Psalms 5

In how many ways and how sweetly is the nature of faith expressed in this and the preceding Psalm; he finds his righteousness, his excellency, his joy, his peace, his satisfaction in God! D.

Life is worth living; from the beginning to the end it is full of opportunities, full of interests, full of indications of duty; full of growing, expanding experiences of the love of God and of the happiness of serving Him. As we grow up we learn enough of the shame of hollowness; short experience proves the vanity of false friendships. The very experience of unreality in other people teaches you to know what you have to do, and do it; to know your own measure, and act up to it; to live believing in truth and in God’s moral government, shirking nothing, blinking nothing, shamming nothing, pretending to nothing that is not your own. Bishop of Chester.

Count the knowledge of God and the experience of His sunny favor as more than all other treasures of wisdom or delights of love or lower things. Endeavor to keep vivid the consciousness of that face as looking always in on you, like the solemn frescoes of the Christ which Angelico painted on the walls of his convent cells, that each poor brother might feel the Master ever with him. Make Him your companion, and then, though you may feel the awe of the thought, “Thou hast set our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance,” you will find a joy deeper than the awe, and learn the blessedness of those, sinful though they may be, who walk in the full brightness of that face. A. M.

1. GIVE ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my meditation. 2 Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: For unto thee do I pray. 3 O LORD, in the morning shalt thou hear my voice; In the morning will I order my prayer unto thee, and will keep watch. 4 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: Evil shall not sojourn with thee. 5 The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. 6 Thou shalt destroy them that speak lies: The LORD abhorreth the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But as for me, in the multitude of thy lovingkindness will I come into thy house: In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

8. Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; Make thy way plain before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is very wickedness: Their throat is an open sepulchre; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Hold them guilty, O God; Let them fall by their own counsels: Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions; For they have rebelled against thee. 11 But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice, Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: Let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. 12 For thou wilt bless the righteous; O LORD, thou wilt compass him with favour as with a shield.

LIKE Psalm 3, this is a morning prayer. But the circumstances of the singer are different. He is not now fleeing from open enemies; but he is in peril from the machinations of those who are secretly lying in wait for him (vs. 9, 10). He is not now an exile, but can still enter the house of the Lord and bow himself toward His holy dwelling-place (v. 7).

Throughout the Psalm there breathes a strong feeling that God is pledged, by His very character as a righteous God, to defend and bless the righteous. And David (if the Psalm be his) speaks as if in the full consciousness of his own uprightness. Yet the words are not the words of a self-righteous boaster; for, though no hypocrite or evil doer, he confesses that it is only in the lovingkindness of God that he can enter His holy temple. P.

1. To my words, O Lord, Jehovah, give ear, perceive my thought.** Attend not only to my vocal and audible petitions, but to my unexpressed desires, to those “groanings which can not be uttered,” but are no less significant to God than language. The second verb suggests the idea of attention, as well as that of simple apprehension. A.

1,2. Observe the order and force of the words, “my cry,” “the voice of my prayer;” and also, “give ear,” “consider,” “hearken.” These expressions all evince the urgency and energy of David’s feelings and petitions. First, we have, “give ear;” that is, hear me. But it is of little service for the words to be heard, unless the “cry,” or the meditation, be considered. Luther.

Meditation before prayer matures our conceptions and quickens our desires. Our heart is an instrument that is easily put out of tune. And meditation is like the tuning of an instrument, and setting it for the harmony of prayer. What is the reason that in prayer there is such an easy discurrency in our thoughts—that our thoughts are like dust in the wind, carried to and fro; but only for want of meditation? The great reason why our prayers are ineffectual is, because we do not meditate before them. David expresseth prayer by meditation: “Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my meditation.” Gurnall.

2. Meditation and adoration are the necessary basis and element out of which prayer proceeds, and into which it returns. But they are not prayer. In prayer the soul appears before God, speaking to Him and giving itself to Him in humility, repentance, trust, love, and childlike petitions for grace and strength and all needful gifts. Wishes, cares, anxieties prepare the heart for prayer, but are not prayer until they are converted into direct address, supplication, and cry unto God. Saphir.—His prayer was a cry, it was the voice of his cry, which denotes fervency of affection, and importunity of expression; such effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much, and do wonders. H.

Prayer is not a bondage to a heart full of holy feeling, and a head full of Divine knowledge; but it is the language which the promptings of the thoughts within us send rushing to our tongue, which it were the cruellest bondage of nature to stifle. Why, it were to muzzle reason, and knowledge, and piety, and purpose, and gratitude, and devotion—to doom to deep dungeons of silence the spirit which boundeth for the liberty of utterance and enterprise. Unspeakable pain would you cause were ye to deprive the religious man of prayer, which is the utterance of strong desire, and purpose, and feeling unto his Maker. Irving.

Prayer is intercourse; an act of trust, of hope, of love, all prompting to interchange between the soul and an Infinite, Spiritual, Invisible Friend. We all need prayer, if for no other purpose, for this which we so aptly call communion with God. We need friendly converse with Him whom our souls love. “He alone is a thousand companions; He alone is a world of friends. That man never knew what it was to be familiar with God, who complains of the want of friends while God is with him.” But who can originate such conceptions of God, as are necessary to the enjoyment of His friendship in prayer, without time for thought, for self-collection, for concentration of soul? Momentary devotion, if genuine, must presuppose the habit of studious prayer. Phelps.

My King, my God. The most commanding encouraging principle of prayer, and the most powerful prevailing plea in prayer, is, to look upon Him as our King and our God, whom we lie under peculiar obligations to, and whom we have peculiar expectations from. H.—These little pronouns—my king, my God, are the very pith and marrow of the plea. Here is an argument why God should answer prayer; because He is our king and our God. He is ours by covenant, ours by promise, ours by oath, ours by blood. S.

3. O Lord, Jehovah, (in) the morning Thou shalt hear my voice.** This is not so much a request to be heard as a resolution to persist in prayer. The reference may be either to stated hours of prayer or to early devotion as a proof of earnestness and faith (In) the morning I will set (my prayer) in order, to (or for) Thee. There is here a beautiful allusion to the Mosaic ritual, which is unavoidably lost in a translation. The Hebrew verb is the technical term used in the Old Testament to signify the act of arranging the wood upon the altar and the shewbread on the table. It would therefore necessarily suggest the idea of prayer as an oblation, here described as a kind of morning sacrifice to God. And I will look out, or watch for an answer to my prayers. The image presented is that of one looking from a wall or tower in anxious expectation of approaching succor. A similar use of the same verb occurs in Hab. 2: 1 and Micah 7: 7. True faith is not contented with the act of supplication, but displays itself in eager expectation of an answer. A.

Keep watch. We are to watch and pray; to watch unto prayer—with reference to prayer; to watch before prayer, that our prayer may be rightly directed or set in order; to watch during prayer, against “unmannerly distractions;” to watch after prayer, to see what becomes of our prayers. V.—Faith hath a supporting act after prayer; it supports the soul to expect a gracious answer: “I will direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up,” or I will look; for what, but for a return? An unbelieving heart shoots at random, and never minds where his arrow lights, or what comes of his praying; but faith fills the soul with expectation. It gives such a being and existence to the mercy prayed for in the Christian’s soul before any likelihood of it appears to sense and reason, that the Christian can silence all his troubled thoughts with the expectation of its coming. For want of looking up many a prayer is lost. If you do not believe, why do you pray? And if you believe, why do you not expect? By praying you seem to depend on God; by not expecting, you again renounce your confidence. O Christian, stand to your prayer in a holy expectation of what you have begged upon the credit of the promise. Gurnall.

The Hebrews sometimes speak of doing things “in the morning,” meaning by it rather earnestly than early. Perhaps both ideas are involved here—the latter more surely. The first thing when the day opens and my refreshed powers turn anew to my life-work, I will lift up my voice gratefully to God my preserver, imploringly to God my benefactor. What can be more fitting? Why not begin each day in communion with God? C.—Better to go from the throne of grace into the business of life, than to delay approaching it till worldly concerns have intruded on our minds. Wisest to seek and serve our best Friend first. May we not justly charge most of our sins and failings, and the breaking forth of our unholy tempers, to the neglect of this duty? How ought we to begin each day with seeking the power of the Spirit, to enable us to mortify sin and live unto God! W. Mason.

A battle is each morning fought in every Christian’s closet. The morning is the key of the position. The season of morning prayer is, so to speak, the citadel, the critical point of each successive day. If he wins those morning minutes the devil knows that he has won that day; and if he wins them a few successive mornings he counts on winning you altogether, and hopes by and by to see you neglecting prayer entirely. The enemy of souls well knows how important that morning devotion is, and he spares no pains to frustrate and defeat it. Doubtless it is hard work; but let us risk or endure everything rather than be driven out of that morning prayer. A few moments spent in communion with God at each opening day—a visit to the throne of grace—will freshen our spirits and revive their sacred emotions. It will fortify our hearts against the griefs and crosses which may surprise us, and, in case of threatened dangers, or seducing evils, it will secure presence of mind and a present help in a present Saviour. Hamilton.

We are the fittest for prayer, when we are in the most fresh, and lively, and composed frame, got clear of the slumbers of the night, revived by them, and not yet filled with the business of the day. We have then most need of prayer, considering the dangers and temptations of the day to which we are exposed, and against which we are concerned, by faith and prayer, to fetch in fresh supplies of grace. H.—That silent morning prayer, how does it deepen our thankfulness for all the good daily bestowed! How does it strengthen our patience under the burden each day brings! How does it hallow our activity in the task which day demands! How does it keep alive our watchfulness against the temptation each day renews! How does it feed our hope of the eternity each day brings nearer! Sufficient unto each day is the evil thereof; but the sorrows of a day confided to God’s ear, work together for good; and the morning sacrifice offered to Him in truth, hours thereafter still spreads its sweet-smelling savor through the priest’s house and heart. Van O.

In the morning, when you awake, accustom yourself to think first upon God, or something in order to His service; and at night also let Him close thine eyes; and let your sleep be necessary and healthful, not idle and expensive of time, beyond the needs and conveniences of nature; and sometimes be curious to see the preparation which the sun makes when he is coming forth from his chambers of the east. Let all the intervals or void spaces of time be employed in prayers, reading, meditating, works of charity, friendliness, and means of spiritual and corporal health; ever remembering so to work in our callings as not to neglect the work of our calling. Jeremy Taylor.

He that muses toward God prays. If you can conceive of a child in the presence of a parent most beloved that speaks, that is silent, that speaks again, that is again silent; the intercourse of that child with the parent is a fit symbol of true prayer. Prayer is the soul of a man moving in the presence of God, for the purpose of communicating its joy, or sorrow, or fear, or hope, or any other conscious experience that it may have, to the bosom of a parent. H. W. Beecher.

4. Here, as elsewhere, the Psalmist identifies his cause with God’s, and anticipates the downfall of his enemies because they are sinners and therefore odious in God’s sight. For not a God delighting in wickedness (art) Thou, as might appear to be the case if these should go unpunished. It is necessary, therefore, for the Divine honor, that they should not go unpunished. Not with Thee, as Thy guest or friend, shall evil, or the bad (man), dwell. It is still implied that the impunity of sinners would appear as if God harbored and abetted them, and therefore must be inconsistent with His honor as a holy God.

7. The verse is an engagement to acknowledge God’s delivering mercy in the customary manner. As if he had said: while my enemies perish by the hand of God, I shall be brought by His mercy to give thanks for my deliverance at His sanctuary. A.

In the multitude of Thy lovingkindness. The Psalmist has access to God not only because he is of a different character from those mentioned in the previous verses, but because the King of kings, of His grace and goodness, permits him to draw near. Therefore also he adds “in Thy fear.” We see here the mingled feeling of confidence and liberty of access with solemn awe and deep humility which befits every true worshipper. P.—It is in the multitude of God’s mercy (the inexhaustible treasures of mercy that are in God, and the innumerable proofs and instances of it which we receive from Him) that David confides, and not in any merit or righteousness of his own, in his approaches to God. The mercy of God should ever be the foundation both of our hopes, and of our joy, in everything wherein we have to do with Him. H.

In Thy fear will I worship. Such will the print on the wax be as the sculpture is on the seal; if the fear of God be deeply enengraven on thy heart, there is no doubt but it will make a suitable impression on the duty thou performest. Gurnall.—Seeing it is much in the capacity and frame of thy heart how much thou shalt enjoy of God in His worship, be sure that all the room thou hast be empty; and seek Him here with all thy soul. Say to all thy worldly business and thoughts, as Christ to His disciples, “Sit you here, while I go and pray yonder.” Baxter.

8. Mine enemies. The word is, my observers, or as these scan my ways, every foot of them, that examine them as a verse or as a song of music; if there be but a wrong measure in them they will not let it slip, but will be sure to mark it. And if the enemies of the godly wait for their halting, shall not they scan their own paths themselves that they may not halt? and examine them to order them, as the wicked do to censure them; still depending wholly upon the Spirit of God as their guide, to lead them into all truth, and to teach them how to order their conversation aright, that it may be all of a piece, holy and blameless, and still like itself? L.—"Make Thy way," not my way, “straight before my face.” When we have learned to give up our own way, and long to walk in God’s way, it is a happy sign of grace; and it is no small mercy to see the way of God with clear vision straight before our face. S.

9. The figure graphically portrays the filthy conversation of the wicked. Nothing can be more abominable to the senses than an open sepulchre, with its tainted exhalations. What proceeds out of their mouth is infected and putrid; and as the exhalation from a sepulchre proves the corruption within, so it is with the corrupt conversation of sinners. R. Haldane.—If we could seal in silence the mouth of the wicked it would be like a sepulchre shut up, and would not produce much mischief. But “their throat is an open sepulchre,” consequently all the wickedness of their heart exhales and comes forth. S.

10. The imperative and future forms, in this verse, both express the certainty of the event, with an implication of approving acquiescence. Such expressions, in the Psalms, have never really excited or encouraged a spirit of revenge in any reader, and are no more fitted to have that effect than the act of a judge who condemns a criminal to death or of the officer who executes the sentence. The objections urged against such passages are not natural, but spring from over-refinement and a false view of the Psalms as expressions of mere personal feeling. A.—This is not malicious imprecation; it is not David moved selfishly to curse his enemies considered as only his own, but it is David the rightful sovereign of the nation, conscious of acting under the great God both of Israel and of all the nations of the earth, jealous for the honor of his Master, accounting the wickedness of those traitors more as rebellion against God than as treason against his own earthly throne; identifying himself with God and invoking His interposition for the honor of His name and the vindication of His justice. And can any complaint lie against the spirit of these words? Ought not the all-perfect God to hold such sinners guilty and treat them accordingly? And ought not every soul that loves God, and justice, and the well-being of the universe to stand with God in this? approving His judgments upon the wicked, sympathizing with His abhorrence of all sin and wrong, and rejoicing that he will not let the incorrigibly wicked escape their deserved doom? C.—All the difficult passages in this book, where curses seem to be called for on the head of the ungodly, are no more than a carrying out of Deut. 27: 15-26, “Let all the people say, Amen,” and an entering into the Lord’s holy abhorrence of sin, and delight in acts of justice expressed in the “Amen, hallelujah,” of Rev. 19: 3. A. A. Bonar.

11. When traitors against God and man meet their doom, all men loyal to God and His cause may fitly rejoice. Joy that God reigns is always legitimate—always glorious. It is sad that men and devils will be wicked; it is not sad that, being wicked past all cure and even all effective restraint in a free world, they should eat of the fruit of their own doings, and that God makes their example of woe and ruin a glorious power toward holiness and blessedness in His universe. Thus much in exposition of what are so often called the imprecatory and vindictive Psalms it is fit should be said, and is of the utmost consequence that all men should understand. C.

Joyful in Thee. Joy is not a fancy, or bred of conceit; but is rational, and ariseth from the feeling of some good—viz., the sense of God’s love and favor. Joy is so real a thing that it makes a sudden change in a person; it turns mourning into melody. As in the spring-time, when the sun comes to our horizon, so when the Sun of Righteousness ariseth on the soul it makes a sudden alteration, and the soul is infinitely rejoiced with the golden beams of God’s love. Watson.—Confiding, disinterested love finds in all things something to rejoice in. In forgiving it recovers what was lost; in enduring it conquers; in expending it increases; in admiring it takes possession. Harmony, truth, beauty, excellence become ours through the loving perception of them, and love sharpens the mind’s sight for them, or reveals them where without loving we should not see them. The seeing of what is lovely or excellent is, for the moment at least, a possession of these qualities, and seeing them with approbation and desire prolongs their possession. Consciousness tells us so much as true. H. Hooker.

12. With favor as with a shield.** Being a movable piece of armor, the skilful soldier might turn it this way or that way, to catch the blow or arrow from lighting on any part they were directed to. And this indeed doth excellently well set forth the universal use that faith is of to the Christian. It defends the whole man: every part of the Christian by it is preserved. . . . The shield doth not only defend the whole body, but it is a defence to the soldier’s armor also; it keeps the arrow from the helmet as well as head, from the breast and breastplate also. Thus faith, it is armor upon armor, a grace that preserves all the other graces. Gurnall.

This Psalm is a great lesson on prayer; pointing us to its variety as a weapon adapted for all emergencies, and teaching us how to wield it most effectively. We are taught to carry into it the faith which appropriates God as our own. We are warned against the profanation by carelessness or haste of that most solemn of acts—communion with our Creator. We are bidden to send forth our prayers considerately, and to look confidently for tidings from them. The Psalm drives all slavish fear from our prayers even while it bases our confidence wholly upon the undeserved compassion of our Father in Heaven; and it commends to us intercourse with God as no mere task or duty, but as the dearest employment and the sweetest joy of our lives. V.