strength and her life; he is the same, and has said, Because I live you shall live also. Christ came in the fulness of time, and set up his kingdom in spite of the power of the Old Testament Babylon, and he will keep it up in spite of the power of the New Testament Babylon.

CALVI , "25Thou hast aforetime founded the earth Here the sacred writer amplifies what he had previously stated, declaring, that compared with God the whole world is a form which quickly vanishes away; and yet a little after he represents the Church as exempted from this the common lot of all sublunary things, because she has for her foundation the word of God, while her safety is secured by the same word. Two subjects are therefore here brought under our consideration. The first is, that since the heavens themselves are in the sight of God almost as evanescent as smoke, the frailty of the whole human race is such as may well excite his compassion; and the second is, that although there is no stability in the heavens and the earth, yet the Church shall continue steadfast for ever, because she is upheld by the eternal truth of God. By the first of these positions, true believers are taught to consider with all humility, when they come into the divine presence, how frail and transitory their condition is, that they may bring nothing with them but their own emptiness. Such self-abasement is the first step to our obtaining favor in the sight of God, even as He also affirms that he is moved by the sight of our miseries to be merciful to us. The comparison taken from the heavens is a very happy illustration; for how long have they continued to exist, when contrasted with the brief span of human life, which passes or rather flies away so swiftly? How many generations of men have passed away since the creation, while the heavens still continue as they were amidst this continual fluctuation? Again, so

beautiful is their arrangement, and so excellent their frame-work, that the whole fabric proclaims itself to be the product of God’s hands (161) And yet neither the long period during which the heavens have existed, nor their fair embellishment, will exempt them from perishing. What then shall become of us poor mortals, who die when we are as yet scarcely born? for there is no part of our life which does not rapidly hasten to death.

Interpreters, however, do not all explain these words, The heavens shall perish, in the same way. Some understand them as expressing simply the change they shall undergo, which will be a species of destruction; for although they are not to be reduced to nothing, yet this change of their nature, as it may be termed, will destroy what is mortal and corruptible in them, so that they shall become, in a manner, different and new heavens. Others explain the words conditionally, and make the supplement, “If it so please God,” regarding it as a thing absurd to say that the heavens are subject to corruption. But first, there is no necessity for introducing these supplementary words, which obscure the sense instead of making it plainer. In the next place, these expositors improperly attribute an immortal state to the heavens, of which Paul declares that they “groan and travail in pain,” like the earth and the other creatures, until the day of redemption, (Romans 8:22) because they are subject to corruption; not indeed willingly, or in their own nature, but because man, by precipitating himself headlong into destruction, has drawn the whole world into a participation of the same ruin. Two things are to be here attended to; first, that the heavens are actually subject to corruption in consequence of the fall of man; and, secondly, that they shall be so renewed as to warrant the prophet to say that they shall perish; for this renovation will be so complete that they shall not be the same but other heavens. The amount is, that to whatever quarter we turn our eyes, we will see everywhere nothing but ground for despair till we come to God. What is there in us but rottenness and corruption? and what else are we but a mirror of death? Again, what are the changes which the whole world undergoes but a kind of presage, yea a prelude of destruction? If the whole frame-work of the world is hastening to its end, what will become of the human race? If all nations are doomed to perish, what stability will there be in men individually considered? We ought therefore to seek stability no where else but in God.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth. Creation is no new work with God, and therefore to "create Jerusalem a praise in the earth" will not be difficult to him. Long ere the holy city was laid in ruins the Lord made a world out of nothing, and it will be no labour to him to raise the walls from their heaps and replace the stones in their courses. We can neither continue our own existence nor give being to others; but the Lord not only is, but he is the Maker of all things that are; hence, when our affairs are at the very lowest ebb we are not at all despairing, because the Almighty and Eternal Lord can yet restore us.And the heavens are the work of thine hands. Thou canst therefore not merely lay the foundations of Zion, but complete its roof, even as thou hast arched in the world with its ceiling of blue; the loftiest stories of thine earthly palace shall be piled on high without difficulty when thou dost undertake the building thereof, since thou art architect of the stars, and the spheres in which they move. When a great labour

is to be performed it is eminently reassuring to contemplate the power of him who has undertaken to accomplish it; and when our own strength is exhausted it is supremely cheering to see the unfailing energy which is still engaged on our behalf.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 25. Earth. Heavens. He names here the most stable parts of the world, and the most beautiful parts of the creation, those that are freest from corruptibility and change, to illustrate thereby the immutability of God, that though the heavens and earth have a prerogative of fixedness above other parts of the world, and the creatures that reside below, the heavens remain the same as they were created, and the centre of the earth retains its fixedness, and are as beautiful and fresh in their age as they were in their youth many years ago, notwithstanding the change of the elements, fire and water being often turned into air, so that there may remain but little of that air which was first created, by reason of the continual transmutation; yet this firmness of the earth and heavens is not to be regarded in comparison of the unmoveableness and fixedness of the being of God. As their beauty comes short of the glory of his being, so doth their firmness come short of his stability. Stephen Charnock.

COKE, "Psalms 102:25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation, &c.— See Isaiah 51:6 where the prophet tells us, that the heaven and earth shall wax old like a garment; but the Psalmist here goes one step further than the prophet; and not only acquaints us that the heavens and the earth shall wax old as a garment, but, like a worn-out garment, shall be changed for new—What, but the new heavens and the new earth, mentioned by St. Peter in the ew Testament, and said to be the expectation of believers, according to God's promise?—See 2 Peter 3:13 and Peters on Job, p. 413.

WHEDO , "25. Of old hast thou laid the foundations of the earth—What is here affirmed of God, is, in the ew Testament, quoted and affirmed of Christ.

Hebrews 1:10. This is repeatedly done. Compare Jeremiah 17:10; Revelation 2:23. We are thus taught the personality and unity of the Father and the Son: “That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.” John 5:23. “For what things soever the Father doeth, these also doeth the son likewise.” John 5:19

BE SO , "Psalms 102:25. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth — The eternity of God looks both backward and forward: it is both without beginning and without end. The latter is affirmed and illustrated Psalms 102:24; Psalms 102:26-27, the former is implied in this verse. Thou hadst a being before the creation of the world, when there was nothing but eternity, but the earth and heaven had a beginning given them by thy almighty power.

EBC, "The solemn grandeur of Psalms 102:25-26 needs little commentary, but it may be noted that a reminiscence of Isaiah 11:1-16 runs through them both in the description of the act of creation of heaven and earth, [Isaiah 48:13; Isaiah 44:24] and in that of their decaying like a garment. [Isaiah 51:6; Isaiah 54:10] That which has been created can be removed. The creatural is necessarily the transient. Possibly, too, the remarkable expression "changed," as applied to the visible

creation, may imply the thought which had already been expressed in Isaiah, and was destined to receive such deepening by the Christian truth of the new heavens and new earth-a truth the contents of which are dim to us until it is fulfilled. But whatever may be the fate of creatures, He who receives no accession to His stable being by originating suffers no, diminution by extinguishing them. Man’s days, the earth’s ages, and the aeons of the heavens pass, and still "Thou art He," the same Unchanging Author of change. Measures of time fail when applied to His being, whose years have not that which all divisions of time have-an end. An unending year is a paradox, which, in relation to God, is a truth.

It is remarkable that the psalmist does not draw the conclusion that he himself shall receive an answer to his prayer, but that "the children of Thy servants shall dwell" i.e., in the land, and that there will always be an Israel "established before Thee." He contemplates successive generations as in turn dwelling in the promised land (and perhaps in the ancient "dwelling place to all generations," even in God); but of his own continuance he is silent. Was he not assured of that? or was he so certain of the answer to his prayer that he had forgotten himself in the vision of the eternal God and the abiding Israel? Having regard to the late date of the psalm, it is hard to believe that silence meant ignorance, while it may well be that it means a less vivid and assured hope of immortality, and a smaller space occupied by that hope than with us. But the other explanation is not to be left out of view, and the psalmist’s oblivion of self in rapt gazing on God’s eternal being-the pledge of His servant’s perpetuity-may teach us that we reach the summit of Faith when we lose ourselves in God.

The Epistle to the Hebrews quotes Psalms 102:25-27 as spoken of "the Son." Such an application of the words rests on the fact that the psalm speaks of the coming of Jehovah for redemption, who is none other than Jehovah manifested fully in the Messiah. But Jehovah whose coming brings redemption and His recognition by the world is also Creator. Since, then, the Incarnation is, in truth, the coming of Jehovah, which the psalmist, like all the prophets, looked for as the consummation, He in whom the redeeming Jehovah was manifested is He in whom Jehovah the Creator "made the worlds." The writer of the Epistle is not asserting that the psalmist consciously spoke of the Messiah, but he is declaring that his words, read in the light of history, point to Jesus as the crowning manifestation of the redeeming, and therefore necessarily of the creating, God.

SIMEO , "THE ETER ITY A D IMMUTABILITY OF CHRIST

Psalms 102:25-28. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of thy hands: they shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall max old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

AMO GST all the Psalms, there is none more full of mourning and lamentation than this: but whether the Psalmist speaks in his own person, or in the person of the

Church which was in the most desolate condition, is not certain. But though written at the return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, and referring primarily to the restoration of the Jewish Church and polity, it evidently has respect to the Messiah and the establishment of his Church on the face of the whole earth: since it is said, that “the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth his glory [ ote: ver. 15.].” Indeed the words of our text are expressly applied to Christ in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and are adduced to shew the infinite superiority of Christ above all the hosts of heaven [ ote: Hebrews 1:10-12.]. With this infallible guide to direct us, we proceed to point out,

I. The perfections of Christ—

The description here given of our Lord Jesus Christ proves beyond all doubt his proper Deity. Observe,

1. His eternity—

[He it was who made the universe: the highest angels derived their existence from his all-creating hand [ ote: Colossians 1:16.]. “All things were created, not only by him, but for him [ ote: Colossians 1:17.]:” which could not be, if he himself were a creature. Suppose him ever so high above all other creatures, if he himself was a creature, he could not have created all things, seeing he himself must have been created by another. But he was the eternal God: “he was with God, and was God: and without him was not any thing made that was made [ ote: John 1:1-3.].” Yes, that adorable Saviour, who at the appointed season assumed our flesh at Bethlehem, was the eternal God; “his goings forth were of old, from everlasting [ ote: Micah 5:2. The same truth is generally supposed to be declared in Proverbs 8:22-31.].”]

1. His immutability—

[The material creation is formed only as a theatre for the display of the Creator’s glory: and, when it shall have answered its destined end, it will be destroyed by fire [ ote: 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:12.]: the Creator will dissolve it with as much ease as a man “folds up a garment” for which he has no farther use. But the Lord Jesus Christ will exist for ever. As he is the eternal, so is he the immutable Jehovah: “He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever [ ote: Hebrews 13:8.].”]

ot to dwell on a point which requires neither confirmation nor discussion: we proceed to mark more distinctly,

II. The aspect of those perfections on the welfare of the Church—

In the verso before the text, the Psalmist may be speaking personally of himself, just as Hezekiah did when apprehensive of speedy dissolution [ ote: Isaiah 38:10-14]: but in the close of the psalm he indisputably speaks of the Church, and, represents as depending upon Christ,

1. The stability of the Church at large—

[The seed here mentioned are the Church of God, the company of the faithful in every age [ ote: Psalms 69:36.]. It might be supposed that these, surrounded us they are by enemies on every side, must be utterly destroyed: and, in fact, the Church has at times been reduced so low, as scarcely to have, except in name, any existence upon earth. But our Lord has founded it upon a rock; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Other things, however stable in appearance, shall vanish away: but this shall stand for ever and ever [ ote: Isaiah 51:6.]. The different individuals are successively removed by death: but children shall be born to God through the instrumentality of his Gospel, and the Church “continue” to the end of time.]

2. The final salvation of every true Believer—

[It is a miracle, considering what difficulties the Believer has to encounter, and how unable he is of himself to do even the least thing that is good, that any one should finally attain the promised inheritance. But Jesus lives, and therefore all who trust in him shall live also. In his word he is as immutable as in his essence: and “of that word not one jot or tittle shall ever fail.” “ ever will he leave them; never, never will he forsake them.” “He is able to keep them from falling;” and, “Of those whom the Father has given him will he lose none.”]

Improvement—

Is there amongst you any tempted soul?

[Methinks some may be in the state of the Psalmist, “eating ashes like bread, and mingling their drink with tears” — — — But let not any one be so bowed down with afflictions, as to say, “There is no hope.” Whilst your Redeemer lives, you have a sure refuge: and, whatever trials you may have to sustain, “his grace shall be sufficient for you” — — —]

To those who are maintaining their steadfastness in the Gospel—

[We would say, Remember to whom you are indebted for your stability: “He that hath wrought you to this self-same thing; is God.” O think, what had been your state times without number, if your Almighty Saviour had not interposed to rescue you from the jaws of that roaring lion that seeketh to devour you — — — and let all your confidence be in him alone — — —]

26 They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment.Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded.

CLARKE, "They shall perish - Nothing can be eternal a parte ante, or a parte post, but thyself. Even that which thou hast created, because not necessarily eternal, must be perishable; necessary duration belongs to God only; and it is by his will and energy alone that universal nature is preserved in existence, and preserved from running into speedy disorder, decay, and ruin.

Yea, all of them shall wax old - Every thing must deteriorate, unless preserved by thy renewing and invigorating energy. Even the heavens and the earth are subject to this law; for that which is not, from the infinite perfection of its own nature, Eternal, must be perishable; therefore the heavens and the earth must necessarily come to an end. They contain the seeds of their own dissolution. It is true that in sublunary things, the vicissitudes of seasons is a sort of check to the principle of dissolution; but it only partially corrects this tendency. Even the productions of the earth wear out or deteriorate. Plant the same seed or grain for several years consecutively, and it degenerates so as at last not to be worth the labor of tillage, however expensively the soil may be manured in which it is planted. I may instance in wheat and in the potatoe, the two grand supporters of life in European countries. All other seeds and plants, as far as they have fallen under my observation, are subject to the same law.

GILL, "They shall perish,.... Both the heavens and the earth, though so well founded, and so firmly made; they shall be dissolved, melt, and pass away; not as to the substance, but as to the quality of them: or, as R. Judah Ben David says, whom Aben Ezra on the place cites, and calls the first grammarian in the west, not as to generals, but as to particulars:

but thou shalt endure; as the eternal God, from everlasting to everlasting; and, even as man, he will die no more; and, as Mediator, will ever remain; he will be King for ever; his throne is for ever and ever; his kingdom is an everlasting one; he is a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek; his sacrifice is of an eternal efficacy, and he ever lives to make intercession for his people; he will always continue, as the Prophet, in his church, to teach by his Spirit, word, and ordinances, in the present state; and hereafter will be the light of the New Jerusalem, and of his saints, for ever:

yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment: not only the heavens, which are as a curtain and garment about the earth, but the earth itself, Isa_51:6, will lose their beauty and glory, and become useless, as to the present form of them:

as a vesture shall thou change them, and they shall be changed; as to their form, as a garment that is turned or folded up, and laid aside, as to present use: this seems to favour the above sense given, that the earth and heavens will not perish, as to the substance of them; but as to their form, figure, fashion, and scheme; and as to the qualities of them, all noxious ones being purged away by fire, the curse removed, and new heavens and new ear

SPURGEO , "Ver. 26. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. The power which made them shall dissolve them, even as the city of thy love was destroyed at thy command; yet neither the ruined city nor the ruined earth can make a change in thee, reverse thy purpose, or diminish thy glory. Thou standest when all things fall.Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Time impairs all things, the fashion becomes obsolete and passes away. The visible creation, which is like the garment of the invisible God, is waxing old and wearing out, and our great King is not so poor that he must always wear the same robes; he will ere long fold up the worlds and put them aside as worn out vestures, and he will array himself in new attire, making a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. How readily will all this be done. "Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed; "as in the creation so in the restoration, omnipotence shall work its way without hindrance.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 26. The shall perish. The greater the cirruption, the vaster the destruction. Some think that the fiery deluge shall ascend no higher than did the watery. It may be the earth shall be burned, that is the worst guest at the table, the common sewer of all other creatures, but shall the heavens pass away? It may be the airy heaven; but shall the starry heaven where God hath printed such figures of his glory? Yes, caelum, elementurn, terra, when ignis ubique ferox ruptis regnabit habenis. The former deluge is called the world's winter, the next the world's summer. The one was with a cold and moist element, the other shall be with an element hot and dry. But what then shall become of the saints? They shall be delivered out of all; walking like those three servants in the midst of that great furnace, the burning world, and not be scorched, because there is one among them to deliver them, "the Son of God, "Daniel 3:25, their Redeemer. But shall all quite perish? o, there is rather a mutation than an abolition of their substance. Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed, not abolished. The concupiscence shall pass, not the essence; the form, not the nature. In the altering of an old garment, we destroy it not, but trim it, refresh it, and make it seem new. They pass, they do not perish; the dross is purged, the metal stays. The corrupt quality shall be renewed, and all things restored to that original beauty wherein they were created. "The end of all things is at hand, "1 Peter 4:7 : an end of us, an end of our days, an end of our ways, and end of our thoughts. If a man could say as Job's messenger, I alone am escaped, it were somewhat; or might find an ark with oah. But there is no ark to defend them from that heat, but only the bosom of Jesus Christ. Thomas Adams.Ver. 26. Like a garment. The whole creation is as a garment, wherein the Lord

shows his power clothed unto men; whence in particular he is said to clothe himself with light as with a garment. And in it is the hiding of his power. Hid it is, as a man is hid with a garment; not that he should not be seen at all, but that he should not be seen perfectly and as he is. It shows the man, and he is known by it; but also it hides him, that he is not perfectly or fully seen. So are the works of creation unto God, he so far makes them his garment or clothing as in them to give out some instances of his power and wisdom; but he is also hid in them, in that by them no creature can come to the full and perfect knowledge of him. ow, when this work shall cease, and God shall unclothe or unveil all his glory to his saints, and they shall know him perfectly, see him as he is, so far as a created nature is capable of that comprehension, then will he lay them aside and fold them up, at least as to that use, as easily as a man lays aside a garment that he will wear or use no more. This lies in the metaphor. John Owen.

ELLICOTT, "(26) Perish.—Compared with man, the victim of incessant change and visible decay, the fixed earth and the uplifted mountains are often employed as symbols of endurance and perpetuity, but compared with God’s eternal existence, they are but like a vesture that wears out. The source of the image is Isaiah 51:6. (Comp. Isaiah 34:4.) For the use made of the passage in Hebrews 1:10; Hebrews 1:12, see ew Testament Commentary. The terms employed for “garment” and “vesture” (beged, lebûsh) are synonyms for the outer cloak worn by the Jews. The imagery of the text no doubt supplied Goëthe with the thought in his fine lines

“’Tis thus at the roaring loom of time I ply,

And weave for God the garment thou seest Him by!”

which in turn suggested to Carlyle the “Philosophy of Clothes.” “Why multiply instances? It is written, the heavens and the earth shall fade away like a vesture, which, indeed they are—the time vesture of the Eternal.”—Sartor Resartus, I. 11

It is interesting to think how the science of geology confirms the image of the psalmist, showing how time has been literally changing the so solid-seeming earth, stripping off the robe that covers the hills, to fold it down at some river mouth, or at the bottom of the ocean bed.

COKE, "Psalms 102:26. As a vesture shalt thou change them— This refers to changes of raiment. God should invest himself with new heavens, as a man would change his garment. This passage is quoted by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 1:12 who has followed the LXX in reading, Thou shalt fold them up.

WHEDO , "26. They shall perish—That is, being created, they are perishable. Their existence is not necessary, but dependent; not inherent, but derived. “They continue this day according to thine ordinances,” (Psalms 119:91;) but not from any self-sustaining power. Therefore, nothing in man or nature is to be trusted, but God only, the Eternal, the Creator, the Faithful.

Shalt thou change them—That is, If it be thy will so to do it will not contradict thine attributes. But the implication is, Thou wilt sooner change them than alter, or fail, in thy word of promise to thy Church. Thus the same form expressed more fully, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away,” (Matthew 24:35,) is to be explained by “until heaven and earth pass away,” etc,, or, “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass,” etc., (Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17,)—that is, it is a conditional proposition. But the Hebrews held to the doctrine that the earth and its atmosphere, and even the whole system of nature, would be destroyed, and from the ruins would spring a new and renovated state of things. The text, with many other passages, harmonizes with this view. See Job 14:12; Psalms 72:5; Psalms 72:7; Isaiah 51:16; Isaiah 65:17-18; Isaiah 66:22. The same is taught in the ew Testament. 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 20:11; Revelation 21:1.In many other places the destruction of the heavenly bodies, and the darkening of the sun and moon, represent, symbolically, the downfall and catastrophe of nations, as in Isaiah 13:10-11; Isaiah 13:13; Isaiah 34:5; Ezekiel 32:7. “These very figurative expressions presuppose the literal idea,” (Knapp,) particularly as far as this earth is concerned. The word “change,” ( חלפ,) in the text, properly denotes a progressive change— a passing on to a further stage, (Isaiah 51:6; Isaiah 65:17-18; Revelation 21:27; 2 Peter 3:13;) and this geology itself makes probable, in the doctrine of catastrophe and renewal, and of progressive species. The text, with Zephaniah 1:14-18, especially Psalms 102:15, as rendered in the Vulgate, (Dies irae dies illa, etc.,) and 2 Peter 3:10, are supposed to have suggested that incomparable poem of the ages, “Dies Irae,” (Day of Wrath,) which, for five hundred years, has been the admiration of the Christian world, having passed into eighty versions. It is used in the Romish Church as the sequence for All Souls’ Day, and in all masses for the dead.

BE SO , "Psalms 102:26. They shall perish — Either as to the substance of them, which shall be annihilated, or as to their present form, fashion, and use, which shall be entirely changed: see the margin. The heavens and the earth, although they be the most permanent of all visible beings, and their continuance is often mentioned to signify the stability of things; yet, if compared with thee, they are as nothing, for they had a beginning, and shall have an end. All of them shall wax old — That is, shall decay and perish, like a garment — Which is worn out, and laid aside, and exchanged for another. And so shall this present frame of heaven and earth be. As a vesture shalt thou change them — Isaiah tells us, Isaiah 51:6, that the heaven and earth shall wax old like a garment; but the psalmist here goes one step further than the prophet; and not only acquaints us that the heavens and earth shall wax old, but, like a worn-out garment, shall be changed for new. And what can he intend but the new heavens and new earth, mentioned by St. Peter in the ew Testament, and said to be the expectation of believers, according to God’s promise? 2 Peter 3:13.

EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "The Permanence of Spirit in the Fleetingness of ature

Psalm 102:26-27

I. The sentiment of this passage is to my mind unique in literature. The common sentiment of men in looking on the face of nature is the contrary. You gaze upon a field which you trod in childhood: and almost with bitterness the thought comes over you. Why is matter so much more enduring than spirit? You think of the multitude who are dead since first you trod this field—this field which seems to stand as fresh and green as of yore. It is such a sentiment as this which Tennyson expresses when he makes the brook sing "Men may come and men may go, but I go on for ever". It is such a sentiment as this which Byron expresses when he surveys the sea and cries, "Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow". It is such a sentiment as this which we all express when we speak of "the everlasting hills"; we are contrasting the permanence of nature with the transitoriness of spirit.

II. In this outpouring of the Psalmist we have exactly the opposite idea; here, nature is the perishable and spirit the permanent. He looks at the field, at the sea, at the hills, and cries, "They perish but the great Spirit remaineth". It is the inversion of Tennyson"s song—"Brooks may come and brooks may go, but soul goes on for ever". And there is no doubt, even from a literary point of view, that the Psalmist is right. Even in this world the most abiding thing is a soul. The brook could never say "I," because it does not remain the same brook for two minutes. So far from going on for ever, it needs to be renewed every instant. The drops are new each moment. They only seem the same because my spirit is the same. It is my spirit which says "I"—not the brook. The Psalmist saw this. He saw that the permanence attributed to each natural form is an illusion cast by the shadow of the soul"s own immortality. The bloom of the flower is not a single bloom; it is a momentarily repeated colour. The water of a stream is not a single water; it is an ever renewed liquid. The strength of the mountain is not a single strength; it is a constantly replenished force coming from the play of atoms. The spirit alone abides; the spirit alone says "I".

—G. Matheson, Messages of Hope, p65.

27 But you remain the same, and your years will never end.

CLARKE, "But thou art the same - ,veattah�Hu, but thou art He, that is ואתה�הואThe Eternal; and, consequently, he who only has immortality.

Thy years shall have no end - ”.lo�yittammu, “they shall not be completed לא�יתמו

Every thing has its revolution - its conception, growth, perfection, decay, dissolution, and death, or corruption. It may be said that regeneration restores all these substances; and so it does in a measure, but not without deterioration. The breed of animals, as well as vegetables, wears out; but God’s eternal round has no completion. I repeat it, - what is necessarily eternal is unchangeable and imperishable; all created beings are perishable and mutable, because not eternal. God alone is eternal; therefore God alone is imperishable and immutable.

GILL, "But thou art the same,.... That hast created them, as the Targum adds; or "thou art he" (h), the everlasting I AM, the unchangeable Jehovah; immutable in his nature and perfections; in his love and affections to his people; in his power to protect and keep them; in his wisdom to guide and direct them; in his righteousness to clothe them, and render them acceptable to God; in his blood to cleanse them, and speak peace and pardon to them; in his fulness to supply them, and in his intercession for them,

and thy years shall have no end; See Gill on Psa_102:24, now he, that made the heavens and the earth, and will be when they will not be, especially in the present form they are, must be able to rebuild his Zion, and bring on the glory he has promised; and from his eternity and immutability may be concluded the continuance of his church and interest in the world, until all the glorious things spoken of it shall be fulfilled, as follows.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 27. But thou art the same, or, "thou art he." As a man remains the same when he has changed his clothing, so is the Lord evermore the unchanging One, though his works in creation may be changed, and the operations of his providence may vary. When heaven and earth shall flee away from the dread presence of the great Judge, he will be unaltered by the terrible confusion, and the world in conflagration will effect no change in him; even so, the Psalmist remembered that when Israel was vanquished, her capital destroyed, and her temple levelled with the ground, her God remained the same self-existent, all-sufficient being, and would restore his people, even as he will restore the heavens and the earth, bestowing at the same time a new glory never known before. The doctrine of the immutability of God should be more considered than it is, for the neglect of it tinges the theology of many religious teachers, and makes them utter many things of which they would have seen the absurdity long ago if they had remembered the divine declaration, "I am God, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."And thy years shall have no end. God lives on, no decay can happen to him, or destruction overtake him. What a joy is this! We may lose our dearest earthly friends, but not our heavenly Friend. Men's days are often suddenly cut short, and at the longest they are but few, but the years of the right hand of the Most High cannot be counted, for they have neither first nor last, beginning nor end. O my soul, rejoice thou in the Lord always, since he is always the same.EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 27. Thou art the same. The essence of God, with all the perfections of his nature, are pronounced the same, without any variation from eternity to eternity. So that the text doth not only assert the eternal duration of God, but his immutability

in that duration; his eternity is signified in that expression, "thou shalt endure; "his immutability in this, "thou art the same." To endure, argues indeed this immutability as well as eternity; for what endures is not changed, and what is changed doth not endure. "But thou art the same, "awx xta, doth more fully signify it. He could not be the same if he could be changed into any other thing than what he is. The Psalmist therefore puts, not thou hast been or shall be, but thou art the same, without any alteration; thou art the same, that is, the same God, the same in essence and nature, the same in will and purpose, thou dost change all other things as thou pleaseth; but thou art immutable in every respect, and receivest no shadow of change, thought never so light and small. The Psalmist here alludes to the name Jehovah, I am, and doth not only ascribe immutability to God, but exclude everything else from partaking in that perfection. Stephen Charnock.

BE SO , "Psalms 102:27. But thou art the same. &c. — “Amidst the changes and chances of this mortal life,” says Dr. Horne, “one topic of consolation will ever remain, namely, the eternity and immutability of God our Saviour, of him who was, and is, and is to come. Kingdoms and empires may rise and fall; nay, the heavens and the earth, as they were originally produced and formed by the WORD of God, the Son, or second person in the Trinity, to whom the psalmist here addresses himself; (see Hebrews 1:10;) so will they, at the day appointed, be folded up, and laid aside, as an old and worn-out garment; but Jehovah is ever the same; his years have no end, nor can his promise fail, any more than himself. Heaven and earth, saith he, shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away, Matthew 24:35.”

28 The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.”

BAR ES, "The children of thy servants shall continue - The descendants of those that serve and obey thee. This represents the confident expectation of the psalmist that, as God was unchangeable, all his promises toward his people would be fulfilled, even though the heavens and the earth should pass away. God was the same. His word would not fail. His promises were sure. Compare Mat_5:18; Mat_24:35. The word rendered “continue,” means to dwell, as in a habitation; then, to abide. It stands opposed

to a wandering, nomadic life, and indicates permanency.

And their seed shall be established before thee - The word used here means properly to stand erect; then to set up, to erect, to place, to found, to make firm, as a city, Psa_107:36; the earth, Psa_24:2; the heavens, Pro_3:19. It means here that they would be firmly and permanently established: that is, the church of God would be permanent in the earth. It would not be like the generations of people that pass away. It would not be like the nomadic tribes of the desert that have no fixed habitation, and that wander from place to place. It would not be even like the heavens that might put on new forms, or wholly pass away: it would be as enduring and changeless as God himself; it would, in its proper form, endure forever. As God is eternal and unchangeable, so would the safety and welfare of his people be.

CLARKE, "The children of thy servants shall continue - Thy Church shall be permanent, because founded on thee, it shall live throughout all the revolutions of time. And as thy followers are made partakers of the Divine nature they shall live in union with God in the other world, deriving eternal duration from the inexhaustible Fountain of being. Nothing can be permanent but by God’s supporting and renewing influence.

GILL, "The children of thy servants shall continue,.... The "servants" of the Lord are the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the word, in all successive generations, with whom Christ will be to the end of the world: their "children" are such whom they have begotten again, through the Gospel, to whom they are spiritual fathers; regenerated souls are meant; of these there will be a succession in all ages, until latter day glory takes place; these are the church's seed, and her seed's seed, from whom the word of the Lord, the Gospel, will never depart, Isa_59:21, or these "shall inhabit" (i), as the word may be rendered, the earth, as the Targum adds; that is, the new heavens, and the new earth, when the old ones are passed away; here they shall dwell with the Lord, who is the same today, yesterday, and for ever:

and their seed shall be established before thee; the same with the children, the spiritual seed of the church and of faithful minister; these, with the church, in which they are born and brought up, shall be established in Christ; the church will be no more in an unstable and fluctuating state, but will he as a tabernacle, that shall not be taken down; yea, shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills; see Isa_2:2.

HE RY, "A comfortable assurance of an answer to this prayer (Psa_102:28): The children of thy servants shall continue; since Christ is the same, the church shall continue from one generation to another; from the eternity of the head we may infer the perpetuity of the body, though often weak and distempered, and even at death's door. Those that hope to wear out the saints of the Most High will be mistaken. Christ's servants shall have children; those children shall have a seed, a succession, of professing people; the church, as well as the world, is under the influence of that blessing, Be fruitful and multiply. These children shall continue, not in their own persons, by reason of death, but in their seed, which shall be established before God (that is, in his service, and by his grace); the entail of religion shall not be cut off while the world stands, but, as one generation of good people passes away, another shall come, and thus the throne of

Christ shall endure.

CALVI , "28.The children of thy servants shall dwell. By these words the prophet intimates that he does not ask the preservation of the Church, because it is a part of the human race, but because God has raised it above the revolutions of the world. And undoubtedly, when He adopted us as his children, his design was to cherish us as it were in his own bosom. The inference of the inspired bard is not, therefore, far-fetched, when, amidst innumerable storms, each of which might carry us away, he hopes that the Church will have a permanent existence. It is true, that when through our own fault we become estranged from God, we are also as it were cut off from the fountain of life; but no sooner are we reconciled to Him than he begins again to pour down his blessings upon us. Whence it follows that true believers, as they are regenerated by the incorruptible seed, shall continue to live after death, because God continues unchangeably the same. By the word dwell, is to be understood an abiding and everlasting inheritance.

When it is said that the seed of God’s servants shall be established before his face, the meaning is, that it is not after the manner of the world, or according to the way in which the heavens and the earth are established, that the salvation of true believers is made steadfast, but because of the holy union which exists between them and God. By the seed andchildren of the godly, is to be understood not all their descendants without exception — for many who spring from them according to the flesh become degenerate — but those who do not turn aside from the faith of their parents. Successive generations are expressly pointed out, because the covenant extends even to future ages, as we shall again find in the subsequent psalm. If we firmly keep the treasure of life intrusted to us, let us not hesitate, although we may be environed with innumerable deaths, to cast the anchor of our faith in heaven, that the stability of our welfare may rest in God.

SPURGEO , "Ver. 28. The children of thy servants shall continue. The Psalmist had early in the psalm looked forward to a future generation, and here he speaks with confidence that such a race would arise and be preserved and blessed of God. Some read it as a prayer, "let the sons of thy servants abide." Any way, it is full of good cheer to us; we may plead for the Lord's favour to our seed, and we may expect that the cause of God and truth will revive in future generations. Let us hope that those who are to succeed us will not be so stubborn, unbelieving and erring as we have been. If the church has been minished and brought low by the lukewarmness of the present race, let us entreat the Lord to raise up a better order of men, whose zeal and obedience shall win and hold a long prosperity. May our own dear ones be among the better generation who shall continue in the Lord's ways, obedient to the end.And their seed shall be established before thee. God does not neglect the children of his servants. It is the rule that Abraham's Isaac should be the Lord's, that Isaac's Jacob should be beloved of the Most High, and that Jacob's Joseph should find favour in the sight of God. Grace is not hereditary, yet God loves to be served by the same family time out of mind, even as many great landowners feel a pleasure in having the same families as tenants upon their estates from generation to

generation. Here is Zion's hope, her sons will build her up, her offspring will restore her former glories. We may, therefore, not only for our own sakes, but also out of love to the church of God, daily pray that our sons and daughters may be saved, and kept by divine grace even unto the end, —established before the Lord.We have thus passed through the cloud, and in the next psalm we shall bask in the sunshine. Such is the chequered experience of the believer. Paul in the seventh of Romans cries and groans, and then in the eighth rejoices and leaps for joy; and so, from the moaning of the hundred and second psalm, we now advance to the songs and dancing of the hundred and third, blessing the Lord that, "though weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning."EXPLA ATORY OTES A D QUAI T SAYI GS.Ver. 28. The children of thy servants shall continue. In what sense is "children" taken? Either the children of their flesh, or of their faith. Some say the children of the same faith with the godly teachers and servants of the Lord, begotten by them to God, as noting the perpetuity of the church, who shall in every age bring forth children to God. It is the comfort of God's people to see a young brood growing up to continue his remembrance in the world, that when they die religion shall not die with them, nor the succession of the church be interrupted. This sense is not altogether incongruous; but rather I think the children of their body are here intended; it being a blessing often promised: see Psalms 103:17. "The mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children." "Shall continue; ""shall be established." In what sense is it spoken? Some think only pro more faederis, according to the fashion of that covenant which the people of God were then under, when eternity was but more darkly revealed and shadowed out, either by long life, or the continuance of their name in their posterity, which was a kind of literal immortality. Clearly such a kind of regard is had, as appeareth by that which you find in Psalms 37:28. "The LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever." How? since they die as others do: mark the antithesis, and that will explain it. "They are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off." They are preserved in their posterity. Children are but the parents multiplied, and the parent continued, it is nodosa aeternitas;when the father's life is run out to the last, there is a knot tied, and the line is still continued by the child. I confess, temporal blessings, such as long life, and the promise of a happy posterity, are more visible in the eye of that dispensation of the covenant; but yet God still taketh care for the children of his people, and many promises run that way that belong to the gospel-administration, and still God's service is the surest way to establish a family, as sin is the ready way to root it out. And if it doth not always fall out accordingly, yet for the most part it doth; and we are no competent judges of God's dispensations in this kind, because we see Providence by pieces, and have not the skill to set them together; but at the day of judgment, when the whole contexture of God's dealings is laid before us we shall clearly understand how the children of his servants continue, and their seed is established. Thomas Manton.Ver. 28. O the folly of the world, that seeks to make perpetuities to their houses by devises in the law, which may perhaps reach to continue their estates, but can it reach to continue their seed? It may entail lands to their heirs, but can it entail heirs to their lands? o, God knows! This is a perpetuity of only God's making, a

privilege of only God's servants: for The children of his servants shall continue, and theiv seed shall be established before him; but that any others shall continue is no part of David's warrant. Sir R. Baker.

COKE, "Psalms 102:28. The children of thy servants— Let the sins of thy servants be settled, and their seed be established before thee. This is a concluding prayer that their posterity might be settled in Jerusalem for ever: Before thee, or in thy presence, belongs in common to both clauses.

REFLECTIO S.—1st, This psalm is a prayer of the afflicted, and such are many of the people of God at times; when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord, as he is invited freely to do, assured that the compassionate bosom of his God can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; he will hear his cry, and will help him; and this inestimable privilege the child of God fails not to improve, and therefore lodges all his complaints with the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation. This the afflicted Psalmist did, and in his own case directs us how to act when under the like pressure.

He directs his prayer to God, intreating kind regard and a speedy answer, because his necessities were urgent. ote; (1.) Outward troubles are made light, when God comforts the soul with internal consolations. (2.) If God suffers his people to be reduced very low, it is with a design to exercise their faith, and excite their more importunate prayers.

2nd, Many and great are the troubles of the righteous, but out of all the Lord delivereth them: and herein the Psalmist expresses his own confidence, and that of all the faithful in Zion.

1. The Lord Jesus is an everlasting Saviour; for to him are the words addressed (Hebrews 1:10-12.). Thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever. However long continued the afflictions of his faithful ones may be, they shall outlive and overcome them, because he endureth for ever. The stability of his mediatorial kingdom, and his fidelity in the constant discharge of his trust, as our ceaseless Advocate and almighty King, ensure to faithful souls the victory at last: and thy remembrance unto all generations; seeing he shall be exalted to eternity in the praises of his faithful people, for all the great salvation begun, continued, and completed by him, for them, and in them.

2. There is an appointed time for the continuance and removal of the afflictions of Zion; and faith, which knows it certain, brings it near: and it may be hastened by prayer. The set time is come, because the deliverance is as sure as if it were already accomplished: and this may have respect to the seventy years of the Babylonish captivity, or to the period of the church's calamity under the persecutions of Antichrist; or more generally to the case of every suffering saint of God, who is called to trust and wait in patient hope for the salvation of God.

3. This will issue to the glory of God, and the great comfort of his people. For thy

servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. Though the temple lay in ruins, the pious Jews loved the place, and respected the very dust: how great must their delight then be, to see these stones revived from the rubbish, and growing into a holy temple? And thus the ministers of the gospel, in all the desolations of the church, long for the glorious day of restitution; and whenever the Lord puts it into the hearts of his people to pray for, and labour to serve the interests of his Zion, it is a gracious sign that the promised mercy is at hand. Herein also God will be abundantly glorified; his saints will admire and adore him for the grace manifested in that great day; and the heathen, struck with reverence at the sight of God's interposition in behalf of his people, shall be converted unto him, and the kings of the earth behold his glory, and yield themselves up to his service.

4. The prayers of the righteous shall be answered. They are frequently destitute of human help and comfort, but not the less dear to the Lord: he will not despise those whom man despiseth; but, as the contrite heart is his delight, they shall be accepted by him, and receive from him a rich supply of every want.

5. The record of this mercy shewn to Zion at the humble prayer of God's people, will encourage the faith, and excite the praises of succeeding generations of the righteous, created anew in Christ Jesus. ote; The past experience of God's care of his people should ever encourage our confidence of the like protection.

6. Even the groans of the poor prisoners doomed to death he hears, rescues them from ruin, and magnifies thereby his mercy. He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary: from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, and all that was done under the sun, with an eye of especial regard to his believing people, particularly when suffering for his name's sake, under the power of oppressors: To hear the groaning of the prisoner, bound for the testimony of God, and the faith of Jesus, as multitudes have been, and some still continue to be, under the power of the anti-christian tyranny: To loose those that are appointed to death; either to rescue them from the death of the body, or to save the souls of those who were tied and bound with the chain of their sins, and in their own fears apprehended themselves exposed to the eternal death of body and soul in hell; but who under deep conviction of their lost estate, groaning in bitterness, cry and are heard, pardoned through the blood of Jesus, and saved by almighty grace: To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; as the captives released from Babylon did, and as the church of God, delivered from the yoke of Antichrist, will do; and which is now daily done by every poor sinner rescued from the bondage of corruption, and the jaws of hell; whose heart, big with thankfulness, adores the wonders of redeeming love, and ascribes the praise of all to Jesus his Lord; when the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord, which will be most eminently the case, when the Lord Jesus in the latter day shall take to himself his great power, and reign; and those who are the subjects of his happy government shall with exultation rejoice in his kingdom and glory.

BE SO , "Psalms 102:28. The children of thy servants shall continue — Though the heavens and the earth perish, and though we, thy servants, pine away in our

iniquities, according to thy righteous sentence and threatening, Leviticus 26:39, and die in captivity; yet, by virtue of thy eternal and unchangeable nature, and thy promises made to Abraham and his seed, we rest assured that our children, and their children after them, shall enjoy the promised mercies, even a happy restoration to and settlement in their own land, and the presence of our and their Messiah. And their seed shall be established before thee — In the place of thy gracious presence, either here in thy church, or hereafter in heaven. Perhaps this expression, before thee, might be intended further to intimate, that their happiness did not consist in the enjoyment of the outward blessings of the land of Canaan, but in the presence and fruition of God there, which he mentions as the consummation of their desires and felicities.

WHEDO , "28. The children of thy servants shall continue—Faith has thus reached the conclusion, “Because he lives, we shall live also.” The beginning and closing of this psalm exhibit the contrast between the contemplation of affliction from the human side, and from that of faith.

Continue—Hebrew, dwell, that is, in the full expression, “dwell in the land,” as Psalms 37:29; Psalms 69:36.The application to Christ of Psalms 102:25-27, in the first chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, is, as above stated, according to a common practice, or law, in Messianic quotations, whereby what is said of Jehovah in the Old Testament is sometimes applied to Christ in the ew. See on Psalms 102:25.