Psalms 86

12. The third aspect of the ideal relation between earth and heaven set forth in this verse: “Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase;” that is to say, man responding to God’s gift. The great truth is here developed that earthly fruitfulness is possible only by the reception of heavenly gifts.

13. The last phase of the fourfold representation of the ideal relation between earth and heaven is, “Righteousness shall go before Him, and shall set us in the way of His steps;” that is to say, God teaching man to walk in His footsteps. Man may walk in God’s ways, not only in the ways that please Him, but in the ways that are like Him. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” A. M.

1. 1 Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and answer me ; For I am poor and needy. 2. 2 Preserve my soul : for I am godly : O thou my God, save thy servant that trust-eth in thee. 3. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord ; For unto thee do I cry all the day long. 4. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant ; For unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5. 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, And plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. 6. 6 Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer ; And hearken unto the voice of my supplications. 7. 7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee ; For thou wilt answer me. 8. 8 There is none like unto thee among the gods, O Lord ; Neither are there any works like unto thy works. 9. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord ; And they shall glorify thy name.

2. 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things : Thou art God alone. 2. 11 Teach me thy way, O LORD ; I will walk in thy truth : Unite my heart to fear thy name. 3. 12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart ; And I will glorify thy name for evermore. 4. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me ; And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest pit (unseen world beneath). 5. 14 O God, the proud are risen up against me, And the congregation of violent men have sought after my soul, And have not set thee before them. 6. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious, Slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth. 7. 16 O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me ; Give thy strength unto thy servant, And save the son of thine handmaid. 8. 17 Shew me a token for good ; That they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed, Because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.

THIS Psalm, which is inserted among a series of Korahite Psalms, is the only one in the third book ascribed to David. That it was written by him we can hardly suppose. Many of the expressions are, no doubt, such as we meet with in his Psalms, but there are also many which are borrowed from other passages of Scripture. Indeed, the numerous adaptations of phrases employed by other writers may reasonably be taken as evidence of a much later date. Further, the style is, as Delitzsch remarks, liturgical rather than poetical, and is wholly wanting in that force, animation, and originality for which David’s poems are remarkable. The Psalm is stamped by the use of the Divine name, Adonai, which occurs in it seven times. P.—It can only be entitled “of David” as having grown out of Davidic and other classical passages. The author can measure himself in respect of poetic endowment neither with David nor with the authors of such Psalms as 116 and 130. D.

This Psalm is not usually numbered, but it might well be, among the penitential Psalms. Its pensiveness is that of contrition. From the Divine attributes which it accentuates, and from its expressions, as well as from the tone that runs through it, we see a tender conscience, healed and lowly, sensible of fault, rejoicing in forgiveness. The Psalmist dwells on God’s mercy, on His long-suffering, on His readiness to forgive, as only they dwell who have the broken and contrite heart. Observe that wherever you find contrition you find a light peculiarly its own, an unusual brightness, a lofty hope, a vision of God amazing in its clearness, and a vision of man remarkable for its brightness and its faith. We cannot by searching find out God, but we can by trusting. R. Glover.

1-4. The petitioner is first described as poor, then godly, next trusting, after that crying, finally, lifted up to God. And each epithet has its fitting verb; bow down to the poor, preserve the godly, save the trusting, be merciful to him who cries, rejoice the lifted-up. It is the whole gamut of love from the Incarnation to the Ascension; it tells us that Christ’s humiliation will be our glory and joy. Anon.

1. When we use the name of Jehovah in our prayers, we contemplate and trust in and plead with Him all the grand thoughts of eternal subsistence, inexhaustible power, unwearied strength, resources that never fail, purposes that never alter, a being that never fails, a nature lifted high above the mutations of time, who dwells in a region above all tenses and moods, and is and was, and is to come in one ineffable and mysterious present. Nor only so, but we likewise say, “and this Rock of ages, and basis of all that is, hath spoken and entered into the bonds of love and covenant with men, whereby they can plead with Him His revealed character, and appeal to Him on the ground of His ancient promise.” A. M.

When our prayers are lowly by reason of our humility, or feeble by reason of our sickness, or without wing by reason of our despondency, the Lord will bow down to them, the infinitely exalted Jehovah will have respect unto them. Faith, when she has the loftiest name of God on her tongue, and calls Him Jehovah, yet dares to ask from Him the most tender and condescending acts of love. Great as He is, He loves His children to be bold with Him. S.

2. The first plea was his need; now he pleads his own covenant relation to God; for this is implied in the adjective here used, chásid. The appeal is not to anything in himself, but to God’s goodness. This is clear from v. 5. At the same time he does not hesitate to say what the attitude of his heart is toward God, and to urge his simple, absolute confidence in God, as well as his unceasing, earnest prayer, as reasons why he should be heard. This is the language of honest, straightforward simplicity, not of self-righteousness. P.

There is a consciousness of personal sanctification through faith (v. 2) associated with an acutely sensitive perception of intrinsic worthlessness, such as only finds relief in the remembrance of unaltered grace (v. 5), which, to the exercised spirit of one really growing in the knowledge of God, will address itself with an especial acceptance. Arthur Pridham.

2. Godly.** The original simply means “one who is a recipient or object of mercy.” It is passive, not active, in signification. The meaning is as our Bible has it in the margin, “One whom Thou favorest.” The plea then here is drawn, not from the righteousness of the man, but from the mercy of God. It sets forth the relation between God and His suppliant from the Divine side, and pleads God’s gracious bestowal of mercy upon him in the past as a reason for its continuance and perfecting. “Thou hast been pleased to love and favor me, to enrich me with Thy grace. Be what Thou hast been; do what Thou hast done; forsake not the work of Thine own hands.” And God, who begins no buildings which He is not able to finish, recognizes the strength of the plea, and will perfect that which concerneth us. There follows the same relation contemplated from the human side, and that, too, is a plea with God. “Thy servant that trusteth in Thee.” I am knit to Thee, as a servant I belong to Thy household, and the Master’s honor is concerned in His dependent’s safety. I belong to Thee; do Thou watch over what is Thine own. I trust in Thee. We do not plead our faith as constituting a claim of merit with God, but as constituting a plea with Him. It is not that it deserves deliverance—else we might well hesitate to urge it, when we think of its weakness and often interruptions—but that it is sure to bring deliverance. For anything is possible rather than that the most tremulous trust should go unblest and unanswered. A. M.

3. He pleads: first that he was poor and needy; next that he was the Lord’s set-apart one; then that he was God’s servant and had learned to trust in the Lord, and lastly that he had been taught to pray daily; surely these are such holy pleadings as any tried believer may employ when wrestling with a prayer-hearing God, and with such weapons the most trembling suppliant may hope to win the day. S.

God will suit His returns to our requests. Lifeless services shall have lifeless answers. When men are dull, God will be dumb. T. Brooks.—He walks in the presence of God that converses with Him in frequent prayer and communion; that runs to Him with all his necessities; that asks counsel of Him in all his doubtings; that opens all his wants to Him; that weeps before Him for all his sins; and that asks remedy and support for his weakness; that fears Him as a Judge, reverences Him as a Lord, and obeys Him as a Father. Jeremy Taylor.

4. Gladden the soul of Thy servant, for unto Thee, O Lord, my soul do I raise. It means “make me heartily rejoice, because I am Thy servant,” thus suggesting a new ground of his petition, different in form although substantially identical with that in the preceding verse. A. —Love bears one’s soul up; and it has been truly said that the soul is more where it loves than where it actually is. Thought and desire are the wings of love; for he that loves is borne on to and abides in what he loves by thinking constantly on and longing for the object of his love. Whoever truly and from his heart loves God, by thinking on Him and longing for Him, lifts up his soul to God; while whoever loves the earth, by thinking on and coveting the things of the earth, lets his soul down to its level. Bellarmine.

It is worth notice that in all this variety of petitions for deliverance there is not a word about the exact manner of it. The way in which God’s mercy is to guard and save is left, with meek patience, to God’s decision. Let us not prescribe to Him the path which He shall take, but commit that to His own loving wisdom. There are two methods of lightening a burden: one is to diminish the load, the other is to strengthen the shoulders that carry it. The latter is often the more blessed, and often the shape in which God answers our prayer. “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee.” Then, in the final petition (v. 4), the Psalm rises still higher, and not satisfied with imploring that God would hear, guard, and save, asks for gladness, too, “Rejoice the soul of Thy servant.” We may venture to ask and expect gladness if we are God’s servants. All His creatures have a claim on Him for blessedness according to their capacity, so long as they stand where He has set them, and we, who have departed from that obedience which is joy, may yet, in penitent abasement, return to Him and ask that He would rejoice the soul of His servant. David’s deepest repentance dared to ask, “Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.” No sorrow is so crushing and hopeless, but that happiness may again visit the heart, where trust and love abide. Only let us remember that this Psalm seeks for joy, where it seeks for help, not from earthly sources, but from God. Cisterns may be broken, but the fountain cannot be choked up with their ruins. They who find their deliverance in God are often tempted to find their pleasure somewhere else. It is often easier to pray with tears, “Preserve me and save me,” than with undistracted love to choose Him as our only delight. But the true, devout heart turns equally to God for all it needs, and its prayer ever is, “O deliver me; then will I go unto the altar of God, to God, the gladness of my joy.” A. M.

5-7. It is on the broad ground of God’s mercy, as freely bestowed on all who seek it, that he rests. He applies the general truth (v. 5) to his own case (v. 6). In v. 7 he pleads again the need, under the pressure of which he cries to God; it is no unmanly, petulant, peevish complaint that he utters. The calamity is real, and there is but one who has power to deliver him. P.

5. For Thou, Lord, art good and forgiving and rich in mercy to all (those) invoking Thee. God is not only the Sovereign of His people, and as such bound by covenant to protect them, but benevolent or good in His own nature: and that not merely in the general, or in reference to all His creatures, but especially in reference to the undeserving and the ill-deserving; that is, to such of them as really desire His favor, and evince their willingness to have it by the act of asking for it. Rich (in) mercy, literally, great (or much, abundant, plenteous, as to) mercy. A.

Ready to forgive. The mercy of God is a ready mercy, and His pardons are ready for His people; His pardons and mercies are not to seek, He hath them at hand, He is “good and ready to forgive.” Whereas most men, though they will forgive, yet they are not ready to forgive, they are hardly brought to it, though they do it at last. But God is “ready to forgive.” Thus the Scripture speaks to show how forward God is to do good; He needs not set His heart to it; His heart is ever in the exactest fitness. Caryl.—As there is no mercy too great for God to give, so there is no mercy too little for us to crave. Certainly that man hath little worth to him, who thinks any mercy not worth a seeking. T. Brooks.

Because our necessities and our desires derive their force as pleas from God’s own character, he urges that as his last and mightiest appeal. He began with invocation, and he ends as he began. The name of God is the ground of all our hope, and the motive for all His mercy. Turn away, then, from all thoughts of self, of your own needs, of your own trust, and prayer, and aspiration. The one prevalent plea with God is the faithful recounting of all that grace and pity which He is and has exercised. “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.” Our need is the occasion; our faith and desire the channel; but Himself is the reason, as Himself is the source, of all our deliverance and all our salvation. Because we can pray by none other, we implore Him by Himself, for the sake of His own Holy Name, because He is that He is, to have mercy upon us who cry to Him. And when we call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, and ask that our prayers may be heard “for the sake of Christ,” we are taking no other plea into our lips than that ancient and all prevalent one of this Psalm. It is His own mercy in Christ which we present. It is the work of His own love which we bring as our plea. A. M.

6,7. We need never shrink from prayer because it is our time of trouble, so be it we have honestly served God in our better days. With all His heart the Lord invites His faithful ones to come to Him in every trouble, and justifies the assurance expressed here: “for Thou wilt answer me.” C.

8-10. There are two kinds of doubt which are wont in the hour of temptation to assail the soul: the doubt as to God’s willingness, and the doubt as to God’s power to succor. The first of these the Psalmist has already put from Him; he now shows that he has overcome the second. God is able as well as willing to help, and every being on the face of the earth who receives help receives it from the hand of Him who is the only God, and who shall one day be recognized (so speaks the strong prophetic hope within him, v. 9) as the only God. This hope rests on the fact that God has created all men (“all nations whom Thou hast made”), and nothing can be imagined more self-contradictory than that the spirit which has come from God should remain forever unmindful of its source. In v. 8 it might seem as if God were merely compared with the gods of the nations. In v. 10 they are plainly said to be “no gods,” though they “be called gods.” There is but one God: “Thou art God alone.” P.

9. All nations which Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord, and give honor to Thy name. The common relation of Jehovah to all men as their Maker, although now denied by most nations, shall be one day universally acknowledged, not in word merely, but in act, the most expressive act of worship, involving a believing recognition of the previous display of God’s perfections, in the language of the Scriptures called His Name. This prospective view of the conversion of the world to the belief and service of its Maker shows how far the Old Testament writers were from cherishing or countenancing the contracted nationality of the later and the less enlightened Jews. A.

9,10. From the infinite superiority of the true God above all idols, the Psalmist comes to the grand result that the truth of the case will ultimately triumph; all the heathen nations will one day cast away their empty gods and give their heart’s entire love and homage to the Lord Jehovah. He loves to enlarge upon the reason why, “For Thou art great; thou doest wondrous things; thou only art really God.” This is a perfect reason. There is infinite fitness that the supreme and only God should at length place Himself at the head of this world, its acknowledged Lord and King, its one only object of supreme love and obedience. So let it be! And let the time thereof hasten on! C.

11. Guide me, Jehovah, (in) Thy way; I will walk in Thy truth; unite my heart to fear Thy name. The common version of the first verb (teach me) is too vague, as it fails to bring out the peculiar suitableness of the term to express the kind of teaching here specifically meant. The original meaning of the Hebrew word is to point out or mark the way. According to the usage of the Psalms, the way of God is here the course of His providential dealings, and His truth the truth of His promises, to walk in which is to assent to them or acquiesce in them and trust them. That he may be enabled to do this without distraction or reserve is the prayer of the last clause. The idea of a united heart is the opposite of a double heart. A.—Every word here is beautiful and strong. “Point out to me Thy way ;” as with the extended finger, indicate the path for me to tread. I will walk earnestly—the intensive form of the Hebrew verb—in Thy truth ; i.e., according to all which thy revealed truth shall prescribe. “Unite my heart ;” combine all its utmost powers ; help me to concentrate every thought and affection upon filial, reverential obedience. Let not my heart be divided, given partly to other objects than Thyself. C.

Walk in Thy truth. Although in a great strait, and in fear of his enemies, the Psalmist, like all who pray aright, offers first the petition, “Hallowed be Thy name,” before he asks, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and “deliver us from evil.” He confesses that his spiritual eye is not yet perfectly enlightened, his heart not yet perfect with God. And while he rejects every other way, every other rule of life, but the eternal rule of God’s truth, he prays first that he may more clearly discern that way, and then that all the various desires, interests, passions, that agitate the human heart, may have no hold upon him, compared with the one thing needful, “to fear God’s name.” P.

Everything that makes the soul feel, or affects her nature, is but truth or error, in some of their numberless forms. Goodness, love, beauty, and all other right things, which the soul feels so keenly, what are they but the truth of character, actions, and objects to the eternal fitness of things in God ? And wickedness, injustice, deformity, and all other wrong things, to which the soul is so sensitive, what are they but the falsehood of character, actions, and objects to that same eternal fitness ? Without truth in matters of religion, the soul cannot understand what God is, what sin is, what holiness is, what duty is, what the way of salvation is, what heaven is, or what is the meaning of anything religious. And, until it understand what these and kindred things are, ay, and feel them too, it cannot repent, cannot believe, cannot exercise Divine love, cannot perform a single holy act, cannot become a renewed and purified being. God has given us His revealed and written truth ; this truth He has put into the hands of His Spirit ; and with this His Spirit works in renewing and purifying the soul. Under our economy of means, this is a necessary instrument in His work. With this only, as resident in His Church, and as making use of an instrument, He enlightens, quickens, changes, purifies, strengthens, comforts, and perfects the soul into a likeness to His own blessed self. J. S. Stone.

Unite my heart, suffer it no longer to scatter itself upon a multiplicity of objects, to be drawn hither and thither by a thousand different aims, but turn all its powers, all its affections in one direction, collect them in one focus, make them all one in Thee. The prayer derives a special force from the resolve immediately preceding : “I will walk in Thy truth.” The same integrity of heart which made the resolve could alone utter the prayer. The nearest Old Testament parallels are : the “one heart” (Jer. 32 : 39) ; “And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever ;” and the “whole heart” of love to God (Deut. 6 : 5). Our Lord teaches us how needful the prayer of this verse is. Compare what He says of “the single eye,” the impossibility of serving two masters, the folly and the wearisomeness of those anxious cares by which men suffer themselves to be hampered and distracted, and, in contrast with all this, the exhortation, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God.” P.

Having taught me one way, give me one heart to walk therein, for too often I feel a heart and a heart, two natures contending, two principles struggling for sovereignty. A man of divided heart is weak, the man of one object is the man. God, who created the bands of our nature, can draw them together, tighten, strengthen, and fasten them, and so braced and inwardly knit by His uniting grace, we shall be powerful for good, but not otherwise. To fear God is both the beginning, the growth, and the maturity of wisdom, therefore should we be undividedly given up to it, heart and soul. S.—Sincerity drives but one design, and that is to please and enjoy God ; and what can more establish and fix the soul in the hour of temptation than this ? The reason why the hypocrite is unstable in all his ways is given us by the apostle ; he is “a double-minded man,” a man of two souls in one body. But all the designs of a gracious heart are united in one ; and so the entire stream of his affections runs strong. Flavel.

Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action ; and that while tenderness of feeling and susceptibility of generous emotions are accidents of life, permanent goodness is an achievement and a quality of the life. The only conclusive evidence of a man’s sincerity is that he gives himself for a principle. Words, money, all things else, are comparatively easy to give away, but when a man makes a gift of his daily life and practice it is plain that the truth, whatever it may be, has taken possession of him. From that sincerity his words gain the force and pertinency of deeds, and his money is no longer the pale drudge ’twixt man and man, but, by a beautiful magic, what erewhile bore the image and superscription of Caesar seems now to bear the image and superscription of God. J. Russell Lowell.

“Unite my heart to fear Thy name.” If we would be consistent men, God must be first in everything. If this is so, the first consequence will be that our motives will be consistent. The fear of God will abide as a purifying influence in the very centre of our springs of action, His eye ever looking on us, His benefits ever constraining us. Union of the heart in God’s fear will save us from grievous or fatal inconsistency in opinion. He whose heart is united to fear his God, though not exempt from other men’s failings, is saved from other men’s recklessness, and has a tenderer and a safer conscience in the matter of forming and holding opinion. Alford.

Whole verse. In the expressions “teach,” “fear,” “walk,” we have religion presented to us in the three aspects of knowledge, feeling, and conduct; in other words, religion in the head, in the heart, and in the feet. Religion affects the whole circle of man’s activity. As knowledge, it illumines his intellect or guides his thinking in relation to those matters of which religion takes cognizance; as feeling, it awakens right promptings within him in relation to those matters; as conduct, it furnishes rules for his doing. First, religion as a matter of knowledge, a process of instruction. “Teach me Thy way, O Lord.” The Teacher, “the Lord.” Religious illumination comes from God, the Father of lights. He graciously assumes the character of Teacher to men in the way of salvation. To this end He has provided for them a great lesson-book, none other than the Bible. When we read this book, we sit in effect, like Mary of old, at the feet of the Divine Teacher to learn “His way.” The learner, man. Man displays the first essential of a true learner, a keen desire for his lesson. The scholar casts himself at the feet of his Divine Teacher, and entreats to be taught. Meekness and fear—that is, docility and reverence, are qualities in the pupil which unlock the secrets of the Divine heart. Secondly, religion in the heart, or religion as a matter of feeling. Religion here has made its way from the head into the heart; from the light of knowledge it has become the warmth of emotion. The particular emotion into which the knowledge develops is fear. This is not fear in the sense of terror or dismay, but love. It is heart-fear, not conscience-fear. It is the child disposition, sweet, trustful, and penetrated with holy, subduing reverence. The condition of its development. The essential condition of this beautiful disposition is a heart at peace with all its passions, in thorough harmony with God. Thirdly, religion in the life, or as a matter of conduct. Divine truth is first light in relation to men; this truth or light received into the hearts of men becomes converted into love; and this love becomes a mighty propelling force, impelling them irresistibly along the line of truth and righteousness. A. J. Parry.

12. This verse describes the effect that is to follow from the granting of the prayer at the close of the preceding verse. When his heart is once united to fear God, cordial and perpetual thanksgiving will follow as a necessary consequence. A.

I will praise Thee. Praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men; in praise we act like angels. Believers are called “temples of God.” When our tongues praise, then the organs of God’s spiritual temple are sounding. How sad it is that God hath no more glory from us in this way! Many are full of murmuring and discontent, but seldom bring glory to God, by giving Him the praise due to His name. Praise is the quit rent we pay to God; while God renews our lease, we must renew our rent. T. Watson.—O Lord my God. This is the second time in the Psalm that David calls the Lord “my God;” the first time he was in an agony of prayer (v. 2), and now he is in an ecstasy of praise. If anything can make a man pray and praise, it is the knowledge that the Lord is his God. “And I will glorify Thy name forevermore;” into eternity gratitude will prolong its praise. God has never done blessing us, let us never have done blessing Him. As He ever gives us grace, let us ever render to Him the glory of it. S.

13. From the lower Sheol, from going down to the under world. Hebrew usage compels us to interpret this of natural death, from which the Psalmist had been delivered. See Psalms 6: 5; 88: 10-12; 18: 5, and Deut. 32: 22, where these very words occur. C.

15. “Thou, O Lord, Adonai, art a God; El, the strong God, full of compassion;” the same words as Moses useth. Instead of Jehovah,